Jewelry Making Supplies - Villalobos Street, Quiapo

About two weeks ago, I went to Villalobos Street in Quiapo to buy jewelry making supplies. It was my first time to go there and it was a really satisfying experience, so it will definitely won't be my last. It is indeed the best place to go for your jewelry making needs, almost everything I need is there, and for some things on my list that weren't found there, it was easy to find substitute stuff for them. I visited three shops there but Wellmanson was where I spent the longest time and also where I bought almost everything. There's so much to love about Wellmanson, the place is clean and organized, has a good sales staff and a lot of items to choose from, it even has a snack bar where my husband who was with me on my visit there stayed while I was filling up my shopping basket. 

 Leatherette necklace display bust for Php 115 and velvet bracelet bar for Php 110. 

 Chains, ribbons, glue guns, and glue sticks. The wire is worth Php 300 per roll, I'm not sure about the length, though, but I'm sure it's reasonably priced. I'm already on my fourth wire tree and I think I still have more than half of the roll.

 Glass seed beads, Php 5 per pack (small), I'm sorry I forgot how many grams. Those bigger packs are 250 grams each and worth Php 50 per pack.

 Various metal findings. Yes, they have a lot.

 These colorful wooden buttons are only Php 40 per pack. I might also use them for other craft projects.

These faux pearls are only Php 7-12 per string. There were various types of pearls with different prices, Murano, Maurica, etc., I don't know what these are, I just bought the cheapest ones.

Wellmanson is a good place for those who are just starting to make jewelries because everything you need is in this place, and they're all easy to find with the help of the sales staff and like I said the place is very organized. But for those who are already looking for wholesale deals, it's best to visit the other shops in the area, like this shop called DIY Beads which I also visited. The place looks like a big stockroom where packs and packs of beads are already out and you don't need the staff's assistance when you need to order for a wholesale pack, you can just get it yourself. Maybe that's a bit unattractive for some shoppers that's why the crowd is way thinner here compared to Wellmanson but it didn't bother me at all which is really a good thing because I find some of their items relatively cheaper here.

These are from DIY Beads. That big bag of seed beads weighs 400 grams and is only Php 50, same price with Wellmanson's pack of 250 grams, and the pearls are only Php 12 per string.

The string of pink pearls is from DIY Beads, worth Php 12, and the blue pearls are from Wellmanson, worth Php 9.50. From the look and feel of them, they're of the same quality and the length of the string from DIY Beads is almost double of the other one just for an additional Php 2.50. 

I haven't compared many different items, though, so I couldn't conclude that DIY Beads sells cheaper, there might be some items that are cheaper in Wellmanson, so I couldn't say. I'll just try to explore other shops as well on my next visit to Villalobos Street to really get the feel of the place and maximize my buying power.

Planning to go to Quiapo, soon? I hope you get to visit Villalobos Street and have a wonderful experience like I did.

How to Make a Beaded Wire Tree

I wrote about buying jewelry making supplies in my last blog post. But instead of making jewelries, my first project from my newly replenished stash was a beaded wire tree. I'm not sure if this thing is already popular here in the Philippines but it is in the US and other countries. My mom was the one who gave me this idea. She's living in the states and she has a very successful ebay business, mostly jewelries, but she started selling wire trees with gem stones about a year ago and they became instant hit. They would go from 50$ to 200$, not just because it's a bit tedious to make but also because she uses high quality materials. She also made some as Christmas gifts and her friends loved them, I did, too, so I wanted to make one myself, but of course, just a cheaper version. So I used what I have on hand, seed beads. And searching online, I found pictures of wire trees also using seed beads, by looking at them closely, I got the idea how I can make my own.

This is my first beaded wire tree.

I want to be really good at this, maybe sell some in the future, so I'd do what I have to do, practice. For those who also want to start making this, there's only a few things you will need, and I hope this picture tutorial could help.

Materials: 

Jewelry wire - I don't know what gauge this is, I just checked if it's easily bendable but not too soft for the weight of the beads. I got this from Wellmanson,

Seed beads - I used 4 different colors because I want an autumn look and I don't have the exact bead color for that. Size is 2mm.

Measuring tape and wire cutter.

For the base of the tree, you can use a rock where you can mount it, a vase, pebbles, or anything that you find nice. With my first one, as shown in the picture above, I just put it on a lid of an ice cream canister (the only thing I could find, then), glued the roots, and put pebbles on top, also, each pebble is glued, too.

Steps:

1. Cut wires of different lengths. I cut my wires from 20 to 25 inches. No particular number for each length, just random, you will just know where to put what along the way.

2 - 3. Bend the wire in half, put on the beads, I put 5 seed beads, and twist into something that resembles a leaf. So that is the center leaf, I just added equal number of leaves for each side so that I would end up with tails at least almost of the same size for the branch.

4. Keep twisting till you reach enough number of leaves for your branch.

5-6. Twist them together to form a group of leaves as shown in the picture.

I made different forms, different number of branches, different number of leaves for each branch, etc., just do whatever you feel that would look good on your project, the goal is to make it look like a tree, and trees have different shapes and sizes, anyway.

 7. Group branches together. I have maybe 7 to 10 branches in each group. (Picture is from a different tree I made, I forgot to take a picture for this step with my autumn tree.)

8. Twist them all together to form the trunk. I want mine to look like a bonsai tree that's why the trunk is short. The height of the gold tree is 4 inches and the autumn tree is about 5 inches. 

Mount it on your chosen base, and you're done. I'm thinking of putting these on something that looks like a bonsai pot, and I still don't have one so I'll just leave it like that for now. 

You can make the tree smaller or taller by cutting the wires to your desired length. 

Hope this helps. I'm just here if you have any question. 

Paper Craft, Scrapbook Supplies - Wellmanson, Quiapo

Wellmanson is a well-known place for a lot of crafters. Several blogs and tv shows have already featured this shop for their crafting topic. They also have a branch in Tabora St. in Divisoria, which I've been to a couple of times, but the one in Quiapo is the bigger one, and yesterday was my first time to go there. And yes, I can say so myself that it is indeed a very nice place, well organized, there were enough employees to assist customers, the place has AC, and the best thing about it is its snack bar. I went there with my husband and I haven't noticed that I already spent more than 2 hours shopping so it's a really good thing that my husband got to stay in the snack bar to relax and have a bite. Most of my shopping haul are for my jewelry crafting needs but I will make a separate post about it because I bought a lot. Yes, I got crazy and went putting a lot of things in my shopping basket, actually, 2 shopping baskets. Anyway, I would just post these few items from my haul yesterday, paper craft or scrapbook supplies. I'm just happy finding these items there.

Wrapping paper books! My heart jumped when I saw these. Right now, I have a lot of projects in my mind that I want to make using these beauties. Their prices range from Php 108 to 200+ depending on the size and the number of sheets. There were more than 20 designs, I think.

Paper tapes or washi tapes. This is my first batch, yay! I don't know where I would use them yet but they're so cute I couldn't resist getting a few sets. The one on top is only Php 42, the others are Php 52 each set.

Only 15 pesos for the 2 bottles of white glue. They also have glue guns and glue sticks for sale.

There were a lot of stamping sets designs - different alphabet fonts, cartoon characters, and a lot more. That one I bought is only Php 148, and the mini stamp pads set is only Php 40.

Other supplies for your scrapbooking needs that can be found there are stickers, card picture frames, colored pens, and a lot more.  I wanted to take photos of the place but I forgot when I was already there, I was too busy filling up my shopping basket. Well, those are just the few things one can find at Wellmanson. If you want to splurge on crafting supplies, this is the place to be. Too bad, they only have limited stocks of yarns, and my main craft is crocheting so I'd still need to visit Divisoria to replenish my yarn and crochet thread stash. But aside from that, I'm happy with my shopping yesterday, specially with my jewelry making needs.

Crochet Ruffled Skirt and Bikini Top for My Baby

We often wish for our babies not to grow too fast. It's so nice to have such little cuties that we can cuddle and kiss non-stop. But babies do grow fast, and for some who buys a lot of clothes for them, like me, we end up with a pile of clothes that were just worn only for a few times, sometimes even just worn once. When it was time for my baby to have her first swimming experience, she was six months then, as expected, my husband and I went to the mall excitedly but unfortunately there were just a few choices of swimwear with her size. We only found one that is nice looking from Carter's which was Php 1300, and my husband was about to pay for it when I stopped him from doing so. For me, it was a bit pricey for something that would be worn for only just an hour or less, and I was sure that it would only be a one-time use since it fitted my baby perfectly and I didn't think that we would be going on another swimming trip soon after that. So rather than spending on a swimwear that's sure to end up on top of my growing pile of old baby stuff, I decided to make one myself. Sure, it's not as good and expensive looking as the one we almost bought, but hey, it's handmade, which means it's made with love.

That's my cute baby wearing my finished work. This outfit was one of the first ones I made for her, and as a beginner crocheter, I wasn't still good at making my own patterns then, and I found it easier to follow video tutorials. 

The bikini top, the ruffled skirt, and the barefoot sandals are all on an easy level. I made the bikini top with the help of this video, Crochet Triangle Bikini Top. And here's the link for the ruffled skirt. 

The making of the barefoot sandals was very easy, too, but I'm sorry, I don't have the exact pattern. Anyway, I just remembered making two flowers, you can choose any flower pattern you want, just the size good for your baby's foot, then I crocheted two sets of about 20 inches long chain, folded each in the center, attached each flower by sewing on the folded center of the chain just leaving a loop enough for my baby's toe to go through, as shown in the picture below. I guess my explanation is not so clear, lol, but anyway, there are a lot of free easy barefoot sandals pattern you can find online.

I used these yarns I got from my friend which she got from Yarn Source Manila. They're cotton yarn which are loosely plied, a bit difficult to work with at first but I got used to it. I also made a lot of adjustments with regard to the tutorial/pattern because these yarns are far different from the thickness of most regular yarns. 

I was happy with the finished look. A lot of my friends said my baby looked really cute in them, well, I'm not really sure if the bikini top and skirt looked good because my baby looks cute in just about everything, haha....

My Baby, Jordana Kendall

Like most moms, if not all, I'm obsessed with my little one. She's the cutest baby in my eyes. The difficult pregnancy, months of avoiding sweets because I was borderline diabetic then, the 20-hour labor, and the C-section incision pain - all worth it! My phone and my iPad are full of pictures and videos of JK, and, yes, I'm a stay-at-home mom so that's expected. But, of course, pictures from phone cameras aren't good enough for preserving precious moments, so she had her first photoshoot with a pro photographer when she was 1 month old. That's actually one thing I regret, we should have done the photo shoot earlier, when she was 2 weeks old. I really admire those creative newborn pictures I see online. Anyway, it's my baby so the pictures are still perfect. Here are some of the pictures:

(by Rvee Santiago Photography)

And that photo shoot was followed by 12 more studio shoots, to date, 1 for every month until JK turned one which was on October 30 of last year. We had her monthly pictures taken at Pic-A-Boo Photo Studio, SM North Edsa. They have a lot of beautiful costumes to choose from, but since we were there every month, there were times when we ran out of costumes that were her size that we really like, so we sometimes had to settle for a less fabulous one. That's when my crafty side was awaken again, I decided that I would just make costumes for my princess. Here are some  of her pictures wearing the costumes I made for her:

So it has begun, I turned to crocheting costumes for JK, then hats, headbands, etc. And now, I couldn't stop, whenever I have free time, usually when the little rascal is asleep, I would crochet, but now mostly jewelries, do some paper arts, beading, etc. It's a really good thing that people share tutorials online, they will guide you in the right direction, whatever it is that you want to create.

Well, I have always been crafty, I used to make my own jewelry boxes, desktop organizers, Christmas ornaments, etc. when I was still at school. Anyway, since my love for crafts started again because of my baby, it is only fitting that this is my first post for this blog, which I intend to make at least 75% about crafts, mostly crocheted jewelries, which is my current obsession. (If I can stop myself from posting everything about my princess.)

I'll try to write about the costumes I made for JK if I could still find the links where I got the patterns or tutorials from. So, until my next post. Ta ta for now...