I Love Growing Beaded Wire Trees - Trying My Hand at Running a Small Business

I'm on a short break from my little business right now so I'm free to take a few minutes to make a blog post. I have no new projects to share since I've been so busy these past few months, I'm just gonna show you what kept me from blogging and making new craft projects lately.

Tadaa...! Beaded wire trees wedding souvenirs. Well, they're not just for weddings, of course, I had a few clients who bought my creations for their friends, graduation party giveaways, and to resell.

Graduation party giveaways for Clau.

Souvenirs for Carl and Car's wedding. The bride wanted assorted colors for the trees so the blue motif was just shown on the boxes and tags.

For Jheron and April, trees of assorted colors, as well, and bigger potted ones for their principal sponsors. 

John and Shey's trees followed their silver and pink wedding motif. They said that the pink trees are for the female guests and the silver ones are for their male guests.

Bryan and Cheryl's wedding theme was Cherry Blossoms and I had this color mix made specially for them. 

A few pieces for one of my nicest clients, Cyndy. Simple gifts for some of her friends and she also already booked me to make her souvenirs for her wedding next year, cool eh?

Another option for the packaging, sinamay and abaca bags which Mervin and Florem chose for their souvenirs. They also wanted assorted colors for their trees and just had their motif tiffany green on the tags and ribbons. The big potted trees are for their principal sponsors.

Gian and Karlene's theme was rustic but they wanted my beaded wire trees for their giveaways so we just incorporated the theme on the packaging.

John and Jamie's souvenirs followed their blue motif.

I've noticed that a lot of couples have blue as their wedding motif. Maybe it's something that both the groom and the bride could agree on. I guess pink, coral, or purple motifs are usually the brides request.

I honestly didn't expect to have a lot of orders right away since I'm just starting up that's why I was so happy that a few days after I posted an advertisement on a Facebook community page for wedding suppliers, I already got a few clients. According to them, my trees are unique for party favors and some even said that it's their first time to see these cute little gems. I was so thrilled. I know that bead trees are not new but making them in this style, size, and base is my own idea. They also loved the boxes that come with the trees, also my own design, yay! 

Now, that's another blog post idea, my personalized gift box. I had trouble finding a template for the box because I was looking for one that would fit a letter size card stock and would make a 4x3.5x4 (inches) box. For the common template design to make up a box that size, I would need a bigger sized card stock so I had to make my own template. Okay, so I guess that would be my next project to share.

Well, here I am, a few months and hundreds of bead trees after, taking a well deserved break, haha. My husband asked me to turn down orders for the first two weeks of August so I could relax for a while and I happily agreed with him. 

Well, till next time. Bye for now!

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Meet Mamon, the Newest Member of Our Family

It was love at first sight. We didn't plan on getting a puppy as our daughter, Jordana, is still too young to take care of one but when we saw this little guy, Jordana giggled in delight, tried to hug him, held his face in both hands, and said "So cute!" Just like that, we knew we're taking him home. We asked our little girl, "Do you want to buy the puppy?" and she said, "Yes!" Well, she always says yes to a lot of things, but she looked so excited seeing the puppy so we decided to get him.

Meet Mamon, our two-month old Chow-chow. Our little girl's nickname is Monay because she has chubby cheeks that look like monays (bread rolls or buns) so to match her name we thought it's only fitting to name our puppy Mamon (sponge cake) as he also looks like a fluffy mamon.

Mamon and Monay, together, they're Mamonay! They're both so playful but we still need to have a really close watch when they play as Mamon would still bite and scratch when playing, a typical behavior for a young puppy.

We always had dogs, from toy dogs to large breeds, as my brother had a dog buy and sell business and it was hard to get too close to the dogs because they always get sold after a while. The last dog I had, which was really mine, was named Buffy, a Japanese Spitz. I got her when she was only one month old, I was still in college and a friend gave her to me. I had to leave her with my brother after a few years when I was already working because I had to move closer to work and the place I got didn't allow pets. Then after a while my brother for some reason couldn't take care of her anymore and told me that he gave Buffy to a kind couple who treated her like a baby. It was a sad story, until now when I get to think about it, I regret not being able to take better care of her, I feel sad and sorry for her, having to move to a different home twice, but I'm just happy that she found her loving humans. She died of old age, I guess she was 10 or 11 years old then.

I then promised to myself that I will never get another dog until I'm sure that I'll be able to take good care of her or him. I will not move to a place where my pet wouldn't be allowed to stay with me. Now, I'm ready and with my husband who's a dog lover himself, and our little girl Jordana, I'm sure that Mamon will always be loved and well taken care of.

Owning a dog is a big responsibility, I hope everyone knows that. Dogs need vaccines and if you don't want them  to accidentally multiply, have them spayed or neutered. It's heartbreaking to see sick and homeless dogs in the streets. This also goes to cat owners. There's actually a couple of stray cats lurking about in our parking lot, Mamon likes to chase them.

Being a responsible dog owner also means being mindful of the people in your area. You wouldn't want to be awaken by a loud barking or whining, or have your neighbor's dog leaving presents in front of your house, would you? Your neighbors feel the same way so you need to know the reason why your dog is barking or whining and do something about it and when you're walking your dog make sure to bring disposable bags with you for picking up your dog's poop.

Mamon had his second vaccine a few days before we got him and his next one won't be until next month so no vet visit for now. We just took him shopping for a few supplies, his dog food, collar, retractable leash so Jordana can also walk him, potty training spray, potty mat, diapers for when we need to travel, disposable poop bags with dispenser, brushes, shampoo, hair dryer, treats, and chew toy. We got most of them from Pet Express. Good thing we didn't buy him a bed because the temporary one that we prepared for him, a floor pillow, wasn't used at all, he prefers sleeping on the floor instead.

Here he is enjoying his new chew toy. We also gave him another one, a rubber whale from one of Jordana's bath toys, but he would still occasionally nibble on other stuff and when he does, we just distract him and wave his chew toy in front of him until he goes for it.

Look at that, Mamon's first family picture. We already went to Baguio with him and I think he enjoyed the place. We needed to stay in a hotel where pets are allowed and there are only quite a few pet friendly hotels in the city and most were already fully booked as we only decided to go on this trip that same week, luckily there was still an available room at Lindi Hotel where pets are allowed to stay in the room.

Here's another picture, with Ate Manel this time, a relative of mine from the province who stays with us to help around the house. Mamon is close to Ate Manel because he sleeps in her room at night.

When we were strolling in Baguio, a lot of people commented on how cute Mamon is and patted him and at least five people took his pictures.

A lot of things have changed in the house since Mamon's arrival, it's like we have another toddler to take care of and run after. I hope that with Mamon, Jordana will grow up to be a responsible, caring, and loving kid to animals and to everyone else.

"Whoever said that diamonds are a girl's best friend... never had a dog." 

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Jordana's First Halloween Event

Last October 17th, we joined Mommy Bloggers Philippines Spooky Circus Halloween at Sky Ranch Tagaytay. We're excited about this event because it's Jordana's first time to join, yay! Halloween for kids means Trick or Treat and, of course, wearing costumes.

Jordana's not new to wearing costumes as we had her monthly photo shoot since her first month until she turned one, and she would wear three different costumes in each photo shoot but it's only for 30 minutes. This time, she would wear her costume longer so we need one that's really comfortable on her. We were thinking of dressing her up as Cruella de Vil or Bride of Chuckie, haha, but it would require make-up and I still don't want to put make-up on her delicate face. So, we just visited SM Store and chose from their available costumes, there were a lot to choose from but most of the ones we really wanted were for bigger kids, the Maleficent costume was really nice but there's no size available for her and she would probably end up removing the headpiece anyway. We tried a few pieces and decided to get the Wonder Woman costume. 

She's so happy trying on her costume at home. The set didn't include the lasso, I just added it to complete the Wonder Woman look. I made my own paper twine and painted it to match the outfit.

We arrived early at Sky Ranch and there were still only a few people in the event area so we just walked around a bit. Jordana enjoyed running around while my husband and her babysitter, Ate Manel, were running after her and I was busy taking pictures.

She was already sleepy when the program started, haha, but luckily, she was still happy to go up on stage to present her costume.

There she is, my little Wonder Woman, together with the other kids. They all look cute and lovely in their costumes. There's Princess Leia who won first place, isn't she cute? Since the contest is over, I guess it's okay to reveal that I voted for Princess Leia as my top one, haha. I'm a big Star Wars fan and Jordana actually had a Princess Leia costume, too, when she was still a baby.

Jordana didn't place but we're so happy that she looked really adorable and enjoyed walking around as Wonder Woman.

The kids had fun with the games, the magic show, and balloon twisting by Mr. Poch, who was also a funny ventriloquist. There was also Trick or Treating but my baby was already asleep at that time so she wasn't able to join. 

It was a fun experience, even with the bad weather. The fun didn't stop even after the program as there were rides for the kids to enjoy.

Here we are just roaming around with my sleeping Wonder Woman. 

When Jordana woke up, she was once again energetic and ready to have fun. It was raining but we're still able to let her ride the carousel. 

Unfortunately, the weather didn't improve so we decided to just go shopping for pasalubong and leave early, and just went for Bulalo which was perfect for the cold weather. 

It was all in all, even with the fog and the rain, a fun day for us.  We went home with these goodies and I even won two tickets for the upcoming Disney On Ice show, how cool is that? 

Mommy Bloggers Philippines Spooky Circus Halloween event was made possible by generous sponsors and a team of mommies who love this blogging community.

Thank you to Sky Ranch Tagaytay who not only provided us with a venue but also made sure we had a great time by providing ride all you can tickets and delicious food from Kenny Rogers!

Special thanks to Mr. Poch Albiso, the Magic Meister who made it the most enjoyable day with his magic show and games. 

Our generous sponsors, Nido 3+, Krispy Kreme , Araneta Center, Summit Media, URC, Yeah! Shoot Photobooth, Lock and Lock, First Vita, Jardine Distribution, and Jollibee for their support, giving us giveaways and prizes.


Thanks to MBP for this event. Hope to see you all again!

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