Trying To Get My Crochet Mojo Back!

It's been awhile since I picked up my yarn and hook. But with the Facebook page of millicentmelissa Handmade Accessories garnering almost 200 likes and my latest membership to the Philippines Crafters Association Facebook group, I had to get my "crochet mojo" back right away!

Here is the latest crochet necklace,

Read more

Project: Christmas Gift for Cha~~~Finished!

The Road Runner had nothing on me when I finished assembling Cha's Christmas gift...

Cha's Christmas gift
It was inspired by Spanish colonial tambourine necklaces

Detailed view

Read more

Christmas Vacation in the City of Flowers

from l-r: my brother-in-law Clarence, his sister Mae, Asti my nephew, Cha, 

Clarence's mom Tita Lily, moi and my son Marti

My sister Cha and her hubby Clarence invited us to spend Christmas in Baguio City, known here in the Philippines as the City of Pines and City of Flowers!

Haven't been to Baguio for 6 years which was quite long considering that our parents would bring us there on most of our summer vacations. A lot has changed and the City seemed to resemble downtown Manila with all the vehicular and pedestrian congestion. Nevertheless Baguio City has not lost it's natural beauty with its tall and sweet-smelling pine trees and vibrantly colored flowers!

Here are some of the pictures of flowers I took there:

My all-time favorite flower, Hydrangeas! In the Philippines
they're called Milflores

More Hydrangeas....Martha Stewart got me hooked on them

In a different but still lovely color

Marigolds
Never thought these were mosquito-repellent flowers until
the seller told us so. Would be handy in mosquito-land Manila but
these plants would not survive the humid weather there.

Haven't seen butterflies in awhile, probably due to Manila's pollution
but it was awesome how this one just happened to land on the
yellow Daisy I was taking a picture of!

I'm not sure if these are called Violets...how i wish they'd label
the flowers here...

More beautifully colored blooms

Via the internet I found out that these are called
Dahlias

Nameless yet lovely :)

Pardon the blurred photo but just had to take one of these
hanging flowers...

Closer view shows the lively yellow color of these flowers

It's true that the grass (in this case moss) is greener here!

"I declare this as Marti Land!"

Was so delighted to have visited Baguio. Got so much color inspiration that I started several crochet projects already!

Watch out for my new creations, coming out here soon...

Read more

First Crochet Project That Started It All

Having several unused yarn from the Crochet-edged Cloth Diaper project and with my sister Cha's birthday coming up, I thought of making something unique as a gift. Although there were a lot of free crochet patterns and ideas in the web, it all looked outdated and knowing Cha's taste in fashion I had to come up with something that she would really love to wear and brag about at the same time :-)

Been seeing a lot of those bib necklaces but they were fast becoming generic with the big gemstones and all so I thought I'd make one that was made of crochet: one-of-a-kind, elegant and not outdated at all!

Saw a tutorial on dorset buttons by Diane Gilleland of Craftsylish and it was what inspired this necklace:

work in progress

Made variations on the dorset buttons, some using the cartwheel pattern and some unfinished with just the casting around the ring. Rest of the circles are simple double crochet rings. After lining them up in the pattern above, I stitched the circles with clear beading cord (or fishline) and made the necklace with 1/2" thick satin ribbon in turquoise. 

Here's the finished product as worn by the birthday girl:

close-up

birthday girl happy with her unique necklace

When Cha wore this to their company meeting, she was almost mobbed by the other lady doctors begging her to reveal where she bought the necklace! After telling that it was handmade by her sister, the doctors made her promise to bring the rest of my items (I only had one!) at the next meeting. Also got a lot positive feedback at facebook and even orders! So what's a girl gotta do when the universe is already throwing you all the signs?

Read more