If you knew me way back in my grade school days, you'd never think that I'd grow up crafty. I was just wading way over my head in those Home Economics classes in Grades 5 and 6. I didn't have the patience to do my projects, much less stitch a good running stitch or crochet a perfect knot. I even had my mother beautify a Work Ed (back in Grade 4) project of a small box made of popsicle sticks BECAUSE to her horror, her only daughter, was making a hideous draping of some boring cloth on the box.

Of course I exaggerate at my mother's horror. LOL. But really, my mother is the artsy type. Very creative, very full of ideas. Our house is her masterpiece - she really wanted to study Interior Design but my grandfather was very strict and didn't want her to study outside Davao City. (Sshh, she doesn't want to broadcast that but there I go :P)

But I digress.

I don't know the specific time when it started but I just know it was during college. Maybe I got in touch with my inner self (aka may sariling mundo). I started with cross stitching because that was one craft that I've sort of liked and found easy to do. Then it progressed to sewing just recently.

I started buying Real Living and Yummy magazines instead of fashion magazines. Maybe I was nesting, having my own family, starting to get domesticated and all that vibe.

Or maybe it has something to do with economics as well. Haha. I've always been a sucker for bags (aren't we all? Hehehe) but my stingy thrifty side just tells me that I'll be paying for something which I'll just set aside later on. And on closer inspection, it made me think that I could sew something like it.

So I started scouting for DIY websites. And believe me, there are A LOT! My favorites are instructables.com, tipnut.com, and about.com. These sites just give me a lot of craft ideas.

These also provide recipes which I try out from time to time. I choose those with ingredients that are easy to find. I now have 8 types of dried herbs on my cupboard to experiment on taste. I've grown to like celery and the nice aroma it brings to dishes. I have balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, oyster sauce and chili flakes on stock as well. Just yesterday, I experimented on a stir fry recipe which I just thought of on my own - just used logic to decide on which veggies and meat would work well together. And I'm glad it turned out delicious (hehehe love your own!).

More recently, I also started making my own (costume) jewelry. I saw an ad for a 1-day workshop on making jewelry which I wanted to attend but couldn't find time for. Then DIY flashed on my mind again so I started to look for jewelry on my favorites sites and voila! I found several tips and tricks from my trusted sites. I just had to buy my beads, findings and tools from Quiapo - that much I knew from reading local magazines and talking to friends who share the same hobby.

Now, when I walk around the mall and find cute bags and bling blings, I'm still tempted but a voice inside my head stops me because it whispers..."You can make that yourself for less the price". LOL.

I didn't think that I would turn into this crafty person but I'm really glad I did. Now I have an outlet and this shared passion brought me and my mother closer. We gush at the same stuff now although crocheting is still a challenge for me (I just can't make relaxed stitches!).