I'm a Jolly Toy Scout!

I have forgotten to write about this last year and felt that I should still share this now. We got a toddler in the house and so with a kid comes the toys and other stuff. At first, the toys occupied only a small space in the storage room until one weekend in December last year when I started cleaning and realized we accumulated two extra large Toy Kingdom plastic bags of stuffed toys. There was even a very large teddy that my youngest sister got from my mom as a kid and had outgrown. I asked our toddler to pick the ones that she still loves and decided to donate the rest to Jollibee in Santa Cruz, Laguna.

The Philippines' fast-food restaurant chain accepts donations of toys and books during the Christmas season through its Maaga ang Pasko program and this is my first time to donate. It felt good, especially because I know that the toys will go to children who needed them the most. As for my part, I’ve donated only the ones that are still in good condition – the mutilated and decapitated ones are still at home and getting a loving hug from our kiddo. I’ll definitely do this again next year.

Homemade crayons and organizing jewelry the Pinterest way

I just recently got bitten by the Pinterest bug and DIY crafts. Before this, I am adopting a greener lifestyle and thus kept items like toilet paper rolls, paper bags, old household items, plastics, etc., but never finding the time to repurpose them into worthwhile projects. A few months ago, I pinned several great ideas into my Pinterest boards and scheduled my weekends doing them. My first project were the homemade crayons I did with my 3-year-old niece. I've collected the bits of old crayons she had and put them into silicon molds I bought in a Japan surplus store. The mold comes in several shapes (heart, diamond, oval, etc.) I then put the molds in the oven toaster for less than 10 minutes and waited for them to cool. The result was, of course, a big hit! My niece loved it and I think the smile and sweet kisses I got made it all the more fun.

On to my next project: organizing my earrings and rings. One thing I truly like in Pinterest are the awesome ideas from people, which made you sigh and say, how come I never knew that? In fact, even the simplest item at home can end up as an interesting piece. I think most of us want to keep our homes as organized as possible, but this is always a daunting task because, let's be honest, we really have no idea how to go about it. So, I'm starting mine with a simple one: a jewelry box made out of an old beats by Dr. Dre box. I do not want to throw away this box and so kept it for a while until today. I decided to use the inner black-colored styro/plastic (?) and "pinned" my earrings into it. In the central circular space, I've put my rings.

These projects were really simple but I felt pride doing them because finally I'm not buying something straight from the mall and making use of what I have to organize and create simple treasures.