BANGALA FASHION SHOW

Being a World Hijab Day Ambassador, promoting the hijab and our religion is one of my main goals. For the second time last December 2016, with the help of the City Government of Cotabato, I organized a hijab fashion show, but this time we levelled it up to a whole lot higher level! We brought the most famous Indonesian Modest fashion designer in the world of Muslim fashion, Ms Dian Pelangi. Dian Pelangi is also model, product endorser and a blogger. Along with her also came one of the most influential bloggers & fashion model, Ms Indah Nada Puspita, Ms Shea Rasol who is a Malaysian designer, and Ms Dayah Bakar who is a Malaysian TV Host. :-)

This year's fashion show was called "BANGALA" (Bang-gala) which means outfit in our local Maguindanaon dialect. One of the many highlights and purpose of the show is to promote hijab, and modest fashion. It is for non-muslims to appreciate the beauty of it. It is for both muslims and non-hijabi muslims to understand its importance even more. It is for the muslim youth to be inspired by these modest fashion gurus and make them start wearing the same things too.

Since this year's was levelled up big  time, national media was part of the coverage team, too. See video below to watch PTV4's coverage of the Bangala Fashion Show.

Planner Series: Part II - Getting Started

**This is a pretty long post, but I think I've covered up all the basic things a starter should probably know about, so try to read everything! and gettttt involved! yippee! ;-P**

1. What is this planner thing?

-This whole planner craze is just about being creative &  "vamping up" our daily planners. As in the usual daily & PLAIN planners. You might just not realize it, but you might have planners you can actually design. When i understood the idea of this whole thing, I kinda laughed at myself, because I realized that all my planners wouldve become useful to me if only i had known that i can actually become creative w them.

2. So, ANY kind of planner can be used for planner designing?

-A big fat YES. All the planners used by the planner communities come in BLANK, PLAIN, BORING PAGES. You just have to look for your creative side, and beautify it. And that's where the planner-designing addiction begins.

3. Are there different types of planners?

-Yep! There are different types of planners systems you can choose from.

A.   DISC BOUND PLANNER. Discs bind the pages together in this planner system. Pages are removable for this type of planner. There's a different kind of puncher for this one though. The paper holes are also different from the usual ring binders, as they have an open end. See picture below. 

photo from www.prettyneatliving.com

popular brands: 

Me & My Big Ideas' The Happy 365 Planner. (Me & My Big Ideas is also called "M.A.M.B.I" by most planners. http://www.meandmybigideas.com/; Arc Planners is another brand too.

B.  RING BOUND PLANNERS, or sometimes called the RINGED PLANNERS or RING SYSTEM. It is when planners have... ummmm RINGS! :-P It's usually a set of 6 rings. Im sure you’ve had what we call "notebook binders" in highschool, where you can change the pages, and dividers for your subjects, by opening the rings. Thats basically how the ringed planners work. You customize the pages  or what the planner community would call "INSERTS” (see number 7; letter A)

Most popular brands are: Filofax, Kikki K, Webster's pages, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton and a lot more.

C. COIL-BOUND planners or the spiral bound planner. Just like the normal spiral notebooks we usually buy for school. You cant change or add pages, but you can always design the pages. :)

Most popular brands: Erin Condren, etc.

D. BOOK-BOUND planners or the fixed planners are the ones that you get from Starbucks, Coffeebean, and other coffee shops. The ones you get from the regular local bookstores. These are the ones you CANNOT CUSTOMIZE/change their inserts, BUT CAN design the pages.

Most popular brands: Moleskine, etc.

E. TRAVELLER's NOTEBOOK a.k.a "TN" -- It is the type of planner where you wont see any rings, but an elastic rubber band to hold the notebooks/inserts. Ringed planners, and TNs differ from sizes, too. 

Most popular brands: Midori Travelers notebooks, etc

4. So, there are sizes for these things?

-Yep! Planners come in different forms.

For ringed planners, there are these sizes:

Pocket or Small - pocket sized planners, usually made for TNs.

Personal or Medium or A6 - Remember, & Dont get confused: Personal, Medium and A6 are the same. Some brands refer to this size as "personal," while some "medium" or "A6."

These are the ones where you can carry anywhere, just like the pocket planners -- but in a bigger size, but can still be carried and put in your handbags.

Large or A5 - These are the "DESK PLANNERS." usually just for your home desks/tables, a little big for you to carry around when going out.

5. Brands? There are brands for these? Any specific brand that’s good?

-Well, as i have said, ANY planner will do. But there are these famous brands for the ring system like Filofax, Kikki. K, Happy Planner (sometimes called 365 planner or "Mambi" planner), Websters Pages/Color Crush, Erin Cornden, & some local  etc.

While for TNs, there's Midori, Happie Dori, Faux dori, all kinds of dori's! Haha

Hobonichi is a famous one too. They’re from Japan.

6. What's a "PLANNER PEACE?"

-haha! I asked this question, too. But this is how i understand it: You know that movie "KUNG FU PANDA?" where Master Shifu would say, "Anything is possible when you have inner peace?" The idea is just like that. It's the contentment. It's when you're finally comfortable and happy with the planners that you own. 

This one though, is almost impossible to attain, because I'm sure WE WILL ALWAYS WANT MORE. HAHA

7. What are the things used to design/decorate planners with?

a. INSERTS - these are the pages, dividers that you use to cuztomize your planner. 

photo from @stationerygirlcebu

Here you can see that the owner decorated her originally empty planner with these lined page inserts.

These are inserts for TNs. They're basically notebooks, and are kept together by a rubber band.

b. PENS - many planner girls use different kinds of pens to decorate their planners with. Some may even apply their calligraphy skills by using brush pens if their papers are of good quality. Some use colored pens to color their pages/spreads with.

c. WASHI TAPES - Washi tapes are probably the thing that all panner girls go crazy for. It's every planner girl's must-have. Usually used to decorate the borders, corners, lines of the spreads/pages.
These tapes also vary in sizes. There's the big, regular and slim ones. In this video, you will see how she decorated her pages with different washi tape sizes :)

what the ULTRA SLIM washi tapes look like! photo from @bjmastura 

d. STICKERS - there are so many stickers available that's especially made for crafting, and people use these to decorate their planners. A lot of online sellers (both in Etsy and instagram) customize kawaii stickers! (i will post instagram sellers in my next blog post)

Stickers from Kikki K

e. STAMPS - Staaamps! I'm craaaazy about stamps! I live for them! Ahaha! Stamps come in different kinds - clear rubber stamps, and wood stamps! Wood stamps are usually the cheap ones. While the clear silicon rubber stamps (photo below) are a bit pricey. 

*How to use the stamps?*

To be able to use these stamps, you need 3 things. 

1. The Stamp

2. An Acrylic block - stick the adhesive side of the stamp to the block - the block will serve as the handle for you to be able to stamp it. These are clear blocks, so you can see exactly where you're stamping the paper.
3. An Ink Pad
4. Colored pens (optional) - some use coloured pens to colour the stamped image :-)

Here is a quick video on HOW TO USE THE STAMPS. Please watch!

STAMPS & STICKERS pros and cons:
These two basically have the same concept. 
But here's what you have to put in mind when deciding on splurging on these items:
with STAMPS, you can stamp the images for as much as you want to. Unlimited stamping! I personally like to use stamps for words that look like hand-written. Also for list stamps, and border stamps. while STICKERS are much cuter for image decorations. Stickers usually achieve the full colour of an image, as well as the exact copy of let's say a cartoon character or exact image of a sushi! or burgers! fries! coffee! --i know most of us will always want to document what we're eating and stuff like that. BUT! stickers are limited. You will eventually run out of copies of each image, not unless you buy loads of sticker sheets with the image you want to design your planners with -- which will definitely cost you a lot! 
So thats basically the difference between the two. 

f. CHARMS - They use charms to simply make their planners look cute, and sometimes these serve as an item to identify ownership of one's planner.
Here's what they look like:

a replica baby charm for my Filofax butterfly!

these are the charms i got from @bitstopieces.

There! I think those are the first FAQs you first need to know about! I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info! But I think that's already a pretty good roundup for a starter! :-) 

Im leaving you with this quick video of the basics on how to decorate your planners! I like this video a lot because it's short, and it shows how to decorate with washi tapes and stamps! :-) please watch!

If i missed a question you'd like to know the answer to, please let me know and ill try to answer it! :) Or if I missed anything, or if theres something thet needs to be corrected, lemme know! xoxo

Mara

My Planner Addiction: Part I - How It All Started

Im crazy about collecting things! I collect almost all sorts of things! As a kid, i collected Hello Kitty stuff, until it progressed to the whole Sanrio characters. I collected Barbie dolls -- an addiction that my Ama (lolo/great grand father) supported -- he used to bring me home one barbie doll every time he gets home from his out of town trips. I collected crafts and beads for my "kikay" accessories.  My most serious collection that up until now is growing big, is my Audrey Hepburn collection. It started in highschool, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. As a teenager, i also collected even the odd stuff. I would keep price tags from the clothes i buy, especially ones that show huge huuuuge discounts from the original price. I collected the useless stuff that always turned up in the garbage every spring cleaning. I was always so crazy about collecting random things, i dont even know why! I guess i really get easily attached -- and then find letting things go hard. :-P

My fascination with stationeries started when I was still a little girl. I loved collecting papers with colorful, beautiful designs, and even ones that had scent on them. I can still remember bringing them to school, and comparing them to my classmates' collections, too. We would gladly exchange papers we have from our packs of stationeries. I also really loved collecting stickers that i had a couple of what we used to call "sticker albums" back in the days, for me to be able to keep and arrange my stickers -- although Mom was really the one who arranged, and put them altogether, in groups & categories lol! I had all sorts of kinds! From teddy bears, cartoon characters, and famous celebrities & movies, such as Titanic. Yep! Jack & Rose were part of my sticker album. I also remember buying those "chupachups" lollipops religiously just so i could collect and complete their Spice Girls stickers -- and boy was I able to do such thing! haha! I would bring my sticker albums to school, and i would go to highschool buildings because the high school students loved giving me stickers, and they would help me arrange them in my album.

I never really got overt that addiction, even until i reached college. You know what they say.. OLD HABITS DIE HARD! ;-) Whenever i see fancy & cute notebooks, planners & journals in bookstores, I would buy them, but wouldnt be able to write in them because it always broke my heart to do so, so they just end up as displays. I have a collection of both dated and undated journals dating from 2008-2015.

I honestly think that particular addiction was useless. Until one night, I was browsing through instagram, looking for pens (which i have a collection of, as well. duh. haha) and stumbled upon this thing called "planner community." I found it through a hashtag of pens. I got curious, and ended up checking out every photo with different hashtags that were related to this whole planner thing, and realized how big this whole thing is. I was really interested, but I HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT IT. And when i get interested in something, I really make sure i would understand and know everything about it.

At one point I reached a hashtag called  "planner party," which was held in Manila. And i noticed a familiar face. It was my dad's cousin, Iya (@craftymommabear on instagram). I treat Iya like a cousin though, even though technically she's my aunt. My dad has a lot of cousins my age, so we're the ones who usually hang out  & are close to each other. Anyway, i saw her in one of the planner party photos, and I contacted her right away. I needed to ask her a lotta questions that still bugged me, as i was ummm technically new to the whole planner designing thing.

She then explained to me everything about it, which led us to a conversation that almost reached us till sunrise! Iya was a REALLY big help. I call her my "planner master" and mentor. Anything that i dont understand, i would ask her and she'd always have an answer to them!  One thing that I really  love about the planner community, is that everyone shares what they know. I see a lot of instagram questions on posts, and these planner masters really reply to them. They dont have this "crab-mentality" that most filipinos have. ugh. They dont keep things to themselves, they treat the community as a their craft family, basically. They dont hesitate on telling you what shops they know,  what's the use of this and that. There are no secrets. They love sharing what they enjoy doing. What they know, they let everyone know.  They even have "planner parties" where they would show other "planner girls" how they decorate their planners. 

Im a person who loves to share what fancies me and what I enjoy the most. (and I wouldn't dare keep this craze to myself, or else id end up having a mental illness! haha!) I first shared this to my family. My mom, my sisters Ainee, Yanna & Twin Tish & my aunts. Although when i was about to surprise them with their first planners, I already saw Tisha's planner snapchat post -- so it was a bummer i wasn't able to surprise her. Haha

I became really crazy about it, that i decided to make it a business. I made an online craft store account called "Love & Other Crafts" (yep! the idea's from the movie "Love & Other Drugs!" haha!) And i also made a separate craft account, @ohmegasigh, because i dont want to be flooding my public ig's followers with too much craft posts! haha

Anyway, in the next series of these blog posts, I will be sharing everything that I know about this huge thing about PLANNERS that's been going on, for a long time now -- which i had discovered not too long ago. I want so many of you to get involved, too! WARNING: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. Ill start with the most frequently asked questions! Im just trying to finish everything, and will let you know once the posts are up!! 

So keep posted!

Peace

Love

Light

x

x

x

Mara

Baby Shower Photos

Yesterday, October 24, 2015 was my baby shower. Theme was "gender reveal" because everyone  didnt have any idea on what our first baby was gonna be. Jam and I were completely clueless! Our friend Sheena and my sister Ainee were the only ones who knew about it. Sheena was with me during my 4th or 5th monthly checkup/ ultrasound and I asked her to take a look at the gender, so we could have this kind of baby shower. 

Exactly 5 months ago, during my birthday, I surprised everyone about the pregnancy news, so this time, we decided to make another surprise announcement, too. :-) We had an outdoor baby shower, which i loved because yesterday's weather was absolutely great. The shower theme/colors really popped out, and the whole place was just full pf positive vibes! My closest relatives and friends were there, which meant everything to me, too.

I am thanking my parents especially, for making everything possible yesterday. Alhamdulillah. My mom was the one who really put time and effort in it. Special thanks to my aunts and friends who cooked good food for the event, too. And of course to Sheena & Ainee who really kept the secret, and made efforts to make the surprise work, too. Thank you to my INSTAGRAM/TWITTER/FB/SNAPCHAT followers for expressing their excitement, happiness, and prayers over online comments, too! :-) I love you all!

Thanks to KAI's LOUNGE who decorated the dessert table and backdrop! :)

Thanks to GLAMOUR RESTO for the yummy merienda treats, too!

Yesterday was so fun, and i couldnt help but feel grateful to my family and friends who constantly shower us with love and care. Jam and I had been trying to have this baby inside me for almost 2 years already, and now that it's here, I cannot stop thanking Allah swt.. so I appreciate and treasure things like this (baby shower,) much more than Im supposed to. 

Alhamdulillah for this blessing we're both having.

Alhamdulillah, always.

Anyhoo! Here are the photos im sharing! :-)

 

 Ties or Tutus cake by JANIS DK cake house

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Gender Reveal Baby Shower preparations

Some things I made for my baby shower yesterday. 

The diaper raffle idea was really good, because i received a lot of diaper packs, which actually already served as gifts. 

Old Wives Tales Gender prediction chart was also made and posted online before baby shower day came. Note that this was all for fun, and i dont believe in superstitions, or what the Filipinos call "pamahiin"

Post-contest group photos :-)