The Planetarium

My son is a big fan of the Solar System. He knows all the planets, their moons and the big stars of the universe. We have books, maps and even blankets of planets (we love to indulge in his geekiness).

So when the Planetarium opened a new exhibit recently, all my friends who knew my son immediately tagged me on facebook. I knew we should pay a visit.

A few blocks from Rizal Park (I still like calling it Luneta), we walked to The Planetarium. You can also take the jeep to Mabini and get down exactly right in front of this building.

 

Entrance is FREE where you can view the exhibits. You just have to register and leave your bags at their counter. You can only bring your wallet and phone at the exhibit area. 

I liked that the exhibition showed our ancestor's relationship with the universe. There's a story of how the stars were being used by our elders to time the planting their crops and more. There was also a portion on the different beliefs of each region (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) on how the Universe was born. 

 
My son immediately ran into this portion of the exhibit where all the big planets are, this is my favorite spot too.

 

 

You will only pay a fee when you'll watch the Planetarium Show. P30 for Students and Children, P40 for Senior Citizen and PWD and P50 for adults. The Full-Dome shows are Hayabusa, A Planet for Goldilocks and a Journey to a Billion Suns. They will also ask you to surrender your phone when you'll watch the show as photo taking is not allowed inside the tehater. 

We saw the show A Journey to a Billion Suns, which I think my son liked (there's very minimal showing of planets) but there was a lot of conversation I'm sure he did not understand (there were moments that I also didn't, it was very technical). It was about the supernovas and a quest to seek the distance of the stars. It was fascinating that my planet geek son who is also into stars saw giant stars like Rigel and Arcturus in the show.  A friend said that A Planet for Goldilocks might be more for kids. But never the less, it was a visual spectacle watching in that dome. 

They are closed on Monday and is open from Tuesday-Sunday (8:30 AM-4:30 PM). The first show starts around 10:00am.

 

Halloween Costume DIY

I've never experienced halloween when I was a kid. But now, it's like everyone is celebrating it, even the small barangays. It's another opportunity for kids to dress up in costumes and who doesn't think dressing up is fun? 

I go online and in the mall to search for the best costume for my son, and to be honest the prices aren't cheap. I found the pikachu costume that I wanted but my husband pointed out that if Leon doen't like it, I'd be wasting P1,500 and I think he's right. My search is not over though, everyone will be in costumes and I'd like my son to be wearing one too.

The gods must have heard my search which led me to a Toys 'R Us pop-up shop in Shangri-La Plaza (beside Kidzoona). They were selling old costumes of okd popular characters like Teletubbies and Sesame Street. I was browing the display and found the yellow teletubbies costume, Tinky Winky. I suddenly have an idea to just rework the costume into a Pikachu! 

Tinky Winky's costume for only P150!

Remember the teletubbies? 

Removed the silver square in the middle portion.

Sewed the details, which was 4 brown patches on the sides and the tail.

And with a Pikachu hat, I think we nailed it! Everyone loved the costume and was following my son around the mall yesterday. But he was running around and enjoying the treats . He was a bit oblivious of him wearing a popular character. I am just happy he enjoyed the party.

Another photo of him, enjoying the carpet in one of the shops. 

After going around though, he wanted to remove his costume to enjoy his treats. Happy Halloween everyone!

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Dapitan Arcade

Braving the afternoon heat, Wes and I took a jeep to Dapitan, out to explore for some items for the house and our other projects.

When we got there, we found out that our favorite shops that were situated outside were no longer there. We were bummed about it, but we were there on a mission so we just decided move inside and explore the arcade. 

As always, there are a lot of quirky finds and here are some of them.

From vintage sewing machines to snazzy Rimowa-like luggages, these coin banks add a special touch.

For those who are planning on Nautical themed party, now you know where to score these.

Ibjust found these lamps very unique.

You can find a lot of tin vintage signages also.

Resin cast wall decor for your coffee shop dreams.

DIY Egg Surprise

My son loves Kinder Surprise Eggs. To be honest, even I love them too! But I do no want to spend P46 everyday on a chocolate and a small toy. So I decided to just to my own version.

We are celebrating Easter next week so most of the toystores are selling plastic eggs. I got 8 eggs for P79.

I also bought candy for P25 for the whole pack.

We buy a lot of extra toys that we keep for my son and I found these small cars that I can use (my son loves cars by the way).

I also snagged some Cars stickers at the bookstore P40 for both. The other designs were nicer but more expensive also and I just wanted thos project to be very cost efficient.

I just opened all the eggs and placed the goodies inside.

Inside I placed 2 candy packs, 1 toy and a cut up sticker.

Then I closed the eggs and decorated with stickers.

I did all these for about 30 minutes and I cannot wait for my son to wake up to see these. 

The great thing about this project is that you can reuse and redesign the eggs after they have been opened.

Take it Slow

Some people can really put pressure on us when we let them. Before my son turned two this year, he can only say the word "car" which bothered people around us. Yes, he'd keep on blabbing, but that's about it.

I have always kept calm about this situation, boys speak more later than girls someone told me and I believed that. Because I also took care of my younger cousins who are mostly girls and they really picked up words fast.

Another cousin, who has a son with the same age as mine shares the same sentiment. We always update each other, "has your son started talking already?" And of course there are signs of developmental health we have to watch out for as parents. Does your child look straight in your eyes when you call him? And all these other things that are put in your plate you have to think of while raising a child.

When you go online on social media, you see children of friends who are really fast speakers and they are so cute, and somehow wish your child would start talking also.

When my son turned two last October, my fears have been alleyed when one day I just woke up and my son has started to count, sing the alphabet and old mcdonald had a farm. Really, children develop at their own phase and we cannot rush them to be like the rest. There is no better teacher than having a child, where you  have to have the patience to re-learn the most basic things in life. Most days, you will hear me an my husband singing all these nursery rhymes together with our son. I find myself humming these rhymes also on my way to work, it is my LSS. To be honest, I love learning these things again with my son.

And everyday and everynight, as I wake up and before I go to sleep, I thank the universe for the strength and patience that I have. 

Mini Scrapbooks

I am guilty of over spending this year on craft supplies. It was like Pandora's box when I discovered Project Life, May of this year and it has rekindled my love for papers, stickers and other things. 

But being a mother now means my priorities have also changed, and to save up on my excess spending, I have decided to make DIY Christmas gifts. I want to make a mini scrapbook set for my closest friends and here's a tutorial that you might me able to use also 😊

I used a 12x12 scrapbook paper stock.

Then I cut it into 3 strips, with the size of 4x12 inches.

Then I used a peg board to put a folding mark on the sheets.

It looks like this when you fold the sheets. Just arrange the pages in alternate to give the inside page a variation.

Then you staple the sheets. I got this long stapler from National Bookstore long before because I had a dream of creating my own zine.

Just embellish the front and you can also personalize with stickers and ephemeras.

Here are samples of my other creations :)

DIY journal card

I have been browsing through pinterest for weeks now, trying to get inspirations as I wait for my page protectors to arrive. 

I saw a pinwheel layout for a full page scrapbook page online and have been thinking how to interpret this for Project Life. 

I cut out a plain white card board paper and printed a circle with pie divisions.

Then I just the lines and tried to just trace them with pencil on the paper. 

I just used a regular cutter to cut the pies in the circle. And chose scrap papers to fit each pie.

I was also trying fo figure out the perfect layout for the words that I want to use for this layout. Until I decided to just position the words clockwise. 

And here it is a personalized journal card for my little monster :)

Project Life: Full Page Layouts

Journaling cards are pretty expensive, that's why when I found 12x12 sheets sold per piece at Bee Happy Crafts I had to make projects using them. 

There are generic patterns that you can mix up with other papers, but there are also some that really has the full page design that you have to work with.

I am sharing a project I worked on today using a doily as an embelishment.

This is my 12x12 paper stock that I had already cut up before I decided to do this post ;)

Hello doily! 

Also prepared my choice of embelishments. Stickers are my most favorite because the chipboard embelishments are also pricey.

I am also using some stuff from this kit. My first ever scrapbook kit set that I only bought because it was on sale.

My layout. This was from Holiday 2013.

Make sure that the back of the photo is secured from all sides because the layout will cut up the photo.

What the page looks like at the back.

And this is how it will look like in your project life pocket age 😊

Animal Prints

From my Nippori explorations