Capture the Good Times!

A couple of weeks ago, our family went for a vacation in Baguio, a tourist destination north of Manila. This is the go-to place for people who would like to take a break from their busy urban lives and enjoy cool weather and a laidback atmosphere. Now Baguio is a city,  but it has this suburban feel to it where you wouldn’t have to keep track of time and everyone’s nice to everybody. I was just there earlier this year but I cannot possibly get tired of visiting this city with its beautiful parks and sites to see. There is just something about this place that makes me want to, as cliche as it may sound,  stop and smell the flowers.

Taken at the Baguio Botanical Gardens

La Trinidad, a city just outside Baguio, is famous for its Strawberry Farm. Too bad strawberries were out of season when we visited, though they also have rows and rows of fresh lettuces to get lost in!

This was taken at The Good Shepherd Convent. The convent sells products made by the Good Shepherd nuns. They carry items such as fruit preserves, strawberry and ube jams, cashew and peanut brittle, and coco jam. According to the City of Pines website, the money generated from the sale of their products is used for the different charities sponsored by the Good Shepherd nuns and also for the maintenance and upkeep of the convent. Cool, huh?

They don’t call Baguio the City of Pines for nothing. 😉

This post may have been generally about my latest travel but of course I could not possibly forget to insert a papercut project, could I? This was a papercut I made a few months back, which my brother promised to photograph for me. I figured this would fit nicely in a blog post about spending quality time with your family.

The Outdoors

One of the things I enjoyed when I last went to our province was making my papercuts outdoors (see the ones I made from there here and here). It’s a totally different experience when you just have your headphones on and go cutting in the garden using daylight and not a desklamp as your source of light.

This morning when I woke up, the weather was so perfect and warm, I just had to go into the garden and make the most out of it. And since I needed to finish a project anyway, I brought my cutting materials (and iPod) with me.

What I was making for this particular papercutting session is, I would say, purposeful. Not that my other works were made in vain (admittedly, some were made out of boredom, but always with inspiration). I say “with purpose” because these papercuts I was making are to be photographed professionally by my brother to promote my blog. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come:

This is kind of off-topic, but allow me to share one of the pieces I bought from my recent trip to a local crafting/furniture warehouse called Regalong Pambahay. I was as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning when I stepped into their store. One, because they have pieces that are no longer carried in most of their mall outlets, and two, almost everything is 20% off!

Remember this papercut I made as tribute to a well-loved Filipino band? It looks so much different in this frame.

I had been looking for this kind of frame for weeks, so you could just imagine my excitement upon seeing this!

I also bought a shadow box and one more double-glassed frame. Too bad they don’t carry a bigger frame that would fit my other projects.

If you’re a fellow crafter and you’re reading this, I hope I inspired you to try making your projects outdoors (only if it’s applicable with the craft you’re into, of course). Here’s someone who surely enjoyed it with me: