Macra Me

Living room macramé wall hanging set done  at last👆🏼

I'm really stoked with this whole macramé  wall hanging thing since I learned making one through Pinterest tutorials. The easiest pattern I learned easily was the knot I used for my jute twine plant hangers because it resembles a basketball net (I had no idea they're called macramé back then) and after further research I then realized some macramé designs can be really simple while the rest can be totally painstaking to make. I was just really eager to learn how to make these simple cotton rope wall decor now called macramé wall hanging because of my resolve to ornate our living room aside from I don't want to drill anymore holes on our living room wall just to mount a humongous mirror or whatever huge fixture. It's just not practical as the cost for most furnitures can feed many starving children. Anyways, going back, the living room is one of the most important part of the house therefore it shouldn't be bare.

More DIY Macramé...

Materials for these diy macramé wall hanging decor weren't tough to find, I just used twigs (mostly broken twigs from pine trees damaged by the rain) as dowels and cotton ropes which only cost Php25 per spool from the textile shop.  I finished the huge one in the center weeks ahead of the two smalls ones (thus explains the color difference, the center one is super white while off white for the small ones 😂) which I attempted to ombre using a purple dye. My knotting skill isn't advanced yet that's why I only used familiar and simple knots to finished off the small purple macramés. It was quite tedious to make because it will require you time but, if you like what you do, time will just pass you by if you're squeamish to see the finished product. 

The latest one I worked on is quite different because I just used cotton rope scraps (from small macramés I made above) so they don't go to waste and my remaining pine twig. I did not have any pattern in creating any of these macramé wall hanging decors. I just create whatever is on top of my head, they're all definitely randomly designed. I think this form of art is similar to painting/drawing, you just paint whatever  picture you have in mind because art is random anyways, just allow the creative juice to freely flow. There are days I have so many random concepts for my macramés that I can no longer contain thus gives me an impetus to create. There are also days when I have zero concept in mind and that's just the way it is. My sister seriously asked me to cease making more macramés because our house already has enough of them lol. 😬

Before I end this blog, let me just share this informative fact about Macramé I borrowed from Wikipedia:  

Macramé is believed to have originated with 13th-century Arab weavers. ... Nineteenth-century British and American sailors made hammocks, bell fringes, and belts from macramé. They called the process "square knotting" after the knot they used most frequently.

Related Posts:

Ananda Marga
Space Between
Waste Nothing

Move

welcome to my bedroom; my desk/vanity table; fyi - all bedroom decors are diy;

my elevated bed beside the window; succulents (update: broke my terrarium 

because it accidentally hit the wall); fairy lights to give my room that whimsical

and hippie vibe 😂 ;  I'm still looking to change the curtains, add some mandala 

tapestry wall throw, change the bedding etc. so sorry for the mess 😣

I finally have my own bedroom yey! I decided to move out of my sister’s bedroom recently because
I want a room for myself which I can move around freely and decorate because I have my lazy daisy days when I just don’t feel like dusting or let’s just say I don’t feel like doing anything cleaning related. 

Elevated bed beside the window..

I’ve always wanted a quiet room beside the window where I could hang my plants and savor the cool wind breeze. My sister and I’s bedroom is bigger but we can’t position the bed right beside the window or it won’t be symmetrical since our  bedroom’s focal point are the windows, that’s where all the fixture arrangement is based and placing the bed in between the two windows always look better. I also decided to elevate my small bed in my new room by tucking all the unused pillows and stuff underneath the mattress which eventually saved me a lot of space. I love how comfortable my bed turned out. 

Mandala wall throw added on recently.

Me & my plants…

I can’t live without plants anymore since I started having one. I guess it’s true, plant lady is the new cat lady lol. I had no choice but hang all my plants in the window so it could at least catch whatever sunbeam is left during the day. My desk by the way is a makeshift vanity table, there's a mirror underneath the table and storage for my make up as well so how cool is that? The disadvantage though is that you can't use both the desk and vanity table at the same time. 🙄

Waste Nothing.

Bohemian Mandala Tapestry
Wall Hanging Throw

Bohemian Mandala Tapestry Wall Hanging Throw finally arrived after days of waiting so my sister and I immediately hang it on our bedroom wall to see if it will look good with our curtains. I must admit my excitement already subsided waiting for it to turn up because we live far. That’s the disadvantage of online shopping, it takes a while before you get to see your purchase and sometimes the quality isn’t as described or they do not look as good as they were on pictures. Anyways, I was expecting an actual tapestry like the one I bought from a local textile shop before (which I hand sewn to upholster my make up chair) and it was nowhere close. A tapestry is woven with its design embossed so you should feel it when you run your fingers through the fabric. A yard of tapestry also weigh more than a regular type of fabric.

Breakfast this chill out Saturday
morning.

Moving on, good thing we’re just going to use it as a wall hanging throw to accentuate our bedroom so we did not dwell on the fact that it wasn’t an authentic tapestry. This is just a heads up though in case you’re looking to purchase one online because majority of online sellers pretty much use the term ‘tapestry’ even if they aren’t authentic tapestry probably just oblivious of the difference and not really to purposely coax buyers or deceive people to purchase them. Let’s just say maybe some of them solely rely on the information their suppliers provide and aren’t really experts when it comes to textiles/fabric so I feel kind of bad for them. Nevertheless, as a consumer, everyone deserves their money’s worth of course. 

Macramé

Diy macramé wall hanging made from scraps.

This is my third Macramé so far and I’m quite stoked. I guess my obsession creating dream catchers is finally over as it was replaced by macramé lol. Alright so I felt bad for my cotton rope scraps and I don’t want to throw them away. I want every tad bit of them to have a purpose and not just go to the rubbish bin that’s why I decided to knot them together.  I was actually surprised to create one more macramé wall hanging decor for our second living room upstairs out of scraps. The pine twig also came from our backyard buried in dried leaves which I had to dry under the scorching heat of the sun. I'm trying to channel an image of a bull's head on this one.😂

🌸  Materials:

• cotton rope scraps
• jute twine
• pine twig
• red food color

Ananda Marga

photos 1-3: diy mini succulent garden; coffee table 

arrangement by yours truly Pinterest inspired; 

my latest diy macramé wall hanging decor made 

with cotton ropes. 

I love decorating spaces, it's such an enjoyable and greatly satisfying past time.   I really don't know why I did not take interior design for my college degree because I enjoy decorating houses more than anything. I practically DIY'd (if ever such word exist) pretty much everything inside our house. I just find re-arranging fixtures and creating home decors such a good de-stressing activity which requires minimal effort, cost and time. I think a space which allows its inhabitant to breathe is healthy for the body, mind and soul.

~Home Improvement.
Open and uncluttered home space is such a perfect nook for reading, eating and helps free the mind from negativism which is often achieved once indulged in de-stressing activities such as Yoga, Aroma Therapy etc. Point being, keeping things in such an orderly fashion can be good for the health, it helps us veer away from obstructions like some dark cloud looming above your head if you know what I mean.😬

~Healthy Body, Healthy Mind.

photos 1-3: enjoying my green tea & cat mug my

sissy bought from ebay; paleo pancake made

 from banana, eggs & rolled oats; rolled oats 

with soy milk, topped with banana, apple, kiwi

 & blueberry syrup (and oh my fave green

 tea with a generous squeeze of lemon!)

🙃

My sister conned me into healthy living back in 2010. That same year when fitness and healthy living is fast becoming a trend. Gym memberships and less carb/ high on fiber food sold like hot pancakes (the spawn of oatmeal bars, non-fat milk, wheat bread etc.),  people began counting their caloric intake in every food they eat (guilty as charged 😂). Been there, done that so we made our choice to never go back to that careless eating habit of ours moving forward.  I remember those days when my sister and I cocooned in a cramped up apartment which we gradually filled with stuff bought out of want and not need until we no longer have enough room to even move around. Our eating habits back then were also effing wayward. We suit ourselves with unhealthy takeaways (by choice) for dinner pretty much everyday when we come home from work until we just decided to stop due to weight issues, started boxing, coupled working out with healthy home-cooked meals. It was repulsive and depressing at first getting rid of junk food, but, you'll come around in your own time. Renouncing junk food in your life at first maybe as difficult as quitting smoking not that I ever tried smoking lol. I still eat cake, pizza, chips, fast food and takeaways once in a blue moon although in moderation unlike before (because both my sister and I already reaped what we sow from our unhealthy lifestyle years later). We both had our share of health constraints which led to months of hospitalization and leave of absence from work so I sure am never gonna go back down that road again.

Anyways, as an end note,  in relation to decluttering, open space invites harmony and bliss. The parallelism here applies to the toxins lurking in the food that we eat as clutter, the chemicals in them affects our mood and thinking, these toxins obscures the good stuff. Therefore, it's never too late to de-clutter your space, your body, your life per se. 

Space Between

open spaces help us heal...

I have been pretty busy lately scouring Youtube and Pinterest for urban bedroom ideas and there’s just tons of them to choose from. The only challenge is budget of course because room improvement can be pretty pricey even if you DIY most of your room decors (unlike in the U.S where diy materials can be really cheap). My sister and I share the same room (we're practically flatmates in all places we've been) because we always find shared space to be always cost effective plus we're twins so we have the same taste with pretty much everything and we barely argue when it comes to space arrangements.

~Boho ☮

To kick off this bedroom improvement project, my sissy and I bought two sets of curtains (good curtains always saves the day). She wants a Boho-inspired bedroom which I was ok with because it’s quite easy to achieve, you just have to hang a Mandala tapestry in your bedroom wall,  add plants, fairy lights and what not and there you go, instant Boho inspired room. As for myself, may it be Boho inspired on not, open, uncluttered space adds beauty to every room thus reduce stress level. I personally love plants, tapestries and dream catchers so this bedroom project of ours won’t be a problem definitely. We just ordered our Mandala tapestry online which we’re looking to hang overhead instead of a headboard as it’s the first step to a Boho inspired room. I already made quite a few jute macramé plant hangers in the past which I’m also looking to keep. They have been keeping my succulents in good shape plus the bohemian vibe they add to our room. I also learned after watching Robeson Designs, an interior decorating show on Youtube, how vital curtain window treatment is because it significantly adds character to every room. This is absolutely true after we installed our new curtains, our bedroom looked a whole lot better compared before, it was way cozier what more if we add on the Mandala tapestry? Anyways, I’ll make another blog post regarding how it will turn out. 🙃

Terrarium...

~Green is the color of your energy, yeah heh (to the tune of 311’s “Amber”)
🌵...

Speaking of succulents, I was happy to see couple of my succulents came to life again after many months. I remember seeing them wither and die one day so I decided to keep them in their pots and left them in the balcony for God knows how long until few days ago I noticed leaves stemming out of their tiny twigs.  I thought it was a miracle because whenever one of my plants die, they usually die for good except my Persian Shield which I mentioned on one of my previous blog posts. I guess it just happened those succulents are self-sustaining probably. The cycle of life even in plants never cease to amaze me. 

~Macramé...
And finally, my latest diy project was a jute, wall hanging macramé triangle I found pretty much all over Pinterest nowadays so I thought I better make one for our room. Making this project is quite tedious because you have to be patient with knots and it wasn't when you're using jute twines. The materials were very accessible though since I already have a spool of jute twine in my craft box. I don’t have any dowels so I improvised and used BBQ sticks instead then added some beads and a piece of feather to make it look bohemian. The only challenge was, I had a hard time flattening the jute twines that I needed to use a hot iron to do so. It did not lay totally flat but at least the hot iron helped in straightening the curls. I think a white cotton rope would look better and easier to work on though. Please check out my album in Pinterest here to see more of my random photos (diy stuff I made, travel photos, etc). 

Here comes the rain

photo from Pinterest

Welcome June. The summer season is finally over thank God. Now it’s time to bring out your puffer coats, rain boots and umbrellas, spring on. 

I have to put off my travel plans for now because of torrential rains and the recent turmoil our world is currently facing. I am feeling woeful about the terrorist attack in Ariana Grande’s recently concluded concert in Manchester, the crisis in Marawi (Mindanao), bombings in Thailand and Indonesia to name a few. I couldn’t wrap my head around why some people commit acts of evil. There are days when I skip Twitter because of tragic and sad news I read pretty much everyday and all I could do is pray and hope for things to be better as it’s already on a global scale. Anyways, going back, the month of June, aside from the downpour is also the month of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, National Awareness and the start of summer season in the U.S.

rainy season it is...

June Solstice is set on the 21st,  the days longer and the nights shorter in countries located on the Northern Hemisphere whilst Winter Soltice on the Southern Hemisphere. As for myself, I just want the sun beam in the morning and for the temperature to cool down the rest of the day because I’m done with summer. I would prefer a hot frothy macha tea, a good book or movie while the rain trickles outside. 

Reading time...

I just bought my e-book copy of Lang Leav's Sad Girls and eleven other e-books yesterday to keep me busy. I think June is for reading books and to snuggle with my cat, he hates the rain.