Category Archives: Hobby

How To Start Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a great way to make personalized memories last forever and a fun hobby to explore your creative side. Here’s what you need to start your very first scrapbook.

Gather Supplies

Start reviewing what supplies and art materials you have at your disposal. If you are limited, consider going to an art supply store and purchasing some new things to craft with. You can keep it simple with some scrapbook paper and stickers or grab some glitter and colored ostrich feathers for some added flair. Make sure you have scissors and glue to cut and paste pictures and other embellishments onto your scrapbook pages. Most importantly, you will need at least one empty scrapbook to start building your pages in.

Photo by Vladimir Proskurovskiy on Unsplash

Plan It Out

Think about what you want the theme of your scrapbook to be. You might make it for a special occasion, to commemorate an accomplishment, or treasure a family vacation. When you decide on the theme, gather all the personal mementos and photos you would like to include. Scrapbooks come in a variety of shapes and sizes so you can include small items like room cards, boarding passes, menus, and more. Choose a patterned or colored background to build each page on before placing it into your book. Don’t glue things down right away in case you decide to rearrange things on the page.

Respect Your Space

You will most likely need a few scrapbooking sessions to complete one project, so keeping your space organized and treating your materials with care is important. After every session, make sure you clean up your workspace and put your art supplies away in a designated drawer or storage bin. As you acquire more supplies over time, it might be a good idea to designate an entire closet or room to your scrapbooking supplies.

There’s no limit to how creative you can get with your scrapbook.

Finding My Own Place in the Blogging World

I started blogging more than ten years ago to share bits and pieces of information about HIV/AIDS.

My husband encouraged me to set up a blog to post the news and feature articles I wrote for a daily publication. Those articles were mostly about People Living with HIV/AIDS or PLWHAs. During those times, fewer materials about PLWHAs are available on the Internet due to privacy issues.

Because I was a newbie in the blogging platform, I searched for other blogs/bloggers who may share the same interests. While lurking, I stumble on mommy blogs. One blog features photos of kids following a weekly theme. I thought it was cute and decided to join the “meme” by sharing my kids’ pictures on the blog. I had fun because I look forward to interacting with fellow mommies every week.

Earn online

While interacting with other bloggers, I’ve learned that I can earn online. So I started signing up for various companies that pay bloggers for writing articles.

In 2010, I bought my first domain to earn more online. New friends were supportive to help me set up a blog with a nice layout. I’m still thankful to them for all the help they’ve extended to me. The other mommy friends helped me with the technical stuff and offered a hosting service for my first blog.

They’re the same friends who shared referrals to paying sites and direct advertisers. I was able to generate funds from the passive income. It was a big help for a single-income family like mine.

Brand ambassador

In 2012, I became part of a campaign that assists people to lose weight. Thanks to mommy friends who recommended me to join the weight loss challenge. Overall, it was a nerve-wracking but productive experience. I believe it was the peak of my blogging journey to date. I’ve met a lot of interesting people behind the blogs.

I guess I share the same sentiments with influencer Amy West when she recalls her experiences with brand partnerships. Amy travels a lot. She promotes brands and writes blogs while traveling to various places.  

I didn’t win the weight loss challenge, but I learned to take care of my health. I continue to exercise and mind my food intake.

Blog coverage

The blog exposure somewhat allowed me to cover events. I was lucky to attend a few, a Family Day in an exclusive school for girls; green social enterprises in a municipality in Metro Manila; and an art exhibit by human rights activists. The coverages brought back the memories I had as a reporter.

There were opportunities to review certain products. The good thing about blogging is that you can express your honest opinion about the product. For me, blogging plays a significant role in the promotion of new merchandise in the market. Potential consumers can easily access product reviews online and decide if they will buy the product or not.

Blogging onward

I have been in this business for more than a decade now. I can’t say I’ve made a mark in the blogging world because I’m an ordinary blogger with no accolades or large following. I’m happy enough to share the side of an introverted mommy blogger.

What keeps me motivated to continue blogging these days is a personal goal. You see, my son is in the last two years of college, and I rely on the income I get from blogging and online gigs.

Advocacy

I have mentioned sharing about PLWHAs stories in my other blogs. I believe the stories of real people living with HIV/AIDS will help raise awareness about the public health threat among vulnerable populations. 

Pocket Vegetable Garden

Hubby is so excited about growing a mini vegetable garden. He started with the sili labuyo plant (chili pepper) which I bought from Halamanan sa Pasig last month. I also purchased from them three Bacularis plants which are known for their air-purifying quality.

He got inspired by the siling labuyo plant that he decided to also plant tomato seeds, spring onion stalk, more sili seeds, and later kinchay or Chinese celery.

Update: We have already picked at least eight ripened chilis. Their so small but spicy.

We’ve got tomatoes growing right here. I’m excited about this project. We’ve been planning to have our vegetable garden for so long and it is slowly being realized this year.

Update: The young onion (upper right corner) and the celery (lower right side) died. The tomatoes grew a bit.

Planting is one of the small things that made hubby and me happy these days. It’s something that eases off our stress and worries from day-to-day activities. We are not getting any younger and simple activity like this is beneficial to both our mental and emotional health. 

My certified plantito hubby. 😀 This batch (of the plant) will serve as a fence right outside our window to secure it from irresponsible neighbors who leave their garbage and whatnot on the sidewalk.