See you later, DLSU.

I know this is a month late, but whatever. I'm gonna post it anyway!

As of October 11, 2014, I am officially a graduate of De La Salle University-Manila.

• First, I would like to say thank you to my parents for sacrificing so much, working hard and supporting my siblings and I just so we can all get a top quality education. I hope I have made you proud.
• I would like to say thank you to the university for accepting me into their school and providing me grade A education and top of the line materials and equipment. Although DLSU was not my first choice, I'm thankful that I ended up there.
• I would like to say thank you to my professors. Even though I was one of those patapon students, too lazy to send in their works on time, sometimes not even sending them at all, doodling in class, and basically just not reciting, thank you for the insights that all of you have shared to my fellow students and I. You professors don't know it, but I do listen.
• I would like to say thank you to my blockmates. I may have strayed from the pack, but you guys have made my first year in DLSU a little less scary. It's a shame I didn't hang out with you guys more.
• I would like to say thank you to my organization, Green Giant FM. You are the best family anyone could ask for and you guys have made my stay in DLSU an amazing one. Joining GGFM was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I'm not good with long farewell speeches, but I hope all of these thank yous would suffice. I will miss the student life, but hey, maybe one day I'll go back to doing academics. Art school!

But for now, off to the real world!

Incoming Mail: Purple Snail Mail

I finally received the colour swap snail mail from a fellow TPS member named Emily!

I would like to thank her for the eraser and roll of washi tape. And the envelope is just beautiful.

I really love it when snail mailers put all their heart, soul, and creative juices into their mail art.

xoxo

- Kat

Behance Portfolio

I decided to join the bandwagon and sign up for Behance. And just like the hearsay, it's very simple and easy to use.

I posted some of my old artworks as well as the new painting I made today.

To see my Behance profile, just click on the 'PORTFOLIO' link on the right side bar.

Glad I signed up!

xoxo

- Kat :3

Swap of the Month: Color Swap

I decided to join a mail swap over at TPS. There were two swaps that we could join, but I decided to do just one since it's my first time doing it.

The one I chose to participate in is called a Color Swap, where we make an envelope based on our swapees' favorite color. Even the items that we include inside the envelope have to be in the same color scheme!

The swapee that you get is chosen randomly, but amazingly, I got my friend Arielle, my orgmate and the one who introduced me to TPS.  After I found out who I was going to give my mail to, I became extremely excited and started working on it immediately.

Can you guess what Arielle's favorite color is? (Hint: It's my favorite color too.)

xoxo

- Kat :3

Outgoing Mail: Spain, USA, Finland, and Belgium

I've  been busy during finals week and all of these outgoing mails are SUPER LATE. Except for Elisse's from Belgium. Luckily for her, her mail arrived a few days ago, so I was able to make hers when I wasn't busy anymore.

Here are my outgoing mails for Tania from Spain, Nastassja from the U.S. (she's also Filipino!), Heidi from Finland, and Elisse from Belgium.

I really do apologize for being super late with these snail mails. But I hope my penpals enjoy them!

xoxo

- Kat :3

Incoming Mail: Finland

Tired from the unbearable heat and commute today, my day got better after seeing a beautifully designed envelope on the kitchen counter. I knew it came from my pen pal Heidi from Finland.

And let me just say, the letter, the envelope, and the ephemera are just so beautiful. Heidi's amazing at designing!

Look at all the wonderful ephemera! She also included an 'About Heidi' card.

And the snail mail included a Mail Tag! I wonder what Mail Tag I can do for her.

xoxo

-Kat :3

Ha-ga-pi-gi Be-gert-de-gey

Last night, I attended a product launch party hosted by Forever Ugly, Polarities, and Vachuca called Hagapigi Begertdegey. The name, which actually means Hapi Bertdey (Happy Birthday), is a play on Gibberish by including 'ag', 'gi', and 'eg' in the words.

With the theme paying tribute to the 90's, the event was an amazing night filled with food, games, freebies, raffles and contests, 90's music, and a performance.

It was a really great night for me because of five things:

1. I met a bunch of cool people.
2. I performed and sang along with my friend Zoe (who was playing the ukulele) in front of the party crowd. It was so nerve wracking, I couldn't even look at the audience most of the time I was singing.
3. I was nominated for best dressed. I placed second, but still. The consolation prize was awesome!
4. I got thank you freebies from one of the owners of Polarities for performing in front of the crowd.
5. Nostalgia. All the feels I felt. Pure happiness. (╥_╥)

Be happy!

So many items designed and made by the talented people of Forever Ugly, Polarities, and Vachuca.

Do these words sound familiar?

 One of Polarities' many designed wooden boards. UNICORNS! *u*

This thing is what's used to play the classic Filipino party game called pabitin.

 Vachuca's plastic wallets and/or business card holders

Classic sari-sari store set up for the snacks!

Zoe performing an instrumental of You've Got A Friend In Me.

Party goers!

Themed parties are the best! Crossing my fingers for an 80's themed party next.

To see what freebies and goodies I got, click here.

xoxo

- Kat :3

Freebies and Goodies!

I received a lot of cool freebies during the Hagapigi Begertdegey product launch party and just seeing them made me smile. 

Nostalgia has taken over me. (╥_╥)

I mean, look at all that cool stuff! All these toys and candies reminded me so much of my childhood. 

To my Filipino friends, do you guys remember any of these?

I also got some free stickers and a plastic wallet/business card holder of the modern era.

 And it was a sort of Treat Yo Self day for me as well. I bought a few things, three of which are for postal purposes.

xoxo

- Kat :3

Outgoing Mail: My First Pen Pal

I've been crazy busy for days trying to figure out what to send to my first ever pen pal.

Let me just say it's difficult to write a letter and figure out what items to send to a complete stranger, even with our likes and dislikes posted on TPS.

My pen pal's name is Tania and she lives in Spain. For her package, I decided to make it a floral theme snail mail because I read from her profile that she likes flowers, as well as sewing and vintage items.

Here you can see the contents of my outgoing mail.

Time to send this snail mail package on its way!

More postal posts soon!

xoxo

- Kat :3

DIY of the Day: Sail Mail

Today, I joined The Postal Society's July Challenge where the theme is nautical mail art.

Seeing as how I like keeping it simple, I stuck with a blue and white color scheme (with some splashes of color here and there).

Now, I present to you my entry entitled...

Let's start with the envelope. I drew on some curvy doodles and I included stickers to put the name and address of the sender and sendee to stick on the envelope.

As for the paper to write the letter on, they're just simple blank paper with a "Sail Mail" heading and a compass divider on the bottom.

Now, for the other special contents.

First up, we have an origami steamboat and instructions on how to make one. I've always been a lover of origami and I wanna put a little piece of what I love into my mail. Tee hee.

Second, three hand-drawn, hand-cut stickers made by yours truly.

Third, these pretty blue seashell tags.

And lastly, this postcard I designed myself. See the little wordplay I did there? Sail Mail. Get it? He he he.

front and back

And the font I used is super cute too! You can get it here.

I always love a good challenge and I really enjoyed making my DIY nautical mail art. It's creative challenges like these that keep my creative juices flowing.

Now the only question is, who do I send this nautical mail to?

xoxo

- Kat :3

The Postal Society

Thank you to one of my friends for referring me to this website called The Postal Society, a page dedicated to snail mail lovers and connoisseurs.

photo (c) The Postal Society

(CLICK PHOTO FOR LINK TO WEBSITE)

I've always wanted to have a pen pal, but I was always afraid to send mail to random strangers. You know, stranger danger and all that. But this website reassures me of the wonders of the old fashioned correspondence system.

I'll do an update after I get the hang of the website.

xoxo
- Kat :3

Summer Reading

I'm happy to report that my love for reading has not waned!

I've been spending so much time reading academic books and essays, that I haven't had the time to do some leisurely reading. So I made a promise to myself that this summer, I will read as much novels as I can before school starts.

My favorite from my summer reading list would have to be The Virgin Suicides. The novel was so enthralling that I refuse to let the book down. The story of the Lisbon girls just sucked me right in.

I even plan on making artworks inspired by The Virgin Suicides.

Summer 2014

This summer, my family and I took a five day vacation on the wonderful island of Boracay.

And of all the things I forgot to bring, it had to be my camera. But hey, I got to take a couple of sunny pictures with my iTouch. 

The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and the sea water was cold and refreshing. And sand. SAND EVERYWHERE.

There were a lot of activities to do on the island. We went island hopping, sunset watching, and we rode banana boats! There were also land sports such as ziplines, ATVs, and Zorbs. 

And if you love making sand castles in the sand (see what I did there?) like these sand pieces that were created by the children on the island, the white sands of Boracay are just amazing.

Although I had a great time, I don't plan on coming back any time soon. It was fun, but five days was more than enough for me. And I need to take the sand out of everything.

Uninspired.

I've been feeling extremely uninspired and it's jeopardizing my future as an artist.

image © tumblr.com

I need to get out more.

My Personality Type: The Dreamy Idealist

Dreamy Idealists are very cautious and therefore often appear shy and reserved to others. They share their rich emotional life and their passionate convictions with very few people. But one would be very much mistaken to judge them to be cool and reserved. They have a pronounced inner system of values and clear, honourable principles for which they are willing to sacrifice a great deal.

Joan of Arc or Sir Galahad would have been good examples of this personality type. Dreamy Idealists are always at great pains to improve the world. They can be very considerate towards others and do a lot to support them and stand up for them. They are interested in their fellow beings, attentive and generous towards them. Once their enthusiasm for an issue or person is aroused, they can become tireless fighters.

For Dreamy Idealists, practical things are not really so important. They only busy themselves with mundane everyday demands when absolutely necessary. They tend to live according to the motto “the genius controls the chaos” - which is normally the case so that they often have a very successful academic career. They are less interested in details; they prefer to look at something as a whole. This means that they still have a good overview even when things start to become hectic. However, as a result, it can occasionally happen that Dreamy Idealists overlook something important. As they are very peace-loving, they tend not to openly show their dissatisfaction or annoyance but to bottle it up. Assertiveness is not one of their strong points; they hate conflicts and competition. Dreamy Idealists prefer to motivate others with their amicable and enthusiastic nature. Whoever has them as superior will never have to complain about not being given enough praise. 

At work, Dreamy Idealists are helpful and loyal friends and partners, persons of integrity. Obligations are absolutely sacred to them. The feelings of others are important to them and they love making other people happy. They are satisfied with just a small circle of friends; their need for social contact is not very marked as they also need a lot of time to themselves. Superfluous small talk is not their thing. If one wishes to be friends with them or have a relationship with them, one would have to share their world of thought and be willing to participate in profound discussions. If you manage that you will be rewarded with an exceptionally intensive, rich partnership. Due to their high demands on themselves and others, this personality type tends however to sometimes overload the relationship with romantic and idealistic ideas to such an extent that the partner feels overtaxed or inferior. Dreamy Idealists do not fall in love head over heels but when they do fall in love they want this to be a great, eternal love.

Adjectives that describe The Dreamy Idealist:
introverted, theoretical, emotional, spontaneous, idealistic, dreamy, effusive, pleasant, reserved, friendly, passionate, loyal, perfectionist, helpful, creative, composed, curious, obstinate, with integrity, willing to make sacrifices, romantic, cautious, shy, peace-loving, vulnerable, sensitive, communicative, imaginative

Took this personality test at: www.ipersonic.com

Kotonoha no Niwa: Emotional Climax

A faint clap of thunder

Even if the rain comes not,

I will stay here, together with you

Kotonoha no Niwa: The First Meeting

A faint clap of thunder

Clouded skies, perhaps rain comes

Will you stay here with me?

NEVER AGAIN.

Never again will I let you borrow anything from me.

I don't think you understand how valuable my books are to me. I love reading. I love books. And I treat books like precious treasures. And if I let you borrow one of my books, I trust you enough that you'd take care of it like I would if I borrowed your book. Almost a year I let you keep the book, reminding you several times that you still have it in case you've forgotten (because you're very forgetful), telling me that you haven't read it yet because your mom ended up reading it, then suddenly getting it back today from my boyfriend, seeing all the damage you've done to it. I was very understanding, patient, and considerate, but this is just downright disrespectful. Not just to me, but also to my boyfriend, who is a fellow book lover and gave this book to me as a gift.

Now, let us go through each damage done one by one.

(I apologize for the quality of the photos. My uncle borrowed my camera again, so I used my iTouch.)

This side damage on both the front and back of the sleeve.

This tear at the bottom right corner on the front.

This damage and stain on the back of the sleeve.

This tear on the upper left corner in the front.

This big oil stain.

And if you look at these three pictures, you'll see that it doesn't align itself anymore when you close it.

Although most of the damage is on the sleeve (which I love because of the cover design), and I thank God there's no damage in any of the pages, it is evident from the book I let you borrow that you cannot take proper care of other people's belongings.

Never again.

xoxo

-Kat