It's been a while since I've last attended a BDJ event. So far this is the only one I attended this year other than the BDJ Women's Summit. When I first saw this event poster online, I didn't hesitate to sign up since I always wanted to learn how to make my own dreamcatcher. I wanted one of my own when I was a kid, but I could never find any at the malls before. Buying a dreamcatcher is easy. Learning to make one yourself? Priceless!
Fortunately, I was one of the lucky (15) fifteen Bellas to score an invite at the Sakroots X BDJ Passion Series: Dream To Live. The event was held last August 12 in The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on 3/F, Garden Wing Area at Trinoma. The event was split into two, the first part was an inspiring talk about being ready and inspired to dream while the second part was a hands-on workshop on how to create your own dreamcatchers.
Passion Talks with Shai Lagarde
Writer, Media Producer, Youth Counselor and Style Blogger - Shai Lagarde tells us how she transformed herself from a simple province girl with huge dreams to an award winning goal-getter.
What I truly admire from her talk is how dedicated and disciplined she is in managing her time to get things done. She honest in telling us how dreams would only work if you do. For example: By "mapping" your dreams early, you won't get easily lost when you're working on it. I love the fruitful talk and I hope that I could absorb all the tips that we've learned from her.
What I truly admire from her talk is how dedicated and disciplined she is in managing her time to get things done. She honest in telling us how dreams would only work if you do. For example: By "mapping" your dreams early, you won't get easily lost when you're working on it. I love the fruitful talk and I hope that I could absorb all the tips that we've learned from her.
Dreamcatcher Weaving Workshop with Alecka Eclarino
Owner of Crafterina Handmade - Alecka Eclarino spills all her trade secrets on how to weave your own dreamcatcher. The first part of the workshop was an introduction on how dreamcatchers came about. It is said that the legend of the dreamcatcher originated from the Ojibwa Tribe (Chippewa) where they believed that night is full of both good and bad dreams. When a dreamcatcher is hanged above the place where you sleep, it moves freely in the night air and catches the dreams as they drift by. The good dreams, knowing their way, pass through the opening in the center of the webbing. While the bad dreams, not knowing the way, are caught in the webbing and destroyed at the first light.
From there, we started weaving our own dreamcatchers using the supplied materials. I love how Ms. Alecka is very engaging with all her students. I swear, she assists everyone so that we could all finish our artworks together.
At first, I REALLY had a hard time doing mine because I tend to get stressed-out if my crafts aren't that "perfect". Maybe it's my perfectionist-artist-afraid-of-creating-disappointing-artworks that's annoying me but I've came to accept from Ms. Alecka that some of the imperfections do make an interesting impact on the dreamcatchers itself. That's what makes our creations unique, there's no wrong or right way of doing it... but of course you still need to get the structure right. Again, It's a bit tricky at first but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Throughout the workshop, they were judging the best dreamcatcher (in terms of aesthetics / skill / speed) from the bunch. Here's the winning creation:
The talks didn't just leave us food for thought, we were also full from the delicious sandwiches and indulgent drinks from CBTL. The servings were so big that we had to share them, some even had theirs for take out!
All in all, it was a well-spent afternoon and I enjoyed every part of it. There was never a dull moment and I wish the workshop time was longer. Nevertheless, we got to take home a Sakroots bag with goodies like a Crafterina Handmade Kit so that we could make ours at home instead. Can't wait to start on a bigger one! Will let you ladies know how it turns out when it's done! To the dreamers out there, cheers!
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