This year's Bee Happy Anniversary Weeklies felt less like a challenge series and more like a scrapbook of who I’ve become through crafting.
When Bee Happy announced this year’s anniversary weeklies, I just wanted to create. No pressure, no expectations (well, maybe just a little bit!) - just making things, keeping my Weeklies projects streak on, trying new techniques, staying inspired, and telling stories the way I know best. Looking back now, each project somehow became a chapter of my creative life.
And maybe that’s why this entire experience became extra special to me.
Project 1 was my Handmade Birthday Bouquet for Week 14 - it took two whole weeks of having clay, paint, resin, and endless clay related kalat all over our living room while waiting for pieces to dry, until my bouquet was finally done.
It was also my first time ever using air dry clay, so the entire project became one giant experiment. There were moments I thought of starting all over again with fresh clay then just the idea of sculpting, drying, painting, sealing, then waiting again just seemed too tedious. But seeing the finished bouquet made all the mess worth it. It looked soft, colorful, handmade, and full of personality - exactly how I wanted it to feel!
Project 2 was another first for me — mosaic art.
I made a wooden tray decorated with glass mosaic tiles with the words “Be Crafty, Bee Happy.” At first, cutting the glass tiles scared me. I kept thinking I’d cut myself or break everything unevenly. But once I got the hang of it, through the help of the hubby, it became strangely therapeutic. There’s something satisfying about piecing tiny broken things together and watching them become beautiful as a whole. Though I still like how it looked without the grout better than when with.
Project 3 was probably the most “me” project out of all of them - 14 handmade gifts made with love.
I created 14 mini albums, each with cards, tags, embellishments, inserts, and interactive details inside. Mini albums have always been one of my favorite things to make because memory keeping has always been one of my favorite forms of crafting. It’s storytelling, preserving moments, and creating something tangible people can hold onto. So this project felt very personal to me because I wasn’t just making gifts - I was sharing something I genuinely love doing. I also used collections from Design Teams I am part of - so it was indeed something that's partly me.
Tbh, making fourteen of them was a little insane. But also very fulfilling.
Project 4 was a pop-up book of my creative journey - and probably the most personal project I’ve ever made.
Instead of writing every detail again here, I made a separate full blog post dedicated to the entire story and flip through because it deserves its own space. I’ll link it below together with the YouTube video so you can see all the interactive pages, pop-ups, moving elements, and little stories hidden throughout the album.
Bee Happy Anniversary Weeklies - A Pop-Up Book of My Creative Journey
I poured so much of myself into that project - from childhood memories, to moving countries, to friendships, to all the creative phases I went through before finding my place in paper crafting. It became more than just a project. It became a reminder of how creativity stayed with me through every version of my life. I made an album of this for last year's Anniversary weeklies but this pop up one is more special because it's the updated story and because I just decided last minute that I will make this too.
I wasn’t able to make Project 5 anymore, which was supposed to be decorating the analog bag from Bee Happy. But I still purchased the bag for remembrance of this year’s celebration and my win. It should arrive here in June through our friend vacationing in Manila now.
Then came the surprise I never expected.
I really thought if I would win anything this year, it would be the pop-up book. There were only a few entries, and I felt pretty confident mine would at least make the top three.
Then last Tuesday, before 7am, my sister kept calling me nonstop.
Funny enough, I didn’t immediately think something was wrong because for me, late night calls are emergencies - morning calls are just annoying. Hahaha.
After declining her call again because I was still half asleep, I noticed my phone exploding with notifications from Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. That’s when it hit me.
The winners were probably announced already.
And they were.
I won FIRST PLACE for Project 3.
I was so shocked and confused at the same time because I truly thought the pop-up book was my strongest project. But first place for Project 3 meant winning a Cricut Explore 5 - so obviously I was not complaining. I was just slightly heartbroken for my pop-up book. Hahaha.
I started replying to messages and calls, already convincing myself that there was no way I’d win twice in one year anyway.
Then my sister mentioned someone else had actually won twice - for Projects 1 and 2.
So maybe there was still a tiny bit of hope.
Not because I desperately needed another win, but because it would just be really nice if the pop-up project placed too. Though tbh, even if it didn’t, I knew there were entries that deserved recognition as well. And at that point, I was already beyond grateful.
Then while I was still chatting with people congratulating me, Bee Happy posted the winners for the pop-up project.
And guess what.
I WON SECOND PLACE.
And not just any prize - it was the exact prize I had been eyeing for months: the We R Makers Stack Cutter.
It had been sitting in my cart forever. The only things stopping me from buying it were:
- it was expensive, and
- it was heavy and difficult to bring here to Saudi.
I kept telling myself I’d buy one someday when we’re based in Manila again.
But somehow… I won it.
I immediately video called my husband and literally yelled:
“I WON AGAIN!!!”
And I really yelled.
He started laughing and said maybe next time he should wear earphones before answering my calls. Our friend (and his colleague) Jay was with him in the office. Hahaha.
The entire day basically became a no-chores celebration day.
We went out for celebratory dinner with Jay at my favorite pizza place, D’Oro, then after Jay left for choir practice, my husband and I had coffee and dessert at Poem.
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| Celebratory dinner calls for a with face photo here in my blog! hehe |
And while sitting there, I realized how much the past few weeks have given me reasons to be grateful.
A successful Spring Market.
The Globe GCash testing job coming back.
My Mintay Papers International Scrapbook Day win.
A successful arts and crafts workshop (blog to follow)
And now this.
I think sometimes crafting looks small from the outside. People see paper, glue, stamps, scissors, clay, photos, tiny embellishments.
But for me, crafting became connection.
Storytelling.
Friendships.
Opportunities.
Comfort.
Home.
And proof that the things we genuinely love creating can unexpectedly bring joy back to us in ways we never imagined.
So thank you, Bee Happy.
Not just for the challenges or the prizes.
But for giving people like me spaces where creativity feels celebrated, shared, and understood.
And to the younger me who cut curtains, doodled on walls, joined every art club possible, and never stopped making things -
I think she’d be pretty happy seeing all this too.
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