The Armchair Scrapper

What I Want for Christmas...

2011-11-22T18:57:00.003+08:00

is a new camera bag! And I have my heart set on this:

Isn't that just beautiful? This stylish bag is from Kelly Moore and I learned all about it from My Organized Chaos. Tammi is giving away one lucky reader's choice of Kelly Moore in her blog.

I will have to tell you that I had the hardest time choosing just one bag. I must have spent an hour watching the videos showcasing the bags' features. I finally had to settle for the Classic bag in cranberry croc. Isn't it gorgeous? And isn't that color Christmassy? Just perfect.

And I want it. Hope I get lucky. Try your luck, too. Visit Tammi's organized chaos.

Weekend Scrap-Away

2011-11-06T14:04:00.008+08:00

My scrappy friends and I went on a scrapbooking retreat at Tin's Tagaytay hideaway and we had a blast! A foregone conclusion since we were hosted by Tin and accompanied by the best girl friends anyone can ask for.

Not to mention, all the scrappy doodads a scrapper can ask a genie (Hello, Tin and Mia) to conjure for your scrapbooking pleasure.

I made 20 layouts in two days cause I really got it on with Mr. Mojo. Here I am with Mitch whose scrapping prowess I absorbed through osmosis, on the first day.

Yes, twenty layouts, but I still couldn't beat CV who made 26 layouts, slept for only a few hours each night and who still had the strength to do Jillian Michael's Shred without breaking a sweat. That girl is certifiable.

And here's what Super Scrapper (that's me, faster than an American Craft O, stronger than an UHU glue, able to leap scrap tables in a single bound....) made that wonderful weekend.

Bootcamp: Guiding Prnciples Quiz

2011-10-01T15:41:00.003+08:00

I don't often scrap about myself so this drill was a challenge in more ways than one. The journaling also required some serious introspection. Thank you, Angie, for guiding us through the process. Now I have a layout that will always remind me of the things that matter.

Bootcamp: Cool, Custom Backgrounds Part 2

2011-10-01T15:25:00.003+08:00

I was not so happy with my take of Nichol's drill (I realize now I didn't actually make a patterned paper background using images. I only stamped on the patterned paper) so here's another attempt.

Made a stamped border, too. :-)

Bootcamp: Brightening the Eyes Layout

2011-09-30T18:31:00.002+08:00

Kahlo and her signature mischievous look.

Bootcamp: Brightening the Eyes

2011-09-30T18:27:00.004+08:00

The thing about me is, I never even noticed that eyes in photographs can be much improved. Thank you Maggie Holmes for "opening my eyes." Hahaha.

Now if I could only learn that trick on capturing catch lights.

Bootcamp: Embossing and Resisting

2011-09-30T18:20:00.004+08:00

I enjoyed this exercise. I may not have that many stamps but I have quite a collection of distress inks. Many still in their original packaging. So it was with satisfaction that I broke the seals and finally used those lovely colors in this layout's title and circle accents.

Also that tip to put embossing powder in a bigger container worked for me. One reason I heated embossing was because I hated the clean up that came after.

Those silver Hambly rubons look so nice but since they're many years old, they didn't rub. I just glued them onto the page cause I felt they were the perfect finishing touch to this LO.

Bootcamp: Extracting Inspiration

2011-09-30T18:11:00.005+08:00

Inspiration abounds everywhere and in this particular case, I found it in my KiDS' K-Zone magazine.

Who would have thought that Ice Age 3 would inspire this layout of Sarah?

Bootcamp: Urban Look Layout

2011-09-30T18:06:00.003+08:00

Sarah had a project in their English class where she had to make her own magazine. She was editor, writer, designer, all in one. I was so proud of her when I saw it cause she did it all by herself. There was a section in her magazine where she talks about herself. So I asked her permission if I could use what she wrote as journalling for my layout.

Bootcamp: Adding an Urban Look

2011-09-30T17:59:00.004+08:00

This was a fun photo effect as taught by Maggie Holmes. I think my version is too yellow (I couldn't get that beautiful skin tone Maggie has in her photos). Or is it supposed to be this yellow? That's the trouble between me and Photoshop. I am never quite certain when is it exactly right. My eyes are not the most reliable in the world.

Bootcamp: Fun with Word Stamps

2011-09-30T17:52:00.003+08:00

My first though when I watched Lisa Dickinson's video was I don't have word stamps. I have lots of alphas, and a few word stamps with phrases like Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. But I wasn't sure how to make titles out of those words. But I looked through the drawers and found a few stray word stamps that when put together made me quite a good title.

Remember those one-word Heidi Swapp stamps? I used it here. :-)

Bootcamp: Designing with Grids

2011-09-30T17:44:00.003+08:00

Lisa Dickinson taught us to how to make sketches using different grid designs. I've always wanted to give grid designs a try but I always balked at the idea of preparing my photos to be printed a certain size. But after working with Maggie Holmes on Photoshop, I decided to give it a try.

I had fun making this one. And look! I was able to use the Love, Elsie designs I bought many years ago because I wanted to make a funky page about artistic talents in my family.

Finally! Two things off my things to do.

Bootcamp: Connective Journaling

2011-09-30T17:37:00.002+08:00

In this lesson, Angie shares three strategies for deeper and more insightful journaling. Sometimes in my rush to make layouts of my many photos, I don't give journaling much attention. I am reminded that the story-telling part is why I started scrapbooking in the first place.

So brace yourself as I became a little maudlin while writing the story I wanted to tell about my eldest son who's growing up much too fast.

Bootcamp: Grammar-Free Journaling

2011-09-30T17:31:00.005+08:00

I love journaling! But sometimes, even I am bored with my ramblings and musings. Thanks to Angie Lucas, our Journaling Drill Instructor for showing us fun ways to journal.

I made a chart comparing Kahlo and Sarah. It was quick, painless, and too embarassing (my KiDS are beginning to complain) to share on the internet. :-)

Had to laugh when I included that Sarah is very good at Math but Kahlo thinks she has "so many problems she's like a Math book." Makes you wonder what kinds of problems a 9-year old dwells on.

Bootcamp: Basic Photo Editing Layout

2011-09-30T17:25:00.003+08:00

I took a photo of this layout. The colors are not as vibrant as I'd like. Perhaps I should have taken the time to use Maggie's Photoshop tricks.

Bootcamp: Basic Photo Editing Tricks

2011-09-30T17:13:00.004+08:00

I looked forward to Maggie Holmes, our Photo Effects Drill Instructor's, lessons. My photos don't always turn up nice so I need some Photoshop help to make them better. Maggie gave shared tricks to make our photos "even more rich and magical."

I am not sure I nailed the exercise, because I think Photoshop is much like cooking (which I am not adept at) - you either under cook or burn the food. I hope with more practice I get it just right.

Here's my before and after photo:

And here's my layout:

Next Photoshop lesson should be about removing those extra pounds hehehe.

Bootcamp: Cool Custom Backgrounds

2011-09-30T17:01:00.003+08:00

After watching our Stamping Drill Instructor Nichol Magouirk's video, I wanted to rush out and get me some stamps. LOL. But sanity prevailed, so I had to make do with what stamps I have in my stash. And here I thought I had a lot but there wasn't much I could use for this exercise. Next time, I'd choose stamps that will give me more mileage. I loved how Nichol uses her stamps in many creative ways.

I'm not much of a stamper, so for this layout, I used a text stamp for a background, some bare trees (or is that grass?). Kahlo said I overdid the birds. :-( I also heat-embossed a border for my photo.

Bootcamp: Designing With Pattern

2011-09-30T16:48:00.005+08:00

I fully enjoyed the past week, attening Ella Publishing Co.'s Bootcamp. I am not kidding when I say that each day I was inspired and raring to scrap. I wasn't able to scrap daily, but once I sat behind my scrap table there was no stopping me.

Our design drill instructor, Lisa Dickinson, shared with us several guidelines to mix and match patterned papers. Even without actually scrapping yet, I enjoyed the exercise of making matched sets to be used in future layouts. With Lisa's tips, I didn't have to wast much time sorting through my paper stash or moving the papers endlessly on my desk. Thus, for this exercise, I was able to make two layouts.

Kahlo likes the colors of the first layout. I think I went overboard with the monochromatic scheme but I like it, too.

Photography and Scrapbooking

2011-09-19T18:37:00.004+08:00

Ever since I got myself a digital camera, I took pictures of everything. I'm a believer that I may not pass this way again, but at least I got photos to show for it. And what to do with all these photos? Scrapbook them, of course.

I love scrapbooking and I would've been content with just playing with glue and paper, but then I saw the works of my favorite scrappers like Maggie Holmes. She can really tell stories through her photos. And then highlight those photos creatively through her layouts. Suddenly, learning to scrapbook was not enough. I have to be a better photographer, too.

So I scrutinize Maggie's website every day, anxiously waiting for new posts so I can learn and be inspired. I am totally bowled over by her new website. If my photos were half as lovely as hers I would be one really happy scrapbooker.

Boot Camp!

2011-09-19T17:07:00.004+08:00

I signed up for Ella Publishing Co.'s Boot Camp 2011 and I'm quaking in my boots...in excitement! I figured I needed something to shake the dust and cobwebs off my rusty scrapping skills as well as my long-ignored scrapbooking supplies. So from September 19 - 24, I will be training and undergoing drills from much-admired scrapbookers like Maggie Holmes, Nichol Maqouirk, Lisa Dickinson, Angie Lucas and Wendy Smedley.

I expect a lot of action in my little old scraproom as I am sure to be inspired and challenged in the next few days. This is going to be one fun boot camp - without anyone shouting at my ear or demanding push-ups. Or perhaps, there will be shouting - from hungry KiDS demanding dinner. Maybe I should design some crafty boot camp for them, too, so I can scrap in peace.

Another One

2011-08-29T16:33:00.004+08:00

Thank heavens (even if they are cloudy) for long weekends. I managed to scrap two more layouts today. This one that I am sharing with you is based on a sketch from My Scraps and More.

You'll notice that I'm scrapping old pictures. That's because I decided to stop lying to myself. How can I claim that I don't have photos to scrap when I have boxes upon boxes of them? I now realize that a good photo doesn't mean that it had to be taken by a digital camera and photoshopped until it doesn't look anything like the original. My old photo prints are still scrappable and memorable.

Too Many Cars

That's one hangup down. Next post I'll tell you about another excuse I've been using not to scrap and how I beat it.

Easing Back into Scrapping

2011-08-28T21:33:00.001+08:00

Sketches really helped me alot when I started scrapping in 2006. While I have earned some confidence to start from scratch since then, sketches are still very much part of my scrapbooking. So now that I have taken up this hobby again after more than a year of hiatus, a popular sketch blog was my first resource.

This is Sketch 53 of the Sketchabilities blog. I have never tried any of their sketches before but now that I have, I'm planning to go back to their very first sketch and use all 52 for my layouts. Hey, now that I'm back, I'm on a roll.

And here is my interpretation:

Swimming Lessons

Now excuse me while I go back in the other room. I feel a scrap coming on.

Jump Starting Creativity

2011-08-20T21:32:00.000+08:00

After a looong hiatus, this scrapper is back. I make no excuses, except to say that scrapbooking was never far from my mind but it just never was a priority in the past months. I haven't scrapped for a year and when I finally ventured inside my scraproom, dust covered all my supplies. My acrylic paints and ink pads have dried up, much like any well of creativity I might have had since I started scrapping. It's a good thing that scrapbooking paper are acid free so they wouldn't yellow. And yes, vintage is back, so my old supplies should fit right in.

I haven't taken too many photos this past year either, but I had boxes of unscrapped photos from the late 1990s. So if you see older photos of my KiDS in my layouts, that's because I'm starting from the very beginning when photos were not yet digital.

Anyway, to make a long blog post short, my friends from Pinoy Scrapbookers decided to have an EB, in celebration of our presence in Facebook. I have been with these wonderful people since I started scrapping and it was great to renew the passion with them again.

So finally sharing a few layouts in this blog. Results of that August 13 afternoon.

Thomas & Me

Smile

Ingenium Grade 3

Flower Girl

I'm still easing into things so these layouts are relatively simple. I won't describe my scrapbooking process anymore - nothing really complicated went on. I just wanted to be able to scrap a few.

Thanks for looking.

The Story of Two Loves

2010-11-09T11:25:00.004+08:00

Big bad blogger signing in.

March 2010 seems to be the month when my blog officially died. Cause of death? Facebook. (Everyone else blames Facebook anyway for their own lack of blog updates, so it's as good an excuse as any.) But in a word - LACK. Lack of time, lack of inspiration. But I believe in reincarnation, so here's my initial attempt at resuscitating the blog. I am hopeful that I will be able to breathe some life into it because also after so many months, seven, to be exact, I have started scrapbooking again! Scrapbooking, after all, is the raison d'etre of The Armchair Scrapper.

I have been a frequent visitors to my fellow scrappers and manufacturers' blogs though. I continued to be abreast of scrapbooking news, styles, products, and trends. In fact, it is in one of these frequent forays in inspirational galleries that I came upon American Crafts' Recipes Week Challenge. I was so inspired by the theme and Jennifer Gallacher's sample layout that I decided to venture into my scrap room and play.

Baked Goodies

Journaling:

Recipe for Chocolate Revel Bars hand-written on a page of CH's recipe notebook.

Materials Used:

All three patterned paper (a la Carte) and Thickers by American Crafts; Cosmo Cricket tag; Tulip dimensional fabric paint; Saunders liquid glue; Sakura pen; Tsukineko ink pad; button by Autumn Leaves.

On a side note - revel bars are the very first goodies I baked. It was Christmas 2002. I've never baked before and I wasn't sure what the final outcome was supposed to look like. I thought at first it looked underdone (the chocolate looked too soft and gooey to my untrained eye) so I returned it to the oven for an extra 10 minutes. Thank goodness, bar cookies are easy and forgiving, so it still turned out well, just slightly burnt on the edges. Thankfully, too, I had forgiving friends and family who pretended not to notice those burnt edges. :-)

I'd like to believe I've become a better baker since then. After all, I took a class after that first near-disastrous experience. And now I am INSPIRED. Inspired to continue scrapbooking and to start baking again. Just in time for Christmas! I am very happy that in this particular layout I got to combine my two loves.

It's An Epiphanie!

2010-03-28T18:04:00.004+08:00

So when I finally got my first DSLR, the first thing I thought was, I need a new bag. And I don't want those bags that scream "Camera bag, steal me!" No, I want one that could carry to school, to work, and to meetings. Practical enough to protect my expensive gear, and pretty enough for me to want to carry it around all the time.

After searching online, I had an Epiphanie! I found this, and I want it. Gotta have it.

This is the perfect camera bag for women. And guess what? Epiphanie is giving away a brand new Canon 5D Mark II or a $2500 gift certificate to Southwest Airlines. Click here for details.

And again, I know exactly what I want. I think that's the beauty of Epiphanie, the creator, Maile Wilson knows exactly what you want.

Concert! Concert!

2010-03-22T11:53:00.001+08:00

Get a chance to win 2 Silver Tickets to the Timbaland, Jojo, and Justin Timberlake concert via fritzified.com http://wp.me/p63Qf-I5

Prima's Big Secret

2010-03-04T00:10:00.001+08:00

That's Right! Prima is giving away two more AMAZING prize packages in conjunction with our BIG SECRET!

We want EVERYONE to have a chance to win so we are changing the rules a bit.

* Please copy this write-up and link us on your blog, Facebook, or any other site that you frequent (please follow their TOU).
* Then post here with a link to your blog, Facebook or site post for your chance to win BIG with Prima!
* One US and one International winner will be chosen on Thursday, March 4th, 2010.

And we are getting closer and closer to revealing our secret-it won't be long now!

Just a couple more days of suspense!

It's 2010

2010-01-01T14:53:00.005+08:00

Happy new year everybody! Wishing and hoping that the year 2010 bring you the best of everything.

They say that what you do on the first day of a new year, you would likely be doing for the rest of the year. Well, after we welcomed 2010 with all the noise we could muster (shouting at the top of our lungs and banging on the gates) and jumping around like crazy (so we'd all grow taller this year), the kids and I took turns at the Magic Sing karaoke. So I guess, the neighbors would have to bear with our family version of the Queen's "Somebody to Love" from hereon hence.

Since I finished season 1 of Dollhouse at around 3 a.m. (I watched it in my iPod while everyone else slept), I woke up around 12 noon today. Not a good sign if I want to be more productive this 2010. Less TV and less sleep means more time for other more important though not as much fun things. Then I had delicious left-overs from our media noche and some chocolates. I wouldn't mind having the chocolates everyday but if I see another left-over in the ref...

And of course, I couldn't resist spending more than a few minutes in Facebook you'd certainly be seeing me there more often. Everybody seems to be there. Does anyone still log on to the egroups? Maybe we should move the egroups to Facebook. Started feeling kinda guilty about that and about neglecting this blog. I've been a bad bad blogger and I hope to address that this year. Blog on! I hope somebody out there will still read me...seeing that almost everyone I know is more into Facebook nowadays.

In a few minutes, I will be logging off to actually scrap. Yey! I miss scrapping. My scrap room is clean and organized (a result of being OC the past few weeks) and I can't wait to make a creative mess in there again. I will not even attempt to count how many layouts I did last year. I hang my head in shame. This year, I promise to find time to scrap at least one layout a week. Not including this. One layout created on a monthly basis to highlight the month's activities, with Becky Fleck sketches. What could be easier? So bring it on, Project 12.

Speaking of projects, I miserably failed at my first Project 365 attempt, due to many factors, the least of them - my 5-year old digital camera dying out on me in October. So here's hitting the reset button. I hope to be able to do this religiously as it would also be a source of photos to scrap for my Project 12.

By the way, I am still enrolled in school and I am working on a few research projects so it will be crazy around here, but I am hopeful that I will be able to finish whatever I take on with flying colors, and I don't mean drug-induced ones. Hehehe.

So here's to a great start - wishing you all the best. Now excuse me while I go scrap with Sarah and Kahlo. Have fun!

School and Scrapping Don't Mix

2009-11-02T10:37:00.015+08:00

I am so sorry, blog. I have been a big bad blogger - two and a half months of silence? Not good. But I do have a good excuse - blame it all on school.

As you might know, at the encouragement (more like competitive egging) of my DH, I decided to go back to school last June. It was a choice between getting another Master's, this time in Creative Writing, or going for a doctorate since I already have a Master's. I decided that for the same length of time and the same amount of work, might as well go for the higher degree.

I have very pleasant memories of my graduate studies. Academically, I had better grades than when I was a college undergraduate. I was active in extra-curricular activities (student council and school paper) and I was working at the same time. Everything seemed so easy. So I thought post-graduate was going to be a breeze.

Or not. The past three years, my world revolved around my family, my home and my scrapbooking. It has been years since I read an academic paper. And even more years since I received my Master's. Being inside the classroom again, and not as a parent accompanying her child this time, was quite a culture shock. Everything seemed so...academic.

As the semester progressed, my scrap stuff made way for xeroxed articles. Instead of reading for fun and relaxation, I started reading for recitations and examinations. While I am a voracious reader, there were many times when I fell asleep reading the likes of Wilson, Waldo, Sen and Foucault. Blog-writing had to be set aside for book reviews and annotated bibliographies.

I missed scrapbooking so much that many times, I would sketch layouts or write my journaling in class, while the professor droned on and on about ethics and law. And then there was the feeling that I wasn't good enough. What was a SAHM like me doing in school with classmates from the World Bank, United Nations, Congress, state universities? Many times, I felt like signing the blue slip and dropping out.

But the thought of DH's smug face kept me on. I couldn't bear to quit because I knew I would never hear the end of it from him. He of the 1.18 average. Plus, the tuition fee was much more than I expected so I couldn't let it go to waste.

And so I toiled on...every paper finished was a milestone. And like every milestone, it always seemed there was another waiting around the corner. Every exam taken and passed was a validation. Near the end of the semester, I finally started believing I could do this. I could be a doctor (cue thunder and lightning!)

Yesterday, I finally saw my PA Theory grade online. Our professor was very strict and exacting. I wasn't expecting a high grade especially after the final exam. I was the first one to finish in class because there wasn't anything more I could write in answer to the three essay questions. I had to wait two more hours for my classmates to finish. It wasn't looking good. So I was resigned to a low grade.

And then surprise, surprise! I got a much higher grade than I expected. I literally exploded out of my chair as I began to shout for DH to look at my grade. I felt all the stress and the fatigue of the past two weeks of cramming flow out of my body. I did it! I passed with flying colors! I have proven that at my age, I can still cram like the best of them. Woo-hoo!

Next week is enrolment for the second semester and I think I will be lining up for more pain and torture again. In the meantime, I hope to scrap and blog. I've got lots of memories lined up and I still have to blog about the final outcome of the Idol contest. Stay tuned.

Pick of the Week

2009-08-17T00:03:00.006+08:00

Idol Cookie chose my layout Ain't No Princess as her POTW. Check out the announcement here.

I've been joining the Scrappinmoms Idol Contests since it's first year (2007) and this is the first time I got picked as POTW. I think I can now graciously retire from Idol. Hahaha.

Thank you, Cookie. And I must also thank Marj for being my sounding board as I was preparing for this round. She was the first one to laugh at my journaling, which to date, is still hidden from my DH. :-)

Just 4 More Days

2009-08-16T23:53:00.003+08:00

For you to avail of the early bird fee for the My Little Attic and Scrapbook Hawaii's ScrapJam happening on October 3, 2009. After August 20 you will have to pay the regular price. Think about all the good scrap stuff that you can pay with the difference! Almost everyday, Marisa is posting all the delightful new arrivals at her blog. Go check it out and drool. Just make sure your wallet doesn't get wet. LOL.

For more details about the ScrapJam, click here. Hope to see you there!

Chanelling a Princess

2009-08-13T06:42:00.005+08:00

The last and final challenge at ScrappinMoms Idol was to look at our inner selves and ask, what if I were a Disney princess. We were also asked to use at least one photo of ourselves, and at least three scrapbooking techniques.

Now, I have never thought of myself as a princess, Disney or otherwise. The closest I ever got to pretending I was royalty was when I played "Miss Universe" with neighborhood kids. I used to pretend to be Miss Aruba. This was during the seventies when the Miss Universe pageant was held here in the Philippines. Miss Aruba wasn't crowned winner but I guess she must have left quite an impression to have us girls fighting over the chance to be her. I also remember fights as to who would play Star Ranger Five with my cousins - we were two girls and three boys - and Star Ranger 5 was the only girl. Not to mention she had a heart on her helmet. Sometimes, I'd be Star Ranger Three just to keep the peace.

But anyway, for this layout, I finished the journaling first, but was quite stumped with how to execute it. Until, after days of staring at DCWV's Once Upon A Time stack, which I was saving for my daughters, something clicked, and this is one of those layouts were everything seemed to fall into place.

I'll share the journaling first because I really had fun writing it:

I'm no SNOW WHITE. I can't sing to save my own life. much less, attract Prince Charming.
I'm no CINDERELLA. I've never been good at household chores.
I'm no POCAHONTAS either. I don't talk to trees.
I can't be ARIEL. I can't swim and I prefer to eat seafood, not make them friends.
I could be SLEEPING BEAUTY. I'd rather be snoozing than doing above-mentioned household chores.
There's a bit of BELLE in me. We both love books and we're both in love with a Beast. (Hi, honey!)
I could pass for MULAN. We're both Asian and we put our families first.
Or maybe I'm a JASMINE - not afraid to speak her own mind and seek out new adventures.
Could be I'm TIANA...still waiting for my frog to turn into a Prince. (Hi again, honey!)
But then again, I don't need to be a princess to live this fairy tale life I'm living now.

And here's the layout using ageing, distressing, inking, hand stitching, beading, stamping, tearing, hidden journaling, handcutting.

Ain't No Princess

And with that, seven weeks after, six layouts and a mini-album created, I and nine others move on to the final round - on the spot scrapping on August 29. Visit the gallery and be impressed by sheer talent once again.

The Latest on ScrapJam

2009-08-06T14:39:00.002+08:00

Have you seen the latest about the ScrapJam in October 3, 2009? Lots of new arrivals and sponsors from well-known companies like Bella Blvd., Crate Paper, and Bo Bunny, to name a few. Check out the Scrapbooks Hawaii blog for more yummy details.

In the meantime, there's still time to register for this event with the cheaper early bird fee accepted until August 20.

ScrapJam in Manila

2009-08-01T22:44:00.003+08:00

I haven't missed any ScrapJam by My Little Attic and Scrapbooks Hawaii and I'm not about to start now. But...time got away with me and before I knew it, the deadline for registration was past. Thank goodness, the deadline was extended to August 20.

So scrappers, you still have time to join the event. If it's anything like the previous ScrapJams, we are guaranteed a rockin' good time.

Visit here for more information. See you on October 3!

Book-Inspired

2009-08-01T00:53:00.011+08:00

Round 5 of the Idol contest was all about mini-albums inspired by a book. I saw all the books I've ever read flash before my eyes before I settled for a book trilogy that has special meaning to me and DH.

I'm talking about Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine trilogy. The books invite readers to examine handmade postcards and open colorful envelopes as they are drawn into the world of Griffin Moss and Sabine Strohem. DH invited me to read the book when we first met. And when we got married, he made postcards artfully depicting our courtship for our wedding invitations.

I used the postcards in the mini-album, and like Nick Bantock made envelopes, art works (in ATCs) and lots of stamped images. Taking the book theme further, I used the five parts of a story line.

Subtitle: The Story Line (first page)
Postcard 1 - Freedom Bar (where we first met)
Layout 1 - Expositon (Setting the Stage)

Journaling:
So, after you showed me your Millenium Falcon, you asked me if I liked books. I said yes, and you asked if I've read Griffin andSabine. And when I said no, you said you'd lend it to me and even brought the books to my apartment. Later, I realised this was yourstandard pick-up line. I'm glad when you asked me what thought, I said, "I didn't get it." That left more an impression on you than any other because you were used to being told the book was "beautiful" or "touching."

Postcard 2 - Caliraya
Layout 2 - Rising Action (Conflict and complications)
ATC 1 - Escape
Journaling - hidden, sorry, too personal to share

Postcard 3 - Batad
Layout 3 - Climax (The highest point of interest. Turning point.)
ATC 2 - Journey
Journaling:
Almost 3 hours of hiking (only because we needed lots of rest stops), being alone together far from the maddening crowd - we learned alot about ourselves and where we want to be.

Layout 4 - Falling Action (Wrapping up.)
ATC 3 - Travel
Layout 5 - Envelope with old letters (The events andcomplications begin to resolve themselves.)
Postcard 4 - Little Chapel of the Child JesusLayout 6 - Denoument (The final outcome. Conclusion.)

Last Page - The story continues...
Close-up of my Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

While I quickly settled on my theme concept when the challenge was announced, I was only able to execute everything the night before the deadline. I had to prioritize school work and that meant not sleeping at all on Wednesday! Since my body was craving sleep, I punched the paper wrong side up. And it was a text paper! I had to start measuring again. For the first time, I appreciated my Purple Cow cutter.

My scrap table was a mess...the floor leading to the bathroom was a mess...my mind was a mess... At one point, my hands were shaking so much I couldn't insert the ball chain in the chipboard hole. But all's well that ends well, and I finally got to use my Zutter Bind-it-All which I bought about a month ago. Yey for me!

Thank God I have a very supportive husband. He even cancelled his morning meeting so I can use the laptop before he had to leave for work.

And my reward for all that hard work? I get to move on to the next challenge and make something Disney Princess-like. Ugh! That will be hard when my favorite is The Paper Bag Princess. If you have a daughter or a favorite niece, you really should get her this book.)

BTW, you have to visit the gallery. Everyone did such an awesome job with their mini-albums. Simply amazing!

All Play and No Work

2009-07-24T16:33:00.007+08:00

...makes me an impoverished scrapper.

Last week's challenge was all about playing. The Scrappinmoms encouraged us to play with our photos, title, paper and embellishments. I took the directive seriously and I think I kinda overdid it.

I found it hard at first because I'm not your average technique kind of girl. But then I took it as a sign to break out all the alcohol inks, shimmering mists, embossing powders, distress inks, etc., that I have been hoarding. In the end, I think I had way too much fun. So here it is:

Journaling:
Lucky you! Papa is an avid toy collector. He bought these Star Wars toys before you were even born. The night we first met, he was showing off his Millenium Falcon. (Hehehe. Really!) But unlike other toy collectors, he doesn't care about "mint in box." He lets you play with his toys because toys are for playing. And really, your Papa is just a kid at heart.

My title is a pun of Darth Vader's famous line to his son "Luke, I am your father!!! "I chose photos showing my husband and kids playing. I especially love the expression on my husband's face as he played (with zooming noises - too bad it can't be captured on paper) with the Tie Fighters. I also painted the edges of my photos with white acrylic paint for definition.

One paper was originally orange, I poured random drops of blue, green, yellow, violet and sand Shimmering Mists on top of the paper, covered it with bond paper, and then using a brayer, I smoothed over the surface, helping the liquid underneath spread. This changed the color of the paper to different shiny shades. I used the altered paper as a mat for my photos. The other paper, I simply added Crystal Stickles to the stars to make glittered paper.

Side Note on the BG paper: When I showed it to DH he said I wasted the paper. In other words, it was ugly. I shouldn't have mixed too many colors on an orange pallette as it made everything look muddy. I had a half-mind to start all over but I decided not to waste the paper. And hey, it kinda look like one of those BG paper from the Motifica line, don't you agree? :-)

I wanted different font sizes to imitate the opening credits of Star Wars. Since I used alphas from different manufacturers, I painted them all blue for unity and covered them with UTEE for an epoxy look. I dabbed different colors of alcohol inks and pearl metallics on the stars for a shiny marbled finish. The frame was initially a boring white so I colored it using Spicy Marmalade Distress Stamp, covered it with bronze Perfect Pearls for shine, and using the tip of a round paint brush, dabbed white acrylic paint on the surface. Originally gold, I painted the brads yellow, dipped them in Clear Polysparkle embossing powder,and set them with a heat gun. They're now like shiny yellow stars.

I'm sure the judges had a hard time judging this round as everything in the gallery is simply amazing. I think I may have managed to squeeze through to the next round by the tip of my acrylic-stained fingernails.

The next round is all about making a mini-album that's inspired by a book. Quite apt as I struggle to write one book review and one oral report (due Tuesday) and two annotated bibliographies (due Wednesday). I hope I meet all my deadlines next week.

Such a Cutie!

2009-07-17T17:27:00.004+08:00

Eight photos in a layout yet keeping in mind white space? Arggghhhh... It's enough to drive a scrapper like me crazy. I am not into multi-photos and I think white space hates me.

But as they say challenges are here to make your life miserable err...stronger. So here's my take on the Scrappinmoms Idol Round 3 - Space It Out!

This is my first Jasper layout. We love this Maltese to bits and pieces. He's such a cutie, isn't he? Sometimes we call him Jasperoni, Jasperoo-roo, Jazz, Jassy, Jasper Poo-Poo, Jasper Poopie. My yaya's little girl can't pronounce Jasper so he's Popo to her.

Such a cutie. The SEI papers and embellishments I used are way cute, too, And certainly made mixing and matching very easy.

See the rest of the gallery here. Everyone did a fine job on this one.

I made it to the next round, and it's all about altering. Wish me luck.

Bear Hugs

2009-07-14T23:47:00.004+08:00

Round 2 Challenge at Scrappinmoms Idol was all about reducing (one CS and 1 PPS), re-using (use at least one item twice, each time, in a different way), and recycle (repurpose a scrapbooking material).

REDUCE
I used 1 PPS (K & Co.) as my background and 1 CS (Pioneer) for my title, journaling and swirls. I simply recolored the white cardstock using various distress inks.

RE-USE:
The item I chose to use and -re-use is a white lace. Inspired by the lace pattern of my paper, I used my lace as a mask. I then used the lace, which has been colored by my walnut ink as a ribbon. I attached it to my recycled frame (see below). It's not easy working with walnut ink because it could get blotchy and dries up quickly. So with bated breath and a quick prayer, I sprayed on my lace and am happy it turned up well. I accidentally discovered this effect some time ago when I was tinting my other laces a vintagey color.

RECYCLE:
The excess from my Making Memories dingbat foam stamps was the perfect size (5x7) to make a frame for my photo. First, I painted it with gesso, then used crackle paint to simulate wood grain. It frames my photo perfectly.

Other Materials Used:
Flowers - Prima; Brads, Oriental Trading; Paint - Making Memories; Chipboards - Basic Grey; Pen - Sakura; Adhesives- Saunders, Plaid; Tools - Cuttlebug, Quickutz; Inks - Ranger, sukineko; Chalks - Craf-T.

Journaling:
Loa Tita has taken care of your Papa ever since he was a baby. Now she's taking care of you, too. She indulges your every whim. She cooks your favorite foods and makes your clothes. She even made dresses for Penny, your teddy bear. Such caring is lovingly rewarded with lots of hugs and kisses.

My co-participants went all out being innovative and creative. I invite you to view their artworks here.

TFL!

Alphabet Soup

2009-07-13T01:14:00.006+08:00

I just uploaded my Kaya entry. Thanks to Roxannee for the challenge. I think this is the first time I used mixed alphabets in my layout. While I have tried mixed fonts in my title, this is the first that I tried the same technique per word. I did color the word "blue" with different shades of blue for some kind of unity.

Here's the full layout. I was inspired by a sketch by Becky Fleck, but used two instead of just one photo.

A close up of my two of my THREE journaling spots which read:

DH bought me this bike so we can share a hobby. I'm glad that after 12 years of marriage, he still wants us to do things together. I'm not a confident biker and I try his patience but we still have fun and keep fit together. (5/1/2009)

I used to have a red bike in the 1980s. I rode it at the athletic field in front of our house. I loved the speed and the wind in my hair. Now, on my blue bike, I feel like a kid again.

Blue bike = P3,075.00
Dinner at Shopping Center = P250.00
Biking in U.P. = free and priceless!

I had a lot to say, so at the back of my layout, I added more journaling. That's two more pages of a small notebook, back to back. I'm putting more premium on journaling these days. I was specially inspired by this man. I am not sure I will be doing another layout about my bikes anytime soon. And doing this layout unleashed a deluge of memories that I just had to write them down before I forget them.

Notice that stamp on the upper right-hand corner? All my layouts have this - it provides info on the date of the photo, place it was taken, who are on the photo and their ages (while I may have the date as part of the layout, I don't want to be counting years and asking, "how old were they here?"), and the date I finished the layout. The date of my journaling is usually at the end of the journal.

Really, the back of your layouts (even if they have "holes" like mine) is precious real estate, for things you want to add but can't accommodate in the overall design. You can also put a pouch for extra photos, ephemera, souvenir items, CDs, here. Cool, isn't it?

Gone to Pieces

2009-07-04T22:23:00.014+08:00

Week 1 Challenge at ScrappinMoms Idol Season 3 - Paper Piecing. There was a bit of confusion about that at first because some people thought it was Paper PIERCING. I was so "huh?" when my friend, Candy, told me she hates it because her hands were sore for days after doing a project. I wondered what she had been piecing to make them so. There were also some who thought it to be the same as cutting out patterns from paper and layering them to form a new embellishment. An honest mistake especially now that making sceneries in layouts is so popular.

So anyway, I knew right away that I would do a layout about my KiDS' obsession with Pokemon. I searched in the internet for patterns but didn't find any. I decided my best option was to xerox a Pokemon coloring book to use as templates. So when we went to the mall on Saturday afternoon, I xeroxed several copies of the word Pokemon, Butterfree (my concession to having a butterfly in my layout) and of course, that yellow electrifying cutie - Pikachu. I also bought a pack of Pokemon trading cards for the silver and gold coins that I thought would look great on my LO. (I didn't use them in the end, but I did use the box they came in and the Mewtwo Pokemon card which neither of my KiDS had in their collection. I thought it's fairer for all of them if I just added it in my layout. That decision may have averted a full-scale Pokemon war at home. LOL.)

Sunday evening, I started doing my title, which had 3 layers of colors, dark blue, violet and yellow. I only finished the bottom layer. Monday was busy so I only got to work on the letters P,O, and K. I had classes on Tuesday (wrote the journaling while my professor droned on and on about the bourgeiosie). I spent Wednesday studying and writing an annotated bibliography. Just trying to make sense of what I was reading took all my brain power, such that before I headed off to class at 5 pm, I had a pounding headache. It was so bad I had to take an Advil.

Got home at around 9 pm, had a late dinner and fell fast asleep. I woke up at 1:30 am and started working on my layout. Cutting was really quite a mindless task that I actually felt relaxed. Before I knew it, I was assembling my paper pieces. I have to thank Kokoyu Dot and Roller for making adhering so easy. I also chose just one patterned paper so I wouldn't get stressed trying to layer. By the time I was finished, it was time to wake up my KiDS. Surprisingly, I wasn't feeling sleepy or tired at all. At 6:30, I happily sent off my KiDS to school and my entry to the Scrappin Moms.

The gallery has many other amazing entries, but I want to highlight this one:

Candy took paper piecing to the next level and made this mosaic. No wonder her hands hurt! That girl is crazy to the max. And I mean that in a very nice way.

BTW, I made it to the next round and now I have to "Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle" in between tons of reading, another annotated bibliography and working on a website consultancy project. If I could just Refuse....

I-Translate Mo

2009-07-03T08:00:00.008+08:00

You know why I'm online so early... Well, I'm not really waiting to find out who gets eliminated today at the Scrappin Moms Idol contest. Nah...I'm doing online research. It's just accident that my fingers keep on refreshing a particular site.

And while I was "researching", I chanced upon Tim Holtz's schedule for CKU-Japan. That's the closest CKU comes to Manila, so mentally going through my list of friends in Japan, I started dreaming. But then I couldn't read the announcement. So I tried Google Translator and it gave me this:

2009 Workshop Iskedyul:

JULY 2009 Hulyo 2009
Carson Stamp Convention Carson stamp Convention
DEMO & MAKE/TAKE
DEMO & GUMAGAWA / TAKE
July 11th-12th , 2009 11-12 Hulyo, 2009
Casron, CA. Casron, CA.
{click here for more info.} (i-click dito para sa karagdagang impormasyon.)

The Queen's Ink
Ang Reyna ng tinta
August 15th-16th, 2009 Agosto 15-16, 2009
Savage, MD. Savage, MD.
{click here for more info.} (i-click dito para sa karagdagang impormasyon.)

Creative Escape
Creative makatakas
August 27th-29th, 2009 August 27th-29th, 2009
Chandler, AZ. Chandler, AZ.
{click here for more info.} (i-click dito para sa karagdagang impormasyon.)

SEPTEMBER 2009 Septiyembre 2009
Ink About It
Tungkol sa tinta Ito
August 11th-12th, 2009 August 11th-12th, 2009
Westford, MA. Westford, MA.
{click here for more info.} (i-click dito para sa karagdagang impormasyon.)

OCTOBER 2009 Oktubre 2009
Artful Voyage in Mexico
Higad maglayas sa Mexico
October 11th-18th , 2009 Oktubre 11th-18th, 2009
Mexico Mehiko
{click here for more info.} (i-click dito para sa karagdagang impormasyon.)

I'm especially interested in the caterpillar in Mexico workshop. Wonder if Tim Holtz used alcohol or distress inks. Maybe he hammered the poor bug to death using his textured hammer. Boink boink!

Somebody post the results already, please.

NOTE: In Tagalog, higad has nothing to do with art. LOL.

Adventure in Pearl

2009-06-28T22:41:00.004+08:00

Well, thanks to Janis, I made another layout for this month. For Kaya, she challenged us to use pearls, her birthstone (and mine), in our layouts, and here's what I came up with.

Journaling:
These are the magic years, and therefore, magic days, and therefore, magic moments. - Anonymous

Materials Used:
CS - DCWS; PPS - Heidi Grace; Alphas - American Crafts; Diecut - K & Co.; Flowers - Prima; Chipboards - Maya Road; Paint - Ranger; Stamping Ink - Colorbox; Pen - Sakura; Adhesives - Ranger, Saunders.

I didn't have too many pearl embellishments. So it was a lucky break (?) when one of my pearl necklaces broke - my daughters were playing with it. I still have to have it re-strung but I don't think one bead would be missed. I used it for the center of my flower. I also used seed pearls I bought in one of my many trips to the south to form loops around the flower.

I don't often use crackle paint but I love how this one turned out. I used Ranger Tattered Rose and then dabbed it with red-violet Colorbox inkpad.

This is based on a Page Map so I was able to finish it quickly. The longest part was waiting for the crackle paint and the adhesive I used to attach the pearls to dry.

TFL. N ow back to writing that blasted annotated bibliography. Oopppsss...I still have to actually read something before I can do any annotating. Oh, scrap!

Irony

2009-06-26T13:10:00.002+08:00

Unlike last year, there wasn't much discussion this time.

Me: Do you think I should join Idol again?
DH: Wag na...di ba nag-aaral ka na? Concentrate on your studies.
Me: Yun na nga, eh. I might be so focused on my studies I might not have time to scrap. With the challenge, I am forced to make time for at least one layout each week.
DH: Hmmmm....
Me: Uh-hmmm...

And that was that. The next day, the day before the deadline, I sat down to make my layout using this ad inspiration.

I was really supposed to be reading "The Political Heritage: From Wilson to Waldo" but my mind kept wandering to scrapping and so I finally succumbed and came up with this in record time.

My first time to do masking, first time to use KI lace CS, first time to use Adirondack Dabber (made a neat discovery that unlike acrylic paint, if you apply it lightly, any design underneath would still show through), and first time to use Perfect Pearls to put some shine. And oh, look, I used old (circa 2001) photos.

Quite satisfied with the outcome of my scrapping after 3 weeks of drought, I finally focused on my readings. Which I didn't finish before it was time to leave for school, so I was glad classes were cancelled due to Typhoon Feria. Yipee! More time to scrap and since mojo was up, finished two more layouts.

I've been joining Idol since its first season. I can still remember the stress I went through, especially the first time. It got better last season although it was still a bit stressful. And now. I can't believe I'm planning to use the Idol competition to de-stress. Isn't that ironic?

I invite you to view the participants' gallery here. Lots of new faces and some old ones too. And as usual, awesome work.

Back to School

2009-06-18T22:46:00.006+08:00

Summer vacation - the days of confused weather - is officially over. Last week, the KiDS went back to school. So that meant waking up at 5:00 in the morning to have them up and running. The days of homework have officially began.

The same is true for me as I decided to pursue further studies at the U.P. DH was encouraging me to enroll in the Creative Writing Masters program but I decided to go for my doctorate in Public Administration instead. I think I must have been temporarily insane.

In Theories of Administrative System, we are required to write one annotated bibliography of a book or an article each week until September 30, 2009. Not to mention the critical review papers and other requirements. That's like making one layout a week for the Scrappin Moms Idol Contest - do or die; pas or fail. Nerve-wracking.

I don't know yet the course requirements for the Seminar on the Administration of Political Development but I am thinking it would be just as heavy. Our visiting professor from Korea kept on telling us that we were an advanced group of students so more was expected from us. Well, maybe, my classmates are in that advanced category seeing that they are Vice-Chancellors of state universities, directors of government agencies, Commissioners, etc. But me, I am just a SAHM and when I was asked where I was connected, I could only say "I am connected to my husband and kids." Having said that I thought to myself that would make a great scrapbook layout.

And in truth, as Professor Kim droned on and on about a class field trip in Seoul at the end of the semester, I was designing layouts in my head. And of course, I was thinking that I should get good photos of the Seoul trip so I can make a mini-album.

Not a very good start I know. But I am hopeful that as my brain adjusts to the intellectual stimulation I would be able to submit reports that are not smudged with paint or put together with glue.

So help me God.

Two for Kaya!

2009-05-19T18:07:00.004+08:00

This month, Kayang-kaya kaya? is celebrating its second anniversary. I can't believe it's been two years already. I don't think anyone expected the challenge blog to last this long. Anyway, in line with the celebrations, Yoyin and Scrapbooks Hawaii put up two challenges this month.

I was able to make a layout for the first challenge but wasn't able to upload it before the deadline because I had no internet connection. Sayang! But still, I am happy with the layout I made using just fabrics, ribbons and laces, as required by the challenge.

Mug Shots

This is Kahlo, my youngest, and sadly, the only one remaining willing to ham it up for her mom. Her older siblings just run away or cover their faces when they see me holding my camera.

Journaling:
Caught in the act of being silly.

Materials:
CS - DCWV; Ribbons - Making Memories, Oriental Trading; Laces - Divisoria; Chipboard/foam - American Crafts; Alpha stickers - Making Memories; Felt - Fancy Pants; Fabric - Kahlo's old blouse. Since this wasn't qualified for the challenge anyway, I added a butterfly cut out from a K & Co patterned paper at the last minute.

Two Crazy

DH sometimes calls me "crazy girl" and I snap back "stupid man" but that doesn't mean we don't love each other. Now I have that in writing cause I had him do the journaling. How sweet is that? BTW, did you notice the two Rs in "anniversary"? Italianni's has great food and service but they sure can't spell. LOL. But who am I to complain - that ice cream was free.

Journaling:
Yup, there's no doubt about it...this is for keeps!

Materials:
Cardstock - DCWV; PPS - Basic Grey, Making Memories; Diecuts - Maya Road, Basic Grey, American Crafts; Stamps - Bam Pop, Paper Salon, Ink - Colorbox; Metal embellishments - WRMK, Making Memories; Ribbons - Making Memories, unknown; Acrylic paints - Making Memories, Li'l Davis.

TFL! I hope my scrapbooking streak continues...

Gossip and Scrapbooking

2009-05-17T21:58:00.008+08:00

So the past few weeks I've been a certified busy-body. Talk about multi-tasking. I think I may have successfully perfected the art of scrapping while watching TV (or is that the other way around?) And I have proven to my doubting DH that indeed I can watch trashy TV and still create beautiful layouts. Judge not a layout by its perfection but by the memories it contains. I'm scrapping beautiful memories, ergo, my layouts are beautiful hehehe.

So despite the fact that I've been addicted to gossip...Gossip Girls, that is, I finished a few layouts. I made these in between ogling Serena Van der Woodsen's cleavage and tsk-ing at Blair Waldorf's maneuverings.

Let's Pretend

The photos are not great and neither is the occasion, but I just had to scrap the story of how my little girls plotted to lie to the security guard at the hospital.

Journaling:
You wanted to come with us to visit Lola Mars in the UST Hospital but I was concerned about their rule that does not allow children below 10 years old to visit. So you said you can pretend to be 10. To test your readiness to lie, I asked:

Me: How old are you?
Sarah: I'm 10 years old!
Me (doubtfully): You don't look like you're 10.
Sarah (without hesitation): That's because I'm malnourished!
Kahlo: Me, me, ask me, ask me!
Me: You don't look 10.
Kahlo: That's because...I'm a...midget!

We all laughed at your celverness and excitement to visit Lolo. You managed to convince us to take you along. But at the hospital, the guard didn't even bother to check your ages at all. 10/19/08

Materials:
PPS - WRMK, Autumn Leaves; Ribbon - Autumn Leaves; Chipboards - American Crafts, Maya Road; Flowers - Prima; Stamp - Inka-dinka-doo, Autumn Leaves; Brads - Making Memories; Lace - unknown; Pen - Sakura; Paint - Ranger.

You Call Me Mimi

This is about Kahlo, who again, to be different from her siblings had to call me and her "Pipi" differently.

Journaling:
...because you think it's cute.

Quote:
"To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there." - Barbara Bush

Materials:
PPS - Inque Boutique; Chipboards - Basic Grey, K & Co,; Flowers and Lace - unknown; Photo Corner - WMRK; Sticker - 7 Gypsies; Paint and Ink - Ranger.

Squirrel Boy

Journaling:
You and I always argue over your habit of storing food in your cheeks when you eat. You stuff your mouth with food, move much of it to your right cheek and chew small pieces ever so slowly. I always ask you to limit the food in your mouth but you don't listen. I hope this is just a stage. I'd hate to be calling you squirrel man when you're an adult. It won't be so cute then, you know. 4/28/09

Materials:
CS- DCWV; PPS - October Afternoon; Stickers - Pebbles, Inc.; Stamp - Autumn Leaves; Adhesives - Ranger, Saunders; Pen - Sakura; Brads - Oriental Trading.

I hope to share a few more soon. In the meantime, excuse me while I go back to gossiping... Thanks for looking!

A Day in a Life

2009-05-08T16:51:00.008+08:00

The past few days, the song Seasons of Love from the musical Rent has been a constant refrain in my head. Particularly, the lines "how do you measure, a day in a year..." I know that's because I have recently embarked on a project with friends to take at least one photo a day and share it with them in Flickr.

The group's purpose is to encourage each member to use their cameras and practice their photography skills (such as they are, in my case), as well as have something to draw layouts from. But will this endeavor increase the number of my layouts or just decrease the time I have for scrapbooking? Get back to me on that after a year. :-)

I had to take it two steps further and take at least one significant photo a day and post it in a blog dedicated to this project. If you have the time or inclination, do visit The Armchair Chronicler. Yup, I thought it's a nice touch to have armchair in all my blog titles. Hehehe.

On other news, I'd also like to share with you a layout I made last Sunday when these lovely ladies and I got together at Candy's.

We had fun making Mothers Day cards using stamps and flowers. You can't deny talent. These girls rocked their cards. I won't point out which one is mine anymore. Kakahiya. Hehehe.

Also got to taste Yellow Cab Pizza's Dear Darla (so-called after Darla of the Lil' Rascals cause it's served with arugula and Alfalfa, also the name of the boy who has a crush on Darla.) Hmmm...that confused even me. Anyway, it doesn't compare to C' Italian's panizza but it's good enough for a quick fix.

And despite the fun I was having, I was able to finish a layout about my mom and Sarah.

My Sweet Lola

I finally used the K & Co. papers from Manang Marissa. They're so beautiful I was hesitant to cut them up. Back-to-back pa so I couldn't decide which side to use. :-)

Thanks for reading and have a relaxing weekend everyone. Happy Mothers Day to all the moms!

RAK and Load

2009-04-30T22:51:00.002+08:00

First off, happy blogoversary to Marix. Scrappalific.blogspot.com turns three this month. That's a lot of posts, words, and layouts. Congratulations, Marix for the inspiration you give us through your blog. Keep on posting.

And as part of her celebration, she is giving away some blog candy until May 17. But don't wait until the last minute cause you also have to share some crafty project that inspires you.

Here's one I found and can't wait to try. I found this at Virginia Nebel's blog. It's all about making the perfect scalloped square mat using Fiskar's Threading Water border punch which I'm pretty sure you have in your arsenal. Happy punching!

Second, head on over to Sarah's blog. She's fixing up her scrap space with organizers that I just covet. I would love to have one of those Making Memories tool caddy! Do pay her blog a visit and be inspired by the layouts and cards she makes. She has the cutest schnauzer, too. I just love how she puts captions in her photos and it feels like Maui is talking directly to you.

It's a rainy night here where I'm at. What is the world coming to? It should be the middle of summer. But anyway, it's a 3-day weekend so hope everyone has a fun and relaxing break despite the rains.

Layout Share

2009-04-29T10:40:00.004+08:00

I think I found my scrapping groove. I setup a temporary scrap area in our bedroom (it's just too hot in the 3rd floor where my scrap room is) and I happily scrap away while the KiDS do their thing (read, play, draw, watch movies) as the air-con blasts cool air around us (no guilt trip about high electric bills).

I finally finished some LOs I started way back when.

Sweet S & K

My first time to make an LO with no journaling. It was very hard but I wanted this done so I just used a vellum quote. LOL.

So Adored

You just gotta adore that father-daughters bond. My first to try layering with torn papers, as inspired by Cookie.

Shine

Notice the stitching over the yellow swirls? I did that while I was waiting for my turn at the computer. Since it's summer break, we allow the KiDS more computer time.

I used all-Basic Grey paper cause when you're scrapping on the go, it's easier to grab a kit or a collection pack and work with it. TFL!

Scrapping with Friends

2009-04-23T15:04:00.004+08:00

While I like scrapping at home where I have all my scrap stuff within easy reach, I also love going out to scrap with friends. I always learn a new thing or two from them, and nothing beats the bonding that happens as we scrap, tell jokes, exchange stories, eat, scrap shop. It's always so much fun and with the many things that happen, sometimes it's not at all unusual that you don't get to finish a layout at all. LOL. Thus, I made it my goal at every event to finish at least one LO.

Made in Clark Airbase, Angeles city at the Scrap Jam on April 4, 2009.

Cool Summer

Made last April 18 at Visual Creations, all PPS and flowers courtesy of Mitch.

Beautiful You

I'm looking forward to another scrap session with some friends in May. Can hardly wait.

Dalawang Kaya

2009-04-22T00:39:00.004+08:00

This month's Kaya challenge is all about stamping. I realized yesterday when I took Candy's tip to organize my acrylic stamps in a 3-ring binder that I have too many stamps that haven't been used. I couldn't help it. They were all so cute and I had high hopes that creativity will follow once I had them in my possession. But thanks to Bjay's challenge, I "de-virginized" a few stamps yesterday.

Constant Changes

Journaling:
You used to listen to classical music at 98.7 The Master's Touch. Now you prefer Chico and Delamar's ramblings at Monster RX 93.1 FM.

You used to kiss and hug me without inhibitions. Now public displays of affection are taboo.

You used to reluctantly answer the phone when your classmates call you. Now you are asking, no, demanding for an i-phone.

But despite the changes brought about by your growing up, you still fight your sisters for the privilege of sleeping beside me at night. Some things will never change. But I still have to brace myself for constant changes.

Materials Used:
DCWV PPS; Heidi Swapp chipboards; Making Memories letter stickers; Sakura pen; Tsukineko and Ranger ink pads; Making Memories, Inque Boutique and Inkadinkado stamps, Daisy Ds rubons.

********

This next one is my entry to Alby's Hybrid challenge. I actually finished it a few hours before the deadline but wasn't able to upload it because DH invited me to catch the last full show of Watchmen with him. Now I couldn't very well deny him after slaving over a layout about him, di ba? This particular deadline had to wait. :-)

He's All That!

Journaling:
I admire how you decide on the things you want and relentlessly pursue them. The past 2-3 years you decided you want to write screenplays. You enrolled in a short course and within a year you've written a script that made it to the top 20 semi-finalists (out of 300+) in Cinemalaya 2007. You then wanted to be a film director so you enrolled under a famous director and you are now making that dream come true.

Materials Used:
PPS - American Crafts; Chipboards - DCWV, American Crafts; Stickers - 7 Gypsies; Pen - Sharpie, Sakura; Stamping Ink - Colorbox; Adobe Photoshop CS4 to include words in photo as well as for computerized journaling.

DH always looks for connections and significance in my layouts. For him, every little thing I put on a scrapbook page should have meaning. Therefore, a beach layout should have embellishments or papers reminiscent of the beach. I do not always subscribe to this school of thought. The papers I used for this LO, for instance, are from a kids' line. I was just too lazy to dig up other papers that might be suitable hehehe. But I guess, he can't help but look for connections, so when he asked if I chose the green CS for a background because it looked like a cutting mat (he goes through numbers of cutting mats in his work), I said, "Yes, of course. That was the intent." Not....

TFL!

Let's Do The Conga !

2009-04-21T12:16:00.001+08:00

Ching sent me this exclusive invitation to join the Conga Line.

Basically when you receive an invitation to join you add the image as a sidebar picture widget and then link the image to the one person who's blog you want to be next in line.

Rules:
- You can only join the line if you are invited
- You can only pass it on to one person
- Lets make the longest conga line in the world!! (wouldn't it be cool if it went all over the world and back??)
- Make sure you follow through until the person you invite has added it to their blog otherwise the chain will be broken and it won't work
- If you receive an invitation and don't want to be in the line then kindly let the person know who sent it to you so they can invite someone else. We are really excited to see where this will end up!

I'll forward this exclusive invitation to Marissa!!!

Chalk and Pebbles

2009-04-19T00:33:00.002+08:00

I've been a bad blogger, I know. But today I couldn't resist sharing about Pebbles Inc.'s metallic chalks. I love using Pebbles Inc's chalks; specially love their chalk eraser. No fear of making mistakes with that thingy. But metallic chalks, my-oh-my, look at them goodies.

And you get a chance to win 6, yes, 6 sets, if you visit their blog and just spread the good news.

Summer Na!

2009-04-03T19:40:00.004+08:00

The KiDS are officially out of school today, and I am looking forward to Scrap Jam with friends and having panizza at C'Italian this weekend. If you want to see food photos of what I intend to have a surfeit of tomorrow, go here. I already brought several friends here and they loved it, too.

Hurrah for summer!

Ninety-Nine Peso Finds

2009-03-31T11:47:00.007+08:00

I love going to Book Sale and most other second-hand book stores. I especially love the stores where you get crisp hardbound copies at cheap prices. It doesn't matter that the books are just strewn in a box and you literally have to dive in to read the titles. Nothing like the triumphant feeling of emerging, literary find, in hand.

Found these books at National Book Store (CP Mall), for P99.00 each:

1) God is Dead by Ron Currie, Jr. - I've never heard of the book nor the author, but the title intrigued me. I read a few pages and I couldn't put it back. In the story, God disguises Himself as a Dinka woman in Darfur. He meets Colin Powell. Will tell you where this interesting premise leads as soon as I'm done.

2) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - still set in Afhganistan, by the author of The Kite Runner, which I loved.

3) Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - I have yet to read a Neil Gaiman novel, but I've enjoyed the short stories in Smoke and Mirrors, another collection of shorts.

4) Play Dirty by Sandra Brown - I don't know about you, but sometimes, I have to buy a book just because of its author. I've been reading Sandra Brown books since college and though I've outgrown most of her plots, I still have to buy her books. Heck, for less than a hundred, who cares?

I reserved the following books. I didn't get them yet because I wanted to check the reviews.

1) The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold - I coudn't put her other book The Lovely Bones down, and I don't want to be disappointed, so I thought I'd check first.

2) Saturday by Ian McEwan - again, I was hooked on Atonement, so I'm not sure if this book would be an affirmation of McEwan's greatness or a letdown.

I don't know about you, but I think I'm ready for the lazy days of summer - just reading a good book when the KiDS are taking their afternoon naps.

Note: Photo above are books currently on my bedside table. I have yet to read them. I think there's more under the bed including The Birth of Venus. LOL. Saving all my books for a rainy day...or sunny day, if you will.

Scrapping Where I Can

2009-03-26T23:09:00.007+08:00

Arrggghhh...March is almost over, I can smell summer in the air (my skin practically sizzles in the heat), and yet, the KiDS still have classes! Most of my friends' children have been off on vacay since two weeks ago and yet here we are, still reviewing for final exams next week. Kinda feels like those last few days on your ninth month of pregnancy. Can we have it over and done with already?

I'm looking forward to lazy days at home when I don't have to get up at 5 in the morning and just enjoy time with the kids. Most especially, I look forward to scrapping in my own space, in my own time.

I am a work-on-one-project-at-a-time scrapper. Sure. I'm great at multi-tasking, but with scrapbooking, it has to be a linear thing. Print picture, select papers and embellishments, scrap, and don't go to bed until done. I hate having the sun rise on unfinished layouts.

But the last few weeks, I had to be a bit flexible if I wanted to scrap at all. Since we were spending most of the weeknights at the studio, I had to be creative. I had to learn to scrap in bed. I had to be content with knowing that I will not be able to finish a layout to my satisfaction, not when most of my stuff are back home. I had to learn to work on several layouts at a time.

And that's just what I did. The upside is, I've started on at least eight layouts. The downside, I haven't finished one. Maybe when summer officially starts in April, when we're just home, I can finally finish them.

In the meantime, DH has been more productive than I am. His first short film will be shown this Saturday, March 28, 2009 at the MDAFI in Antipolo City. Thirteen other short films by his cohorts will be shown. Doesn't his poster look great? I swear this guy can do anything he sets his mind to.

Watch out for this batch of talented filmmakers. They will be the best in the industry. Yabang ba? Hehehe. Seriously, many of them are already making names for themselves in television and the movies. DH, who is undoubtedly a freshman, sure is in good company.

Not to be outdone, I've been productive, too. In the kitchen. Well, all of us have to have our own creative outlets. DH's is movies, mine is food. The world needs both. Will share the goodies with you at my food blog.

It's Barbie's Birthday

2009-03-10T08:21:00.003+08:00

And in honor of her 50th year, I am sharing with you an essay I wrote for Good Housekeeping. It was published (in a shorter and much expurgated form) last September 2008. This is the unedited version. The airport incident was cutoff from the published article. I knew it would be but I just couldn't resist adding it because 1) it's a true story, and 2) it was really hilarious.

Bringing Up Barbie

While we were pregnant with our first child, my husband and I agreed that if it will be a girl, we will never buy her a Barbie doll. We believed that Barbie is not really an appropriate toy for little girls. For one, she is not cuddly and we thought, would hardly raise caring feelings from our little girl. Two, we wouldn’t want to be inadvertently raising a fashionista with the Barbie clothes and accessories. Three, Barbie, we believed is a more appropriate toy for older kids who would enjoy dressing and undressing her with all those pretty clothes.

We also believed all the psycho-babble that Barbie will bring out inadequate feelings in our daughter, seeing how she (Barbie) is so perfect. Blonde hair, blue eyes, big breasts, small waist, wide hips, long curvy legs. (Really! Who looks like that? I never looked that way even pre-partum.) Our daughter was still in vitro and already we were worrying about her self-esteem. Plus, Barbie is a big commitment. You buy even the simplest Barbie doll and pretty soon you will have to buy into the whole package – clothes, accessories, play sets, cars and houses for little Miss Barbie.

And so we agreed. No Barbies for our would-be girls.

Our first child turned out to be a son. I am bothered that my husband and I never had a discussion about G.I. Joes. But that’s another story.

Anyway, it wasn’t too long before we had a second baby and this time it turned out to be a she. We bought the usual pink stuff for her, and thankfully, no Barbie. Success! All went well in her plastic doll-free world until she started pre-school. All the other girls in her class had Barbie bags, Barbie shoes and Barbie lunchboxes. They even had Barbie books in the school library. Much as we tried to shelter our child, she had to grow up one day and face peer pressure. That most misunderstood of all creatures – Barbie.

We never thought much of it as first. We thought Sarah was one happy child. She never asked us to buy her a Barbie doll. Until one day, we had a visitor in the house, and she told our guest, “You know what? I have a Barbie.” Our guest pretending to be interested in what a 4-year old has to say asked, “Really? What’s her name? (Yes, she really asked that.) Sarah just looked at her with a painful confused look on her face trying to deal with this disturbing fact that it seems not everyone knew Barbie.

Now we were more concerned that our child was playing with an imaginary Barbie than we were of the evils that actually owning a Barbie doll might bring. But still, we didn’t want to go all the way to actually buying into the whole enterprise. These dolls don’t come cheap as you know. So my husband came home one day, with a blonde blue-eyed Barbie knockoff. Except for the unusually big head, it had the same big hair, big breasts and big hips as the real thing. But never underestimate a child. Sarah took one look at her and promptly proclaimed, “That’s not Barbie.” “Oh, but this isn’t Barbie”, we tell her. “This is her cousin, Barba.” She looked at us with suspicion but she was more curious over the toy than figuring out her crazy parents. And then she was quite content to play with her doll.

Barely 24 hours later, Barba’s big head was nowhere to be found. Her breasts have been squeezed into her chest. And our little girl was bawling her heart out. It seems that in our pursuit to save money, we were actually going to be shelling out more. We had to get the real deal, which is more expensive but undoubtedly prettier and presumably more durable. My husband and I again had a discussion - what good are we as parents if we were to give in to something we swore would never be in our daughter’s toy box?

But then again, I saw how my daughter played with Barba. She certainly didn’t think of her as a fashion icon. She played role playing games with her. Barba was an older sister to her other dolls. She had Barba going to work as a teacher and doing mundane things as washing the dishes and doing laundry. Certainly at her age, she wasn’t thinking of being blonde, blue-eyed and sexy. She just played with the doll as she did any of her other dolls.

And so we gave in. We took Sarah to the toy store, and the awe and glee in her eyes were well worth the P500 Barbie. When our friends heard that we were fine with Barbie they started giving her Barbies for birthdays and Christmas. And soon, we had more Barbies than we could handle. It wasn’t as painful as we expected. But oh, do watch out for those little Barbie heels. So small and yet so painful if you stepped on them with bare feet.

When my sister in the U.S. learned that I no longer cringed from buying Barbies, she asked me to buy her the Manilena and regional Barbie dolls. She’s an avid Barbie collector and I even got her the more-expensive Patis Tesoro ones. I went to the US with a balikbayan boxful of local Barbies. I took pains putting different gift tags on the dolls just in case U.S. Customs questioned me about them. But the Patis Tesoro doll, I hand carried, as I didn’t want the box to be squished during transit.

At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where they ask you to turn on your cell phones and laptops, and search every nook and cranny of your hand carried items, the security lady took a lot of interest in my Barbie doll. She opened the box (oh, no! it’s no longer mint in box!), pulled Barbie out, removed her shoes, looked under her skirt, copped her breasts. My horror turned into amusement as I realized that even Barbie couldn’t escape the prerequisite body search.

Ah…the joy of playing with a Barbie doll. Sarah has a coterie of Barbies, paired up with Kens, and sister Kelly. She even has a grandmother. But the funny thing is, for all my worries, she plays with her dolls like she would a regular toy. The interest also easily wears off, and soon the Barbies are back in their boxes again minus those nasty heels which always seem to end up under my poor feet.

I still have to be persuaded to let her wear Barbie fashion though.

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-03-03T14:41:00.004+08:00

Or trying to be. Sharing some layouts I made last month. I feel like I'm back in first grade.

Book Lover

This is Diego in one of his favorite places in the world (Fully Boooked Serendra). That's why the journaling reads, "You'd live in a bookstore if we let you." I had him list books he's read, his favorites, and books he wants to read in the note cards and inserted them in a filing envelope.

Getaway Cruise

Just used one DCWV patterned paper here and the Argosy Cruises brochure. I think they were more than enough. This is the prerequisite souvenir photo before boarding the ship. I tired to simulate waves with the blue ric rac tipped with silver glitter. Pa-effect. Hehehe.

Thanks for looking. I wish I could scrap more soon.

Lights, Camera, Action!

2009-02-25T14:50:00.019+08:00

Warning: Photo-intensive post.

These past few days DH and his cohorts have been busy filming short films for their class at the MDA Film Institute. MIL's house has been overran with camera crew, catering crew, gofers, gaffers, producers, actors like Meryl Soriano, Ina Feleo and Jao Mapa, and a few others I missed because I wouldn't go out with my hair uncombed lest I be caught on tape. I swear I will go to the parlor first if ever they get John Lloyd to play a role.

They usually work at nights for better lighting, so puyatan talaga sila. Even Diego got into the spirit of things. When DH was directing his short, he was the one who shouted "Quiet in the set" and "Action!" I think he picked up a few cuss words along the way, too. :-(

So with DH busy mastering his new craft, I had the laptop all to myself. Looking at the photos I have somewhat alleviated my disappointment about not getting that DSLR camera I've been wanting since two Christmases ago. My point and shoot Nikon, which I bought 4 years ago for $500 (the price of a DSLR now!), still works quite well. Sure, it only has 3 effective mega-pixels and the battery cover has to be held together by tape, but I've been able to get decent photos using it. The way things are going, I should be happy I have a working camera at all.

I usually just crop or clone out distracting objects from my photos, but this time I played with some Photoshop actions I purchased early last year. When I realized I wasn't getting a new DSLR anytime soon, I thought buying actions on line was a cheaper alternative. (Well, only if you use them.) I experimented quite a bit and was thrilled to discover that I can layer actions upon actions. I love the results. But please don't ask me what specific actions I used to achieve certain effects because I was way too trigger-happy and I didn't take notes of the clicks I did. In some cases I just blended like crazy and used available Photoshop presets.

Love that glow, Diego looks lit up from behind, and look, Ma, no lantern (which was made by Kahlo, by the way.)

Before

After

Sarah is ready for her closeup, zooming in tighter, some digital makeup and voila!

Before

After

I just love those eyes and wanted to play them up a bit.

Before

After

Just traded that grayish pallor for some sunshiney glow. Yup, she is one serious girl. Seriously.

Before

After

Love the expression on her face but the original photo was a bit too orange for my taste. A few adjustments with opacity here and there...

Before

Somewhere in the middle

After

DH is not a fan of the last version, but I'm thinking it would look great on textured paper. How about you, which version do you prefer?

This exercise made me realize 1) there are no bad pictures, specially, not with Photoshop; and 2) like what my DH often tells me when I whine about my poor yet trusty point and shoot), "It's not what you've got, it's how you use it." Sabay sayaw. Everybody now...

Don't expect to see these photos on layouts anytime soon though. I am still having way too much fun with Photoshop. It's made me forget (for awhile at least) how much I want that Nikon D90. Sob.

Good Advice

2009-02-19T10:22:00.003+08:00

This is my response to Manang Marissa's challenge in Kaya! I think fear of my sister's wrath made my scrapping mojo come running back to me from wherever it has wandered. Hehehe. Anyway, I am quite happy to be playing with scissors again.

Julia Fordham's songs were the soundtrack of my life way back when. This layout is based on the song Girlfriend. I relate to this song for three reasons:

1) In the nineties when this song was popularized, I thought I was in love with a guy who was a "boyfriend ng iba." The lyrics "Don't tell your girlfriend about me cause your girfriend won't like girls like me" were the perfect refrain for my angst-ridden non-existent lovelife.

2) This was also the time when in search of answers, Susie and I frequented manghuhulas or fortune tellers from Quezon City to Makati to Tagaytay City.

3) The good advice the song imparts is as relevant to me then as it is now. In order to be loved truly and fully by someone else, I should stop being pathetic. I mean, we should love ourselves first and foremost.

I used Scrapbook Hawaii's fully loaded First Kiss kit to create this layout, and a few items from my stash. You can view the details here.

I'm in the Carnival!

2009-02-14T21:28:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Spent a large part of the day playing games with the KiDS at their school's Family Day. Quite appropriate, I think.

Meanwhile, head on over to Craft Critique for inspiring love creations and projects contributed by their readers. My layout to my parents is featured there and is in very good company.

Ahh...where would I be without the love that exists between these two wonderful people?

Have a romantic love-filled weekend.

Carnival Time

2009-02-12T19:53:00.003+08:00

Just what I need to get out of this scrapbooking rut - inspiration. Craft Critique is hosting a Blog Carnival, wherein you send them our Valentine or love-themed layouts, to share with others in ONE big post filled with all the participants' works. This is my first time to join and it promises to be fun. Why don't you play, too?

Love to all!

Magical Wishes

2009-02-08T23:26:00.003+08:00

These beautiful collection from Webster's Pages should be enough to jolt anyone out of the doldrums.

How I wish the lucky one would be me. Hope this would be a case of wishes do come true.

Down in the Doldrums

2009-02-07T17:13:00.005+08:00

Anybody seen my scrapping mojo? If found, please inform me ASAP. I miss making layouts terribly.

And so to compensate for my inadequacies at that end, I have been visiting fellow scrappers' blogs. I am loving Blogger's new Blog List feature where I am immediately informed if my favorites have updated their blogs (see sidebar). Quite convenient when you have limited time to surf. I assure you I am inspired by the artistry and creativity everyone else is showing, but sadly, the impetus to create just isn't there.

So I thought I'd undertake the monumental task of organizing our library. I have a very simple system. I allotted shelves for My Books; DH's Books, Reference Books, and Children's Books, sorted by subject.

DH's books are easy cause he brought all his film/art books in his studio. Only his history books and Car Buyer magazines are here in the house.

I've also left the Children's Books under Sarah's supervision because and I quote, "I like to organize." That's putting it mildly. This girl can be so OC. She wants to arrange their books first by author, then within that category, by color. Ugh... What else can I expect from a girl who throws a fit when her food are touching each other on her plate? Anybody here watch Monk? His idiosyncracies are delightful, but in an 8-year old, they can be very very frustrating.

Organizing is really no hardship, except that it takes me a long time because I spend more time seating on the couch re-reading portions of books I've read before rather than actually moving them to their correct shelves. I arrange my books in two categories - Books I've Read and Books I have To Read. Sadly, the second category fills up most of my allotted shelves.

I should read more - at least one book a month. I'm off to a good start. Last January I finished Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner." I watched the movie version, too. I recommend both to you. Currently, I am reading Bill Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country." Bryson is my favorite travel writer. Maybe when I'm done I'll watch the movie "Australia" for some visual feasts about this sunburned country down under.

In the meantime, I hope my mojo will be back soo. Even if only to make a layout in response to Manang Marissa's Kaya challenge. Sali din kayo ha? Para hindi ako batukan ng ate ko. Hehehe.

The 6th

2009-01-25T23:16:00.003+08:00

Nina tagged me.

I was asked to do the following:

1. Navigate to where you keep your pictures, select the 6th folder, and the 6th picture in that folder.

2. Then post it on your blog with an explanation of the story behind the picture.

3. Tag 6 other people to do the same, and make sure you let them know about it.

Here's that almost forgotten photo:

This photo was taken at the US Embassy on February 16, 2005. From left to right - my friend Yasmin Lao, former US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, former Philipine President Cory Aquino and Jose Torres, author of "Into the Mountain: Hostaged by the Abu Sayyaf." Yas was conferred the Benigno S. Aquino Fellowship Award for public service by the US government and I was so proud to have witnessed that. Yas founded the Al -Mujadilah Development Foundation which was a grantee of F-Foundation where I was Grants Administrator for almost 13 years.

I'll have to skip the last step as I am having problems with my keyboard. If you are so inclined, play the game and consider yourself tagged.

The Christmas Album (Partial)

2009-01-19T23:37:00.009+08:00

I have to say I have been quite productive this month. At least, before I got addicted to The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hour Glass. I haven't scrapped for almost a week, and I don't think I will be able to until I finish the game.

There is something to be said about working with theme albums. I didn't spend too much time rummaging for appropriate papers and embellishments because I have all of them in just one box. There is also that feeling of accomplishment, or at least that feeling that there is an end to all this. I can say, "I am caught up" at least, with the Christmases of my married life.

I call this my first generation Christmas layouts. First Gen because I used photos that had already been printed in 4x3 sizes which I rescued from my magnetic photo albums. It was hard to be creative with these sizes as there wasn't much room for cropping but am quite happy with the results. Mainly because now I have a visual chronicle of our family's Christmases past.

1997

First Among Many

1998

Christmas Three

Trim the Tree

The following layout was to be my entry to the AdThis wrapper and tag challenge but wasn't able to take a photo of it in time for the deadline.

Christmas Morning

1999

Sadly, I couldn't find this year's photos. I am hopeful it's one of those undeveloped film canisters in the drawers. Keeping my fingers crossed. Otherwise, it will be a layout without photos. Good thing I have some good memories of this year.

2000

Republishing - I actually finished these late last year.

Xmas 2000

Santa Baby

2001

M is for Merry Christmas

Have You Been Naughty or Nice?

2002 (not)
I thought the following photos were from the year 2002, when we moved to a new house. But when I checked my digital files, I realized to my horror that they were actually taken in 2003. I had to do some quick thinking to fix the title.

A New Home for Christmas

Thank God for acrylic paint, and the fact that we did have a new tree that year and voila! I simply had to change the journaling tag which was hung with a safety pin and not glued on. Otherwise, it would have been more work. Can you spot the differences? :-)

2003

A New Tree for Christmas

But Not Here...

I got to play with my new Quickutz dies and Martha Steward border punchers. The Christmas ribbons DH bought for me were put to good use, too. I particularly enjoyed making "A New Tree/Home" because I got to make my own background with ribbons and scraps. The best thing? I got to use really old stash. Remember those border strips from Craft Express? I hoarded quite a number of these from National Book Store way back when.

Now I have to make my Second Generation layouts using digital photos that are still stored in my laptop. I'm going to use sketches this time. And maybe go for spreads.

Thanks for looking!

Fabulous Addictions

2009-01-14T22:48:00.006+08:00

First of all, I would like to thank Nina for this award. Thanks, friend.

And I received this award from Donna (thanks, D.)

She asked me to mention FIVE addictions and pass the award on to FIVE other fabulous blogs.

I am currently, as I breathe here and write, addicted to:
1) The Legend of Zelda The Phantom Menace (I can't scrap until I finish the game...grrrr....)
2) Chicken Biryani (so much so that I've actually searched for recipes online and am thinking of cooking it. Me? Cook? Yup. I've got it really bad.)
3) Twilight (still). Although not as bad as my son Diego who has downloaded photos and songs into his Nintendo DS, and is learning to play Bella's Lullaby on the piano.
4) American Idol now that Season 8 is on.
5) And last but not least, I will always and forever be addicted to chocolates. That is why I will never agree to be a vampire even if Edward Cullen begs me. I love human food too much. LOL.

I am awarding the above-mentioned awards to:
Manang Marissa
Diane
Marix
Jenn
Ching

Sending you some love, girls. Be well. And I hope you take the time to pass the awards on.

More History Lessons

2009-01-10T00:09:00.005+08:00

January 6 is Tandang Sora's or Melchora Aquino's birthday. Last Tuesday was her 197th birthday. Tandang Sora was 84 years old when she put her life at risk by taking care of sick and wonded Katupuneros. Proving that gender and age are no hindrance to public service or in just doing good.

We pulled the KiDS from school to attend the inauguration of a shrine (click here for the article mentioning DH) dedicated to Tandang Sora's memory. When Sarah read the plaque on the monument, she exclaimed, "I know her! She's the one who gave food and medicine to the poor." Well, not quite, but at least she learned a bit of Philippine history that day. That was also the excuse we gave the school for their absence. Hehehe.

A bit of trivia which I heard from one of Tandang Sora's direct descendants. She was named Melchora after one of the Three Kings as she was born on the Feast of the Epiphany. It's quite obvious but I never really thought about that.

Date Movie with DH

2009-01-05T18:56:00.009+08:00

What movie do you watch with a Philippine-history buff? What else but Mark Meilly's Baler?

Well, I must admit that there's more to it than that. I've lived with the story of Siege of Baler for years beginning when DH started researching on it for his historical mural now located at the Museo de Baler. And for the past two years, we've attended the celebration of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day (June 30) in Baler.

The Siege of Baler is a remarkable story of courage and loyalty amidst war. Watch the movie or at least read my review at my critical (LOL) blog.

Baler Beach

There is something about looking into the past to see where we are going.

December Recap

2009-01-02T12:22:00.004+08:00

Oh well, it's late again, but that's the thing with Decembers, isn't it? You'd think time slowed down during the long holiday break, but no, everything seemed to move in fast forward.

I wasn't very productive scrapbooking wise. I missed Candy's Kaya - I had an idea in mind but wasn't sure how to execute it, and then time ran away from me, and before I knew it, it was the deadline. I was able to manage only one layout. The second of my Christmas layouts. I decided to move my self-imposed deadline for the Family Christmas album from December 25 to January 31. Why? Because to quote Tina Fey, I am the decider!!! Obviously, I spent New Year's Eve and most of the first day of the year watching 30 Rock re-runs.

Christmas was kinda incomplete. We visited my parents in the province last December 24 morning, had lunch with them, then had dinner with DH's parents here in the Metro. Thank goodness there wasn't much traffic. Wee hours of Christmas day, DH had to leave for L.A. on business. So that's were the sadness was coming from. He spent his birthday there and New Year on the plane. He arrived yesterday and with all the goodies he brought for me and the kiddies, it was Christmas once again.

As usual, I gave DH a list of scrapbooking stuff I wanted from Joanns and Michaels, but he diverted once again. He wasn't able to get me everything on my list (they were out of stock) but he got me other things I wouldn't have thought of buying, but I certainly could use. Sayang naman daw kasi, many things were 60% discounted. Love this guy. He even bought Girl Scout papers for my girls and KI puppy papers for Jasper. He must really love me. Either that, or he's saying I should scrap more. Faster even.

So why wasn't there much scrapping? Because there was alot of baking - cookies, cupcakes, more cookies, to give to friends and neighbors. My Kitchen Aid has never worked so hard.

Let me leave you with two Christmas layouts. The spread was for Kaya 19 and will go to our Family Christmas album - a work in progress.

I'm using old photos that have already been printed so I have to work with the available sizes and colors. But that's ok. I'm after writing down our Christmas stories, so the layouts need not be magazine-pretty.

Spreading Good Cheer

2008-12-31T12:54:00.002+08:00

It's the last day of 2008 - I'm waxing sentimental already. Where did the year ago? I haven't even been able to scrap even a third of every thing's that happened this year. Oh well, there's always next year. Wishful thinking after all this time that I will ever ever be "caught up" in my scrapbooking. Hehehe.

Had some time to surf between our before-the-new-year general cleaning and planning our new year's eve dinner and found this: Rhonna Farrer is choosing one lucky winner to pick any 209 of her kits. Isn't that great? I'd settle for just one or two...but good luck to us. What a wonderful way to end this year and start the next.

May you all have a peaceful and prosperous 2009!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T00:20:00.000+08:00

Credits - Shabby Princess, Kirsty Wiseman

Our annual photo under the Christmas tree. We had to do it in a rush because DH was due to the airport at around 3 a.m. We didn't have too many presents under the tree this year. We're hoping DH will make it up for that upon his return on January 1. LOL. We will miss celebrating his birthday and new year's eve with him. And even now, we are so looking forward to the balikbayan boxes...errr...his return.

Culture Shock

2008-12-05T21:10:00.006+08:00

Late Wednesday night, I found out that my MIL volunteered me yet again to another activity involving her organization. I was quite dismayed because 1) I had scheduled to attend a book launching at the Ateneo de Manila University, a book that took many years to see print, not for lack of effort on my part; and 2) she volunteered me to be an emcee in a dance competition at the U.P. Bahay ng Alumni. I hate having to talk in front of huge crowds. It may not be readily apparent, but I am glossophobic.

Needless to say, MIL prevailed, and I had to bail out of the book launching. I hope they still give me a complementary copy of the book on Community-Based Natural Resource Management. Not your average person's reading material, but it is an important collection of research and studies on Philippine CBNRM.

And so, it was with acute trepidation that I found myself in the huge hall of the Bahay ng Alumni, trying to establish a rapport with my co-emcee, who I was meeting for the first time. The occasion is the Luzon Sayawitugtog Bata, a dance drama competition on Philippine Myths and Legends, held by the International Organization of Folk Arts Philippines (IOFA) every two years. Frankly, I expected to be bored to tears.

It was quite a comedy of errors at first. I was given my cue cards and spiels, and at the last minute, the organizers changed the order of the program. Imagine me, standing there in the podium, working up the crowd to frenetic excitement (I was doing my best Pokwang impersonation) as I begin to introduce the first contestants, when I was cut short by the floor director, who said the judges had to be introduced first. Ugh! Talk about wrong timing. Only twenty minutes into the program and I was already wishing I was somewhere else.

But as the elementary students representing the different regions in Luzon performed, I paid rapt attention. I was, to say the least, awe-struck with the beauty and strength of their performances. The youth could perform with such spirit and verve. And only the very young cannot be self-conscious about being dyed dark brown, and being asked to wear afro wigs and g-strings.

I learned much about the beginnings of Vigan, the Christianization of Cagayan Valley, the simple life and culture of the Balugas (Aetas) of Tarlac (when I was a child, my siblings would scare me by saying the Balugas would come and put me in their bayong), the legend of Calamba - I never knew that the town derived its name from "kalan" and "banga" (clay stove and jar), the beginnings of Iriga City, the Cordillera Administrative Region's Romeo and Juliet in the legend of Gana-ac and Lupting, and last but not the least, the history of Pasig.

I wish I could have taken more photos or videos of the performances but absorbed as I was with the stories, I still had to do my duties as emcee. Which went far better than I would have expected as I was drawn into the importance of the event - the opportunity to showcase the relatively unknown stories of the different parts of the Philippines. It is indeed vital that we Filipinos, beginning with the very young, have a deeper appreciation of our diverse cultures and heritage.

Next year, IOFA will be holding the Visayas and Mindanao phases of the competition in Cebu. I hope I get invited to emcee again. If not, I will volunteer, if I have to twist my MIL's arm about it.

November Recap

2008-12-02T23:27:00.004+08:00

And, it's two days late, I'm sorry. As if naman people are waiting with bated breath for me to recap the past month. Hahaha. Well, one can only hope.

So the whole month of November is dedicated to the Twilight series and, of course, the movie. It's funny how Candy infected me with her enthusiasm for the books and I managed to infect other people, too. And what fun to discover that there are other scrappers out there who share the same interest and delight in the books. Although I'm sure less layouts were made because of this addiction. Hehehe.

Four required LOs for this month and thanks to the Kaya challenges by Marj, I was able to meet my quota - the final one a spread, to boot. And hopefully, the first of my annual family Christmas layouts. My goal for December is to have a Christmas album by December 25. Hmmm....that's 9 layouts to go and I am assuming double-pagers, so I pray I am up for this self-imposed challenge. Otherwise, I will hang my head in shame and just go back to reading Twilight. (Yup! Any excuse, right?)

We also went scrapping and eating in Cavite! I can't wait for the next crop party at Alby's place. I'm sure by then, her scrapping area is finished. Well, it was technically finished but she hasn't moved her things yet, because she was too enamored with Edward Cullen. Haha.

And then last November 29, we had much fun again at My Little Attic's mini-jam. As much as possible, I try not to miss any of Nette's crop events because she is always such a gracious host. The kits and food alone more than cover the minimal registration fee. And then there are the sales (I really had to hold on to my wallet) and the yummy raffle prizes. I wasn't as lucky this time, but I still went home with a prize. And besides, I enjoyed myself immensely with my tablemates, Alby, Bjay and Reggie, who after exchanging stories, I was surprised to learn is my kumare. We share an inaanak. Small world, isn't it?

We learned new techniques also - using alcohol inks (Yoyin demonstrated a different way of using them), glimmer mists (Donna showed us how to achieve that fine spray), and Cookie shared with us her acrylic hanging thingamajig. I am sorry, I don't know what it's called exactly, but you know Cookie. It was really a functional work of art.

Our kit included materials for a box which we decorated with masking using glimmer mists, a mini-album which I didn't finish because I made a mistake with pasting the paper. All the planes and trucks were upside down. It looked like they figured in a vehicular accident and turned turtle. I did finish one 8x8 acrylic layout, which sources told me was in the running but it didn't win. Knowing it was at least considered was a happy thing for me already cause I did it on the spot with little materials at hand.

Sharing it with you -

Materials Used:
Daisy D's rubons; Pink Paislee PPS; K & Co chipboards; Prima flowers; 7 Gypsies; Ranger alochol inks (which I dabbed behind the acrylic, making unconscious sound effects, according to Alby).

That's a photo I took of Sarah when I was learning photography at the Filipinas Heritage Library. It was voted as one of the best photos by th class. The same photo was later used in the FHL brochure. I think Sarah was around 2 years old at the time.

It's December! And so the countdown begins to heavy traffic both in the streets and in the malls, harried and hurried Christmas shopping...I hope we take time to reflect on the true meaning of this season: take lots of photos and scrap them! Wink.

I Watched Twilight!

2008-11-27T18:11:00.004+08:00

I was looking forward to my Wednesday date with Candy, but I had to bail at the last minute. DH requested that we sleep in Marikina because the driver didn't report to work. Since he was quite busy, he couldn't take the time to bring the KiDS home early. And good wife that I am, I had no choice but to go with him, although I pouted all the way.

I think he knew that I would never let him hear the end of it, so he brought me to SM Marikina to catch the first show. It's been a long time since I watched a movie alone (I usually avoid doing that because as my friends in college would tell you, I seem to be a magnet for sex maniacs in movie houses. Of the many seats in the theater, they usually sit beside me). But I had waited too long to wait another day, so I risked it. Hehehe.

Since it was the first full show, the movie house was only half-full, mostly of giggling colegialas, so no danger there. I also didn't mind standing up for the Lupang Hinirang (it is required for theaters to play the national anthem in theaters before the FFS and LFS). But I really hate those self-serving MTVs showing politicos and celebrities singing the national anthem like they'd live and die for it. Oh, well, it's a movie theater, so one must be prepared for all the acting. Hmph.

So anyway, I missed having Candy's company. I had no one to exchange squeals with, but here's what I thought about the movie. I plan to watch it again because I must have over-analysed it too much the first time to really enjoy it. OK, I'll admit it, I really want to swoon over Edward Cullen again. Hahaha.

Funny moment in the ladies' wash room. Two teenagers talking, one said she didn't like the actor playing Jacob. The other replied, he's supposed to be a fox isn't it? Mwahahaha.

Scrap Saturday

2008-11-23T23:53:00.005+08:00

We patiently counted the days (and nights) since Alby invited us more than a month ago, and finally, yesterday happened. And as expected, it was another fun, productive, and eat-all-you can scrapping day.

We started out earlier from Manila this time to make the most of our visit to Cavite. Cookie, Donna, Nina and I had fun chatting en route to Alby's place. Near Island Cove, Bjay met us and we convoyed to Alby's house. Which was a good thing, cause our driver missed the turn to the subdivision. We were all too busy yakking in the car, I forgot to give the driver directions.

Of course, we had to admire Alby's newly refurbished kitchen, from where she cooked the wonderful dishes we had for lunch and merienda. Then we oohed and aahed over her new scrap area. I know we all turned green with envy as we looked at her new cabinets and tables. Every scrapper's dream must be an organized and inspiring space where she could just retreat and scrap.

I was quite productive that day. I finished my Kaya 19-3 LO. I'm glad Donna sat right beside me and with her magic fingers, she demonstrated to me how she rolled the edges of paper to create that realistic aged and distressed look. I had a bit of trouble with the journaling because of the photo I used which was taken back in 2000. The photo is too formal for me to emote about it much and it happened so long ago. In the end, I kept it simple.

FAMILY

Journaling:
Building a Memory...A young couple, a sweet boy and a cute little girl. Two children that can each be held and guided with our two hands. I am sure I thought this was the perfect family unit. Who knew that we'd have another wonderful addition barely two years later? But for now, let me savor this memory - one happy unit of four. Indeed, we are building one big happy FAMILY. 11/22/08 (Photo taken 2000)

Alby also challenged us to make ATC cards on the spot so we'd have something to swap with each other as a remembrance for the day. Nina shared with us her blank ATC cards (thanks, Nina) so all we had to do was be creative. And we surprised ourselves with these.

(From L-R upper row: Alby, Donna, Bjay. Lower Row: Cookie, Lee, Nina)

I know that between our laughter, giggles, the occasional chismis (okay, more than occasional hehehe), my other friends were also productive. But I will let them blog about what they finished themselves. But I really have to talk about the food we ate! Too bad, I didn't think to take pictures after I smelled the delicious aroma, I forgot all about documenting. But not to worry, Cookie has all that covered here. Alby's laing made me forget I was a carnivore! That she made me eat vegetables without prodding is a testament to how good a cook she is. :-)

We ended the day past 7 pm. I know I arrived home at around 10, after I dropped the girls off. But I went home, gastronomically and creatively sated. I can't wait until the next scrapping day in Cavite. Here's a photo of us attacking Alby's penne puttanesca and bruschetta this time. Hehehe.

Until next time, ladies...errr...bombshells (term courtesy of Bjay. :-)

Layouts to Share

2008-11-16T12:41:00.005+08:00

Despite my current obsession with Twilight, I did manage to make two layouts for Marj's Kaya challenge. I am counting these towards my four self-required layouts this month. :-)

This is Sarah. Isn't she so pretty? Until now, my DDs absoultely refuse to wear make-up, even for recitals or programs. Well, I shouldn't be surprised. I don't often wear make-up either.

Pretty Face

Journaling:
This is your first crack at being a flower girl so I was very excited. It was Ate Erika's wedding in Tarlac. While you couldn't wait to put on the pretty gown, you absolutely refused to wear makeup and have your hair done with flowers. It was quite unexpected because you have always been a girly-girl. But still, nobody can deny your naturally pink lips, porcelain face, shiny hair and pretty eyes. You glowed as you walked down the aisle.

Materials Used:
PPS - My Mind's Eye, Making Memories; Ink - Clearsnap; Pen - Sakura; Foam stickers - All About Scrapbooking; Stickers - Pebbles, Inc.; Chipboards - Basic Grey; Thickers - American Crafts; Adhesive - Saunders, Glue Dots; Glitter - Martha Stewart; Ribbon - unknown; Tools - paper crimper.

Pinky

Yes, I am still called Pinky my my family and high school friends (although I changed the spelling to Pinkee in HS, hehehe. Wala lang, para maiba daw.) My DH and KiDS don't call me Pinkee though as they only know me as Lee.

Journaling:
The story goes that when she was born, she was so pink, they called her - Pinky.

Materials Used:
CS - Bazill, The Paper Company; PPS - We 'R' Memory Keepers; Ink - Clearsnap (cotton and orchid); Ribbon - unknown; Alphabet - American Crafts Thickers; Flowers - Prima; Brads - Making Memories; Adhesive - Kokuyo, Saunders; Puncher - Fiskars.

This was my first time to use a lot of white space and while I like the final outcome, it took a lot of self control on my part.

TFL!

Twilight Movie Trailers

2008-11-14T22:19:00.002+08:00

I'm sure you've had enough but I haven't (sheepish grin).

This is the official movie trailer. Robert Pattinson (who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter) is so hot and is perfectly cast as Edward Cullen.

And lest you think I have no sense of humor about the subject, this spoof is downright hilarious.

Compare and contrast. LOL.

BTW, I finally got around to sharing my thoughts re Twilight here.

I Am...

2008-11-14T08:30:00.002+08:00

addicted! LOL.

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great

importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be

sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and

appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

You Know You're Addicted to Twilight When...

2008-11-12T00:43:00.004+08:00

you eat kilograms of candy a day so that it will make your blood smell sweeter
you hyperventilate when you watch the movie trailer (for the thousandth time)
you couldn't scrap until you finished ALL 4 books (attention, Marj)
you pour glitter over your boyfriend/DH
you convince your friends to read it too (if they haven't) so you they won't think you're crazy at the theater
you read and re-read the books lest you miss something
you saved Midnight Sun in your hard drive and can't wait for it to be published
you downloaded the 40 minute free audio book in iTunes.
you name your new Maltese puppy Jasper (I would've gone for Edward but I have a nephew with that name. It would've been confusing in the house.)
you wish someone you know is a vampire
you wish you were a vampire
you have dreams about the books

And then, here's something I picked up from Tna.

Normal guys vs Edward Cullen

A Normal Guy would say: “I think I am falling for you.”
Edward Cullen would say: “The Lion fell in Love with the Lamb”

A normal guy would pick a random song from a random artist and dedicate it to you.
Edward Cullen would sing you a song he wrote for you while playing the piano.

While you are both out for dinner, a normal guy wouldn’t keep his eyes off the sexy waitress.
Edward Cullen wouldn’t even notice the waitress was a female.

A normal guy, while driving, would keep one hand on the wheel and one hand on the radio. Edward Cullen, while driving, would keep one hand on the wheel and the other attached to yours.

A normal guy wouldn’t care or notice if you had nightmares.
Edward Cullen would sing until your nightmares went away.
“Do you want me to sing to you? I’ll sing all night if it will keep the bad dreams away.”

A normal guy buys you flowers and chocolates.
Edward Cullen buys you a car.

Lessons from the Twilight Series

2008-11-09T22:56:00.004+08:00

Thanks to Candy, I was able to read Stephenie Meyers' books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, including the unfinished draft of Midnight Sun. It took me six days. I would have finished earlier but once school started last Wednesday, I had less time to read. I do have three demanding KiDS whose seemingly endless needs I have to look after.

It was a good read. Not quite like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (majority of which I read, too) but interesting in its own way. When I'm not too busy, I will write a review in my other blog. Right now, let me just savor the books before I move on to the next read.

I am currently chewing on these meanderings:

1) Covens exist, except that in the human world, they are called cliques. And they can be as exclusive and secretive as vampire covens.

2) Bloodsucking leeches not only refers to vampires and the more common leech, they can also refer to humans who suck your emotions dry. (I'd say money, too, but I don't seem to have much of that nowadays... Emotions, I've got plenty of.)

3) People who look sinister may actually be good. And angelic-looking people may really be the epitome of evil. I should know. I've met one too many of them.

4) Dinuguan has never tasted so good.

5) Nothing like sharing good books with friends so you can discuss them together. (Thanks, Candy.) Hmmmm...anyone interested in forming a book club? The only requirements would be:
a) you are not a member of any clique/coven;
b) you do not exhibit any leech-like tendencies;
c) you are at least 90% good; and
d) you don't care what people eat as long as it's not you.

Candy and I have a date to watch the movie when it opens on November 21. It will be a kilig fest I'm sure. LOL.

Tagged Twice

2008-11-08T01:34:00.004+08:00

Thank you Nina and Alby for the tags!

The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you: Nina and Alby
2. Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading).
3. List 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up!

Here are six random things about me:
1) My DS is watching "Back to Bataan" (starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn) right now, and I can't help but flinch over the dialogues. One of the pivotal characters in the movie is supposedly Andres Bonifacio's grandson, Andres Bonifacio. I had to wake DH up to ask him incredulously, "Bonifacio had a grandson???"
2) I am about to finish the last book in the Twilight Series. I started last Sunday. Yes, I am a fast reader if nothing distracts me.
3) Next on my to-read list is The Kite Runner. DH and I loved the movie version.
4) I bought walnuts and chocolate this afternoon as I plan to bake cookies and cupcakes this weekend.
5)I hope to scrap two layouts this weekend.
6) It is 1:47 am now and I really should go back to Breaking Dawn before dawn breaks. Har-har-har.

The six people I'm tagging are: Au, Cabbie, Nita, Sym, Liezl, Cosette.

October Recap

2008-11-01T19:56:00.008+08:00

What? October has come and gone already? Like Julia Fordham sings, "Where does the time go?"

I haven't scrapped much lately, specially since the KiDS are on their sem break. We've been spending most of our free time watching DVD movies, playing Scribbage, and baking. After more than a year, I finally used my oven again, making our favorite chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, brownies and revel bars. Nothing beats fresh from the oven cookies.

I also organized my pantry and I can't believe the number of cookbooks I have. Even if I don't really cook, I always love drooling over food photos and recipes. I have this undying hope that someday I will be able to whip up a gourmet meal like Julia Childs or Martha Stewart, without even breaking a sweat, vanilla-scented sweat at that. LOL.

In the scrapbooking front, the question burns - did I meet my 5 layout quota for the month?

Well, my layout for the Scrappin Moms Idol contest finale held last October 4, should count as one, right? And in between school meetings, visits to the hospital (too many family members and friends were ill this month), family time and planning for Halloween, I was able to come up with these.

Beware

I had to showcase the BG paper on this one. I love how it says "confused" right there. Just perfect for my grumpy little girl. Shhh...I promised her I won't share this LO in the internet. There's no telling what she'll do if she ever finds out, so beware.

I just remembered I used this same paper on another classic Sarah trait. She threw a tantrum over my sharing that layout, too.

Boy Eating Dinosaur

I was inspired by BG's Archaic line to scrap really old photos. These are of Diego at barely six months old. Wasn't he a cute bugger? My magazines tell me to scan the photos and print them out in different sizes so I can have a focal point, but that's just too expensive for me, money-wise and time-wise. I can't do that to all my photos which have been developed at 3x5. I have around 4 shoe boxes full of them.

My title was inspired by a weird act we once saw in a carnival. The sign outside the tent said boldly: Man Eating Chicken. We paid highly just to see a grubby man dressed in rags eating fried chicken. It's a good thing we got the joke, otherwise I would have demanded a refund.

In the Winx of an Eye

This here's my Kaya entry for October. You can check the details here.

Oh, dear, that's only four LOs, one LO short. But wait! I made my first ever gesso project.Would this do instead? " :-)

Diego dressed up as a zombie for their school's Halloween party. We weren't able to buy liquid latex to make the scars on his face so I used gesso, which I read in the internet, is liquid latex with chalk suspension. With some cotton balls, lots of gesso, and acrylic and face paints, I turned my son into one of the dead. All the while though I was trying to channel Bjay, an accomplished scrapbooker and face painter. My final product wasn't pretty, but who said the undead are? BTW, he won best costume in his class. So despite the setbacks, this mom is happy.

The Scrappin' Moms Idol Experience

2008-10-25T18:57:00.005+08:00

I know! It's been three weeks since the Finals and I'm still thinking about it? Talk about obsessed. Hahaha. Yes, indeed. Well, not that I am obsessed with whole Idol experience, but I can be obsessive-compulsive about trying to wrap things up neatly so I can move on to the next adventure. I did promise earlier on that I would share my thoughts on my Idol experience redux.

First: I would have to give it to the Scrappin' Moms. After the first Idol, hindi na sila nadala. LOL. Which, for the growth of the local scrapping community is actually a good thing. I hope that Pia was just joking when she kept repeating during the finals that Kookie is the second and last Idol. It's never easy to run or organize a contest, but for the Scrappin' Moms to do it at that scale, for that length of time, and with limited woman force, they deserve awards themselves. So Scrappin' Moms, thank you, congratulations and more power.

Second, pagkatapos ng sipsip (hehehe), I would have to say that my social experiment is a failure. Remember I posed the questions:

Why was the first Idol competition so intense? Was it because it was the first-time that such was conducted in the Philippines? Was it because it was my and many other participants' initial foray in the world of these challenges that last for weeks? Would I still be all hot and bothered as I meet every challenge? Or, having gone through it before, would I be quite blasé about it?

I simply cannot compare last year's Idol experience to this year's. The participants are different, with varying styles and approaches. Comparing this year's lot with last year's would be like comparing chalk and cheese. While there were many familar faces, there were also "newbies" who may be new at scrapbooking but who made us "oldies" go "how did she come up with that?"

The weekly challenges are also different from last year's. While I think last year was more material based, this year concentrated on design elements and principles. So that even if I had done this last year, every challenge was as new to me as to this year's first-timers. So I really cannot say this year was more difficult than last, or vice versa.

But, I can honestly say that I am less stressed this year than last. And no, it's not because I'm inured to the pain. It actually has nothing to do with the actual challenges and processes. My being offline (I didn't have steady internet access) worked to give me peace of mind. I wasn't chatting online with friends as to who did what or not. I really didn't have the opportunity to scrutinize every entry and thus compare myself unfavorably. I didn't haunt the forums waiting for clarifications. I just looked up the final instructions on Wednesdays, then worked on my layouts. No second-guessing.

It also helped that I went into this with the simple goal not to be eliminated until the 5th round at least. And in accepting that there is no embarassment in being eliminated early. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, and most importantly, to myself anymore. The time for that has past. So I wasn't striving to reinvent myself. I just scrapped photos I had, using materials I already had, and had fun. Well, as much fun as you can have trying to finish a decent LO the night before the deadline.

Third. I also learned my lesson from last year when I made it to the Finals also, but didn't prepare anything. We were given the themes beforehand and I just brought my photos and every possible tool to the event. No journaling, no sketch, no nothing. I assumed inspiration would come when I saw the papers. It doesn't work that way. With only three hours to scrap, you have to have a plan, and you have to make the materials given you, to fit that plan.

The funny thing is, I had a plan last October 4. And I almost didn't finish in the allotted time. I remember last year, my table mates and I avoided each others' eyes as we waited to see who would be brave enough to submit her LO first. Most of us had finished even before the organizers said "Time's up!" I blame this year's nick of time submission to the unexpected brownout. Well, at least it was easier to submit in the dark. Hehehe. I don't think anyone was more surprised than I was that I actually made it to the Top 5 (and that is my cue to post a photo in this word-intensive post.)

But this is the best reward - our Idol Post Trauma Party at Italliani's where we relieved every hardship, oopppss...every moment of the six week challenge.

Oh, wouldn't you have wanted to be a fly on the wall as we discussed all the juicy details about SM Idol 2 during dinner. Promise, I will share some with you later. If no one slaps me with a TRO first. Hahaha.

My Scrappin' Moms Idol Challenge 2 Layouts

2008-10-19T21:23:00.001+08:00

Finally, I can breathe, relax and share. :-)

The following layouts are the result of seven weeks of stress, nervous breakdowns (ok, not really), lots of Magic Mushrooms and Cokes (my blood sugar really spiked), sleepless Wednesdays (yup, too close to the Thursday deadlines) and endless conversations with myself. Tee-hee.

Seven layouts for my albums, making a significant dent on my stack of to-scrap photos and stash. I swore I'd never buy anything new for the duration of the contest. Even for the required purchase during the finals, I was practical and just bought adhesive which I certainly can never have enough of.

Elimination Round - Using a Sketch (August 4 -13)
*Create a layout using the sketch by our Scrapbytes Resident Sketch Designer, Em Magpoc

And here's my take:

ONSTAGE

Journaling:

The Philippine Educational Theater Association Presents Children’s Theater I Workshop’s Ang Hardin
Featuring
Sarah as Green Bird
and
Kahlo as Orange Butterfly
AND
Children’s Production Workshop’s Mga Kwentong Asyano
Starring Diego as Ermitanyo

Parents called their performances riveting! Marvelous! Great acting, singing and dancing! Funny! Even the botched lines were hilarious!

After their presentations, the talented young actors said they were looking forward to doing this again next year. They enjoyed themselves immensely! What a wonderful way to spend a month (April 7 to May 3) in the summer of 2008. Final showcase – May 3, 2008.

Week #1 – It’s Party Time! Let’s Celebrate! (August 15 -21)

Design Concept: Repetition of Elements

*Create a pop up card and 3 other coordinating party-related item of your choice.

Midnight Masquerade

Week # 2 - A Color is a Color is a Color (August 22 - 28)
Design Concept: Color Theory & Harmony*Create a 12 x 12 layout using ONLY the colors in this given color combination: RED, ORANGE, VIOLET and GREEN and use five (5) photos of different sizes in your layouts. No two photos should be of the same size.

Who Will Be The Next Artist?

Journaling:
Actually, I don't really like this question. But I guess is to be expected given that your Papa, your grandparents and uncles are all recognized and multi-awarded artists. And there is no denying that you three have creative talents. There is no escaping that artistic gene. However, you are not expected to fill in anybody's shoes or follow in your forebears' footsteps. No, indeed, you are free to follow your own hearts and dreams. The next time somebody asks us who will be the next artist, we'll just tell them, you will be whoever you want to be. 8/27/08

Week # 3 -A Day in the Life (August 29 - September 4)
Design Concept: Direction & Movement

Create a 12x12 layout highlighting a day in your, or somebody else’s life
A mixture of Colored & Black & White photos are required

Fully Booked

Journaling:
Any given Sunday…we would go to Fully Booked in Serendra to read books for free. Sometimes we cannot put a book down but we console ourselves knowing that we will be back. In our family, all our Sundays are FULLY BOOKED.

Week # 4 - Layers of Me (September 5 -11)
Design Concept: Dimension and Layers

Create a 12x12 layout focusing on you, your life and where you are now
Use ONLY Cardstock and Patterned Papers
You must create your own embellishments.
Stamping is NOT allowed.
To add dimension you may ONLY use the following: Diamond Glaze, Clear Embossing, Clear Crackle Medium, Paints (of any color), Glitter (of any color), Stickles (of any color)
Colored inks may be used ONLY for distressing.
Journaling must be visible in your layout. Your journaling should focus on you, your life and where you are now.
There should be dimension and layers in your layout.

Wish Me, Luck!

Journaling:
Two years ago, I made an unconventional career choice. I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. While those are some of the best years of my life, now I am ready to work outside the home again. Wish me, luck!

Week # 5 - Supersize It! (September 12 - 18)
Design Concept: Balance & Symmetry

Photos for this challenge must at least be 6x8 inches or 48 sq. inches and should not be a collage
Your title should have AT LEAST FIVE (5) WORDS

Seen Through Your Father's Eyes

Journaling:
This photograph is well-composed. It has all the elements necessary to make a good photograph – a well-grounded subject, a clearly defined background which shows the modern architecture of the period. The main subject, a boy, sits at the crossroads of the old and the new. A well-paved plaza with a smooth granite bench is contrasted by the loose pebble bed that defines the space occupied by the father, with an over the shoulder cinematic composition view.

But these observations miss the point as I am commenting on the picture as a seasoned artist.

So let me narrate as a Dad about this lovely picture. The subject, my son, is well-composed, the product of an informal balance between his mother and I. He is grounded by the solid form of the father (that's me). The surrounding area, as a backdrop, is the product of my taking time out to bring the family to Serendra one fine Sunday. I view the horizon – looking towards what the future would bring to me and to Diego, whose disarming gaze paints the best picture a father can ever have for a vision. Picture perfect! (Papa - 9/17/08)

Week # 6 - SIX and Counting! (September 19 -25)
Answer the Question: "Why Do I Deserve to be the Next Scrappin’ Moms Idol?"

Use only a minimum of six (6) materials on your layout. You may repeat the same material as many times as you want.
One of the elements must be repeated AT LEAST 6 times.
Use only six (6) colors in your layout. You choose your own color scheme.

Why Not? If the Crown Fits

Journaling:

TEN REASONS Why I deserve to be the next Scrappin' Moms Idol

For world peace. Hell hath no fury like a scrapping mom scorned.

I am a firm believer of the First Commandment: Thou shalt not have false Idols before me.

I've done this two times already. Don't I deserve some pity points?

I repeated elements, I harmonized colors, I showed movement, I layered, I balanced, I jumped through hoops and still, here I am.

My very supportive husband begs you to pick me already so we can go back to our normal lives. (Or so he thinks.)

Because my layouts are full of heart, and even if they are not considered the most original or creative, in my loved ones' eyes, I am the Idol.

No matter what the judges decide, I am a winner for my creative outputs and skillful gain in the past six weeks.

All 27 of us who started this journey all deserve to be Idols for just taking on the challenge. We are all great scrapbookers in our own right. Some are just luckier than others.

Princess crown – P49.00; Photos/Ink – P704.00; Scrapbooking materials – P700.00++; The Idol experience – Priceless!

You don't really expect me to be doing this again next year, do you?

Finale Round - On the Spot Competition among Top 10 Finalists (October 4)
*In three hours, make an irregular shaped layout using the papers and materials given by the Scrappin' Moms.

Unwrapped

If you pull that green button, the green strip will flip and show 8 more small pictures, including the journaling and required Christmas quote.

Journaling:
There are only two occasions in a year when you all have a surfeit of presents - your birthdays and Christmas day. You love Christmas the best because you get to open gifts all at the same time. On Christmas eve, it's a race to the tree to open your gifts. As usual, it's up to Mama to clean up the wrapping paper while your Papa plays with you and your new toys.

Quote:
One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly."
- Andy Roony

Thank you very much for looking and bearing with me during those traumatic weeks. LOL.

Webster's Pages

2008-10-17T21:02:00.002+08:00

Well, "Hello Beautiful"!

I still remember the first time I used Webster's Pages in a layout, which quite unexpectedly won in a local contest and was subsequently featured in the Webster's Pages Summer 2008 catalog. The Parlor Collection was absolutely lovely, but this new collection, which you can get for free if you are lucky enough, is deliciously beautiful. I already know I'm going to scrap my KiDS' piano recitals with these beauties. I just have to hand it to the creative talents at Webster's Pages. They never disappoint.

Published!

2008-10-10T18:12:00.008+08:00

and no, it's not a scrapbook layout. :-)

I won't say that I've had dreams of becoming a writer since I was a kid. In fact, in one of those Reading and Language essays we were often forced to write (anyone here who didn't have to write "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" ad nauseam, raise your hand), I distinctly remember writing I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. I also remember I chose that profession randomly. I was just so tired of being expected to know what I wanted to be in the future at the tender age of eight. I prefer my Papa's (grandfather) adage, which he sang to us any chance he got - que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see...

I think my love for writing developed as an offshoot of my passion for reading. In high school, I wrote for our school newsletter "The Melting Pot", won in many essay competitions, including in the National Secondary Schools Press Conference, and was Features editor when I graduated. These contributed to my dream of becoming a writer, much to my father's consternation. My father wanted me to take up medicine to follow in his footsteps. I remember we had a huge argument when I sent in my UPCAT (University of the Philippines) application form with B.A. Journalism as my course of choice. But spoiled brat that I was, I ultimately prevailed.

But I didn't feel happy in the Institute of Mass Communications. I wasn't entirely sure I was meant to be a journalist. I wanted to be a writer and there is a huge difference. My favorite teacher Rene O. Villanueva told me that if I wanted to be a writer, I was in the wrong course. That was all the reason I needed to change course. That summer I decided to make my father happy and shift to pre-med. I entrusted my papers to a friend who was also shifting. By some strange twist of fate, she decided at the last minute to shift to B.S. Economics. She submitted my papers with hers and since I didn't want to incur my family's wrath by shifting again, I stayed there for the next three years. Writing about the effects of devaluation on the trade balanc and the balance of payments (that was my graduation thesis, but don't ask me what the effects are) instead of essays and stories. I consoled myself then that I can always write if I really wanted to write. I now know that writing is a vocation that needs to be nurtured and fed. You need to make room for it in your life.

I must thank the readers of this blog for giving me faith and confidence in my writing abilities. This blog has been my creative outlet, not only in scrapbooking but in writing as well. And thanks to Sheryl's KAYA challenge, 3 wishes, I took baby steps to making one of my dreams come true.

In February 2008, I wrote Good Housekeeping Philippines for an opportunity to write for their magazine. They immediately came back to me and requested an article for their Blessings column. I submitted my article ASAP and after months of waiting, my article was finally published in their September 2008 issue. I am now "published in a widely circulated local magazine." That's one wish down, two to go. Well, actually if I win in the Lotto, I wouldn't need to wish for an international fellowship. I will be a scholar of my own foundation. LOL.

I hope that this is the beginning of a life-long dream although I know that this time I will have to work at it. I have had some people tell me to let it go for their own selfish reasons. I'm glad that I never listened to any of them.

The title of the article will be familiar to many of you. I also created a layout about this last August and it was featured in Scrapbytes.

Funny, we bought that pink dollhouse when Diego was a toddler. No signs of the girls then yet. Diego had fun sleeping in that thing. We also used it as a shelf for his baby things.

Catching Up (August and September Recaps)

2008-10-08T14:46:00.004+08:00

I have so neglected this blog. Doesn't mean that I haven't been scrapping. I was kept quite busy by the Scrappin' Moms Idol Challenge 2. I hope to be able to post my layouts and the stories behind each of them later. In the meanwhile, the OC in me wants to pick up where I left off. But that is quite impossible. So many things have happened already. And you know what they say, if it happened yesterday, it's old news. If it happened, two months ago, it's history.

But let me just post monthly recaps for August and September, just to have a sense of continuity.

August 2008

- I joined Scrappin' Moms Idol challenge yet again. I will upload separate posts for my layouts, my observations, and my conclusions. Remember I said in this post that I consider this a social experiment? :-)

- DH's laptop went bonkers in July, and he has been using mine. Given his "magic" touch, my laptop when haywire, too, losing profiles, passwords, and bookmarks. I was able to resolve that. But then we had some hardware problems. The mouse and keypads wouldn't respond to commands sometimes. We were never sure when the laptop would cooperate. That was my biggest challenge during the competition. I was always uncertain if I could retrieve my photos in the hard drive, much less, edit them in photoshop.

- I was featured in Scrapbytes' Designer Spolight for the July-August issue. I have to give it to Mia Castrillo. She really made me look good. :-) I am a fan of Mia's simple scrapbooks and keeping it real journaling so her writing about me is truly as an honor.

- Our Representative from my previous office (I don't want to write the whole name down because I know they search the internet daily for mention of the Foundation, and I dont want my personal blog being circulated in the offices). She attended the Ramon Magsaysay Awards and we had a sumptuous lunch together with DH and the KiDS at Spiral. We had alot of catching up to do since it's been two years since we last saw each other, but I was kinda distracted by the buffet. Can you blame me?

September 2008

- I volunteered to help out at the Venture for Fund Raising Congress, and was able to reconnect with former Foundation grantees. This really got me excited about working in the development sector again.

- During the first week, I lost my internet connection at home. My bad. I forgot to follow up with my DH's staff if he had paid the bills. The worst thing was finding out I didn't have internet as I tried to submit my LO to the Scrappinmoms. I had to bring my laptop to the Venture Congress (praying it would cooperate) and send it through Gateway Mall's freearaneta wi-fi. Whew!

- This month, I had a dream come true. Remember the Kaya 3 wishes challenge? One down, two to go. Speaking of Kaya, I missed the August-September challenges. Sigh. I've never missed a Kaya layout before.

- Middle of the month, my printer also went bonkers. And, you guessed it right. DH used it. Truly, this man was a walking technological disaster these past months. If you don't believe me, wait 'til I tell you about how he ran over his Sony cellphone/PDA. So I took to having my photos printed out in various photoshops, and uploading my entries in internet cafes, or in my brother-in-law's garage, or through his wife's computer....anywhere there is free w-fi. Hahaha.

- And yet despite such odds, I made it to the Top 10 finals of the Idol challenge. I still cannot believe it myself. Hehehe.

- Well, I was unable to join the Bad Girls challenge. I even asked Marj to enlist me. But because I wasn't able to go online and say present on the first day of class so I was automatically expelled. I so wanted to learn from the site, but, oh, well, maybe next year.

- I am not yet really back in business because DH still uses my laptop to finish up his term papers. We were temporarily able to solve the hardware problems by using the body of his laptop (his hard drive is still in the repair shop undergoing "archaeological excavation"). And because of that I still haven't had my internet reconnected. Sayang naman ang monthly fee kung di naman ma-maximize. :-(

On the one hand, I miss being connected to my friends and groups through the internet. On the other, I feel that I was able to spend more quality time with my family. My laptop used to be an extension of myself, but because of technological troubles, I was forced to be without it for months. It isn't so bad. There is life outside cyper-space. But, see you there again soon.

I'm Still Alive!!!

2008-09-27T16:37:00.004+08:00

At least, until my laptop's battery runs out of juice.

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post, and that there's only 81 days before Christmas. So much has happened in the past weeks and I don't know where to begin. Right now, I am just so giddy that my laptop is cooperating and there's strong clear signal from the neighbors. Hahaha.

Another reason to be giddy (or not) is that I'm in the Top 10 of the Scrappin' Moms Idol contest. Man, you can't believe the stress I went through week after week just to be able to submit a layout. And I don't mean creating the LO, but wondering whether I would be able to submit it in time, if at all. My technological problems didn't stop at DH's busted laptop, it extended to mine, and then to the internet connection at home, and don't ask me about the cellphone which he conveniently ran over with his car. LOL.

The stories I can tell you...if my battery doesn't ran out soon. I'd plug my laptop in, but I am actually sitting in my MIL's porch. On a big rock. I can actually feel moisture seeping in my butt. OK, try to stop the imagery. Sorry about that. But when time is of the essence, editing flies out the window.

But anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who left messages here, in my mobile, e-mail. Yes, I'm still alive, thanks for checking if I was well. I haven't been able to check the PS e-group for weeks. I'm sure my inbox is full to the brim and Cookie tells me I missed some great sales. That's ok, it's not I have money to spend anyway. Hahaha. Did I mention I was giddy?

It's actually DH and my 11th wedding anniversary today. I'm thinking of making an LO called "Once." Or Once, the Spanish word for eleven. Could also mean the Filipino vernacular "onse" as in na-onse niya ako 11 years ago. (He tricked me eleven years ago.) LOL. DH is not yet here, he took over Napoleon Abueva's class in Fine Arts while Tito Billy is recuperating from his stroke. Now that is truly an honor, and he won't let me hear the end of it.

Last year I posted some behind the scenes stories about our weddings. (Yes, with an s.) I had fun reminiscing, you might want to join me in relieving the comedy...errr...the romance. Click here , here, and here. Even with such inauspicious beginnings, I can truthfully say we are still going strong. Thank, God.

My DH might not be overly sweet or publicly demonstrative but he has his moments. Last night, as I prepared to go to bed, he came in and said in a complaining voice. "Your laptop has a virus." I go, what? What did you do? I just updated the virus program. Nag...nag...nag...And then he tells me, "I don't know. An image popped out and it got stuck there." I stood up reluctantly. It is after all, my laptop and I have to do damage control, and I saw this.

Now isn't that sweet? We (the whole family) were in an internet cafe that night and he knew I was on tenterhooks waiting for the announcement to be posted. When we arrived back in his studio, he turned on the laptop and searched for this. Thank God for the neighbor's 24-hour free wi-fi, I was able to see this before I went to bed.

I was sad though that Diane didn't make it to the Top 10. She and Cookie have been very helpful in texting me daily updates about the challenges since I couldn't always go online. They were my lifelines and support through this challenge.

But everyone did a great job. So congratulations to the original 27 and good luck to all those who made it to the finals.

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog!

2008-08-17T18:00:00.004+08:00

Well, I had planned to bake cupcakes for today's anniversary, but DH and the KiDS just didn't give me time for that. So, no cupcakes and candles today.

But still, two years and 216 posts later, readers still come read me. That is worth acknowledging. Even if I am in not in a celebratory mood right now, the current Idol challenge uppermost in my mind. Three days since it's been announced and all I still have is the germ of an idea brewing in my mind. I hope to get into the groove of things before the night is over. Either that or spend another sleepless night. LOL.

So once again, this is going to be short and sweet. Thank you, dear readers, for keeping me company all through these years.

Just Checking In

2008-08-15T21:42:00.004+08:00

It used to be that I scrapped whenever I can. Now it's surf the net, blog, or answer e-mail whenever I can. There's a very limited window for me to do so - only when DH is in class and he has no presentation, or when he's in the bathroom. The latter being the case now. :-) He has commandeered my laptop over a month ago and I haven't been able to fully reclaim it yet.

So before he comes back, let me thank everyone who's been visiting my blog loyally, even if I have no new posts. Thanks to those who take the time to leave comments. And am most specially grateful for the encouraging words of support for the Idol 2. By golly, have you seen the new challenge? I've only done two cards in my whole scrapping life and now am expected to make a POP UP card. And this is just Round 1. It boggles the mind. I'm almost afraid to think of what's in store for us next, assuming I make it through this round.

I've received tags and awards from a number of people. Rest assured, I will be returning the kind gesture very soon. Really. Thank you for your patience.

Ooooppsss...I Did It Again

2008-08-13T17:38:00.009+08:00

Last night, after dinner, I asked DH, "So you think I should join Idol again?" He gave me the look (the one that says "ano ka, baliw?", and said, "Wag na...ma-i-stress ka lang." I retorted, "I thought you were supposed to be encouraging me. Di ba ikaw nagsabi I should have my own artistic pursuits. He gave me that look again and replied, "Well then, consider what I said reverse psychology."

As we lay in bed, I nudged him and asked again, " So, ano nga?" He gave an exasperated sigh and he burrowed deeper into his pillow as he muttered, "Bahala ka. Basta wag kang mag-re-reklamo."

As I courted sleep, I counted the many reasons why I shouldn't. The last time was very challenging indeed. And really very very stressful at times. And yes, I did complain to my DH about many things. Mostly, I was venting to put things in their proper perspective - that it was just a scrapbooking challenge. No biggie. But still, if not for the support and sense of humor of friends, it would've been really tough.

And then I counted the reasons why I should. I fell asleep trying to come up with one very good reason. LOL.

I woke up this morning with the conviction that I had to join. Why? Because, like Mt. Everest, it is there. I don't think I can just stand in the sidelines while a lot of things are happening around me. And it's not like I'm doing anything much in the next six weeks. I can certainly put a weekly layout in my calendar. Besides, it would be another learning experience.

Consider it a social experiment. Why was the first Idol competition so intense? Was it because it was the first-time that such was conducted in the Philippines? Was it because it was my and many other participants' initial foray in the world of these challenges that last for weeks? Would I still be all hot and bothered as I meet every challenge? Or, having gone through it before, would I be quite blasé about it?

Well, I wouldn't know unless I joined, right? So I hurriedly made my entry this morning. Almost wasn't able to upload it in time cause the Scrappinmoms site told me, after several attempts at inputting my password (major senior moment there), "You are currently banned from using this website." And then DH needed to borrow my laptop for a class presentation. This was around 2 pm, and I almost took those as signs. That this wasn't mean to be. But thanks to April, my layout is in for the elimination round.

One thing's for sure, this is going to be another challenging journey. Have you seen the layouts in the gallery? Many more talented scrapbookers out there just waiting to show the world their talents and creativity. Okay...so now I'm rattled. Nonchalance be damned.

I'm in it again. Wish me luck! :-)

July Recap

2008-08-01T21:19:00.004+08:00

July target number of LOs - Five.

Number of LOs created - Six. Plus one digital LO which was luckily picked in Kaya. See me doing a happy jig. :-)

Scrap Jam happened this month, and I had a lot of inspiration, got in touch with friends, both old and new, shopped for goodies and won a Squeeze.

I discovered e-bay, much to my husband's dismay. Nothing is more exciting than upping another bidder by a mere $.05. And nothing can describe what I felt when a lot of really cheap stamps slipped from my grasp because DH made me lose my concentration at the last crucial seconds.

I am not working again, so it's back to the regular routine of going to my in-laws' place to help out and wait for the KiDS to finish school.

And another bit of happy news...Candy lent me her copy of the Webster's Pages Summer 2008 catalog. Guess who's on page 26. Now that was a surprise because I thought our LOs that won in Lasting Impression's challenge will only be placed in their online gallery. Hopefully, they will respond to my e-mail requesting a copy of the catalog so I can return Candy's copy.

Wait...does this qualify as being "published"? LOL.

I hope I will be able to squeeze in some scrappy time in the next few weeks. August is a very busy time at my KiDS' school.

The High Price of Gasoline

2008-07-29T18:43:00.003+08:00

...has affected even me. We live near U.P. in Quezon City, yet the KiDS and DH work in Marikina. So every school day, very early in the morning, we would wake up 3 (four, including me) grumpy humans to prepare them for school. It takes about 30 minutes to reach the school from our house. Getting ready to leave, with all the grumpiness, like an eternity.

So we had a bright idea! Why not, since my in-laws have a house in Marikina, stay there during school days? That way, we save on gasoline, food, and grumpies. And we also give the oldies a bit of loving and caring.

But that means no scrapping for me, cause all my stuff are at home in QC. But since I have never missed a Kaya challenge, I am not about to miss Tin's now. Thank goodness, digital is acceptable.

Details at the Kaya challenge blog.

TTFN! TFL!

Lazy Honors Society

2008-07-25T14:41:00.004+08:00

I still remember when I was so excited to have my first Basic Grey layout posted at the BG gallery. It was such a high for me 1) because I almost went mad using those Scarlet Letter papers (LOL); and 2) it seemed a big deal to have an LO accepted at the BG gallery. I haven't submitted anything there for awhile so my name has disappeared from the gallery. But now I am there again with this layout about Diego.

The KiDS' school does not have an honor roll, but Diego is among the top of his class, even if he is just happily coasting along. As a mother, I can't help but think about the possibilities if he only applied himself more seriously. But I guess, as long as he is happy and doing well in school, I should be content. At least I'm not being called to parent-teacher conference.

Journaling:
No doubt about it. You are an extremely intelligent boy. But...you like to read everything except your text books. You enjoy Math but are sometimes too lazy to come up with the solution. You have a talent for writing but you purposely keep your sentences short so you can finish sooner.

When I told your father you take things too easy, he proudly told me you are just like him when he was a boy. Bright and intelligent but never in the honor roll. Lazy Honors Society he called it. In your case, Diego, can we have the honors without the lazy? Love, Mama. 7/23/08

P.S. You know you can do it.

Materials:
Patterned paper, stickers and diecuts - Basic Grey; Chipaboard letters - Heidi Swapp; Paint - Ranger; Pen - American Crafts; Stamp - Clearsnap; Adhesive - Saunders, Zot, Others - Notebook paper.

I will have to make a confession. As a student, I never really pushed myself, too. And now I wonder about the possibilities, had I really applied myself. I guess I just don't want Diego have these "what-ifs" when he's grown. Well, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things But you, don't you sometimes think back about things and wonder?

The KiDS

2008-07-24T06:24:00.006+08:00

Aaaah....blessed quiet in front of the computer. It's 6:30 in the morning. The KiDS have left for school and DH is in the shower. Got me a few minutes to share another layout.

I just played around with this one. I don't know why I printed out these particular photos but since they already exist, they should be scrapped. Nothing fancy here. Not much journaling either.

KIDS

Journaling:
These here are the I**o kids, Diego (10), Sarah (8) and Kahlo (6). They are so smart, funny and loving. Just the perfect add-on to the I** family.

Quote on vellum:
Families are like fudge. Mostly sweet with a few nuts. - Unknown.

Behind each photo is a card where I asked each one to describe the other. For once, Diego got away with calling Kahlo weird. Mainly because I think she was quite happy with what Sarah had to say about her - "alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic." Hmmmm....I guess Kahlo doesn't know yet that came from a song. Or maybe she does, so she's not taking anything personally. LOL. I get a kick just thinking of them looking at this LO in the future.

Materials:
Papers - Autumn Leaves; CS - Debbie Mumm, Paper Company; Quote - Colorbok; Pen - Inkssentials; Arrow - American Crafts; Buttons - UBL; Punchers - Fiskars, Stampin' Up, Marvy Uchida; Adhesive - UHU; Others - stapler, Cuttlebug.

OK, now back to regular programming. TFL!

Life Without Technology

2008-07-23T22:33:00.003+08:00

The past few weeks I have been without a cellphone (it finally died on me, and I am still deciding whether I should continue with my Smart subscription or shift to Globe), without my laptop (my DH commandeered it for work purposes as his laptop is in the repair shop) and without cable TV (we have been spending so much time in Marikina, TV viewing right now is limited to a smorgasboard of Wowowee, Iisa Pa Lamang and My Girl.

It felt strange at first to have no access to text or e-mail messages. It felt like losing an appendage initially but I eventually got used to it. At least, no internet access meant staying away from E-bay. LOL. Funny, the last few days, DH and I play musical chairs. Every time he would leave the computer unattended, I'd rush to check my e-mail and my Facebook account. Yup, I am finally on Facebook. So if you're there, too, Facebook me. Hehehe.

Anyway, I was able to work on one LO which I'd like to share now. This one is about my Yaya's baby (or is it?). She's turning two next August.

Godchild

Journaling:
According to Ate Juliet, Sarah volunteered to be Jazmane Marie's ninang or Godmother when we were planning her baptism back in August 11, 2007. I don't know if at the young age of 7 1/2. Sarah understood all the responsibilities of being a ninang. Certainly, not with the Fairly Odd Parents or Cinderella's Fairy Godmother as role models. But loving, caring for, and being a good role model for Jampong is a good start. Who said a Godmother can't be a little angel to watch over God's child?

Materials:
PPS - Autumn Leaves, Creative Imaginations; Chipboard - American Crafts; Flowers - Prima, Bazzill; Buttons - UBL; Sticker - Colorbok; Rubons - MAMBI; Thread - DMC; Ink - Clearsnap; Puncher - Fiskars; Adhesive UHU.

Thanks for looking. I'm off now, gotta yield the chair to my DH.

Maling Kaya

2008-07-08T20:53:00.007+08:00

Hahaha. I made this this afternoon as my response to Tin's Kaya challenge with the subject "Letting Go." I got so carried away, I forgot it's a sketch challenge. Waaahhh!!! Well, it's still based on a sketch, by Becky Fleck. LOL.

We never expected that we would find it hard to let go of a pet that wasn't really ours in the first place. For months afterwards, we would still mention talk about Mao like he was just around. I think, we've finally accepted that he's gone, but we will never let go of his memories.

Stray Cat

Journaling: (Warning: long read ahead)
We once had a cat named Mao. He was a pusang gala that started coming to our garage in 2006. The KiDS fed him so not surprisingly, the stray cat decided to live there. Every night, without fail, it would come and stay. Always, he would leave in the morning to do what it is that stray cats do.

One day, he just stopped coming. The KiDS started missing him. When Mao finally came home late one night, we were horrified to see him dragging his hind leg at a very awkward angle. His right leg dangled limply and uselessly behind him. We think he must have been in an accident and that he stayed in some ditch to heal before finally finding the way to our house. I was touched that out of the many houses in the village he chose to find haven in ours.

If I couldn't drive him away before, the more I couldn't turn him away then. So we took care of him and fed him. He hardly ever left the house, except to relieve himself. When he heads our van arriving, he would drag himself from the street into
our garage. He didn’t run, he sort of glided across the floor. The KiDS loved him, imperfect though he was.

In February 2008, Mao didn't come home again for a long time. We were worried something had happened to him. When he finally resurfaced,his face was swollen and he was very weak. I took him to the vet and I was told that with his injuries there was only a slim chance of survival even if we insisted on a surgery.He was also very weak and in so much pain already.I cried upon hearing the news. I had to make the difficult decision of putting him to sleep. The doctor said it was painless, but until the last minute, I saw Mao trying to escape from our grasp. He was a survivor to the last moment. I stayed with him the whole time as I didn't want him to feel abandoned as he was in the early stages of his life.

Breaking the news to my KiDS was even more difficult, and soon all of us were crying. We all mourned Mao, even if he didn't have pedigree, or even if he wasn't the type of pet my KiDS could freely cuddle and hug. He was family.

Mao might have been a stray, but he strayed right into our hearts. He was sweet and smart and a really great mouser. I am sure he is now in cat heaven where all cats are free, well-fed, and healthy.

Mao left behind a stray female cat named Barra. Shortly after his death, Barra had kittens, which, had they survived, we would like to believe were Mao’s. (Written 2/11/08)

Materials:
PPS - Autumn Leaves; CS - DCWV; Ricrac, twine - unknown; Ink - Clearsnap; Stamps - Autumn Leaves; Alphabets - Heidi Swapp. American Crafts; Tag - Joann's; Adhesive - Saunders; Foam - Darice

Techniques Used;
While the LO is deceptively simple, it took me a long time to make. Not because of the layout itself, but because of the journaling. I had to figure out how to make three columns and text wrap around a box in Corel Draw.

An LO About My Bunso

2008-07-08T13:27:00.005+08:00

I was still on a scrapping high, courtesy of Scrap Jam, so I worked on this layout intermittently last Sunday. Between homeworks, housework and office work, I finally finished it yesterday. It's based on a Page Map from Becky Fleck's book, except that I used only one photo, not three.

I Am Kahlo

Journaling:
Or "Me, Kahlo!" You always say this at the most unexpected times. Even in your sleep sometimes. Maybe it comes from having to assert yourself to a boisterous family of five. Or an attempt for people to remember you. But let me assure you, Kahlo, with your self-confidence, sense of humor, and flair for the dramatics, it will never be easy to overlook you. Yes, indeed, YOU, are Kahlo. Much loved daughter and sister. (7/7/08)

Materials:
PPS - My Mind's Eye, Collage Press; Flowers - Prima, Bazzill; Chipboard - Basic Grey; Sticker - Pebbles, Inc.; Stamp - Clearsnap; Felt - Fancy Pants; Paint - Making Memories; Glitter - Ranger, Making Memories; Foam - American Crafts, Darice; Adhesives - Zots, Saunders, Ranger; Brad - All ABout Scrapbooking; Ribbon - unknown; Pen - Uniball Signo, Others - Fiskar's Border Punch, Paper Crimper.

I've Got A New Squeeze

2008-07-06T16:50:00.008+08:00

The past week, I've been acting like a zombie, waiting, mouse in hand, in front of my computer, listening to the clock go tick-tick-tick. A few minutes more, and the item I am bidding for would be mine. So I refuse to budge, not even to answer my DH's question if I've had dinner yet. As I refresh my computer screen, he shakes his head and exclaims. "OMG! If you're not careful, you're gonna be just like me years ago. Ma-addict ka diyan." Yeah, tell me something I don't know.

My heart beats faster in anticipation. I can feel the pressure building up. Will I be able to click in time? As I refresh yet again, I curse the other bidders for driving the prices up. And then, another disappointment. I lose just by a few dollars. Oh, well, there are other items to bid on in Ebay.

So I turned my attention on another item. A Quickutz Squeeze with Metro Unicase Skinniminni alphas. I hesitated a bit because one of the Scrap Jam's announced raffle prizes was a Quickutz Squeeze. I've seen similar offers in Ebay before but I thought I'd wait to bid until after the Scrap Jam, just in case I won in the raffle. But I the price for the whole set at Ebay was just too good to be true. Less than $20. I know the price will be driven up still but it would still be a good buy at $35. A small voice was telling me, if you won this bid and then won at the raffle, what would you do with the extra Squeeze? But then again, the logical part of me said there's no guarantee I'd win in Scrap Jam. So I decided to go for it online.

But Ebay won't accept my bid. It said that the vendor does not sell to the country I was registered in. I changed my mailing and shipping address to my sister's in the US, but still it just won't let me bid. Then I remembered that when I registered, I was automatically redirected to ebay.com.ph. I didn't take notice of that at the time but DARN! Now I was so psyched up I really wanted that Squeeze. Out of frustration, I just said, "Hay naku, ayaw niyo ako pa-bid, di huwag. I'm going to win that at Scrap Jam tomorrow, anyway.

If you've read the previous post, you'll know what came to past. Out of the many coupons in the jar, my name was drawn. I only had two raffle tickets in there. The Squeeze comes with a Metro Classic Unicase which retails for around $60 (alphas only). And I can begin using it, too, no waiting for shipping. Just perfect! Now I'm a believer.

When I showed DH my prize, he told me, "Bilis mag-isip ka na ng Lotto numbers..."