Saturday, April 28, 2007

hot, hot, hot!

oh my! it is scorching here! 95F (35C)!!!!

anyhow, my only consolation is that I get to stay home and do whatever I pretty darn please!

well, yesterday, I actually had to run an errand for my mom (ahem, no comment!) I did it partially because I was keen on getting out of the house so I could have my mini albums bound! :D they turned out sooooo cute, although I think I may have to replace a panel on the cover because the local rub-ons I used came off! grrrrr! I don't think I'd buy another local rub-on again! The mini album is a compilation of my children, nieces and nephews' milestones and favorites. I made 2 so I could give 1 to my mom and another 1 to my dad... although I don't know if he'd appreciate it!
I'll post photos of the inside once I get the journaling printed out.





Here are a couple of pages from the mini book (the rest are in my multiply account)


















I was also able to work on a new LO! I kinda like it, turned out OK if you ask me. Hmmm... actually, I don't really like how black the rub-ons on the left column are - too bad I don't have them in another color except for white which I don't think would've gone well had I used it in lieu of the black. Oh well, another lesson learned!

Supplies: BG papers and rub-ons

Journaling is a portion of the lyrics to the song, There's Nothing Like a Sister by Lady Bridget:
There's nothing like a sister
Who knows your every mood
When you really need a friend
This is what I recommend

She's someone I feel drawn to again and again
To help me through the rough spots
'Till I can find my feet
A life without my sister would be incomplete.

Friday, April 27, 2007

my so-called 'needs'

I stumbled upon this entry in somebody else's blog and thought it might be a fun exercise! You just type in your [name] and the word 'needs' into google and see what comes up!

Here are my TOP 10 finds
1. Christine needs to know where her inventory is located at all times
yeah, right. what inventory? oops, maybe I really need to be going through my trash, haha!

2. Christine needs your active support
hmmm.... should I be running for public office?

3. Christine needs to stop looking at clothes
Haha! I have stopped doing this ever since I started scrapping!

4. Christine needs her own reality show
oh no, I don't! I couldn't bear the humiliation! This blog is enough for me, for now (well, I initially didn't want to spill out my guts in public some time ago but then had a sudden change of heart, I wonder why??)

5. Christine needs constant attention
now this, I could probably get used to. Not!

6. Christine needs help
doesn't anybody?

7. Christine needs a personal assistant twice a day
wow! this would be luxury

8. Christine needs to see her doctors
hope I have not contracted anything! :o

9. Christine needs some solid home cooking
oh yes! yes! I need to find a good cook first!

10. Christine needs to go back and read some of her earlier books
what the ?

what about you, what do you need?

Thursday, April 26, 2007

no hubby, will scrap

HAHA! tubbyboy is away on business today until tomorrow (he's in Bicol). As usual, I was stuck in front of the computer the entire morning. I had to go to school at around 1pm to watch some applicants do a lecture demo, though. I had a lot of things lined up afterwards (deliver soap, go to the bank, pick up stuff from MLA, bring the car to Toyota) but since the demo took up a huge chunk of the afternoon and my maid forgot to load the soap into the car, I was only able to go to MLA to pick up my order.

Well, the trip proved to be worth it because I was able to pick up extra papers that I thought would look good in the mini albums I am working on. There are 2 minis I am doing actually, 1 for ma and another 1 for pa. After I got home, I proceeded to cut papers and glue them down after I did the photos. I just need to complete the journaling :) Will post photos soon! So far, so good.

Here's something I was working on the other day... it's the accordion album I promised to make for Tuna. It was really quick to make. Now I can't wait to have the photos I've selected to be printed.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

lean, mean scrapping machine!

That is moi! Haha! i have been dealt with a lot of scrapping mojo, or so it seems. Since last night, I have been able to work on new pages!!!!!!! Yeehaa! And I am gearing up for more pages... I'd also like to start working on some mini albums for my mom and also for my friend, Tuna... only thing is that I actually need to be checking one of my students' assignment draft! Oh boy! I hope I can get the muse to work on that one!

Here's something that didn't take me long to complete once I decided upon the sketch: Uh-huh. Ian was so funny last night - as I was deciding upon which photos to use, he looked at his photos and said, "mommmmm, I look ridiculous!" haha. He is such a cute boy!

Supplies: regular CS, Rob&Bob and Chatterbox papers, Paper Salon stamp, Colorbox ink. Sketch by Becky Fleck.




Last night, I fell asleep while looking at Ali Edwards' work - she never fails to amaze me with the simplicity and beauty of her pages. I was really so inspired that when I awoke this morning, I went straight to my scrap table and got to work. It didn't take long for me to complete these 2 pages today:

We're a Pretty (rowdy) Bunch - this is for a challenge - to use a shirt slogan. This slogan was what we had on our Junior High class shirt (sigh, I miss that shirt!) So I decided to kinda immortalize it on paper :)
These photos have been sitting on my scrap table for the longest time, ever since Carol came up with this particular challenge. I had such a difficult time combining papers and colors with a sketch. No kidding. I went from Chatterbox to Basic Grey to Chatterbox yet again; from a single page to a double page and back to a single page and still no muse. Finally, like I said, after I saw a page which Ali did (and which I shamelessly scraplifted, hehe) here's what I came up with!

Supplies: regular CS, Chatterbox papers, Paper Salon stamps, Versa ink

24 Hours
I put together several elements I found in several pages of Ali's book, but mainly used a page by Vanessa Reyes as inspiration for this one. I love how this turned out. Kinda artsy, if you ask me. haha.

Supplies: Rob&Bob and Chatterbox papers, a homemade card (love how this one came out, too!), a homemade tag, Prima flowers, Doodlebug Designs paper clip, brad, Technique Tuesday, Fontwerks and Paper Salon stamps, MM foam stamps and acrylic paint, Stazon and Colorbox ink, ribbon from my stash.

Photo courtesy of my student, Enrico Reyes. Tub made a comment about how my photo is blurred... I told him matter-of-factly that that is part of the look, haha!

Here are the cards I worked on. Love how these look! So cute! Hahaha!
I was gonna go ahead and make homemade smiley faces for this card after I saw an idea in one of Ali's pages, so I went in search of a circle stamp. But lo and behold, what should I find but a smiley face stamp in my stash! I practically danced for joy as I proceeded to complete this card! Supplies: regular CS, Rob&Bob paper, Technique Tuesday stamp, Versa ink

I love the stamp set that I used for this card - bought it in the US in 2001 when I was still into candle-making. I was actually drawn to the sun image when I got this. The set came with just the right sentiment, too! :) I'm a happy girl!

Supplies: regular CS, Celestial Stampers stamp, Colorbox ink, embossing powder in silver, Bazzill brads. I was originally going to just use white ink against the dark blue cardstock, but I suddenly had an idea to emboss the images instead. And since I couldn't remove some of the excess powder as I embossed, I decided to sprinkle more powder to create the illusion of a starry night! :) I had fun last night!

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

everyday beauty

Oy vey, I am feeling soooo excited! Today I just ordered Ali Edwards' latest SB kit! I wonder how long it'll take to get here? It's on pre-order but really, I can hardly wait!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

i'm feeling...

happy today =) i was kinda productive - I was able to finish 1 page and alter my very 1st tin! and finally, I was able to get around to cutting Ian's hair again afer a looooooooooooong time! Hmmmm, I should actually be cleaning my contact lenses. Maybe in a little while.

Yay, the page I worked on yesterday got approved into the BG gallery :)

Here are the stuff I worked on today:

Altoids tin coated with MM acrylic paint. Supplies: BG scrap paper, ricrac, prima, snap, ribbon from my stash

This was a card I worked on last night. Cute, huh?

Supplies: regular cardstock, Craft Express and K&Co papers, Primas and ribbon from my stash

Saturday, April 21, 2007

friday, i'm in love

with my latest page!!!! hehehehe :)


Journaling: I love seeing you being so carefree and having so much fun with a small bottle of paint!
Supplies: BG papers and mini-mono chipboard, Fabiano CS, Heidi Swapp foam stamps, TT and generic acrylic stamps, MM acrylic paint in cranbery, chocolate, evergreen, and shopping bag, staple wires

Here's Nikki sporting her latest fetish for this week - curly hair :) She would patiently sit and have her hair twirled around sticks (she has so far refused to have me take her photo while she had some 'curlers' on) :)

And here she is again with her partner-in-crime, Tavee. Both of them have the same curly hair courtesy of Tavee's yaya.

As I was taking these photos, Ian, who was sitting by our front door and playing with his latest Power Ranger toy, looked up and called out to the girls: 'hey girls! you look sexy!" haha!



Shortly after, Tubbyboy arrived with goodies for moi and the kids. Thanks, Tub!



Daddy didn't fancy Ate Nikki's hairstyle though, haha! He prefers straight locks.

Alrighty! Off to my scrap table! So many pages to work on, so little time!

Friday, April 20, 2007

at last!!!

Today is the last day of school! wahoo!!! For now, I am free to do as I pretty darn please, haha! After my class this morning, I headed home and copied some photos into my flash drive for printing. Ianboy wanted to tag along so I took him to ATC with me... We stayed only until I was able to do my errands: duplicate house keys for Tub, pay our mobile phone bills, buy a battery pack for my other Moto phone, have a few photos printed, buy stuff from National bookstore and some other stuff from the grocery. Done in about 2 hours! Great! I think this was the shortest time I was ever at ATC :D Passed by Nette's place to pick up some of my orders and I was done!

I can now go back to my regular programming.... scrapping, that is :)

May I just say... Tub was mildly surprised last night that I took it upon myself to prepare dinner :) YUP! I made Caesar Salad for starters and Herb Mushroom Roast Chicken for main course. Hmmm... ooops, I forgot about dessert, haha!

I love how Ian keeps following me around while I'm at home :) he just always manages to find something to do wherever I may be, although most of the time he ends up watching TV haha.

watching TV in my room


'reading' a book while I was scrapping last Tuesday night

oK, here it is

Finally! I managed to complete the pages for Nikki's Family Day... Colors aren't as drabby as my initial LO, I think :) Hmmm.... I was supposed to take the car to Toyota for repair but I forgot! OH BOY! I need to do some school work but scrapping beckons... my, my, my

Supplies: Bazzill, Scenic Route and Chatterbox papers, AC rub-ons, brads. Sketch by Becky Fleck. The challenge was to create a page about teamwork using something that's been in my stash for at least 6 months already, 5 patterned papers, rub-ons and brads

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

monday madness

Trying to be productive today after spending time in front of the computer this morning. So, I was able to complete a new page :)

Supplies: BG papers, Technique Tuesday and Paper Salon stamps. Sketch by Becky Fleck

Now I'm off to work on some more pages =)

PS. Cool. I just received word that this page has been accepted into the BG gallery :)

Sunday, April 15, 2007

beautiful video on autism

I chanced upon this beautiful video on autism. Very touching.

saturday scrapping

Hmmmm... I was actually scrapping since yesterday afternoon, after I got back from enrolling Nikki and having some photos printed. I started out with 2 pages for Nikki (but after I cut and glued the papers down, I found the LO very distasteful because of the unexciting colors! Aaaargh! So I set it aside and took out 2 other color options for the LO with the intention of re-doing everything.... I had to leave my LO undone at 9pm though because Ma, Jeff and I had to go to my Lola Conching's wake in Binan, Laguna. Bless her soul. I had pospas/arroz caldo. Gosh, I miss those days when we were young and having pospas in my Lola Chimang's kitchen. We stayed until about 1130pm.

This morning, I was bent on working on those pages again, but I couldn't find the right color combination so I got side-tracked and decided to work on another page - routine stuff. It wasn't difficult to find papers that would go together... time passed quickly but I was able to finish a 2-page spread!
Supplies: Bazzill and MM cardstock, 7G papers, TT, Sassafrass Lass and Paper Salon stamps, dymo label maker

Now I am off to work on more pages (but I think we might head over to Binan again in a while...)

Friday, April 13, 2007

how cool is this?

I just did this quiz and found out that my gemstone is also my birthstone! haha!

Your Gemstone is Amethyst

Dignified, impressive, and wise.
You have a deeply spiritual soul

liberated!

That is exactly how I feel today :) I thought I'd never be able to finish checking all of my students' exam papers, but as it turns out, I was able to finish checking everything very early this morning! hmmm..... I forgot to take a photo of the lot though, but they were 54 sets in all. whoooopeee! the fact that I also had to prepare for a lecture this morning did not dampen my spirits at all. I was done with the lecture by around 10 pm last night and then I proceeded to check exam papers.

To celebrate, I decided to make some thank you cards before I left for school this morning. I was able to complete 2. When I came back home, I was able to make 2 more cards! Now, I can start working on some LOs!!!!! Hehe, of course, I still need to prepare a lecture for next week, check the HND students' work (although they still haven't turned anything in), and prepare a list of summer maintenance and CAPEX for the Manx - but for the meantime, I will again indulge myself :D Nothing beats scrapping these days.
















This was the very first one I completed today. Supplies: regular cardstock, DCWV patterned paper, ribbon from my stash, EK Success stamp















Other cards:
Supplies: regular cardstock, SBW patterned paper, primas, brads (I forget which brand I have)
















A thank you card. Supplies: regular cardstock, Provocraft papers, ricrac, Purple Onion Designs stamp, Prima, brad















Another thank you card. I think I like this one. Love the colors and the simplicity of this card :) Supplies: regular cardstock, Arctic Frog paper, circle die-cut (Sizzix), ribbon from my stash, EK Success stamp

Oooh, and we are about to be liberated yet again - we're now going to try to be wireless around the house! Tub found an unused router at the office and I'm about to try installing it.... let's wait and see what happens.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

a work in progress

Since I got caught by the snapping bug this morning, I also decided to take some photos of my 'scrap area' - I prefer not to call it my scraproom as it is technically still Ian's room, although I have invaded it by taking out his bed and putting my stuff in :) thanks, Ianboy, for graciously sharing your room with mom and calling it 'our room'. I remember the time when I started 'moving in' how excited you were about our sleeping together in 'our room' :) Well, I don't think it's going to happen as I took out the bed already. The only thing that Ian has in that room is his TV set... Anyways, I love it that Ian always feels excited whenever I sit by my table while he watches TV... simple pleasures, I know, and these are the stuff I should be scrapping about.


Here's a view of the main part of the room where you can see my desk. Underneath the desk are boxes of photos which I sorted out last Monday, drawers filled with some tools (fastenator, tag maker, dymo label maker, crop-a-dile, crimper, grommet tool, chizzel it, brayer, instant setter, silent setter), more stamps, various ink pads, stamp cleaner, assorted dry adhesive, chipboard, rub-ons. Just beside the drawers I have my little collection of Coluzzle templates. To the right of the table are my Sizzix bags a.k.a. storage bags as they are only used to keep some of my newer and rarely-used original dies and Sizzlits font sets (Funky Brush, Round-a-Bout, Girls Are Weird, Monkey Tails). In the boxes you will find more stamps (7gypsies) and other trinkets. To the left are assorted papers, Cuttlebug, Nanavigator tote filled with more paper, CK all about me album kit which I have yet to start on, etc etc.

On top of my desk you will find my Cricut, Tonic guillotine trimmer, scissors, adhesive, some current photos I need to be working on, a blue box that stores my journaling pens, small drawers filled with some stamps (Hero Arts, Purple Onion Designs, Fontwerks), a different version of a rolodex, Nikki's lamp, and my Sidekick

This is on the right side of the room, coming from the door. Here are more cutters (Sizzix, QK, Cutterpede, Carl trimmer, generic guillotine trimmer which I use to cut up chipboard boards), magazines, books, sticker maker. The purple boxes have some of my stash categorized into the following: primas, paint/colored pencils/mod podge, branded ribbons, 2 boxes of generic ribbons, dies (Sizzix doll sets), more dies and embossing folders, cricut cartridges

A close up of die-cutters and trimmers






Here are my crop bags which I seldom get to use: Around the Block, Mimi tote, QK tote














Here are brads and eyelets sorted by color in MM sortables boxes, buttons, more ribbons, charms/embellishments. There's a bag of embellishments I have yet to sort out. To the left of these boxes are several foam stamp sets (Jersey, Misunderstood and floral sets)






Here are some more of my Sizzix dies (I decided to put into 3 towers dies which I use frequently such as geometric shapes, tags and bookplates.... although I seldom get to use my Sizzix now that I have the Cricut! :o) - these are mostly alphas - block font, alphabars, common shapes - tags, frames, squares, circles, etc). On top of the towers are some loose Sizzlits sets. To the right are some papers and a black binder filled with my QK dies and TT acrylic stamps


Bazzill, DCWV, some generic cardstock, and vellum paper














More Bazzill in admiral and pinecone colors (I bought these colors in bulk as I figured they're the colors I'd use most! Hahaha, now I am in for some serious scrapping time!), brown and orange monochromatic packs, Chatterbox, FancyPants, K&Co, 3 Bugs in a Rug papers.

More Bazzill bulk packs (white, crimson and java) coming in the next shipment! Can't wait! Haha!


More paper! I wonder how I'd use these all up!? LOL! Basic Grey papers segregated according to design line. This is also where I keep 2 organizer folders filled with stickers, rubons, coasters, etc.

















There's more! Inside my Nanavigator which I use as storage area (whew, this is an expensive storage space! I seriously should be using this for its purpose, methinks) I have more Bazzill monochromatic packs, Cosmo Cricut and Provo papers, more Bazzill cardstock to coordinate with Cosmo Cricut, 3 DCWV paper stacks, my ATG gun, CK all about me album kit (inside the green box), Bazzill accordion album which we did during MLA's party in October last year, another box of foam stamps (Jersey small caps), perfect layers tool (which I have yet to try out), and some freebie papers from KMA

And yet again, more paper inside the accordion file folder. In here I have more Bazzill, MM paper packs, MAMBI, Craft Express patterned paper packs, generic patterned paper which I got from Hobbes, and scraps.

Great! I feel so disorganized even after I've sorted my stuff out. I should try to find the time to sort out my papers and stash some more... need to find the time, need to find the time, need to find the time. LOL! I know, I know, this is not the best way to fix this all up. I'd work on it, really, if I found the time.

Need to convince husband to let me have my own scrap area soon so I can organize all this junk :D

Well, to give myself some credit here, these are my humble beginnings... I had to scrap on the dining room table and most of what little stuff I had last year were stored in the buffet cabinet and in a corner of the dining room :)


routine

OK. Something I've been wanting to do - document stuff I do on a daily basis.... hmmm. Food for thought. What exactly do I do? Not much. But today I started taking some photos of what I think I should include in that LO:
time to get up and get ready for school. of course, I make a pit stop at my computer table to check on some mail












use up some products for my beauty ritual











check my planner









teach and have fun with my students









when I get home, I usually check my mail, I also try to work on stuff for school, LOL!


check stuff I need to pay for and maybe try to balance my checkbook






maybe spend time at my "scrap table" if I'm not too pooped or not up to my neck with stuff for school ...or maybe sort out the laundry







bond with tub and the kids





sleep? what is that? ha! I try to squeeze it in when I can find the time