just because

been a looooooong time!

2010-06-01T13:21:00.006+08:00

haha. sorry. been in between a lot of things at the same time. still am.

haven't seen my scrap space in ages either.

hopefully, this will help spark something:
Celine Navarro online class

Here's what it's all about, in Celine's own words:
MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY AND TAKE MY ONLINE CLASS!

Come join me for my first 4 week class : you will learn many techniques (my favorites!), you'll be inspired by trendy color combos, you'll be in love with new sketches, and you'll participate in the most fun, colorful, technique workshop you've ever taken!

For 25€, you'll have access to :
· a private blog with workshops posted every Tuesday and Friday
· new color combos twice a week
· new sketches posted twice a week
· TWO new techniques posted twice a week
· inspirationnal posts posted every week
· my "soccer" and "non-soccer" thoughts and feelings (always in a funny way)
· what's going on during the World Cup with a different look to it : get to know the countries that participate in the World Cup

· VIDEO tips and techniques!
· access to a FLICKR gallery for you to post your beauties
· TWO live chats where you'll be able to ask your questions
· full supply lists of products used on my projects
and all this for a WHOLE MONTH!!!

And, the icing on the cake, for the BIG FINAL game, your last class will be a FULL mini album class because, hey! It's the WORLD CUP! :)

And you'll be able to order the kit if you want to. SIGN-UPS until JUNE 10th 2010. BEGINNING OF THE WORKSHOPS : JUNE 11th 2010. END OF WORKSHOPS : JULY 11th 2010.

Now excuse me while I go dust my old playthings... crossing my fingers now.

charity: water

2009-09-01T07:04:00.017+08:00

I live in BF Homes, Paranaque and we have a major water problem around here. But this isn't about me. It's about nations that have severe water problems, where millions of women and children have to walk hours each day to get water to drink from muddy ponds and rivers.

Watch this:

The story of charity: water - The 2009 September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

When I saw this on Cathy Zielske's blog, I got curious and decided that I wanted to be a part of this humanitarianism campaign.

I know that our nation is plagued by poverty and similar problems. You can make a difference now! How about giving up that cup of yummy Starbucks coffee, even just for a day? :) or maybe just a piece of adhesive? That's not so bad, is it?

You can provide assistance through my campaign here.

To learn more about how your money can provide a range of water solutions in developing countries, click here.

Thanks! Here's to clean, potable water for everyone!

circle of friends

2009-08-26T06:47:00.000+08:00

My online friend, Colleen, with whom I haven't really chatted in a while :(, gave me this special award:

The terms of this particular award are: Make reference to award and publish it (simply right click on the "circle of friends" button and click on 'save picture as' and save the button to your desktop, you can then upload it just like any other photo into blogger), disclose rules, share 5 things you like to do, share with 10 blogs, inform each blogger.

5 things I like to do: stamping, scrapping, shopping (online), surfing (the www), sleeping (this last bit, not really. i just wanted to use 5 S words) :D

10 + 3 Friends, in alphabetical order (it was tough to choose just 10, hee!)
Alby
Au
Babette
Cabbie
Candy
Lee
Mia
Mitch
Nina
Nita
Suzanne
Sym
Tin

seen this yet?

2009-08-25T06:16:00.005+08:00

a few of Prima's product picks. yummy goodness!

I especially love this page by Adrienne (she used Pearl Butterfly Swirl, Baroque Bloom, Say It In Pearl Centers)

really itching to get some of those yumminess down on paper! :D

a couple more

2009-08-22T06:03:00.001+08:00

pages for Studio Azul using the June and July kits

Oh. In case you didn't know, the August kit is already here! Please check it out.

Since Tin hasn't posted copies of the LOs, here are a few sneaks of the pages I completed during our Tagaytay weekend.

Thanks so much! Off to enjoy the long weekend, I hope!

tickled pink!

2009-08-20T17:17:00.001+08:00

that my little project was singled out by Jessica Acs along with a couple others :)

mock buffet

2009-08-10T13:21:00.001+08:00

even though some of us were not able to join in on the fun and scrap alongside our talented local scrappers, I'm glad Tin organized a dry run for the PS Mods and the SA girls.

In between doing a site visit (scrap buffet venue), chatting, and of course, eating (there never seemed to be a shortage of food supply over at Tin 's place) *grin*, I was able to come up with a few pages:

Here are the pages everyone completed that day.

before the August kit overtakes me :)

2009-08-07T23:46:00.006+08:00

i am posting a few of the pages I was able to complete using yet another fun kit from Studio Azul.

photo grabbed from the SA site :)

Had a ball playing with mist here. Thanks so much, Mia, for inspiring me to break mine out of storage! :)

Will post some more pages as soon as I get my hands on them (had to turn them over for display during the Scrap Buffet) :)

Spending the weekend with a few of my favorite scrappy chicks. Hope yours is going to be just as fun!

SA june kit

2009-08-06T03:52:00.003+08:00

late post alert!

had another fun scrapping session with Studio Azul's June kit way back when :) just been busy with life that i didn't have the chance to post some photos til now.

photo grabbed from the SA site :)

Thanks to my boss girl, Tin, for taking snapshots of the LOs :)

weekend crop

2009-07-28T07:58:00.002+08:00

i was invited by my online friend Suzanne to join her over at Citrus Tree for a fun online crop this past weekend.

Lots of fun tutorials and challenges. Unfortunately, inasmuch as I wanted to join them all, I simply did not find the time to squeeze them all in :(

Here's what I managed to put together in between comings and goings around the house:

Origami Christmas tree. I really had fun playing with this one

I thought this was a clever sentiment to put on the inside. heh!

Then I decided to make a cute matchbook, if I dare say so myself :D

I didn't realize I didn't have a 'just a note' sentiment around the house! eek! hmm. or maybe I was just really lazy to look for one. So I got 2 sentiment stamps and simply inked the words that I wanted out of each of them. voila! just a note. problem solved!

Color combo challenge was up next. I decided to go for more cards since I already had some holiday elzys out on my table.

While I was at it, I decided to make 2 more per design. Now these, I will definitely be sending on to Ems Fronda. Remember the charity drive?

Early Saturday evening, we all went out and hit one of the local weekend bazaars, which wiped my pocketbook clean :D, then we headed over to Tiendesitas to look at some adorable pups. Too bad I forgot to take some photos.

Sunday - whipped up a batch of delightful coffee oatmeal cookies. i was even gonna go for some butter cake, but I realized too late that I didn't have enough butter in the fridge. hm. maybe sometime this week then.
sorry, photo's kinda grainy. i was too lazy to run for the camera so I quickly grabbed my cellphone before 2 pairs of tiny hands (+ a pair of big ones) could wipe the cooling rack clean :)

G and I decided to check out some tiles at the home depot and we're kinda set on this for the bath. whatcha think?

So there you have it. Enjoy the rest of the week!

getting some groove on

2009-07-25T18:32:00.001+08:00

been itching to play for quite some time and sketch challenges are a good excuse as any to put together a couple of cards :)

I was initially going to forward these to Ems Fronda to help out a little girl with cancer, but then I just remembered that they are requesting for 4x4 cards. Methinks I'm going to have to get back to the scrap table :) in the meantime, I will be offering up prayers for the good health and well-being of Charmaine.

anybody else being crafty this weekend?

tag, you're it!

2009-07-19T07:53:00.012+08:00

delayed post as usual :D

check out Studio Azul's May kit

i thought i was not going to have as much fun with it as i do with the other kits because of the sassafras papers (not a big fan here)... but surprise, surprise! i did! haha. i was able to complete 7 pages and i'm raring to make more - there's still lots of leftover papers, embellishments and ephemera :)

thanks so much for looking. will be posting more pages using the other kits soon :) hope you all have a great weekend. i'm stuck in bed as i haven't been feeling well :(

scrappy goodness

2009-07-12T18:11:00.015+08:00

remember this post?

at last, it finally happened!

after foregoing sleep to put together 7 sample LOs (will post them soon!), i set out to meet up with Mia.

the event was scheduled to start at 900H but we arrived at the venue by 830H. thought we still had some time to help take care of a few loose ends, but wow! some scrappers got a better head start than we did! HAHA! why am I not surprised?

needless to say, put 50 something scrappers around scrappy goodness, coupled with Tin's flair for event-organizing, and what do you get? a day of a roaring great time!

i must confess, i was so envious of the girls who got to sit down and do some serious scrapping. collectively, these girls were able to complete 300+ pages, not counting the cards and mini albums. whoa. talk about scrapping mojo, huh?

L-R Sym, Cabbie, Lee, Tin, Me, Mia, Candy, Au, Nita

on behalf of studio azul, thank you so much to everyone who joined us!

special shout out to Mitch, for sponsoring the prizes, and of course, to the PS Mods :D

Delayed Post

2009-06-30T06:23:00.002+08:00

Obviously :)

Just sharing a few cards I made to commemorate Mother's Day

For my mom:

For my mom-in-law:

For an aunt:

For a cousin:

And here they are all together:

In other matters...
I wanted to try out one of my latest stamp acquisitions for a friend's birthday card. I think it turned out pretty. I *heart* it :)

Thanks for looking!

Studio Azul Event

2009-06-29T11:18:00.004+08:00

So sorry for not updating this blog on a more regular basis :( been busy catching up on a lot of things.

In case anybody still drops by this blog, please do join us for Studio Azul's Scrapbook Event:

For more details, please check out Studio Azul's website.

Thanks and I promise I will try to be more present here :)

gone too soon

2009-06-26T23:31:00.007+08:00

wow.

so i was loitering in front of my computer early this morning when a tweet alerted me to the news.

i immediately had to google his name and still couldn't believe what i read.

no matter what he may have done towards the twilight of his life and even though he may have turned quite bizarre, i still believe that he made an influential contribution to the music arena. ok. i was never really a huge fan but Michael Jackson was a music genius. he. was. magic. his music will live on but he will be missed.

may you rest in peace, Michael.

and so it begins

2008-11-25T08:13:00.000+08:00

counting down til studio calico reveal night.
ah. i can't wait!

must. share. this.

2008-11-18T08:06:00.000+08:00

good morning.

stumbled upon this.

and i just had to share.

what's up?

2008-11-11T03:34:00.004+08:00

i'm up to my neck with work so i haven't had the chance to post any updates lately :(

will try to post something soon!

in the meantime, if you're up for some awesome FREE classes/workshops (there's 22 in all!), challenges, fun and games, drop by the Bad Girls message boards between the 14th and 23rd of November. I'm sure there'll be lots to learn!

i am so looking forward to this! i've been itching to scrap for the longest time now!

food galore

2008-10-23T07:28:00.002+08:00

one night we were chatting it up, Mia asked if I wanted to do lunch with her en route to our Saturday scrapping engagement, at the Pink Kitchen event in Rockwell. It's a foodie event put together by the ICanServe foundation in support of women with breast cancer, hence the P200 entrance fee.

Despite the long wait - we have had to queue for food stubs (they ran out!) as you couldn't do cash transactions - I'm glad I went. The place was still packed at 2 PM but everything looked delectable. LOL! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take that many photos as I forgot to recharge my batteries! :(

I loved their table centerpieces. Here's a not so decent photo. Yes, I was much too embarrassed to take photos when strangers were sitting on the opposite side of the table. LOL!

After going around the tent for what must've been 3x, Mia and I finally settled on an open-face pastrami sandwich from Chelsea and fresh mushroom canneloni (yum-o) from La Tasca. I am salivating just thinking about it. I would've gone on Sunday too but I couldn't. Had to take care of some business on the home front.

After our late lunch, we headed over to the popsicle booth to get us some treats :) all the flavors sounded inviting, but i decided on a watermelon pop. it tasted a bit off (like a watermelon gone off, if you kwim) + it was kinda bland for my taste but i enjoyed it just the same. a pop is still a pop. haha.

Mia wanted to drop by the cuppycake booth to get some sweets for the girls.

while I got a box of mochi. hmm. i thought they'd be like the ones I had in Singapore (frozen ice cream balls) but these turned out to be Japanese rice cakes coated/filled with dark chocolate, milk chocolate, walnuts and green tea. they tasted good though.

We stopped by Vivian's store (got a few things) and then we eventually headed over to Mitch's, and of course, I had to get some more things from there, too *wink!* I especially love the book on Designing Layouts by Donna Downey. Can't wait to put it to good use!

We ordered dinner in, so we had a table full of Chinese yumminess (I wasn't able to take a decent photo). Then it was time for dessert. Because we wanted to taste more than 1, Mia and I each shared the
"MARIE ANTOINETTE" - Vanilla Cupcakes with Tequila Rose Buttercream (virgin version!!)
"SUGAR DADDY" - Moist chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream

Both tasted good! Next time, I would have to remember to try the
"CHANEL" - Moist Chocolate Cupcake with Valrhona Buttercream
"TRES CHIC" - Vanilla Cupcakes with Valrhona Buttercream
"SATINE" - Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I didn't get to work on anything - I pretty much just enjoyed the food, and of course, the company =)

2nd chance

2008-10-22T05:55:00.003+08:00

i couldn't believe my lucky stars! here i thought it was the end of the line for me at the Top Designer class/challenge over at BG. Then I got a PM from Tracie telling me this:

You have been selected as the Wild Card Player for Class 6.

I was given a username : **WiLdCaRdEiGhT** so I could play along anonymously. How fun was that!? :D

All I had to do was follow a set of rules, all in the name of anonymity, and of course, to create a LO (no family/identifying photos allowed) for Class 6 for me to be back in the running.

Challenge was to break a few scrapbooking rules here and there with the end in view of making our pages eventually come together by putting in our personal flair.

A final note from Tracie:

Please note that there are no guarantees that you will make it through to the final assignment.....but I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you as I love your style.

I tried to come up with a LO at the last minute as I found it tough just to find photos that couldn't be associated with me. I worked on my page on Sunday morning. 1st attempt looked kinda messy coz of my paint job, but I managed to salvage my orange lace cardstock, paint stains and all, and use it on a fresh sheet of cardstock. This time around, I was hesitant to stamp with paint for fear of messing up yet another paper, but i wanted the page to look grunged up a bit, so I did it anyway. I like the results, even if i do say so myself. lol.

Here's a few rules I broke, I think:
BALANCE: right-heavy page. photos, embellishments and papers were all placed on the right side

COLORS: page colors not coordinated with those in the photos.

VISUAL TRIANGLE: none used

UNITY: photo sizes used were not the same

GALLON QUART PINT: none followed

How I added my style
1. used a short title
2. clustered photos
3. clustered embellishments
4. strip journaling
5. simple embellishments/minimal hand-cutting
6. didn't fill every space on the page :)

i didn't make it to the final round, but I'm glad to have made it this far in the contest, and more importantly, to have been given another opportunity to play again :)

Good luck to the Top 10 (11) girls who are in it for the final round. You are all very talented, can't wait to see who comes out to be the 2nd Top Designer! :D

being neighbourly

2008-10-19T17:11:00.003+08:00

just a quick thank you card for one very hospitable neighbour :)

it ends tonight

2008-10-13T02:54:00.007+08:00

i excitedly conceptualized and created my page for this week's class/challenge COLOR PSYCHOLOGY.

Not long after I posted it into the gallery, I found out from a couple of Bad Girls that I wasn't supposed to use a B&W photo. I didn't believe it at first, as there was nothing specific indicated when the class was posted, but apparently, buried somewhere among the member posts, was a follow up instruction that we were only to use colored photos! ACK!! It was too late. I had no other immediate ideas to work with, so I left my LO alone. My only consolation is that I am happy with the way this page turned out - it's almost just as I envisioned it when I was still sketching it out a few days ago.

The honor roll list was posted a few hours ago and just as I predicted, my name was no longer in it :( at least, there's always next year to look forward to. I'm glad I made it to the 5th round this year, 1 round more than how I fared last year =)

design your life

2008-10-10T06:53:00.001+08:00

so happy to have this opportunity to sign up for an online class with Cathy Zielske! YAY!!!

sign up - check!
scrap supplies - check!
pre-work - need to get moving!
assignment 1 - i'd better catch up real quick! assignment 2 is going to be up soon! ;)

moving on

2008-10-09T21:15:00.000+08:00

to round 5!! how friggin' awesome is that? never in my wildest dreams did i imagine i'd be moving past class 4 especially because even after 6 days of mulling over the class' design principles (accessorizing + unity, harmony, balance and texture concepts to boot!), i still had no idea what to work on and add to to that the fact that i only managed to find/print out photos well under 2 hours before the submission deadline! talk about pressure! :o whew!

To put these principles into better perspective, Bethany shared these concepts:

UNITY is defined as the visual linking of the elements in the piece. Accessories can unify by providing flow from various areas in a layout.

I tried to achieve it by linking my photos together to show the flow of the action shots better. i also tried to help the movement flow by placing arrows here and there and then i added a small piece of map paper to further reinforce the theme of my LO.

HARMONY is the visually pleasing effect of combining similar elements. This can be achieved through various mediums including color and shape.

For this I used similar photo sizes and colors found in the photos

BALANCE is pleasing proportion. i decided to go for the symmetrical principle.

TEXTURE is the tactile surface of a work of art. In layman’s terms, it is the feel of various elements. It is the smooth wood, or the bumpy lace, the ripple in the ribbon, etc. Some of the easiest ways to add texture are via distressing and sewing.

So I layered, distressed (crumpled, torn, painted, inked) papers, used grunge board, lots of staple wire, distressed chipboard, punchinella, tape label, and metal embellishment.

Treasure Hunters

still can't figure out how i got through this one! haha! but i am glad, of course! ;)

actually, i was even more surprised that i moved on from class 3 (less is more principle) last week - I can still remember how i was booted out of the white space class last year! haha!

What Matters Most

i'm happy about how this one turned out! ;) thanks to the principles shared by Sri Sams.

Achieving BALANCE is the most important principle in creating a simple layout. Balance refers to the weight of a design based on the elements and objects of the design. Balance can either be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

I decided to go for the asymmetrical balance by putting more weight on the right side, where the photos are

To achieve balance, you have to take control of space. White space is always an active element in a good design. White space is also known as negative space. It doesn't mean it has to be white because it can be any color whether it is black, brown or white. It’s also up to the designer to make it an important element of design because if not used properly it can be misunderstood for wasted space. When used properly, it allows a breathing space and provides the simplest way to unite elements of the layout.

I decided to leave out some space above and below the photos then I grouped the embellishments to the left of the photos

Unity is achieved when elements in a given space have a direct, cohesive relationship to one another. Unify elements by grouping elements that are close together so that they look like they belong together:
- Lining up or grouping photos together.
- Use the same color palette throughout.
- Repeat a color, shape or texture in different areas throughout.
- Choose elements that share a similar color, theme or shape.

So for unity
- I used similar photos
- I lined up photos together
- I also repeated/used the same color palette (papers and embellishment colors taken from the colored photo)
- I likewise repeated several round embellishments (flower, brad, clock)

TFL!

Scrap Party

2008-10-08T05:56:00.001+08:00

I actually had no plans of going (oops!) but our gracious boss lady, Tin invited us as Studio Azul was putting up a booth - I couldn't very well say no to that! :) HEHE!

Of course, it was a fun opportunity to spend time with the rest of the Studio Azul team and to witness the 2nd Scrappinmoms' Idol contest. Congrats to Cookie, Issa and Donna, as well as to the rest of this year's top 10 contenders! You did well, girls!

I consider this to be the 1st official photo op for the SA blue ladies - so proud to be a part of this team! Notice our spanking new denim aprons, courtesy of the ultimate blue lady herself, Tin :) Thanks, Tin! I love it!

Here are some shots from the Scrap Party
AM

PM

Won myself a hot pink scrap apron

here's the loot! YAY for shopping self-control! HEHEHE!!

Thanks, Alby for this wonderful card and for considering me to be your card-maker inspiration :) - i don't believe I have the K to be considered one, but thanks anyway. i'm really flattered! ;)

After watching the Idol contenders battle it out for 3 hours, the SA Team decided to get together for a bite before heading on home. Mia suggested we head over to Arya, a Persian restaurant, at the Greenhills Promenade. Yum! Food was really good!

Pita bread with a variety of dips - hummus, eggplant with tomatoes, another eggplant dip (i forget the name), and cucumber with yogurt. mmmm-mm.

Went for a Chicken Koobideh - portion was kinda big for me so I had to get a doggy bag, haha!

Nita, Au and Cabbie

Mia, Tin and moi - sans sleep as I had to rush 2 mini albums =)

Had a great time catching up with you girls!

when do we go back for another yummy treat? :)

DDD #27

2008-10-06T23:53:00.000+08:00

had to think of a quick LO for this challenge as I had the bright idea of working on this just before I did Sri's class assignment. Can't blame a girl for picking out less stressful challenges to tackle, haha!

perfect timing for this challenge too, as SA girls recently got together for a fun crop - so I had some photos to scrap! =) actually, i originally intended to use this homemade background paper (bazzill + HS mask + glimmer mist) for class 3 but I didn't think the glimmer mist color i used matched some of my beach photos. oh well. am just glad i was able to recycle the paper for this challenge LO

TFL!

blessed

2008-09-27T23:51:00.007+08:00

i look at this, my favorite-turned-useless shoe, and i think: "how unlucky can i get. i make a run for the toilet earlier this evening and i end up with a ruined shoe. yep - the straps in front split into 2! did i mention this is one of my favorite pair of shoes? ah well.

i let it pass. there are certainly plenty of things to be thankful for.
* last night, SA girls got together for the first time to scrap and chill out, and of course, to eat! :)

indulged in yummy pizzas, spicy nachos with sour cream (heaven!) a handful of scrumptious cuppy cakes by Tin and some more from Sonja's (courtesy of Mia!) and some wine to boot!

how can you not be fueled to work after that?? haha! i was able to complete a mini + several pages using the September kit and then Mia, our host for the evening, gave out some scrappy goodies :)

* today, my first-born turned 9!!! ack! can you believe that? i have a 9-year old already! how did that happen? time does fly. i'm glad that she isn't all that much of a fuss - she didn't demand for a party (despite the fact that most of her classmates and friends had one this year), and she certainly didn't demand that I be with her on her special day!

Haha!! Yes - on my daughter's birthday, I went to Rockwell to party with Scrapbukan which turned 4 this year. Bumped into some friends and met a few new ones.

* Got to alter a journal which, under ordinary circumstances, i wouldn't do! (it didn't turn out to be everybody's favorite, but I love it! hehehe!)
can you guess which one mine is? *cough* 11! *cough*

* Got to team up with Geng to work on a team challenge and we won!!!!!!!

* Got a stamp I've always wanted for a steal (half off!)

* Got a stamp which CH raffled off! YAY!!

* Received a cute tool bag as a party favor

*****

so G and I didn't throw a party for our girl, but because my mom had been invited to a kiddie party, she asked me to just bring the kids over to her house so she could take them with her to the Makati Sports Club. 5:45PM - I was done with my scrappy party and I called my mom to tell her I was on my way to pick the kids up. Unfortunately, they weren't done yet so I had to find a parking space. Just my luck, a spot was available a building across from the Makati Sports Club, exactly where G and I parked last time we were there to witness Mela's induction as Zonta President this year - but I digress. I get out of the car and try to lock it for something like 5 minutes but it wouldn't. i called G and then my mom to tell them that the car wouldn't lock and that I've decided to just wait in the car until they were done partying. anyways, somebody else seemed to be doing the same thing in the car just behind me. I got back into the car and turned the ignition only to realize that I had left the aircon on. I switched it off and decided to give my car alarm another try. Of course, I didn't see the relevance in this, but hey, I didn't really relish just waiting and stewing in the car. Wonder of wonders, it worked. I quickly got out of the car and crossed over to Makati Sports.

It was already dark and nearly 7 when we were done with the party. It was drizzling so I asked the kids to just wait for me along the driveway while I went and got the car. I was planning to just make a dash for it, but I noticed that the security guard had an umbrella in hand so I decided to borrow it.

A diplomatic car was parallel parking just in front of my car and I had half the mind to ask the girl behind the wheel if maybe she wanted to wait until after I got out of my space, but I didn't bother. Other than the girl in the car, I noticed that the street was deserted - at least, the guy waiting in the car behind me when I got there earlier was gone but there was an empty car in its stead.

After some fumbling with my car remote control (it acted up again for a split second), I got into the car, leaned over to the passenger seat to set my bag down and then to put the wet umbrella away from me. From out of the blue, I felt a guy nudging my butt with his butt, and all of a sudden there he was, sitting in the car beside me urgently saying, "tabi ka jan, tabi ka jan" (move over, move over). I felt like it was all a dream and this somebody trying to sit beside me was perhaps somebody I knew, trying to play a trick on me! I looked and realized this somebody wasn't somebody I knew and I remember myself asking him: "sino ka??? " (who are you?) and consequently, I vehemently pushed him away while saying "alis ka jan, alis ka jan!! AAAAGH!" (go away, go away!). As soon as I've let out that loud grunt, I noticed that he was holding onto a gun and wondered what I was supposed to do next, but for some reason, he upped and left! He walked very briskly towards the opposite direction and I instinctively reached for the door and locked myself in. i steeled myself as I was shaking for a few minutes and then breathed a sigh of relief and thanksgiving. YIKES! :o I never really thought somebody could get accosted that way until it happened to me.

In hindsight, I can't bear to think what might've happened had there been two of them sandwiching me into the car!! I can't even fathom where I drew the strength from to push that stranger away when I did. Truly, God's hand was at work earlier this evening.

more than that, as I recounted my experience to the kids I had in tow, I heard Nikki giving her cousins and her brother a very short doctrine class on the last things (heaven and hell, mortal and venial sins, with a bit of the 10 commandments thrown in). hearing her talk about these things just gave me a warm feeling of thanksgiving that as early as now, in her own small way, she knows how to do apostolate work.

Of course, in honor of Nikki's birthday, my small family went shopping for a gift and then had dinner at Brazil! Happy Birthday, baby doll! May you continue to grow in wisdom and in grace.

we love you and always remember how your brother Ian adores you so - he just had to announce to everyone he met today that it was your birthday and that you were 9! :D

DDD #26

2008-09-24T12:12:00.000+08:00

Challenge for the week is to lift a page from Top Designer's Class 1 gallery. This is definitely a doable challenge considering there are many awesome pages in there! :)

I picked this page by Amanda Stanford and here's my version:

materials: Bad Girls September kit, Label Tulip stamp, Dymo, Zig pen, Versafine ink pad

class 2

2008-09-22T13:05:00.000+08:00

is all about mixing patterns bearing in mind 4 design principles:

principle 1 - drawing the color palette from the photo itself

principle 2 - gallon, quart and pint: may be used in terms of colors or as in the case of this class, large, medium and small patterns. the large being the 'signature' pattern, it has to be the one that grabs attention.

principle 3 - vary patterns. as a rule of thumb, similar patterns, even if they are of different scales, should be avoided as it will look too busy and cluttered.

Principle 4 - Play! As Emilie Ahern says, there's no right or wrong in scrapbooking. Experiement with mixing patterns and see what mix YOU like. Play with whimsical papers and designs that fit your theme. Play with colors in embellishments and trims. Sometimes you can break all of the rules and LOVE the result. Try a few different things until you get the feel for mixing patterns and you'll be hooked in no time!

Here is my take on this fun class:

TFL!

to scrapbook or not to scrapbook?

2008-09-21T00:48:00.001+08:00

that is the question.

hmmm.

i busied myself rearranging and yes, purging! (finally!) some of my scrapbook supplies and storage systems, and then my son, Ian, popped into my scrap area (a.k.a. his room) and exclaimed how messy i was being.

out of the blue, i jokingly told him that i was going to throw out all of my scrapbook supplies to rid myself of the mess. to this he answered: "huh? why???"

i told him that i have had enough of the mess and that i was going to stop doing any more scrapbook pages. with a sad note in his voice, he said he didn't want me to stop. of course i had to ask him why.

very matter-of-fact, he said: "if you do, then i won't have new pages in my scrapbook anymore"

ladies, i'm guessing, whether our kids say it out loud or not, our pages are appreciated :)

keep scrapping!

happy weekend :)

Top Designer

2008-09-14T16:58:00.001+08:00

it's that time of the year again, when Bad Girls Kits hosts Top Designer - a 6-week series of awesome classes and challenges. Even though I didn't make it past week 4 last year, I made sure I 'enrolled' again this year :)

1st class/challenge is all about layering perspectives by Cari Fennell - ack! this is my major problem area! lol! despite the fact that Miss Cari's class was very informative, I found myself delaying my homework submission until the very last minute. A "my dog ate my homework" excuse is simply unacceptable (you don't want to get yourself into detention!) so I found myself working on a page earlier today.

Just as Miss Cari advised - enjoy the whole process - I did :) and things just fell into place (or so I hope!)

Truth be told, the major reason for my delay was the fact that I couldn't find just the right photos. Last night, after hastily editing several, I finally decided on some of Nikki's photos from a trip to a beach in Bacolod. Another reason was finding just the right quotation. I fell asleep in front of my computer just searching for one -- I think I may have stumbled on just the one by Judith Wright - can't go wrong with this, huh? :)

You are about to begin the hero’s journey.
Travel well on the quest.
A life of More is your birthright.
Know the vast resource that reside in you
and are provided for you in the world.

Materials: Bad Girls august kit - that which cost me much angst, just getting it picked up from the Pasay City PO! (heaven forbid i get another parcel routed over there!)

Good luck to those who submit their pages!

DDD #25

2008-09-05T08:40:00.002+08:00

Latest DDD challenge is for us to use up our Prima stash - so... digging into my fresh pack of Prima papers, I decided to scrap some really old photos - from when I was still pregnant with Ian. More where that came from! yikes!!

the only non-Prima goodies on this page are the Hambly and Lil Davis rub ons + the pen I used to journal with.

Decided to work on this a little early as I am going on a weekend escapade with a friend! yay! can't wait to pack up my suitcase!

Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

week 3

2008-09-02T06:30:00.022+08:00

the last batch of challenges were posted last week and i just had to do them all, lol!

art inspiration- the challenge was for us to draw inspiration from this piece of art

and so I decided to play :)

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, MM acrylic paint, Basic Grey and Fontwerks stamps, Versafine ink pad, AC alphas, Dymo label

up next was a challenge to bring on the bling so i brought it ;)

I applied glimmer mist to the background page and then used other bling-y stuff: Prima say it in crystals and AC alphas
other supplies: Bazzill, Basic Grey stamp, Brilliance ink pad

i had to double my effort for the next challenge as I am truly musically challenged through and through. lol!

first off, i really can't carry a tune - even if you ask all the members of my family! eek! and secondly, i can never think of a song to associate my pages with. a light bulb flickered as i was visiting a blog with a playlist (can't remember whose it is, though, but thanks so much for the inspiration!) i heard a version of Mariah Carey's always be my baby song and ta-da! uhm, it's not so much the lyrics but the title i wanted to use :)

supplies: Bad Girls May kit + Prima flower, Heidi Swapp bling, MM acrylic paint, Lil Davis alpha rub ons

this last challenge was added to the roster as some girls thought it odd that there were only 3 challenges posted for the week and just had to ask for more! (i think i might have been one of those girls, lol!) so, we were thrown the mother lode of all challenges: a 2-page sketch! ack! i almost never do 2-pagers these days for some reason... so this really topped the cake! it's sad... considering i started scrapbooking with the best intentions of doing only 2-page LOs. times change, indeed!

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Scenic Route and Pink Paislee papers, Pink Paislee die cuts, Catslife Press stamp, Stazon ink, KI Memories alpha stickers

other challenges going on last week:
Rewind - to give a chance to some girls who weren't able to complete previous challenges, or just a chance for the others who have done so, to rack up more points :)

since i've already managed to do all of the previous weeks' challenges, i went for the challenge i love doing best - designer knock off :)
i picked a page by Tina Aszmus
and came up with this

supplies: label tulip january kit (i think) + MM tiny alphas

just for good measure, the last hurrah challenge was posted a day before the last day of the contest - we simply had to pick a page from the gallery. I picked one by Zeldadog and lifted away

supplies: Studio Azul december kit + Scenic Route paper

then over at Bad Girls, the DDD challenge for this week was to scrap something we're looking forward to this September
I had to really think about this one, but in the end, I kept it simple (as usual! ha!)

supplies: Studio Calico (i forget which month) + Fontwerks stamp, Versafine ink pad

round 2

2008-08-24T17:34:00.013+08:00

decided to work on a new batch of challenges posted at scrapperie since i had no agenda yesterday morning.

tag, you're it! yeah-huh. we had to make a tag using at least 2 patterned papers, a flower, a button, a ribbon, some stitching, and a monogram. had some fun with this one as i don't usually do tags.

the only thing we had to do for this challenge was for us to use anything but a straight-edged paper. decided to make this a double purpose LO by creating something for the latest DDD challenge as well.

for this challenge, we had to lift a designer and i picked a page by kristi contes:

Challenge was to scrap a photo we took for the 17.08.08 Photography Challenge ack!! we were asked to take a photo of anything and i had to go and take a photo of a bathroom scale! hmm.

had to make a set of 5 coordinating cards and decided to go for an all-occasion set.

thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the long weekend :D

a quickie card

2008-08-21T08:03:00.003+08:00

had to rush a thank you card and here's what i was able to come up with

supplies: cardstock, MME paper, Stampin' Up stamps, Palette and Versa ink pads, ribbon

getting caught up

2008-08-18T13:07:00.010+08:00

with a new batch of YITL words =)

WARM

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, unknown paper, MM ring, Hero Arts stamp, Nick Bantock ink pad, EK Success pen, floss

SHARE

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Tinkering Ink paper, Fancy Pants ribbon, catslife press stamp, Zig pen, Nick Bantock ink pad

FAMILY

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Fontwerks and Green Grass stamps, Brilliance and Versa ink pads, EK Success pen, ribbon

SMILE

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, catslife press and hero arts stamps, KI memories stickers, Nick Bantock and Distress ink pads, ribbon

CHANGE

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, MM foam stamps and paint, EK success pen

1st round of challenges

2008-08-16T14:27:00.013+08:00

so over at Scrapperie's Scrap-a-lympics, challenges were posted this past week and i buried myself in scrap supplies to complete them all ;)

team spirit (monochromatic team colors)
Bazzill CS, MME & Prima papers, MM paint and staple wires, punchinella, Heidi Swapp alphas, ATB tape, Fancy Pants felt accents, AC pink pen =)

favorite candy
Bazzill CS, MM noteworthy notepad, Sassafrass paper, Pebbles frame brad, Fontwerks stamp, Brilliance and Nick Bantock ink pads, zig pen

scraplift challenge
Bad Girls november kit, MM tiny alphas and paint, Zig pen, LT stamp, Nick Bantock ink pad, vellum paper

(at least) 7 embellishments/techniques challenge
Bad Girls april kit, Teresa Collins card, distress ink, cats eye ink pad

BINGO (i picked the B column limited to the following techniques/materials: stitching, paint, 10 flowers, chipboard, 3 photos). cardstock and patterned paper are free choices

also submitted this page for the latest DDD challenge

Studio Azul Hawaii kit (Rusty Pickle papers, flowers). other materials used: Bazzill cardstock Prima, MM paint, Bazzill chipboard

scrap a challenge photo which reminds you of your childhood
Bad Girls march kit, Teresa Collins card, Zig pen

for the love of the game

2008-08-15T00:12:00.005+08:00

yea.

8.8.08 i signed up for Scrapperie's latest round of challenges aptly called Scrap-a-lympics!

Naturally, participants got divided into teams and I was assigned to Team Pink! Since the white team came up with a team blinkie, i decided to make one for my team as well. HAHAHA!! the problem was, I didn't know where to begin. I turned to my most valuable resource (the WWW! ha!) and found what i was looking for! thank goodness for that bit of info, i was able to come up with this

not bad for a 1st attempt, huh? please say yes! lol!

the plan is to rack up as many points as possible, beginning with being gabby and upping our post counts! other ways to earn more points are through the usual LO challenges, the daily photography/weekly organizational challenges, and the trivia questions (Olympics-themed, of course!), among others.

let the games begin! (uhm, they've actually started, i just felt it was a fun way to end this post! heh!)

blog awards

2008-08-13T00:02:00.012+08:00

i've recently been awarded with a few =)

Thanks so much, Suzanne, for this fun award!

The rules for the "Blogging Friends Forever" award are:
* Only five people allowed
* Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog
* One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog or lives in another part of the world.
* You must link back to whoever gave you the award.
* The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

Forwarding this award to 5 BFF
Cabbie
Babette
Au
Alby
Catherine

Thanks, Cabbie - sorry to have overlooked the other awards you gave me :o - and Alby, for nominating me!
The rules are:
1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

So now, on to the tough task of nominating only 5!
Suzanne
Lee
Bjay
Joanne
Maybs

and another one from Alby! thank you :)

Here are my picks:
Marian, Pia, Iris, CH, Cookie

so sorry that i could only pick 5 at a time...

DDD #21

2008-08-11T22:46:00.001+08:00

Another week, another completed page... thank goodness for challenges :)

Challenge was for us to scrap about 'a day in the life...' I decided to scrap about my DS Ian as his day seems to be brimming with activities... unlike mine which can be pretty boring! LOL!

supplies: Bad Girls July kit, Doodlebug alpha stickers, Dymo, MM paint

work before play

2008-08-10T14:35:00.007+08:00

had to supervise catering service for our school's Parents' Night event last night... and i got home at around 930PM. By then, SK's 2nd crop was in full-swing.

Wati hosted an awesome tutorial on a pop-up mini book and most of the girls were already halfway done with their pages. yikes! i hastily went through each of the posts (about 8 pages in all) and as soon as I got the instructions for the cardstock dimensions, I went to town! i had the base for the pop up all set a little after 1030PM but fatigue took over and I fell asleep just as I was about to add patterned papers to my completed mini! HAHA! Luckily, I got up at 445AM so I didn't waste any time.

Finding photos was the most difficult task. I picked red and green cardstock thinking it'd be a piece of cake matching them with some photos in my file. Ooopsie. what was I thinking! I had to go through a couple of boxes until I finally decided on a batch of photos from our trip to Bacolod.

Here's what I came up with.
uhm, i had the bright idea of adding flock to my 'Christmas' title but at the last minute, I decided on glitter sugar coating instead. By this time, I had already attached some Prima bling. lo and behold my horror when i saw that some sugar coating stuck themselves to the Prima bling adhesive. darnit! oh well. another lesson learned.

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, MME papers, Prima tape and crystals, Hambly transparency, ribbon (thanks, Babette!), Catslife Press, Label Tulip and Purple Onion stamps, Versa and Nick Bantock ink pads, 7 Gypsies and AC velvet alpha stickers, QK Lucy, Doodlebug glitter sugar coating, Zig pen

TFL. Have a fab Sunday!

nothing like a little adrenaline jolt

2008-08-07T00:38:00.003+08:00

to get me working on this project for the Bad Girls Apron challenge.

I've been meaning to work on this since this past weekend, but obviously for some reason, I just never got around to doing it until the deadline was upon me. Yep. it was today. Since I was going to be away at work with no chance of completing it in time, I decided that the only other option was for me to get it done before I left for work. Managed to come around and be fully conscious by 7ish and with an hour's window of opportunity, I cut and glued like a madwoman with a mission! lol!

Good thing I was able to alter the tin the week before, thanks to the DDD challenge. I only had to do the inside! So here is this week's pièce de résistance.

not much to look at, compared to some other ladies' fab work, i know. I'm just glad i was able to work on another mini =)

supplies: Bad Girls July kit, AC thickers, Hero Arts, Heidi Swapp, and Fontwerks stamps, Nick Bantock ink pad

VMAA #3

2008-08-03T15:54:00.020+08:00

Another fun VMAA for A Muse Addicts! YAY! :)

This time around, challenge themes took a cue from TV shows and we were supposed to do each of our cards within 30 minutes or less.

Challenge #1 theme is Passport to Europe and we had to take inspiration from this photo:

Here's my take on the colors in the photo:

Challenge #2 is all about this tv show
and because of McDreamy, the card had to have something to do with love

so, here's my card

Challenge #3. LOST:
Imagine your plane crashes on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. You survive and all you have with you is your carry on filled with your absolute favorite stamping essentials..... a favorite A Muse stamp, favorite ribbon, favorite color or A Muse notecard, favorite layout, favorite accessory, favorite punch, etc. Basically, we simply had to use as many favorites as we could!

For Challenge #4,

the TV Show is One Tree Hill and we're supposed to make a card using 1 stamp only.

Here's what I came up with:

Bonus Challenge. I thought nobody was going to choose my favorite sitcom :) I'm glad HRR Julie picked it! ;)

So, taking a cue from F*R*I*E*N*D*S, we were to create a humorous card. Here's what I did for the challenge

Another weekend is almost gone... I'm glad I was a bit productive :) Yesterday, I joined the GNO girls for an afternoon of cropping and shopping... and I was able to work on a LO and a couple of pages for my mini-book :) Thanks for the ride, Mia!

too much of a good thing

2008-07-30T22:24:00.005+08:00

is a dangerous thing! :o

i am seriously beginning to think so.

these past few days, i received several kits in the mail... and yesterday, i decided to swing by the PO to pick up a package. and yep, it was yet another batch of kits! yikes!!

oh, it's fun to have these goodies at my disposal. it's just that, with life happening around me, i hardly find the time to actually sit down and do more than admire these kits! methinks it's time to scrap more than i shop! :o

scraplift challenge

2008-07-28T20:37:00.000+08:00

Decided to sign up for the Bad Girls Birthday Bash Scraplift Challenge and here's my take on Nan's page

materials: Bad Girls feb kit (my favorite among all the kits so far), MAMBI crown bling, Catslifepress stamp, Nick Bantock ink pad

welcome, baby

2008-07-27T11:06:00.002+08:00

Been slacking with my cards these days that I decided to CASE (copy and share everything) a card from the Stampin' Up catalog - quick fix for a lost mojo :D. This is for my friend who recently gave birth to a baby girl.... hmmm, i think this was more like an excuse to ink my new stamps! hehehe.

YITL 28

2008-07-26T10:41:00.003+08:00

Just trying to squeeze in some playtime =) here's my interpretation of white

TFL. Happy Weekend!

on the street where i lived

2008-07-21T21:00:00.002+08:00

spent the weekend in our family home, about 25 miles south of manila.

since my family moved and went separate ways ages ago, this house has been abandoned and was pretty much left to its on devices. time and weather conditions have taken their toll, but it's great that my mother has gone to some length to give the house a face lift of sorts. now it feels like home again.

it's probably been about 23 years since i last spent the night here =) but it was good to be back.

kids had a great time playing in the yet dusty attic

more of the kids

The kids have taken to the house as well, and they seemed to have enjoyed their stay that they are asking to go back again.

It would be nice to go for a visit as often as we can =) hmmm... might be fun to bring the scrappy stuff and while away the time here... it's definitely less humid compared to Manila =)

LT anniversary crop

2008-07-20T12:57:00.000+08:00

decided to join some of the challenges posted at LT and here's what i came up with

scraplift challenge
a lift of Jamie Ko's page
materials: LT kit

a lift of Waleska's page
materials: LT kit

stash challenge

using SA feb and march kits =)

ad inspiration challenge
materials: a mix of Studio Calico and Studio Azul =)

june challenge to scrap blurred photos
materials: LT kit

new for june

2008-07-19T19:05:00.002+08:00

just sharing a few simple pages for Studio Azul using the yummy June kit
other materials used: Fontwerks stamp, Brillance ink pad, Making Memories acrylic paint

other materials used: Art Warehouse stamp, Nick Bantock ink pad, Making Memories acrylic paint

other materials used: Making Memories acrylic paint, Nick Bantock ink pad

other materials used: Autumn Leaves stamp, Nick bantock ink pad

TFL! Have a great weekend!

i still believe in good

2008-07-16T13:45:00.016+08:00

yesterday, i received a PO notice for a package. after a quick scan of the small piece of paper in my hand, I just had to groan when I saw that I had to pick it up from the Las Pinas PO yet again.

today, I had some free time so I decided to go and pick it up myself. I braced myself for the worst, while I silently repeated a string of possible pleas and rejoinders, in case the customs people asked for an exorbitant amount.

I actually got off work close to 12 noon. I wasn't sure if government agencies still honored a one-hour lunch break these days but I decided to try my luck anyways. It was 1220PM. Post office counters had signs to say they were open so I quickly went up to the 2nd floor where the customs counters are located. No hustle and bustle up there. I saw a couple of men having lunch and in a tone dripping with honey, I asked if I could pick up a parcel. One of them apologetically declared that the customs people were out for lunch, but he actually got up to check if anybody was still in the office, just in case. No luck. He then politely asked me to come back at 1 pm. I resigned myself to the fact that there was no other way around it but to wait.

As I turned to leave, another man approached me to ask if there was anything he could do. A quick check of my notice and he just re-confirmed what the other guy said earlier. I jokingly told him that he got my hopes up for nothing. 1 pm it was. Not a few seconds later, a lady, a customs officer, methinks, came to my rescue! She was willing to go into the customs office to issue my package! I was beside myself with excitement! Hehe. I quickly spotted my box sitting on top of all the others and I politely informed the lady that that was perhaps the box she was looking for.

Yep. it was mine alright. I hurriedly fished around my bag for some small bills and I was ready with my P40 in no time :) In case they asked for a higher duty tax, I was ready to argue my point that other PO offices usually only charge me P35. HEHE. A quick inspection of my PO notice and they were ready to hand me my goodie box. The lady officer conferred with the record keeper to ask if she still needed to see some identification. She did, so I quickly produced my driver's license and signed where she asked me to. I was handing her my payment when the lady officer said there was no payment needed! :o :o :o i was royally surprised but did not bother to ask why! HAHA!

OK. Studio Calico boxes usually weigh about 2 pounds, give or take a few ounces, and even with the number of add-ons I ordered this month, I didn't think my box weighed more than 4 pounds. The lady officer even went an extra mile to ask if I had someone to carry my box for me, sounding as if she was ready to ask 1 of her boys to carry my parcel for me had I asked!

Where is all this goodness coming from? No complaints here. I am just so thankful that there is still a measure of good in this world =)

side note: isn't that map of Paris simply too cool to cut up? what am i going to do???

All this for 1 paper?
yep. a few weeks ago, I emailed Scarlet and April just to ask if perhaps they had an extra MM die cut paper that was missing from one of my add-ons last month. They responded that they had no spare to send but they were willing to send me either duplicates of the patterned papers in the main kit or OA papers. I simply needed to inform them which option I wanted. I was so flabbergasted I didn't know what to say. It took me sometime to email them back to ask them to just send whatever they thought was the better option. And now here they are.

Update: these BG goodies were delivered to my doorstep today while I was away to pick the kids up from school

What have I done to deserve this? Surely, I must be in scrapper's heaven! =)

DDD challenge 19

2008-07-14T18:20:00.000+08:00

here's a quickie LO for this challenge

materials: SA dec 07 kit, doodlebug stickers

scrapjammin'

2008-07-12T17:28:00.001+08:00

it was yet another fun day of scrapping therapy, goodies, and friends =) hit the bed at around 530 in the morning just to prepare the stuff i needed to bring and got up at around 7 to get ready for the day-long event. excited much? hehehe. just wanted to make sure i got my hands on the fun stuff i wanted before they got away. scrappers are a breed of retail therapy crazies! hehehe.

obviously, the first order of the day was shopping. here's what i got. some of these have been pre-ordered and the rest are what i could get my sticky hands on! actually... this is the outcome of a declaration I made to myself and to Mia that I would not shop at all.

Marisa had to police the girls just so they would stop shopping! when everybody settled down to get cracking on the projects lined up for the day, here's what Marisa asked us to make first. really cute, huh? I'm hoping to be able to replicate this towards the holiday season.

here's what we got in our loot bags, including some of the projects i completed for the day. got a bottle of prima flowers from the raffle drawing.

a close up shot of our supplies
up next was a mini album using a cd sleeve and yummy scenic route papers. then we went on to make an awesome gatefold mini! really fun to make! i took down notes but i'm not sure i'm going to be able to recreate this one. let's hope i can find the piece of paper i wrote some instructions on! :o

so here's us (minus me) making a mess at Nette's. there's my spot, right next to Mia and in front of Ella.

then it was time for lunch. yum!

more shopping. i missed a short tutorial on embossing and chalking =(

up next was a simple mini card using Melissa Frances stuff.

oh joy! i almost never win at BINGO but I think the 3rd card was the charm! look at what i bagged!

not content with what they have previously given away, Marisa randomly gave out stuff, to the point of throwing them up in the air for all to grab. my arms were probably not long enough, so here's what i managed to snag:

scrap happy girls looking forward to more scrapjam events =)

catching up

2008-07-11T04:01:00.009+08:00

since i was already working on a project, i decided to set some time aside for several of the YITL words i needed to catch up on. thankfully, i was able to do everything in one go =)

here they are:
simple
this may be simple but it definitely took the longest to think over - i couldn't really find a nice quote to use until this morning. i did a lot of google searching but it didn't yield anything that warranted attention, lol! thank goodness i happened to be blog-hopping, so that's where i found it! *wink!*

and just when i'm done picking out a nice quotation, along comes one, posted on my blog, at that!
oh, that humor of it all!

free

this was another toughie. it took more than 10 pages of googled pages before i found the one quote that clicked!

celebrate

oh this was the most fun to do :) i thoroughly enjoyed glittering up my cuppycake image :)

silly

i wonder why it usually takes longer to find just the right sentiment for the simplest of words? :) again, it took me forever to find just the right quote for this photo of the kids.

kaya challenge 15

2008-07-09T08:09:00.006+08:00

this month's challenge is to scrap a sketch by none other than my SA boss girl - so I had no choice but to submit a page! hehehe! just teasing! :) i've been wanting to use the sketch since I saw it a few days ago but I didn't get the chance to do so until this morning, just before I left for work =)

Journaling: you were so excited to meet Polo for the 1st time. Even though you sometimes feel apprehensive about getting near dogs, you just couldn't resist to play with him. 4/07

Materials Used: studio calico kit - pink paislee, sassafrass and scenic route papers, scenic route and making memories stickers, prima chipboard alphas

saturday afternoon crop

2008-07-06T01:42:00.001+08:00

Mia invited me to join the GNO girls (Au, Cabbie, Mitch (the gracious hostess) =), Nina, Nita and Sym) for one of their usual mini crops last saturday. Unfortunately, Nina and Sym had to leave right away =(

I don't usually get anything done during mini crops but hey, I got to work on 2.5 pages! One of them being a page I submitted for the BG sketch challenge

wasn't too happy about the way this turned out. oh well. it's time to move on to the next page I need to be scrapping anyways =) the other pages I worked on are for SA, using the yummy June kit.

It was time to pack up at around 7PM. For dinner, we headed over to the girls' favorite place: The Rolling Pot. YUM! I had not been to a shabu-shabu restaurant in about 9 years! :o I didn't realize how much I missed it until I sat down by the counter to prepare these:

Hmmmm-mmmm. Definitely something to look forward to again!

Thanks for having me, girls! Needless to say, with such a fun group to crop with, I had a great time =)

DDD challenge 18

2008-07-05T00:33:00.001+08:00

I thought this was never getting done on time! I'm glad I was able to pull this one off. The challenge was for us to use products from different manufacturers, without duplicating any. thanks to Mia for coming up with this challenging challenge! haha!

materials: pink paislee, mme, basic grey, sassafras (front and back of the same sheet, gotta love that!) papers; teresa collins journal card, zig pen

So there. TFL!

Have a fun weekend! I know I am :) Looking forward to the scrapjam happening later today! fun!

SA pages

2008-07-03T22:22:00.012+08:00

Another month of yummy scrap goodies in SA's May kit! =) Definitely had fun playing with the kit and here's what I came up with:

additional materials used: Dymo tape

other materials used: bling

other materials used: MM acrylic paint

other materials used: Bazzill brad

other materials used: cotton thread

DDD challenge 17

2008-07-02T20:07:00.002+08:00

Had 3 weeks to work on this page as we had to pick out a photo, edit it into a B&W version with a punch of color and then use it on a page.

Here's what I came up with:

Used Bad Girls June kit plus some Heidi Swapp bling bling and MM stickers. Also used LT, SA Prima stamps, Nick Bantock and Stazon ink pads, and vellum paper. Love how this one turned out =)

puzzled

2008-06-28T02:15:00.000+08:00

by the fact that my SC June kit somehow didn't land on my doorstep this month and ended up in the Las Pinas PO despite the fact that my address label indicated Paranaque! eek! last i heard, customs people assigned over there can get really nasty and just slap tax amounts they grab out of thin air onto people's parcels. as usual, i had G pick it up for me, and as he won't tell me how much his messenger had to pay for it, i really can't pass judgment on Las Pinas customs at this time. It was probably a modest amount as G didn't bother to pass on the cost to me! LOL! Thanks G =)

oh, but i was in for a treat! i was eyeing the picket fence add on but it got sold out on me so i had to opt for the berry picking add on instead. luckily, SC decided to put together a suitable replacement so I made arrangements to order it. when a dear friend found out, she graciously picked up the bill for it and even sent me a surprise gift - and only because i did a very minor favor for her!! thanks so much, girl! you're much too nice! =)

the latest issue

2008-06-27T02:57:00.000+08:00

of the scrappinmoms ezine is up! check out my humble contribution here

TFL!

60 pages

2008-06-24T01:40:00.001+08:00

yep. that's how behind i am on my scrapping!! decided to get back into gear somehow and here's what i ended up with several days ago; I only managed to find the time to add titles and journaling this weekend:
haha. several months ago, i had the mind to have these photos printed but soon after, i had a 'what-was-i-thinking-having-these-photos-printed' moment! LOL!!! well obviously, i finally decided to scrap them - gotta use up the photo stash! there's more where that came from! *groan*

thing is, i can't really say if discovering photoshop was a good or bad thing. now, before i can even scrap a page, I get to thinking if I should be editing my photos before printing them out! and this just slows down the whole process, KWIM? instead of scrapping, i tend to sit in front of the computer tinkering with my photos (which aren't all that great, so I spend much time with them) and then I see all my recent photos and I get overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the task ahead. then i get distracted. No photos edited. No photos printed. Ergo, NO LOs DONE.

so then i decide to just scrap my previously printed out, unadulterated photos (which we know aren't all that great!) and then I'm not happy =( oh the headache of it all! how do you girls do it? how do you find the time to edit those photos into 'awesomeness' and never seem to run out of time to scrap them?

should i just stop taking photos? oh but I don't think I'd have the heart to do that.

ah well. maybe i'll try to maintain the status quo for now and just use up my 'bad' photos to get those pages done.

Here's another completed page using a couple of photos from my seemingly 'never-diminishing' pile.

another random thought. last night, as i was going through my art of doing nothing routine, i got to thinking: here i am, trying to rid myself of my photo stash and what do i end up with? even bigger piles of paper to showcase my photos in. how in heck's name do i find the storage for all of those pages and albums? hmmm... maybe i should just scrap more photos on a page like i originally set out to do (just so there'd be less pages to store) but then again, how do i get to use up my stash? aaaargh. i am in deep sh*t, i know! please just ignore me! =)

three's company

2008-06-23T02:01:00.008+08:00

after about a couple of weeks' planning, Mia and I finally had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Leena Loh in person! She was absolutely wonderful, and the three of us had an enjoyable evening chatting and dining at Pepato, which happens to be owned by Mia's aunt.

Mia and I initially thought about taking Leena to one of the restos in Serendra, but we decided to head over to Greenbelt instead. Food was scrumptious and the drink, divine :p Credit goes to Mia for picking out the hors d'oeuvres, the desserts and the drinks! YUM!!

asparagus with cheese and barquillos with chive cream. really good choices!

since everybody decided on pasta, i went for linguine scampi. i wasn't disappointed. hmmm. i can't quite remember now, but i think i must've cleaned this plate up! LOL!!!!

ok, i don't know what these are called, but they were positively heavenly and yep, sinful :o

hmm. can you spot the uhu glue in there somewhere? haha. yep. somebody got craftly that evening *wink!*

oh and wait. here's a surprise from Leena - buttery and delicate hazelnut & black currant cookies. mmmmmm-mmm. these are very addicting. Thank you for being so thoughtful, Leena, and for taking the time to meet us. Hope to see you again soon! =)

getting crafty

2008-06-16T01:33:00.005+08:00

i've had a sewing machine on my wish list forever. uh actually, i've wanted to own one since i started scrapbooking. for some reason, i feel that it's another one of my must-haves. hahaha! uhm, well i finally got my wish. kinda. (thanks for the tip, Nita!) it's nothing fancy, but for now, i think it'll do. yeah huh, this'll be good enough for someone who has never used a sewing machine before (read: my mom did all my home ec projects, hahaha!!! thanks, mum!)

here is my first attempt at sewing: it isn't so bad, is it?

i'd really love to have this or this in the not-so-distant future.... but maybe i should get some mileage out of my new baby first or the husband might kill me! *wink!*

care

2008-06-14T03:46:00.002+08:00

here's what i came up with for last week's word. did you know how difficult it is to find a really nice quote about care? lol! i'm glad i stumbled upon this one - couldn't be any more true!

shopping expose

2008-06-13T03:34:00.008+08:00

uhm ah... the things i would do for the love of scrapping and shopping. yep. i have had to get up at 430 in the morning despite having only 2 hours worth of sleep because i had to rush to the airport to pick up a box of my goodies :) unfortunately, my yaya and i have had to sit and wait and be anxious as we didn't get the box until about 730am. oh well. all's well that ends well, as they say. a box of goodies is still a box of goodies, no matter how late you get it. hehehe. of course, the faster you do, the better.

i had to go home to drop the box off and get ready for work. oh but because i was running late, i had to ignore the box =( finally managed to check and sort everything out at around 1am the following day :)

i don't know what possessed me to get 2 sets of the CK kit of the month - (school kit) by Becky Higgins but i'm guessing it's probably because this particular kit sold out really quickly the first time it came out and the only reason i have these now is because Lisa Bearnson decided to offer it again and I just had to have it. lol!

a girl's gotta have her tools. let's hear it for the scor-it mini (again!) - i think my first one turned out to be a dud so I'm giving this product another chance.

my love affair with stamps never seems to be over. there's always something that wants to be adopted *wink!* i've barely inked these and already, i'm dreaming about the newer designs in the market.

miscellaneous stuff.

idea books.

RAKs and prizes

bad girls workshop/challenges

2008-06-08T11:09:00.003+08:00

Been looking forward to the Bad Girls Workshop but unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to do all the projects. I only managed to find the time for this class, and I only picked it because I had to do so for the DDD challenge for this week =) This is the first time I got to work on a corrugated cardboard medium for my scrapbook and I must say, it was pretty fun :) Here's what I came up with

supplies: UPS cardboard, BG May kit, lace trim (from Rachel's DDD), tissue paper from Scarlet Lime Jan kit, Tres Jolie card, K&Co 3D sticker, MM acrylic paint, Mod Podge, Zig pen

Earlier this week, I also worked on this challenge at BG. The challenge is to use a quote. I picked one by Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Above all else, it is about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid. I was hopeful. I had an idea and I had a good purpose and that's why I made works of art.
supplies: BG May kit, Zig pen, Making Memories tiny alpha stickers

TFL and enjoy the rest of the weekend :)

YITL 22

2008-06-03T15:08:00.003+08:00

can you guess the word for the week? =)

had to do this one right away as school will be starting in a week's time and i didn't want to have any more backlog than i already do! :o

sharing

2008-06-02T14:37:00.002+08:00

i couldn't resist inking my latest stamp so I had to make a card =) it was just as well, as I have a tita who's celebrating her birthday soon. perfect excuse, huh?

here are also a couple of LOs among several which I submitted to Studio Azul using the yummy April kit.

being good

2008-06-01T13:58:00.009+08:00

ok. definitely had no scrap shopping plans for yesterday. my only agenda was to attend a workshop (well, it wasn't really a workshop... it was more like a talk!) on photographing people by jay alonzo, sponsored by Filipinas Heritage Library and the Ayala Malls. It was a good talk, er, workshop, BTW. Definitely worth my 2+ hours - considering i am a neophyte in photography.

so... i got to chatting with mia the other night and before i knew it, i was making plans with her to check out a couple of LSS that have just unpacked new (and yummy, i might add) goodies!! oh to be in scrapbook heaven!

we dropped by Vivian's store first and how fun is it that she's offering 5-25% discounts on her wares! yay!!! well, like i said, i was being good and these were the only items i checked out of her store :D

then we dealt with terrible traffic and directions (oh the things we would do for the love of this craft, uhm, more like love of shopping, lol!) to Mitch's store. these were my new finds + a few items i got last weekend (thanks to the husband!)

i would've been extra good had it not been for mia telling me about some of the stuff she got which i absolutely also had to have, hehehe!!!

oh and lookie here. mia just came from HK and she got me this adooooooorable doll! :) thanks, mia! i had fun shopping and chatting with you yesterday!

bad girls

2008-06-01T09:16:00.010+08:00

Bad girls, bad girls
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

HEHE. I just received the latest Bad Girls newsletter and saw myself in there! *wink!*

This month we are heading far, far away (well, to most of us :p) and looking to Philippines saying hello to our May Bad Girl Christine Villacarlos! Christine is 38 and lives with her husband of nine years, Gerard, and their two children Nikki (8) and Ian (5). She claims she's a true Bad Girl because she "subs to the 'best-est', 'bad-est' kit club in town =)" - oh yeah - and her nick should be a testament to Bad Girl as well, being pink_lemonade and we all know what the deal is with pink and Bad Girls eh? :p

Alright - let's start with the most pressing question for the moment being: Why call yourself pink_lemonade??
Nothing really special to that name - I just love how it sounds.. and of course, I love drinking pink lemonade =)

Okay, so what do you do?
I am a Dietitian by profession but for some reason, I ended up working in the hotel industry. I was in the hotel food and beverage department for about 12 years but because I wanted to be closer to home and have more time with the kids, I switched gears and decided to try out the education sector. I got quite a surprise - I found out (too late!) that teaching could be just as demanding as being a hotelier! But I do enjoy what I do. I have been teaching Restaurant Operations to college students who are in the Hotel and Restaurant program for 4 years now.

That sounds very interesting and it's nice that you do something you enjoy :) So what about the other thing you obviously enjoy to do - scrapbooking - how did you find this hobby?
In high school, I fell in love with my classmates' scrapbooks and resolved to make my own. We would just glue down photos and all sorts of ephemera, mostly non-archival, I think. This was at a time when kraft albums were all the rage among high school girls in Manila. I took a break when I started preparing for my wedding (in the late 90s) and then decided to take it up again when my kids' photos started piling up sometime in 2006, especially after I saw gorgeous archival-safe products in the market.

So cool! And Bad Girls? How did you find us?
I chanced upon Bad Girls when Iris Babao-Uy announced she made the Design Team and then I signed up for the Bad Girls Academy. I couldn't stay away from Wendy's gorgeous kits so I took a sub not long after that.

Neat - I am glad you found us!! And Iris and Wendy are such enablers!! :D So what sizes do you scrap and what do you do with your pages?
I do mostly 12x12s. I used to be so anal about slipping them into page protectors and putting them in albums right away, but since I now tend to get more pages done in one sitting, I end up letting my pages gather dust before I do anything else with them, LOL! I am now loving the MM post-bound album for its space-saving feature but I do have my fair share of D-ring album types which I also love.

Teehee. Sounds like excellent album choices by the way :) So how do you start a page - what do you do?
I try to match the moods of my photos with my papers or vice versa. Sometimes, I use a sketch as a guide or I start working with a challenge in mind.

And describe your perfect day of scrapping..
I'd say it would be perfect if I didn't have to go to work!! HAHA! Of course, it would even be more ideal if I had lots of inspiration and all the supplies I'd need to work with.

Hehe the latter is so true - wouldn't be lovely to know exactly what you want to do and have everything you need to do it all the time?? So..do you have other hobbies?
Uhm, does scrap shopping count???

Maybe...
I also love stamping and making cards.

So tell us - how is scrapbooking in the Philippines??
Judging by the size of scrapbooking in the US, the community of scrapbookers in the Philippines is still relatively small, but it is gradually increasing. When I started scrapping, there were only a couple of stores offering scrap materials for sale, but now I am happy to announce that we have several stores to get goodies and scrap fixes from! I actually get more done when I scrap on my own, but I try to attend mini crops from time to time.

Neat! So - anything you want to tell the Bad Girls out there?
Be yourself, play by your own rules - but be respectful of others. And don't be afraid to cut up those papers! HAHA!! I used to be so scared to do anything with my pretty papers until I realized they look so much better with photos and in albums!

Haha excellent advices!! Thank you so much for being with us today Christine!! And thank you for sharing these two lovely layouts featuring previous Bad Girl kits!!

better late than never

2008-05-29T00:01:00.000+08:00

i've been slacking as far as my YITL cards are concerned, ha! so i sat down and got to work.

here are what i came up with:
week 17 - lucky

week 18 - passion

week 19 - patience

week 20 - believe

week 21 - wish

a friend had a baby shower recently but i wasn't able to join in on the fun so i decided to make a card for her to apologize for being absent =) (perfect excuse to make another card, right? haha!)

a messy affair

2008-05-28T17:07:00.004+08:00

i didn't think i was going to be able to submit a page for this challenge... as i was so challenged by the theme! LOL! I can't think of any serious life challenge that I am currently dealing with (and I hope that I never come face to face with it in the future) and the trivial ones that I do battle with are just that, trivial. I would check the entries every time an announcement about a new post was made and every single time, I lost hope that I was going to be able to make something as spectacular as the ones already posted. I speak about the type of challenge as well as the fab pages posted.

Not wanting to cop out on yet another KAYA challenge again though (yes, I couldn't do the digital kaya challenge, sorry), I just simply opted for the road less travelled... yes, I decided on a more light-hearted fare. as they say, a challenge is still a challenge, right? whoever said it had to be about anything serious? hahaha

I was going to add this quote, but I couldn't find a "space" for it, hahaha:
"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?" - Laurence Peter

Journaling: i am such a pack rat i can never bring myself to purge my stuff. ack! i hope to have the courage to just LET GO especially since I so love the clutter-free lifestyle. PS. this mess is my maid's doing though =)

Materials Used: kraft cardstock, Hambly screen print, punchinella, staple wires, fontwerks and ma vinci stamps, stazon ink, zig pen, Jenni Bowlin label sticker

sunday goody sunday

2008-05-26T05:34:00.001+08:00

what do you know? cargo forwarders deliver on sundays!! heehee.

I was chilling out on a hot Sunday afternoon (this was sometime in april, see, but i didn't have time to post :o) when Nikki buzzed me to say I had a package. a package? on a sunday? i immediately jumped out of bed to check. and there it was, my much-awaited b box.

of course i quickly emptied the contents and inspected each goodie. i was none too happy to discover i was missing several items :( i was so disappointed i somehow lost steam.

but anyways, here's my latest loot, minus a few items here and there :(
stacked and loose papers, coasters, a couple more minis to add to my empty mini album collection! and - yikes, can you tell there's about $50 worth of hambly transparencies in here? methinks i may have bought more than i needed!

spent a small fortune on these babies. oh, but i think they're well worth it!

ok. i may have gone overboard buying ink pads and such, you think? uh actually, i think i need more colors!!! especially the copics!!! aaaah. when will this ever end!? *wink!*

gotta have some hardware for my so-called studio =)

decided not to invest in so many this time around since I've started getting kits in the mail, but here are a few more to add to my junk! :o

had to get new storage systems for my ever burgeoning pile of 12x12s

a few more scrap-related stuff

here's something Bad Girls are so addicted to. Can't wait to start on these!

yes. i still get a few stray foodie mags here and there but i've finally decided to let go of a couple of subs. if they're a dollar an issue, it's still a waste if i don't even flip a single page!

it's a tag! (again)

2008-05-25T18:54:00.000+08:00

In answer to Marian's tag, here are some trivia about me:
1. apparently, i grind my teeth in my sleep
2. i need to wear a mouth brace for about 3 months to re-align my teeth (refer to #1 above)
3. I haven't scrapped a 12x12 LO in 8 days!
4. I've been telling DH that I curbed my scrap shopping, but just this past week, I spent $*toot*!
5. I sort out and file my credit card receipts based on my credit card statements
6. I arrange my DVDs and CDs alphabetically :o

Please consider yourself TAGGED after reading this post, in case you are so inclined to document trivia about yourself :)

Here are the rules:
1) Link back to the person who tagged you.
2) Post these rules on yout blog.
3) Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4) Tag 6 other people :p

quite a surprise

2008-05-24T08:50:00.006+08:00

because i don't usually venture out to the north, my dear friend Babette graciously offered to pick up a few things for me from mitch's store. after several months of vacillating between buying AC D-ring albums and not buying, I eventually caved! who could resist such names as raspberry and blueberry? so i got me a couple of those! thanks for picking these up for me, Babette!

so, the both of us tried to arrange a pick up point and i decided to just drop by her studio on a monday afternoon. leave it to Babette to lovingly wrap up my goodies =) what a welcome treat! and yes, a surprise was waiting for me. really very unexpected! Babette's migrating to Canada by the end of this month and she gifted me with this lovely page:

Thanks for taking the time to make this for me. I know we've discussed your impending departure for about a year now, but I still can't believe that it's finally happening! I will definitely miss having a scrapping, shopping, chat buddy like you! :( I really hope you change your mind about visiting!

trying to get the feeling again

2008-05-23T18:39:00.000+08:00

hehe. yes. i used to be a manilow fan, but now i quote the song title in reference to scrapping. lol! =)

this particular DDD challenge isn't due until the 1st of june but i decided to work on it already coz it's different from the previous challenges. this time, we're supposed to come up with any mini book. sounds like fun, huh? yea, especially because i am doubly challenged by minis.

so yesterday, i sat in front of my scrap table and started to pick out photos and papers from my pile of junk. then i set to work. glad to know i am starting to get a whiff of my missing mojo.

a spark

2008-05-18T22:49:00.003+08:00

yes. i've officially lost it. my mojo. i haven't worked on a page in ages! ack!!

new kits coming in aren't quite helping, unfortunately.

uh, today being the 18th means i'm 35 pages short of my 1 page a day goal. i desperately need to catch up! so, just to initiate something, i tried working on DDD challenges 13 (to scrap something ugly - nothing should coordinate, yikes!) and 14 to scrap a page in honor of Mother's Day using a relevant quote.

I chose to do Challenge 14 first, as I have already missed the deadline for Challenge 13 while I was away vacationing :)
Here's what I came up with using Bad Girls' April kit

and this here's for the UGLY challenge. this was tough. how do you make a page intentionally ugly (and I mean this knowing i don't scrap exceptional pages, hahaha!!) so... i simply opted to use papers i have no particular love for and photos I wouldn't otherwise think of scrapping. most of my photos suck - and the ones i used here are really way up there in terms of poor quality. so yucky papers and icky photos - i think that sounds like the perfect ugly combination, huh?

Happy belated Mother's Day

2008-05-16T06:33:00.001+08:00

Here are a few cards I made in honor of special mothers in my life :)

Obviously I played with watermarks last night, thanks to Marissa for her awesome tutorial! =) (there's still a lot to learn though, I'm just trying to get the hang of it, haha!!) hint, hint to the PS experts!

fontwerks workshop

2008-05-11T01:16:00.001+08:00

finally! a day to jump start my mojo! yea, kinda lost it while i was away vacationing, er, baby-sitting my kids! and what a way to get it up and running, a workshop with kah-mei smith, owner of fontwerks, no less!

obviously, i was much too excited to get started i failed to take a decent photo of my kit contents! hehehe!!

actually, the morning activity kicked off with some shopping, as usual =) then we got down and dirty by painting up some portions of the chipboard album and a few pieces of chipboard shapes. with that done and set aside, everybody got busy cutting up several pieces of papers into teeny-tiny shapes to be used for our project. i think all the measuring and cutting up triggered everybody's appetite, thankfully soon after, lunch was announced! yay!

after lunch, we started putting everything together. learned a few new techniques along the way and had fun waiting for our names to be called out for some raffle prizes! tee-hee!! i managed to bag a journaling stamp, a huge bottle of acrylic paint, and a sheet of chipboard shapes. fun! no photos to show for these :(

at 4:30, we started packing up and doing more shopping. and yes, a workshop won't be complete without some photos to cap it off!

Thanks, Kah-mei and Sahrie for this wonderful event!

...and here it is. a new mini to tuck into my portfolio:

BRB.

2008-05-02T22:48:00.003+08:00

enjoying some more time off with family in beautiful Cebu. will try to catch up soon!

please excuse the bad photography =) still learning...

made in bacolod

2008-04-28T08:59:00.003+08:00

decided to work on a few more challenges much to the dismay of DH who wanted me to tag along with him when he stepped out of the house :p

for a sketch challenge

for a simple 6x6 page

cropping good time

2008-04-27T13:08:00.011+08:00

spending some time off with my in-laws in bacolod... but i decided to bring some scrappy stuff with me =)

who knew my mini pink tote could hold so much stuff!! this is the 2nd time i took it to bacolod and it hasn't let me down!! haha!! although i had to store my papers elsewhere. i'm glad i can at least scrap something while i'm here! (i hope!) thanks for putting up with me, tubbyboyboy!!

I joined the VMAA (Virtual Meeting of A Muse Addicts) just now and we were required to make each card in 30 minutes or less. The theme for the evening was 70s! here's what i came up with

Challenge 1 - Let it Be - use only paper, stamps and ink

Challenge 2 - Disco Ball - use glitter of the old school, messy kind

Challenge 3 - Do the Hustle - sketch challenge - had to use a makeshift circle template and scissors for this as I didn't think to bring any of my punchers

Challenge 4 - Saturday Night Fever - taking inspiration from John Travolta's B&W suit, we had to use only B&W!

Bonus Challenge - Happy Days - use the word weekend to inspire a card design. hmmm... i didn't think to bring all my a muse stamps, haha! so i just used DH's idea of a weekend on this card (well, it's not that i have that many to begin with, haha! it's just that i didn't bring more than half of what i have)

This one's for a challenge at the CC crop happening this weekend as well!

This here batch of cards is for another crop challenge at ittybitty. good thing we were allowed to pre-make these so i worked on these before we left town.

scrapbytes summer edition

2008-04-24T19:11:00.002+08:00

if you haven't done so, check it out here. As usual, it is brimming with wonderful ideas!

Please do check out my humble contribution here

Thanks to those who have left wonderful comments =)

marking my 100th

2008-04-24T18:05:00.006+08:00

yay!!! thanks to challenges and my my DT stint, I can proudly say my 100th page for the year came sooner than I thought it would! of course, it helps that I tend to do simple pages, haha!

This one's for a DDD and a sketch challenge:

supplies: mostly from SC Feb kit: Bazzill, Hambly rub on and screen print, Daisy Ds and Jenni Bowlin papers, Scenic Route chipboard, Colorbox ink, staple wire, Zig pen

This one's for a lift challenge at Ittybitty

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Making Memories stamps, notepad paper and acrylic paint, Collage Press journal cards and alphas, Tim Holtz grungeboard and Distress ink, date stamp, Versa inkpad, Zig pen

catching up on my YITL cards

2008-04-24T17:47:00.008+08:00

I've been slacking in this department so I decided to make 3 in one go...

Here are what I came up with for this, this, and this words :)

DDD goodies

2008-04-22T14:31:00.002+08:00

oh how fun it is to wake up to some scrappy goodies! =) today i received goodies sent by fellow Bad Girl Rachel just for joining her DDD challenges!

Thanks so much, girlie!!

weekend scrap time

2008-04-22T13:28:00.005+08:00

mojo's up and running and i was scrapping =)

was able to work on several pages using SA's april kit as well as several pages for a few more challenges.

This one's for a sketch challenge at Ittybitty.

supplies: Making Memories paper, Sassa rub ons, 7G tag, Zig pen, BG alpha stickers

Will be posting my SA pages/projects as soon as they are up at the SA site.

Oh but I had to cut my scrapping time short as my printer ran out of ink!!! :o ohmy! didn't know my inkwell was going to dry up this soon! Actually, I didn't know having a photo printer was so convenient, I ended up printing most of my photos out of it! HEHEHE. Oh but darn if my pocketbook's going to be happy about how much I needed to shell out for a new set of ink colors!

April challenges

2008-04-17T03:35:00.005+08:00

Just sharing several pages I did for online challenges here and there

This one's based on a sketch at Ittybitty.
Supplies: from BG's march kit, with the addition of Creative Imaginations paper and Colorbox chalk ink

This ones's for a DDD challenge to use green, white, yellow + 1 other color. For this page, I decided on red.
Supplies: from BG's march kit: Daisy Ds papers, plus: K&Co felt shapes, Jenni Bowlin label stickers, Making Memories chipboard alpha stickers, Zig pen

This one's for a lift challenge at Ittybitty as well as for SK's color challenge.
Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, KI Memories paper and sticker, Collage Press label sticker, Scenic Route paper, Zig pen, Colorbok and Provocraft alpha stickers, Making Memories chipboard tag

teasers

2008-04-16T00:16:00.005+08:00

Studio Azul's April kit is coming and it is loaded and yummy!! As usual, I couldn't help but play with it right away!! :)

birthday cupcake

2008-04-15T15:40:00.004+08:00

Since i recently received some new toys to play with, I immediately decided to ink up my new cupcake set, just in time for a friend's birthday :) I promptly mailed this out today as I also had to go and pick up my LT march goodies!

tell me why i don't like mondays...

2008-04-14T14:07:00.005+08:00

haha! i think i just may start loving mondays now.

this is getting to be exciting! another doorstep delivery! the box looked kinda rundown but hey, it's the goodies that count right! =) i am getting really spoiled here! hmmmm.... may i start playing now?

what a fun way to start the week, huh?

speed scrapping

2008-04-13T00:37:00.006+08:00

Decided to sign up for the Scrappinkids' 1st online crop which was set for Saturday, 12th of April, 8-11P Singapore time. Wow! I got challenged by the time pressure! HAHA!!

The 1st challenge was posted at 8pm but I only remembered to check into the site at 10pm. It was due by 11pm :o ack! I immediately scrambled towards my scrap table. The challenge was for us to use 1 photo, 2 ribbons, 2 rub ons, and do journaling directly on the photo and here's what I was able to come up with:
Supplies: Tinkering Ink paper, MM ribbons, Daisy Ds rub ons, Zig pen, staple wires

Challenge 2 was posted at 930p and was due by 12mn. The challenge was to use anything but a square background paper, 2 photos, 2 chipboards and 2 brads. Here's my take:

supplies: MM cs and brads, Maya Road and Basic Grey chipboard, Lil Davis rub ons, Zig pen

Challenge 3 was up by 1030p and it was also due by 12mn. The challenge was to use lots of flowers, lots of buttons and a 2-word title. Here's what I worked on:

supplies: Label Tulip Feb kit: Scenic Route and AC papers, KI lace paper and paper ribbon, MM flowers and buttons; Daisy Ds cardstock sticker, Zig pen

Many thanks to Wati for organizing a fun crop!

DND.

2008-04-09T02:43:00.000+08:00

yep. even DH couldn't bother me! haha! I spent practically all of last weekend messing up my scrap area for the Bad Girls Crop. One of the best online crops I've joined. Had fun chatting and getting several pages done!

Friday challenges
did this for a new paper, old paper, 3-flower, 5 brad/button challenge

supplies: Autumn Leaves paper and buttons, Making Memories paper, flowers. brads and buttons, Prima flowers, American Crafts velvet alpha stickers, K&Co brad, Fancy Pants rub on, Zig pen

this is for a challenge to scrap several random facts based on your age :o

supplies: Bazzill cardstock, KI Memories lace cardstock, Prima flowers, bling, American Crafts thickers chipboard alpha, Dymo tape

did this for a sketch challenge at ibss and used it for 4-photo LO challenge

supplies: (from the FebScarlet Lime kit) Bazzill cardstock, Making Memories papers, notepad paper, flower, button, chipboard alpha and embellishments. Dymo, Zig pen

this one's for a challenge to get inspiration from this photo:

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Hambly screen print, Scenic Route papers, Making Memories brad, Autumn Leaves chipboard tag, Luxe rub on, Zig pen

Saturday challenges
for a challenge to use 3 mini photos

supplies: (from the Jan and FebScarlet Lime kits) Making Memories papers and flower, Cosmo Cricket Flourista chipboard, Tinkering Ink alpha stickers; also used: American Crafts chipboard alpha, Label Tulip stamp, Stampin' Up ink pad, Zig pen

for a challenge to use fabric. here i lifted a design by K. Contes

supplies: (from the FebScarlet Lime kit) Making Memories papers, chipboard label stickers, fabric flower and button; also used: Fontwerks stamp, Versa ink, Zig pen, Dymo

For a challenge to use supplies and/or techniques based on the letters of your first name

supplies/techniques:
C - cardstock: Bazzill
H - Hambly screen print
R - red: Scenic Route paper
I - inking technique: Versa
S - stamping: Collage Press
T - tearing; tape writer: Dymo
I - ink: Brilliance
N - notepad paper: Making Memories
E - (love) Elsie paper

Sunday challenges
for Iris' challenge to use a merchandising item/product

supplies: Collage Press paper, KI Memories lace cardstock, Hambly paper, Scenic Route chipboard circle and label sticker, Zig pen

for a challenge to use this sketch

supplies: Studio Azul Jan kit papers and chipboard shapes. I also used Queen & Co felt, American Crafts alpha rub ons, Zig pen, Leeho glitter, Stickles

I wish I could've worked on the 4 other challenges but I couldn't find the time, what with the errands I had to do.

i'm lovin' it

2008-04-08T21:50:00.004+08:00

Philpost that is. Today I was surprised, but royally pleased, to have received a goodie box right at my doorstep. This is the 2nd time this has happened. Not complaining though, just wondering. HAHA. Is this a new trend, do you think?

I'm actually probably the last subber to have received her kit from Bad Girls (due to a mix up), haha, but I'm not complaining =) these are yummy stuff! Oh and patience really does pay - just for being 'good' about the whole thing, Wendy threw in one of the latest Tinkering Ink kits! How fun is that!?

TAGGED, again

2008-04-05T08:15:00.002+08:00

by Jeanette. This is how it works: You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details).

Well, my middle name is actually the name I go by but that is quite lengthy, haha. So, I'll just go with my maiden name, which is shorter by a couple of letters!

V - Versatile. at least i try to be. Hmm... I'd like to think that I am very adaptable right now when it comes to scrapping. I tend to love a certain kind of style, but I am not averse to trying out others that strike my fancy.

E - Eager - to learn new things and to meet new friends.

L - Loyal. If you are friend or family, you have my constant support and allegiance.

A - Aquarian. Uhm, I don't actually believe in Astrology all that much anymore, but some traits attributed to Aquarians uncannily pertain to my personality.

Z - Zany. Oh yes. I can be so eccentric at times. Aren't all Aquarians? =)

C - Charming. Not! - hahahahaha!!!! No. I am definitely not a charmer by my mom's standards! :o

O - Obsessive Compulsive. yes. i can be obsessive compulsive. yikes! and OH! oh yes. I can be quite opinionated as well (unfortunately, I tend to be tactless at times... luckily, T is not part of my middle name, so I'll drop it! haha!)

I don't really want to impose on anybody, but if you'd like to play this game, please consider yourself tagged!

late bloomer

2008-04-04T21:58:00.001+08:00

who would've thought that after all this time, and with my long-standing love affair with photos, it is only now I have considered investing in and playing with a much-touted photo editing software? haha! actually, i ordered this several months ago but I asked for a replacement (which never happened!!) because I ordered version 5.0 and the supplier gave me version 4.0. i was eventually informed that Adobe has yet to release a v5.0 for a mac so i simply asked for a refund. supplier and i exchanged several text messages and e-mails but apparently, they reneged on their commitment. so all these months, i've been twiddling my fingers, waiting.... waiting. to. no. avail. i am never ordering from them again. in the meantime, i'll just content myself with a lemon (as this version has oft been referred to) and maybe try to work wonders with my blah photos.

a trip to the PO = scrappy goodness

2008-04-01T17:41:00.006+08:00

i happened to be at home this morning when a PO notice arrived. of course, that only meant 1 thing... i had to make some cards! hahaha!! -- ??

well, a friend and an aunt who happen to reside in the US are celebrating their birthdays this month and since I was making a trip to the PO anyways, I decided I may as well send cards and some goodies their way today! right?

here's what i whipped up in a jiffy as I had to be at work by 1pm. yup. if you're pressed for time, it's always a good idea to make identical cards! hahaha! good thing they don't know each other! *wink!*

and of course, here are the goodies in the box :) yum! so looking forward to the weekend!

DDD #9

2008-03-30T20:26:00.003+08:00

Well, the challenge is for us to just post a photo from Easter Sunday, but I decided to take it to another level and actually do a LO =)

supplies: Bad Girls January kit
DH wasn't particularly impressed with how this turned out, but i find it OK. What do you think?