Guest Designer for NZ Dares

I felt honored when I saw this post a few weeks ago on NZ Dares asking me to be their guest designer for their challenge #57. Just last week, Lianne sent me an e-mail for the new dare. Challenge 57 was to use birds on a LO.
We were given this cute little vintage bird to print and add to our LO:

Here's my finished LO:
Nature Walk

Do scrap something featuring birds, and link it up to the NZ Dares Blog by Wednesday 12th November and you will be in to win a generous prize. It doesn't have to be the bird above so go on & search your stash for those birds.

Pic of the Week

Happy Halloween! I'm posting this a bit early since I will be out tomorrow to visit our dear departed ones in the cemetery (my real dad, my uncle & my 3 grandpas). We will be lighting candles, saying a prayer & gather with our relatives too. It is a yearly tradition in our country to remember those who passed away every Nov. 1.
We had an early Trick-or-Treat last Sunday which was held at Nepo Mall where our perfume shop is located. We registered in their yearly costume parade so that Marcie could join in. Unfortunately, this little girl wasn't in her best mood. She was cranky the whole time & didn't want to wear her costume. :( For this year I wanted to make her costume unique & cost efficient at the same time. I really had no idea until I saw her floaty when she went swimming last Saturday. I thought it looked like a spaceship so ding ding ding! Idea! My mom got her this orange Halloween shirt with matching leggings when they went to the states last month so I made her wear that. I then wrapped silver paper plates around her arms & legs to give her that martian look. I also covered a headband with foil & attached small plastic pots (also covered with aluminum foil) & Styrofoam balls on top of the pots for her head gear. It's supposed to look like she has extra eyes on top of her head. I tied her hair with lots of ponytails for the weird look effect. I then covered her floaty with foil too so she could have a little spaceship. Hehe. Lots of people adored this little martian kid.
Too bad I couldn't really get a nice shot of her because she wasn't really in the mood that day. But I still got a few to share.

My little (cranky) martian kid:
With her little spaceship:

Finally! Is that a little smile I see on her face?

Enjoying her goodies:

Hope you all enjoy your Trick-or Treating & the weekend too!

Scrapbook Products For Sale

Hi everyone! I got my Balikbayan box last Friday & I've got lots of Scrapbook stuff from the U.S. to sell. Well for now I only have limited selections of Manufacturers & products but hopefully I could carry other products soon. Most of these products are new releases.
So far I have products from:
*American Crafts (Thickers & their new Cardstock collection)
*Fancy Pants Design (New Kits & clear stamps)
*KI Memories (Glittered Lace Cardstock, PPs, Stamps, Chipboard Shapes, Sheer Delights,Gloo)
*Pink Paislee (Alpha Stickers, PPs, Stamps, Die-Cut PPs, Top Siders)
*Maya Road (Maya Mist, Clear Stamp Sets, 6x6 Chipboard binder album, Calendar Turns)

I have the products posted on my multiply account. Kindly click here to view them. I have set up a form there too where you can place your orders. Thanks for looking!

Daddy Time

Day 5 & I'm still in the game. This SK Marathon has really helped me a lot in finishing more pages. So moving on... the clue led me to Issa's blog where we found the 5th challenge. The challenge is to create a masculine layout with flourishes in it. Well I have been creating mostly girly layouts because I usually scrap photos of my little girl so this was quite new to me. My layout is simple but it took a while for me to finish it since I had to hand stitch the borders of my layout & the buttons on the flower centers. I love the look of stitches on cards & layouts so I might get me a sewing machine one of these days so I could work faster. Haha.

I used a black & white photo of Mark & Marcie for this layout so that I could have a masculine look. The colors I used are mostly red, blue & green which are usually colors for men. The flourishes I used are also blue & I added some black flower rub-ons near the title too. Here is my finished product:
Journaling: "Daddy spends most of his time at work & since he's on a night shift, you rarely get to play with him. I know you'll understand he's doing this for us. But you know he tries his best to spend time with you even when he's really tired. Remember daddy loves you."

Materials: Bazzill Cardstock, Daisy bucket Playlist PP, KI Memories lace cardstock, MM flowers, See D's Stamp, Whispers Ink, Jewel Chipboard Thickers, DMC thread, UHU glue, Y&C Gel Xtreme pen, Craft Express Rub-ons

LOL

Challenge #4 for the SK Marathon: Create a Layout with 5 different types OR colors of scrapbook mediums (Inks, stickles, embossing, watercolor, utee, paints or glimmer mist). So far this LO has been the hardest for me. It's supposed to be easy right? But I didn't have enough of my creative juices in me today. I guess I sort of ran out of it because I actually made 2 LOs last night. One for the SK marathon & one for the NZ Dares blog where I'll be their guest designer for Dare 57 (Will be posting this soon). Well I did manage to finish a LO for challenge 4 though and I hope it's good enough. Oh yey I made this one early too! The past 3 LOs I made were all done late at night.

(Click on the image for a closer view on the details)

Journaling reads:
"We were in Manila when this shot was taken. We were a bit bored so we thought of dressing you up a little & pretended you were a model. Lol!"

For this LO I used the following mediums:
*Water color pencils (love these! They're like color pencils but if you dip the pencil in water it turns into water color):
-blue for the page border
-green to color the stamped journal
-pink for the little hearts on the stamped journal
*Craft Paint:
-green for the background of the Main Title
-yellow for the background of the sub-title
-pink for the photo border
*Pigment Inks
-brown for the stamped journal
-black for the distressed look on the blue paper strip
*Purple Fabric craft Paint for the dots around the photo

Our Angel

Now on day 3 for the Scrappin' Kids Marathon. Challenge #3 requirement is to use patterned papers on a 12x12 LO but there is a size limit for the PPs. They should be no bigger than 4x4 inches. The main goal of this challenge is for us to use our left over scraps. I had lots of scraps so this was just perfect.
Journal: You're truly heaven sent. God's greatest gift to us! You'll always be my little angel. xoxo

Materials: Bazzill CS, Thickers, DMC thread, PP scraps, See D's stamp, Whispers Ink, Crate Paper Card stock wings.

Girl Bonding

Here's my entry for the SK Challenge 2. It's another simple LO which I actually started 2 months ago but never got to finish. Finally today, I had the inspiration to finish it. Challenge #2 requires us to create a creative photo matting in our LO. Well I couldn't really think that much since my mind & energy was drained today from the Halloween costume party Marcie joined this afternoon. I had to rush making her costume & she wasn't in a good mood. She was cranky the whole time. :(

Anyway here's what I came up with: I created a photo matting that holds the photo then flips up to reveal a hidden journal. I used a patterned paper which was given to us during one of our scrap jams & lined it with lace at the bottom. I then attached a metal button with a little black felt strip to serve as a handle to flip up the matting.

Hidden Journal:
Girl bonding with grandma, Tita L.A. & Jaymie. This is your first time to check in a hotel. We stayed at Shangrila Makati for some family bonding & a bit of shopping too. It was a fun & memorable time.

Funky!

I just got home from Manila tonight & I almost forgot about the Scrappin Kids Marathon! I signed up for it a couple of days ago & thought I'd give it a shot. Though I do hope I'll have time to finish all challenges in the next few days (Fingers Crossed). So despite of my sleepiness, I still managed to squeeze this quick & simple LO of my favorite outfit. This is a record for me, it must be the fastest LO I ever made. Less than 15 minutes! Whew! Plus I used very limited materials, just card stocks, one patterned paper, glue & a pastel colored pen. Pardon me though for the photo. This was taken during one of my bored moments & I was trying hard to feel like a model. Haha!

Journaling (written around the photo):
This was me 3 years ago when I was still not married. I love this very cool yellow shirt. Not only is it funky but it was also on sale! Wish this could still fit me though! LOL! It was one of my favorites.

Materials:
Card Stock :Bazzill & The Paper Company
PP: Daisy Bucket Designs (Playlist Collection)--- I love this PP & it suites the photo too!
glue: UHU
Pen: Sakura

Pic of the Week

I found another picture of my little girl taken by my sister. I love the look of innocence in children. Wish they'd stay that way. :)

Happy weekend everyone!

Altered Wine Bottle

Here's another one of my Christmas projects. Indeed Christmas is fast approaching! I was inspired from Artz de scrap's Altered bottle Challenge for October so I tried to make one myself. A lot of people often give wine as gifts & one way to make this more personalized is by altering the bottle. :)
This could even double as a Christmas decoration I guess.

Christmas Wine Bottle:

Here's a closer look at the design:

Hope you like it. :)

Cosmo Cricket Game

Got this info from Michelle's blog (Jiroken).
Okay- Here's the game,whoever brings the most people to Cosmo Cricket's blog, They will send out a Chemistry Paper Crafting Kit, with all of the trimmings, an Oh Joy" Paper Crafting Kit, with all of the trimmings, and a Haunted Paper Crafting Kit, with all of the trimmings. Retail value= over $150.00. How cool is that?

This is how it works.Your friends need to say in their blog comment, that they are commenting on behalf of "your name". Thats all that they really need to say.

Going Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month & to pay tribute to all the women in the world who have battled against this disease, I joined in some of the challenges that gave focus to this matter for October. I saw {Create} Make It Happen Blog & found out they'd be donating $1 for every layout that they receive to the Singapore Cancer Society. All you have to do is create a LO with a touch of Pink in it. Plus you get a chance to win a yummy RAK! Their challenge is open till October 30 so go ahead & join in.

Dream Girls Blog also has a Pink Challenge for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Hop on to their blog to check out the mechanics. Here's my Pink LO for a cause:

Title: All Dolled Up

Materials: Bazill CS, The Paper Company CS, Bo Bunny Card Stock Sticker (for the title), Craft Express Flower Chipboard, Ribbon, Lace, Safety Pin, Mini Metal Key & Button from a local craft store, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Marvy Uchida Pen, DMC thread

Oh did you notice... No Patterned Paper! Lol. Hope you'll have time to help as well.
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Before I end this post:

Blog Candy Alert!

I saw this from Marix's blog. More yummy giveaways so hop on over to Julie's Blog to see the goodies. :)

Have a great day!

xoxo,
Gracie

Birthday Gifts

Last Sunday, my niece Lhance (who also happens to be my god-daughter) celebrated her 4th birthday. As a happy scrapper, I wanted to make my gifts hand-made & personalized. I once saw a tutorial on Toilet paper roll art which I found very interesting. Not only is it cute, but you also can help our environment by recycling. Who ever thought you could use toilet paper rolls this way! So I made a gift card holder from the roll & inserted a small amount of cash too. I tried to keep this one simple since I was running out of time. (Still no digi cam so sorry for the photos)

I also made a mini-album for her. I actually made the base of the album months ago & left it blank because I knew one day I'll find a use for it. Hihi. I didn't have any pictures of her at hand so I logged on to my friendster account & "borrowed" some of her summer photos. I printed them at home & started adding the pics on the mini gate fold album & then embellished it. Here you go: (again sorry for the bad photos)

Gate No.1


Gate No. 2
Gate No. 3

Keep Smiling LO & Cards Galore

I've been so busy these past few days with business stuff but I did not let that prevent me from doing a bit of scrapping. :) I only made 1 LO though but I did make a lot of cards. Ever since I got my Scor-Pal & Fiskars threading water punch, I've been inspired to do more cards rather than layouts.

Here's the LO I finished a few days ago (Inspired by Pink Sketches) :

Title: Keep Smiling
Journaling:
"You were feeling a bit under the weather today. You caught a cold & yet that didn't stop you from smiling. You were even teary-eyed when I took this picture but still, you gave mommy the sweetest smile. I hope you'll keep on smiling no matter what life may bring you & remember that mom & dad will always smile with you."
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Cards Galore

This one was made from the left over scraps used in the LO above:

Here's a very simple mini card made from pink CS & felts, which I made only for about 5 minutes just to test the threading water punch (hehe I was excited to use it):

And yes, more Christmas cards!

Matchbox style Christmas card:

"Eye"-let Candy

I saw Tna's post about this. Warning... may cause drooling! Lol. Go check out Kristin's blog for a chance to win a whole lot of eyelets! :) Good luck & have a great weekend everyone!

Pic of the Week: Fun with Balloons

Fun with Balloons

We attended the baptism of my new neice last Saturday & Marcie had so much fun playing with the balloons at the reception. She laughed like crazy as her cousin, JN inflated & then deflated one of the balloons over & over. I love how she covers her mouth while she laughs... so girly!

Feel the Christmas Spirit

Wow! We're half way through October already! I woke up today and found some traditional Christmas native goodies on our dining table. I felt the Christmas spirit as I ate the "Putobumbong" & "suman" my dad bought for breakfast. Christmas in the Philippines won't be complete without them. Yum!

My Christmas Mojo has been present lately too and for these past few days I've been making part 2 of my Christmas projects. This time around... Christmas cards. There was a World Card Making Day Challenge from Fiskars blog & their challenge was to create 3 Christmas cards with the same basic pattern but using different papers. In addition to that, you also have to use non-traditional Christmas colors. At first I wasn't sure about which colors to use since we're all used to the Green & Red theme. But after I finished the 1st card, it became easier to do the rest. Here they are:

Mr. Postman also dropped by today to hand me this: It's the Fiskars Finger Tip Control Craft knife which I won from their Blinkie Challenge way back in August. It was suppose to come with an apron but this alone is already good enough. I can't wait to play with it!

Well off I go to do some paper work! I've been putting these off for days now & I might get in trouble if I don't finish them today. Lol. I'll be back to post a new LO & more cards. I haven't taken their pics yet so I'll just post them soon. Bye for now! :)

Pic of the Week

Food bonding...

Hubby & little Marcie both love to eat especially Spaghetti! I was able to capture this bonding moment last Sunday: Haha, don't they look cute? Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Mine has been half fun & half busy so I had to post this quickly. Got more work to do. No scrapping though. :( Hopefully I won't be too tired later so I can scrap a little. Bye for now & Happy Eating! :)

A Brand New Friendship

I made a simple LO last night. Oh yeah the Scrap Mojo has been present for the past days so I've been taking advantage of it while it lasts. :)

My youngest brother, Paul has been studying in a seminary for two years now. He only gets to go home every other weekends & when they don't have a weekend break, they have a family day at the Seminary on Sundays. We stay there for a few hours to bond with the other families & of course... a family day would never be complete without food! It's always like a feast there. We would share our food with other families & they do the same too. Mark, Marcie & I don't really get to attend that often because Mark usually works even on weekends. But for the past year, a lot of friendships had been formed there, including the brand new friendship between Marcie & Elaine, who is a year older than Marcie. I had taken a photo of the two little girls once when Marcie was about 7 months old. Well she still couldn't actually run around with the bigger kids then but now that she can walk on her own, she's now one of the kids running around the sem. And believe me, this isn't actually too easy for me because this little girl's energy level is tremendous! She could run around chasing the bigger kids all day and poor mommy me is so exhausted from chasing her too. But it's okay as long as I see she's enjoying.

Run Marcie... Run!

Last Sunday, we had another family day & it was so timely because it was also my step-dad's birthday. Of course Marcie was so excited to go to the Sem. As expected, she was running around the whole 4 hours that we spent there. It seems she's also found a new friend. A guy friend this time named Anton. I notice this cute little guy following her around & when Marcie finally stopped running, Anton quickly gave her a kiss on her cheek! Oh this is still cute since they're just kids but I don't think I'll still think the same once she becomes a teen. Anton even managed to give her another kiss before we started packing up to go home. Hehe. Is this what they call "puppy love". lol. Sadly I didn't get to take a picture of them because the camera's batteries died up. :( Well maybe next time. I was able to take this picture of my dad though:

Oops before I forget, here's the LO I made for Marcie & Elaine:

A closer look at the hand-cut flowers (They were cut from a Crate Paper PP. It took a while for me to cut them but I loved how they turned out on the page):

This Just In...

Nope I did not win another challenge nor win a raffle. But it's truly an honor to see this announcement from NZ Dares. :) I'm excited & a bit nervous. I do hope I can live up to their expectations. :)

More Scrapfest Moments

Here are more pics from the Scrapfest courtesy of my friend Romely. Thanks Tita!

With our new friend Diane who traveled all the way to Manila from Bicol. Thanks to Ms. Nita for taking this picture.
(from top: Diane, Tna, me & Rome):

Me at work:

Busy with the card challenge: Me, Tna & Diane: