The Scrap Yard

I'm back!

2011-02-19T10:31:00.005+08:00

It's been a long time since my last post. I have been so busy with a lot of stuff the past few months. We finally got to settle in our new home, store renovation has finished and all the holidays are over. So now I'm back with a new post and a new layout. I have decided to keep my DT spot over at Scrap That Baby. It's been a very big help for me scrapping wise. Being on the team has helped me finish layouts although I think I still need to produce more layouts this year with all the scrap goodies stacking up my closet. The prompts are all perfect for my daughter's photos that are waiting to be scrapped.

The latest prompt for February is all about LOVE. Since February is love month, our prompt was to create a layout that shows what we love about our baby. Join us at Scrap that Baby for our Prompt 23. Here is my take on the prompt:

I really do love her smile! It brightens my day every time. =)

TFL!

Baby Gear- Scrap That Baby

2010-11-09T12:27:00.004+08:00

Another prompt is up at Scrap That Baby and this prompt is quite special for the whole team as all our layouts were chosen to be published at the November Issue of Scrapstreet ezine. Check out page 43 for the Scrap That Baby Feature. =) Mine is on page 44. We were asked to scrap about our favorite baby gear. I knew I had to scrap about Marcie's car seat. I think it's one of my favorite baby gears as it really helped us a lot especially when we had to do some travelling. Before we had a car seat it was quite difficult for me to leave the house. I had to have someone to drive for me because I had to carry Marcie because I couldn't leave her at home. When she was about 10 months old it was already difficult to keep her still while in the car. We bought her a car seat and it solved my problems! lol.

The moment she sits on her car seat, she becomes quiet and behaved. And just a few minutes after the car starts moving, I turn around and find her asleep already. She falls asleep almost every time she sits there. But as she grew a little older, she figured out how to escape from her car seat. Smart little kid!

Ok moving on to the layout... Here's what I created for our baby gear prompt:

Supplies: Paper: Fancy Pants Design, Cardstock: American Crafts, Chipboard: KI Memories, Maya Road, Alphabet: Pink Paislee, Journaling Spots: Melissa Frances, Paint: Apple Barrel, Pen: American Crafts, Punches: Fiskars.

TFL!

"Head, shoulders, knees and toes"

2010-10-04T11:05:00.005+08:00

You're probably familiar with the kiddie song "My toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head" or maybe the other one that goes, "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and I'm sure you've got a body part of your baby that you simply adore. My little girl has these chubby cheeks that I can't get enough of. I love to kiss her and sometimes I pinch her cheeks because they are so cute and soft.

Well our new prompt for Scrap That Baby is all about your baby's body parts. Scrap something about a part of your baby's body whether it's his/her hands, feet, eyes or nose. Check out the STB blog for more inspiration. Here's my take for this challenge:

Everything I used in this layout is from American Crafts. I used left over strips of patterned papers and punched their edges with different border punches to create this simple but fun design.

And I just found out that this layout won me a price from American Crafts too! Yey! AC is one of my favorite scrapbook manufacturers and I just love their products. You can see the announcement here.

Wow what a great post-birthday present for me. =) Hope you could join us at Scrap That Baby.

TFL!

Winner winner blog hop winner! :)

2010-08-26T13:59:00.008+08:00

First I would like to thank everyone who dropped by my blog and for leaving me those sweet comments. I enjoyed reading each and every comment and it warms my heart to be able to see your appreciation.

I would also like to congratulate my fellow Scrap That Baby DTs for a very successful blog hop. It was my first time to be a part of a blog hop and I surely enjoyed it. Now moving on to business...

I used the random generator to pick out my winner and she posted comment number 29!

Congratulations MamaJ! Kindly send me an e-mail together with your complete name and addressHERE

If you didn't win here on my blog, go check out the other lucky winners at the Scrap That Baby blog and you might be one of them. And don't forget, there is still time to join our prompt 11 you might even win these:

TFL!

Scrap that Baby's Sweet Summertime blog hop

2010-08-18T20:00:00.003+08:00

Summer is over here in the Philippines and although it has been raining here the past few weeks, I can still feel the heat of summer because at Scrap That Baby, we're having a fun summer blog hop! :) ***********************************************************************************************

Welcome to the Scrap that Baby's Sweet Summertime blog hop!! Thank you so much for hopping along on our first ever blog hop! If you didnt come from Brandi's blog or you popped upon this blog and didnt realize we were blog hopping you need to go to Scrap That Baby and start the HOP! You will need to comment on ALL of the blogs to be eligible for the grand prizes listed on the main site! Plus so many of our awesome designers are giving away a prize on their blogs as well. You will not want to miss out. There are MANY MANY chances to win! Our theme for this blog hop is SWEET SUMMERTIME!! The members of our design team will all be sharing fantastic summer projects, stories, tips or ideas for keeping cool and having fun in the summer with a baby along.

Here's a fun summer layout I'd like to share with you today:

These photos were taken during our summer vacation in Ilocos at the hotel's swimming pool area. My daughter Marcie loves playing in the pool. It keeps her cool and happy. I also got her a small inflatable pool so she can still go swimming when we're just at home.

*Scrapbook Summer layout tip: I'm sure most of you have some paper flowers in your stash somewhere... Why not try creating a "sun" embellishment out of your yellow flowers like I did with my layout above. Just top the flowers' center with a large button or in this case, a circle shaped foam and there you have it... your very own sun embellishment. :)

Oh and I've got a treat for one of my lucky blog visitors... everyone who comments on this post will be entitled to an entry for a chance to win a cool scrapbook package from me. :) Some of the the prizes included are:

I have more stuff to include in the prize pack but let's just leave it as a surprise for now:) Be sure to leave a comment here and be a follower of my blog too. Now isn't this exciting?

********************************************************************************

Our blog hop runs from today, August 18th until August 22nd . Invite your friends to play for extra entries. You must comment on all the blogs for a chance at the main prize the Scrap that Baby blog will be drawing for prizes on Wednesday August 25th!

Thank you for hopping by my blog.

The next stop on the blog hop is........ Melanie. Check out her blog for some more summer inspiration.

Here is a cheat sheet in case you get lost:
1. Sarah http://shescraps.blogspot.com
2. Jen M http://arttalk-sigmagirl.blogspot.com
3. Sara http://threehazelnuts.wordpress.com/
4. Jenny http://www.scrappinjen-partyoffive.blogspot.com/
5. Maya http://mayadahan.blogspot.com/
6. Dani http://alongcamedani.blogspot.com
7. Brandi http://brandilynpitts.blogspot.com/
8. Gracie Ann http://dscrapyard.blogspot.com/
9. Melanie http://throughourchildseyes.blogspot.com/
10. Tracey http://3obsessions.blogspot.com/
11. Michelle http://shell07-shell07.blogspot.com
12. Kelly http://lance-kelly-haugen.blogspot.com
13 Jess http://scrapgoo.blogspot.com
14 Heather http://4theloveofmyfamily.blogspot.com/
15 Kristin http://www.thetrailerparkgirl.com/
16. Renee http://www.myscrappygoodness.blogspot.com/

Scrap That Baby Prompt 11

2010-08-17T09:46:00.004+08:00

Scrap That Baby's prompt no. 11 is up! This time it's all about action. Do you have photos of your baby walking, crawling, dancing, jumping... anything in action? Then this prompt is for you. I recently took photos of my little girl during her first school performance. I can't believe she's already in Nursery. She's been enjoying school so far and I thought she would be shy during her performance. But to our surprise, she did not mind the crowd at all! She was the most energetic among her classmates too. :) Here's my take on prompt 11:

Oh did she jump so high! She really made us proud. And if you want to see her in action watch this:

TFL!

Good Eats on Scrap That Baby

2010-07-02T19:48:00.005+08:00

We have a yummy new prompt over at Scrap That Baby!

Is your child wild for watermelon?

Does she swoon for spaghetti?

Is breast best or are you a fan of formula?

This prompt is all about feeding your baby! Whether its first foods, favorite foods, a typical daily menu or why you choose to feed what or when one thing is for sure... baby's gotta EAT!

We have an awesome ribbon kit waiting for the winner of this challenge from Funkytown Etsy shop. We will tell you all about funkytown soon!

Go check out the Scrap That Baby blog to see the amazing creations of my fellow DT and we also have a very talented guest designer,Theresa Kobach.

Here's my take for this challenge:

A Few of My Favorite Things

2010-06-16T20:43:00.006+08:00

Prompt number 7 is up at Scrap That Baby Challenge blog! :) This time, it's about your baby's favorites. I was thinking of Marcie's favorite stuff... at first I thought it was her doll Strawberry Shortcake, then it was her other doll "Baby-toots" but then I realized that books are the things that she really likes to carry with her everywhere she goes. Now she doesn't pay that much attention to her dolls anymore but her books are a must have for her. Be it a children's story book, a coloring book, a text book and even a notebook! She definitely won't go to bed even when she's really sleepy if I don't read her a story from her children's bible. We're almost done with the book and I wonder what she'll ask me to read to her next. She can't read by herself yet but sometimes I catch her browsing through her books pretending to read out loud in a language I can't understand. lol. I know she will be one smart kid. Here's the layout I made for Prompt #7:

Materials used:

Cardstock- American Crafts

Patterned Papers- KI Memories

Letter Stickers- American Crafts Thickers

Chipboard Stickers- KI Memories

Journaling Page- Fancy Pants

Puncher: Fiskars border Punch

Come join the challenge and you might be the lucky winner of an American Crafts Baby Kit fromScrappy Jo's.

TFL!

Prima goodness!

2010-06-11T22:09:00.003+08:00

Each month I wait for Prima to post their PPP and it's finally here again. Who knows, one of these days I might just win. :) No harm in trying right. I just love Prima products. :)

Classy.

Elegant.

Stunning.

This month's PPP is absolutely gorgeous! The black and white products are perfect for so many occasions: weddings, anniversaries, graduations...while the touches of pink add a hint of romance.

Picks Include:

535193 Raja Centers in Silver

530105 Bonnet Blooms in White

537814 Symphony Blend in White

532338 Jewel Box Butterflies in Silver

537579 Melange Flowers in Pink

538194 Grand Dame in Sterling

536053 Dynasty Center in Pink

536794 Flights of Fancy Glitter Cardstock Stickers

535063 Sultan Centers in Black and White

536886 Alchemy Flowers-Isis

538606 Fairytale Roses in Orchid

530976 Stud Centers in White and Black

533489 Country Elegance Flowers in Fuschia

.......................................................................................................

Want to win some of these fun products? Here's what would we like you to do:

1. Post this Prima Pick photo or whole entry on your blog, Facebook (tag Prima Flowers on it so we can see it) or other online gallery/site. (Please follow each site's TOU.)

2. AND then post your link right here in the comment section.

It's All About the Belly

2010-06-05T21:22:00.002+08:00

We have a new prompt at Scrap That Baby and it's a big one! If you have some pregnancy photos with that big belly, go ahead and get them scrapped. If you're looking for some inspiration, go ahead and head over to the Scrap That Baby blog to see what my fellow DTs created for this prompt. I didn't get to scrap for this one coz I couldn't find that belly photo of mine. But wait for the next prompt and I'll be back with a new layout. :)

TFL!

Fun & Games

2010-05-22T15:02:00.003+08:00

Sorry for posting this quite late but there is still enough time to join us for Promtp #5 n Scrap That Baby Challenge blog. I'm sure all you moms out there have tons of photos of your baby playing and having fun. Go ahead and scrap those memorable photos. :) And did you know that we don't only accept layouts? You can also create cards or altered projects or anything related to the prompt like what I did... I made this fun alphabet board game for my little girl so I can teach her the alphabets in a fun and colorful way.

I used papers from the KI Memories Toy Box Paper pad. Love this collection and it's perfect for scrapping those kiddie photos. Come visit the Scrap That Baby blog today. :)

Scrap That Baby Prompt 4: Thanks Easter Bunny

2010-05-04T23:49:00.002+08:00

I know Easter is over but you've probably got those Easter photos of your cute babies still waiting to be scrapped. And Scrap That Baby blog is having a challenge about Easter. Come join the fun and you might get the chance to win this fab price from Your Life Spelled Out .

Hop on over to the STB blog and see what my fellow DTs made for this challenge.

April Showers

2010-04-16T12:25:00.002+08:00

Oh we definitely need some rain here in the Philippines! The El Nino has already caused a lot of trouble here and we badly need April showers. Tsk tsk tsk... Global Warming. :(

But on the lighter side of things... Have you seen Prima's April product pick yet? I gotta say I am loving this new line. And Prima is giving this cool set away for free to one lucky winner (hope it's me)...

Gotta love those right? So visit Prima's blog today and who knows, you might just be the lucky one (but I still hope it's me) Lol.

What's In a Name?

2010-04-15T19:22:00.006+08:00

A name is one of the important part of a person's life, without one then I guess everyone would be confused. The new prompt on Scrap That Baby Challenge blog is all about names. What is your baby's name (or maybe a niece or nephew, doesn't necessarily have to be your baby)? Where did the name come from or what does the name mean? The entry doesn't have to be new, it can be a layout, a card or an altered item. As long as it has something to do with the baby's name. :)

Here is my layout for prompt #3:

Marcie

Journaling:
You will probably get mad at mommy when you start to go to school & write your name. Your full name is so long but I chose these names because they have special meanings. Plus our last name is so short so I made your name a little bit longer. LOL. So let me explain the meanings of your name...
Mari Ciella Angelique
Mari- means gladly seen...and I do believe you are
Ciella- this was actually a combination of your lolo and lola's names Ciel from Graciel & La from Lai.
Angelique-means like an angel. You are our little angel from God.

Since this was too long, we gave you the nickname Marcie which means lively. Plus it's Mark & Gracie combined. :)

TFL.

Summer Layouts

2010-04-09T21:32:00.004+08:00

I have a few layouts to share today. I made these last month but haven't got the time to post them here. I think I was able to post them on Facebook though. The photos I used were taken from our summer trip last year.

First LO is a photo from our Baguio trip. It was Marcie's first time to go horse back riiding. At first, she was crying because she was afraid to ride the horse. Later on she was crying because she didn't wanna leave the horse. lol

The second LO is from our Ilocos trip. Marcie had fun being our "model". She was in the mood for some picture taking.

The photo for my final LO was taken in Pagudpud. One of my favorite places in Ilocos. Marcie had fun playing at the shore as we were being chased by the waves. I used the Prima Kit for a Cause for this LO.

We haven't had any summer trips for this year yet so I haven't got any photos from this summer to scrap. But... there's still enough time for summer so I guess I'll just have to wait for the moment when we can have another vacation.

TFL!

Scrap That Baby Prompt #2

2010-04-05T20:00:00.002+08:00

I'm sure all you mommies out there will never forget the day your child was born. It surely was one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had. The second prompt for Scrap That Baby challenge blog is all about that memorable day... "On the day that you were born". Do drop by the blog to see the challenge details and see what my fellow DTs created for this prompt. I must say everyone did a terrific job. Sadly I wasn't able to join this prompt due to a family emergency. But I have finished my layout for the next prompt and I can't wait to share it with everyone. But it won't be up til April 15 so I have to keep it a secret for now. So go ahead and join the fun and you might even have the chance to win a $10 gift certificate from In A Scrap Creations. :)

Visit the Scrap That Baby Blog today. :)

Scrap That Baby DT

2010-03-21T13:38:00.003+08:00

Wohoo! I'm so excited to announce that I made it on the Scrap That Baby Design Team. This is the first time I'll be joining a DT. This would really be a great adventure for me. I have seen the line up for the challenges and it's really going to be fun especially for all the moms out there who scrap lots of baby photos. Oh and it's not just layouts, you can create cards and altered projects too. I will be updating my blog with the coming challenges soon. For now, why not drop by the Scrap That Baby blog and join the "Shower me with babies" challenge. :)

TFL!

Ssshhhh... Prima's Got a Secret

2010-03-01T00:48:00.002+08:00

Prima's got something exciting going on right now and well... I don't really know what it is but I'm sure it will be something great as always. Watch out for the reveal of this big secret soon! :) Stay tuned on their blog for this exciting news.

I Heart Prima!

2010-02-22T00:25:00.002+08:00

Sorry I know... bad blogger... I have been so busy for the past month since we've opened up the new store. But now that everything's been set, I'll do my best to blog more often now. I won't promise but I'll try. I have been working on a couple of layouts and I've finished 2 so far and working on some finishing touches on the third one. And this third layout is for the Prima Kit for a cause which was done by Ms. Iris Babao-Uy. Love the kit and I'm really enjoying the process of creating the layout for it. And speaking of Prima.... go check out their blog for a very yummy giveaway! I would really love to win this one. Lots of Prima goodies. Here's a photo of what's up for grabs:
Lovely right? So go ahead and join in the fun too. I'll be posting my new layouts soon... :) TFL!

Twenty-Ten

2010-01-03T07:50:00.007+08:00

Welcome 2010! Happy New Year everyone! Well 2009 flew by so fast, I barely had any time to do so much scrapping plus blogging. Been busy last year with so many things but I'm glad I was able to sneak in a bit of scrapping time. And just before 2009 ended, I managed to create 2 LOs, a 2010 calendar and some mini cards. Trying to make up for those times I didn't get to scrap. Hehe.

And what a great way to start the year because one of my projects was featured at GCD Studios blog! Hop on over ----> HERE to check it out.

I was actually chosen to be a product tester for GCD Studios last year and I got a bunch of yummy goodies to play with and that calendar was one of the projects I created. Here are two more projects I made using the GCD studios goodies:

Box of mini cards

Good Times Layout

I gotta say... I'm loving their products and if you check out the GCD blog, you'll find sneak peaks of their up coming collections. Everything I've seen looks great so far. I gotta have some of those!

I am keeping my fingers crossed this year and I'm hoping that I could have more scrapping time and perhaps blogging time too. No promises but I'll try my best. :) Hope everyone will have a great year ahead.

Thankful

2009-11-19T11:09:00.007+08:00

I've been a very bad blogger. I'm so sorry blog for not being able to visit you often. It's been really hectic around here especially now that Christmas is only a few days away. Plus got lots of stuff to take care of. 2 major events are happening this December and I will be sharing the good news one of these days. And I feel so blessed despite the busy schedule because God has been showering us with lots of blessings this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will successfully fall into place.

Have been busy with so much things but sadly not too busy with scrapping. I really wish I had more time to scrap. Got lots of new tools and materials but no time to really play with them yet. :(

Well I've been going through my digital photos and found some projects which I haven't shared here yet. I believe I made these months ago and never got to post them yet.

Here's a simple Thanksgiving Card I made using KI Memories paper and chipboard accents (cardstock is American Crafts)

The next one is a Christmas card with a hidden "door" where you can tuck in some cash for your "inaanaks" (godchildren) this Christmas. :)

Untie the white ribbon and it reveals the secret door.

TFL!

Sweet November

2009-11-01T20:17:00.002+08:00

Wow November already??? I really need to start working on my Christmas t0-do list now. Had fun yesterday with little Marcie as we went Trick-or-Treating at the mall. She was so happy with the sweets she got but I had to hide some of them or she'll eat them all in a day! lol

This year I decided to dress up Marcie as Pucca. She loves watching the Pucca cartoons and it so happened I found an old red Chinese inspired shirt (yes, it was mine) and I turned it into a dress instead for Marcie. Hehe, that saved me from a couple of bucks from buying her a costume. I used a Styrofoam ball and painted it black (I didn't have any black paint around so I used black shoe shine, haha). I cut the ball in half and inserted them in two separate hair nets. I then tied Marcie's hair in two buns and attached the styrofoam balls on top of them to make them look bigger. I also painted her cheeks with red "dimples" using lipstick to make her look more like Pucca.

Well the 1st day of the month for me is starting out great. I just saw Artz de Scrap blog and found out I won their Altered Tin Challenge! Sweet! It's been so long since I last joined a challenge and I'm glad I was able to submit my entry (though last minute) or I wouldn't have won. Thank you Artz de Scrap! :)

And since November 1 is All Saints Day, we went to the cemetery to visit our departed loved ones (my dad, grandpa, uncle & great grandmother). It was like a family reunion coz most of my relatives were there. Had some good food, a bit of scary stories, and finished the day with a prayer. May all the souls of those who've gone before us rest in peace.

Hope we'll all have a sweet November ahead.

Trick-or-Treat!

2009-10-30T23:13:00.002+08:00

Boo! I'm finally back! It's that time of the year again where the kids (and sometimes kids at heart) play dress up and go around malls or their neighborhoods for some trick-or-treat fun. This year, I decided to do some recycling and altering by joining the Artz de Scrap Altered Metal Tin Challenge. I have lots of these rectangular shaped tin cases (they're a packaging of a certain pill which we sell at our store) so I thought of ways to make these tins useful by creating a Halloween inspired mini album case. I haven't started with the mini album yet since I'm still waiting for this year's Halloween pictures. But for now here's what I've done:

I sanded the tin and then painted it with some orange paint. I used a foam brush to dab the paint so it could have that distressed look to it. Decorated it with black patterned paper with the edges torn, and some halloween stickers. The chipboard house was painted brown and then topped with clear crackle glaze.

Will post more pics after tomorrow's Trick-or-Treating. And hopefully, I'll get to finish the mini album soon. :) Happy Halloween everyone!

Octoberfest

2009-10-01T11:01:00.007+08:00

I can't believe it's October already! I barely felt September and now it's a new month. Here in the Philippines, we're still trying to recover from the disaster that typoon Ondoy brought us. It was definitely a dark moment for lots of Filipino communities. I didn't actually get to celebrate my birthday last Sunday because it was too sad to even have a celebration. We opted for a simple dinner instead. But still, I am very thankful that my family and friends are all safe. The storm didn't cause us any damage in our area but in most parts of Manila and other nearby provinces, it was really a heart-breaking sight.

(photos copied from ABS-CBN website)

Haven't been very productive Scrapbook-wise coz I had tons of work to do at home and for the business. I'm hoping I'd be more productive this October though. And to get my mojo going, I will be attending the Scrap Jam on Saturday! Wohoo! I really need a break from all the house chores and work. The Scrap Jam is perfect for that!

I did finish a project last month. My neighbor asked me to create a gift packaging for a set of baby boy stuff that she will be giving to her godson's baptism. At first I had a hard time thinking of a creative solution for it. But finally got it done. I altered a simple gift box and turned it to this:

Front view:

Top View:

Right side view:

Left Side View:

Gladly, my customer was satisfied with the results. ;) Happy October!

September Kaya: What's Cookin'?

2009-09-10T23:40:00.005+08:00

September is here! (I know I'm like 10 days late posting this entry). And this month, yours truly is sponsoring the Pinoy Scrapbooker's Kayang-Kaya Kaya? Challenge. :)

September has got to be one of my favorite months. It marks the beginning of the "ber" season and it's also a month of birthday celebrations in our family (including mine). And when there's a celebration it means there's food right? Before I fell in love with scrapbooking, my first love was cooking & baking. And lately I've learned to enjoy both and thought of combining the two hobbies. No, I will not ask you to cook your patterned papers and embellishments (lol), but I've cooked up a challenge for every food lover out there.

To view the complete challenge rules and requirement please click----> HERE.

Here's my sample for the challenge:

Materials:

Cardstock- American Crafts

Patterned Paper- DCWV

Stickers: Thickers- American Crafts

Journaling cards- Fancy Pants Creative Cards

Brad- Making Memories

Flowers- Hero Arts

Tools: Fiskars Lacy Days of Summer border punch, Crop-a-dile

Stamp- EK Success

Lunch box template: My Timeless Templates from Papertrey Ink

Others:buttons, lace, leaves, rick rack

I just finished baking 2 dozens of these yummy cupcakes. Tomorrow I'll be baking another batch for my niece's birthday. :)

TFL!

Oh my Prima!

2009-08-24T20:28:00.002+08:00

Have you dropped by Prima's blog lately? I tried to keep my jaw from dropping as I viewed their gorgeous products as well as the projects created by their DT. Just look at this yummy collection:

Love all those pearls and flowers! I would be so happy if I could just get my hands on these yummy goodies. Go check out what their DT created with those faves here.

Trying a new LO size

2009-08-10T23:58:00.002+08:00

I've done 12 x12, 8 1/2 x 11, 6x6, 8x8 and so I thought why not 6x12 LOs? I've been seeing a lot of them lately and I was inspired to make some after I saw the sample LOs from American Crafts catalog. It was actually fun making them. Here's the first one I made inspired by our late president Cory Aquino. Of course I used a yellow background cardstock for this one. :)

The second one was inspired from a Page Maps sketch:

Here's my take but using a 12 x6 version instead:
Hope I gave justice to the wonderful sketch. I think I'm going to make more of these soon and I'm planning to get some 12x6 page protectors too. :)

TFL!

Not so happy little girl

2009-08-06T18:22:00.004+08:00

Often times we scrap about happy pictures with happy moments but as I was browsing through some of my little girl's photos, I saw this one picture where she was in tears. The photo was beautifully captured by my sister and I love how it turned out in black & white too. And last month, Scrappin' Kids had a challenge about scrapping about not so happy moments and I knew I had to use Marcie's crying photo for that challenge. This was actually a last minute entry as I was pretty busy with the Scrappin' Moms Idol stuff before. And I guess the clouds were in tears too when I took a photo of my LO thus resulting to a not so good photo of it (will try to get a better photo of this when it's not raining anymore).

Title: In Tears

Supply List:
PPs- Pink Paislee
Journaling card- Webster's Pages
Flowers- Prima Marketing
Letter Stickers- Thickers by American Crafts
Misc.- Button, Lace, mini roses

Been MIA but I'm back again! :)

2009-08-01T23:02:00.005+08:00

I realized I've been neglecting my blog for over a month now. I didn't even realize (until today) that my blog already turned 1 last July 18. So belated happy blogday to me! hehe. I guess I got too addicted to Facebook that I was too lazy to update here. lol. (Yeah yeah, blame it all on Facebook!) Sorry bout that. But hey, I'm back! :) And got lots of layouts to share. All of these were my entries for the Scrappin' Moms Idol 3. Unfortunately, my last entry got me kicked out of the contest. Hehe. But it's actually okay. I was happy I even made it that far in this year's contest. Last year I was booted off at round 2! lol. At least this time it was the second to the last round. :) It was a fun, exciting, frustrating (at times), journey this year. I'm just so happy I decided to join because I was able to finish a lot of LOs and even a mini album (which I rarely do) and some ATCs. It was my first time to deal with ATCs and it was fun. :) I might end up making more soon. :)

Without further adieu, I present you my finished layouts:

Round 1... (ting!) Pieces of you (Paper Piecing)

Round 2 - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Round 3- Space it Out! Celebrate the Everyday! (White Space)

Round 4- Let's Play (Altering pps & embellishments)

last but not the least, my final entry...Round 5- Be a bookworm (mini-album & ATC inspired from a book)

My ATCs:

Inspired from a cookbook! :)

TFL! And I hope I won't get too lazy to update again. lol. :)

Oops I did it again!

2009-06-25T17:26:00.003+08:00

It's been a long time since my blog was updated. I have been wanting to post something here but unfortunately, I had no projects to share. I caught a flu and my allergies appeared too a few weeks ago. I still have colds right now and a bit of the eye allergy but I'm feeling better than last week. I've been so caught up with a lot of house work and the business too so I had no time to scrap. Even if i had the time, I was mojoless! Sigh! But alas! I finally got the inspiration to scrap yesterday. Thank you mojo for dropping by. :)

~~I can't share my work here yet though.~~ ***Just updated: We can now post our entries on our blogs. :)*** Why??? Because yes, I did it again! Uh-oh! I joined the Scrappin' Moms Idol 3 again. Well seriously, I'm not in it to compete. I just found the drive to scrap because of their challenge which inspired me to scrap after a few weeks of scrapping drought. But the good thing is, I was able to scrap again. Plus it required a minimum of 4 photos in the layout so that's minus 4 photos from my now growing photo stash. I think it's about time I put my scrapbook stash to use too. Papers have been piling up as well as other embellies and stuff so I can't just let those sit and wait forever. They had to be used up. I think joining SM Idol will help me with that dillema. I know I told myself after joining last year that I wouldn't join again, but I realized that this will help me. Now all I need to do is relax, have fun and create! No pressure required I hope. :)

You can view my first entry HERE.

Featured at Card Sketch A Day

2009-06-09T12:26:00.002+08:00

I almost forgot about these two cards until I dropped by the Card Sketch A Day blog:

I saw that they were featured yesterday. :) Do drop by here to check it out.

TFL!

Wanna win a great set of RAK?

2009-06-08T10:45:00.003+08:00

Wanna win these???:

This amazing set of RAK will be given away to one lucky blog follower of Melissa. Go on and hop over to her blog for a chance to win these yummy goodies. Check out Melissa's creations too. Simply gorgeous!

2S4Y 1st Annual Ultimate Card Showdown

2009-06-05T23:05:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I last did some card making. I came across the 2 Sketches 4 You Blog and saw their 1st Annual Ultimate Card Showdown. I know it's quite a long shot for me but I did like their sketch for the week so I gave it a go. Here's Laura's Sketch:
And here's my take:

I really had fun making this card and I love how it turned out. Thanks 2S4Y for the inspiration. Check out their blog for more inspiration from their DT. They did amazing jobs with the sketch! :)

Toots on a Rainy Day!

2009-05-20T23:38:00.004+08:00

I was about to go to sleep but I decided to take a little peek on my blog. I then saw from my right side bar that Moxie Fab World posted the winners for their rainy day challenge. I was curious to see who won coz I also submitted an entry a few days ago. And wow I was chosen as one of the winners! Yey! I'm all smiles now and I don't think I'm sleepy anymore. lol. Check out the announcement here. And here's my winning entry:

Front:
Inside:

What a fun rainy day. I got to meet up with my high school friends this afternoon too and it was fun. Thanks Moxie Fab World!

Sharing some of my projects

2009-05-16T23:33:00.002+08:00

Been a little busy over the past week. After I gave a family friend an altered clock as a gift last week, they liked it so much that they asked me to make two more to give as a gift for their friend who's leaving for London tomorrow. I was flattered that they really appreciated my gift.

Safari Clock:

Rhianna's Clock:

She also asked me to make a small framed keepsake for her niece's friend.
And I also made these small gift tags to match the clocks and the frame.
TFL! Happy Weekend everyone!

Day 2 of our Ilocos Tour

2009-05-12T21:17:00.017+08:00

So many pictures... I don't know which ones to share. Day one was mostly spent on the road since it took a very long drive to get to Ilocos Norte. Now moving on to day two. We had breakfast at the hotel first then took a dip at the pool.

Swimming with daddy:
And with mommy:

Now it's all three of us:

Later that day, we went around Ilocos Norte to view some of their famous tourist attractions. Lots of beautiful and historical places here. First stop... Marcos Museum.
Here you'll find some memorabillas and photos of former president Ferdinand Marcos. His remains used to be displayed here too but now they say it's just his wax version and not the real Marcos anymore. We're not allowed to take photos in his musuleum but we were able to take photos of his other stuff:

President Marcos' desk:

It was scorching hot that day so we got ourselves some ice cream to cool down a bit.
Next stop is over at the very beautiful St. Augustine Church or better known as Paoay Church. I must say this is one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen! It's also a part of UNESCO's World Heritage list.
After visiting Paoay, our next destination was at the Malacañang of the North. It was the official residence of President Ferdinand Marcos in Ilocos Norte.

My mom fell in love with the house because she's into antique looks nowadays. Just like this beautiful chandelier:
Look at the beautiful view of Paoay lake taken from the mansion's balcony:
Behind me and my sisters is a huge painting of the Paoay church:
Then off to another church. This time the Laoag Church- St. William's Cathedral is older than Paoay Church,as it was first built in 1590 by the Augustinian friars.
Across the street from the church is the sinking bell tower. It is considered the tallest in the Philippines but it sinks an inch each year because of its weight and sandy foundation.
That little door there is the entrance. And we were lucky enough to find the care taker and he showed us what was inside the tower. It was pretty dark inside, quite scary coz we had to climb a series of steps.
Finally we made it to the bell. But we were told this wasn't the highest part of the tower yet. I wasn't brave enough to climb the highest part anymore because the stairs looked unsafe.Little Marcie fell asleep while we were here. I guess she got tired from all the traveling. And when she woke up she started crying...

Aaahww... you poor little thing.

Also nearby was the Museo Ilocos Norte. It is a lifestyle museum that showcases the cultural heritage of the Ilocanos and the different ethnic tribes of Ilocos Norte.

Fashion then and now.... lol
Can you believe this used to be how a shower room looked like?

Our last destination for day 2 was the Sta. Monica Church or Sarrat Church. Built in 1779, Sta. Monica Church is considered the biggest church in Ilocos region. Sarrat Ilocos Norte is the birth place of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
In 1983, Santa Monica was the site of the grand wedding of Irene Marcos-Araneta, the daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
You can also see the Torture Chamber Ruins here. Ok at first the name sort of gave me the chills considering it used to be a torture chamber, but when we went inside, the scene was actually beautiful!

Me inside a horseless kalesa (horse-drawn carriage):

Love the landscaping:

And after all the crying this girl was in the mood for some picture taking:
Make a wish:

Whew! finally finished this post. Sorry if it's photo heavy. I just had to share these beautiful places. TFL!

Holy Cow!

2009-05-11T18:32:00.005+08:00

Holy cow! I didn't think this would be real but it actually is. :) I submitted to a DT call for Purple Cows a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, I didn't make it in the team but a few days after the DT members were introduced, I received an e-mail from Purple Cows and they told me they would be sending me a 2-in-1 combo trimmer as a token of appreciation for me because of submitting to their DT call. They also asked me if I could be a guest designer for them in the future. Wow! That's great news. And unexpectedly, this afternoon, Mr. Air 21 rang the door bell and I was surprised to see a huge box for me.
I immediately saw the label Purple Cows on the box and that's when I knew I wasn't actually dreaming when I read their e-mail. lol.
Thank you Purple Cows!

Oh and I just wanted to share this simple altered clock I made. It's a gift for a debutante which my mom asked me to make as one of her gifts for the 18 treasures. I also made another clock for another birthday girl but wasn't able to take a photo of it because after I finished it, it had to be wrapped right away. Hehe.
Gotta go now to try my new trimmer. TFL!

I'm Back! (Plus sharing pics from day 1 of our trip)

2009-05-06T12:23:00.008+08:00

****WARNING--- Photo heavy post!****

Whew! Is it May already? Sorry for being away for a while. We just got home last Tuesday night from our trip to the north. We got to visit Region I plus Baguio City this time. I am still quite tired from the short vacation but I surely enjoyed it. I'll be sharing a few pics from our trip every now and then. We took so many pictures, probably 500-800 pics a day! lol. Sadly we all felt sick after the long trip but it was all worth it, we're recovering now.

The weather was very cooperative too. It was bright and sunny during our whole trip (which explains why our skin got tanned). And when we finally arrived back home in Pampanga, a storm hit the country. Talk about perfect timing. Thank God we were back home already when the storm started.

We left home early Thursday morning (April 30) at around 4 am. We had to pick up my hubby from work first then headed off to our first stop, Manaoag Church in Pangasinan. It was around 7:30 am when we arrived. We heard mass at 8 and lit some candles after, to ask God to bless our trip.

We also bought some yummy native goodies from Pangasinan like their putong Calasiao which is one of my faves and kutchinta to match.
Then we headed off again to continue our trip. This time it was a very long trip. It took us about 4 hours until we reached Ilocos Sur:

And 2 more hours until we finally reached Ilocos Norte.
We stopped by at Tribeca, a local coffee shop which according to my research is dubbed as the "Starbucks" of Ilocos. My verdict... their drinks don't quite taste like Starbucks but their cakes and pastries are yum-o! I loved their blueberry cheesecake and carrot cake. Gotta have a piece of that if you do get there.

A few minutes later we drove to our hotel, Fort Ilocandia Resort. This is where we stayed for 3 nights and 4 days:

We checked in then headed off to our rooms to tidy up a bit. Then we rushed to the beach to catch a glimpse of the beautiful sunset.

And back to our room for a well deserved rest from a very long trip.
That's all for today. I still got more photos and stories to share in the following days. I hope you don't get too bored with all the photos and stuff. lol. Peace out!

Unfinished Business

2009-04-30T00:20:00.003+08:00

Oh no! It's past midnight and I'm still up. I just finished packing our bags for our much awaited trip to the North. We'll be going to Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, and Baguio too. It's gonna be a very long ride (approximately 10 hours by land!) Well here I am trying to catch my sleep while writing this post through my phone. Lol. As if that's gonna help me sleep! It was a pretty tiring day for me. I had to finish some business matters, packed for me, hubby and Marcie. Unfortunately, Mark had to report to work tonight but good thing his leave was approved for tomorrow until next week! Yey! After packing (which I hate coz it took me forever!), I baked more cookies to bring with us along the trip. I had to clean the kitchen afterwards and then did my final packing. I suddenly saw my unfinished LO which was supposed to be for the Kaya Challenge! Oops I didn't finish on time! I thought the deadline was tomorrow until I saw my email from the PS group. So sorry Bjay, I really tried to beat the deadline but I failed. :( Anyway, here's a peek at my unfinished layout:

Notice how my table is so messy too? Didn't have enough time to clean it up. So much to do but so little time! Oh well I guess I'll just post the finished product when I get back home from our trip. I will be absent for a while but if we're fortunate enough to have Wi-fi spots in the area, I'll try to update my blog and share some pics. :) Ta ta for now! Gracie

Banana Muffins and Recycled Projects

2009-04-27T22:05:00.006+08:00

My mom brought home a couple of over ripe bananas yesterday which she got from my grandmas house. She said they would be perfect for baking banana muffins and asked me to bake some this afternoon. I added some oatmeal and chocolate chunks for added flavor and texture to the muffins. I also baked a loaf of banana bread using the same recipe but baked longer. I enjoyed taking photos of them as much as we enjoyed eating these yummy treats.

Hot and fresh from the oven:

2 dozens and a half:Let's have a close up:

A loaf of yummy goodness:

Want a slice?And if that wasn't enough, I also created some projects to go with the muffins. I made some altered projects and some cards using some recycled materials.

First was this altered can (it's an emptied chocolate wafer sticks container) which can be used as a gift container for these muffins. You can fit up to 4 muffins in the can. It can also be used as a container for trinkets or other goodies too.

Here's a closer look at the can:

Another recycled project which I also made on my previous post is the altered toilet paper roll. This one can be a gift card holder:

And last but not the least are these pair of cards (I had some left over pps from the can and the gc holder so I made some mini cards from them to maximize the use of the pp):
TFL! Have a yummy week ahead!

April Showers Bring in May Flowers

2009-04-24T22:17:00.005+08:00

My has the weather here been weird lately! It's usually super hot in the morning and it suddenly rains so hard in the afternoon. While it's supposed to be summer time this time of the year, we've been getting a lot of rain for the past couple of days. Blame it on global warming. We sure need some earth lovin' nowadays. Speaking of earth lovin'... we just celebrated Earth Day 2 days ago and I did make some Earth Day projects that day but I haven't really gotten the chance to post them yet. I made some gift card holders made from recycled empty toilet paper rolls (you know that brown roll that holds the toilet paper). They're so fun and easy to make too. Maybe I'll post a tutorial here one of these days. I made 3 but I still need to embellish the remaining 2. Here's one of the finished gift card holders:

Altered Toilet Paper rollWill post the others when I'm done with them.

Then I also made this distressed card for Hero Arts challenge:
Lots of flowers huh? I guess April showers do bring in May flowers. lol.

Graduation mini album

2009-04-22T09:46:00.004+08:00

We just attended a big graduation party last night. We had 10 graduates this year from my mother's side of the family! So they thought of just having one big party for all of them. One of this year's graduate is my nephew, JN (John Naciel). I made this mini album for my his graduation pics. It was also his birthday last April 3 so I gave this to him as a birthday/graduation gift.

Congrats to all the graduates of 2009!
TFL!

Beary Toots!

2009-04-20T20:20:00.004+08:00

What a "beary" great way to start the week! Check this out...

I found out from LG and Maya this afternoon that I won the Beary Box Challenge #22! Yey!Thanks for the heads up girls. And many thanks to Beary Box for picking my layout. This made my day. :)

Finally sharing some layouts...

2009-04-18T20:21:00.005+08:00

***(Warning: Layouts overload)***

I've finally gotten the chance to take photos of my finished layouts for April. Unfortunately my dad's CF card slot had a broken pin so I couldn't use his DSLR. I had to borrow my brother's digi cam instead. I can't believe how expensive Canon is charging just to fix one broken pin. They said it would cost Php11,000 (approximately $220!). Good thing a friend of mine told me about a place in Manila where they can fix it for a much cheaper price. We haven't brought it there yet but I'm hoping it will be fixed soon before we head off for our trip up North.

Anyway, here are a couple of layouts I wanted to share.

First was the LO from the Scrap Jam:

Ready, Set, Smile

(I just couldn't get the perfect lighting for the photo so sorry for the poor quality. Hopefully I could get a better shot next time.)

Next is a LO I made for Mystical Scrapbooks for their sketch challenge:

No Frowns Allowed
(Note: for this LO I used a minimalist approach, 1 cardstock and one double-sided PP only! I used both sides of the PP so I was able to stretch my limited supplies a bit.)

Third LO is for Beary Box Sketch #22:

Fun Time

Ok wait, I just noticed I've been "krafty" with the 3 layouts. All were done on Kraft CS. I'm loving the kraft look right now and it goes so well with a lot of PPs. So now let's move on to the more colorful layouts. No more kraft this time. lol. These two were given as gifts to two birthday girls. The frames I got were 12X10 so I had to crop the 12x12 paper to make it fit the frame.

Anika
Iya

A closer look at the flowers. These were all cut from a Crate paper PP. All that snipping and cutting took forever but it was all worth it! Whew!

Those last 3 LOs were all finished in 1 day! Yipee! That's the most number of LOs I've ever done in a day. I'm a slow scrapper so being able to finish 3 in a day is a big progress for me already. lol.

Oh and one more thing... Have you been to the TSYS blog lately? I've got a big sale announcement for the Pre-NSD Yard Sale. Go ahead and stock up on those scrap goodies just in time for National Scrapbooking Day.

TFL!

Pebbles Inc. April Giveaway

2009-04-18T20:05:00.003+08:00

Pebbles Inc. is having a special drawing to receive a set of each of their chalks... 6 sets! Wow that's a lot of chalk. It would be fun to try these fun and colorful products. If you wanna chance to win, just leave a comment on their blog HERE. :)

Blog Candy Winners at TSYS!

2009-04-16T11:30:00.002+08:00

I have announced the lucky winners for my blog candy. To see who the lucky ladies are click HERE.
Thanks to everyone who joined and do watch out for the BIG Pre-NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) SALE!

Miss Stamp a lot!

2009-04-13T14:40:00.007+08:00

Been stamping a lot the past few days. The first Hero Arts challenge I ever joined was to stamp on something other than paper. I was thinking of a new way to stamp and I remembered reading something from a magazine way back which talked about faux wax seals using hot glue. I had some colored glue sticks on hand so I gave it a try. At first I was afraid, I was petrified (lol... don't be shy to sing along)... to use the stamps on hot glue for it might melt the clear stamps. But then I tried it. The technique is to dab the stamp with some ink first before setting it on the blob of hot glue. I waited for the hot glue to cool down a little bit (about 20-25 seconds) before actually stamping it, but make sure it doesn't cool completely or you won't be able to get the image stamped correctly. When it was cooled, I cut the image to its shape. I also stamped the sentiment on hot glue and highlighted the words with white paint.
I also stamped on acetate which was first colored with alcohol inks for my other non-paper element. Here's a closer look at the stamped flowers (the bottom flower is the one stamped on acetate and the top flower is the one stamped on hot glue):
For the second card, I stamped on acetate again. This time the whole card itself is an acetate, embellished with acetate flowers. This was based on Card Postioning System's Sketch 110.
And last but not the least... my take on Card Patterns sketch #9:
The sentiment "Just for You" is from the Hero Arts All Occasion Stamp set which I stamped on a KI Memories chipboard sticker. Sorry for the poor photos. I only scanned them since the CF card slot on the camera broke. Huhuhu. :'(

Oh and just a reminder, you still have until Wednesday, April 15, midnight to join my blog candy here and to avail of the 10% discount from my TSYS shop. Hope everyone will have a great new week ahead!

xoxo

"Hoppy" Easter!

2009-04-12T07:00:00.003+08:00

I'm back! Took a short blog break there for some quiet time during the Holy Week. Hope everyone is having some "hoppy Easter fun". I'd like to share a couple of projects I made last week. These were from the Scrap Jam I attended last April 4-5 at Clarkfield. It's been a while since I've been to one and it was surely fun! Lot's of freebies, shopping and food too! I was also happy to have met new faces and also the other scrappers (who I already met before) from here and Manila. It was an overnight affair but I had to go home coz I couldn't leave my little girl alone at night. But I did come back the next day for the jam's part 2. We made 3 cards, 1 LO at 2 mini albums. I love the new things I learned especially those cute and easy to make minis.

Here are the cards:

Will post the layout as soon as I get a good photo of it. And the mini albums when I'm done with them (we only made the base album).

And I'm so happy I got my first ever collection of Hero Arts stamps too! I've been playing with them all week long. I'll surely get some more once I get to save enough money for more stamps. lol.

Thanks to ate Marisa and Yoyin for another great event. Props to Teena and Romely for helping out too.

New Blog

2009-04-01T01:00:00.002+08:00

I'm inviting everyone to view my new blog... The Scrap Yard Shop Blog. RAKs are waiting to be given away so drop by now! :) (Blog RAK is for Philippine residents only at this time).

Princess

2009-03-31T10:32:00.002+08:00

I've done both traditional and digital layouts before but I don't think I've done hybrid. So when I saw this month's Kaya challenge hosted by Alby, I was excited to give it a try. It was actually a fun process so I think I may do this again. :)

A Closer look at the digital elements:

Love these postal stamps:

Journaling:
You surely looked like a lovely princess on your second birthday. Yu were in the mood for a pictorial and look how pretty your photo turned out.
January 4, 2009
Marcie's 2nd Birthday

Materials Used:
Cardstock-American Crafts, The Paper Company
Patterned paper- Princess Phrase paper (Creative Imaginations)
Crown Die-Cut- Fancy Pants covered with Stickles and topped with bling
Dimensional Glaze- Ranger
Ribbons- local craft store

Digital elements:
Flowers, Journaling spot, postal stamps, gold princess title & butterfly all from Scrapblog.com

Altered Door Hanger

2009-03-29T21:55:00.003+08:00

This month's challenge for Artz de Scrap is to alter a door hanger. I got a flower on a pot door hanger from Liza Yet since I was one of the first to register for their free alterable item for March. That's the nice thing about Artz de Scrap. They are so generous that they even provide the item to be altered to the 1st 8 registrants.

I used Fancy Pants Sweet Spring line for this project. Just perfect for a spring theme (Even though we really don't have spring here, it actually rained pretty hard this evening while we were at church). Added some lace and a little wooden clothespin with that cute lady bug where we can clip on some short notes too. :)

TFL! Have a blessed Sunday to all.

Swing

2009-03-26T20:57:00.005+08:00

Marcie has been very fond of swings lately and she really had a fun time when she saw her cousin's swing and sat on it. She was laughing the whole time and she really loved it. So I took some pictures of her and I decided to create a simple layout too.

Swing

Title:

Journal:

Supply list:
*Alphabet Stickers- Thickers from American Crafts (Platform-Black, Gift Box-Green, Hat box-Light Pink, Glitter-Sprinkles Lavender, Puffy Chit Chat-Chestnut)
* Cardstock- American Crafts (Orchid & Grass)
* Paint- Apple Barrel
* Dymo Label Maker
* Floss- DMC
* Brad- Making Memories
* Buttons- Local Craft Store

TFL!

Birthday Wishes & more

2009-03-22T19:35:00.007+08:00

Nope not yet my birthday but I got tagged by Tna and I got me this birthday award:
this is what I needed to do:
1. Make a list of what you want for your Birthday.
2. The list should be 10 numbers.
3. Include the image of this Award on your Post.
4. Give it to 10 Friends of yours.

Hmmm..... birthday wishes....
1. My very own scrap room.
2. A physical scrapbook store (so far it's just online and I'm hoping one day I'll have a store with a craft room where my friends and customers can scrap).
3. Better work schedule for my hubby. ( I hate his schedule-graveyard shift plus he can't really file vacation leaves that much because there's no one else who is licensed to do his work... company is cost cutting I guess!)
4. A vacation for me, hubby and Marcie. (maybe somewhere out of town or out of the country...but ofcourse it's quite impossible because of hubby's work)
5. Watch a movie in a cinema. (Can you believe I haven't seen a single movie in the cinema house ever since I gave birth to Marcie? She's 2 years old now. lol)
6. My own DSLR Camera. (I'm only using my dad's camera for now)
7. Good health for the whole family.
8. Safety, security and a good future ahead.
9. Patience, patience and more patience...
10. Perhaps a robot that could do all the house chores and fix business orders for me. :) lol. Wish wish wish!

Now I'm passing this on to Romely, Maya, Vivs, Bjay, Cookie, Ching, Janis, Lee, Issa & Donna.

Speaking of birthdays... this guy celebrated his birthday last March 21 and we were able to catch their gig here in Angeles last Friday cross over Saturday (since it finished at about 1 am):
Happy Birthday Bams! :) (Hehe feeling close!) We were with the band at their waiting room before they performed and Rico Blanco was also there. But we couldn't get any pictures with them coz we got a little shy. (Baka isipin nila masyado kami fanatic. Haha. Pinuslit lang kami sa gig nila courtesy of Vic, their drummer, who is also my sister's fiance.) Bamboo is actually the first band that Marcie learned to recognize. When Bamboo entered the room she quietly said "Baboo". And he said hello to her. lol.

Got more pics of them during their performances :

Rico Blanco (who also celebrated his bday last March 17):

Vic - the drummer

The group:

Nathan, Ira & Bamboo:

Snapshots: Capturing the Adventure

2009-03-22T15:08:00.005+08:00

And another LO to share... I realized I rarely scrap about myself so this time, I made a LO with "me" on it. I used Beary Box's sketch for this one:
Journaling:
I have always loved photography whether it's my picture being taken or it's me behind the camera. Over the years I've grown a collection of numerous pictures all waiting for their turn to be scrapped. I think both photography & scrapbooking are the best ways to preserve precious memories.

Materials:
Cardstock- Bazzill Basics Kraft & Black
PPs- KI Memories, Cherry Arte, Basic Grey
Rub-Ons-Daisy D's
Paper Piercers: EK Success & Making Memories
Digital Element: Butterfly (Scrapblog.com)
Others: Masking Tape

TFL!

Bloom

2009-03-22T14:25:00.005+08:00

I made this layout a couple of days ago and I can finally share it now that the power is back ( I hate power interruptions! Power was out for about 3 hours yesterday. Grr...) and the computer is working. :) I made a 3 photo LO for Marcie and I just love the Celebrate patterned paper from Fancy Pants which I used for this LO. I cut some of the areas of the PP to make them "pop" out.

Jounaling: "God's most beautiful thoughts bloom into children."
Materials:
PP- Fancy Pants
Flower stickers & Journaling spot- Noteworthy by Making Memories
Thickers- American Crafts
Misc.- bling, lace & butterfly from local craft store

Blog Candies Gallore!

2009-03-18T22:06:00.004+08:00

Wow there are so much blog candy out there! Thanks to my dear friend Tna for the heads up. :)
Here they are:

Susie's candy:

ends midnight Saturday 21st March

Stamp With Us:
Sonia's Goodies:
Sam's Candies: She has 2!

Jay Jay's Candy:
Imagine, Create, Inspire:
Katrina's Candy:
Maria's Candy:

Whew! That's a lot huh? Ok now I'm drooling! Fingers crossed. :)

P.S.
Watch out for my new LO. Will try to post it tomorrow once I finally get a decent photo of it. :)

Rock On!

2009-03-13T17:56:00.006+08:00

Finally a layout for March! Well I must admit it's not my best layout since I'm still trying to get my creative juices to flow more. I searched for inspiration and stumbled upon Dream Girls blog. Their current challenge was to take inspiration from this ad:
and plus these added twists:

1. Use a safety pin somewhere on your layout

2. Use some thing out of the scrap aisle (ex. masking tape, office stamp, elastic etc.)

So here's my take:

I used safety pins as borders for my photo and for the 2nd twist I used an old CD which I painted and covered also with alcohol inks (my first time to actually experiment with Ranger Alcohol Inks) and I also used some masking tape here and there.

Other supplies used: Fancy Pants- About A Boy PP, Basic Grey PP, Cherry Arte PP, KI Memories Lace cardstock, Bazzill Basics cardstock, Apple Barrel Craft Paint, Ranger Alcohol Inks, UHU glue

Story behind the photo:

This was taken a couple of years ago just after I graduated from college where we watched the gig of Bamboo at Party Place. Bamboo is a famous band here in the Philippines, one of the best for me. I've been a big fan of their band and I was so excited when we found out that my aunt worked with one of the sponsors for that gig. She saw us and asked us if we wanted to meet the band. Of course we did! So she took us to the room where they were staying and we got the chance to meet them and even took a couple of pics with them. They were all actually nice. We still watch their gigs sometimes when they're here in our town and we're lucky enough to get backstage passes for free courtesy of the band's drummer, Vic Mercado who is a close friend of ours. :)

TFL!

**Edited: Silly me! I just realized I didn't even submit this entry to Dream Girls. I thought I posted a link but it turned out I didn't. lol

Toot!

2009-03-12T11:00:00.005+08:00

Remember this layout I made last month?
Well I woke up this morning and read this happy announcement from Scrap-Inspire-Create. It's been a while since I last won a challenge. Thank you SIC for picking me. :) This made my day. :)

Ok now I still haven't done a single LO this month! But I'm planning to create one today! Yey! Wish me luck! :)

A Gift A Mom would Surely Love

2009-03-11T01:12:00.006+08:00

I was recently searching the net to find a unique gift for my mom for her birthday and I came across a website called Red Letter Days which is based in UK. I saw some really interesting stuff there and they had Mother's Day gift ideas on their site. ( Just a little trivia: I know Mother's day is still a few months away but I found out that in UK, it will be celebrated on March 22.) As I was browsing through their site something caught my attention... one of their Spa Days & Pampering package which is the Chocolate Body Wrap Treatment. Oh my! I love the idea of being pampered and what's better is that you'll be wrapped in chocolate (I'm a chocoholic so this would be perfect)! How cool is that!? Maybe hubby can send me to UK and get me that package for Mother's Day. Lol. Wish wish!

After seeing that, I remembered I had a card which I made a few years ago (and I still have it til now) which will be perfect to give along with a gift certificate for a spa or massage treatment. I always try to make my gifts more personalized so even if the gifts are store bought, I would usually make a simple card to go along with the gift to have that hand-made feel to it. I think most people would appreciate a gift more if it is personalized. For me, it makes the gift more special that way too. So maybe I could get my mom a gift certificate for mother's day and insert it with this card:
I made the robe & slippers from felt and the bath tub with the little bottles are made from cardstock which I personally made too. TFL! :)

Another Birthday Card

2009-03-09T18:56:00.002+08:00

There are a lot birthday celebrations in our family whenever March hits the calendar. Next week it will be my sister's birthday and on the 25th, my SIL, the 26th my BIL. Plus more from my cousins and other relatives. I made the card above for my brother-in-law who lives in Venice, California. We'll be sending him the card tomorrow and hope it will reach him before his birthday. I used Card Patterns Sketch #5 for this one. I must admit, I am not too confident with this card as I am not used to creating masculine themes be it for cards or scrapbook layouts. But I gave it my best and I hope he'll like it. :)

I used All About Scrapbooking (a local brand here in the Philippines) papers and stickers which I bought last year but never got to use anymore since someone told me they were not acid free. But I'm not so sure if they really aren't acid free because I did a test with an American Crafts PH Tester pen and it turned out good after all. So I guess it's safe to use them too but I mostly use them on cards and altered projects now just to make sure.

Well it's a brand new week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping I'd finally get to make my first LO for March! But I'm not so sure coz Marcie just caught a cold and has been acting like a baby the whole day. She wants to be carried and boy, is she getting heavier. I'm hoping she'll feel better soon because I hate seeing her looking weak. Get well soon my little girl. Here's a kiss from mommy... Mwah!

x's... Before I forget, do check out my cards over at Card Sketch A Day where I am the guest designer for the day. :) TFL!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-03-07T20:33:00.006+08:00

My mom celebrated her 58th birthday today. We spent the whole morning at the kitchen preparing a feast and then headed to my grandma's house and brought the food there for lunch. As usual there was the BINGO session (yes my family is addicted to playing BINGO) and unlucky me never won a single game today. Hmm.. maybe next week. Fingers crossed. Here's the birthday girl...

Can't believe 2 years from now she'll be considered a senior citizen. Hehe. When we were younger, people though she was our sister. And here are more pics from today:

My little girl...

My nephew...only 3 and he's holding on to BINGO cards already! lol He's addicted to anything with numbers so he always grabs a bunch of BINGO cards and he just likes to look at all the numbers.

Our one big crazy & happy family...

Say BINGO...

A Card For My Mom

2009-03-06T22:09:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and I made her a card based on Card Pattern's Sketch #4. (Again I'm trying to beat the deadline. Lol.) I barely had time to do any scrapping this week. No, make it this month. All I have accomplished so far are 2 digital LOs and this card:

Materials:
PPs-KI Memories & Basic Gray
Fiskars circle puncher (love this new tool of mine)
Flowers- Prima Mktg.
Cardstock, Lace, ribbon, buttons, butterfly-from local craft store

Still hoping with this card, my Mojo will return and I can finally finish a LO or two. Happy Weekend everyone! =)

***Rest in Peace... Francis M. God bless your soul.**

Cookies anyone?

2009-03-05T20:56:00.006+08:00

It's been way too long since I last baked cookies. One of our family favorites is chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I found lots of oatmeal in our pantry that will be expiring in a few weeks so I thought I'd use them up by baking cookies. I went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients I didn't have at home and started baking as soon as we got home. I was quite nervous I might not get the recipe right since I haven't done this for a while. But after baking about 32 pieces of cookies only 2 pieces remain today! Yey! So that's a good thing right? It's either they like it a lot or they're just really hungry they had no choice but to eat them. Lol. I really missed baking. I used to do it a lot when I was in college and I remember baking dozens and dozens of chocolate crinkles back in college when we had a project in our accounting subject that had something to do with business. We would go to other classrooms and sell them by piece or by the dozen. Even our professors were a fan of those cookies. I just wish I could find the recipe again. Anyway, for the chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I used this recipe which I found on the net. Well it had pretty good ratings and reviews so I gave it a try. And yes it was yummy! I added some walnuts and instead of chocolate chips, I chopped some chocolate truffles and added the chunks to the cookies. Now we still have more oatmeal left so I'm planning to bake some more for my mom's birthday this Saturday. :) I was supposed to take photos of the finished products yesterday but I only got to do it today and there were only 3 pieces left. Hihi!
Oops now there are only two coz my little girl sneaked in after I took the first shot and grabbed one of the cookies! Hihi. (She looked a bit shock in this photo because mommy caught her in the act...lol)

Look how cute this sweetie pie is:

Oh and if you're looking for some more yummy goodness, hop on over to Tna's blog where she also posted some of her baked goodies. :)

Lost My Mojo... Gone Digital

2009-03-04T00:08:00.003+08:00

I've currently lost my mojo again! I really wanted to do some scrapping but didn't really know how to start. So I read a Creating Keepsakes magazine November 2008 issue to try to get my creative juices flowing. Then I came across a page where they had an ad for Scrapblog.com. I was curious and checked it out on the net. So I signed up and created my first scrapblog page... here's what I came up with...
Even this simple digital thing took me about 3 hours to finish! Gosh I thought I would be faster since it's digital but I guess I still haven't gotten my mojo full blast. I'm thinking of recreating this LO into a traditional LO. Hmm... maybe I could do this more often.

Published

2009-03-02T19:43:00.002+08:00

I was excited when I checked my mail this morning. Jami Petersen of Scrapbooking.com magazine informed me that my 2 LOs and altered notebook are now officially published. You may view my articles here:
Thankful- An altered notebook
Nature Walk-Under Earth day Department (My fellow Pinay Cabbie Lopez is also featured under this department.)
Our Ange l- under the Babies department.

And wait there's more! I was also published at Scrapstreet.com magazine!

Here's my article:
All Dolled Up

This is my first time to be published and I'm really thankful I was given these opportunities. Do check out the two e-zines to view the other creations of other scrappers around the globe. TFL!

Welcome Summer, Welcome March!

2009-03-01T19:38:00.004+08:00

Summer has officially started here in the Philippines. Can you feel the burning heat of the sun already? And it's already March? Whew! This years going by so fast I think. Well I haven't started on any new projects yet but I plan to do a little scrapping tonight. For now let me share with you some of the blog candies I found while blog hopping. Go on and try your luck too!

Jeannette's Pages : leave her a comment, become her follower and post a link to your blog about her blog candy like I did. :) Ends on March 21, 2009.

Jill's Scrappy Daze: leave her a comment before Sunday, March 8, 2009.

Deb's Blog: leave her a comment, become her follower and post a link to your blog about her blog candy. Do this by Sunday March 8th and the winner will be announced on Monday 9th March by midday!

Amanda's Blogversary: leave a comment on her post and put a link on your blog thingy. It will be open til midnight Monday 9th March.

and Bjay's Pigmentations: Spot the difference.

That's it for now. Happy Sunday!

CP Sketch #3 and Physical Therapy

2009-02-27T19:33:00.004+08:00

I missed Card Pattern's 2nd sketch last week but I'm glad I was able to make it to the last minute for the third sketch. This time I made a baby girl card to give to someone who gives birth to a girl... still don't know to whom I shall give it to (lol). It just so happened I had an unfinished pink card which I found inside my Scrapboss compartment and decided to finish it using CP Sketch #3. Here's my take on the sketch:

I'm still going through Physical therapy for my back and knee and I'm starting to get sick of the hospital. I'm there every M-W-F for an hour and a half and I'm supposed to finish 6 sessions. Then I had a follow up check up and was advised to add 4 more sessions! :( So that means I'll be going to the hospital again til next week. Anyway, hope this improves my condition. I'm so glad the weekend is here.

Happy Weekend & keep it safe!

KI Memories All Occasion Cool Kit

2009-02-26T15:06:00.005+08:00

I was so excited when my Balikbayan Box of scrap goodies arrived last week. I was more excited because the KI Memories kits I ordered were there and I couldn't wait to play with them!

And coincidentally, I found this post from the KI blog where they focused on the All Occasio Cool Kit. I downloaded their tutorial to get my mojo running and finished 3 of the 6 projects. There were actually 4 LOs and 1 card in their class but I was only able to finish 2 of the LOs and the card. Hopefully, I could finish the rest soon.

Title: Sweet Baby Girl

Title: When I See You Smile

Title: Thank You Card

Supply List: Everything used for the LOs and card is from the KI Memories All Occasion Cool Tin Kit except for the buttons and white embroidery floss. I also added some KI Memories La Di Dah Courtyard Chipboard artifacts on the "When I See You Smile" LO.

Love

2009-02-18T22:42:00.001+08:00

I know Vday is over but I still have a few projects from last week which I wanted to share. First is my entry for Cookie's sketch challenge over at Mystical which I also gave to my parents as a Valentine gift.
I'm sort of into the "distressing mode" so I did a couple of distressing on my layout. I also made an altered file folder for Artz de Scrap's February challenge which also had some distressing in it. I used a regular sized Manila folder for this project and Sweet Spring Papers and cards from Fancy Pants Design.

Cover:

Inside Panels:

Overview:
TFL! :) Spread the love...

Doctor Doctor and Another LO

2009-02-15T22:38:00.007+08:00

Welcome to another week. I can't believe we're already half way though February. I finally got to visit the doctor last Friday and again today. I've been suffering a cold that's been going on and off since December. (Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! I know... I should've gone to the doctor earlier...it's been 2 months already.) Last Friday's check-up was with my ortho for my knee and back pains (Is this a sign of getting old???) I've been bothered with this knee pain since last week. They seem to hurt when I stand too long while cooking or washing dishes and the pain continues the whole day. My back pains are caused by my mild scholiosis which isn't really that bad. I got about 12 x-rays! Thank God it's nothing serious. I was adviced to get Physical Therapy to treat my back and my knees and I had my first therapy this afternoon. It was relaxing and I was advised to do some stretchings (I confess I haven't exercised for quite a long time now, this must be one of the reasons why my knees seem to be weak lately). Then I also met with another doctor to have my cold checked. I'll still have to take a couple of medical tests tomorrow morning and wait for further results. So I guess I'll be in and out of the hospital for the whole week until next week for check-ups, tests and the therapy. Grrr... I personally don't like being inside the hospital. There's that smell that I can't seem to like. Sigh. But prevention is better than cure so I better make sure I get myself checked to make sure I'll be okay. I can't afford to be sick, especialy now that I have so much responsibilities. Okay... enough of that...

Well, on the lighter side, here's another one of the LOs I made last week which was inspired from the Scrap Inspire Create Creative Crew Challenge. The challenge was to use brown & orange as the main colors for the LO. I actually didn't think the combination would be nice at first but when I finished my LO, I realized it was a nice color combo. It feels so warm & bright. I found the perfect PPs from Fancy Pants' About a Boy Collection to use for this LO. Here it is:
Supply list:
Adhesive: UHU craft glue
Bling: local craft store
Cardstock: Bazill Basics
Chipboard Flowers: Craft Express
Die Cuts: About a Boy (Fancy Pants Designs)
Ink: Orange & Brown (Whispers)
Paint: Glitter Paint (Making Memories)
Patterned Papers: About a Boy (Fancy Pants Designs), Phoebe (Basic Grey)
Pen- White Pastel pen (Sakura)
Stickers: Puffy Thickers (American Crafts)
Misc- string, stapler

Here's a photo of the LO revealing the hidden journal:
Special thanks to Michelle for the Fancy Pants-About A Boy paper collection. :) I have one more LO and an altered item to share. Will post them soon. =)

Happy Monday!

Bubbly Little Baby

2009-02-15T11:11:00.000+08:00

As promised... here's one of the LOs I made...

Title: Bubbly Little Baby

Hihi Marcie looks funny in this picture. She was so chubby then. I made this layout for her to remember her silliness when she was just a baby.

Journaling: "You love to play with mommy & daddy and one of the things you used to do was to create those tiny bubbles with your mouth."

Materials:
Adhesive: UHU craft glue, glue gun (for the ribbon pleating)
Buttons- local craft store
Cardstock- Grass (American Crafts)
Dimensional Glaze- Ranger Inksenntials
Patterned Papers: Cherry Arte
Pen: White pastel pen (Sakura )
Ribbon: Stitched Grosgrain ribbon (Doodle Bug)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T16:01:00.007+08:00

Happy Vday to everyone! Hope everyone's day is filled with love. My day has been nothing but ordinary. Had to do lots of house cleaning and hubby has to work so no date for me. It's just gonna be me and my little girl tonight.

I mentioned on my last post that my Mojo was MIA (Missing In Action). Gladly I found it! Lol. I have been busy creating layouts, cards and projects throughout the week. I was able to work at night only though. My mornings were always busy. I only got to take a photo of them today so I'll be sharing my layouts once I have them uploaded on my PC.

For now I'll share my altered cans with a love theme. :)

Altered Love Can 1:

Altered Love Can 2:

Oh and this little girl wanted to strike a pose too...

And one more thing... (found this RAK announcement from my friend, Tna) ... Christine has a yummy RAK up for grabs. Just hop on over to her blog where she'll tell you about her Scrap Retreat House! Yup she has one. Wouldn't it be nice to visit that place or maybe even own a place like that! Hmm... maybe if I win the lottery.

Enjoy the day! TFL!

Card Patterns

2009-02-10T17:09:00.003+08:00

A new card sketch challenge blog called Card Patterns made it's debut last Saturday and they had a great sketch for their first challenge. I made a simple card which is just in time for Valentine's day. Here's my take:
Hope you find time to join their challenge too. :) I've got more cards to share soon. But no LOs yet. :( Hopefully my scrapping mojo will finally return so I can do more layouts. And I just finished the first book from the Twilight saga today. It took me a week to finish coz I barely had time to read this week but I'm glad I was able to read it. I'm ready for the next book now. :)

TFL!

Blog Candy

2009-02-09T23:18:00.003+08:00

Been a bad blogger/scrapper for the past week. I really want to scrap but then I've been so busy with all the house chores. My mom asked me to print something so I got this chance to sneak in and do a bit of blogging. I found this very yummy blog candy from Gauche Alchemy :
Do watch out also for the reveal of their new kit today. :)

Featured Cards at Card Sketch A Day

2009-02-04T22:06:00.005+08:00

I was given another opportunity to be a guest dessigner for Card Sketch A Day blog. You can view my cards here. Here's a little peek of the two cards:I will be featured again there next month so watch out for that too.

And another happy news for me... I was also given an opportunity to be published on an online scrapbook magazine which will be shown next month too. 2 LOs and one altered item were all accepted. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the week. Mine... very tiring week but I'm happy I still get to squeeze in some scrapping and Twilight reading. Yup... just halfway through the first book though. Hehe. Now I know why evryone's going gaga over the saga. Got the first two books from my mom as her pasalubong from the States.

TFL!

What I Love About You

2009-02-03T10:23:00.004+08:00

Happy February everyone! And since we are in the month of hearts & love, my first LO for Feb is based on a love theme. Hehe. On this LO, I listed some of the things I love about my DD, Marcie. I used some alpha rub-ons for my journaling on the photo. I also had a KI Memories Sheer Delights sheet which I used as the base for this LO.

Timless Moments

2009-01-27T16:33:00.007+08:00

I've been MIA for a few days. The weekend was fun and memorable as my friend from High School got married. I was able to meet up with my other former classmates too and it was a lot of fun. It felt like we were back in High School all over again. Nothing much has changed, we practically looked the same still acted crazy and fun like the old days. My jaw ached from all the laughing we did. We even went out after the wedding for some videoke sessions. Honestly, it was my first time to have a night life again without my husband and Marcie ever since I got married. My sister was nice enough to look after Marcie while my friends and I did some catching up. It felt good to be able to go out again and see them. But of course I was still missing my little girl while I was out.

For my wedding present to the newly weds, I made an 8x8 LO with a picture of the bride and groom which I actually cut out from their invitation. I tried looking for pictures from their Friendster accounts but I didn't get any so I used that from the invite instead. Hihi. I had it framed afterwards. :) Here's how it looked:
Well got my fingers crossed and I'm hoping they liked it. I used a Bazzill Kraft CS, Left over PPs, Prima flowers, bling, ribbon, Fancy Pants card, White Paint, Making Memories Glitter Alpha stickers, corrugated cardboard, brown ink, and the wax seal from the couples' invitation.

Here are some pics of me with my friends during the wedding. Lots of pics were taken as we haven't seen each other for years!

TFL!

Real Beauty

2009-01-23T17:41:00.004+08:00

Finally another LO to share! I was inspired this time from the Scrappin' Kids Challenge. I had fun making this LO and I just love Marcie's "model pose" in the photos. I love Kraft cardstock so I used it in this LO too. For the swirly vines, I used a Fancy Pants Stamp and stamped the image on kraft CS with green ink. I then glazed the image with Ranger Crackle Accents (love this!) to give it dimension and finally had to do some detailed cutting on the image. My new best friend is the Dymo labeler. lol. I had this tool for a while but haven't really used it a lot so I took it out and started using it for my journaling.

Journaling: No need for fancy dresses... just your lovely smile. It shows your real beauty so never loose that smile.

TFL! Thank God It's Friday!

Manufacturer Blog Candies Gallore!

2009-01-21T18:26:00.002+08:00

If your in search for a chance in winning some blog candies here are a few blogs which are currently having them (Note: Some of these are new products for CHA Winter 2009!) :
*Pink Paislee
*Hero Arts
*Maya Road
*October Afternoon

And here's a peak from Queen & Company's new bucket collection:

Love that cute bucket and the lovely flowers! Go drop by their blog to view more of their new products. It's a sight to see! I swear! Plus a blog candy up for grabs too...

*Queen & Company

Sale! Sale! Sale!

2009-01-20T15:31:00.003+08:00

I'm having a Sale over at The Scrap Yard Multiply shop. All Scrapbook Items are 10% off!! Hurry while supplies last. Sale is from January 20-25 only.

** For those who pre-ordered the KI Memories kits, items are expected to arrive this February 2009. I will contact you once the kits arrive If you were not able to place an order before, I'll update the site when I have extra kits.**

Embrace Life

2009-01-18T22:46:00.005+08:00

This is one of the projects I was able to finish last weekend. It's also my entry for OLW's(One Little Word) "Embrace" Challenge. I tried to keep this LO really simple. I used Making Memories die cut circle scalloped PP, Thickers alphas, The branch with flowers was cut out from a Basic Grey PP and I added some bling on each of the flowers' center. I also used a black American Crafts cardstock to create a frame for my photo. As final touches, I added some Prima flowers with bling centers. The quote on the chipboard was part of the RAK I got from Marix. :) Thanks again dear for the lovely RAK. It says, " A hug is a great gift- one size fits all, and it is easy to exchange." -Unknown-

I just love this photo of me & Marcie. Just a quiet moment together feeling each other's heartbeat. A mother-daughter bonding moment I'll always cherrish. Til now, this little girl is still as sweet as ever. She would often lay beside me and give me a big kiss. Then she would give me the sweetest "pa-cute" smile. Hehe. Love her to bits!

TFL! Happy Monday to everyone!

Pic of the Week- Puppy Love?

2009-01-18T20:30:00.003+08:00

Marcie just turned 2 a few days ago and boys are already running after her. Lol! My friend, Jhul who came home here in the Philippines last December from Singapore, has a 3 year old son named Ice. We saw each other during our friends wedding and we both had our little kiddos with us that day. At first Ice was shy and didn't want to leave her mommy. Later on he started running around with the other kids until only he and Marcie were left playing. Then he went to his mom and said, "Mommy, She said Yes!" and we were all wondering... "What did you ask her (Marcie)?" He then answered, " I asked her to come home with me to Singapore." Haha. Could this be what they call "puppy love"? :)

Gotta a few projects done this weekend but I have yet to take a photo of them. Promise to post them soon. Hopefully tomorrow. :)

TFL!

Welcome Back Mojo!

2009-01-16T13:11:00.000+08:00

Finally my Mojo came & visited me last night! Lol. I made a simple LO using Ad This' challenge as an inspiration.
I had wallet size pictures of Marcie during her first Christmas in 2007 so I used them for this LO:

Title: Santa Baby

Journaling: Your first Christmas
Supply List: American Crafts White Card Stock, KI Memories Patterned Papers, KI Memories Gel Candies epoxy stickers, Thickers Sticker Alphas, Making Memories Glitter Alpha Stickers, Dymo Labeler, Ranger Stickles Candy Cane, Scrapbook Nails by Scrapbook Interiors, Misc: Ribbon, Felt Christmas Shapes, Buttons (Thanks to Marix for these. They were my prize for her RAK)

Hoping I could make another LO or two. TGIF!

I Heart Atrz de Scrap

2009-01-15T13:16:00.003+08:00

The moment I found this blog I fell in love with it. I am always inspired to see all the wonderful creations their DT create every month. I first knew about Artz de Scrap through one of their DTs, Cabbie Lopez, who is one of my idols when it comes to the Scrapping/ Altering world.

Since then, I've been joining their challenges whenever I had the time to accomplish one. What's best about this blog is that they usually give away free stuff to alter. I've received a couple of materials already from Liza Yet (also a member of their DT) who has always been generous. I was also fortunate enough to win in one of their challenges. I think it was my first time to join then and it was for an altered felt challenge. I had so much fun with it and not to mention the yummy prizes I got for winning.

Now they're celebrating their 1st anniversary and I'm glad they're still here to continue to bring me inspiration. Thanks to Artz de Scrap, I found lots of new ways to recycle and create beautiful art works.

Thank you Artz de Scrap and more power in the years to come! :)

Blog Awards

2009-01-15T12:44:00.003+08:00

I received these awards from the fabulous Ms. Ching. Thanks so much! :)

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

I am addicted to:

1) Scrapbooking, card making, altered art

2) Chocolates!

3) My iPhone

4) Blog Hopping

5) Photography

I am awarding the above-mentioned awards to:

1- Tna

2- Romely

3- Michelle

4- Maya

5- Vivi

Enjoy your awards girls! and please pass it on to other five fabulous blogs. Thanks!

RAK Alert!

2009-01-13T12:37:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share this news from my dear friend, Michelle. She's giving away a whole lot of yummy PPs on her blog.

What's the catch?! How many people can you invite to leave a comment
on this post:
http://jirokenscrapbookcorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/who-wants-papers.html?
Leave a comment until Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:59PM (Mountain Standard Time).

Leave a comment and tell her where you got the news. Then spread the
news to others too. It's as simple as that.

Go go go!

Pic of The Week- Relax

2009-01-11T22:27:00.004+08:00

Sorry if I've been MIA for a while. I've been feeling bad lately. Still sick, stressed out from some unfortunate situations and this cold has been here since Christmas! =( I haven't scrapped too coz I always feel lazy because of this cold. But I can't be lazy coz I was once again left with so much stuff to do since mom & dad left for the U.S. a few days ago. I've been itching to scrap and yet I can't get myself to do it. Hopefully my mojo comes back soon and hopefully I'll feel better too.

Sorry for all the blabbering. Hihi. Since I can't share any layouts, I thought I'd share this photo instead... (forgive her though for the messy hair... she's been running around all day. lol)
This was taken during our 48th family reunion. Don't you just wanna sit back, put your feet up on the table and relax like her?? I wish I could. But for now need to do more work.

Oh I did make one card today but I can't share it yet until it's posted on Card Sketch A Day's blog. I've been fortunate enough to be a guest designer for Susie's card sketch again this coming February. =) Hope that will get my mojo starting.

Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday! TFL!

My First LO for 2009

2009-01-06T22:17:00.003+08:00

I wasn't quite sure at first what to do with my LO for the new Kaya Challenge at PS. I didn't know what memorabilia I should use until I remembered my grandpa. He's not really my grandfather by blood since he's my step-father's dad but he treated me like his own grand daughter. After he died, we discovered his hidden treasure from his bedroom. That's where I got the inspiration for my 1st LO for 2009.
Journaling Reads: A few days after lolo Pete died, we were all surprised to find a box in his room where he kept his "hidden treasures". Inside the box were cards that people gave him and even the money they gave were still in the cards. Dad gave us these money which are no longer in circulation. You would think they're still new because they're still crisp, but when you look at the year printed on them, you'll see they're from 1949!

Materials Used: PPs & Stamp- Fancy Pants, CS-Bazill Basics, Rub-ons- Craft Express, Ink-Whispers, Flowers- Prima, Alpha Stickers-Misc.- lace, string of pearls, acetate, gold thread, button

Techniques Used:
Distressing, Stamping & Stitching ( I stitched an acetate on the PP to create pockets for the pics & the money)

TFL!

Pics of the week/ Happy Birthday Marcie!

2009-01-04T21:43:00.007+08:00

She's officially in her terrible two stage today. Well even if she wasn't 2 yet she was already full of energy and always on the go.
Our little princess didn't wake up until 10:30 a.m. I guess she was preparing for her big day. While she was still asleep, we were busy preparing food for her small party. Lolo (grandpa) & Lola (grandma) prepared a delicious meal while I took care of the cake and her giveaways. Here's a little secret... I sort of altered her birthday cake. Lol. You see, I was suppose to buy her a cake today but yesterday, after a long day outside the house, I came home & found a box of chocolate cake in the fridge. I thought it was a cake for Marcie from my sister but when I peeked inside the box, the message on the cake read "Happy New Year". lol. It turns out it was a gift to my mom from one of her clients. Well my mom said we'll just use that for Marcie's cake instead of buying another one. So since it had that Happy New Year message, I bought some marshmallows and covered the top pf the cake with them. Hihihi! Being a scrapper, I also made a cake topper so it woudl have her name on it. Here's a pic of the cake with the goody bags I made for her cousins.We really didn't have a lot of visitors, most of them are relatives from my mom's side and just a couple fo my closest friends. It was a small & simple party but Marcie surely enjoyed it. I guess our visitors did too especially the eating part since there were barely any food left after the party. And since it was a Sunday we did have our weekly BINGO. Hehe.
After the party, we went home to open Marcie's presents. She got pelnty of new toys & clothes & she said "Wow!" every time we opened a gift. And her favorite pressy is her new bike from mommy & daddy. =)
Later on we heard Mass to give thanks for Marcie's new year & all the blessings we received today. There she is finally sleeping after a very fun day. She didn't even take her afternoon nap because she was busy playing all day.

Well, I'm off to bed now too. TFL!

Wedding Cards

2009-01-03T18:51:00.007+08:00

My parents have been attending a lot of weddings lately and my mom has been asking me to make wedding cards for each wedding they attended. I thought of adding a pocket inside each card where they can insert the monetary gifts they give to the couple. Two of the weddings they attended were 50th wedding anniversaries so I sprayed the card stock with some gold Maya Mist. Embellished them with Left over PPs, rub-ons, lace, prima flowers, stickers, heart brads and some stamped images. I also did a bit of dry embossing on one card.

Here are the cards for the Golden Wedding:

The other card for another wedding:

The pocket inside the cards:
If you look closely at the picture above, there are stamped watermarked words on the card. They don't look so clear in this picture though.

And oh, this little girl is turning 2 tomorrow! Yey!
Only 2 and she's already playing with lipstick! Not a real one though. lol.

TFL!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T21:18:00.005+08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! Here marks my first post for 2009 and it's also my 100th blog entry. Yey! I sure had a blast last night during our New Year's eve celebration. We heard mass at 8pm which was followed by a scrumptious family dinner at my grandma's place. We ate, drank, played BINGO, sang our hearts out with the videoke sessions and watched an awesome fireworks display. Marcie was quite scared of the fireworks at first but later on started to appreciate them.
We finished at around 3 a.m. and my little girl was wide awake and full of energy all throughout the celebration! Yup at 3 am, she was still busy playing & dancing. Too bad hubby wasn't there to celebrate with us since he had work. =( But I was surprised when I woke up this morning because dear hubby brought me this:

His Pilot friends from China gave him that lovely bouquet of roses & stargazers so he can give them to me. =) This surely made my new year extra special. =)

To start the year, I thought of creating some goody bags for Marcie's birthday. I got some pre-made acetate bags which I assembled and then decorated them with some PPs, a stamped image of a birthday cupcake which I colored with water color pencils and designed with stickles & a mini heart foam shape.

I haven't placed all the goodies in them yet & I couldn't get a nice photo of them. I'll try again tomorrow morning maybe. Hope you're all enjoying the New Year! Cheers!

Last Post for 2008

2008-12-31T19:01:00.002+08:00

Where did this year go? In less than 5 more hours and we will be saying goodbye to 2008. It seems the year flew by so fast. A lot has happened throughout the year. Marcie celebrated her 1st birthday and will soon be turning 2 on January 4. She's learned to walk, talk and now even run so fast that sometimes it gets so tiring to chase her.

It was also this year that I reunited with scrapbooking. It's been a few years since I stopped but thanks to the mini scrap jam that was held here courtesy of Ate Marisa, I fell in love with the craft again and have been hooked to it ever since. I felt like a newbie again because I was so overwhelmed with all the new tools, supplies and techniques that has been introduced. But thanks to the world wide web, I was able to somehow cope up with the new trends. I still have a lot to learn though but I'm really glad I found my way back.

Since I started scrapping, I've also gained a lot of new friends and learned a lot of new stuff. I also managed to win a couple of contests and random draws here and there and I'm very thankful for all of these.

Before the year comes to an end, I would like to say "Thank You" to everyone who's been kind enough to drop by my blog and drop me some words of encouragement & appreciation. Especially to my frequent visitors... thank you thank you thank you!

Gotta go for now. Hope everyone will have a safe & a prosperous New Year! See you next year! (Oh that's already a few hours from now. lol)

Christmas projects

2008-12-29T20:42:00.005+08:00

Christmas season was quite busy but I did manage to make a few projects. Actually I made a lot. But most of them were Christmas gift bags which I sold at our store. I think I made about 50 bags and only 4 were left unsold. =) I make those gift bags every year because I discovered that when people are in a hurry for their last minute Christmas shopping, most of them don't have time to wrap their gifts anymore. So that started the idea of selling my gift bags. They're just plain kraft gift bags which I decorated with wrapping paper, ribbons and other embellishments. Well I didn't have time to take their pictures since the moment I finished them, they were brought to the store already. Hehe. Sorry. Maybe next year.

Well I did have other projects which I was able to take pictures of. First is this hanging photo decor which is now hanging on our room's door:

Here's a closer look:

I used a piece of cardboard which I found around the house and peeled off the upper portion to reveal the corrugated look inside it. I then sprayed some gold Maya Road metallic mist and inked the edges of the board with brown ink and dabbed some green ink to give it a bit of distressed look. I used my left over Polar Bear Press patterned paper to mat the photo & embellished it with some Prima flowers, a butterfly, a brad, lace & some bling. I used AC Thickers for our family name & the Chatterbox Chipboard stickers for the word "family". I then punched a hole on each upper corner of the board and tied a string of abacca so I could hang it on our door.

My final set of project were these photo gift tags:

For NJ

For Lhance
For Alex
For Joax

Instead of the usual gift tags with just the" To: & From:" labels, I used photos of my inaanaks (god sons & god daughters) instead. =) Oh they are all a bunch of cuties! As usual I had to do some last minute Christmas shopping to buy their gifts. lol. When will I ever learn to shop early?

TFL!

Card Sketch A Day

2008-12-27T22:15:00.003+08:00

If you like making hand made cards like I do, I think you should go check out this cool blog called Card Sketch A Day. Susan Costanza shares a card sketch every day for free! I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to share one of my cards using one of her sketches. I made this card a few months ago but I didn't want to post it here until it was posted on Susan's blog. This was my first time to be a Guest Designer for a Card Sketch blog and here it is:
You can view the sketch here.

I hope everyone had a fun Christmas. Mine was filled with reunions both with family and high school friends. And lots of eating. But sadly I caught a cold and am now suffering a fever. Sniff sniff! I also kinda lost my voice since Christmas eve so too bad for me. :(

I wish everyone good health & a safe new year to come. To all those residing in the Philippines... enjoy the very long holiday!

TFL!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T00:00:00.001+08:00

I'd like t wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope you will all have fun & enjoy the Holiday Season.

Hugs,
Gracie

Pic of the Week

2008-12-21T13:19:00.004+08:00

Time for another pic of the week. Can you believe we only have 4 days to go before Christmas? Well I've been digging through some Christmas pics from last year and found these:

This was Marcie's first time to meet Santa and she was terrified! And I thought Santa was suppose to make kids happy. Hehe. She met with Santa again a few days ago and her reaction still hasn't changed. :( I guess I still won't get that perfect pic of Marcie with Santa this year. Fingers crossed for next year.

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Good Times with Mom

2008-12-18T21:50:00.003+08:00

I made this LO last week with a picture of me and Marcie when she was just about 6 months old. We were at the Shangrila Hotel in Makati where we stayed overnight when my aunt from the U.S. came home for a vacation. It was Marcie's first time to stay in a hotel and she enjoyed it. We were there with my other relatives. Thanks to my ever generous aunt for sponsoring our hotel accomodations. Hehe.

Supply list: Bazill Basics white & Kraft Cardstock, Chemise Stripe Patterned paper by Luxe Designs, Scenic Route Patterned Paper, Prima flowers, Simply Stated Stamps by Fancy Pants Design, Melissa Frances Designer Sticker, Sonnets Stickers by Creative Imaginations, Making Memories Brads, Craft Express Rub-On, Barn Brown & Black Whispers Archival Dye Inks, Water Color Pencils by Derwent, Misc.- Bling & Lace

Journaling: Good times turn into best times when I'm with you.

Pic of the Week

2008-12-14T13:11:00.002+08:00

11 days to go before Christmas! We're all busy and excited for this day. I received an e-mail from my sister who is in Venice, California and she sent us pictures of her daughter, Sydney. Oh this little girl is soooo cute! Look she even dressed as Santa's Little helper:
I wish Marcie could meet her cousin soon. We haven't really seen Sydney in person and we're all excited to see her someday.
TFL!

My First Christmas LO

2008-12-13T16:20:00.000+08:00

I just wanted to share my first ever Christmas LO. Yup it's really the first Christmas themed LO I ever made since I started scrapping. At first I really couldn't find my Mojo. I sort of lost it for a couple of days. I browsed a couple of blogs until I found Rough Draft from Michelle's blog. I found this sketch:
Right there and then I got inspired and finally got my Mojo back. Here's my take on their sketch:

Title: Don't Be a Grinch

Journaling: This photo reminds me of the Grinch. I just hope you won't be like him.

Materials used: PPs- KI Memories, Cardstock- Bazill Basics Fancy Edges, American Crafts Jewelry Box Thickers, See D's stamp, Whispers Ink, Sakura white pen, Misc.: star brads & paper flowers
Hope this LO gives justice to the beautiful sketch. Happy Holidays everyone! And don't be a Grinch this Christmas! lol

I'm back!

2008-12-13T13:28:00.005+08:00

Well I've been busy for the past week which explains my week long absence here. I was in Manila last Saturday to deliver goods to our clients there. Sadly, on our way to our final delivery, our car was side swiped by another car! The driver of the other car was on the wrong lane ( the lane where we were in was a lane to turn right) as he was supposed to go straight. I guess he realized that so he was in a hurry to overtake us and then I heard that loud bang and our car was hit. Sorry for him though coz his car is brand new while ours is about 5 years old already. Ours only got a few scratches but still I'm thankful no one was hurt. I was with my little girl too so Thank God we're all okay. Well we had to wait there on the road for about an hour since there were no police men at the area. Sheesh! Where are they when you need them???
Finally, a police car passed by and Mark had to call their attention so we could finally get a police report and settle things. But I thought that was it. Boy was I wrong! We were asked to go to the police station because the cops who passed by us said that area wasn't included in the area they handle. So we did go to the police station only to find out that we had to go to another station! Grrr... this really ruined our schedule. We were supposed to go back to Angeles that afternoon to attend a friend's wedding but no thanks to the accident we didn't make it. :( It took a few hours for them to get the police report done. It was past 2pm and we didn't even have lunch yet. We arrived at Tutuban Mall where we delivered our goods at around 3:30pm and finally had lunch at 4pm. I was soooo hungry! Plus the mall was super crowded because it was a weekend and it's Christmas Season so what do I expect. Hehe.

Oooh what a day! I was really tired and quite disappointed because we didn't make it to my friend's wedding. Plus the fact that I decided not to attend the PS/SE Christmas party to go to the wedding (which we never saw) made it a bit sadder. Anyway like I said, we're still lucky nothing bad happened to us. That's the most important thing.

Moving on... Despite of my busy week I managed to squeeze in a few LOs. One of them was actually a project we made from the My Little Attic Scrap Jam 2 weeks ago but I thought of adding more to it. It's my first time to work on an acrylic sheet. We were supposed to use alcohol inks or glimmer mist but I only got to use the latter because I didn't have alcohol inks and I don't really know how to use it. Hehe.

Here's my first attempt on using an acrylic sheet:

Title: Sweet Dreams Little Star

I sprayed pearl glimmer mist on the acrylic sheet and on the painted chipboard stars. I also added some bling to make them look like sparkling stars. Hmm.. looks like the photo has glimmer mist too but it really doesn't. It just turned out that way when I took the shot. I'll be sharing the other LOs later. :)

Happy Weekend Everyone!