24 Hours After…

/ LivE / 11 Comments

and doing good. The eyes, I mean. There’s a bit of dryness, a fair amount of glare, but other than that, it’s amazing to be able to see without the glasses perched on my nose. Also a bit strange, after 34 years of wearing glasses, to suddenly not have those lenses in front of your eyes. I’m a bit afraid that I’m going to reach out to push up the glasses on the bridge of my nose (watch anyone wearing glasses for a certain period of time and you’re bound to see that almost-kneejerk habit)… except this time, I won’t have any, and I’ll end up scratching the tip of my nose just to provide some alibi for why my hand is hovering in that area in the first place.

😆

I went in today for my first post-op checkup. The verdict? 20-20 vision in the left eye, 20-15 in the right eye. (Yeah! Better than perfect!) I’m adjusting a bit due to the difference in grade, and I’m told it should stabilize, as should the glare, in about a month’s time. Yeah! So it is a bit of an effort to do work on the compy (and a bit more of a greater effort to read anything)… bless my hubby for his insight in getting me a widescreen monitor last year, not that he had any idea I’d up and get an operation within an hour of inquiring about it. 😆

So anyway, I was playing around on youtube, rewarding myself with some mindless playtime because I finally finished that article I needed to write for a big magazine (’twas so hard to trim down what I wrote as the subjects of the article were such rich material, I wanted to write down every little detail! 😀 ). And here’s what I found!

I like the melody of this song, I love Dr. McDreamy (Laurie and Tori, you hear me? 😆 ), and best of all, when I saw the beginning part of this video, I said to myself, “hey! that’s exactly how everything looked to me right after the Lasik operation!” (That view lasted the entire evening, by the way; that’s why I slept off what was left of the day and retired waaaaay earlier than my 4AM bedtime).

Oh and here’s another something I came across quite by accident, and I thought it was really really amusing. And amazing. Watch the entire thing, and see if you can guess which song it is. I’ll be pretty impressed if you guess it right before you get to the middle. 😉

Okay, I’ll be back with more in a little bit!

Groping in the Glare

/ LivE / 7 Comments

Just a quick note, my sweeties, to say… I have not abandoned my porch swing… remember my last post? Well…

I just had Lasik eye surgery yesterday (on a spur of the moment, jump in with two feet and don’t look back–crazy, I know). I can’t see very well now, there’s quite a lot of glare, but just wanted to let you know that the reason I haven’t posted lately is not by choice. hahaha! (so please forgive any typos as I’m struggling here. 😀 )

I went in to inquire and do the pre-operation procedures–my younger brother was having his operation that day, so I went with him to do my inquiries. Turns out that the top Lasik surgeon in the country, whom I requested, was available right there and then to do my surgery that same day. So of course I took the plunge. I inquired at 11AM, started the pre-op procedures at 12, and by 5:30 I was walking out of the clinic with these clear lab shades (like the protective goggles you use when you do experiments), holding on to my niece’s arm like a blind person. 😀

So anyway, I won’t stay long now as I have to squint to see my monitor, but I’ll be back soon, I promise! (I have to complete my LOAD for Day 8… don’t know how I’m going to grope my way through this, but I’ll do what I can! 😆 )

(((((hugs)))))

Busy Busy Busy Bee

/ LivE / 5 Comments

Wow! This has been a really full day!

I had to attend to real life stuff–cleaning out storage rooms, entertaining guests, taking care of nephew and nieces who came over to play with their cousins (my boys), and other blah blah blah stuff that would probably bore you to tears so I won’t even mention it. Regular stuff that, now and then, requires us to pull ourselves away from our beloved compy, difficult though it may be. 😆

BUT! Two interesting things, before I go back to my other deadlines.

Layout Of the Day Number 4

Am so delighted that I was finally able to finish my second Daily December page layout. Thank you, LOAD, for that proverbial kick in the butt that I needed. I don’t think I would’ve been able to finish this without the challenge to spur me on and push me down the path that didn’t have the Procrastination Street sign on it. 🙂

Thank you also, my dear Noel, for nudging me to post my LOAD layout here already… I would’ve forgotten to post it here if not for your comment! {I can almost hear you saying: What would you do without me? 😆 }

So here’s my Daily December 2, my LOAD No. 4:

Journaling reads:

ah yes, how absolutely wonderful it is to wake up to the aroma of coffee brewing on these cool christmas mornings. the precious bonding moments in between sips bring far greater warmth to the heart than the heat that rises from our mugs.

CREDITS:

Jessica Sprague – Daily December Template + Katie Pertiet’s Topper, Mindy Armour’s Christmas papers, and Mindy Terasawa’s Merry & Bright Accent overlay (recolored slightly).

I am totally dependent on my Solis coffee making machine. I love that it cleans itself each time you turn it on and then again when you turn it off (loooove that I don’t have to clean it manually!!!). I love that you have the option to put in ground coffee or pour in beans (it has a built-in grinder that grinds just enough beans for a cup right before it starts brewing–I never use the ground coffee options as I prefer freshly ground beans). I love that it has a hotplate above where I can keep little espresso cups warm, so that I don’t have to drink hot coffee from a cold cup. I love that I can make myself a regular brew, an espresso, or a capuccino at the touch of a button.

Another thing I love are the two cups that my dear hubby got for us some Christmases ago. We inevitably end up teasing each other about which cup should belong to whom. I of course lay claim to the Nice with the halo and always assign the Naughty with the horns to my hubby. He is convinced it should be the other way around. In the interest of keeping peace, I will allow him his conviction. After all, being naughty adds a hint of spice to my personality, doesn’t it? (Ha! Though seriously, he really is much nicer than I am, and I probably am much naughtier than he is). 😉

I’m hoping that at the end of LOAD I would also have completed the Daily December album (and it will be my first theme album ever! Woohoo!)

I up and ran, I rocked, and I’m going to dig in deep!

With Jessica’s newest advanced course, Digi: In Deep, coming in March! Am so looking forward to this, because I looooove taking journeys with Jessica and my playground family. One always comes out of the class gaining sooooo much more than one could have dreamed possible. (Ask any of my playground sisters and they will easily attest to this).

I am also very excited about the upcoming Up & Running course (on its third run) that will be offered in January for digital scrapbooking beginners, and the advanced Now We’re Rockin’ course (on its second run) that will be offered in February. Read more about it in Jessica’s blog and on our playground! And for my friends hopping over here who have not taken either or both of those classes, take note of the sign-up period, set reminders on your calendars, join the throngs waiting for sign-up day, and come join us! It’s a journey you will take that will change your life in more ways than you can ever imagine–I kid you not. Everyone on our playground will attest to this.

Jason Gaylor rocks!

Just heard from Jason and he has allowed me to use his brushes for the shutters plopper that I created. So if you aren’t sick of the plopper yet, head on over for the original version (I’m thinking of giving it in a different shade so that it won’t be too much like the one you downloaded yesterday). That is, unless you’re sick of the plopper already? 😆

Thank you, Jason. You rock.

Resolutions, resolutions

New year, new resolutions.

In the past couple of years, I have not really attached importance to making resolutions on New Year’s Day, since I make resolutions daily. I believe in making daily resolutions because they’re easier to remember on a daily basis (have a little notebook to remind me throughout the day). Daily resolutions also make it easier for me to check my progress (did I fulfill them or did I fail today?), and it’s less of a letdown when I fall short of achieving them (hey, didn’t do too well on this one today; I’ll try again tomorrow).

But this year, I decided to experiment with having BOTH: New Year’s Resolutions and Daily Resolutions, for no other reason than to spice things up a bit (and also… because I may have masochistic tendencies that push me to keep loading my plate, even when it’s already full, if you know what I mean. 😆 )

Here are my New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Make a layout a day (LOAD has inspired me to do this. I may not succeed at it everyday, but I’d like to think that it’s the effort is what counts 😛 )

2. Lose 10-20 pounds. (I need to unload all that holiday sweetness that stayed a minute on my lips and took up residence forever on my hips). By the way… my sisters just reminded me–trust me to forget this–that my skipping meals (oops) was actually the worst thing I could do in an effort to lose weight. Apparently, when you skip a meal, your body goes into starvation mode; it says “woops, we don’t know when she’s going to shovel food into her mouth next, so let’s store all the fat we can to help her survive.” So what happens is, instead of burning calories, your body actually stores your fat to keep you warm and comfy even when you’re starving… which you are, only because you’re skipping meals.

Notice how I’m using “your body, your stored fats”… could it be an attempt for me to escape the fact that it’s my body and it’s my stored fats? 😆

3. Give out at least one freebie a week. Maybe more. (Love creating, love sharing what I create with you. Need I say more?)

4. Seriously consider finally getting that Lasik operation done on my eyes. This month. Go see the top specialist in the country on Monday. (I have always been deathly afraid of having this operation, despite the fact that two of my sisters have had it successfully, and my brother is going to have his on Monday. I am totally dependent on my sense of sight, myopic it may be, and I can imagine surviving with the loss of all the other four senses, but not the sense of sight. I would absolutely go insane without sight: how will I read? how will I scrap? how will I take photos? No eyes = No life. So I’ve stayed away from Lasik as much as I can. But… if I don’t do it now, when? When I’m too old for it to be successful? Besides, I’m thinking of how cool it would be to open my eyes in the morning without having to grope around for my glasses, no matter how cool and chic they are. 😆 Also, my sister tells me, 10 minutes after the operation, I can go back to my compy and play. How bad could that be, huh?) Cheer me on, my friends. I’ve got the resolve now, but I may not be so resolute come Monday. hehe

5. Clean and organize all the stuff in all the other storage areas. (Discard what must go and donate what is good but not used: clean out and make space… so I can hoard more stuff. 😆 ) Seriously, though: today I started with cleaning out one of the 4 storage rooms we have… and had the pure pleasure of donating and discarding. How liberating to keep only what you know must be kept, and sharing the rest, whether with the garbage collector or with needy ones!

6. Clean and organize my compy. ACDSee, we really must make friends with each other. I truly must go beyond the 10 kits I’ve organized since June. (And must delete all the useless stuff on my compy as well). This is totally daunting, considering that I have 1,100,000 GB of stuff to deal with (does that make 1.1 Tetrabytes?). SIGH. This is not going to be easy, folks. Already I’m exhausted, just thinking about it.

7. Learn some more, play some more, pray some more. (In reverse order).

8. Stop pushing things to the last minute and try doing them in advance.

I should stop here. 8 resolutions for 2008. Sounds good. Hope the results are just as good. hehe.

Okay, now I need to go… got an article to write for a big magazine that was due a week ago. Hey, that’s New Year’s Resolution No. 8 about to be fulfilled right now! Woohoo!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the other-version plopper freebie. Today, all I can offer you is some coffee. But it’s wonderful coffee (decaf for those who need it, and hot chocolate for those who don’t want caffeine), with whipped cream on top. I’ll even serve it to you in the Nice cup. 😉

Enjoy today, my sweeties! (((hugs)))

PS. Noel… the cups you want: I got them from Starbucks some years back. 😉

PS. For those who asked where they could get the awesome Scrappin’ Shoes that I wrote about yesterday: They’re adidas. I wish I could say you can find them at Target or Amazon, but… fact is, I got these from the adidas store at the mall. 🙂

Get a LOAD of this again…

/ LivE / 22 Comments

where LOAD refers to LayOut A Day! 🙂

At Stacy Julian’s Big Picture Scrapbooking, Lain is holding a Get a LOAD of This!, a January Layout-A-Day Challenge class (did I mention that it’s free? 🙂 ) which basically entails creating and uploading a layout a day for each day in January. So you end up with 31 layouts at the end of the month: not a bad start on the Creation Road right on the first month of the new year, eh? Best of all, there are no borders, no restrictions: as long as you create a layout–digital, hybrid, or paper–and you upload it every single day, you’re eligible for daily prize draws (if you upload daily) and for the grand prize draw (if you upload the entire January without missing a single day).

I know, I know. I must be masochistic, adding to an already full plate that’s overflowing. But I figured it’s the best way to stay sane while waiting for Jess to come back from her super-fabulously restful trip back home (wonder if she’s not a bit wistful for her laid-back non-techie time when she thinks about jumping back into the digital frenzy once again, haha… after all, we on her playground are like hungry little fishes waiting for the next feeding).

It’s also a fantastic way to kick my old procrastinating butt into action. Love, love, love creating layouts, but frankly, sometimes I need a shove to get going. Are you all super efficient, super prolific creators, or are you like the lesser mortals (that would be the group where I belong 😉 )?

But see, here’s the problem. While I need that shove, it has to be a real gentle shove because I’m a bit of a rebel too. Push too hard and I’ll stand my ground stubbornly. (I know. I’m trying to correct it. Must be the youngest-child syndrome, which I was for 15 years till my not-so-little-now brother came along. We’re seven kids, by the way: so I was the sixth for a pretty long time. And when there are 5 older siblings to push you around, you kind of learn how to keep your feet firmly planted in the same spot. I was a bit of a late learner, so there’s some debris left in me. 😆 )

And this is where I should say I jumped for joy when I listened to the audio welcome of Lain’s challenge-class. There is absolutely no restriction for size of layout (you want to do 6×6, fine. You want to do 8×8, fine too. 12×12, 8½x11? Fine and fine too). There’s no prompt you have to follow (no: “okay, everyone, scrap using your favorite song as journaling!”), no specific materials you need to use, no grading or ranking (prizes are given as a result of random drawing, so you don’t need to nurse any budding insecurities about your creations 😆 ) … I loooove that! Not to say that prompts don’t help, because they are awesome in terms of pushing you down a path you otherwise would not have taken, but… it’s really a personal thing for me: no stress please on the first month of the year. 🙂 hehe

Psst. If you’re interested and you haven’t signed up yet, you have till January 15th to sign up! Come join the fun! 😉

So anyway. Just to prove how weird I could be, with all this freedom, when did I create my layout for Day 2? Two hours before the posting deadline. SIGH. Slow learner. Or maybe procrastination is just a bad habit that’s hard to break. But hey, at least I got my paper passed before the bell rang, huh? 😀

Here’s what I did for the second day of January:

(Oh and you know what else is so wonderful? Doing this layout also allowed me to finally do one of Jessica’s PSF challenges that we have going on in our little playground. Lisa (who does a fab job of thinking up the next PSF for all of us to learn with) will be so proud of me! 😀  )

Bookworms

Journaling reads:

i look at the two of you and see my childhood come rushing back–all those languid days spent in the wonderful company of books. i think it’s totally cool that my best friends have become your best friends too.

CREDITS:

Mindy Terasawa – Lil Troublemaker paper, cardboard border (recolored), sticker, wordsticker, notecircle, frame (altered) / Katie Pertiet – Vintage Text paper / Fonts: Jane Austen, Cheltenhm BT / Photo of books: singhajay (altered)

Check Out Those Shoes

of my son… those yellow shoes. Looooove them.

He chose them himself for his 12th birthday last month, and they totally rock. They’re what I call the Scrappin’ Shoes (okay, so their real name is Adicolor by Adidas–best of all they were 50% off!)… because they remind me so much of a layout!

See, they come in this super playful sunshine-y color, and they’re made of velcro material. They come with these super fun colorful insoles, three different pairs of shoelaces that you can change according to your mood, and there are about a dozen circular “patches” that you stick on the velcro in any way you want (hence my association with scrapping… it’s like having a layout on your feet that you can change everyday!). Really: how cool is that?

Scrappin’ Shoes

And you thought there would be no freeb… 😉

Here, finally, is the Shutters Page Plopper that I promised I’d share with you. 🙂

I think it’s totally awesome that Jason Gaylor left a note on my blog to resend him the email I wrote to him, asking him if he was fine with my releasing the plopper which I used his fab brushes on. I resent the email to him, but I am still waiting for a response… as soon as he gets back to me, assuming it’s a yes 😉 , then I’ll put up the original shutters plopper that I created using his brushes.

By the time I got Jason’s note, though, I had already done some new work on the shutters plopper using hawksmont’s brushes. He’s amazing too! (I just looooove how the whole creative community is so generous and so giving!) So for now, I’m releasing the plopper that I used hawkmont’s brushes on.

Here’s what the “new” plopper looks like:

{Click on image for larger view}

LivE ShuttersPlopper Preview

PS. Don’t laugh. That’s me in the photo. Waaaay back. Ssshhhh. Let’s pretend it’s a stock photo, okay? 😉

And here’s the link to the “new” plopper that I made using hawksmont’s brushes! Hope you like it just as much as the first one! It’s a .png file, so just put your photo on the layer beneath it, add some embellishment if you wish, and voila! 😉 A quickie! 😆

Oh and PS… guess what. Since this preview is basically a layout which I completed on January 3, it has also turned into my LOAD layout for Day 3! How cool is that? 😛

Have a great day, my sweeties! More stories and more freebies coming soon!

It’s Been a While…

/ LivE / 16 Comments

a pretty loooong while! I looked at the date of my last post here… December 20th… that was LAST YEAR, for crying out loud! 😆 Geez, I didn’t realize it’s actually been that long!

Guess holidays really can make things so hectic that everything else not related to food and partying and food … and did I say food?… seems to fall behind. 😛

But! I’ve missed you, my dear friends! And I’m back with a vengeance so strong, you’ll probably be hoping that I stayed away longer when you see the multiple posts a day come up! hahaha.

First, the good news:

I have heard from wonderful, wonderful Adam J. Lambert-Gorwyn aka stoneraven, whose photo I used to make the shutters plopper… and he has given me permission to go ahead and release the freebie I’ve created!!! WOOHOO!!!

I have not heard from jason gaylor, though, whose japanese foliage brushes I used also on the plopper, so I may have to re-do the plopper with other brushes before I can upload it as a freebie. It will be on for a limited number of downloads, though, so be sure to check back soon! 😉

My first layout for the year!

Something funny happened today. I visited my friend Noel’s blog and I saw her layout for Lain’s L.O.A.D. class at bigpicturescrapbooking.com, which begins January 1st. It’s January 2nd in my part of the world, and I was out of town and up in the mountains for the better part of post-Christmas till New Year (so you will, I hope, find it in your hearts to forgive me for slacking off on my blog these past 10 days or so)… so I had completely forgotten about this! The funny thing is, I had mentioned to Noel that I had signed up for the LOAD class in one of our fun, fun chats between Christmas and New Year… but I had completely forgotten about it till I saw her blog! So with just a couple of hours left till the PST clock matched my time in this part of the world, I was able to complete a layout! YEAH!

Thanks, Noel, my friend, for posting your layout on your blog and mentioning the LOAD class. I would have completely forgotten about it if not for you.

And here is my very first layout for the new year!

 Boys in the Hoods

Journaling below reads:

so funny that my boys have inherited my love for hoodies, but when they’re this cool, who’s complainin’?

CREDITS:

FONTS: Stoned Wash 6; SubPear / Mindy Terasawa – Groovy Boy Papers (Recolored), WordSticker & Staple / Katie Pertiet – On the Edge Flourish, WordSeal / Kim Christensen – DirtyShirt Brad & Eyelet – recolored; Spelling101- Black Inked Overlay / Jen Caputo – PaperTear Template / Brushes: smoke brush by ca-pris; Dot-Round brushes by GoGetADesign

And now… for a few mountain photos!

Love trees… I may not love the lack of dsl speed connections in the mountains, but I certainly loooove the scent of pine trees, the cool blast of wind in the face, and the trees all around!

View from Below

Here’s a macro shot of the pine trees… such wonderful texture (and such fun playing with my camera!) 
 Pine Up Close

Speaking of macro, here’s a bug on the glass door of our villa. Looks kinda like an alien to me… my kids had a blast looking through the camera viewfinder and seeing it UP CLOSE in a big way! (Grossed them out too! Ha! Beats actual holding and handling of the bug for me! 😉 )

Close Encounters with the UFO

Loved taking texture photos, like this wooden bench here.

Wood

The wind was blowing so hard, you could actually watch the clouds move across the sky faster than an airplane would.

Puffs of Cotton

Here is one of the cabins… to give you a feel of the place 😛

Cabin Fever

Here’s the spa and lodge, where we check in and check out.

Spa & Lodge

And for my golfing friend Joan, here’s one for you! The view of the golf course–or, more accurately, part of it. (It was really foggy and windy that day, so this is the best I could do with the photos!) 😀

Golf Course

I took the view of the golf course with my lens fully extended to its 200mm length… amazing! I was on top of the mountain by the spa when I took this! Gotta love my beloved lens!!! (AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm DX… the VR is great for those windy days too!)

Par for the Course!

And that’s the end of today’s film show! 😆

PS. I used Jay Arraich’s matted frames for the photos. You can get them free at his site!

I’m off to do some work on the shutters freebie… and if I don’t run out of energy, I’ll do more freebs for you! Yep, I’ve suffered from my mountain-imposed freebie-creation-diet and can’t wait to get back into feasting on design… all because I want to share more stuff with you, my sweeties!

Have a happy day, and I’ll be back soon! 😉

Happy New Year, and humongous hugs to you, my sweeties!

Just couldn’t help myself…

/ LivE / 13 Comments

I just had to scrap.

Yes, my bedroom floor resembles a war zone with wrappers and gifts (not yet wrapped) crammed into every nook and cranny. Yes. my husband has to go through an entire obstacle course to get from one end of our room to the other.  Yes, I have yet to check my holiday gift list and see whether it is 20 (or 30) more people I need to shop for. And yes, yes, yes: I do know that I have 2 days left till Christmas Eve, when the gifts that are still in their unwrapped state are supposed to be sitting under other people’s trees.

But! When the going gets tough, the tough go scrapping.

😆

So here’s what I came up with today. I was going through the forum in my playground at Jessica’s and, after reading this ongoing thread about how our famous mom-and-daughter team are playing tug-of-war over some great shutters that daughter bought and that mom wants to buy from her, with the rest of us jumping in on the playful fray, on a total whim (crazy I know), I was inspired to create a layout that involved shutters.

It took daughter (that would be my friend, Noel) some time to search for a photo of her and mom (that would be my friend, Jackie) together. Jackie, if you’re reading this, run over to Noel’s house and get some photos taken asap! 😛 It took countless tries (and a really long, really fun chat session) for Noel to get this photo scanned in and sent to me. She is so NICE. Right, Noel? 😉

So anyway, here’s what’s waiting for them in their inbox when they get up in the morning:

Noel and Jackie

{ Click on image for larger view }

CREDITS:

photo by stoneraven at stock.xchnge (altered) ~ flower brushes by jason gaylor at designfruit ~ photoblast action used on jackie’s and noel’s photo ~ word art by me! 😛 ~ grungy overlays (used 4 in all) by me! 😛

And since the scanning of the photo took a long time to accomplish, here’s what I came up with while waiting: my own version. hehe.

 S

You think this could pass for one of my Daily December pages (of which I have just ONE to my name?) 😆

I wanted to give out the page as a plopper freebie, but I still have to check with stoneraven and jason gaylor if they’ll agree to that. 😉 If they say yes, the plopper is so yours, my sweeties!

Okay, now I really must get back to the holiday to-do’s. I’ve played the entire day and I need to make up for that this entire night.

Catch you again soon, my sweeties! ((((hugs))))

What was I thinking???

/ LivE / 6 Comments

I must have been crazy to think that I could create my Christmas gifts this season, because with 6 days to go before The Big Day, I have NOT done a single thing (except roll ideas around in my mind… does that count?) and I have not crossed out much on my holiday shopping list either.

Talk about overestimating oneself.

Anybody interesting in renting out their services? 😆

I have several unfinished Christmas freebie items which I can’t get to though I’d love to (doing the usual self-motivation thing: No, self, you may not make any freebies until you’ve got your Christmas to-do list all checked). I do hope I’ll finish soon as there’s nothing I’d love better than to finish up that last Christmas freebie kit, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Winter Chills and Ills

Okay so it doesn’t snow where I live. But the season brings with it its fair shair of viruses. Three of my babies are sick. One worse than the rest. If he doesn’t get better today, off to the pedia we go tomorrow. I’ve been getting less than my usual 3 hours of sleep because he wakes up every hour to either throw up (uhhhm. excuse me for the graphic language), or complain that he can’t breathe, or ask for water. Poor little guy. I want to hold him and put toothpicks in my eyes to stay awake the entire time. During the day I have to nebulize him 3 to 4 times… and each time I say “Nebulize, honey?” he says “Yes!” So I know his illies are bad.

The other two babies are not so bad… thank God. But sick nevertheless. And what mom can really not worry when one of her little ducks has the slightest illness?

I Caved

Okay, so tell me I’m crazy. Call me nuts. I have NOT done a single paper-scrapped layout since I was 16 (just to give time a perspective: when I was 16, you had to use carbon paper to make multiple copies of what you were typing out on a manual typewriter, and it would be a few years before you could type <B> to get your word into a bold font on computers with green screens and pixelated fonts).

The whole underbelly of my king-sized bed is crammed with paperscrapping materials that are in their virgin state. The three shelves and scrapping tables with drawers I have? Not used. At all.

So why, why, why did I have to go and get these things at the mall when I should’ve been shopping for gifts?

The Impulsive Loot

Simple. There they sat on the shelf, making droopy eyes at me, calling out softly “Take me home, take me home”… how could I resist??? Poor lonely things were calling out for a home.

😆

But I can justify, actually. The Heidi Grace Designs punchboard items? Need them to make the homemade recipe box my eldest sister requested from me as her Christmas gift this season. The K&Co. little bragbook? My dad would just love it when I send him this with layouts inside (not yet created, by the way… LOL). The Fiskars squeeze punches: the corner rounder? Never mind that I have 3 corner rounder punches (and the fourth, which is the only one I’m really using, is Jessica’s corner rounder brush… loooove digital!!!). But this one is the coolest among the paper-scrapping punches I have because you can see exactly where you’re punching! The large circle squeeze punch? Well… I’ve been pining for its 3-inch big brother, but since the store didn’t have that, I had to settle for my unrequited love affair by getting this 1.5inch one. The DCWV 6×6 chipboard blanks? Hey, you never know when you’ll need them.

I wasn’t so bad, actually. I did get some shopping done. (Some being the operative word).   😉

😆

And speaking of shopping…

Here’s the latest addition to our Santa family… hubby and I couldn’t resist adding them to our 2 santas in groovy black shades (one has a guitar and the other has a sax, and both play a guitar and a sax version of Christmas songs) and the reindeer that taps his foot in total rhythmic accompaniment to the music.

The New Santas

See, we were hoping our two youngest boys , j (who’s turning two at the end of December) and S (who’s 3), would find these new Santas less frightening. See, the group of three jazzy folks I just described had the strangest effect on our two boys: when we turned on the music and the Santas started strumming and blowing on the sax and the reindeer started tapping, my two boys stared in disbelief and ran away.

So enter these new two: Santa on his sleigh with Rudolph behind him (though you can’t see him too well in this shot) happily bob along on the sleigh as the music plays. Then the other Santa’s legs grow and shrink as he says “ho-ho-ho!” and Jingle Bells plays in the background. He gets tall and short and tall and short.

Come to think of it, as my friend Noel said, why SHOULDN’T it be scary for the kids? A growing and shrinking Santa who can only utter repeating 2-letter syllables Ho Ho Ho… hmmmm. Words of wisdom from a dear new friend whose daughter Emma used to cry on Santa’s lap each Christmas.

😆

And what am I doing…

having the fun of my life sitting on this porch swing with you while the mountain of unwrapped gifts looms before my very eyes and the holiday shopping list is crying out “Hey, look at me! Look at me and DO something!” ???

Gotta get running!!! Six days! Six days!

Does anyone know how to freeze time? All I’m asking for is double the number of days left!

Catch you later, my sweeties!

Oh… and when I get around to doing the creations I crazily thought of making this Christmas, I am sooo sharing with you whatever it is I have… whether they’re templates or instructions. 😉

The Best Compliment

/ LivE / 7 Comments

photo by somajinn at stock.xchngthat you’ve ever received: could you name it? Do you remember it word for word? Can you recall exactly when and where you heard it?

I want to remember this (and my friends will readily attest to how (t)RUSTY my memory is… so I decided to tell all of you so that you can remind me when I grow old and grey… or maybe even next week (which is the soonest time I may forget).

PREFACE:

My 3-year-old son S has taken to attaching himself to my body as best as he can (read: can’t go anywhere without him stuck by my side). It’s usually no big deal because he’s very light and thin and easy to lug around. 😆 However, it becomes a problem when he needs to meet with Mother Nature and do his thing, you know what I mean?

So anyway, tonight, after he did his thing (okay, I confess… he still wears diapers at night), his yaya (in English that would be nanny) tried to take him to his bathroom to get him cleaned up. Of course he put up a huge protest and well… let’s just say my heart totally melts in his tears. So I took him to my bathroom to clean him up myself. Protest over.

When we came out, my 5-year-old son J, declared proudly:

Mama, you are the very best poo-cleaner in the entire world!!!

Don’t know about you, but for me, that’s about one of the very best compliments I’ve ever received in my life.

😆

Have a nice day, my sweeties! Working on a freeb, but you know how the holidays go… will try to have it up soon! 😉

Could you have foretold…?

/ LivE / 3 Comments

Your Holiday Stress Level Is Low


You take it easy over the holidays, and you only take on what you can handle.
You know the holidays are about celebrating and fun – not standing in line at the mall!

What’s Your Holiday Stress Level?

Not sure if I could’ve guessed this. Hmmm… no shopping done? Check. No wrapping done? Check. Designed Christmas freebies instead of going to the malls to get some items on the gift list ticked? Check. Busy making layouts instead of working on Christmas gift projects? Check. Accepting a writing assignment for People Asia magazine, due by the end of December, instead of planning the menu for Christmas Eve? Check.

Perhaps that’s what “you take it easy over the holidays” means? 😆

Maybe I should take this test again a week before Christmas. It just might change to its exact opposite.

😆

What’s your holiday stress level?

Layout Fever (and fevers of the other sort)…

/ LivE / 5 Comments

Okay, I put off designing for a little bit so that I could indulge in my other love: digital scrapping! (It’s been so long since my last three four layouts, with 3 done in the span of 2 hours… a big first-timer for me, as it usually takes me AGES to make one layout. hehe. But I can’t mention any of those 4 layouts because they have to do with a certain surprise that we’ve planned for a certain ultra-special someone and while that surprise hasn’t been sprung, my lips are sealed. :D… My friends from my regular playground know what I’m talking about, and I promise you, as soon as the surprise has been revealed, will let you know all about it as well! 😉 )

Daily December

This is a wonderful project that I have been wanting to sink my teeth into, so to speak, as soon as Jess gave it to us in our last NWR course. The idea is to do a layout each day in December (hence the “daily”) so that at the end of the month, you will have scrapped an entire album’s worth of this most special month in the year!

Funny that I get to do December 1 on December 11th (exactly 10 days after the day I should’ve done it)… but the daily photos somehow got stuck in my camera’s memory card with pure intentions to scrap them when the time was right. I decided I’d better start on them or the intentions might remain intentions by December 1st next year. hehe.

So here’s the first, and I hope there’ll be more to come:

dd07_dec1-web.jpg

CREDITS:
Daily December Everything by Jessica Sprague (with recoloring done) PLUS
Black Friday Kit papers of Amy Cheeseman & Kari Hentzelt
Katie Pertiet’s Ledger Grid Brush
Michelle Coleman’s XmasStar & Swirl Topper
Anna Aspnes’ Red Mat, Swirl
Retrodiva/TracyCollins-TistheSeason Ribbon (recolored)

Cameran was happy too! 

Last night I spent 6 hours at Sara Black’s studio for a photo shoot of my dear Jun de Leon and his wife Abby and their son Ijah. I was there to do the interview for an article that will appear in one of the major magazines next year (by special request of Jun that I write the article, a request that totally touched me and gave me the warmest fuzzies). Of course Cameran came with me, as she always does (Cameran is my best friend, otherwise known as my Nikon D40x ;P ), and since the lighting was right and the studio was there and the subjects were wonderful, of course I could not resist taking a few shots myself. It was quite trying, though, because I didn’t want to interfere or get into the way of the real photo shoot (after all, I was supposed to be there armed with my pen and notebook, not a lens, heehee), so that meant that I couldn’t use my bounce flash, or any flash at all. That was pretty much of a challenge, as this was like 9PM (try shooting at that time with available light… oh, and have I said that in my part of the world, midnight light comes at 6pm at this time of the year? I always hear America’s Ventura Highway playing in the back of my mind: “when the days are longer, the nights are stronger than moonshine…” except in reverse… 😆 )

Buuuut. I think I got a few great ones, which I hope to turn into some sort of Christmas gift layout for them, along with other shots I’ve taken at other times. Hold on tight… when I’ve completed that (if I ever do), I’ll be sure to let you know! Now why would you be interested in that? Because, my sweeties, if I end up making a calendar-gift, I’ll share the template with you if you want it! 😀

Here’s one of my favorite subjects, Ijah (so blessed with good looks and such a natural in front of any lens!)

Night Games

Fevers of the other sort

I knew it would just be a matter of time till I caught that nasty virus that seems to come with cold weather. My son J first had it; then my baby j got it as well… and so as of today, I have it too. Funny that I was just posting on Jessica’s blog, wishing her comfort and health because she has the illies, and now here it’s come to my home as well. Oh well. What’s cold weather without the sniffles, right? (just totally annoying though to be sneezing every 5 minutes or so, hahaha).

People making lists, buying special gifts…

Now that one is half me, half not me. This season, I think I’m going to be buying less and making more. 😀 Last Christmas, before Jess and her courses pulled me over to the Dark Side (and introduced me to the dearest, most lovable friends and playground-sisters I have ever had), my homemade Christmas gifts were social cards that I designed and printed and created gift packaging for. This year, I’m pretty excited to move beyond just cards (hehehe) and expand my horizons to include a crafted recipe box (per my eldest sister’s request) and framed layouts and maybe even calendars! (Time will reveal if these will ever come to fruition or not. But, in the wise words of Belva Davis: Never fear the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.

Let us so dream that I can make it.

😆

And part of making that so means I need to get off this porch swing and back to the salt mines! 😀

Have a happy day, my sweeties!

And if you drop by tomorrow, maybe I’ll be so happy that I just might have some freebs ready! 😉