going digi

nope...not really...haha. i am definitely not a digital scrapbooker. i enjoy playing with real paper and glue and tools too much. but darned Prima Hybrid is making me rethink my conviction. just go see here at www.primahybrid.com. digital and real paper and embellishments now match! how much longer can i resist? with my perennial lack of time, digital or hybrid, rather, is starting to sound (and look) reaaaally good.

a perfect example is my situation with this month's Kaya challenge. i'd love to do this one to boot considering it's practically creative visualization, a technique to make one's wishes or aspirations to come true. but it is due already and i have not started just a few hours before i was to submit it. good thing i am in a contemplating on digital the past few days so i remembered that this is probably the only way to go if i want to make it to the deadline.

hmmm...maybe i should do this more often...the few more hours spent in front of the computer wasn't so bad. and i keep remembering that really nice album Joyleen showed us. it was a compilation of all her digi LOs printed and slipped into album protectors. verrry cool really when put all together like that!

i haven't bought any digital kits yet. for this project, i just used some old freebie downloads i have from way back when digital was just starting to crop up. i think i might succumb very soon though.

getting sketchy

a few weeks ago, Tin mentioned Studio Azul is going to do a sketch challenge and asked if i can do one. cool idea, i thought. i often do sketches for myself with pencil and paper just before embarking on an LO. i also usually stray from my own sketch as the LO gets done. so when asked to do both a sketch and an LO to match, i felt a bit nervous. but i thought hey, i think it would be fun to assemble one digitally too, and not just on paper with pencil. here is the result which you can also find here.

did this sketch based on the materials inside Studio Azul's January kit, SuperNova. i tried hard not to stray too far from my own sketch. below is the resulting LO.

the 4-month old baby monkey is my nephew Mike's pet. it is soooo cute!
Raj was so intrigued by it but was afraid of it and wouldn't even touch it.
Journaling reads: Raj was so afraid of the monkey but liked the little plush toy. Little did he know, the real one was sneaking up behind him...
Incidentally, Raj was born in the Chinese zodiac year of the Monkey. :-D

i had fun doing this LO and excitedly submitted it to Tin and Mia. before, i heard comments from them, i saw the LO and sketch posted. i suddenly had an anxiety attack. oh my! my little sketch is now officially challenge material. would people like it? i really, truly hope my scrapping friends would find it useful. and i'd love to see people use it and tweak it around to come up with LOs i haven't even thought of with it. good luck to all who join! surely, the SA prizes at stake would be worth it! Challenge mechanics here.

cards, cards....

i'm not much of a card maker but i think i should do more of them. for one thing, it's great to give and receive them in the age of emails. they're truly personal and seems to pack more of a hug or a kiss. i did a few just before the year ended and some early this year as you may check out here.

Nina had a blog party and she had questions one has to answer in order to join. part of it was to send in some projects with examples of the answer. i realized, i didn't have any to show for by way of the techniques. so i thought i would do a quickie project and above is the resulting card. it was inspired by one of the cards i saw made by Ms. Marian using alcohol inks. i didn't have glossy cardstock so i thought i'd UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) regular cardstock and then use alcohol inks on it for the background.

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this one i made for my nephew, Caspen, last December. i wanted to go to his party but schedules were criss-crossed at the time. i so sent this one to him deliver my birthday wishes.

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those Cuttlebug embossing folders are really so nice. here is another one i did for my inaanak, Lyza, who is visiting from Australia. she graduated from college with a Nursing degree.

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this one was my entry to the Kaya challenge 8 last December. i gave it to Lyza too so she can take it back home to OZ for her parents. i miss my good friends Jojo and Beth!...somehow, this one just seems to be the perfect card for them send with my hugs and kisses.

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these two are part of my Studio Azul projects. they'd be great for giving out next year since i was only able to work on them way past Xmas! now i have a headstart for the next holiday season...

peek-a-boo!

these LOs are now posted at the Studio Azul site so check 'em there as well so you can also take a peek at the cool and edgy January kit that's currently shipping.

this is a photo of my inaanak...cutie-pie 'no!...i asked Nita for a photo since i have few Christmas-sy ones. i really like big edge-to-edge pics because they make such huge impact but i had 2 problems. first was that this one was taken in a dimly lit place so enlarging it was a bit of a stretch. still, i think it was worth it for the cool shot so i went ahead and just did some photoshopping to make it suitable and enlarged it. next problem is that i have a regular A4 printer which means i can only do photos to about 11 inches. since this is a 12 by 12, my work-around was to print it in 2 segments. the splice is hidden by the green and red ribbon...nice tip, eh! btw, i think i was inspired here by one of the Pagemaps sketches though it was pretty subconscious...hahahah...i was surprised when i took a peek recently that it almost matches the first sketch!...talk about a retentive memory that forgets all about it :-D

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found this as a was looking for xmas pics to scrap. forgot to date it but this one was taken in December 2002. i really needed to scrap it because it was one of Reine's milestones. this one is a photo of the day we discovered her very first tooth. most of my kids gets their first teeth late so she is 10 months old here and was taken with a camera phone in all the excitement. it got lost among all the photos i have so i'm glad to finally find it and scrap it.

i used Radiant Rain shimmer spray here on the cardstock. i just love that product! i gives just about anything some glitz and pizzazz be it patterned paper, cardstock or even non-paper items! it really sticks and doesn't come off so you also have to be careful of overspray. some of my walls already glimmer. :-D

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i think this is my favorite LO thus far. it makes me happy just by looking at it. this one will be framed and displayed and perhaps shelved in my scrapbook next year AFTER it gets replaced with a new family photo. i think from on, i am making it a family tradition: December 26 shall be Family-Photo Shoot-at-a-Studio Day.

xmas LO teasers...

whew! finally accomplished 3 LOs for Studio Azul...and these are actually my first 3 for the year. thanks heavens for these kits! if i didn't have it, i doubt i could accomplish these at all this quick. makes me wonder if i really can accomplish my resolution of 2 layouts a week if i was working on non-kit papers. sigh. i really must re-examine my scrapping habits. i take too long deciding to paste things down, i think. but i am really happy and excited to share this nonetheless. watch out for the entire LOs soon at the Studio Azul blogsite along with Mia and Tin's beautiful work!

welcoming 2008

hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!!! am just starting to go out of the holiday break. it doesn't feel like a "break" really, there was so much to do! holiday shopping, reunions, xmas parties, things to cook, never ending shopping and wrapping...it was sooo draining! i wasn't able to do ANY scrapping till the 2nd of January, when all finally winded down...for a day! i did get in some scrapping then but to date have only 2 1/2 completed LOs for Studio Azul...will post them soon as they get done.

for now, i'm sharing our FIRST ever sit-in, studio-shot family pictures. this took a looong time coming--about 20 years late! since we had our first baby, i have always asked hubby that we take some time to take annual "formal" family photos but there were so many excuses to put it off. i have much to thank Val Salmon for giving me a magnificent incentive to go ahead an do it -- the Kaya 8 challenge for December where we needed a family photo to do the greeting card sketch. it was also lucky that i passed by this cozy-looking photo studio called Pic-A-Boo at The Block as i was doing some last minute xmas shopping at Toy Kingdom. their rates are quite reasonable and there are no membership fees. the package for 3 5R shots cost just under PHP1000.00 with unlimited posing. they have a pretty cool studio and i saw lots of costumes that would probably make fun baby (and adult) shots.

i immediately made appointments --yes, now i have to make "appointments" with my damulags just to get them all together on the same day--with the kids and hubby for the 26th (or else!) it was also great family bonding time because we also had a blast posing and picking out the pics for printing. here are the results. too bad they don't sell the high resolution jpgs. we ended up with 2 packages because we liked so many of the shots!

guess which photo made it to a frame to be proudly displayed at the living room? :-D