heirloom angel tree topper

i like making things to hang on our xmas tree and i've made several over the years. i combine them with commercial ones because i can't make them fast enough to fill up the tree and of course, there are busy years. one of those i've made, i think around '05 or '06, is an angel tree topper. i just like angels better than the usual star. or maybe i just like angels, period. this is why my kids have the names that they do now. i used to have a store-bought one but i ditched it after it got too old and dingy. i then found a pattern for a crocheted angel but i can't remember where. maybe it's in one of my books or on the internet. i'm sharing it here even if it's an old project because i just refurbished today. being several years old, it has also gotten dingy. fortunately, crocheted items can be washed so i took it apart to wash it, put it all back and gave it new wings.

here it is piece by piece.


i'm particularly proud of this because it is a pretty detailed thread crochet having a scallopped hem and collar. i used a creamy gold speckled thread for it combined with white thread for accents...


and it has this nice puffed, princess sleeves.


this is the doll form that goes inside the dress...


and this is the hairpiece done with popcorn stitching.


since the wings were not fabric and cannot be washed, i decided to just make a new one using some scrapbooking stuff. these are some Maya Road chipboard flourishes, Tim Holtz grungeboard wings and some white felt fabric.


i painted those with black acrylic paint, and then gold. then i glittered the top part of the wing with Ice Stickles. i attached those to the white felt and sew that on the back of the dress. i wasn't able to photograph the process because i got too engrossed. so i'm just showing the finished wings after i put the angel back together :-)


she also holds this bead-and-wire bouquet that actually holds a symbolism for me. notice that there are 3 big heart beads and 2 small ones that are in different elevations. they represent my 5 children. topmost is my eldest boy followed by the next 2 sisters. the 2 small hearts are my 2 youngest kids. i often refer to them as Batch1 and Batch 2 because of the big gap in age between the 2 "batches".


here she is in full view, still on the crafting table.


and here she is on the tree, watching over the family...

after all these years, i haven't even named her yet. hmmm, maybe i should. any suggestions?

my december daily+1st ever video blog = feelingera!

i've always wanted to try out video blogging. all my idols do it... Cathy Z, Ali E... etc. of course, they are cooler BY FAR but a bloggin' girl's gotta try this out sometime. besides, this is how i understood the instructions on doing the December Daily so i kinda figured that this is the best way to show it too.

you HAVE to forgive my nervous twitches and mannerisms, the repeated ok's and ahh's and the ugly hands. it's sort of protracted and disorganized but charge that to inexperience also. plus i do feel more than just a bit silly doing it. worse, i just did this by the seat of my pants with no plan whatsoever. perhaps i should have planned first what i was going to say. hopefully, it gets better next time. if you ever get yourself to finish it, virtual hugs to you! thanks for watching!

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P.S. Alby asked me kasi and i forgot to mention pala. i made the printed pages' template with Adobe Illustrator. Tin actually gave us a template for the Ali Edwards format but i wanted to print 4by6 photos on my printer since there are ready photo paper available from National that i could use. hence, i made my own instead :-D gotta thank Tin also for the rest of the other templates. mwahhhh! :-*

cousins and friends

since last saturday's scrap session, i still was in the mood for some more cutting and pasting considering i had photos printed out that i intended to scrap. unfortunately, work had to get done first so i had to put scrapping on hold. i finally had a few moments to myself last night and here was the output.

i vowed to make my scrapbooking more simple these days so i would get more pages done. unfortunately, i still couldn't just cut and paste. i have a compulsive need to turn paper and embellishments round and round my layout before i commit to glueing it down for an extended amount of time. weird, i know! is this indicative of something psychological/freudian/jungian?... indecisiveness, fear of commitment, fear of making mistakes, making mountains out of molehills. i don't know. at least i attempt to understand myself, even through something as inconsequential as scrapbooking. i do believe we will all benefit if we occasionally analyze ourselves and our hidden motivations and underlying emotions. i don't think we serve ourselves well if we think we are always right. a healthy dose of self-doubt is sometimes just what we need. ok, i'm rambling again. but who knows, this will probably make sense to someone out there.

back to the layout. this one still took maybe a couple or so hours. yup, fast scrapbooking is still an elusive goal for me. i just have to keep trying.

sisters

ok so i've missed a couple of S3's (or 4?) but i'm back and i've been up to some scrappiness even then! went to a mini book/techniques class the other Saturday with Cabbie and Ime teaching and discovered the wonders of molding paste. but since i have no photos for that one yet, i'll hold off on the story for another day.

yesterday was one fine day with regards to scrapbooking and, of course, eating! how can one keep sugar and calories away with friends like Tin and Mitch! because we were a bit "bitin" on scrapping the previous Saturday, we agreed to meet at Mitch's again yesterday, Friday. it seems our Mitchgirl is on a mojo roll not only with scrapbooking but with baking as well. she treated us to her yummy homemade tart apple pie and heavenly freshly baked cinnamon rolls which we smothered with here mix of sweet cream cheese and butter spread. talk about fat and sugar! just to make you envious, here are some pics i snapped with my phonecam. :-D




so, we had all that while i attempted to scrap between mouthfuls of pastry. luckily, i was able to do a couple of layouts. Lee did 2 also while Cabbie finished 3 albeit coming in late. Nita didn't scrap but cut us some pretty Tim Holts diecut birds. however all that does not hold a candle to Mitch's whopping 9 layouts! it's even more amazing considering she would occasionally stop and go out to check on her baking goodies. i don't know how she does it!

here are my output for yesterday's session.



Mitch has some really gorgeous, glittered MME papers and these are what i used here. because they are already so beautiful, it made it quicker to move along with a page. i didn't want to load them with much more. so there... hopefully, i shall be scrapping some more this weekend. till next!

i did it!

i was bloghopping quite a bit this past week hoping to find inspiration from one of my scrapbooking idols. therefore, i had to take a peek into my scrappin' diva/goddess/idol Cathy Zielske's blog. i always pick up something there and even if i don't, she is always a fun read. at that time, she had just started a new blog feature called "make a page Monday". i mulled about it for a while and thought yeah... that can work for me too. it was a Sunday then and i thought that since Sundays are usually a free day for me it would be a great time to scrap something. so i thought i can call it... wait for it...

brilliant eh?... ok, so i am heavily borrowing from the goddess of scrap but she will probably forgive me because she is 'the' CZ :-D however, unlike her, i don't have free templates to give away on Mondays, and unlike her--she intends to do the scrapbooking anyday of the week but post it on Mondays--i will have scrap on Sundays (or Saturdays if that happens to be more convenient). i just thought it was kinda fun to do something on certain days of the week... like... maybe i'll do an ATC Tuesday ... and a Film Friday as a photography activity... there's an existing Bokeh Wednesday on Flickr so maybe i'll do that too. that's the general inspiration idea. hey, it's a plan, right?

thus far, it has borne a modicum of result. yep, a full scrapbook page! to be honest, i really thought i didn't know how to do it anymore. but there's nothing like a sketch to get a girl-who's-lost-her-scrapbook-juju to get started again. i really, really hope it gets easier from here. we'll see.

here's a link to the sketch from the October edition of Pagemaps that gave me a little push. the resulting page is this.



i swiped these photos from the Facebook album of Othello because just wanted to test how big i can print the low res files with still acceptable quality. as you can see, it wasn't too big. but at least that gave me something to put on a scrapbook page.


this was the first time i ever went to Vigan and it was such fun! especially since it was with this motley group of photography classmates we now call Core, plus Art and Erwin. the only one missing here is Rowell. we actually spent just an afternoon there since we were in Ilocos Norte the entire 3 days we were up North of Luzon because we went there to see the Pamulinawen Festival. this trip actually merits an entire album so maybe i'll do that too sometime.

so... here's to more scrapbook pages ahead... i can feel it... it's the rekindling of an old relationship :-D i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

simplicity

i heard it was World Cardmaking Day last Saturday, Oct 2. don't exactly know if that was true but it was a great excuse to make some. i also really needed to use at least some of my newly acquired toys. yes, new. and that, after i swore NOT to buy any more because some of my "old" stuff hasn't even seen action yet. but then again, i needed motivation to start scrapping again. hence i needed to shop. just a teeny bit. i DID promise myself NOT to go overboard... to just pick up maybe one toy... so guess what? i went overboard. now i think i spent the money i was saving up to watch that Adam Lambert concert. arrrrghhh... i hope i can still go watch it. i have a feeling though that i might just have to miss it. maybe it's just as well. can't bring a camera to the venue anyway. maybe i'll just wait for it to come on TV. hey, do yah hear something? probably just my heart breaking... :-(

anyhoo, back to those cards. i was able to make just a couple because i was out with Nita the whole afternoon to evening of Saturday. boy did we have a grand time! too grand i forgot to take photos even with my cellphone. i think we really just enjoyed the moment. of course scrap shopping was first on the agenda, then we went to eat at this place called Ristras (thanks to Vivian for pointing out the place to us!) where we had a big (and i mean BIG!) "wet" burrito. next time, i have to remember to take a photo. we have to go back there anyway :-D then we went for a Swedish massage! yey! we were kinda hungry again after that so we ate at Cantonese Soup Kitchen. totally yummy CTK soup and hot shrimp salad. how's that for a great Saturday!

oh yeah... the cards.


the two cards on top i did a few months back but didn't post and the two below, i made Saturday night to early Sunday since i couldn't sleep yet. these cards are pretty simple. i like them that way because it's easier to fit them in an envelop if i want to send them by mail. i do love the way artsy but bulky cards look but even if i could make one, i might not get myself to give them away! hence, quick and simple is the way to go for me.

here's a closer look at each. i'll also share the key products i used on each in case some reader wants to find 'em.




here the stampin' lovelies i used for the two birthday cards above. i totally love these Design Block stamps from Hero Arts. i'd buy them all if only i can afford them. :-D these are from several seasons back but i really don't have anything much that are 'new'. unless new means 'unused'...


these two are called Birds And Branch and Birthday.

next one is the first card i did on the actual World Cardmaking Day. if you're not a crafter, you're probably laughing at that. but us crafters, we take that seriously. :-D


key products i used here are these: this EK Success Arrow Border edger punch (i love these punches, they're so sharp and crisp) and the winged heart from Autumn Leaves Gypsy Style clear stamp (it's so old, i can't find a link)


next card is this.


i actually made this card just so i can use my newly acquired Martha Stewart Around the Page punches called Woodland Branch edge and Bird & Branch. in case you're uninitiated and curious as to how to use them, here is the instruction sheet from the MS website. you can also search around in YouTube for vids on how to use 'em.

the other 2 products are stamps from a couple of sets. the bird is from Inkadinkado Birds Galore set and the words are from Tim Holtz SA set called Mini Muse.


since these cards are pretty simple with straightforward techniques most crafters are well acquainted with like stamping and embossing, there's only one more "oomph" factor i can share. it's just a simple sewing technique but i think it adds a lot of personality to any craft project.


hopefully you can have access to a sewing machine with special stitches. above is just a simple straight stitch but i change to zigzag midway and then change back again to straight. i repeated it several times as i completed the edges around the card.

above is also a sewing technique but i did 2 rows of stitching, one straight and the other is a feather stitch.

but what's really cool are these variegated threads i used here. this is quilting and sewing thread from YLI i got from Ebay. i can't find them anywhere here in Manila. i initially bought them for quilting but they're seeing more action in papercrafting. well, ain't that a surprise...

so there... hope you liked my little warm-up-to-scrapbooking project. hopefully the next project is a scrapbook page already.

it's time

just so i feel like i have a new beginning, i changed my blog's look. whatchatink? is it pretty enough for a new start? some people like starting with a new blog but i like history. i like things that have a past. the quirkier, the better.

however, i have no new scrapbooking projects yet. i have just come out of one WHOLE year of school-- photography school to be exact. i have just completed a Diploma Course in Professional Photography at the College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts. ain't that a mouthful. can't you see i'm trying to impress yah! :-D anyhoo, that's another story for another blog entry, perhaps on my other blog AuWasHere. i shall toot when i get to write that one. but please do visit that blog too.

since i needed a new post just to get my feet wet, i scrounged my HD for something to blab without having to first do a new project. i seem to remember i have a couple of layouts i haven't posted yet. well, i found it. so here:


funny thing, that hairstyle is not my 'do anymore. it's been THAT long. this one i did for that last (and only...hopefully there's one again soon!) trip to Tin's family vacation house at the Tagaytay Highlands. it was supposed to be a scrapbooking marathon, but i came up with only one layout, slow scrapbooker that i am. but i have since changed my hair :-D so maybe i'll scrap about that sometime. this is how i look now...

heheheh... so, like my new look?.... kidding! this was for a conceptual portrait school project where we had to put ourselves on a movie poster. story here. yep, kinda fun.

oh, there's one more unposted layout i found on the HD. this was used as sample LO for the Scrapbuffet event that was hosted by Studio Azul... so long ago... sigh... it's a 10-minuter, really. but i think i took an hour on it. i should do more of this quickie layouts. even with my now old and outdated stash. at least, that would get me to fill more of the waiting scrapbook albums i purchased 'on sale' quite some time ago. and more importantly, i'd be documenting life again. and THAT is what scrapbooking is all about anyway.