Kitchen Sink Stamps!

I'm a very happy bunny! =D I got the "Pretty Petals" stamp set and a super-cute owl stamp from the wonderful people of Kitchen Sink Stamps (Thanks so much Maria and Pamela!). Suffice it to say I'm currently thinking of the layouts and cards I'll be making from them. Ecstatic = Me!

In the meantime, here are some cards to share. Happy Monday!

Star Celebrations

Having landed in Changi airport on Friday, I can say three things:

1. I miss my family and how everything seems to be happier in good ole Phil.
2. I miss the food (and the malls! Especially the great, new big sprawling ones)
3. I don't miss the traffic (and the crowds)

Going back to work after having spent Christmas, Jillian's birthday (in Tagaytay), Jillian's party (in Makati), New Year's, and my birthday is like being dropped into the ocean after having a short but enjoyable roller coaster ride.

In any case, here are some pics of the invites we sent:

Mom's trying to see if any of her friends are interested in having their children's invitations made by us. Hope it's the start of a business venture (keeping my fingers crossed!).

Tis the season to share

In 15 minutes it'll be 15 days to go til Christmas, and in 12 days we'll be back home (in good ol' Philippines) to spend the holidays with family. I can hardly wait! My sister (Kathy) and I have been exchanging mails and counting down the days. They're more excited about seeing their niece than seeing me. My mom and dad are a tad more excited (if that's possible) and have been helping to plan their first grand-daughter's second birthday. I swear if it weren't for them we'd only be having a modest get-together at home, but it seems they've invited their own friends (apart from our relatives) and now we've got a full-blown party. The theme this year is "stars" (colors: pink and silver) and I've only just started to make the invitation (design and message). Good thing the venue (catered food) have been handled so the decorations, guest list and loot bags are the only things left. *sigh*

On a good note, at work our last cutover was done (with a snag, but thank God it was fixed!) and I also got this layout I've been planning to make for Ces (my mommy at the scrapping monito-monita) done:


I've been dying to lift Jamie Waters work "Kira" (from Scrapbooks Etc, October issue) but didn't know what photo to use. This was definitely a stroke of luck and I find that making use of real scraps for the background saves on paper aside from making a great backdrop for the white lace cardstock. I definitely plan to do this again since I had great fun making it.

I'd also like share these great works from Ces and Andros from our recent scrapmeet, aren't they just so sweet?

And finally, a thank you card that I made from a few weeks back. I'm hoping I can get more cards made since work is supposed to slow down this season.

Happy Holidays and thanks for looking!

Thank You cards

It's been weeks since I've posted, and not half of my goal list has been ticked off... *sigh*... but I'm trying! Yes indeed-y... I finished these cards (and 8 more 6x6 ones) just today and I must say it was no easy feat (given that I've been going crazy with work nowadays).

The photos of Nash go inside. Hopefully mommy A will like 'em. =)

Two for the road

Card Maps (Sept 08)
"Smile"

Two (very simple) cards I did last night. I'm hoping my card skills will kick in thru practice. =)


"Miracle"

September's here! Just a few more months and it's Christmas, right? So here's my first card of the season. =D

Jillian's card

From CPS# 77 - Jilian's card

Of booties and blogging...

Scratch one off my to-do list - I got to do two cards! Hurray! This one's not based on CPS or Card Maps though, but the other definitely is. I used Jennifer Miller's design ("First baby card") in baby creations mag, and I used sketch #77 from CPS for the other one (which I'll post as soon as I take a decent photo of).

I also got to do the diaper cake! I'm probably 70% finished (I just need to put in a few more ribbons and make the box). I was pleasantly surprised to find that shaping and molding it into a "cake" wasn't as tedious and time-consuming as it first seemed. And i'm so happy I did it! Love the color-combo (hope to take a picture of it during the weekend).

I haven't blog-hopped (or even surfed) for the entire week so I didn't hear the news that I got a wonderful RAK from the lovely ladies of {Create}! I feel so grateful and blessed! Especially after these past 2 tiring and hectic weeks (work was more toxic than usual). Just one more day and it'll be the weekend... I can't wait!

Finished!

Jiroken's Sketch # 2 Challenge
"Sesame Sweetie"

I finished this layout just today and I must say that even if I wasn't able to enter it to the challenge (too late already, lah) I feel good about how it turned out (considering I had several title changes). I'm not sure, as well, if it would have fitted the challenge mechanics as the title is supposed to be diagonal.

On a side note, I was able to send my entry to Scrappin Kids challenge since I'd already done a "water"-based layout some time before ("Baby Bath Bubbles"). I've never entered it into any challenge, so that was a stroke of luck. I'm just a bit concerned that the pictures were of Jillian after her bath so there really isn't any "water" in the photos. Hmm...

Because of the extra time, I got to make a few simple cards. I'm hoping I'll develop more skill to do a better job but for now these have made me pretty happy.

1. For Amy's little boy:

2. For Amy:

I better check out some of the good sites for card sketches as I'd like to try my hand on making more of 'em.

On a sad note, I don't think I'll be able to enter Laine's August challenge because I don't have any word stamps (or inks for that matter). Guess I'll start on HMITM's Challenge # 86 which is quite a challenge:

Use 33 pieces of patterned paper
Use 8 buttons and 4 tags
Use your own writing

Uggh, I hate my handwriting...

Happenings...

For starters, the Beijing Olympics started yesterday and I got to watch the opening ceremonies in the hospital. Not because of anything bad, on the contrary, a couple of friends and I went to Mt. Alvernia to visit our good friend A who's 7 months pregnant and who needed to give birth.

So here's wishing our new mommy A a swift recovery and good days ahead! And a very warm welcome to Alexander Julius Dempsey! Coincidentally born on Singapore's 43rd Birthday! What a happy start to the day...

And 3 other things which have added to my happiness:

1. My finished LO for the Scrappersatsg challenge:

Scrappersatsg Challenge # 21
"Sleeping"

I technically used 6 craft-related stuff for this LO: 1. Decorative scissors (pink trimming at the bottom) 2. One-hole puncher (pink notebook peeling strip at the lower right) 3. Making Memories hole punch 4. MM universal eyelet setter 5. MM Hammer (swirls on the upper right, framing the flowers) and 6. Craft Robo die-cutter (pink flowers).

2. A card (second item of my "goal list" done!)

Scrappersatsg Challenge # 21
"Thank You" (3 x 4 folded card)

For this card, I used 5 craft items: 1. One-hole puncher (pink notebook peeling strip at the bottom) 2. Making Memories hole punch 3. MM universal eyelet setter 4. MM Hammer (swirls on the upper right, framing the flowers) and 5. Revo die-cutter (white swirl), thanks to cute#1!

3. $20 gift hamper from Laines! (Thanks Marix, for voting for me!)

I also entered my fave LO - "Doggy & Me" to {Create}'s August challenge (Animal Love). So apt!

Well, those are the latest "happenings" in my life. After my cutover this morning I'm raring to finish the last 2 goals on my list. So sorry that I didn't make it to Michelle's challenge but I'm still going to make an LO based on her sketch! As well as try to make 3 more LOs (for HMITM, Scrappin Kids and Laines). Good Luck to me!

You're invited

Not long after being introduced to the world of scrapping (another heartfelt thanks goes out to my colleague Rhea, who upon inviting me to join a couple of other scrapaholics unwittingly made me a scrap-addict) I tried my hand at making cards as well.

To scrap is to lift, I say, and here are the ones I've made for my li'l chipmunk.


"Baby's Christening"

Lifted from cute#1's design (check it out here: http://cute1screations.blogspot.com/). I admit, this wasn't too crafty as I used pre-made stickers (baby rattle) and minimal patterned papers. But the bits I really love are the transparencies (invite message and name tag) and the vellum. cute#1 also wonderfully used A6 plastic passport holders (from Daiso) as envelopes/holders for the card.

Me, my sister and my hubby made about 30 pcs of this card and had an alternate design where instead of a rattle, we used pre-made stickers of a baby shirt and diapers. The cardstock at the bottom was yellow and green.

cardstock color is lilac (was unable to fix the color when taking the photo)

"First Birthday"

Lifted from designer Julie Medeiros' work "twinkle, twinkle" (Paper Crafts magazine - baby creations). The theme for Jillian's first birthday was "cupcakes", and the cupcake cut-out at the bottom of the invite message were from postcards bought from MPH. Each postcard contained about 20 different pictures of the small cupcakes and there were only 2 postcards left at the bookstore which was a relief since we'd searched through all the known scrap places in Singapore as well as all the bookstores that were in the vicinity. We were on a literal "cupcake spree" and by the end of that weekend our eyes were so adjusted to looking for pics of cupcakes (on cards, wrappers, patterned paper, books etc.) that I think we couldn't walk into a store without automatically zooming in on anything that resembles one.

I'm proud of the cupcake "seal" on the ribbon though. This one was based on a picture of a sticker (the cupcake was part of a group of stickers that also had a cake, ice cream, etc. that I wasn't really keen on buying). I downloaded the pic, photoshop-ed, got the outline and then paper-pieced it.

The color theme was pink and lilac (hmm... same as our wedding, I wonder...) and the alternate card to the one featured here is pink with minimal differences.

My Cherie Amour

Scrappersatsg Challenge # 13
"Stay Tuned"

One of the many LOs that looks so simple but took me so long to make. I'm pretty satisfied how it turned out (thank god).

I'm glad I got to do the "floating letters" again (cut from cardstock and mounted on transparency).

The original design was for a card that me and my hubby made. It was a farewell card for his boss. I was so pressured because I wanted to make a really nice card. It turned out well enough. =D

(I took photos using my handphone's 2MB camera so the pictures aren't good)