Crunch Time

This was me on Christmas Eve last year. But this early I am already feeling the crunch as my waking moments are reserved for my kids - exams, school programs, teachers' gifts, etc.

Title: Crunch Time

Materials: Patterned Papers (Kaisercraft), Chipboard Diecuts (KI Memories), Stickers (7 Gypsies), Foil Letters (American Crafts), Tiny Alpha Stickers (Making Memories), Rub-ons (Basic Grey), Pen (American Crafts)

Journaling: Here I go again. It's 4pm and Dec. 24 & I just got back from shopping. I feel the rush as the clock ticks & my Christmas has begun for sure. There is nothing like the excitement & anticipation for what is coming that makes me feel like a child again. 12-24-08

Not Ordinary

Geez, I've been a bad blogger again...things are getting quite busy at home and we haven't even really started preparing for Christmas! Luis' exams are in 2 weeks and Nadya 2 weeks after that...cutting it too close to Christmas! Here's a LO of Bianca I finished recently -- I know I'm her mother but isn't she just adorable???.

Title: I'm Not Your Average Girl

Materials: Patterned papers - Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon; Transparency - Hambly; Bling - Heidi Swapp; Ballooons - American Crafts; Chipboard Butterfly - Scenic Route; Paint - Kaisercraft; Glitter - Pink Paislee, Ranger Distressed Stickles; Sticker - 7 Gypsies; Cardstock - DCWV, Bazzill; Pen - American Crafts; Others - Crackle Medium, fiber

Journaling: Bianca turns 2 small green balloons into very girl's must-have accessory! Sept 2009

The Countdowns Start!

Yup, you read it right! In our home, the Christmas decorations start coming up the moment Halloween is over -- in our case, some of the decor was up even before Halloween was over -- and so have the kids started making their wish lists.

If only what Nadya said was true "It's ok to put expensive toys on the wish list because it's free since it's from Santa!" How can you argue with that kind of logic?

I made a Christmas countdown last year but I sent that out for publication (toot for me!) and I haven't gotten it back (I hope I get it back at all since I haven't gotten any responses to my queries..boohoo).

So just in case it doesn't get back in time, and before I get a headache from my kids asking me several times a day "How many more days 'til Christmas?", I decided to make another one...with a twist, of course.

This time there are 3 countdowns -- to Christmas Day, to our wedding anniversary on Dec 30 (10 years this year!) and to New Year's Day.

Check out Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker adorable Christmas line "North Pole Lights" -- not your traditional Christmas colors, so they are very versatile.

And since I'm starting so early this year, here's hoping my kids willactually stop fighting over who gets to change the numbers on the countdown -- since they have 2 months to do it!

Please forgive the dark pics, I'll have to take more shots in daylight tomorrow!

Update: new photos taken 11-16-2009, in case you start calculating number of days:)

Halloween House Tabletop Decoration

Here's another Halloween project using Nikki Sivils Victoria's Street Chipboard album and Boo-tiful stamps. The only difficult part of this project was cutting out the windows since the chipboard is really thick and sturdy. Once the windows were cut out and the whole thing was painted black, everything fell into place.

I'm planning to put a candle inside so it looks all spooky at night with the light coming out through the windows.

Please check out Working Mom magazine's Oct 2009 issue for my article on displaying kids artwork.

Kiki-Art Toot!

Yipeeee! I made it to the Kiki-Art Design Team! Kiki-Art is a a new scrapbook manufacturer, based in Canada, that debuted at the recent CHA. It is different because having a multi-cultural perspective is a fundamental part of their existence.

It was named Best New Company for the Summer 2009 CHA by http://www.craftcritique.com/ because what they are offering is very different than anything else on the market right now. They are the first trilingual scrapbooking company, but their lines aren't only themed in French, English and Spanish.

It's 1st design team is a huge group divided into 4 categories (combining languages, cultures and countries):

Francophone team
- Nathalie Gregoire - QC, Canada
- Annie Legace - QC, Canada
- Annie Carignan - QC, Canada
- Sylvie Sabourin - QC, Canada
- Kim Brouillette - QC, Canada
- Fabienne Delvaux - QC, Canada
- JJ Sobey - QC, Canada
- Cathia Leblanc - QC, Canada
- Melissa Mercier - QC, Canada

Allophone team
- Vivi Rahman - Brunei
- Ria Van Son - Netherlands
- Ann-Katrin - Norway
- Ria Mojica - Philippines
- Sophia Allison - South Africa
- Annika - Sweden

Anglophone team
- Michelle Galatuik - AB, Canada
- Kim Toms - QLD, Australia
- Megan Epperly - FL, USA
-Keely Yowler - KY, USA
- Sarah de Guzman - CA, USA
- Nicole Rixon - CA, USA
- Carole Stirrat WA, USA
- Lynda Lindley - WA, USA
- Katrina Hunt - MO, USA
- Ellen Sosnoski - PA, USA
- Nicole Renee Martin - OK, USA

Hispanophone team
- Lida Garcia - Mexico
- Al Marie Campana - FL, USA
- Magdalena Vazquez - Peru

I did some research on the word allophone - from Wikipedia:

In Quebec, an allophone is a resident, usually an immigrant, whose mother tongue
or home language is neither English nor French. The term is also sometimes used
in other parts of Canada. The term parallels Anglophone and Francophone, which
designate people whose mother tongues are English and French, respectively.

I'm so excited because Kiki (Arantza) is particularly interested in adding our local flavor into the mix (she's actually been to the Philippines!). I'm also looking forward to practising some of my rusty Spanish! I can't wait to start playing with their bright and colorful products!

Kids @ Heart

Halloween is definitely in the air...gotta start decorating the house. Here's another LO from our trip to HK Disney last year.

That was a really fun trip -- we all went to Disneyland at night wearing costumes. I wanted to be a witch but the kids wouldn't have me be a bad witch so I guess I was a good black witch. Bud went as Elvis -- I swear he loves that shiny red satin costume of his! It was fun to dress up and feel like a kid again.

Title: Kids @ Heart

Journaling: Halloween '08; Nothing brings out the kid in us like a visit to the happiest place on Earth!

Materials: Nikki Sivils patterned papers; Bazzill cardstock; Hambly transparency; Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey and American Crafts chipboard alpha; Making Memories paint; Zig and Ranger pens

Trick and Treat Album

Here's a Halloween album using Nikki Sivils adorable Boo-tiful line and the matching shaped ghost mini-album and stamps. These are available in the Philippines at Lasting Impression.

Materials: Chipboard ghost album, patterned papers & stamps - Nikki Sivils; small chipboard alpha - Basic Grey; white chipboard "&" - Heidi Swapp; Ink - Tsukineko; Pens - Zig and Ranger; Paint - Making Memories; Glitter - Pink Paislee; Embossing Powder - PSX; Glaze - Judikins; DYMO label maker; MM Slice Spellbound; misc ribbons

Doing our little bit...

I wanted to teach the kids a lesson about sharing so last Wednesday, after my gym class, I headed to Makro (our version of Costco) and got some items to make relief packs for Typhoon Ondoy victims. I also invited some friends and their kids to come the next day to help out in packing.

Luis was very excited when he saw the car loaded with stuff for repacking and even helped bring some of the boxes into the house. He even took the initative of making signs to indicate where everything was and assigned duties for those who were coming.

Those who came to help were Sam (who was celebrating his birthday that day) and Roxanne, Cole and Kensie and Aerol, plus Lilian and Maget and my kids Luis, Nadya and Bianca. Together we made 50 relief packs -- 1 of which went to our driver whose house was flooded, 15 went to the maintenance people in Bud's office and the rest went to the factory workers of Bud's friend whose export factory and inventory (including finished goods awaiting shipment worth $100,000) were all wiped out.

This is not much, I know, as everyday, we hear more stories about people we know who need help, but it's a start.

Halloween Season!

It's the 1st of October and the start of Halloween season! Here's a LO using Nikki Sivils Boo-tiful line and following a sketch challenge that was posted for the DT. Check out more LOs and projects using this super fun line at the Nikki Sivils blog.

Title: Spooked

Materials: Nikki Sivils patterned papers, Bazzill cs; Zig & Ranger pens; Ranger distress stickles; Pink Paislee glitter; Ranger embossing powder; Making Memories Slice Spellbound design card

On another note, much of Metro Manila and nearby Rizal province was devastated by Tropical Storm Ketsana (called Ondoy locally). We were lucky to have come out unscathed but a mere 10 minute drive takes us to some homes that are still surrounded by water, 5 days after Manila received the highest rainfall in 42 years!

Everyone is trying to do something to help out, but the hardest part for me is to try to get my kids to understand how lucky they are. They are enjoying their 1-week vacation from school and it irks me that they just do not get it. So today we will be packing up some relief goods here at home to donate to Buddy's office staff who are suffering from the effects of the flood -- at minimum, I hope they learn to be thankful for the capacity to give.

Busy Busy Busy

I wish I was busy making LOs, but last week I was so busy making reviewers for Nadya's exams this week -- it's a crazy life but it's the only way I know to prepare my kids for their exams. I know if I don't do it and they get a low score, I'll only have myself to blame.

Luckily I was able to make a few LOs before then so here they are. Please forgive the slightly blurry pictures, I'm still waiting for the sun to shine long enough for me to take decent pictures of my LOs, it's been raining almost everyday the past few weeks.

Title: Danger Zone
Materials: DCWV & Bazzill cs, Bo Bunny pps, 7 Gypsies stickers and rub-ons, Autumn Leaves & Rusty Pickle letter stickers, American Crafts Thickers, Zig pen; Tool: MM Slice Just Chillin

Title: On Stage
Materials: Basic Grey & Bo Bunny pps; Bo Bunny rub-ons; DCWV cs, Basic Grey letter stickers, Ranger pen

Title: Game Nite
Materials: Bo-Bunny patterned paper, DCWV cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, Magistical Memories chipboard gears, Daisy Bucket felt star, Ranger Inkssentials pen, Creative Imaginations phrase stickers
Journaling: It was Bianca's birthday and she begged to go on the teacup ride at Fun Ranch. But it was almost 8pm and the ride was closed. We ended up in the Bumper Cars and had the most fun 5-minutes ever! 090309

Using Texture Paste

Here are the 2 LOs I used as sample for my Texture Paste demo at the recently concluded Scrapfest 7. Texture paste, also called modelling paste, is a great way to add dimension and texture to your pages.

In 7th Heaven, I used it to create the frosting on the cupcake. While in Lazy Summer Days, I used it to turn ordinary chipboard stars into stafish.

All the papers used in these LOs are from Nikki Sivils "My Sweet Cherry Pie" line -- available in Asia through Lasting Impression.

Title: Lazy Summer Days

Materials: Nikki Sivils patterned paper and journal tag, Rusty Pickle chipboard, American Crafts chipboard alpha, Doodlebug alpha sticker, Zig pen, Bazzill cs, Ranger white pen, misc charms and fabric, Making Memories paint, Clearsnap ink

Title: 7th Heaven

Materials: Nikki Sivils patterned papers and cord brads, Bazzil cs, Ranger white pen, Making Memories glitter stickers, American Crafts pen, misc bling, cupcake stamp

Play School

Title: Play School

Journaling: Putting a chalkboard in their room is one of the smartest things we've ever done. The girls love to play school with Nadya as teacher and Bianca and Roxanne as eager students! 082609

Materials: Patterned paper - Daisy Ds, DCWV; American Crafts vinyl thickers, Making Memories tiny alpha, Jenni Bowlin tickets, American Crafts pen, Clearsnap ink, misc popsicle sticks and masking tape

Scrap Tiffany Week 5

For my last week as Guest DT for Scrap Tiffany's challenge blog, the theme is "Star", as in "Who is the star in my life?"

Having 3 kids, this is a very difficult question for me to answer, since each of my kids is a star in a different way. But since Bianca is celebrating her 4th birthday this week, I decided to do a LO of her.

It was refreshing to do a romantic LO after all the "punchy (I wish!)" LO's I've been doing recently. I even got to use my glimmer mists!

Title: Wish Upon A Star

Journaling: Bianca's 4th Birthday Wish List
- a gold fish or three
- in a fish tank
- with fish food
- a Tinkerbell party
- a Little Einsteins party in school

Materials: Basic Grey patterned papers, Rusty Pickle chipboard star, Pink Paislee and Making Memories alpha stickers, Tim Holtz Distress Stickles and Journal ticket, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Heidi Swapp mask, American Crafts pen, Clearsnap ink

Nikki Sivils is here!

Not Nikki herself , of course, but her stuff has arrived at Lasting Impression.

If you want to be one of the first (since I am the first here...lol!) to get your hands on them, come to Scrapfest 7:

Date: August 29, 2009

Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Place: Makati Park and Gardens

For more details check out Scrappin Moms blog.

Productive Week-end

Had a very productive week-end and finished 5 LOs (including For Now, below). Here are 3 of them (one was picked for publication before I could post it here...yehey for me!). 082809 - Oops, had to take another LO down as it was picked up too... :)

Title: Oh Happy Day!

Journaling: Nadya had a great time when we celebrated her 7th birthday at Active Fun with a few friends from school.

Materials: Bazzill cardstock, Nikki Sivils pps and corduroy brads, American Crafts Thickers, Clearsnap ink, Zig pen, Fiskars border punch

Title: Recital Day

Journaling: This is the day Nadya and Bianca have been working so hard for all summer -- the one day they are allowed to wear Mommy's real make-up! 052409
Materials: Bazzill and DCWV cs, Glitz pps, journal sticker and rub-ons, Heidi Swapp chipboard alpha, American Crafts pen, misc bling

Scrap Tiffany Week 4: For Now

Here's my take on this week's challenge at Scrap Tiffany about TIME -- the thing we have very little of.

Title: For Now

Journaling: For now, it's ok that I barely have any time for myself, that most of my waking hours are filled by things to do for you and with you, that my world revolves around you. One day soon, you won't be needing me as much -- then I can scrap the whole day, go shopping, get a massage, a facial, manicure, pedicure, get my hair colored and cut or even get some sleep. But for now, my time is your time and that's ok...for now. 082309

Materials: Bazzill cs, Nikki Sivils pps, Daisy Ds die-cuts, Making Memories tag, Creative Imaginations brad, American Crafts Thickers, Clearsnap ink, Zig pen, clock face downloaded from internet

Try out the challenge and you might just win a kit from Scrap Tiffany!

Scrap Tiffany Week 3

Sorry for the delayed post. For my 3rd week as Guest Designer at Scrap Tiffany, the challenge was to make a LO about your "Bucket List" -- you know, the things you want to do before you "kick the bucket".

Title: Viva Espana

Journaling: Funny how, being a list person, I have a list for everything, but I don't have a bucket list. But there is one place that I have always wanted to visit that has eluded me thus far -- SPAIN! I'm not even sure of what there is to see or do there, I just know I want to go there. Could it be because the Philippines was colonized for 300 years? Or because it was my 1st language? Whatever! I just wanna go there!

It's not too late to join in on the fun so head on over to Scrap Tiffany now! Happy Weekend everyone!

Guest DT for MyStamp Box

It was so nice of Tiffany from MyStamp Box to offer me a guest DT post this month. She sent me 2 stamps sets to play with - Birthday Balloons and Lines of Life.

Aside from having great stamp designs, MyStamp Box also features a unique storage system -- cd cases -- makes them easy to see, store and take along to crops!

I created several projects for them this month, including the LO above. Do check the rest of my projects here.

Scrap Tiffany Week 2

This week's challenge at Scrap Tiffany was to use something that we regret buying because it's so hideous...which was quite difficult to do since I can't bear to call any of my stash "hideous" and had to settle for something that I didn't like as much as I thought I would.

The colors for these Prima Crystals were pink, yellow, blue and red -- not exactly my choice of colors for bling, which is why I haven't used them before.

Title: Free

Journaling: You love to come to Canyon Woods to run around in Lola's yard -- the fresh air and wide, open sapce makes you feel so free!!! Jan 2009

Materials: Patterned papers - MME, Sassfras Lass, American Crafts; Prima fabric, Doodlebug alpha stickers, Prima crystals & vines, 7 Gypsies sticker, Zig pen, MM paint, MM clip, Clearsnap ink, misc canvas cloth; Prima packaging

Notice I took out my sewing machine (about a once a year thing for me...lol) for this LO. Do check out the rest of the DT's work here.

Henry's Brilliance

Here are 2 LOs using the Henry's Brilliance line from Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker.