First Love

My eldest brother, Henry, is the father of two full-grown young ladies. He has always been very affectionate of his daughters and they both think he is the best father in the world.

When Sam came to our family, he instinctively formed a special bond with my daughter. I often see them playing together and he never gets tired of her childish antics. In fact, his main highlight of the day is to tell me an anecdote about my own daughter, which is so heart-warming.

I thought of creating this LO to celebrate their special bond and to show him how much I appreciate his sincere affection for my daughter.

Journaling Reads: If you ask me: Mama, who is my first love? Then I would have to say: It is your Aku’ (you sweetly pronounce it as A-du’). He comes by several times daily just to see you and you are always delighted to see him. He plays with you and introduces you to a lot of new things like the bubbles, plastic balloon, his cellular phone and other fun stuff. You are always digging into his shirt pocket and he always allows you to crumple every piece of note you find in it. You are both enamored with each other and you never seem to get tired of his company. He thinks you are the smartest baby in the world and you think the world of him. His affection for you is immeasurable and I do believe you love him the same.

Materials Used: BG Blush Milk Chocolate cs; Scrapbook Walls Olive Den Plaid pps; Kaleidoscope pps; White vellum w/ gold flecks; Prima flowers; Brenda Walton chipboards; Mulberry paper.

Others: Simply Scrappy Deckler; BG Phoebe alphabet stickers; Mini-brads; Ribbons; Brass Buckle.

Play

Whew! Don't you notice how the days pass so quickly when you are busy? Before you know it, another week is over. In fact, I almost didn’t make it to my quota of 1 LO this week. It’s a good thing I had some quiet time last night and got to finish this in one sitting. This LO was done pretty quick (by my standard, that is) because I already got inspirations from Au’s tilted LO using BG Scarlett Letter. What motivated me further was Lee’s Mother’s Day LO. And oh, the inspiration for the three picture layout was also scraplifted from Valerie Salmon's tilted LO which I saw in the slide show of her gotscketch blog.

This may seem like simple but I really got to enjoy this one because like the title suggested, I got to play with it as I went along. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Joann for her great tip on using Foamies. It really did add dimension and interest to what might have been a flat layout. Thank you ladies for your inspirations.

Techniques Used: Distressing and paper cutting.

Materials: American Craft Bookshelf pps; polka-dot pps; Scrapbook Walls Poolhouse stripe pps; Brenda Walton chipboards; Teri Martin Swoosh Lower Case sticker; MM Mixed Font foam stamps; 2mm thk Daris Foamies.

Others: White and violet acrylic paint; EK Success Tag Types; Ribbon.

The Process: While laying out the pictures on the polka dot pps, I noticed that I may need to matt them in white cs to emphasize the photos and echo the white in the floral and polka dot pps. However, I was feeling stingy about using a big portion of the cs just to show a thin matting on all sides. So instead, I decided to distress the pictures with white acrylic paint to simulate the matting, which worked pretty well.

I then superimposed the Bookshelf and Poolhouse stripes pps and simultaneously cut the two in a slant. Why did I opt to cut the stripes in a slant? Because if I only cut a strip of the Poolhouse stripes pps, the 12” length will not be sufficient to reach both ends of the base paper when placed in a diagonal position.

After adhering all three pps, I cut-out several flowers in various sizes and colors from the Bookshelf pps. When I laid them on the paper, I noticed that they looked flat and uninteresting. So I decided to cut some Daris foamies and stick them behind the cut-out flowers to give them height and dimension. Next, I did the same thing with the ampersand which I drew free-hand from the back of the stripe pps and later cut-out.

If you happen to think that the cut-out flowers were all randomly placed on the page, you are mistaken. The group of small flowers on the middle of the page is strategically placed there to cover up an unwanted background in the lower left-hand picture. I decided to cover them up because not only are the plastic garbage bin on the background unsightly, they are also distracting the attention from the pictures.

I used violet acrylic paint on the MM Mixed Font foam stamps and slightly super-imposed it onto the main picture and base pps. Next, I individually glued the Brenda Walton chipboards and attached the cut flowers on the page. To create visual balance between the multiple floral pps on the left-hand side of the page, I placed the title, word journaling, and the biggest and darkest colored flower on the right-hand side of the LO.

As a final touch, I placed a jump ring on the circular tag, stamped it with the date and thread a ribbon on the ring before attaching on the lower left-hand side of the page.

So Radiant

Here is one LO I did over the weekend. It is scraplifted from BG’s April issue of Basic Inspiration by Melisa Goh.

Journaling Reads:
This has to be my most favorite pictures of us to date. You look so happy, you glow – and I could not help but bask in your radiance. I love you so much, Sam. I hope you’ll always remember that.

Materials Used: Blush charmed cs; Blush Boyfriend and Tease pps; Bazzill cs; 7 Gypsies pps; Prima flowers; Color Box Ink; Roundabout font; Sizzix Sidekick machine; Black Artline Acid-free pen
Others: Ribbon; Cotton Lace; Buttons and Charms

Process: Inked edges of Blush Boyfriend and Tease pps with dark brown ink before adhering to Charmed cs. Placed cotton lace on top of pps and cs before adhering white Bazzill cs as mat. Laced black ribbon through cotton lace then over the white cs and tied a knot over the cotton lace. Adhered photos on the white cs and the prima flowers on the pps. Added the journaling on 7 Gypsies pps, and the buttons and charm as a final touch.

My Obsession

Below is my entry for the PS Blog’s very first challenge. Just in case any of you scrapbook magazine subscribers are wondering why this LO looks familiar, that’s because it is a scraplift of the table of contents of Creating Keepsakes magazine (see left).

As for the photo collage, I got the inspiration from a wall display of Banco de Oro’s West Avenue Branch. When I saw it at the back of the New Accounts section, I was struck with the ingenuity of the photographer and decided: hey, this would be a good idea for an LO. So here you have it :D

Journaling Reads:

Call me quirky, but whenever I hear the words compartments, organizers and storage systems – I get goose bumps and that pleasurable tickling sensation at the pit of my stomach. Yes, I’m obsessed with containers especially the clear or opaque ones.

I would swoon over gifts of travel pouches and keep myself entertained for hours shopping in the plastic house ware departments. I also take pride in using ordinary kitchen or hardware storage systems in unconventional ways – I fondly call it ‘thinking outside the box’ (pun intended).

I would buy stuff with the premise: I’m sure I’d be able to find a use for it later. Needless to say, I have an assortment of containers in my cabinet waiting for the perfect use for it in the future. It’s a compulsion I couldn’t resist. Perhaps there is truth after all to my best friend’s theory that the reason I love to scrapbook in the first place is because I get to organize the materials in neat pile of boxes.

Another motivating factor for me to hoard containers is that I’m an incurable pack rat. The cheaper and queerer an item is, especially if it looks romantically old – it will be in my basket faster than you can say “garbage”. With my wide variety of knick knacks, it is but understandable that I have to own an assortment of organizers and storage materials. So you see, it is not just merely an obsession, it is clearly a necessity.

Materials used: Bazzill & Canson cardstock ; Scrapbook Walls Butter Dots and Sky & Spruce Stripes ; Elmer’s Craft Bond glue ; Carla Craft corner rounder ; Coluzzle craft knife, cutting pad and circle template.

The Process: One at a time, cut 4 different pieces of 4”x5” photo into 1”x1” and re-assemble immediately before moving on to the next picture. After all photos are cut, put together into a collage of photo mosaic. Using a ribbed white Bazzill cardstock as a base, I took advantage of the vertical ribbing of the cardstock as a guide in aligning the 1”x1” photo. Additionally, I used Elmer’s Craft Bond to adhere the photo mosaic on the cardstock. Since it is a slow drying glue, I was able to move the picture around a bit while eye-balling the alignment. Next, reverse-print the title and date in plain white Bazzill cardstock and cut to size. Using the actual glued photo mosaic, I penciled the desired height for the different colored cs & pps components. Before gluing them to the ribbed cs, I used Carla Craft corner rounder for the four edges. Finally, using the Coluzzle circle template, I cut a 2” dia. circle on a 5th photo and glued it on top of the date and journaling cs as a finishing touch.

Dog Day Afternoon

As Au once said, if I were a dog, I’d be a Golden Retriever. Hey, I am a sociable person. I am the sort who talks to a total stranger in an elevator if there’s a lull of silence. I would chat with taxi drivers, the next person on a grocery check-out counter and I couldn’t even resist saying good evening to passers by in our subdivision whenever I was out smoking a stick. Sometimes, my husband would tell me, “you don’t have to say good evening to everybody… it’s not like you’re running for barangay councilor”. But it’s an irresistible urge, like wagging my tail.

Anyway, the other day I was in the area of West Avenue on an errand. On the way back, I decided to drop by the National Bookstore at Quezon Avenue for some scrap necessities (all our purchases are necessary, right ladies?). Anyway, while I was on the payment line, I noticed two women in their late 20’s ahead of me animatedly chatting away. As the second woman placed her purchase on the counter, I noticed she was paying for an embossing powder and an acrylic block. As expected, I got all bouncy and excited. I thought: hey, scrappers – I can probably invite them in Pinoyscrapbookers. So I eagerly waited for a break in their conversation and gave my best opening line: “I see you’re scrappers” with a matching wide grin. The woman turned to me and gave me a blank look which would stop a puppy on its track. Can you imagine me with my tail abruptly freezing mid-wag and the ball dropping from my jaw? To ease my embarrassment and in a futile attempt to make myself look less of a creep, I raised my right hand with all the scrap materials as if to say: "I’m a scrapper too, see". She then turned right back to face her companion and continued with their conversation. On the way back to the car, I couldn’t help rationalizing to myself: that’s okey Nita, they’re probably not scrappers to begin with – and they sure aren’t pet-lovers either.

I called up my best friend as soon as I got back to the office and we got to laugh about it which at least brought the wag back on my tail. Ah well, I guess that’s just one of the perils of butt sniffing in a dog’s life.

Reluctant Blogger

My bestfriend Aurie had always been encouraging me to get a blogger account but I always fended her off with excuses, such as, "I have nothing to say", "what will I put in it?" and "I'm too busy". But lately, she has invited me to be in the core team of the Pinoyscrapbookers blog spot. She said that it's "necessary" for me to get a blogger's account. Which makes me think sometimes, "did she finally find the perfect excuse to get me into this?" Well, I'm here. So I might as well make the best out of it. Now, I'm fairly new in this blogging thingy, and knowing my personality, it'll take me a long while before I get used to it. You see, I'm the sort of person who likes keeping to myself and never liked being put on the fore-front to be criticized, you know? Oh heck, let's call a spade, a spade: I have very low self-esteem. There - it's out in the open. Oh, I'm quite competitive alright but it's usually work-related. They call me The Dragon Lady behind my back, would you believe? Though I don't think it's meant to be a compliment. LOL. But when it comes to my personal life, I'd rather stay in my comfort zone, thank-you-very-much. In fact, that's exactly why I love having Aurie as my bestfriend. She takes all the risks and does all the crazy stuff, giving anybody who dares come between her that devil-may-care attitude. I just love it! Because of her, I get to tag along with the wild ride. I get to do things I'm too afraid to even imagine. I get to be care-free and I'm loving it. Which brings us back to this blog thingy - Now knowing it's Aurie who pushed me into this and given her track record with me... there's a very big chance that I might just start liking this.