Bored Waiting, ScrapJam LO & RAK

ScrapJam immediately followed our return trip from HK (literally the night before!) so I barely had time to have photos made and get ready for scrapping. Of course, I thought I was pretty well-equipped for the event, only to find out I didn't bring my cutting mat, my blade, photo tape, sander, Maya scrolls, flowers, ribbons, etc. I had to borrow from my scrap buddies just to make it through!

Hence, when judging for the LO came, I didn't expect to win, nor even place as a runner-up at all! With great scrappers, Lee, Bjay and Donna, in my table blowing our minds with their skills, plus the talents of Cabbie, Mia, Nita, Au, Alby, Jeanie, Gracie, and so many others present, I just didn't have a chance. Still, I just went for my target of making 1 finished LO given everything stacked against me.

We were required to use the 3 papers given to us, plus Thickers bought on the spot, and also to use any stamp. Good thing, I had my Studio Azul Kit with me so I was able to use the boy stamp and the tag provided therein. The tag was great as a hidden journal, and fortunately, Scrapbooks-Hawaii sold ribbons of the exact color as the papers I got!

I decided to put the 3 papers one on top of the other, making some kind of stairs. I made the kraft paper as the first base, with the brown, then the red pp on top. In order to fit the 12x12 size, I had to recut these papers so that the total will still fit my albums. I also hand-tore some of the edges.

Journal: April 3, 2009. Hongkong International Airport. You were hungry, thirsty, tired & bored, waiting for our return trip to Manila. You're a real trooper.

Techniques used: Stamping, layering of papers, hand-tearing and rolling of edges for distressing, folding of papers and photos plus sanding to make white lines across everything, crackle painting the undressed Thickers in 2 colors, rubbing 2 Glimmer Mists on the edges of the kraft paper (without shaking the bottles to lessen the glimmer part), handwritten journal.

Materials used: Basic Grey pps, SR pp, misc. kraft paper, Thickers Shoebox, Prima Accents Cavalier Collection Brads, Studio Azul Kit tag, mm Love 2 ribbons, 7 Gypsies Gaffer Tape, Ranger Distress Crackle Paints (Tattered Rose, Shabby Shutters, Aged Mahogany, Brushed Pewter), StazOn Black & White Stamp Inks. Stamps used: Studio Azul Kit Boy & Girl Stamp, Prima My Rose Ledger & Postage Stamps.

Here's the RAK I luckily won! Thanks, Marisa of Scrapbooks-Hawaii, Yoyin and the ScrapJam Team! Love the RAK!

Won Iris's Prima RAK!

Weeee!!! I just found out that I was one of the lucky ones to win a Prima RAK from Iris! I am so excited because Prima's new line is really spectacular! Aside from the always gorgeous flowers, they have now expanded their lines into almost everything! I can't wait to use them in my succeeding projects! Do check out her announcement in her blog. For that matter, do visit her blog for a whole gamut of very inspiring LOs and projects!

Webster's Pages RAK for I Love You Contest

I was one of the winners in Webster's Pages' I Love You Contest. For the poem I made, please check it out below. The contest didn't say that there was any prize to be given away so I didn't expect any. So, you can just imagine my glee upon seeing this package in the mail! Now, I really have to make Webster's Pages LOs ASAP!!!

Visual Creations Rak for Love Elsie

Last July 5, during the ScrapJam, I received the RAK from Visual Creations for sending in one of the earliest LOs for the Love Elsie Challenge. Here's what I got!!! Yumyy-yum-yum!!! (Wish I was sexy enough to fit those sizes, too! Hehehe!) Thanks, Mitch Sy for this wonderful RAK! Thank you too, Lee, for bringing it to me!

Aged Wine

For the ScrapJam Challenge, I decided to focus on making a LO about my life-long friends in Confraternitas Jesu. The three photos showed us in 3 different times: 1989, 2001 and 2006. These are my true friends, since they know all my strengths and weaknesses, talents and shortcomings, and yet they have stood by me and seen me grow, in the same way that I have been witness to their growth.

Surprisingly, I was one of the winners in the challenge! (Congratulations to Rita and Cookie too!) I wasn't expecting this since the LO didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to be. I feel that the journal wasn't quite right and the white rub-ons on top of the masked alphas just wouldn't stick to the sprayed areas. But I guess that is everyone's difficulty as well given that we were only given about 1 hour to make it. Still, I'm not going to complain because the prize package is soooo deliriously delicious!

The journal is revealed when the champagne label with the flower is pulled out from the right. It reads: Life-long friends are like aged wine. They start young and sweet, sparkling and bright. Wine, like friendship, grows stronger, mellower, suave and mature as time passes. Time becomes the true test of all relationships. For those who wait and accompany each other, it is all worth it.

On the bottom corner of the LO, I added a Rhonna Farrer Rub-On Saying. It is only revealed once the journal is taken out. It reads: Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating tyourself.

The prizes are the ff: a 7-opening Picture Frame, Allary Scrapbooking Caddy (finally, I can retire my National Bookstore freebie caddy that is now too small for my needs!), Inque Boutique Phantom Stamps, Heidi Swapp Foam Stamps Drama, Gel-a-Tins Stamps, See-D's Li'l Stamps Vacation Memories, Bazzill 8"x8" Martha's Vineyard cardstock pack, BazzillBetz 2"x3" Alphabet card Assortment, Bazzill Really big 3" buttons, Stickles Dark Blue, Beadazzles Disco Ball, Keepsake Key Chain, and a 2"x2" olive picture frame-covered booklet that can be used for photos or journaling. SOOO YUMMY!!! Thank you very much Marissa of Scrapbooks-Hawaii and Nette of My Little Attic! I am so in-love with your stuff!!! (Proof of that is the big bag of other scrap materials I bought yesterday!)

Materials used: Bazzill (scalloped edges) cardstock, Iron Orchid Grabd Cru , Anna Griffin AG1281, BB Bosher green washer, Rhonna Farrer Phrases RubOns, Basic Grey Wholly Cow white rub-on scrolls, Carolina's lace ribbon, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Merlot, Elit Tracing Paper, UHU glue, Glue dots vellum, Japan Homes foam tape, Polar Bear Photo Memory Double Adhesive Tape. Others: American Crafts Thickers Prancer used for masking and making the title.

RAK Win at Peek!

Weeeee!!! I won $25 worth of scrapping stuff at A Peek Into Yesterday for Coveted Slippers!!! (If you'd like to see the LO, it is a few entries below.) My first win there! Oh my, oh my! This is the 5th great news I've received in the space of weeks!!! Dear God, thank you, thank you, thank you very much!!!

Coveted Slippers

In A Peek into Yesterday, the week's challenge was to scrap a childhood keepsake. The only object I treasured and still possess is my pair of toe slippers. When I was a child, my only dream was to be a dancer. Mind you, not just part of the corps de ballet, nor just a prima ballerina, but to aim for prima ballerina assoluta, the highest level of professional dancing. Of course, this dream wasn't quite possible for many, many reasons. Suffice to say, although my heart was in it, there were many things going against it, such as wrong body type, structure of the foot, etc. The day I gave up my toe slippers, I felt a part of me died. And for the longest time, these worn out slippers were hung on my wall, reminding me of what could have been.

And yet, on hindsight, dreams such as these are transitory. They prepare us for other avenues, other dreams, other possibilities. The initial dream helps us to learn lessons in life that will make us better persons, better performers and not just dreamers. Dreams, although they may start lofty and high, help ground us for the reality of working for reachable goals. Dreams after all, made me who I am today.

Journal: As a child, I worked hard to earn my toe slippers. Years after the dream to dance ended, I kept my toe slippers to remind me that dreams die to give way to bigger dreams and challenges.

Materials: Daisyd's NO. 12, Bazzill black cs, Al French Twist Journaling Panel, Glitter Chipboard, Doodlebug sugarcoated beetle black hopscotch alphabet, misc. pink ribbon, Daisyd's Rub-On Wishes, FP Bella Brush Stamps, Brilliance Moonlight White, Tsukineko Walnut Ink, VersaCraft 182 Real Black

I won Studio Azul's Challenge! WOOOH!

I'm soo happy! I won the non-member's Studio Azul Challenge using Au's Sketch for Water Fountain! WOOOH! Didn't think I would since there were many, many LOs I think were even more striking than mine! But I won't say no to the prize! Haaaay, heaven. I love the RAK!!! Thanks, Mia and Tin! --- I am not worthy!!!--- Congratulations to all the ladies for their gorgeous LOs!

Water Fountain

I had a difficult time making this LO based on Au Lim's sketch for Studio Azul because it needed 4 photos. I loved the photo of the water fountain so much, I decided to make it as part of the foreground papers by printing it on a transparency. Since the background is a water paper pattern, the pattern just showed through the transparency. The photos of Galo playing and having fun with the squirting water in Market!Market! were really worth capturing.

Christmas 2007 Card Challenge

For the Christmas Card Challenge, I wanted to concentrate on Advent instead. The Christmas Season is mostly advent, the preparation for Christ's coming. So, I made a card that also doubles as an advent wreath, complete with 4 candles: 3 purple and 1 pink.
On the front of the card, I used Karen Foster's Alphabet Slide to form the words ADVENT. On the inside flap, I made a slot for keeping unused candles. Then I made slots also to explain the significance of the advent wreath. I took me a while to iron out how to make the whole thing stick, stand and work, but it was all worth it. I was one of the lucky winners. Thank you, Marian King, for sponsoring this challenge.

Christmas Party 2007 CD Wall Art Challenge

As was mentioned in my post under Busy Christmas, I wasn't looking forward to making this challenge. I just couldn't see myself making something out of 3 cds and just covering them up.

For this project, I used 8 TDK cds. When I tried cutting one of the cds into two, I saw that the cd halves actually split into 2 sheets, one with the shiny metallic part, the other with the purple transparent plastic part. It's the latter that I used to cut into small squares to make a mosaic plastic frame for my LO. Then I adhered the pieces with stick glue. It's not as sturdy as I would have wanted, but it worked. For the rest of the LO, I used various rub-ons under the cd mosaic and on top of it, all with the theme "Family," on Daisyd's No.23. I used the same paper for covering the frame. I also used Prima Just for You Enjoying You for decorating the lower left corner, then topped it with a velvet ribbon and a Karen Foster "Treasures" metal nickle plate.

I was surprised when I found out that no one else was cutting cds. I thought that that was what others did. Someone even said jokingly that what I used are not cds, but mother of pearl! And, to top it all, it was one of the winners! (Thanks, Marinella of Creativeme.net, for sponsoring the challenge!)

Now I have a cd wall art I can really proudly display at home. It's a far cry from those Home Economics Projects meant "to beautify the home."

Pinoy Scrapbooker's Nametag Challenge

Last Sunday, I joined my first PinoyScrapbooker's EB. I had so much fun buying things from Au's Simply Scrappy Closeout Sale, and from other sellers, I just couldn't help myself! I learned how to make a mini-booklet from scratch with dimensional pop-ups from Mitch of Visual Creations, how to dismantle and make wall clock really special c/0 Cookie, and how to use Adobe Photoshop for better photos c/o Maybs. Since I was required to make a name tag, this was what I came up with. I used a peach Bazzill cardstock layered back-to-back. In front, I used Heidi Swapp Chipboard Letters Sea lowercase which I punched up with Leeho Glitter Powder, then I added Chatterbox Rub-Ons for bon-bon designs all-over. I also used the throw-away plastic for PPs to make the wrapper and tied both ends with 2 peach ponytail holders. To finish the edge of the nametag, I added Carolina's light blue to grey mini-rick-rack cord. At the back, I wrote this about my reasons for scrapping:

I scrap to live,
I live to scrap.

I like photos, journals, stories,
cardstock, vellum and PPs,
Add some fiber, rub-ons, brads,
paint, chipboards and ink pads.

Planning for a lay-out,
sitting for a time-out.
Pressure and worry,
ending in a flurry.

I scrap to live,
I live to scrap.

Funny thing is I won one of the 3 prizes for the Nametag Challenge. Everyone said, "Now, everyone will remember you!" And who wouldn't? I was walking around with this funny looking candy card around my neck!!! Complete with a wrapper! Good thing they asked us to take them off to display all of the tags on the wall.---Kidding aside, I really enjoyed this fun homework activity. I specially enjoyed the RAK that also came with it. Thanks Cabbie, Lee, Au and Nita! I didn't think I'd have fun embarassing myself, but I really did enjoy every minute of it!

Passion for Life

Last Oct. 6, I attended my 1st Scrapfest in Max's Timog. I was able to shop, shop, shop as this was the first time I've been to a place with sooo many good stores and soooo much more good scrapping stuff.

Since I was late because of a school affair, I only got to join one challenge. It was the first time I had a timed challenge. I was proud of myself for finishing within the required time. Surprisingly, I won for the regular group. Bjay won for the advanced group. I couldn't believe it because as soon as I saw all the other entries, I felt like mine was the plainest of them all. I feel very lucky to win because with all of that talent around, it's very hard to stand out.

Hidden journal: Life is difficult. To succeed in life, one has to be passionate, to make each day count, to make each day the last, and to be the best one can be ... teacher, mother, wife and lover.