Nothing much, I just want to post some layouts I made using one of my favorite artist's kits, so whimsical, so enchanting - so Lorie Davison. Its called "Bunnies, Bees, and The Birds' Big Balloon" (A Spring Collection), available here at scrapbookgraphics.com.

Here are some previews of the kit:







If that's not enough to make you fall in love with it, then I don't know what will. I guess Lorie's work reminds me so much of the books we used to read as kids, of fantasy lands and creatures....and that's why it really tugs at my heart and appeals so much to me. I love reading children's books, to this very day! So many ways to scrap this kit, I LOVE IT! I'm not done making all my layouts, just finding the right photos for it though, lots of extraction. So far, I've scrapped 2 layouts, do you like it?





Can't wait to make more!

I also have another layout using another great kit, Treasures From the Deep, a collab between Irene Alexeeva and Studio MGL, also at scrapbookgraphics.com.



We had just gone on a summer trip to Talisay, Batangas, which is just by the lake of Taal Volcano (one of the smallest volcanoes) and I had lots of photos of the kids in a speed boat (not a high res camera though), I extracted them nonetheless! I also wanted to scrap the photo of some family members, our 4 boys we started calling V-boys, hahaha, its sort of a family joke pertaining to the ideal v-shape of a mans body when one works-out and is fit. The men started hamming it up and posing, claiming they had v-shaped bodies, what a laugh! So I extracted their pictures and created a layout using this really great kit!

Check out my family's very own V-boys! LOL! Enjoyed creating this!



If you like these kits, you may find them at scrapbookgraphics.com, or just click on the links above to be brought straight to the kit.

Have a happy day ahead ;)

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Some Updates and a Freebie

I wish I were a better blogger, its just that sometimes I just do not have enough time. Sometimes it takes me not less than 2-3 hours to get a post up..more often than not, its because I have to fix all the photos and attachments for the post, which I do also on the day of the entry. I wonder, is there a faster way to do it?

This post is so late, I never got to let you know about my application for GoDigitalScrapbooking's Supreme Team VII contest, as I mentioned in the previous post, I made it to Round 3 but sadly did not make it to the final round, Round 4. Just my luck, my Macbooks power adaptor decided to go kaput on me on Round 3. I did not have a computer to use and I really panicked and was on edge, you may find it funny, but I even cried when my adapter would not work, LOL! Imagine that, my laptop is part and parcel of my life, I use it for work and of course for play...and when you can't access that, what do you do? Thank God I still have my Apple Care Plan, although it would take them 2-3 weeks to get me my new power cord..sheesh! Thank God also that my aunt lent me her old iBook G4, what a lifesaver! I had less than one day to scrap my Round 3 entry using Photoshop CS (I'm used to CS3 so it took me awhile to figure out some stuff)...oh the rattled nerves trying to get it done...and get it done I did, the last entry in, phew! Not my best work, but I do love kits and the play of colors.

We were given the kit Kick Back and Relax by One Memory at a Time (OMAAT) and a collab wordart kit by JAB Digital Designs, check it out below:





You may click on the previews to purchase the kits at GDS.

Here is my Round 3 Entry:



And here is the template I made for it:



You may download HERE.

What I did for my layout was to use the template to scrap the middle part first, then I saved it as a jpeg file and opened up another file and layered the bottom layers. :) Happy scrapping!

Congratulations to all who made it to the Supreme Team VII, way to go girls!

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Supreme Team VII Round 2 Entry

I've submitted my entry for Round 2 of GoDigitalScrapbooking's Supreme Team VII Contest and I made it to Round 3!!! YipeeYayYay!! For the 2nd round, we were given an adorable, sweet kit by Majula Designs called "Waiting for You"



Isn't it the cutest? Can you imagine all the lovely layouts you can make with this kit? I simply uttered squeals of joy when I saw this kit. So dainty and soft. So many ways to interpret this kit, go ahead and check the wonderful layouts that had been submitted at GoDigitalScrapbooking, while your there, you may want to go purchase this kit too - I highly recommend you do :)

Again, rules were to only use the items given in the kit, no brushes, actions, styles, shapes that generally required outside crediting, we may only use tools which were included as a default in the type of software being used use.

For my entry, I decided to create a hot air balloon using the basic ellipse, rectangular and line tools and embellish it with items given from the kit. This was fun to do because I really had not tried doing anything like this before, I just had my basic knowledge of shapes - so I decided to experiment with the transform tool and pulled the shapes this and that way until I found something that works!

Have a lookie at my entry:



I scrapped about my sister and her son Evan, writing the journaling myself - I was in the U.S. when she was trying desperately to conceive and was also there when she found out she was pregnant...I just wish I had ben there when she finally gave birth. Nevertheless, I tried to capture everything she felt and I believe I got it right because she cried when I gave her the scrapped page. I hope I can visit her again this year, with my kids this time - it would be fantastic for the kids to be able to finally get to visit Disneyland and all those parks they've been dreaming of going to, LOL!

Before you go, here is the balloon template I created for my layout, hope you find use for it. Maybe you can share with me what you've created with it? I'd love to see how you decorated your balloon.



Click HERE to get it.

Don't forget to leave some love...I'm off to scrap my round 3 entry...wish me luck!

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Quiet on the Homefront

Everything has been quiet on the homefront...so many things have happened since my break-up story but to make the long story short...we have decided to work out our troubles, suffice it to say, its a journey back to the root of it all but it feels like a good journey back.

I have feverishly been scrapping, literally and figuratively..I'm down with the flu at the moment but I just have to pop in to let you guys know I have decided to apply for CT at GoDigitalScrapbooking, they have a 4 month stint as a Supreme Team Member VII and though I have never tried out for this sort of thing, decided to go give it a try.

I made it through Round 1, yay!!! This was so much fun!

The kit given to us to scrap with was made by Dani Alencar called Your Day, such a beautiful, fun kit you will enjoy scrapping birthdays with, its so versatile you can use it also to scrap other themes, check it out below.



Here is the layout I submitted:



Go ahead an check out the other entries, everyone did a beautiful job and its so amazing that not one layout was the same! Click here to check out the gallery (sign up may be required, worth it though!)

Now on to round 2, wish me luck!!!

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If you open this page and it looks funny...

and something seems to be wrong with my page, please bear with me, I am currently trying to figure out again how to tweak and rearrange my page layout. It is kind of a headache and I just want to shut down and try tomorrow but I know I won't be able to get any work done if I don't at least give it a try tonight.

Wish me luck and patience! A lot of it, tee hee!

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Back to Reality

After all the hullabaloo of the Holiday Season, I can finally sit down and get back to business, scrapping business that is, LOL! Hmmm, aside from that there is the business of losing weight and getting fit. You see, I need to lose so much weight, its scary - I look at my pictures and I really don't like what I see. I won't be making any resolutions this year except to just strive to constantly be better, challenge myself, and move to make inroads in dreams I have for my family.

I just know that this year will be one wherein choices have to be made which will engender big changes that I may not be ready to make but will have to do if I want to make those inroads I was talking about. This is very difficult for me because no one is at fault and you just realize that this is not what you want. Two separate and very distinct directions that only one will be happy with, or maybe none. The hardest part is having to remove oneself and relinquish all the associated relations that I have come to be fond of and love. It is never easy and I just pray for the strength and wisdom to know what to do.

Enough of that, how was your holidays? In spite of everything, mine was a good one - I finally am satisfied with the Christmas tree decorations (given there are a few things still missing). I like my tree to be a child's tree, full of ornaments and lights and filled with the colors of Christmas. This is wholly because of the kids, no elegant looking tree for them (oh no, no, no). Ever since I had my own tree I have made it part of my personal tradition to buy at least one new set of ornaments each year. I have this love affair with Christmas ornaments, I think I got that from my Aunt Agnes whose tree is so beautiful and filled with lovely glass balls and ornaments.

Have a a lookie!




This is the yearly family picture of my kids and I, we are in my Uncle and Aunts home in Blue Ridge where everyone gets together. Do you see the mound of gifts behind us? That's nine families worth of gifts!



Of course I have to add a photo of our family baby, our shih-tzu Sasha in her Christmas outfit, isn't she adorable? We love her so much!

We were playing around and put her inside a shopping bag, this made for a really good photo-op, LOL!


Okay, enough photos for now, I'll show you some more next time from our after-Christmas trip to La Union, the place is beautiful!

I was finally able to purchase some kits from Christina Renee Designs (CRD) before they were retired, yay! I wanted to purchase a lot more but had to stick to a budget :(... I want to buy the entire store, hahaha! So sad to see those other designs go but I am excited to see what she comes up with this year - I'm a big fan!

I was also able to purchase the kit "Secret Garden" by SusieM Designs at scrapbookgraphics.com, gosh, it's such a beautiful, ethereal kit and I'm sure to have so much fun making fantasy looking pages. I will have to get the collaborative kit with Lily Designs over at After 5 Designs. I just love transplanting a photo into a make-believe world, it's so much fun to do. Don't you just love scrapbookgraphics.com? I have put so many of their kits on my wish list, my head is spinning and my heart is racing just thinking of all the wonderful stuff out there... have you seen the work of Lori Davidson, when I grow up I want to be just like her :) She has such A-mazing kits, I want them all, now to make some money so I can purchase them...haha!

Here are two layouts I made over the Holidays, both using the Secret Garden kit. The first one blends two photographs (from a recent trip I took with my family to Poro Point in La Union) together with a sheet from CRD's Dream Solids Brights as the background layer and her Abused Film Borders, embellished with elements from Secret Garden.



This second one makes use of only the Secret Garden kit. The photograph itself is already set in a beautiful mossy garden which I blended with one of the scenery background sheets in this kit. I'm printing and framing this photo to gift to someone.



Now, how would you like to have a little something before you go? I know a lot of you are doing some sort of 365 day project, a bit daunting for me to take photos everyday but I kind of like the idea of documenting monthly. That is something I would like to try to do. I'd like to leave you with some talk bubbles I created for a project I did. I think you may find them very handy when adding captions or actual words or thoughts to your 365 day project. They come in cream and white outlined in black. You may recolor them, just don't forget to give credit on your layouts :)



You may get it HERE. I love to read your thanks, please leave it here or on 4shared, I appreciate it a lot!

Till next time.

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It's the start of a New Year

...and despite the many trials the past year has brought, I am thankful for:

1. My children, they are the constants of my life, it always amazes me how bright, funny and witty they are (although sometimes they can be a pain-in-the-neck, haha) but I love them none-the-less. I don't claim to be the perfect mother but I believe my children are good children and I am blessed to have them.

2. Family, who always will love you, believe in your capacity and encourage your talents, no matter what.

3. Second, 3rd, 4th, 5th and nth chances....and of course, new beginnings.

4. Discovering digital scrapbooking and the wonderful community that surrounds it and being able to use the artistic talent I was born with and been too shy to use for so long.

5. This wonderful Earth we live in that is so beautiful and awe-inspiring!

6. Choices...that God gives us choices. How awful it would be to have no choice in anything.

7. Old friends, new friends.

8. Hope in the future.

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