Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Scrapbukan Layouts

Title: Remember This
Design: Me
Photo/Photoshop: Jeff
This is a very simple layout I made using Sassafras papers (they're new from Scrapbukan). I have to admit it's not easy to keep things simple : ). But I did enjoy the process of creating this one. I just had to control myself adding more embellishments (I don't want to complicate things at the moment. Hehehe).

Materials used: Sassafras Lass Serendipity Blue Boutique (Navy, Delicate, Crimson Dots, and Extravagent), Phrase Cafe Rub ons (The Little Things), transparency, Making Memories paint, American Crafts felt flowers, Li'l Davis letter rub ons, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Karen Foster Loopy brads, Making Memories rub ons, buttons, Colorbox ink


Title: He Loves to Play
Design: Me
Photo/Photoshop: Jeff (ever reliable huh!)

I made this layout two weeks ago. It was posted at the homepage of Scrapbukan. The photo was taken at the garden. Ethan was happily running barefoot! How I love to look at him healthy, happy and full of life! I used My Mind's Eye Bohemia Wild Berry papers and Gin X coasters in this layout. I've had this kit since last year and I'm very eager to use all of the papers. I've made 5 layouts already with that kit (one is even a spread layout) and yet I still have scraps!

Materials used: My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango (Wild Berry) kit, Gin X Rings (About a Boy), Uniball Signo white pen, Zig Writer black pen, Colorbox ink, brads, letters and number stickers, and We R Memory Keepers photo corner chipboard Journaling: Ethan, you love to play with your cars, you love to ride your motorbike, you love to play and pretend we’re cooking, you love to play during bath time – you give your cars and trucks a bath too!, you love to play hide and seek with us, you love to play horsie horsie with daddy, you love to ran outside the house. We’re happy that we have a healthy and free spirited son. May you always have the time to play, laugh and enjoy life! We love you! – Daddy and Mommy.

Guess what? I have two more "secret-muna-layouts" that I am very eager to share with you. Hopefully I'd be able to share them this April. : D

Layouts ... Layouts ... Layouts

I have not posted any of my layouts lately. But good news is, for the past weeks I have been doing layouts for clients! Yup, yup, yup ... I made one 2x12 album(with 24 layouts inside), one 8x8 album (with 20 layouts) and an altered wall clock. I'm currently working on a 12x12 vacation and an 8x8 Christmas party album. It feels good that I'm able to earn from doing something I truly love!

Even though I am making layouts for others, does not mean I'm not doing anything for my family. I promised myself that no matter how busy I may get, I will make it a point to create even if it's only one.

So here are my other creations:

Title: I Love U with All my Heart
Design: Me
Photo/Photoshop: Jeff

Could you believe this photo was taken when Ethan was barely a month old? Talk about backlogs! Anyway, here's one of the many baby feet photos we took of him.

I applied the rub ons on transparency and doodled the heart. I attached the transparency with brads - love the effect!

Materials used: Fancy Pants Mulberry Road (Pemberly-used as base, Love Letters, Amherst and English Rose), transparency, Making Memories rub ons ("with all my heart and love", American Crafts rub ons (for the letters "I" and "U"), BasicGrey rub ons (flourishes), AC Slick Writer Black (for the doodlings), FP Mulberry Road flowers, Prima flowers, brads, fibers, Karen Foster Loopy brads, Colorbox ink and Zig Writer pen/Editing software: Adobe Photoshop CS

Title: Shadow Play
Design: Me
Photo/Photoshop: Jeff

Did I even confused myself while making this one? Yes you're right! I have to remake the shadow chipboard at the bottom of the layout because (as always) I made a booboo! Would you believe the papers I used here were actually Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye? I even used the cover page of the kit ... it's still acid free! I wouldn't throw something like that! Can you see white doodling on the photo? I used the Uniball Signo pen ... I heard that Elsie Flannigan raves about that pen, now I know why!

Materials used: My Mind's Eye Bohemia Christmas (Merry and the sample cover page), Scenic Route letter chipboard, BasicGrey flourishes rub ons, Colorbox ink, American Crafts letter rub ons, metal embellishments, 7Gypsies photo corners stickers, white pen, Zig Writer pen (black)/Editing software: Adobe Photoshop CS

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Happy Birthday to the Man I Love!!!


I should have posted this yesterday unfortunately Ethan had a fever early in the morning : (. We all got stuck and our plans for this special day was cancelled. Ethan's doing okay now though.

I'm a bad wife, I don't have anything for Jeff at the moment ... but I just want to let him know I love him sooo much (with a lot of even if's hehehe).

To my man, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ... here's one for you:


When I’m not feeling well,
there’s this man who does the household chores including giving Ethan a bath or just looking after him.

When I’m lost with ideas or I needed an opinion,
there’s this man who takes the time to critique and give me suggestions to improve on my craft.

When I don’t feel good about my cooking,
there’s this man who grins from ear to ear telling me, “I’m the best”.

When my mouth is busy nagging and complaining,
there’s this man who patiently keeps his mouth shut. Perhaps trying to ignore me and trying to be the gentleman that he is.

When I’m not in the mood for jokes,
there’s this man who dances, sings silly songs just to keep me entertained and amused with his silliness!

When I was brought to the labor room that day of Oct. 22, 2004,
there’s this man who fought hospital rules just to see me, held my hand, kissed me and assured me everything’s going to be alright.

When I’m not expecting anything for special occasions,
there’s this man who can come up with a thousand surprises!

Yes, there’s this man who’s always behind me, beside me, infront of me … always ready to catch me in the verge of every stumble.

He is MY Man and I’d be forever grateful to God for giving him to me.




--- Pia

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Kail's 1st Birthday

I've just finished uploading 300 photos to finally finish Kail's gallery. Since I reached the maximum quota of 250 photos for one album, I've made another album for Kail. So, there's actually two albums that showcases Kail's birthday photos. Click on link to go to Kail's photo gallery.

Now, a bit background about Mickee and Clifford... Kail's mom and dad. We came to know them last year when Mickee made an inquiry through email. Mickee and son, Kail actually lives in the states (Mickee's work is based in the US) while Clifford is here in the Philippines. So you could just imagine the kind of long distance planning involved to pull off a magnificent party for Kail. Mickee and Kail arrived December of last year and went back to the states after celebrating Kail's 1st birthday January 2007.

They booked both our photography services and our chocolate fountain package, got a shadowbox and even added an altered wall clock! Thanks a lot guys!

Now, after nearly five months from the first time we knew eachother... we've become really good friends. But even before this day and until today, we've been reading and visiting Mickee's blog. She has been a source of inspiration. Her triumphs and struggles, determination and passion in life are more than enough to rekindle new hopes to anyone who would say... life is cruel and hard. She's a living proof that "nothing is beyond the reach of determination!"


CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

Kail's Niner Layout (printed in 8R)



5R photos


12x12 inches Scrapbook Layout in Shadowbox


Altered Clock



4R Photos







Wallet Size Photos


CLICK on LINK to GO to Kail's Birthday Albums/Photo Galleries

ALBUM 1

ALBUM 2

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Zoobic Safari Adventure

It's our first out of town trip this summer! Last weekend we went to Subic to have a close encounter with ferocious tigers at the Zoobic Safari. It was very hot that day and one could really feel the scorching sun. Upon arrival, we went directly to the pavillion to secure tickets and start our tour. We got a group tour package. Adult rate was P395 and P295 for children. The group tour comes with a friendly zoo tour guide. Before the tour, Eva, the tour guide assigned to us, gave a short overview on what to expect and the rules and regulations of the park.











Our first stop was the Zoobic Park, a Petting Zoo area in a walk through tropical jungle like were you can have a live interaction with deers, ostrich, albino carabao, bear, monkey, eagle, miniature horse, ducks and a lot more. Ethan had so much fun in this place. He touched a sheep and even wanted to ride on it. Then he fed the camels. He actually wouldn't want to stop feeding the camels and kept on asking for dry leaves. Funny though, everytime he finishes feeding a camel with one leaf, he always wipes his hands on his shorts (nandidiri yata ang loko)!






















Next stop was the Serpentarium. Pia hates this place. She doesn't like snakes and scaly animals (He-he-he). Of course I enjoyed seeing her face while she says: "Yuck! Kakadiri talaga!" Love this photo of this overgrown lizard. Nice pose, huh?!


Then were off to the Tiger Safari... we rode on a tiger safari jeep. Yes, it's a jeep. Very similar to those flying the major thoroughfares of the metro. From the looks of it, the jeeps actually seem to have taken a heavy beating from the tigers. Before boarding, our guide asked us if we would want to buy chickens to feed the tigers. We bought two chickens for I think P200 a piece. The driver was no different from the "kaskasero" drivers we know. We reached the safari gates in no time and immediately spotted the tigers. I was actually expecting a vast land where I would be able to see tigers running alongside the jeep. But, to my surprise, the safari was just a small area wherein the jeep would just make one corner turn and you're out of there. There were four tigers inside the safari.




This tiger was actually on a make-shift water hole when our "pasaway" na driver and his "alalay" made a stop and started teasing it with the chicken we bought.


And of course, what would you expect a hungry tiger to do when he sees food being waved at him? The tiger quickly jumped off the water and run directly towards the jeep slamming it with his big paws. And yes, we all got wet! It was tiger-bath for all of us. We all had water dripping down our faces. Ethan even said: "Mom, basa damit ku!" At this point, the attendant feeding and teasing the tiger seemed to be enjoying seeing us all wet and dripping. I actually wanted to knock his head off with the camera on my hand, but thought that nah, it's not worth it. Ethan watched in amazement as the tiger devoured the chicken.










After the really close encounter with the tigers, we proceeded to Croco Loco. Yup, lots of crocodiles here. For P50 bucks you'll get a quarter chicken and a fishing pole and get to tease, I mean feed the crocodiles (poor crocodiles). We decided not to buy any chicken this time and just settled watching other visitors dangle the chicken on a fishing pole making the crocs jump high to reach it!






Then our guide took us to the Aeta's Trail. Here we got to watch our brother Aeta's perform several short tribal dances for the visitors. I took some snapshots, and here they are...
















But the most unforgettable experience for me in this adventure was having our pictures taken with a real, big and live tiger sitting on my lap. Yup, you get to touch their fur and actually feel how heavy they are. While walking towards the spot where we'll have our pictures taken, I noticed the tiger with eyes focused looking at and following Ethan. The Tiger even stood up as Ethan approached the bench. I was fast enough to take this snapshot as the tiger looks at Ethan.



I asked one of the handlers if its natural for the tiger to do that. And if it's safe and ok for Ethan to have his picture taken with the tiger. Hey, i wouldn't want to take any chances. It may look like an overgrown cat but it's still a tiger! The handler told us that the reason the tiger looks and stares at Ethan like that is because when it sees something small and moving, it thinks of it as food or chicken! Oh my, the tiger actually thinks Ethan's tiger chow! In the end, we still had our picture taken, following of course the advise of the handlers to sit Ethan farthest from the tiger's head. I don't know if you could see on my face how tensed I was while doing this.

Overall assesment, we had fun! The place may not be at par to zoo's in Singapore or other countries, but one thing's for sure... the tiger experience is worth the travel time and something you wouldn't want to miss!

-Jeff & Pia