Amazing Race - Week 4

I'm still on the 4th week of the competition! Our destination this time: China. China, being the biggest country in Asia, we were asked to make a layout using a big photo. Also, we need to use numbers on our pages (it can be in the title, a design element, an embellishment or part of the papers' design) and blings.

This isn't my initial layout actually but I never had the chance to print the photos I was planning to use for this round. I'm glad I was able to pull this through anyway.

title: My Pot of Gold
matls used: patterned pps, border stickers and alpha chipboard: Ki Memories, Love Elsie, BamPop; word stickers: Scenic Route; letter stickers: BasicGrey; buttons; brads: Queen and Co.; numbers (vinyl, sticker and chipboard): American Crafts and Chatterbox; rub on numbers: unknown; Bazill cs; blings, rub on (frog): Fancy Pants; ribbons: Daisy Bucket and unknown; plastic flower: AC; pen: Zig
Photography by Jeff Lopez

Check out the gallery for the previous week's challenge here.

I checked the announcement yesterday and luckily, I found that I'm still part of the competition. There are only 12 of us left from the original 28 participants. This week (round 5) is the second to the last round and if I'll still be part of the contest on the 6th round then I will consider it as a bonus! : )

-Pia

Girlfriend

My son already has a girlfriend? Well, that was what he told me : ) He saw this layout when I was almost done creating it and so I asked him what will be a good title (yeah, sometimes I ask for his opinions and more often than not, his ideas are better than mine hahaha!). Here’s what he said:

Ethan: Ethan’s best “ever” girlfriend”!

Me: (quite shocked) Girlfriend? But why girlfriend?

Ethan: ‘Coz she’s a “girl” mom!

Oh, ok I didn’t realize that at once : D

The photos were taken at my friend’s wedding where Ethan was the ring bearer and Ayna was the flower girl. They had an instant bond and they played all the time at the reception!

I used Daisy Bucket - Perfect Harmony and the colors were a perfect match for the photos! The border scallops were hand drawn and hand cut. I also cut the birds from Hadley paper, they’re too cute, right? I added these rub ons: caterpillar and bird from Sing (#9002).

Check out more inspiration at the Daisy Bucket blog.

Happy scrapping!

matls used: Daisy Bucket Perfect Harmony and rub ons, Scenic Route cs, Fancy Pants ribbon (orange and green ricrac), Chatterbox ribbon (green/ruffled), Fiskars threading puncher, Heidi Swapp letter chipboard, American Crafts Thickers, Brilliance ink, felt tree, Zig pen

Photography by Jeff Lopez

-Pia

Amazing Race - Week 3

I'm still part of Mystical Scrapbooks' Amazing Race 2009 Contest. Our destination was Egypt! Here's what we were asked to make:

* To use a warm weather themed photo (think the beach, pool or summer)
* The color red (to represent the Red Sea which borders Egypt)

Here's what I came up with after less than an hour hehehe ...

I was cramming to make this one. I was cutting papers but literally don't know what to do with them. I had cut several papers, only to put those aside coz I didn't like it hehehe. I was already feeling tired and was thinking to quit. It wasn't the only thing I was thinking about anyway (I was preparing for Jeff's surprise birthday party at home). I was feeling guilty that instead of doing something else, I was sitting and trying to finish a layout. So I decided I'll make a 'quickie' and I'll just accept the fact that this might be my last round ... anyway, I did my best in the past 2 rounds and I was happy with my layouts (which is what's more important, right? )

I emailed my layout an hour before the deadline hehehe ...

I'll be waiting for the eliminations tomorrow. I'll wait and see ... : )

-Pia

layout title: Feel the Heat matls used: My Mind's Eye, Prima, Scenic Route and Cosmo Cricket pps, American Crafts Thickers, Brillaince ink, Zig pen, Faber Castell watercolor pencil

Click here to see the other beautiful entries.

Jeff turns _____ today! : D

To my soulmate, my boyfriend of 15 years, my superman - Jeff, Jepoy, Jepot, Guapoy, Anthony, Dad, Mahal ... happy birthday! We love you!

-Pia and Ethan

credits:

These layouts were especially made by our friend, Diane Miraballes. Thank you so much Diane! You're really an angel!

Birthday LO credits: Background, yellow and blue green paper, string, from Breathe collab kit from scrapartist, template by Amy Martin, orange paper by Anne deJong, polka dot paper by Meghan Mullens, Birthday Boy Doodles by Kate Hadfield, Journal Spots by Gina Cabrera, Save the Date by Traci Murphy, Alpha by Syrin, Folded Corner by Karah fredricks, font: CK Love Note

Loved LO credits: Template by Zoe Pearn, Background paper from Sunday Love by Doris Castle, Alpha by Misty Cato, Stripes and Checkered Paper by Meghan Mullens, Flowers and buttons from Close To My Heart kit by Zoe Pearn, Seagarita by Traci Reed, Save the Date by Traci Murphy

Photography by Meng Lim

"Memories on Display" (Scrapbook Workshop at The Enterprise)

Yesterday, I conducted a scrapbook workshop at The Enterprise Center (Makati). This was supposed to be my good friend Iris' workshop, unfortunately, Iris' daughter, Cheska got sick so she asked me to be the substitute.

The project was to make a creative wall hanging like this. At first, I was having apprehensions whether I can pull this workshop off ... I have not used recycled cardboard before although I've always thought of using one. And of course, Iris' gorgeous layouts can never be replicated much more by me hehehe. Ok, so I had to make a similar sample first and this is what I have created ...

I must say I love the outcome! Not that it was as good as Iris' work ha but because I did something new. Now, I'm loving cardboard and I'm currently collecting all the cardboard boxes here at home!

Alright, back to the workshop, I taught the participants a simplified version of Iris' work. The materials provided were only a basic one so we had to come up something that is quite similar. I enjoyed teaching, as always! It was the preparation of 26 scrapbook kits that I was not fond at all. I didn't know that cutting and peeling the cover of the cardboard were so exhausting. I incurred several wounds too hehehe. Add to that, is the hand cutting of more than 260 paper flowers!

Anyway, I know my hardwork has paid off. I just love seeing all those happy faces and their beautiful creations too. Now, the hand cut flowers weren't bad at all ...

Workshop participants with their finished projects (click for a larger view)

I'd like to thank Iris for thinking of me to do this workshop and for inspiring me to create, to Honey Miranda of Buzy Bee for sponsoring this event and to my other good friend, Ems Fronda for helping me out yesterday (she even stayed till 8pm with me!).

layout credits:

title: Bunny Love
matls used: patterned papers: Fancy Pants - True , Sassafras Lass, Scenic Route, BasicGrey; buttons; alpha chipboard: Heidi Swapp; pen: Uniball Signo and Zig; rub ons: Fancy Pants; ink: Clearsnap; others: cardboard
Photography by Jeff Lopez

-Pia

Amazing Race - Week 2

I made it to the next round of Mystical Scrapbooks' Amazing Race 2009. Our destination was Greenland. Funny that most of us thought, we'll be using the color green for this challenge. But here's what we were asked to do:

* To use the colors brown and white only (a tiny amount of black will be allowed for journaling only).
* Glitter or bling to represent the snow / ice.

Here's what I've created.

Title: Monkey Love
materials used:

1. white cardstock as base: unknown
2. patterned papers: Daisy Bucket Merry Wishes-Very Merry, Deck the Halls, In the Meadow-McKenna, Celeste, Sweet Marabella-Francesca, Loves Me, Loves Me Not-Pieces of my Heart and Scenic Route (kraft paper)
3. white blings: Prima
rub ons (words) and paper ribbon (polka dot brown): Daisy Bucket
4. felt flowers: Fancy Pants, Daisy Bucket, American Crafts
5. chipboard: Maya Road and American Crafts
6. ink: Colorbox
7. alpha stickers: Making Memories
8. brad: WRMK
9. brown pen: Sakura and Crayola
10. others: buttons

Journaling:
Ethan fondly calls him "Monkey". Ethan loves "Monkey" a lot! "Monkey" was a gift last Xmas. Ethan brings "Monkey" everywhere he goes. Ethan plays with "Monkey" and sleeps with him too.

Photography by Pia Lopez

At first, I thought the challenge here was the use of brown and white colors "only" in a layout. I love the color brown; I oftentimes use brown cardstock as base for my layouts but I have never tried brown with white. The process of gathering all brown and white papers and embellies was the fun part - I had to dig into my stash - all of it literally! It was a real mess after I made this layout. So, it wasn't that difficult pala ... brown and white goes well together. I feel so lucky having my Daisy Bucket papers. DBD has a number of brown (in different shades huh!) papers and even papers that both has brown and white on it!!!

The difficult part for me here was where to place the blings! I felt that the blings are in a way, quite off for the theme of this layout. I don't have stickles or any glitter too (and I wouldn't know where to place it anyway!). So after a few tries, I was able to put it somewhere ... there ... you'll find it hehehe.

I love this challenge! I remember when I made the Scrappin' Moms Idol Color Challenge (Monotone layouts-don't kill me please) before, I almost had the same requirements. I thought that in order to pull this challenge, the trick is to use photos with colors that are contrasting or complimentary.This is just my opinion though; this is however open to interpretations : ) When I was planning for my layout (Monkey Love), I was thinking of a color that would go nicely with brown. I thought that yellow compliments brown! Those 2 colors just pop!

Next challenge will be up soon ... that is, if I'm still in : )

Check out the rest of the entries here.

-Pia

Singapore

A quick note to share this layout I made last year ...

I used mostly Making Memories paper in this layout. I tried layering but it seems that the page has become too crowded with too many patterns. Oh, well ...

On another note, I made it to the next round of the Amazing Race Contest at Mystical Scrapbooks. I can't post my entry yet coz we need to wait when all of the other entries have been uploaded at the gallery. Deadline of the challenge is this Saturday so I'd probably be posting my layout here by Saturday evening.

Thanks!

-Pia

Amazing Race - Week 1

I joined the Amazing Race 2009 Competition at Mystical Scrapbooks. The last time I joined something like this was almost 2 years ago. I never even get to finish that one hehehe. Okay, so now here I go again, thinking perhaps I can make it through the 6 weeks of competition ... if I won't be voted out that is hehehe.

Truth is, I really want my scrapping mojo back ... it literally went away to a place I don't know hahaha! I wanted to squeeze in a layout atleast a week and make this month productive. Btw, did I mention, Ethan's summer vacation officially started last Saturday? Hurray for that hehehe. I need a separate post for Ethan's Culminating Activity in their school though.

Anyway, back to the competition. Our first destination is the United States of America. We landed in New York City and had a party in Manhattan just like the girls from Sex & The City! We were asked to make a layout with theme of our girl friends. We should be having fun on the photos (and on the layout, of course!) and we should use my "favorite color "... that is pink! Pink? Ako? Waah!!!

Well, napasubo ako with that pink ... Here's my take on the challenge.

Nakita nyo yung pink? Dami no? hahaha.

Thanks to my idol, Au Lim for the photos!

Materials used:
patterned papers: BasicGrey Scarlet Letter, Rouge de Garance, Ki Memories Pop Culture, Scenic Route
chipboard: Chatterbox, Ki Memories
others: pen, buttons, brads

journaling:
I'm not the type of person who loves to wear costumes but when we had our "Christmas" Madscrappers' Party, it was time to let loose!

Where else could I be this silly? With the company of my friends, of course!

I know that even if we had to go the extra mile to look our best that day, it was all worth it! We've had fun and I wouldn't trade anything for that!

I'd like to invite you to the gallery and check out the other beautiful entries, including layouts from my friends, Donna and Issa - they're also part of this contest.

It really feels liberating to be able to scrap again. I really enjoyed making this layout because I get to use my old papers from BG and Rouge de Garance that has been with me for almost 2 years already hehehe. And of course, I get to use bright colors again!

I'm checking my stuff and I'm so happy that I have few papers already! Yipee!!!!!!!! I haven't shopped for the past months and I don't even have the latest papers and embellishments - this is actually a feat!

-Pia