Twenty Nine

So much birthday celebrations going on this month... my mom, my dad, and a couple of my friends. Mine will be in a few days and so i got inspired to create a page for it. Materials: Paper from KI memories, DCWV; Bazzill cardstock; silk flowers by The Paper Studio; craft thread; glitter; chipboard shapes; punchboard embossed shapes by Heidi Grace designs.

The journaling on this page reads:

I turn 29 in a couple of days. I look back ten years ago when i thought how it would feel like to be twenty nine. My ultimate goal was to get married by the age of 26. When that didn't happen, i moved the goal to any age before 30. Two years ago i met my destiny, he is now my lovable husband. I chose these pictures because he took them one sunny day at a park. I was trying to create dramatic poses and he ended up getting a few candid shots of me lol.
These pictures remind me of how lucky i am to be where i am and to have what i have. The best good surprises come when you least expect them.
I don't feel like i am getting old, i feel like i just started a new chapter in my life... with so much to look forward to. I feel blessed. I feel thankful. I feel happy.

Cherry spoon

This is one of my favorite layouts, done way back in September '07. Materials: Paper from S.e.i; Bazzill cardstock; Funky foam sheets; Rick Rack light blue and silk flowers by The Paper Studio; buttons; adhesive gemstones; white gel pen by American Crafts.

My husband was on a business trip in Minneapolis for a week and i went along. Our hotel was 5 minutes away from the Mall of America. That mall is so huge it took me almost 2 days to go around. And of course i found a huge scrapbook store called Archivers, i spent at least 3 hours there lol. Thank goodness they have a store here in Austin :).

The picture was taken at the Minneapolis sculpture garden. It was a nice sunny day and my husband and i were trying to take a picture of ourselves with the cherry spoon included. This, by the way, was one of the popular sculptures there. We were standing there goofing off for about 10 minutes taking random pics and this shot was taken. I thought it was such a fun picture (despite my half-faced husband) i decided to create a page for it. :)

Girls day out

A friend of mine requested i do a page of us. I had this paper for quite a while and didn't know where i could use it. It had too much pink on it so i needed a girly theme. It was perfect for this. This page was done last November. I edited the background in Paint.net (i didn't have Photoshop then!) to give it that effect.

Karen and i have known each other for about five years now. We were colleagues in Texas Instruments. We live in different parts of the world now but still manage to communicate. I am amused by the updates in her life, whether it be regarding career or matters of the heart, lol. I've seen her through her ups and downs and sometimes it's just good to look back and laugh about it. She's done pretty well for herself, living the career-woman life in Singapore. All she needs now is that knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet lol!

Being the eldest, she's never really felt having a big sister. I am the youngest of four so i've never experienced having a younger sis. So it works out both ways although we are only a year apart in age. I end up being "coach" to her most of the time lol. She really is a great friend!

My fave materials

There are so many gadgets out there for scrapbooking nowadays. When i was in high school, a few of my friends scrapbooked and all the materials they needed were simple patterned paper, a pen, glue, and of course the picture. But now, there are thousands of materials, machines, and gadgets to choose from. My brother gave me a $75 gift card for christmas at Michaels (a craft store), and being the newbie to this hobby i was like a kid in a candy store. Below are a few of my favorite supplies to date:

1) The Cricut

This cutting machine is the best gadget I've ever had lol. My husband got me this a few weeks ago and the excitement of using it has not changed as when i first got it. It also comes with a toolkit set to help you with ease. I currently just have the George and Basics cartridge and so far i am contented with just that. Cutting letters and shapes has never been so easy.

2) Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

I loooove this software. A scrapbook page is really about the picture. And capturing the picture is all about the SLR (and THAT, i do not have.. yet) teehee... but anyway, this software does wonders to an ordinary picture taken from an ordinary digital camera. All it needs is a little patience to get around the tools it has to offer. I'm still on the beginner stage, and tips and techniques from Jessica Sprague of Creating Keepsakes really help a lot when it comes to combining digital photography with scrapbooking. I also purchased a book by Mark Galer on unleashing the maximum performance of this software. And best of it all? I got the software on sale for $49.99 at Costco!

3) Creating Keepsakes magazine

The first time i browsed through this magazine, i instantly liked it. This magazine shows the creativity of so many people, and some of them have inspired me to create my pages. I've tried sending in some of my work to their "Fresh Face" section but haven't heard back from them (oh well! it didn't hurt to try). My favorite is Jessica Sprague's computer tricks section. I also like the ideas they publish and the variety of materials new in the market, it keeps me updated.

4) The Cutting Tool

Ever since i got this, i can cut paper in a few seconds compared to a grueling 5 minutes lol. First measuring... then drawing the line to make sure it's straight. It did take up a LOT of time. Manufactured by Cricut as well, this cutter can cut up to 12x12 paper size. If only i had this when i was making my wedding(civil) invitations, i probably would have made 10 more! It was so tiring to cut manually, i stopped on the 25th invitation. :)


5) Gel Pens

Although i only use these pens for journaling on my pages, for some reason i just love having them lol. Maybe it's the colors and how cool they look. I sometimes use them to add doodles on my page. I am still searching out there for great ideas on how to use them more often on my layouts.

6) Glue!

Now how can you scrapbook without glue?! Hehe. I listed these (namely UHU stick glue and Tombo liquid glue) as one of my faves because i have tried other brands and none of them compare to these two. They've never failed me in any of the pages i have made and they just stick on so smoothly.

7) Craft thread

No i do not sew, i just love the idea of stitching on paper and giving the layout something eye catching. I saw a page layout that had stitching on it and thought of how unique it was. And so i go to the craft store with no idea whatsoever on what kind of thread to buy haha. I know nothing about sewing and i find myself in the thread and needle aisle dazed and confused. And then i saw this pack of craft thread. The colors were so vibrant, i went ahead and bought it. Next challenge was what needle to use. It had to be the right size for the thread and not too big to ruin my paper, i ended up with needle for Chenille (of course i didn't know what that was lol!). It looked like it would be the right size and so far it has worked for me. :)

8) and last but certainly not the least - flowers!

Most of my pages has a flower on it. I think it gives a page a life, aside from all the other embellishments of course. But having flowers just does it for me. I've seen wonderful layouts with an explosion of flowers on them and some of them turned out really good. I may have just one, sometimes more, but i think a flower gives the period to the statement of my page.

In Black & White

The picture you see on the upper right hand corner of this page was a layout inspired by valentines day. I made a card for my husband using this picture and decided to use it for a scrapbook page as well (the color of red symbolizes love and valentines - a bit cliche but who cares, it's an excuse to use that phrase once a year lol).

The photo was taken in our bathroom, of course by me (lol), and edited it in Photoshop Elements. I wanted to let the brightness of my shirt stand out so i changed everything else on the pic to black and white. The theme of the page layout is in black and white with only the red color as focal point. To add some spice to it, i made the ampersand in red as well. All paper used on this page is from the All Dressed Up stack from Die cuts with a view (DCWV).

Some people don't celebrate valentine's for some reason. Maybe it has become corny... or maybe frustration has overpowered the idea... some simply are not amused by the hype of it all... some just want to be in "black and white"... but they've just got to accept that not everything is in black and white.

A scrapbooker's blog

I got myself into scrapbooking four months ago... as i started a new chapter in my life - i recently got married, i decided to go to a store called Hobby Lobby. Most people go there to obviously buy their craft supplies, but on that day i had a mission... to find a hobby (lol). My husband and i were cruising through the aisles trying to find something to attract my attention but there was nothing that really caught my eye. My second attempt came several weeks later... i needed something to spice up my housewife status (moving to a foreign country leaves me no choice)... and so i browse once again through the aisles and stayed quite longer in the scrapbook section.

I've always wanted to scrapbook but never really got the time to do it. From the time i graduated college i started working in the corporate world. And only now, after 7 straight years, that i am able to indulge in a crafty hobby. Going back to the scrapbook aisle, I was amused at how pretty the embellishments look, and how many tools there are to cut paper (lol). The hundreds of colorful paper suddenly caught my eye. It's amazing how scrapbooking has evolved through the years.

I walked out of that store with $60 worth of supplies to start off this now-very-addicting hobby. My supplies have more than doubled now and continues to grow. My husband bought me the Cricut machine (how amazing that technology has even reached the craft world), and i completely love it!

This blog will show the pages that i've done and continue to create. Each page will have a story to tell. I always forget to list down materials used but i will try as hard as possible to indicate them lol. Feel free to comment. Enjoy!