Welcome 2010!

Six hours from now, 2009 will officially be over. And I can't believe how time passed by so quickly. Barely a year ago, I was still preparing for our wedding. Busy working on the little things for the wedding and so many things have happened since then...

There's just so many things I can't forget this year. The most significant is marrying my childhood sweetheart. I never thought that after 10 years, I'd see him again and would end up married to him. It's one heck of a love story to tell and I still can't believe it. And we have a song for it, Love moves in mysterious ways - the lyrics fit so well :). Finding someone to spend you're whole life with is easy - it's a choice anybody can make. But finding someone you'll love for the rest of you life isn't. And for that, I'm ever so grateful.

Early this year also, we lost our baby. I was 8 weeks pregnant when the doctor told us that it was not a viable pregnancy. I can still remember the pain I went through, physically and most especially emotionally. It's painful because we were so excited when I tested positive at four weeks. I created a mini-album while on bed rest for two weeks to document the stages I was going to go through... but God has other plans for us. Acceptance is the key and we accepted what happened. It wasn't easy but our Faith is strong. And for that, I'm hopeful.

After the storm passed, we had a good clearing and everything went well for the rest of the year. We've traveled, we've got new work-related opportunities, continuous family togetherness (both sides) and new experiences. Shopping in Hong Kong, Tour in Beijing and one heck of a new experience that involved sleeping on an island with no electricity (that was icky but super fun!). We've also attended significant wedding celebrations this year and are glad to be with friends who've found their match. I've gained new friends through this hobby, work had been good to me too. Blessings kept coming until the end of the year and may I say this year ended really well. And for that, I feel blessed and at peace.

So new year... I'm looking forward to more new experiences, more travels, more friends and continuous family time. I'm lucky to have found a responsible husband but I'm so happy I have found a partner / companion for life. We grew a lot together this year so here's to hoping to a better and more happy together...and a baby too :). I love you hon.


I'd like to just leave the lyrics of our song...

Who'd have thought, This is how the pieces fit?
You and I, Shouldn't even try making sense of it

I forgot, How we ever came this far
I believe we had reasons but I don't know what they are
So blame it on my heart, oh

Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still, it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways

Heaven knows, Love is just a chance we take
We make plans, But then love demands a leap of faith

So hold me close, never ever let me go
'Cause even though we think we know, which way the river flows
That's not the way love goes, no

Like the ticking of the clock, two hearts beat as one
But I'll never understand, the ways it's done

Love moves in mysterious ways...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Cheers!

Cathy

12 ATCs of Christmas (Pic Heavy)

Yes I did Tim Holtz' 12 tags of Christmas only I did it using ATC's instead of tags. This is because those tags are not available here! I used manila file folders and cut it into ATC sizes and I used my corner chomper to round all the sides which made it a LOT easier. I know that ATC's are a lot more smaller that TH tags but I somehow managed to do it and I'm so happy with the results. :)

This is the first time I've seen this TH 12 tags of Christmas activity since I've been blogging only for almost a year. And oh my, am I sad that I missed the last two years! I've looked at all the other tags in the previous years and my oh my, they are all gorgeous! But this year sort of had a different twist somehow and I like it more.

So here are my versions... I've had so much fun doing each and everyone of the techniques he's shown. He is indeed the master of distress / vintage looking projects. And I'm so glad that over the year, I've bought almost all of TH and Ranger products which I've all used here! Money worth it!



And here are the individual pics...






This is my fave and the last one!




Definitely joining again next year!

Cheers!

Cathy

Xmas Gift for Ate Faye

Here's a layout I finished 2 days before Christmas. This is a gift I gave for my sister in law and is based on Becky's sketch over at Pagemaps. The frames were ordered from my dearest friend LG.
I ordered four but unfortunately I managed to finish only one before Christmas! hehehe...
Here's the layout without the frame...

And a side view of the right side journaling, flowers and butterflies.



I used Kraft CS, PPS: Graphic 45, Scrapworks, GCD (butterfly cut out on the photos), Prima Flowers, Sharpie, Stickles, Liquid Pearl, Distress ink, MM Alpha (JEN), Fiskars border punch.

Cheers!

Cathy

Good stuff and SE Prize!!!

There's lots of good stuff coming for me at the beginning of 2010! I'm so excited and happy!

And I forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, my prize from Scrapbook Express arrived by the door! I can't believe they FEDEXed it to me. So it only took exactly 5 days to get to me! How wonderful is that? My altered post cards mini album won, was surprised when I saw it on the Scrapbook Express newsletter! That's when I found out i won. Haha

And one more thing is that I was surprised that it was so heavy and when I opened it, I understood why. This is what I got...


Coolness! :)

Cheers,
Cathy

Post Christmas Story

I can't believe Christmas is over... although the morning breeze and evening wind still feels like Christmas. Yesterday and the night before Christmas was so fun filled and happy for our families. We heard mass at CCP Complex - the view there was just amazing. And as usual we had supper at Aristocrat - Christmas won't be complete without chicken bbq! :) We had the longest table in the resto arranged. We were about 28 pax! Yes! Good thing the area is really wide. Of course this is because Gio's family occupied like 3/4 of the table.

I brought with me my mom, sis, bro and nephew too. We're a very small family and since 2 years ago, I've started bringing them with me so Gio and I didn't have to choose where to spend Christmas Eve with. Super cool solution huh? Good thing our parents knew each other from way back when we were kids. :)



On Christmas day, we headed off to my mother in laws' house to exchange gifts. Being a big family that they are, you can imagine the many gifts being given and received. We had lunch there and waited for a few more relatives to arrive and give more gifts. After all the commotion, we had a power nap and headed straight to SM Mall of Asia for dinner through Aling Tonya's (This is our usual eat out, we sooooo love the cooking here!). I say cooking because we buy the seafoods and have it cooked in that resto. Chili crab, Tempura, Sinigang sa Miso (local fave), Shrimp Halabos - superb combinations!!!

Right after dinner we went to Starbucks (near Shell station) and stayed there for a few more hours just chattin'. We also prepped for New Year Eve's activities. We planned to do exchange gifts, arrange a Pinoy Henyo game for couples and some Bingo time. There were some occasions when we'd shout all together and laugh out loud. I bet people are looking at us and wonderin' what's the fuzz. But it was just us playin' around and enjoying!


The boys - talking about their XBOX basketball picks. All for the love of XBOX.

And the girls!!! - just chattin' away...

Picking our "baby" for the new year exchange gift!


Yet another memorable Christmas and Family time! We had a blast! This Christmas could not be any more perfect!

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas too!

Cheers!
Cathy

Avatar is Amazing!!!

If you haven't seen AVATAR you SHOULD go make time and see it!!! You have until tomorrow before the cinemas get flooded with MMFF films. I didn't know I'd love this movie at all until I've seen it.

Last Friday after work, Gio and I decided to watch it only because it's a James Cameron film. After Titanic, I guess our expectation is a bit high even if we don't know what the movie is about. And a few months gao, there was even a movie preview shown in cinemas too but it was just like 15-30 mins. When I first heard about that over the radio, I was surprised and I thought who the hell is going to pay for a movie ticket only for 15-30 mins of film showing? Oh well, after watching the movie, I regret I didn't watch it!


The movie was a total adventure! When I first saw the creatures (Avatars), I wasn't amazed because they look weird and all but James Cameron did an amazing job "acclimating" the audience. You'd learn to appreciate the avatars through what they do, navigating the amazing forest, their culture... The forest was full of wonders and I'm so excited to see it again in 3D IMAX!


Go watch it if you haven't! It's wonderful!

Cheers!
Cathy

Dec Tutorial at ADS

For this month, the tutorial over at Artz de Scrap is all about stuffed christmas trees. My co-DT Kim did a very detailed tutorial on this, do check it out!

Here's my take on it. I used Webster's Pages Home for the Holidays paper on this (i only used the scraps left from my other project). I basically cut the 6 sets of triangles and cut the borders using fiskars edge scissors. I punched holes using my paper piercer for the sewing lines then sew it. I left one side open and then I stuffed crumbled papers inside 'til it is full and then sew it close.

I distressed the sides using Fired brick and then attached one over the other. I then embellished it using xmas eyelets and stickled it!

The bucket here is actually bright orange in color - I dabbed Red Pepper paint dabber over it and then stamped it with hero arts leaf using metallic green stamp ink from versa mark.


Here's a close up...

Loved how this project turned out!

Cheers!

Cathy

Weekend Wedding

December - the month of weddings... Yes, a lot of weddings during this time of the year. We attendeded a wedding of Gio's friend yesterday at the Manila Cathedral ~ Fort Santiago. It was a nice wedding and it made me realize that time flies so fast. I can't believe it's been almost a year since our wedding...

I guess when you realize that time flies so fast, you're actually enjoying it and I actually am. I'm so happy and I think I'm way too happy that sometimes the pessimistic side of me makes me think something gonna go wrong (yeah I'm that bad). But I decided to stop a long time ago - it's not worth it fearing something that might or might not happen. I just love our life together and am enjoying it!

Here's our picture (I'm so fat, I know!)

Here are the wives (or at least the first four from the left) :)

And here are the husbands...

Goodnight for now...

Cathy

I won!!!

Yipee!!! I just found out I won the November challenge over at The Studio!

It's my Domestic Goddess layout that got picked! I'm so happeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm not feeling well tonight because my colds but I suddenly don't feel so bad (despite the runny nose! haha!).

The better news is that the prize is a distressing kit! Yipee! I just love to distress!

Thanks to Amanda of The Studio and to their sponsor Jay's Crafts!

Cheers!
Cathy

Enjoy the Process Class

Last Nov 6, I signed up for Iris BabaoUy’s class called Enjoy the Process. It was only a $5 online class and when you sign up some of the proceeds will go to Ondoy victims which was really nice of her to do. What’s unique about that class is you won’t actually use papers!

Here’s the output and I surely will use canvass and fabric soon!

The left side area was canvass and the right was fabric.

Sideview of the top portion...

Close up of the flower. I masked my die cut sheet because the color doesn’t go with the colors in my LO.

The center picture was framed using a Maya road sheer and I raised it using foam tapes. The word ‘travel’ was squeezed together by raising some of the letters (green) by using foam tapes too.

This is so cool! Using rub-ons on fabric! It actually takes the texture of the fabric and makes you think it was ironed on! It looks really amazing!

The ribbons underneath the flowers were sort of weaved. The tree was suppose to be a hambly screen print but instead I used Tattered angels tree stamp and stamped it onto an acetate.

I had fun doing this page and I did learn a few techniques! Thanks again Iris!

Cheers!

Cathy

Artz de Scrap DT Call

Do you like altering stuff? Making scraps useful or converting them into art? Have you ever collected random stuff or scraps though you don't know "yet" what you'll use them for and then later finds out it's great for something if you alter it?

Then you should try out for a DT spot over at Artz de Scrap! They are now looking for four DT's for the Jan - Jul 2010 term. To apply for a DT spot, you simply need to submit 3 altered projects you have done in the past (except those previously submitted for the ADS challenges). How easy is that? It can be anything as long as you did some alterations or better yet created something out of scratch!

I have enjoyed my term and have surely grown as a better artist and scrapper because you always want to think out of the box when altering stuff! It releases the artistic side of you that you probably aren't aware of . So grab this opportunity to learn and grow! Apply now!

Cheers!
Cathy

Ever tried beach camping.... Survivor style?

Since it was a long weekend last week, we planned to go to Hundred Islands. We've been planning to go since two long weekends ago but something always kept us from going. So we headed off at 5 in the morning, this is actually our fist overnight trip that we actually didn't have any plan at all. By plan I mean we don't have a reserved hotel, no idea what's in store and most shockingly Gio only looked at the instructions to get there the night before the trip. This is a first and it was actually a risk because what if most people went on vacation and all hotels within the area are booked? We would've wasted 8 hours of driving for nothing. But luckily, there were not so many people and no traffic at all! I guess everybody went for holiday shopping.

And so when we got there, we got scared for a moment because we saw the beach area and there was no hotel or any resort in plain view! We went ahead and asked around and we were pointed at the Tourism reception area. It was there that we found out that you can actually spend the night at the island!

We've never really done anything like this (at least for the both of us). His sister (Faye) and boyfriend (Ave) had at least been through something like this but not the two of us! So you can pretty much imagine the smile on our faces.

So we rented tents, water supply, cooler, blankets, pillows, etc. We bought packed foods for lunch, snack and dinner at the nearby food store (carinderia). Our breakfast will be delivered the next morning via our boat. Once all is set, we headed for the docking area and immediately hopped on the boat. We rented the boat for the day – it will tour us around the 100+ islands before we get dropped off at our choice of island.

This was a picture of me having a hard time hoppin on the boat Hehehe. And below is our picture.

Our first stop was at an island called Governors island. There was a small dark cave there (pic below) and fantastic view of the small islands around at the top (which will require 125 steps to reach). We were panting and can hardly breathe when we reached the top but the view was worth it.

At the cave...

View from the top of Governors Island...

Then we headed off to Quezon Island – this is the island where we were suppose to stay at and built our tents. This is the most crowded island we saw and there were actually cottages and stores around the island but when we saw the island just in front of the island, we were attracted to it because it was just small and there was only one group of people who’s staying there. We decided that’s where we’ll spend the night.

This was the walkway to the huge clams area (that by the way, I couldn’t see!).

After Quezon Island, we decided to go eat our lunch and snorkel. We had lunch at the boat when we got to the snorkeling area (this was a first too!). When we went down to look for corals and fishes, we were disappointed at first because we couldn’t see any near our boat. But Gio and Ave persisted – it was very far from where our boat docked! We were tired from swimming when we got there but it immediately subsided when we saw the fishes and the corals. It was beautiful swimming along with those fishes although sometimes scared that the medium sized fish might bite (LOL).

We stayed there for more or less two hours and then went ahead with the tour. It was close to 2PM and the sun’s heat was burning our skin so we decided to stay at the Marcos Island where there is a shaded area where the waves hit the rocks.

See the waves behind us? The sound of it hitting the rocks is simply beautiful and calming. We ate our merienda here and after another two hours we headed off to the island where we’ll spend the night.

Setting up the tent… I’ve no idea how it’s setup so I let the experienced folks do it. Heehee…

Tent all setup…

This was taken at around 7pm already… I’m all made up and ready for bed oh tent I mean. And by made up I mean I’ve cleaned my face, private areas and am wearing dry clothes. No bathroom!!! We just go to the darkest covered area of the island and change clothes and clean up there. It was extraordinary and fun!

We also took videos of the island and Gio actually had a lot of shots pretending he was Jeff (Survivor host), one of the castaways – where he discusses who he wants eliminated at the tribal council tonight, etc. It was hilarious!!!

After dinner, we just sort of lie at the sand and watched the gazillion stars and the huge moon while listening to the ipod music – we always bring our small speakers. It was so peaceful… I was actually telling Gio it was so nice to hear the waves just crash the shore. I often just hear this from Spa treatment areas! Haha. But now that it’s real, it’s really relaxing and I was content and happy.

And then the survivor experience began…

We tucked in the tent at around 9pm – I guess we were tired after all. And aren’t we glad we slept early?!?! We were because at around 4am, it started to rain! But it was only light showers of rain but I didn’t realize the calming waves can actually become scary when it’s raining and you don’t see it! We were so scared the waves might hit our tents but when we checked it was still 2-3 meters away. But the light showers wouldn’t stop and our rented tents are not that sturdy and water proof! So Gio and Ave went out to look for a covered area where we can keep our things dry. At that point, I got scared that the boat might not be able to pick us up later because of the tides ,that we might got stuck there for however long without food! Of course I can’t forget food! Hehe…

But gladly, the showers stopped at around 6am and when we saw the rays of sun peeking through the clouds, it was priceless. The surge of happiness and calmness in that island can’t be surpassed. I just fell in love with it.

We swam the early hours of the day and our breakfast was delivered at around 830 and immediately after breakfast, we headed off to go home…

This vacation was superb! It gave me mixed feelings (happy, relaxed, content, peace, calm, scared, worried, hungry, etc) in just 24 hours! I guess that’s the reason why some survivors go back. With that, I believe this will be the first of our many more trips here.

Lots of new pics for me to scrap!

Cheers!
Cathy

Altered Matchbox

This December, Artz de Scrap's challenge is on altering a matchbox with Christmas in mind. We have a used matchbox so I decided to use that instead of creating something from scratch.

I was brainstorming on what I'd do with it that's "Christmasy" I decided why not use it as a gift tag instead of using it as a gift box or something (and trying to look for a gift that would actually fit the box! hehe). It's too small anyway so it could pass as a gift tag.

Here's the finished matchbox. I used scrap paper from my Graphic 45 papers and added stickles to it (center of the flowers).


The leaf is actually a Hero Arts stamp which I cut out after stamping and applied stickles on the end. I stamped Happy Holidays using clear embossing ink and then applied white embossing powder so it would pop above the papers.

Close up of the paper with stickles.


And here's the close up of the inside. I painted it with gold acrylic paint and stamped the holly leaf inside. Attached the maroon ribbon on the side for easy pull out and added the message using Jenny Bowlin alpha stickes.


That's it for today folks! Will check out T!m's 12 tags of Chistmas now and share some work soon!

Cheers!
Cathy