New DT gig at Yumi & Fumi Handmade!!

Good Thursday morn', all!!

Can you believe it's August already?? I can't! Wasn't it just Christmas a while back? :)

I've got big news here in BlogLand! I've landed a spot on the Yumi and Fumi Handmade Design Team!




I'm on Team Yumi, as the DT is divided into two teams. We'll explain more about that later! But can I just tell you that I'm super excited to be a part of this? You all know how much I love Hawaii, that the islands are my happy place! And the Y&FH stamps remind me so much of that beautiful place and its people.

Being born in the Philippines and coming to the states in my elementary school years were not easy. I struggled to find role models on TV and looked for people who looked like me and who I could relate to. Eventually, I became color blind and less culturally aware. That did not stop me from being proud of my heritage though, and I love how the Y&F stamps kinda look like me -- mostly Filipino, some Chinese, and a little bit of Spanish.

And what I love about these stamps are they are so relatable. At least for me! I wear flip flops almost year round! I wore uniforms to school!

Anyway, enough with the rambling.... here's a list of my Design Team mates on Team Yumi (you'll meet Team Fumi on the Y&FH blog tomorrow!). In the mean time, meet:

Rosie (DT coordinator),

Lisa,

Corinne --- You are here!,

Olivia,

Maja aka Cebelica

and Leanne (Owner/ DT Coordinator), who is stepping in until they can find another DT.

See you folks soon!!

Mele Kalikimaka to you!

Good Sunday mornin'!

It's time for Christmas Card Challenges # 20 - the theme this week is wings!

I wanted to stay away from the usual angels and I was itching to color up some TGF. She's wearing a swimsuit though so I decided to do a Hawaiian Holiday card (I love Hawaii!).

Added some trim I bought from the islands - from a scrap booking store in Maui, in fact! And the main paper is from
Kelly Purkey's December daily kit.



Have a wonderful day!
Rinne

Roadtrip anyone??

Hello, peeps!

I don't know about you, but I looooove to travel! Be it by air, or by car, I'm all for it. During my childhood, we didn't have a lot of luxury so vacations were always a big deal. We never went far so we always traveled by car. And because we had a big family who loved to sing, it was never boring. Actually, as a teen, sometimes, I'd block my family out by wearing my headphones. LOL!

Fast forward to my early 20s. My BFFs and I went to different colleges so I'd always try to visit them by car. I also started my Southwest frequent flyer miles going to Las Vegas or Arizona! Then, my BFFers in college would plan a trip to Palm Springs and Vegas again (hey, it's such a popular place!).

And then, when I met my DH in my mid 20s, his bro thought about moving to AZ. His BFF was already there. The housing market was booming. And you can get a 3000 square foot home for 1/3 the price of what it'd cost in the SF Bay Area. We did a lot of road trips there. Five adults in a little sedan in 100 + degree = not always fun!

My actual most favorite road trip was with my lil sis. She had a job interview in So Cal, and it was just the two of us. We belted our way there...as in, at the top of our lungs, the most ridiculous, highest notes in love songs! For me, it was stress free as I was just there for support. I was very into Yelp back then and looked forward to visiting new shops and restaurants.

Anyway, I haven't yet visited Europe, but I'll get there someday. Onto today's card: Doesn't Car Leo look cute? Am not quite happy with the way I colored his car, but let's just say it's not a new one.

The elements and design I used is more geared towards the scrapbooking world with the layering in one corner and the use of more than one sentiment. I do love how different it came out though. And how it captures my love of a good roadtrip!



Happy Travels!

A Slice of the Good Life.

When I took Amy T's class, I wasn't very prepared. I just grabbed a bunch of old pics and prayed that they would somehow fit the pages we were going to make.

I was pretty lucky because these photographs from a trip to paradise were perfect for the lay-out I had in mind. I didn't change much from Amy's original design because I really love how her page came out:



Sorry to blog and run! I must finish my Holiday shopping while I still have a chance! Hope you are all having a stellar day!

Life Is Good!

Here's one of the four lay-outs I made at the class that Amy Tangerine taught.

I pretty much copied her design and sketch, but changed up the flowers and embellies.

Here's a pic of her LO:



The pic is of my two sisters and our friend, J. We had gone to Hawaii and was at a luau at sunset. The water was just beautiful and I just had to get a shot of it. I've been to four of the Hawaiian islands and I think the luau at Paradise Cove in Oahu is still my favorite.

The title of this page was perfect for the pic. I feel so grateful and blessed to be able to travel and see so many beautiful places! Can't wait to see more of the world :).

I love the colors of this page and the layering as well! I also loved incorporating fabric! So happy I'm getting to scrap :).

I plan to write a bit of journaling on the tag. I always forget to write the date and now when I look back on my older work, I have a hard time remembering when the picture was taken. If anything, I need to journal a bit on the back of the page.

Have a wonderful one!

Oldie But Goodie

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Sadly, I only made it up to the second week of TGF's HeART Journaling project.

For that last week I completed (Week 2), I was inspired by a prior album I made in a class I took about 6 - 7 years ago. That class was taught by Traci Bautista, & to this date, I am still very much in love with this project.

I'm posting that album here now. My post is picture-heavy, and it was overcast so the pics aren't that great.

You're probably wondering why I'm blogging about it, since it was made such a long time ago. I've got several reasons:

1. I didn't have a blog back then.
2. I'd like to showcase it here in case I lose it or the kiddies tear it up.
3. I didn't have a card for today :).
4. I'm hoping to make another one like it someday and need your help.
5. It's nice to document what my style/ technique/ favorites for each year. (or era :)).



Here's the book with the cover down. I love that stitching down the side -- does anybody know what type of stitching that is? I'd like to google it / find it on you tube because I've forgotten how. I guess I could also ask Traci.



Here's the first page. The cover opens from the top up. The pages now open from the left side. I just loved how everything looked "free-style." We were taught to rip pages with unabandonment and sew without worrying about straight lines.



The second page has a pic of a Hawaiian orchid. This album holds pics of my friends' trip to Hawaii, back in 2002.


The third page has a pic from a lomography camera I used to have. I adored that thing. It gave me four different shots in succession on one print.



The fourth page is blank because I took the parts and pics out to add to my HeART Journal. But aren't the papers interesting? If you were a crafter/ scrapbooker back in the early to mid 2000s, did you remember how the popular papers look like this? Very tie-dyed like and fuzzy? :). And vellum was really common, too!



The fifth one has more lomography pics of the beach. Aren't those beads and string just breath-taking?



And this sixth one has my BFF on it. She was on that trip with me. Fun memories!


This seventh page featured one of the cool waterfalls of Hawaii. It was at a park, and there was a show with performers jumping from it.


The last page has pics from the Luau we attended at the Big Island. See the third pic of a wanna-be Hula dancer. Haha!

Thanks for visiting! As I clean out my craft room and organize my old projects, I'll be posting more of these oldies but goodies. Hope you don't mind!

Week 2

Hi guys!

For Week Two on TGF's Heart Journaling, we are to create using Sand, Sea, Beach as the theme.






I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm about forty-five minutes from the water, yet when someone mentions beach, I don't think of the nearby bay. I've never even swam in it (just waded). It is cold and gray!

Rather, I always picture the beaches of Hawaii. Butter-soft sand, clear blue-green waters.... aaahhhhhh.....

To make my page(s), I cut out some handmade papers I had from Traci's class for my elements. (I've used this paper before for an 'ocean' - you may remember the paper from my card here).

I wanted lots of dimension and textures so the painted papers made up the sky, the sun, and the waves. For the beach, I misted with Shimmerz Paints and sponged with Studio semi-gloss acrylic paint. I used Collage Pauge as the adhesive so you may see bits of sparkle.

The strips of papers with the pictures were part of an old album I made (also in Traci's class). A couple of pages were never adhered to the album so I used them here. I tucked a note in one of the pockets that said:

Hawaii--
the sand, sun, wind, and surf.
There's no place like it in the world.
And even though I've been there many times, I still always long to go.
So many beautiful sceneries. The water is so crystal clear. The sand is so buttery soft. I love Hawaii.

Did I mention that I love Hawaii?? LOL!!!

No Regrets

I got cancelled from work yesterday.

The census was low and there were too many nurses on. So they called off the ones they didn't need. Sometimes, we put our names on a list for this reason. But other times (like yesterday), you don't have a choice.

It was sort of a blessing in disguise. I did not get paid but I had gotten some ME time. My babe was at his Grandma's and I had twelve hours to myself. It was great! :) Sometimes you just need that .... although I could've really used the money.

Last week, a co-worker got cancelled unexpectedly. She later told me she was glad because her cat had passed that day. She had the cat for 16 years and was her 'baby.' :(

So I made her this card. None of my stamps called out to me. (And even if they did, I still don't have my ink pads...). So I made another imageless card. I find that I enjoy making these as well.

Used my previous October Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions for the CS, ribbon, butterfly, and PP. The flowers are from Prima and Gauche Alchemy.

So if you ask my friend T & I if we regret getting cancelled, we'd both say no.

----------------------------------------------

Now unto a similar topic.

I'm in my early 30s (*gasp!*, I revealed my age!!!), married for two years, have a 13-month-old toddler, living in suburbia, about to buy a new home, settled in my career.....

Nice, right?

Sure I'm thankful for my blessings.

But even though I swore to live my life without any regrets, I always wished that I traveled more.

And when I saw this trailer, I think about it more often....



Eat, Pray, Love will be coming out to theaters soon. I can't wait to see the movie. I love Julia Roberts. I thought the book was just ok, but I do love the lessons behind it.

Find yourself, let go of everyday stresses, revel on what's really important, experience different cultures, taste international cuisine, see the world.

I think I'll plan a trip to Europe with some of my friends. Start early enough so that there'll be no excuses :).

Thanks for visiting!

Aloha

Aloha!

Aloha - means Hello and Goodbye in Hawaiian....

For today's card, I was inspired to try my hand at using up these 'realistic' PP -- like what Amy has been doing here to make her awesome-as-usual scenes! Really creative.

I think mixing the 'realness' of the elements of the sand, sky, and ocean and the cartoon-ish features of H&G Sing ended up really cool.

The patterned papers are bought in a local scrapbooking store in Maui. I think they are from a brand called Island Paperie.

I am really excited for our trip to Hawaii this coming fall. The islands are one of my favorite places on Earth. You know when people tell you to think of your safe haven in order to get you to relax? Well, mine's Hawaii :).

Here's an old lay-out I did about 2-3 years ago....



Thanks for visiting! Aloha!