Wedding Month

Weddings seem to be celebrated differently nowadays.

Last night at Hubby's relative's wedding, I was pleasantly surprised at the extensive preparations made for the guests by the bride & groom (B&G). It was a welcome change from the usual ho-hum ceremonies. And because of this, all the guests were all awake and quite participative!

For instance, there was no traditional bouquet and garter toss. Instead, there was a bingo game where guests were asked to answer questions pertaining to the B&G, eg. age, birthdays, etc. And the prizes were amazing! They gave away 2 mp3 players and 2 Nokia cellaphones as the grand prizes.

A touching part of the evening was when guests were asked to volunteer the number of years they've been married. The award went to a couple married for 42 years! As a gift, the B&G presented them with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Of course, the lucky (!) winners had to kiss each other while everyone gamely clinked their glasses. On the side, a lady sitted next to our table claimed that she's been married for 45 years. However, the husband refused to be acknowledged. Oh well!

What a lovely, lovely evening for a lovely, lovely couple!

In a Frenzy

December is the most hectic month of all. So many occasions to celebrate, so much food to eat but also too much stress in trying to fit in all the things that need to be done. Not that I'm complaining though. This is the time of year for reflection, for giving thanks and for planning for the coming year.

Today, my DS had his 4th birthday party in school. His real birthday is actually on the 22nd but we had to fastforward it just a bit to beat the Xmas break which starts on the 15th. I made it a point to involve my DS in all aspects of preparation. We had so much fun preparing for his party: from planning the menu, ordering the cake and preparing the loot bags.

It was really all worth it when I saw my DS' happy shining face! He was actually "shining" with happiness all throughout his party. I felt my heart melting as I watched how happy he was. Absolutely worth it.

Oh, and we were so busy that I didn't even bother to take a look at what arrived at 8:30 in the morning. Eeeekkk!!! Have to go a party first.

Doodle Frame from Lilly Pie Designs by Carrie Bombria

Xmas Tags

Yesterday afternoon while watching a show on TV, I decided to use some scrapping supplies to make Xmas gift tags. It would be nice to give something handmade along with a store-bought gift. Besides, I just love those cute little sizzlit Xmas dies!

Materials used: 1 sheet 12x12 patterned paper; chipboard; Elmer's glue; foam; Sizzix tag dies & Sizzlits Xmas shapes. I was able to make 18 tags in all! Oh, and I had a lot of help from a cute little ELF. (argggh! I failed to take a shot of my DS cranking the Sidekick)

I think I may need just a few more. Now, to find that little Elf......

Scrapping Group, anyone????

For my December Scrapbytes contribution, I submitted (whew!! finally) an article about a group of uber-talented ladies that I scrap with. These ladies are the most gracious, kind-hearted people I've ever met. Boy, do I consider myself lucky to have met these precious ladies and even get to scrap with them once in a while.

I've heard someone say on several occasions that give or take a few deviants, scrappers are the best people to get along with. They definitely rate high on the social scale and even rate higher in the philantrophy department. Ask help from a scrapper and they'll welcome you with arms wide open and stash/toolbox opened even wider.

Well, I guess it's because we mostly understand each other. A true-blue scrapper will swoon along with you as you admire the newest patterned paper available in our local scrapbook stores. Only a scrapper will cheer you on & generously give valuable advise on how to make your layout look better. And as Tin Yao succinctly puts it, only scrappers know that Basic Grey is not just another color in the color wheel.

As this post finally ends, this has become a delayed thanksgiving of sorts.... To ALL my scrapper friends, esp. the ScrappinMoms, to everyone I've met along the way, a big warm thank you for all the kind words, gracious smiles and endless generosity you sent my way.

You can catch the article here. Cheers!

Credits: Color My World Digital Kit by Rhonna Farrer from 2peasinabucket.com

Manila Bay Sunset

Last Saturday, we were at the port area to visit the MV Doulos, the floating bookstore. My kids were so happy to be able to get onboard a ship and look at the books for sale. Me? I was on deck, thoroughly mesmerized by the sinking ball of fire in the horizon. Sigh...

Photoshop #3: It's HIP to be Square (and How to Post your LO Online)

1. Create New File. 2. Using the Marquee Tool, identify your selected image which your LO. Drag this to your New File.
3. A lot of times, your image will have to be resized. To do this, click Edit > Transform > Scale. I do hope you remember our previous lesson: hold the shift key down while pulling the corner.

Here we go:

Almost but not quite. My scanner & I are not really the best of friends so I usually just take a picture of my layout to post online. On many occasions, I would get so frustrated at the irregular corners I end up with. I never seem to get it perfect! For a band-aid solution, I would sneakily enlarge my image a tad bit just to make those "perfect" corners. I succeed in getting a square but in the process also fail miserably in giving an honest image of my layout.

Don't worry, there is way though... Hold your breath.

4. Click Edit>Transform>Warp. This will divide your image into a 3x3 grid. Now very gently (mind you, really gently) pull away at the corners until you form yourself a "perfect" square. Please try not to overdo it or you might end up with another shape.
Voila! Now isn't this much better!
This is my final image.

By the way, most online posts require a maximum file size. Either you plug in a lower resolution (say from 300 dpi to 72-90 dpi), which does not in any way change the quality of your image, or you can change the width/height dimensions of your file. Oh and do all your image adjustment/enhancements prior to resizing.

Happy posting to all!

Birthday Gift Bag

It was Hubby's birthday and an ordinarily wrapped present simply won't do for Scrapper-Wifey. So I chose from my silly collection of stamps and went from this:
To this!

Now, wasn't that fun!

Photshop # 2: How to Crop an Image

Zabeth Tan Gochuico, one talented scrapper, wants to know how to crop pictures in Photoshop so that the image doesn't get distorted.

Ok, let's say you want to crop your picture into a regular 4x6 size. This is what you do.

1. Open your image first. Open a new file (File > New). A dialogue box will pop-up for you to indicate the details of your file. Enter as follows: WIDTH: 6 inches, HEIGHT: 4 and make sure that the resolution is at least 300 dpi, color mode RBG,8 bit.
2. Drage your image into the new file then press Edit>Transform>Scale. It is important that you press down the Shift key as you drag the corner bounding box inward to fit. (or outward if the image is smaller)

3. Once you're satified with your cropping, just press enter.

This is also the key when you do digital scrapping. When you add an element into your "page" sometimes you have to adjust it to a smaller or bigger size. Just remember to hold the shift key down so as not to have a distorted image.

I hope this helps, Zabeth!

T'is the Season for......Christmas Layouts

Don't want to start a panic but are you aware that there are only 32 days to go before Christmas???!!!! Eeeekkk! I haven't started any shopping. Don't even have a list. The decors aren't even up yet. (Bad Mama!)

Oh, but I did have time to make a couple of Xmas layouts for Lasting Impression. (Wink, wink)

This is my first time to use Cosmo Cricket papers and I must say, I found this line absolutely divine! Initially though, I found it intimidating because quite frankly, it just wasn't my style. Well, I'd like to think it came out nicely though.

Thanks, Mia Caniza and Ms. Marian King for lending me your Quickutz dies! They're to die for. Thanks to Ms. Vivian, too!

Dear Santa

Naughty or Nice

Materials Used: Cosmo Cricket Be Good Collection, Be Good Ornament Fashions, Die-cuts: Sizzix (Funky Brush alpha, bread tag), Quickutz Beauty Queen Alpha, chain link, ribbons, blings & gold glitter, Fancy Pants Stamps: From the Garden.

Pictures to Scrap

Last Sunday afternoon, I found my DS in the lanai blowing some bubbles. Btw, don't you welcome the change in the weather? Perfect for kites and bubbles!!! Of course, I quickly snapped some pictures for scrapping before DS gets soaking wet.

Oh, btw, DS here is still in his pj's because he's recuperating from a slight fever..."lagnat laki" only. And the green stuff you see in the background? Yep, those are Christmas decors waiting to be hung. I do the Xmas decors every year, sometimes overlapping it with the Halloween decor. Talk about kitschy style! This year though, I haven't brought myself to doing it. And it's almost December!!!!

Last week, my ever-efficient Yaya (bless her!) brought out from storage boxes & boxes of decor without being told. Hint, hint maybe? Hmmm, talk about subtle. he-hehhhehhe.. I should let them do it this year. Whaddya think?