Beach Escape

Spent the weekend with my family at the beach. The rain fell softly last Sunday afternoon but this did not dampen our spirits. It left the water cold though so the kids decided to go up into the house after just a short swim. The rest of the lazy afternoon was spent watching a movie. We had an early dinner and watched another movie. Hah!

Good thing the weather was fantastic the next day. There was no sun but it was just perfect! The kids spend the whole morning on the beach! They frolicked on the beige sand, swam in the warm sea, built sand castles and generally had a grand time.

It was an absolutely great weekend for all of us!

Knock-out Punch

...not the one that Manny Pacquiao delivers but the punches that scrappers like me would love to have.

Yesterday, I had the great opportunity to try out 2 very hot punches that came out fairly recently in the local market: Fiskar's Threading Water Border Punch & Paper Studio's Elegant Multi-Punch. Oooh!! was I excited to try out these babies.

Please let me say beforehand that my review of these 2 punches is based solely on my initial trial. Others who own these babies may have different ideas or experiences. Just let me share with you what I discovered.

To level the playing field, I decided to use the same paper for both punches:
a. red bazzill cardstock (heavy)
b. fancy pants patterned paper (medium)
c. autumn leaves/daisy ds patterned paper (light)

Findings:
a. Punching Effort: Effortless punching for both the medium & lightweight papers. For the Bazzill cs though, I had a hard time with the Fiskars punch but it was a breeze with the PS Multi-Punch. Oh, and by the way, I had to stand up to get it going.

b. Design Detail: Excellent for both, although I'm very much impressed with the more intricate details on the Multi-Punch. However, I do adore the scalloped effect on paper so I guess tha makes it even.

c. Learning Curve:

Fiskars - Trying to make a continuous border was tricky for me at first. Being a newbie, I over-estimated the guide dots (there are 3) which resulted in a gap between the scallops (a below). When I tried to punch again, I failed to shoot it exactly and ended up with uneven scallops and holes (b below). arrgghh... eventually, I got the hang of it. I'll share the tip on how I did it at the end of this post. So please read on.

Paper Studio Multi-Punch - The multi-colored "bead designs" on its body initially caught my eye. Little did I know that these are guides which you should follow to make a successful punch. A must is to read the lengthy instructions at the back of the packaging. I had to go over it several times before I finally got it. Btw, the upper portion of the punch is just held on to the lower part by a very, very strong magnet. This reduces mistakes because you get to see where the next punch is going... you see the whole thing!

d. Versatility: Fiskars can only punch out a straight line while the Multi-punch can do borders, 4" & 6" circles, squares, ovals and corners!!! Wow, talk about multi-tasking.

Tip:

Fiskars - At any one time, 5 scallops are made with a single punch. To ensure a continuous border, all you have to do is count! Punch, pull out the paper, then using the 3 dot guide, make sure that the last 2 dots slide back inside the covered area. 3 dots forward, 2 dots back. (hmmm, something like Paula Abdul's song??? lol!!!) Try it and let me know it it works for you.

Paper Studio Multi-punch - Two features ensure that you punch a perfect design all the time: the "bead" guides and the strong, removable magnet. I have to admit though that I got frustrated at not getting an impression at all at my first try. If you're having this problem, here's one sure tip: Make sure you hold down the heel of the punch (the one which has a center marker) and punch away.

Which is the better punch? I leave it up to you to decide. Boy, would I love to have both these babies!!!! And I would appreciate tips and ideas from you too! Cheers!

Raindrops of August

Summer days are really over as we meet August with what else but rain, rain, rain!!! It's been raining cats & dogs the whole week and there seems to be no let up.

PAG-ASA expects the country to experience at least 4 typhoons this month alone. Oh, I wonder if we'll ever get to dry our clothes this month!

August, which usually falls on the 7th month of the lunar calendar, is also around the time when Chinese all over the world observe the Hungry Ghost Month. They say that during this time, ghosts & spirits wander the earth and of course, give their relatives a "friendly" visit or two. That being said, many Chinese postpone or slow down on major activities such as getting engaged or married, buying a house, investing on a new business, opening a new shop, among others.

Just sit out this month, supertitious folks would say and just hope & pray for the best!!!! And by the way, don't forget food offerings & prayers for our dearly departed kin.

Take a Bow

Thanks, Mia & Phylline for thinking I deserve this award!!! You are dear to me!

Here are the rules that go along with the awards:

1. Post the award logos on your blog. Done

2. Link back to the person who awarded them to you. Done

3. Nominate at least 7 people whose blogs you admire and add links back to their blogs.

4. Leave a message for the nominees on their blogs.

As to Nos. 3 & 4, please consider yourself an awardee and be my guest!!!

Photo for the Day: A "Cat" & his Side-kicks

I don't know what possessed me but I was crazy enough to agree to sit as Asst. Class Reps in ALL my 3 kids' classes! It's ok with the 2 older ones but activities for my Nursery Boy is taking a big chunk away from my ME time. Been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to take pictures. I've also put aside regular badminton & haven't even scrapped a single page in 2 weeks!

As part of our regular routine, I have blocked off Saturday mornings for study time with my youngest DS who is in nursery. Exams are coming soon so we have to study double-time. Gee, I remember when my eldest DS was in nursery some ten years back just dancing, singing & playing the whole time. Nursery nowadays is really tough. My youngest has to study so many things!!!

After study time, we are both pretty much proud of ourselves. Me for keeping my patience & my DS for knowing his lessons well. Oh, I'm one proud happy Mama! Oh but we do have to practice our penmanship.....

After study time of course is play time! Here's a photo I took yesterday of my DS trying out one of his school projects & another one of his side-kicks (if you know what I mean)....

Teresa Collins Mini Album

Wanna do a mini with no fuss? Try Teresa Collin's Die-cuts Collection available at Lasting Impression. These are so cool. Just pop out the cards, put in your photos, embellish and voila! An instant mini album for any occasion! I used my Bind-It-All to put everything together and I absolutely love the effect.

I call this mini "Favorite Photos & Memories of 2008". In one go, I can glean over the "best" of the past year. I left out some blank pages so I can sneak in more pictures to complete the remaining 6 months. Once I get the photos, it's just paste & glue for me.

Keep it simple! was my mantra while putting this mini together so I stuck to a simple color plan. Since the die-cuts are mostly black & white/beige, I introduced only one primary color: RED! I then looked for embellishments in the same color family. (Hooray for Making Memories' 5th Avenue Elizabeth line!) The rub-ons and other stickers I used came from my stash. As I say, a mini is one great way of using up your leftover stash.

Meanwhile the mostly wallet sized photos were printed from my EPSON computer at home . You may use excess photos from your backlog too. Talk about keeping it within budget which I definitely like!

Please check out Lasting Impression's gallery for the materials used for this mini.

The More Photos, The Better (For Me, That Is....)

Helps cut through my huge backlog. I have so many pictures in my photo box. And that doesn't even include those in my hard disk! I'm glad though that I'm slowly regaining my scrapping mojo. Here are a few layouts that I've completed this week.

This is a carry over of my "green" layout fix. I love green!

This next layout captures all the activities we did on March 2, 2008. We went to Manila Ocean Park, had lunch and a great dessert. It was a great family day!

Here's another one showing my goofy DS having fun with my DD at the village park. Unfortunately, my DD hardly goes there anymore. She says she's no longer a kid! Sigh! And finally, this is the latest layout I made for Lasting Impression using Daisy Bucket Designs. It's a layout of my DD feeding the lovable & gentle elephants in Bangkok. We even saw an absolutely cute baby elephant which DD wanted to bring home. They were soooo cute....just don't mind the smell.... Please check out Lasting Impression's gallery for materials used in the layout.

The Great Online Paper Sale at Lasting Impression

Hurry! Lasting Impression has a treat for all ye scrappers! The Great Online Paper Sale is on! From July 1-6, 2008, all patterned papers are at 50% off! This is applicable to online purchases only. Plain cardstocks and new arrivals are not included.

Meanwhile, on July 6, 2008, Lasting Impression will be be at "Ready Set Scrap" at the Glorietta Activity Center. You may pick up your "Great Online Paper sale orders there. For pick-up, please indicate during checkout, otherwise orders will be shipped to you.

See you there!

Of Owls and Multi-photo Green Layouts

One of Sassafras' latest lines, Pocketfull of Rosies, just begs to be cut, cut, cut.... I thought that adding embellishments would be over-the-top so I kept it to a bare minimum. I absolutely adore the owls!!! Don't they look wise and kooky at the same time?

Here's another LO using Sassafras papers. The ink on my printer failed to come out when I printed the photo for the first time. I flipped the photo paper & on the second try, it finally came out good. I then decided not to cut out the first prints to put emphasis on the title. Isn't it neat?
Know one way sure way to lessen your backlogs? Try multi-photo layouts. Guaranteed to cut through the pile. And by coincidence, my latest LOs are green. Hey, as in the color. lol! I had no idea that I've been leaning toward green LOs until I took pictures of them this morning.

1) Remember our Baguio trip? My DS was walking around with a P&S camera and I wanted to show him the shots that he took. A lot of his shots are blurry but from where I sit, I'd say that his compositions are not bad for a four-year old. Please indulge the proud Mama. LOL!!2) The pictures of DS feeding fish in Tarlac were practically begging to be scrapped but I just had to have the right paper. Good thing I found it the Scenic Route Grafton line of pp at Lasting Impression. Just love the fish pattern.

3) And finally, a layout of my DS during his first day in Big School! Sniff... How time flies!!!
Please check out Lasting Impression's gallery for the materials used in the above layouts.

Bangkok Pictures

As promised, here are some photos I took during my trip to Bangkok. It was a such a pleasure catching such wonderful images! I have a lot more others but I didn't want to bore you guys to tears. I just wish I can get to scrap all of them!