Start of a LATE new year

My, my, my . . . a new post for the year, albeit late . . . and only one LO for show for it *sigh*

Layout: Hey, Lollipop!
*photo by The Picture Company, High Street Fort Bonifacio

This is a LO of my neice, Ocean Lily when we had her photos taken at The Picture Company. She was a bit moody that day, good thing my brother was there to make hedr laugh by waving a piece of candy behind the camera. It was a good thing the kind people at The Picture Co. had an extra lollipop, and that being Ocean's super favorite treat, was enough to coax her to pose and smile for us. Yes, i'm sad to say, it's bribery at its best LOL.

The digital LO elements were generously shared by Danielle and the Kaya challenge posted by Diane. Thank you ladies, if it wasn't for you I don't think I could have come up with a LO at all! And that goes to the Kaya Challenge blog too, if it wasn't for Kaya! my scrapping skills have gone to nothing.

Anyway, i'm in the process of renovating and moving . . . so we've begun to have our shelves and desks revarnished, and whatnot. I'll post a photo of my scraparea soon, which by the way is non existent as of this moment.

My dear friend and partner Mia and I were chatting about our scrap areas, as she is also fixing up hers. I remembered I kept a list of links and photos of cool scrap rooms I saw online! So what better way but to share with you a few of the stuff I found :-)

ScrapEnvy -- personally among all the rooms, this one wins hands down!
It's a Creative World -- two words . . . SCRAP SHED!
the and only Amy Butlers studio
here's a peek at Ali Edwards studio

Also, type in Scrapbook Room at TwoPeasInaBucket and you're sure to find a treasure trove of ideas! Just like this room :-) what i love about the 2Peas scrapbook room gallery, it also features small scrap spaces.

Here are a couple more I keep on file to get organization ideas from:

I believe the photo above is Melette Berezoski's studio

And the last photo is from Pottery Barn. Out of all of the photos, i think this one is very doable and can be adjusted to fit any size area. We're just lucky that a carpenter is easy to come by in the Philippines :-)

Whether your scrap space is a whole room or just a corner, I Hope you enjoyed looking (or drooling!) at the photos and got ideas for your own scrap areas too :-)

Happy Ho-ho-Holidays!

Thanks to Ria and the ScrappinMoms for giving me the opportunity to make a layout for the December issue of Scrapbytes. 

This pic was taken December 2006, Josh loves icing and he knew we were watching him trying to sneak up to the yule log. . . the photos we took were not too great, it was more like "hurry, grab the camera!" :-) So I decided to cut the pics in portions and focus on certain areas of the photos instead. I think it worked somewhat alright :-) 

I found a cool technique in an old issue of Somerset, where the artist melted the sides of a sheet of overlay. I saw the same technique in one of Mitch Sy's sweet layouts too, I had a blast melting the sides of my Hambly. . . although i did look sort of odd hovering over a candle :-P

Btw, this is my first Christmas layout . . . ever! I've never really made any holiday layouts, maybe because I didn't really have a lot of holiday photos either. So this year, I vow to take more Christmassy pics :-)

A SWEET CHRISTMAS

Journaling:

You just couldn't wait to get your hands on that yummy yule log. It must have been that NAUGHTY look or those CHUBBY fingers sneaking up on the cake that gave you away! --- Josh, Christmas 2006

Materials:

Paper -- Ki Pop Culture Teal, Webster's Candy Cane, K&Co. Peppermint Twist, Cosmo Cricket Be Good, Shipping Tags, Hambly Mini Graph White, Chipboard

Rub Ons-- American Crafts jane

Stamps -- Provocrafts Circa 18 Pts., Technique Tuesdays Provence

Ink/Pen/Paint -- Colorbox brown, Zig black 05, Pen Touch Gold, Signo White, Twinkling H20 Bashful Blue, Stickles Crystal and Fruit Punch, Aqualip Black

Embellies -- Autumn Leaves buttons Rhonna Christmas and Indian Summer, Polka dot ribbon, natural fiber ricrac and satin twine

Catch Up LO's

So it's been a while since I posted Layouts, to which this blog was supposed to be dedicated to in the first place LOL :-) here are a couple i've done in the past months, just a bit of this and that . . . enjoy!

Mitch's Scrap Challenge

It was the last leg of SM idol and the friday girls and I set out to try our hand making a LO under a 1 hour time limit. Thanks to Mitch! for preparing the papers for us :-) our theme was "Confess" but apparently I deviated from it heehee Incidentally, although Cabbie wasn't able to join us she apparently timed herself and finished in 30 minutes! Can I just say it, Cabbie! Grrrrrr! :-)

Visual Creations Hambly Challenge

I tried my hand at Mitch's Hambly challenge. I super love Hambly, having discovered the brand 2 years ago in a small crafts store in Guam . . . i'm so glad Mitch carried this line :-) This LO is about my sister's kids, my super cute niece Ocean Lily and my new nephew, Chus Andres! Chalk it up to my sis for unique baby names :-) 

KAYA LO

I missed November's Kaya Challenge, for the first time!!! I will return with a vengance :-) For the meantime, this LO is Super Donna's Kaya Challenge to use just the basics . . . no stamps, no oft used scrapbook tools and materials. Just CS, pens, paint, pretty much that's it. I had no idea how dependent I was on rub-ons, bling, stickers, etc. until this challenge. I had alot of fun making it though, it's just one of those mother-daughter days which I always enjoyed . . . even the arguing!

BitterSWEET

** IV Free Josh, spent the rainy days pre-occupied with Origami

I know most of us have children and God forbid any of your kids have Diabetes, but it plays to be safe. So please indulge me as I relay my story and perhaps you may pick up a thing or two :-)

I had feelings of guilt, how I could have not detected Josh's condition early. But my doctor reminded me, that Josh must have had Diabetes in his genes but there were no symptoms so I should not feel bad. A virus or infection could have triggered his Diabetes to come out this early; there were instances where a healthy, non-diabetic child had German Measles and shortly after that had symptoms of diabetes. Incidentally, Josh had hand, foot and mouth disease earlier this year. History wise, there is only one Type 1 diabetic in our family and it's my lola's nephew while josh's paternal side, had Type 2. I read in Diabetic books referring to possible causes such as protein found in cow's milk and even medicine administered for Pneumonia, which J0sh was confined for at the age of 2. Either way, diabetes is here to stay.

Around a month ago, Josh had began to wet his bed. He was 6 years old at that time and way past the bed wetting stage, at first we thought it was the stress of school (Maybs, you know what i'm talking about :-) because he began waking up with a wet bed around exam week. Josh is in first grade, and I could only assume how overwhelming it was they would have 2 or more quizzes in a day and the things they have to memorize was crazy! Anyway, we had consulted the doctor in time for the sem break and the doc mentioned that since we're on vacation to observe if josh would still wet his bed, after all he should be more relaxed. Sure enough he never wet his bed the whole 5 days we were away and seemed normal.

But soon as we got back to Manila, his frequent urination was suspicious. Often urinating more in the evenings, he would go to the bathroom before going to sleep, he would wake up at midnight and even around 2am to pee and STILL woke up with a wet bed. And we noticed that he began to lose weight, not to mention he could chug down a small bottle of mineral water and still be thirsty afterwards. So we went back to the doctor 6 days before his 7th birthday (Nov. 16th). The doc asked for a urinalysis and to my Tita's insistence also a blood test (thank goodness!) and that's when his sugar was +4, when the normal sugar if i'm not mistaken should be in the negatives (tama ba dra. Rita?). I called my doctor and he said to rush josh to the ER thank God talaga he was doing his rounds on a sunday! When they got josh's blood sugar it was a shocking 373 (normal I believe is 80-110)! He was also Ketoacidotic as well, which meant he had high ketones that could lead to a diabetic coma. So the doctors had to rush and administer IV and insulin.

As a friend of mine said, in times like these how often that we as parents want to take our childs place. It couldn't be more true.

As I was told, being diabetic can also constrict the veins, that's why it was so difficult for them to insert an IV on Josh. Can you believe they tried 7, count them, SEVEN times! He was good about it, didn't cry but got fed up on the 7th try. They ended up having the IV on his left foot and a second line (just in case they needed it) waiting on the right hand.

By that evening, his sugar level went down but through the course of our stay in Makati Med we experienced low blood sugar of 54 which wasn't good either. How many times have I wished that as he lay down on his hospital bed, it was me instead of him going through all those nasty pricks and shots.

Makati Medical had a Diabetic Center, which oriented patients and family members about the illness, footcare, how to administer insulin and nutrition as well. During our first day of the orientation as I was overwhelmed by all the information, the supervisor of the center said a Type 1 will be sitting in with us. I assumed it was a parent of another child much like mine, when I saw a pretty twentysomething. Apparently she's had Type 1 at around the age of 6. The day after, I met a doctor who was a Type 1 since age 11. I take it as God's way of saying "Don't worry. You see? All these people are happy and healthy, and Josh can be just like them." Even now, I keep that vision in mind that Josh can live with his Diabetes and still enjoy life if not better.

We are very fortunate to be able to have a nurse round the clock now to help us watch over josh, just yesterday he had a bout of hypoglycemia his sugar level was down to 52 when he was in school. Good thing our nurse reacted quickly and gave him some fruit juice which quickly raised his blood sugar, thank God that he never had symptoms.

When you see Josh now he's not the usual chubby ball (as we love to call him), but still healthy, kulit and super talkative. No one would suspect that Josh was diabetic, he's just like any hyperactive 7 year old boy.

It's a totally different lifestyle now, especially in the food department. Josh was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon, that morning I rushed to the grocery to stock up after all, we removed every sinful thing in our kitchen.

I hardly felt depressed when Josh was confined, not until that moment when I was walking down the aisles of Landmark. I love to cook and bake, and Josh is my constant baking apprentice and avid food fan. Seeing all the food he loved and that he could not have any of it not for a while anyway, really got to me. I know, it's weird isn't it? And of all places to feel depressed was on aisle 20 amid the Chips Ahoy and Oreos! So now my pantry is stocked with sugar free treats given only during the prescribed time and counted per piece.

And so as I type this post, I have bought every book I can find about Diabetes, gone to every site I can Google about Type 1 Diabetes, have made josh's meal plan (counting the calories, fat, etc.), have constantly checked his feet daily since footcare is important for diabetics, administered insulin (which is twice a day), have to coax him to have his fingers pricked to test for his blood sugar 5 times a day, have arranged with Josh's school for his care, and all the while burden wasn't in the picture.

My tita says that its as simple as a mother's love for her child. All the pressure is thrown out the window, because all we have in our minds is for our children tot be fine.

To those who sent text messages, dropped by to visit Josh, who posted at the SE and PS groups and gave their words of encouragements and prayers . . . thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Taking the IDOL Journey Part 2

I have been preparing a list for the past two weeks on what to bring to the Scrapfest. I've started packing since Monday, by Friday afternoon i've realized i've packed almost a third of my scrap supplies! My dear scrapping buddies knows this, when I say HEEE-HAWWW!!!

I never felt any tension until Friday evening, we had no idea what the kits contained only the possible themes. I had arrived early at the Scrapfest . . . for LUNCH! LOL which was held at Max's in Scout Tuazon. I though I was in the twilight zone when I saw empty seats only to realize everyone was huddled among the suppliers on once side of the room! whew!

All the Idol finalists were situated comfortably at one end of the function room, we were given plenty of space 4 to a table to be exact. I was seated with Nita, which made me really happy to have a famliar face there! And Dra. Rita and Darlene whom I just met. Luckily for Nita and I, we were seated with medical professionals so I assume we had dibs in case we had an anxiety attack!

I don't recall chewing my fried chicken more so swallowing it! Lunch went by like a blur, good thing I had 11 other ladies who were feeling as antsy as I were. Pia finally got as settled down for the last hour prior to the challenge. Ria passed around the kits, and lo and behold! Among the papers and embellys we were given ACRYLIC sheets!!! Yes, AU oblivious ka talaga! hehe

Within that hour everyone planned their layouts but no one was allowed to cut paper, etc. just plan and buy what we needed. I sat for a long while, racking my brain and telling myself not to panic! I think I found myself for a moment with empty tables beside me, my butt was glued to my seat! It was only the last 15 minutes when I got up to buy a sticker and clear alphas.

Finally, Pia announced the start of the crop! To tell you the truth, i SORT of had an idea what I wanted to do but when I plan a layout I always change it along the way . . . and sometimes drastically! I'm glad the girls suggested we bring our iPods, so i whipped mine out with Chill Out music blaring. And I do mean blaring so I could drown out every sound I could hear. I started out with a pretty decent and CLEAN area, when we were down to the last 10 minutes everything just went chaotic.

Then I told myself that's it! I did my best, i'm done! When I looked up Nita was the first to submit her LO! You go girl! Nita has always been saying how she was a slow scrapper, to see her great work as the first to go up the stage was a real feat :-) After Nita I just had to let go of my acrylic sheet, anymore longer and that thing would melt in my hands! A few more moments everyone was going up the stage displaying all their works on the center stage. The last person I saw still busily fiddling with her LO was Cabbie.

We were given our snacks and was finally able to shop in our right minds! I think Mia and I could have just fainted after that stress! But nothing a little shopping wouldn't cure :-) Art and Josh dropped by to pick me up and they gamely stayed until the end, even if the little boy was so hungry he drank 3 glasses of iced tea! It really meant alot to me that they were there, it helped calm my nerves too. While we were on stage, I could see Josh jumping up and down with both thumbs up!!!

The ScrappinMoms started off by announcing the winners of the challenges of the day and ended with the finale, the SM Idol! We were all asked to pile up the stage and stand behind our LO's. They called the Pick of the Weeks first, which I am fortunate enough to be a part of being picked by no less than the master herself, Iris! And so, it was THE moment. Pia JUST had to do everyting a la American Idol style which made my butterflies go nuts!!!

6 names were called in front . . . I was beside Nita and I could not breathe because we were not called! Apparently, we were the last 6 who were safe!!! ARRRRGGGH!!! Next, three names were called . . . god I could have peed!!! Au, Cabbie and I were STILL not called!!! And OMG! We were the final threeee! That's it, I think I could have called it a night. But noooo, they had to hold us in suspense! Double ARRGGGHHHH!!!

Flor, ooopsee, Liza pala hehe made a speech for our dear Scrapping Queen Bee, Joanne. . . which left us in tears, especially for those who knew Joanne as a great, great person.

Ms. Congeniality herself was teary eyed, she's moving to Australia real soon and she will be sorely missed. I don't think I could have gotten this far without her encouragement and I could not have taken the step towards putting up Studio Azul along with Mia, without her advice. Thanks to scrapping, I have met some wonderful women and men (that's you Papa Jeff!) and as I included in my intro . . . who shares my passion, who knows that Basic Grey ISN'T a color and that there's more to glue than ELMER's.

Finally, Liza turned over the floor back to Pia and called the three of us up front. Crazy Pia had to ask each of us if we had what it takes to be an SM Idol!! All I could say was "SANA?!" Ngyek!
Just to be there, with two great friends and scrappers was enough for me.

Afterwhich Pia announced that the name she will be calling out is the SM Idol and the two left behind were the runners-up. To tell you the truth, I was thinking to myself "cabbie? au? cabbie? au?" these two are far better scrappers and artists that I am. They are not afraid to experiment, i'm just a newbie beside these two! When I heard CABBIE's name called I was crazy-happy!!!

Cabbie is the quiet type and they were teasing her to show some emotion!!! But that's how she is, she shows her enigmatic self through her craft and that is enough to WOW anyone. Au and Cabbie are one of the underrated scrappers that go outside the scrapping box, and it has been an honor to have been beside them.

The Idol Journey is not for the faint hearted, but I don't think I speak for myself when I say this, I don't think I would last this far either. I can't wait for next years batch of new Idols, and dear reader, I hope you join if you haven't already. Despite our occassional WTF?! and confusion what layout to do next, if I were to turn back the clock I would join again in a heartbeat!

Earlier in my blog I mentioned I just wanted to see how far I was going to last, and this is my icing on my cake. During lunch Darlene mentioned there comes a time when we just have to discover how far we can go, to push ourselves whether artistically, physically, etc. I joined Idol not to win, I just want to push myself to be better at my craft. I'm glad I took this journey, because along the way I grew as a scrapper and most importantly, forged friendships to last a lifetime.

That evening, as I tucked Josh in bed we were both still. I thought he was already asleep, when all of a sudden he turns around to me and whispers, "Mommy, I have a gift to tell you." "What?" I gamely say, "Congratulations, Mommy." and he leaves me with a kiss before going back to sleep. This couldn't have been a more perfect day.



Journaling:
Saturday, October 6, 2007
I'm ecstatic to say I have been a part of the most memorable scrapping experience ever! Since day ONE everyone did their best and our layouts have truly become our trophies. From 39 wonderful scrappers down to the finaly 12, after 2 months of elimination rounds it all boiled down to the last 3 hours! I believe it took the best of our experiences as scrappers and as artists in our own right.

Our very own Cabbie won, the very first IDOL!!! And that made me doubly proud to be in the company of such inspiring women. Kudos goes to the Scrappinmoms and the Scrapping Queen Bee herself, Joanne, for coming up with such an ingenious challenge. I think it will be quite a while before I koin a challenge series, but at least I can say, BEEN THERE, DONT THAT! ... and damn, i'm proud!

Digital Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2

Digital Layout Elements: Rhonna Farrer -- Spring Frippery Journaling Spot, Ribbon and Paper / Tia Bennet --haPEA birthday tag / Amy Teets Pier 49, Photo stamp and ribbon & SunPorch felt flower/ Anita Stergiou - Straw Kiss Elements / Shabby Princess Organic stitching, vintage florals, dot ribbon & Marshmallows

Taking the IDOL Journey Part 1

I never thought that two months had gone by so fast.
It felt as if it was yesterday when the ScrappinMom's announced the ScrappinMoms Idol Challenge and Joanne texting me to join. Never in my wildest dreams as a scrapper have I thought I would survive! As Nita mentioned, it's our comfort zone. . . to be happily scrapping as we please, which is how it should be. But if we want to advance in our craft I guess there comes a time when we just have to push ourselves to the limit.

My mom was hospitalized the week of the Elimination Round, I really wasn't in the mood and as I kept on telling Mia my mojo was on the low side. But nonetheless, after much prodding (thanks Mia!) I relented and gave in. It was a respite really, to take the pressure off mom being sick even for a little bit. And on that fateful day began a scrapper's whirlwind.

Every week for two months, my scrapping schedule was always the same:

Wednesday: Panic . . . as I stare blankly at my empty craft table. Thursday at 1:00pm was the deadline to upload our layouts, and I often have board meetings on Thursdays. Need I say more?
Thursday: Looking like a racoon from staying up late making my layout, I finally email the challenge requirements. Just 24 hours to hold my breath and perhaps the only "break" from total brain drain for the upcoming challenge IF I was still in the running. Watch the SM Idol gallery like a hawk until it's updated! And I often marvel at the beautiful creations of all my co-contestants and say to myself . . . that's IT!!! this is my last round!

Friday: 12:00AM i'm watching the contestants gallery, ever so slowly scrolling down and screech to find my picture still there! My last name starts with a Y, all my life i've always been at the end of the list, the last seat in class, pretty much always at the end. The SM Idol Contestant Gallery was no different, although they did base it on the first name . . . my real name starts with a K, but everyone knows me as Tin. Apparently, that didn't help either. Later in the day, the next challenge is issued and met with WTF?! And so my sleepless nights begins once more!

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday:
In the Evenings ---- I scrap in my dreams. I kid you not. I'm a night owl and I have insomnia so I often force myself to sleep so I can get up early in the morning. I excercise like a maniac during the day so i'm out like a light by 12, only to wake up at 2 or 3AM wide-eyed and think to myself: OMG! I could stitch on my Hambly's! I lay awake for another hour or so, imagining the sketch in my head. I fall asleep thinking if I my Infuse papers will work with Scenic Route stickers.

Early in the AM --- Wake up, groggy from a nights sleep filled with sketches and ideas I head off for work. . . sneaking in studying sketches by the famous scraping diva's and plotting out my layout on Photoshop. I design slippers for our company, so if they were to find me with Photoshop open I could always pass it off as work hehe ssshhhhh!

By mid-afternoon --- As I return from work or if it were a weekend from a day out with the kids, I attempt to catch a bit of the afternoon sun to take the required photos. Or, if my 17-year old daughter was in the mood, have her take photos for me. Child exploitation? I think not. *wink wink* start 'em young I always say!

Bedtime --- settle in to sleep in my comfy bed and start to doze off then wake up only to realize it's . . . Wednesday!!!! Start the crazy process all over again. . .

Good news, Great news!

The GOOD NEWS

Another thursday has passed and another WTF!!??? Peace tayo ScrappinMoms hehe

After the ALL Cardstock challenge for Round 2 (you can see my LO here and Donna's beautiful Pick of the Week LO here) my co-challengers and I finally made it to Round 3 of ScrappinMoms Idol. Everyone did such great work, and it always saddens me not to see three great scrappers in the list.

Personally, I just want to see how far i'm going to make it, it's a challenge I find within myself and not necessarily with the rest of the challengers. There's so much great camaraderie and the best part is, we have each other to complain to with the brain-draining challenges the ScrappinMoms come up with :-)

We have until August 30th to come up with an altered item :-( I have never altered anything out of the ordinary, i've been racking my brain, the internet and my books and have come up with a couple of probable ideas. . . Tampons are a household item anyway right? :-)

















Images care of TamponCrafts (yes, there IS such a website), sooo I have a choice of a blowgun, christmas lights and a pan flute. Oh, wait the rules say I have to use 3 more non-scrapbooking item! Oooooh well, guess have to junk the tampon idea. . . back to the old drawing board :-D

The GREAT NEWS

As an avid reader and subscriber of Memory Makers, I was so happy to have received an email with a list of the 2008 Memory Makers Masters with none other than our very own IRIS !!!!

Iris's Shabby chic pages, oozing with talent and passion and still remains humble despite all her recognitions . . . she is one scrapping diva! IRIS, you rock! Hece, i have joined your fan club with the affirmation of Ria's blinkie hehe :-) Can't wait to receive my MM issues more than ever now!