After 84 Years...

Hello everyone! Cookies for those who'd be able to guess the reference for the title. If you're in the Philippines, I'll send you something.

Anyway, the weekend Arts & Crafts Workshop is going to push through. I'm still trying to figure some things out. It's going to probably start sometime in August.

In the meantime, after almost two years, I'm finally able to start with these scrapbooks of our trip to Algiers, Algeria and Paris, France in October 2013. Like everyone else, I'd love to do it in 12" x 12" format, but alas! Like always, I was intimidated and overwhelmed even before I start. I said to myself, with not a small amount of bleeping words to mention here for general audience, I'd just make a couple of 8" x 8" bound by rings. I'd do the books myself.

And here they are. They're not finished yet, but I'm currently working on them. (No. They're not just on my table to remind me to work on them. I'm actually, really working on them. Ha!)

I wrote the words by hand; cut some titles by hand; and did some high school-level kind of letter cutting. I have a Cricut but somehow, I'm not happy with the letters that it gives me. They felt so impersonal. I used them for journaling cards, though. The pages are as simple as can be. I don't want to further overwhelm myself and give up after working on one page, so I just did this.



The one on top is our Algiers trip for the Festival International de la Bande Dessinee d'Alger. My husband was a guest and he gave a talk about Philippine Komiks.



I handcut the Algeria word. I like that it's in my handwriting.

Same goes for Algiers here.

These are how most of the pages are: pictures, words and pieces of paper as embellishments... if you can even call them that.

And of course, pocket! There needs to be a pocket for the souvenirs we collected.

I'm not done with the Algiers book, but the photos for the Paris book are all in there, as well as the souvenirs in its own pocket. I should be done with these babies at the end of June, because there are lots of projects to do yet. One frustrating thing about doing crafts and being motivated is, you really can't rush things so you can move on to the next project. You have to finish it!

See you all around for the Paris book!

New Year Resolution

I never made any list of resolutions at any time ever. Well, except if it's a school requirement back then and we all know some of them were done because they're requirements and unreal. I thought it's always a useless thing, well, as it applies to me. I always just went on about my life, carrying on, doing things that need to be doing and that's it.

Well, now, I'm making one. Just one. I thought I'd make one that is tangible and most likely to be accomplished. A bit lofty, actually, but I'm challenging myself. Like I said before, I'm not really an avid scrapbooker. I make them for others. It's what I do. This year, I'm going to change that because I'm making it my goal to finish three albums I kept putting off since seven years ago. First is our wedding album. I know! I know! That's why I'm putting this here. It's especially difficult to finish something personal than to finish something for somebody else with pay, you know? Second, is that great Bohol trip of 2004. I actually started that already. And third, I hope to complete a one-page a month album for 2010. I'm thinking, considering, to document my progress. Hmmm. I'm still on the fence on that one.

Well, it's because I promised Gerry this many years ago and he's snorting whenever I mention it now. I don't think he believes I'll do it anymore. This year, I'm really going to make time for these. :)

There's one other thing I'd like to do but this will depend on my resources that's why I'm not putting it up there. I plan to start re-printing old Florese family photos from our collection of negatives. I'd really love to complete those again. Thank God, my late father's a packrat. He kept all those negatives.

Next year, I will definitely revisit this post and see if it's worth doing at all. Resolutions, I mean. Wish me luck!!!

Finally saw the last episode of Doctor Who with David Tennant. David, you'll definitely be missed.