I Just Got Back from School

I will share with you what my students were working on for the last 11 weeks. It sounds very grand, but it's actually just 11 hours total because we're only working for an hour every week. It's an After School Activity at Brent-IRRI in Los Baños, Laguna, and it's on Scrapbooking and Photography. Sound a bit much? Yeah, I think so too. Maybe next year I'm going to separate those classes.

Anyway, I'm not really a photographer but I know some basic things I could teach the kids like utilizing natural light, effect of the combination of light, shade and shadow in photography, golden hour (but my class was in mid-afternoon so it was just words), rule of thirds, get close to the subject, holding the camera straight, etc. So these are just some samples of what they did:

By Iman Ismail, Fourth Grade

By Isabelle Douthewaite, First Grade

By Xyla Fitzwell, Second Grade

By Anna Heuer, Kindergarten

By Mami Hosen, Third Grade

Aren't they neat? They just used digital point and shoot cameras for this, but for their grade levels, I thought they did really, really well.

The other part of our ASA is Scrapbooking. Below is a stack of scrapbooks they did. They scrapped the photos they took. I prepared the materials for covers and cut the interior pages. They put together the covers and we punched the sides for the binding rings. We didn't really use any fancy brand-named materials. We just want them to experience to make their first ever album.

Instead of patterned paper, we used giftwrapping paper. We used ordinary acid-free glue stick for all the papers, and a different kind of glue for embellishments. I bought a lot of buttons, ribbons, flowers, feathers, transfer letters and sequins in various shapes. There were a lot of leftovers so I divided them to six, bagged them and gave the rest to them. They were sooooooo excited about that. Next year, I think I'm going to let them use 'real' scrapbooking papers.

So, here are the scrapbooks they did.



There will be an exhibit of their works on Friday, April 30. I sure will be there to support them while they present their work. I'm telling you, these are the sweetest, most innocent kids I ever met. And they did some really, really wonderful job.

Roses from SM

I wish we have a craft store here in San Pablo where I can just go and buy things I like. Unfortunately, there is none. Fortunately, we have none or I'll spend so much more than I should have. I am not fond of ordering online though I do it from time to time. I need to see and touch whatever it is in person.

The other day, I was in Makati to buy some stuff. And while there, I decided to buy some buttons, ribbons and lace from Carolina's in Glorietta 5 (there's another branch at the 2nd floor of Megamall B). Divisoria would be ideal cost-wise but it is just too far away and savings from my purchases would not be enough to compensate the stress I'd get just by going there. Anyway, I then went up to SM's 4th floor to hunt for some flowers I will use for my crafts, and found these on sale. I think they look quite pretty. I arranged them on top of my table and I'd probably pluck out what I need when I need them. Admittedly, I haven't seen the more elaborate flowers by Prima. But I'm quite happy with the ones from SM.

Carolina's and SM are not exactly craft stores. Well, Carolina's is debatable of course, but these places are my go to places every time I need something and don't have the time (or patience) to peruse online.

Vintage Printables

Happy April everyone! I'll resume posting about my projects later this month, in the meantime here is a very good site for those of you who love vintage images that you can print out yourselves for your art journals, mini-albums, collages and other craft projects.

This blog provides a variety of images in really large files that you can print out. However, please read the disclaimer on their 'About and Public Domain Manifesto' about, well, public domain and copyright issues before proceeding.

Here is the site: Vintage Printables