December Projects

Last month, a friend of mine asked me to make her an origami album but requested that it be longer so we can include a lot of photos. The look on my friend's face was enough for me to be proud of what I did. And from what I heard, the friend appreciated it very, very much. I'm glad.

Also last month, I went to Christmas party and this is my gift... well, it was a belated Christmas exchange gift, gift-giving that I know nothing about when I attended the party last month. And so when I picked her name, I told her I'll just give it to her next time. This is what I came up with and gave it to her yesterday. I hope she uses them.

I will be making another scrapbook for my cousin who celebrated her 7th birthday last Sunday. As with her sister's, I will make the album myself. My little cousin asked her mother to tell my aunt to tell my mother to tell me (whew!) that she would love a scrapbook like the one I did for her sister. I guess, she's a little bit shy telling me what she really wants. :)

Craft Party of Three

Last Tuesday, my cousin and two nieces decided to have a Craft Party and they gladly volunteered my home to do it. The aftermath includes an unrecognizable dining table, typhoon-like mess, empty containers of embellishments and happy faces. They did origami, paper bag, paper flowers and paper baskets (hey!) which I helped them with--or the other way around.

Here they are!!

Till next time, my little dears!!

Oh! And the teaching gig I have with the primary school where I taught for five weeks? I was asked to do it again till the end of the school year in May. This would be fun!!

Where Was I Last December?

That's right, I saw Taylor Hicks in concert here in the Philippines. Enjoyed it immensely.

Anyway, it's 2008 and another year for new projects. Yeah!

Piolo Pascual

I just finished a scrapbook dedicated to Piolo Pascual. No, it's not mine. It's for a client. It's the second book I did for her consisting of several clippings and photos from various magazines. I personally won't do something like this even for my favorite performer, but if it makes other people happy then who am I to say anything against it? Besides, seeing her face light up when she was looking at the pages is very satisfying.

Now, I know more stuff about him and I haven't seen even one of his works. No movie, no soap opera and no show. Maybe one day, I'll know why she likes him.

Bulletin Boards

This is the nth bulletin board I did in my lifetime, and I'm not complaining. :) This is for a pre-school for their wellness and personal values lesson that will run for the rest of the school year. They're made of chipboard and acrylic paints. It's only this year that I experimented with pre-school colors. As a teacher of 16-year-olds for five years, my color palette as a teacher consisted of earth tones only. It's challenging but it's fun!

I also accepted a temporary teaching post for their After School Activity. For five weeks, I am to teach crafts to primary schoolers. I'm actually on my second week and it's been fun so far. Honestly, it's difficult to think of projects that could be completed in an hour by these children. Each has to be finished at the end of the session so they can enjoy it afterwards. Last week, we did stamping using corrugated boards and strings. Today, we had origami album using wrapping and colored papers. It's fun to teach these kids! I can't believe it.

Recent Projects

September 2007

This is my first set of Artist Trading Cards (ATC) that I swapped with fellow crafter and friend, Chris Palmer. She's into vintage designs and so, for my first batch of ATCs, I thought it would be nice to be a sort of tribute to her since she's the one who really got me to try this. She also encouraged me to try collage and even sent me a bag of ephemera to help me on my first attempt! Some of the materials I used here came from her. One exception though, one of these ATCs is a paper cut-out of a woodcarving pattern from a Bahay na Bato.

Calendar and boxes for one of the bulletin boards in a pre-school. I did three bulletin boards but I wasn't able to take photos of the other two. They all look like huge scrapbook pages. Also, I held a crafts class for 1st to 3rd graders on Jacob's Ladder. At first I thought I'd take a photo or two of the class but as it is, they are not my kids, nor they are my students, and I would need the permission of their parents to post those photos. So I decided against it.

August 2007

This is an 8" x 8" post bound album I made as gift for my cousin, Carla, for her 18th birthday. The front cover is from Basic Grey Infuse collection and the rest were Canson Mi-Tientes big cut paper. Carla isn't a girly girl and would have frowned if I did pinks and greens and yellows on this album.

June 2006

This is the guest book I did for our godchildren for their wedding.

... a simple matter of ettiquette

I have a very important request, dear friends. I would appreciate it very much if you don't give out my phone number to people I don't know. My husband has his reasons for not having his own cellphone so I BEG you not to use mine nor give my number to other people to reach him unless it's pre-arranged between the two of you. This is MY cellphone and not his. You may reach him through his email, website or blog. He'll reply as soon as he can. I hope you understand. Thank you very much.