October 2006 DigiSnapZ Pack Sale - Mine was Choosen!!!

Check it out!
Check it out!
Check it out!

I'm part of a DigiSnapz Pack that I previously did for Teri Hanson's Kit - Crazy Life.

Never would I believe that I would be part of anything scrapbook related...let alone be in a kit sold for all! I remember I requested for this kit since I love the colors and would like to have this in my hands! This layout came easy and I was totally honored when Teri used it as a cover thumbnail in her Members Galleries then later in this. Totally a big honor and I hope this would push me further to make better DigiSnapz!
I'm so amazed to see my name there. :)

My DigiSnapz

http://divinedigital.com/divineboutique/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=959
DigiSnapz October Pack
$4.50
9 Great DigiSnapz to help you create great layouts in a hurry! Created by members of the DigiZines Layout Artist Group for DigiZines. Each DigiSnapz comes from an existing DigiZines kit that can be found in the Divine Digital Boutique. It's a great way to sample our kits. All DigiSnapz are created at 12" by 12" size at 300 dpi. 9 DigiSnapz Designs with layout examples for each.
Manufactured by: Teri Hanson (DigiZines)

Here's a better photo of what I did.
Kit Name: Crazy Life (available at Divinedigital.com)
Kit Designer: Teri Hanson
Font: Century


Special Thank you's to Ungsker, Dix, Cam & Kirsten for letting me use their pictures!

Macau Adventure 2006

My Sunday Macau Trip was an interesting one.
I went with HK locals so they would know how to communicate effectively and can explore the city more. Our schedule is outlined below but of course, these things change as you get there. :)

Proposed Itinerary - Same Day Return Trip to Macau on October 22, 2006
8:40am: Gather at the Ticketing office at either Shun Tak / TST China Ferry Terminal**
9:00am: Take 9:00am Ferry from HK to Macau
10:15am: Meet at the lobby of Macau Ferry Terminal (Next to Souvenirs after checking from the Custom)
10:30am – 12:30pm: Free Activities or Sightseeing in Taipa or Cotai
12:30pm – 2:30pm: ASM Group Lunch at 九如坊葡國餐廳, 澳門板樟堂巷3號地下(近噴水池麥當勞) Tel:(852) 331 818
2:30pm – 7:00pm: 1) Gamblers!! Win $$$$$ from casinos; 2) For Age Under 18 - Sightseeing / Eating in Macau Peninsula
7:00pm: return to Hong Kong

Now let me tell you what really happened instead. :)
Actually Itinerary...
7:00am: woke up...folks called me long distance too so I won't miss the ferry.
8:15am: Met Michelle at the Fortress Metro MTR Station to go together to Sheung Wan Station - went through smoothly.
8:45am: Met the rest of the gang at the Macau-Sheung Wan Terminal - boss was the earliest...amazingly enough to everyone's surprise!
9:00am: Ferry to Macau - smooth, no hitched. slept along the way since I woke up early and slept late the night before; yes, I can sleep through anything and anywhere.
10:15am: Arrive Macau - met up with a few of the other people who left at the earlier ferry.
10:30am: Arrived at the car rental place to rent our "interesting" six-seater car. I knew by then that I should have taken the camry.
11:00am: Left the car rental place (yes, it took forever to get out of there! First getting the "manual" took a long time but then they had to fill-up the car upon arrival!)
12:00pm: Got lost to a steep curvy area (you had to see the car we were on to undersand our fear) then found our barrings, whereupon we went food tripping before lunch..all in the span of 30min ~ coconut ice cream, soya bean dessert (hot), tofu made out of milk dessert (hot)...all in the order we went to.
12:30pm: Had lunch with the gang
2:30pm: Finished lunch...bosses went off too do more work (on a Sunday!) and the rest went off to explore the city - a lot of the photos are self-explanatory since I kinda forgot a few of the names. (forgive me!)
Some of the places we visited were:
- Macau Motorsports Club: the track was booked up for a private event and we weren't allowed to sign up for go karting till 5pm so that was a bust so...instead we just tried our hand with the rental cars that we have and a few took on the "manual". Only Marcus could really handle the car and Wesley failed miserably on the "manual" and even on the automatic! We all came to the conclusion that Wesley is NOT allowed to be near any motorized vehicle for everyone's safety!
- A-Ma Temple: really awesome decor! I don't know why but I always have this real admiration and fascination with temples. I love the intricate decor, the sacredness and the aura in these places. A-Ma Temple is no exception to this.
Below is a bit of the journaling for the A-Ma Temple page that I did can be found at the link below:
http://www.orientaltravel.com/province/city/area/Macau_A_Ma_Temple.htm
- Black Sand Beach: had to go for some BBQ! Portugese food that is local to natives. The sands were not white...so I can understand the name...but the place had so many awesome BBQ stalls! I had two sticks of chicken meat (like sate chix) but the sauce for one was with chilli sauce and something like honey glazed over it! I miss it already! :P
6:00pm: went to the casino and my co-workers played a bit. Everyone won when we met up with our other parties - our bosses and all. It was a great trip!

Overall, I enjoyed this trip a lot. I got to see Macau aside from the typical casinos since we did rent a car and explored (got lost) a lot of things. It's great to experience riding without any doors, a/c and even regular safety seatbelts (crappy car..what do you expect). It was really cool too since we didn't spend much on the car and gass - all totalled to 65 hkdollars after refilling the tank! I got to see the fun-loving side of my co-workers...though I do see that a lot too but this time it's caught on film for all of us to see and remember. It's just wonderful and I hope to do something like this again! :)

Michelle and I took a lot of photos and we made it to a company presentation. I have attached a few of the ones I liked.

At The Steps


Strike A Pose


Macau Motorsports Club


Other layouts...





**Kit used for all the pages are Sentiments by Veronica Spriggs (Vivarant), availble at Divine Digital.com

Macau & Others

Looking forward to the following things:
1) My impending monthly trip back home to Manila. It will be my nephew's and best friend's daughter's baptismals. I will be doing a back-to-back baptismal while at the same time having a few out-of-the-country guests coming over. I hope I can do it all and still be able to have some r&r...NOT!

2) Macau trip this Sunday with the company for some bonding time. Going to leave Hong Kong around 8am, stroll around the city, have lunch, check out the casinos and have an afternoon snack and leave before dinner since it's a Sunday and all. There will be some who would stay longer for dinner but I know three or four of us would like to head back before dinner to give us time to rest. I'm sure it's going to be really busy since there were a few new hotels that opened up yesterday. We had to buy your ferry tickets early...like today (Friday) for a Sunday trip since we are afraid that there wouldn't be anymore by then.

3) Got something in the works but currently can't divulge this but I will keep you posted when it's finally time.

4) I was able to scrap a bit since I'm super stressed with work and other matters. I made three other layouts but currently can't have this posted due to the kit is not ready for release yet. I will post it here when the time comes.


Title: Zoo
Kit Name: Peach Swirl
Designer: Teri Hanson (Divine Digital)


Title: Mr. A-Z
Kit Name: Seasonal Templates #2 and Pirate Drunge
Designer: Doodleboogs

**I am so happy to hear that my good scrap pal, Michelle, is still on the last lap for Scraprace. You might want to check out her site - Mizzm - in my links section. Giving you lots of love dear!Also, happy trip!

Scrappin Weekend

I had a busy but productive weekend. I was able to crank two LOs at the same time, embellished two letters and did one pp LO. It's great! I'm so hooked with the buttons that I got from Buttons Galore! I want to use them all up and get/buy another dozen packs! Hahaha!
Also, I tried some doodling...it's very liberating.





Kit: Lady Bug Kit
Designer: Veronica Spriggs (Vivarant)


Title: Chester


Kit: Sonoma Kit (available at Scrapbook-Elements)
Designer: Mikki Livanos


Title: My Only


Kit: Chill In The Air (available at Divine Digital)
Designer: Deborah Vessels


Title: Engaged


Title: Smiles

B&W and Colored Layering

I recently came by the idea of having one's photo be all in B&W except for some focal point or focus. I know that this is nothing new and I'm sure that there is a better way of doing it than how I do it but I'll get better soon. :)
I did it at a previous LO called Citi Family as a first try. I basically have two layers - one B&W and another colored. I erased the layer with the color section, making sure not to erase the section/area that I wanted to highlight.

I was worried about this kit when I saw a preview of my next DT's assignment just around the tail-end of last week. I don't have much girl photos and this kit might be a tricky one since the elements could pose a challenge. I use more ribbons and pattern papers than elements as a habit. This kit pushed me a bit to put some funk like the crown and the decorated "Princess" lettering.


I had a bit of trouble getting the kit since Gigasize's Asian servers are being upgraded thus uploading or downloading capabilities from Hong Kong for awhile. I had to use my office computer since downloading would be easier - time zone difference.

After getting the kit, unzipping and picking one main photo I wanted, I played around with layering b&w and having only the girl to pop out. It was easier than my previous photo since the colors are more simple now. I wanted to use the photo frame and got inspired by those photo frames on one's walls that are hung through a thick ribbon, which was what I did when I used the violet boa behind the photo. I used a sequence of other photos to highlight actions then added an appropriate poem. I know I wanted to use the crown but didn't want to overwhelm my LO but it worked out quite well with the resizing.
This LO was great since everything came out fast and I was happy with it. These types of LOs are what makes me smile and happy ... easy and it all just flowed as I wanted. I was done before lunch time!

The family I featured is my brother's classmate/friend's family.

I end up liking what I did a lot! See below photo and details ~
Kit Name: Glitter Girl (available at Scrapbook-Elements and Scrapoutsideofthebox)
Kit Designer: Brenda Johnson (Sweet Sodypop Designs)
Font: Century
Program: PS7.0
Journaling: When you came into this world I was smiling. Smiling to hear you scream for the first time, so small and perfect, I held you for the first time. Smiling, you opened your eyes to me, I couldnt believe you were mine. You made me so happy with every cry. After all those months of having you in my life, I realized you are my everything! Month after month watching you grow, you filled me with hope, love, and happiness. Watching you sit up by yourself, taking your first steps, your first tooth, your first real bath. Looking at you at 1 year old is so scary. Hearing you realize things are there, knowing who is who. You are growing up so fast, I look at pictures sometimes cry at the memory. You were so small, Now getting bigger. Theres alota stuff you yet to learn. Soon my little princess won't be so little. When that day comes you will know, but at 1 years old, I'm gonna take you all in, every smile, every cry. You are my little princess! I'm still smiling.
~ by 2005 Mallory

TYFL!

Going Home Today!

Okay...all excited to be going home. Been looking forward for this since last last week! Going home with mom. I got my schedule all laid down - spend time with bf, get haircut, play golf, spend time with extended family at family dinners...all that...till yesterday's biggest storm that ever hit Manila ~ knocking powerlines, uprooting trees and almost the whole city was in pure standstill with the events of yesterday. Everybody in Manila stayed home and waited for the typhoon to pass....and hopefully the power would be saved...b/ not...as of date.

My flight is tonight (6pm HK Time) and although the typhoon has passed, there is still no power in 80% of the city and internet was down for people in Manila till 10am this morning.
I don't know what I will be expecting...from a very sophisticated and prepared/efficient city as HK...I'll be going home to no power, floods all around and nothing. I wonder what I would be doing for the whole long weekend. I was told that maybe by Sunday, all would be functioning fine but we shall see.

I guess that's why scrapping doesn't take much...I can pull out my stuff at home and do some quick LOs, if need be since no power, no cable, hardly an internet connection....exciting. :P

My mom and I are expecting the worst...but @least I will be "home" and with people that I miss and love. Nothing could dampen my spirits for that!


~Signing out till next week!

Taking Things a Knotch or Two Down

"I think it would be best if you take things a knotch or two down."

That was what I was told by one of my boss/co-worker a few days ago. I know I've been feeling very burnt out and over-stressed by the littlest of things. Note that this is a very tough thing for someone who was taught to do everything now, not tomorrow or later. My mother trained me to do what was assigned to me the fastest way I can and finish all the work before I leave the office. That's what I did at home and that's what I practice at work. It's great and all as long as the work is correct. The problem comes about if problems and carelessness happens.
I am trying my best to slow things around like take a step back and see what I did before sending anything out. I take more time with my reports...moving around...take a break, chat a bit, scrap a bit then come back to see if what I did is okay and correct. There are times when you do need a change in scenery then come back and see another angle. I hope it makes me less stressed out and off-the-wall with unnecessary request/documentations!
The same goes for scrapping. It's okay if I don't have journaling and more or less can glance what I wrote at an instant but for long journalings, I have to force myself to read what I wrote. I'm not big on reading to be honest...unless it's emails from friends and gossip. :P

Amazing of what Ed did...for once he did what I told him or requested him to do! I'm so happy that I strongly believe that hell just froze over! Can't disclose what he did but I'm glad that there are things he do know matter to me. I'm such a stickler to details. Better safe than sorry. :P As what we both say "soon".

Here's some photos of my nephew that is growing bigger by the day! I think fatter too. :P

@ 6 weeks old~ "laughter"


@ 7 weeks old (close to 2 months) ~ "Sweet Souvenirs"


@ 8 weeks old ~ "Sweetest Smile"

How adorable. I can feel so excited and happy for my brother and his wife. :) With a face like that...whose heart wouldn't melt! These are the moments when parents take photos of newborns by the days or by the weeks. Heehee!
I feel like using the 8 weeks photo again soon. I got so many titles in mind so that would be great to use again. Love love this photo of him aside from my current number #1 photo fav which is the feature photo of the Laugher LO. :)