How cute!

My  very first layout this year, 2013.  I have lots of projects planned, but had deadlines last week that had to be met.  And so I grabbed the chance to do something crafty this weekend.  Well, after I slept most of the day yesterday to get rid of a migraine :(  I finished this really really late last night (or really really early this morning).  This page is about my niece, Jillian, describing how cute and adorable she was when she was two years old.  She's still cute now (at six), but her cheeks and little fingers are chubby no more.

This is my entry for challenge #12 at the Filipino Scrapbookers Challenge Blog, based on a sketch by Kathleen Hernandez (click here to see her blog).  I hope it doesn't look too much like one of my entries for challenge #3.  It seems I'm not yet over my hexagon fixation and I needed to do some more.  And personally, I think this has a different feel - a bit sweet and girly.

A close up of the photo and the area around it.  All the hexagons were cut out of scraps of patterned paper from the handmade gifts I made over the holidays.  Flower punch outs and photo mat are also made from paper scraps.  It seems that for the past several layouts I've done, I haven't used any brand new paper (except for the card stock base).  And that's a good way to start the year, isn't it? :)

Materials:  Cardstock (Corona, Orange), patterned paper (Paper Reflections), adhesive ribbon (Shallow Grass), ink (Ranger, Bic), alphabet stickers (All About Scrapbooking), pearlescent pain (Liquid Pearls, Pebeo), flower punch (HBW), others - flower brad, gems, glitter glue.

Twelve Crafty Days of Christmas - Day 10: Birthday Reminder Calendar

A long, long time ago, when the calendars that we checked out everyday were hung on walls or standing on our desks (and not saved in our electronic gadgets or online), birthdays were noted down religiously each year so that we'll remember to greet that particular person on his/her special day.  It did seem to require a lot of effort to remember birthdays (making them all the more special), but I've found from several sources that if you have a single calendar where you wrote down all your friends and family members' birthdays, you won't have to go through the tedious task of jotting them down each year.  This calendar would have only dates (no days - MTWThFSS) so that you'll know who will be celebrating their birthday on any given month.  Of course, it's not as convenient as saving birthdays on your phone and just be reminded yearly by an alarm that you set only once.  But it sure is a lot prettier to look at. ;-)

I decorated each month according to the season or the major holiday that falls on that particular month.

For January, a fresh start to a new year, it seems fitting to 

remind oneself that "life is for living".

For February, the sentiment reads, 

"Beauty is found in many things, but most of all in love".

For March, when the school year ends here in the Philippines, 

and summer break starts, it seems an appropriate motto to "seize the day"s.

And then for April, with the lazy days of summer drifting by, 

it quotes William Carlos Williams - "In the summer, the song sings itself."

You get the idea.  Start your year with something crafty.  Make your own birthday reminder calendar.  :-)

Twelve Crafty Days of Christmas - Day 9: Organizing with My Dymo Label Maker

If you're into crafting, you probably have at least a basket or plastic bin to store your crafting tools and supplies.  If you're anything like me, that is, longing to to crafts most of the time, but not having much time to actually do so, you probably have lots and lots of crafting paraphernalia waiting to be used.  I usually see a lot of things I want to do (in books & magazines, on TV, and of course, online) and when I find that the stuff to do these available here, I tend to hoard them in the meantime.  And so with piles and piles that need organizing, I need to start chipping away at them, and what better time to do this than the beginning of this brand new year? 

So today, I started labeling my distress ink pads with my Dymo Label Maker.  I love the retro feel of it, I have fond memories of my mom using it to label school supplies when I was a kid.  And as an adult I was happy to see that it can be used for scrapbooking.  So when I saw it in a stationery shop in Thailand (nearly two years ago), I just had to buy it.  It came in a set with two other fonts apart from the classic block print that is so distinctly Dymo.  When I got back home in the Philippines, the first thing I did was to look for tape refills and was so pleased to find that there are also label makers available here. 

There's still a ton of work to be done...  Just so you have an idea of what I'm up against, these are types of arts/crafts I've attempted at one point through the years: cross stitching, scrapbooking, card making, paper piercing, paper quilling, paper toile, bead jewelry, watercolor, collage, and ATCs.  And probably some stuff I can't even remember.  But I'm hoping to finish my craft organizing once and for all this year :))