my adorable knight

when he first arrived in the house, my aunt said pepper looks like a british gentleman because of his moustache. we then learned that he earned the title because of his chivalry.  unlike my supposedly all red champion bloodline pedigreed beagle a.k.a (of the day) robin hood, pepper never steal, always well-mannered, cuddly, independent, brave (never cries), composed, knows when to be playful or sit still like a fine gentleman.

googling his world

this is a wall hanging decoration made of grass like material. 

always persistent and inquisitive, nothing can stop this merry little thing from sniffing.  his button nose wiggles even when he's snacking and snoozing, his other love affairs.  it's his way of keeping up with his world, like us surfing the web, watching news or reading newspaper.  he just have to know. 
remember...he doesn't do it because he wants to, but because he can.

 

my life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet i'm happy.  i can't figure it out.  what am i doing right?
~ charles schulz

my oldest friend, neighbor, classmate, cousin...

ivonne is actually my first cousin once removed—my dad's cousin that is.  we've been neighbor since birth, classmates since primary school all the way to highschool.  when i studied in san francisco, she moved fro los angeles and joined me in town.  she's one of my first sisterly friend, nemesis of the hour, mental therapy, partner in crime, sisterhood...among many other first.

sweet marmalade from sassasfras, buttons, brads, prima flowers and the background is a wild asparagus paper from my mind's eye.

regardless of

whom i met

or what i do

or what i have become

it is the friends

i grew up with

that i feel

closest to

and that i have

the most in common with

though we don't see each other often

when we do

it is as though

we were always together ~

so comfortable

so natural

so honest

i guess old friends

who know where we come from

who know our backgrounds

who know our families

have an understanding

of us

that no new friend

can ever have

~ susan polis schultz

a card from david

in a town of nothing to remember...

...besides taking pictures with peacocks. i was on a transit before boarding the three gorges cruise.

the whole layout is done with webster's pages's la boutique de jardin paper and tres magique as the base.

i did a lot of scoring to give the 3 dimensional effect.  repeated the nest and eggs to mimic the paper.

i slipped in a few blue silk flowers which looks like the flowers printed on the paper.  my mother was throwing them sometime ago and i kept it.  the red ones and the leaves are prima.

snakes & ladders

>

this is a quick layout i did, because i couldn't sleep.  still the asthma.  i love this picture although it's blurry.  it's my niece tasha's 17th birthday.  her older sister, tara just returned home for a summer holiday from toronto.  when i got to their house for a family dinner, they were playing snakes and ladders with their little brother.  jes  said the game wasn't fun...because he was losing.  i'm happy to see they're always capable of playing together despite the age gaps and interests.  most of all, to never lose the childhood fun in them.

i like how the buttons borders turned out.  they represent the fun of the joyous occasion—one i would like to remember.

i want to read too

i was trying to find the hippolyte's island and max also wanted to look for his book, probably the snoopy box set he once chewed its roof off.  yes, i've read them all, and the next shelves and the next.

sassasfras products are always fun and merry.  they're so colorful; i use black and white photo so that the books won't clash with the embellishments.  i leave us in spot color which still emphasis the picture in the midst of colorful embellishments.

what i love about sassasfras is that we can cut the papers and use them as embellishments.

featured on sassasfras' blog: tour de creativity

our journey

i joined a scrapbook class for the very first time.  it's called our journey, an album fitted into a lovely suitcase by the charming ria nirwana.  the theme colors are: turquoise, napples yellow and copper, hence the dress code.

when i signed up, i was thinking of scrapping the other places i used to live and my other vacation homes; the island as my weekend getaway ever since i was a toddler, san francisco during school years, paris and hong kong where my grandparents lived.  then life and et cetera took over and i didn't have the time and energy to collect the pictures.  so i use what i have printed from few trips to the island in the recent trips.  the island belongs to the thousand island archipelago in jakarta bay.  my dad bought it when i was about 3 years.  growing up, it was our weekend home.  it has seen my family's journey of life; children growing up, expanding family members and relatives, friends, more friends, people we worked with, pets, final resting place, interests, hairstyles, books, drinks, extra pounds, you name it all...life and memories.  like everyone of us, the island itself through the years went to many changes inside out...whether it's  by our doings or forces of nature.   

thus i didn't follow the whole format and supplies given with the kit, as it was designed more on an air travel journey. but i try to keep true to the spirit...the merriment of traveling.  i'm not used to scrapping outside my space but it's fun to do it with a group of people.  i thought i managed to finish at least the skeleton (construction, background, painting, etc) in the class.  a week later, i still struggle to finish the album at home.  there were problems here and there with the skeleton,  in the end i decided to make shortcuts and ended it.

i'm a multitasker with a short concentration span.  that's like a chicken and egg thing.  my brain usually process concepts which then allows me to work on a flow effortlessly in a speedy manner—1 or 2 sittings even on the hardest jobs.  sometimes it fails to do so, and it failed on this project.  probably because i've been down with asthma for daysss now.  but never mind that!  i'm quite happy with how it turned out after all.  the problem is...it's over packed!!...which makes it more realistic, since i always over shop on any trip, any...!

i've walked the soft sandy pink beaches of bermuda, picturesque sand dunes of oman desert, ancient phoenician beaches of cyprus, strolled and mused along south beach miami...among many other beaches and memorable trips around the world.  in all those places i've always hand-scooped the sand and brought them home for souvenir.  sometimes i spot them and at a glance i remember where they're from, but there's no reminiscence of the exact moment i collected them.  unlike the ones from our island.  i remember them; the time i sat on the beach for hours collecting and cleaning piece by piece of the micro perfect shells—smaller than rice, softest sand from the shore on a high tide and the ones from a recent trip with my family where we spent one perfect morning beach combing on a low tide.

and that's what the suitcase's embellishments are all about;"i traveled 4 corners of the world, 1 tiny spot hooks me".  i use an old real fishing hook a memory frame with a picture of max and i on a beautiful morning on our last trip with a couple of tiny shells which we collected later on the day, a rapala from my brother's fishing box—which to him is like a prima flower to me, and a miniature bottle with the sand and those micro shells with a message inside "each grain is a memory".

i love the fabrics on the album cover.

i use canvas pictures as the base.  i didn't have time to actually print photos on canvas, so i just printed the photos on iron on sheets and ironed them on canvas.  the first spread are pictures of me strolling around the island with my beagle.  the second has an origami which i use for our fishing pictures with conversation or anecdote bubbles, like that one which says "to fish or not to fish... not to fish?? yea, like that's even an option".  to the men in my family, fishing is like me and all of you combined to scrapping—it's not their life, it's much more important.  it's their profession and when they have spare time, they go to work.

a page on that beach combing morning and playing with the sand later.  layers and layers of family, friends, visitors, dogs with different activities in the island.  one favorite is my cousin's bloodhound, pluto jumping trying to grab a fishing reel from another cousin's hand as if he wanted to show how to do it properly.  actually it was from a trip many years ago.  i don't remember the incident, but i remember the trip.  it's circa '92. i had to skip work on a monday, because the boat was having a glitch.  a neighbor friend who is now deceased was in the trip too, and fluffy my beloved golden retriever.

this page has another origami.  i dedicated it in memory of my father.  almost 9 years ago, we moved his remains from the family mausoleum in macao to rest in his heaven on earth, the island, close to the sea he loved so dearly where he used to fish almost every weekend. since it's impossible to build another grand tomb in the island, we laid the temporary epitaph lain in macao before the whole mausoleum was finished, and the angel. also to my beloved grandmother whose ashes we scattered along the coast a few years ago.  i can't help to laugh at a picture of max drinking the water from a vase while my mom and i were arranging some flowers and my aunt sitting on a chair talking with us.  it wasn't funny then because i was worried it wasn't fresh water, it's funny now to look at our expressions.

le mayeur, one of my favorite painter once made a statement of his island home..."i never left the island.  why should i? sir, i'm an impressionist. there are three things in life that i love.  beauty, sunlight and silence.  now could you tell me where i can find this in a more perfect state?".  i know that feeling.

so that's the journey.  lots of dimensional, materials, medias and fun!

lesson learned:  i have 10 fabulous brushes on hands :)

i have seen the sea
      when it is stormy and wild;
      when it is quiet and serene;
      when it is dark and moody.
      and in all its moods, i see myself.
                                     ~ martin buxbaum

mother's day picture frames

i adore material girl collection by cosmo cricket  well, who wouldn't?

i made these picture frames for my mom.  before she's retired, she used to run a garment business.  sewing and gardening are the 2 past times she loves most amongst her vast interests and talents.  well, before her latest passion of computer games and nintendo ds took over recently.

blimmey...just spot it!  "i thought of my" is missing!  better stick it now before i forget.

they're featured on cosmo cricket blog  :)

a beagle scrapbooker

 what do you recon he's thinking with the expression?

so, i helped him finish,

using some of the scraps he worked on.

yes, including the paper.  how on earth did he manage to pick a dog theme, don't ask.

i use his paw for the paw print.  he wasn't happy about it.  i didn't quite succeed actually.  the clear stamp was already too old perhaps.  when i pressed his paw to the pad it disintegrated and the powder wouldn't melt under the heater.  so, i just use varnish spray to make them stick on the paper.  not too shabby, looks like mud print.

look who came to visit when i was trying to take the pictures.

he's doggone tired following me around the room, checking and directing me as i pick stuff up and assembled the pieces.

hypothesis of why a beagle pick up scrapping:
- the merry little thing is in a good mood

- he's left alone in a room for 10 minutes

- curiosity! what else, he's a beagle

- he's trying to do something you like to please you

- new toys laying around his territory

- see if they are tasty