Rujim's Birthday Treat :)

Yesterday was Rujim's 9th birthday! It's almost a decade since I became mom and although life has not been smooth and perfect, I can say, with all my heart and soul that these 9 years are the happiest years of my life. Motherhood is the one role I love the most. I'm sure someone will react why I did not choose wifeyhood lol. 

Since Kuya (that's how we call Rujim, it means older brother in Filipino) does not like parties, I didn't plan anything. We thought we'd just have dinner or maybe plan for a staycation over the weekend. But the day before his birthday, I just suddenly picked up the phone and asked his teacher,  Ms. Yati if we could drop by and bring a cake and some treats to Rujim and his classmates. She said yes --- totally unexpected! Thank you Ms. Yati! :)

I had less than 24 hours to prepare. 

But such a short time is long enough if you have Sizzix! Which enabled me to make a cute mini party detail for Rujim.

It's a boy-themed snack pack! 

I used 3 different Sizzix dies: Loaf Pan (659873) and Kitchen Labels (659865) by Eileen Hull  and Homemade Alphabet (659566). The papers I used are from Echo Park Paper. 

With the help of my Bigshot, I diecut the loaf pan shapes with my sandwich in this order from bottom to top: cutting pad + Loaf Pan die  facing up + paper + crease pad.  

The diecuts are already scored so all I needed to do next was fold and attach the flaps with the mini attacher.

Then I took out the sweets and some white bags and started filling them up.

There are only a few kids in the class so lucky me! haha! I then tied each bag with a blue ribbon. 

For the label, I used this framelits from the Kitchen Labels set. You'll be needing a magnetic platform when cutting small shapes like these. The platform will prevent the little dies from falling all over the place. So the sandwich was: magnetic platform + cutting plate + paper + die facing down + another cutting plate. 

After cutting the labels, I matted it with a red cardstock and wrote "happy birthday RUJIM". 

The red framed the white label making it stand out!

These are very simple and so easy to make. Just perfect for mommies like us who got so many things on our plate but still want to make things special for our little ones :)

That's Kuya blowing his candles. I am not posting photos of his classmates because I don't have photo consent. Some parents may be sensitive about this :)  I baked the cake and decorated it with anything I could find at home. "Rujim" was diecut using the Homemade Alphabet  thinlits set.

I will be posting more about Kuya's birthday in my next posts :) Thanks for spending time with my here in my blog! Ciao! :)


Supplies: 

Bigshot Machine (657900)
Magnetic Platform  (656499)
Standard Cutting Pad (655093)
Homemade Alphabet (659566)
Loaf Pan (659873) 
Kitchen Labels (659865)  
papers - Echo Park 

love | Sizzix

It's my turn at Sizzix blog now! Check out my tutorial on how I used Echo Park dies to come up with this layout. 

photo dilemma

Sorry for being absent too long ... I spend most of my time in Instagram lately. It is much easier and faster and my photos look nicer there.  When I blog, I still get frustrated with my photos.  I badly need to LEARN the technicalities of photography. Yes this October. I'll do that. 

For now, pardon me for these are  the best photos of the sample layouts I made recently for my "Just Getting Started" class at Made With Love. I don't like the photos. The layouts look so much better in "person"....honest :( 

In class you learn the basics of scrapbooking and you get to choose a whole pack of Echo Park Paper kit. There are variety of kits to choose from. You will go home with a layout or two + a new found love for scrapbooking! Call 67337630 or 66435561 for more details. 

Going back to taking good photos of the layouts of projects we make, do you have any personal pointers for me? 

altered notebook | Echo Park

Here's another custom-made notebook for Chrissy.  Last night I was so happy to know she already got these and she loves it!  Yay! 

This time I used the very pretty Country Drive papers from Echo Park. It's a collection from a long time ago. Because it's always quite a challenge for me to use up my favourites. I tend to hoard papers I love for some time before I finally get the courage to slice them into pieces. haha! 

Stitched and white-washed covers, with some washi tapes, twines, buttons, dewdrops from Robin's Nest and alphas from American Crafts. 

I love notebooks. The one I use currently is my "best friend".  It knows all about my secrets plans. My goals. My thoughts.  If there is a "comfort food" we crave when we are emotionally unstable. I have what I call my "comfort notebook". I'd just find a nice pen, sit in one cozy corner somewhere,  in the living room, in our bedroom, in a cafe (anywhere actually) and I'm fine. 

Do you like notebooks?

shoebox love

Good morning! Sooooo excited to share with you my latest creation.... 

... an altered shoebox! 

... it used to look like this! The box is so sturdy and I thought, it would be perfect to house my 4x4 card stash. So using all sorts of my favorite things (sizzix, stamps, ribbons, dew drops, buttons, laces, fabrics and of course Echo Park papers!) I made this box with all my L.O.V.E. =) 

Some more close ups... 

That's not all! 

Because what's a box without any treasure in it? 

Presenting my 36 valentines cards. Each and every card is unique and special.... 

Making these cards brought back childhood memories... I grew up (with my 4 siblings) helping our parents make and sell cards for valentines days and other special occasions. We would cut out flowers, and do other cool artsy stuff and our cards sold like hotcakes!!! More cards, more money and more smiles!!! :):):) I think I will show you what kind of cards we sold that time... soon maybe :) 

So there... hope you liked this valentine stuff I made! Thanks EP for the lovely Yours Truly collection pack I won from you last December ...  and thank you too for featuring my layout (which I made using the same collection) love love you Echo Park! :)

HAPPY VALENTINE TO ALL! XOXO :)

bullets and a layout

• hundreds of vacation pictures
• son turned 6 and we had the coolest party ever
• coolest party ever costs less than $100 (well, not counting the precious patterned papers I used!)
• regular, everyday work in addition to teaching at Made With Love (so far I'm enjoying it. Lord please let this feeling stay, Amen.)
• valentines day is almost happening! 
• no date on valentines day because hubby is going to Korea for a week.
• then I realized I will have these 2 cuties as my date...

Sorry sorry for giving you bullets of thoughts.. Have been a very lazy blogger lately... but I know it's just a phase we all go through... in time, I know I will be back. For sure :) Missing this blog so much...

Supplies: 

papers: Echo Park

die: Sizzix #655459

paint: Claudine Hellmuth

glossy accents: Ranger

scallop border stamp: American Crafts

others: mt tapes, metal accents, dew drops

3 projects using 1 paper pad

This week, I challenged myself to make 3 different projects using just 1 6x6 paper pad from Echo Park... 

Project #1: Receipt Holder Home Decor 

To make this, I cut 12 pcs. 2x3 papers and randomly added some stuff from my stash... played around the lovely papers using dies, punches. Very Easy! :)

Project #2: Christmas Tree - Mini Album

This tree is actually a mini album measuring less than a foot! It's toooo cute right? First, I punched the papers, and sew them into paper ruffles... adhered the ruffles to the tree album...

... then I prepared all the elements I wanted to put together: tiny frames with my kids handsome photos in it, the paper christmas lights, the flowers, the stars, the tiny presents... all of them are extremely tiny and cute!!! :) 

... presenting, our humble little Christmas tree! The little presents are actually matchboxes wrapped with Season's Greetings paper :) 

Project #3: Christmas Cards

I hope you enjoyed my budget-friendly creations! :) 

picture perfect

Here's my new class at Made With Love...

Make two mini accordion albums that double as a lovely room decor, with a bonus 12x12 scrapbook layout to match it.  Learn to stamp with paint, decorate and embellish using paper cut-outs, sizzix shapes and painted chipboards.

I would like to shout out a special THANK YOU to all scrappers who attend my class. It warms my heart to see same faces and it makes me excited to meet new scrappers as well :) For you all, I promise to make more fun crafts from the heart for us all to enjoy! Thank you thank you again! :)

Other on-going classes I offer at MWL: 

Capture the Moment

Sweet Tooth

Jodi's Garden

Click here for more information on all the other classes offered this month.    

Echo Pack: Country Drive

Sharing 3 projects I made for a class at Made With Love. These 3 minis are made out of just 1 paper pack from Echo Park. I think this is my most favorite of all EP's line... Country Drive!

Class objective was to make mini albums from scratch. So with the help of my other ever reliable favorites: Sizzix dies, Studio paints, Ranger crackle paints, ribbons and buttons, metal rings, a few card stocks and lots and lots of foam dots ... here are the minis I so love! Looking at them makes me smile :)

 "Hello Sunshine" 

This album is about me. A reminder for me to always try to live in the moment... to smile a lot, listen more, love always...

"Happy Adventure"

The second album is about one of our family picnics at East Coast.  That basket sticker is soooo perfect for this!

"You and Me Together"

The third one is about family. For me, material abundance alone does not give us genuine happiness. It's being with our family. Enjoying each other's company. Laughing in happy times, crying in bad times but still feeling alright knowing that God is in charge. 

Hope you enjoyed looking at my simple creations. It's not too difficult to make if you just have the right tools, the inspiration and of course the pretty papers from Echo Park! :)