How was your day?

Mine?

Well.

I woke up really early. 

Went to school with B. 

Danced at the children's day concert. 

Danced again with some mommies at the canteen while giving out snacks to the kids (because there was music).

Played basketball and dart with my boys. 
Ate cheese prata with the boys.

Read scriptures. 

Talked to a friend. 

Had facials. 

And pedicure. 

Tried to keep in touch with  my family. 

Understood when my family was to busy to keep in touch. 

Became a "friend" to my husband. 

Worked hard. 

Got rejected. 

Cycled for an hour to move on from rejection.

Had black coffee. 

Ate fruits. 

Took vitamins. 

Finished my phone's memory by recording memories. 
Did some crafts. 
Gave thanks to God. 

My only regret is sleeping late. Because I'd like very much to finish this post.
Wrote this post.
And smiled a lot.

Hope you too had the best day ever!

It's a decision to love life. Every minute of it.

Today, It was just the boys and me as Daddy went biking at Pulau Ubin and Mae enjoyed a day off. Which means, WORK day for me. Ha.

The day started quite not so nicely because I was waken up by a bad dream, some negative thoughts about Kuya's mood swings lately..  and I smell PMS.  But at 41,  I am becoming so good at loving my life, no matter how hard it is sometimes that what started to be a bad day ended with a bottle of red wine and this blog post.. My day wasn't so bad after all...

I arranged flowers, washed plates, cleaned the house and I loved it. 

I baked. While I finished some backlogs for work. 

I fed the boys. I ate with them. I played with them. I loved it. 

We... I mean, I sorted toys, books, flash cards... and we all loved it. 

Yes, life may be hard at times. But it can still be beautiful, happy, colorful. If you DECIDE it to be! 

Not in the photos: 

Miguel's beat box performance

Miguel preparing Milo for Kuya

Kuya's fascination with his old photos

Wine with hubby

chat w/ team

week 6 planning

my teal manicure hahaha! 

Heavenly Father, you are my life, and to be with you is the fullness of joy and peace and life; in your loving care for me, I am never truly alone. Help me to live in the certainty of your love and presence each new day. - Praying With Saint Luke 

This is the real me | Selfie Contest :)

One day, just for fun, I posted a selfie without make up on, using no filter (but I think I just got lucky the lighting in the house that day was good! haha) and challenged my Instagram friends to do the same, tag me and I will pick a random winner  who will receive a special gift from me.  This is just a game. But this also means that we agree on one thing. That beauty is not about being perfect. It is about being yourself,  and loving yourself and celebrating who you are. 

Look who are my oh-so-natural IG friends who joined in the fun... 

Not only that. When I posted in Instagram, it was automatically posted in facebook too and I love that my FB friends joined as well! 

So I decided to pick one winner from the Instagram entry and 1 winner from facebook using the Random Number Generator... and the winners are: @moonleetaiwan and RyanShine!!! Please email me your address at [gen8880ATyahooDOTcom] or PM me at facebook: THOUGHTFULCRAFTS. Congratulations! 

Thank you to all of you who joined! I had so much fun seeing your  bare and pretty faces haha!

Choose Real | Sizzix

It's my turn to inspire you  at the  Sizzix Blog today and if you want to know my thoughts behind this layout, what Sizzix die I used, go and check out the rest of my post HERE. 

Hope everyone's having a fantastic summer! :)

5 Things You Don't Know About Me

Good morning! Love the cool weather today here in Singapore. I have my coffee and oatmeal with me while I sit by the window, ready to share with you my thoughts... how about 5 things you don't know about me? :)

• I am NOT competitive. I remember joining beauty pageants (haha!) not for the fame. Not for the crown and for the sash but for the cash. I was in college with my four other siblings and coming from a poor family, I had to do my share to help my parents. So yeah, joining beauty pageants was my part time job. 
• I was once a Gawad Kalinga mission worker.  So I graduated college and became a licensed teacher in a Catholic school (La Consolacion College) but one thing led to another that I ended up teaching pre-school in a depressed area in the Philippines. That was the time when I met Benjo. When I brought him to the place, he cried. I stopped my mission work when we got married. 
• The very first things I bought from a scrapbooking store (Made With Love) were a few pieces of papers and my Sizzix Bigshot. I couldn't stop creating paper crafts ever since. I owe that machine so much because it led me to my passion and it gave me a job that enables me to spend time with my boys when they need me. 
• All the jobs I could get to earn! I used to work as DJ, part time TV host in our small city, waitress in a cafe and I once hosted a body building competition hahaha!  All these before I graduated college. An eldest daughter from a poor family has got to do  what an eldest daughter's got to do!
• I used to not love traveling. I didn't get it. I'd rather stay home and have all my comfort. But it all changed when Benjo brought me to Bali.

For this layout, I picked a few papers from Authentique's Flourish collection that goes well with a Kikki.K inspiration card given by a friend, Juanna for my birthday. Photo was taken while I was walking towards the bus stop a few days ago. It was a good hair day, I recall, so selfie it was hahaha! 

... a sticker, a Prima camera resin, date stamps and mini attachers.

... sequins, sizzix swirls, misted leaves + another thing about me: I love cutting. 

... handwritten journaling,  white paint splatters, dewdrops, washi tape, and a little bit of stitching.

That's all! I hope you enjoyed my sharings. Watch out for more "about-me" posts from the rest of the Made With Love DT in the blog. 

Supplies: 
papers - Authentique
dies - Sizzix
mist - Heidi Swapp, Studio Calico
pen - Sharpie
dewdrops - Robins Nest
resin - Prima
sequins - Teresa Collins 
date stamp - American Crafts
card - Kikki.K 

Wordless Wednesday

Don't hold back. Live what you love!

Believe me.
Just go for it.
Papers. Photos.
Memory Keeping.
Making things with your hands and heart and feel very happy about it, making others happy too!
Meeting friends sharing the same passion.
Pretty things.
Just go for it.

If one day you might feel you are not getting anywhere with your passion.  If you feel discouraged. Rejected. Alone. Don't stop.

Just go for it. KEEP GOING. Keep creating for the love of it. Do it  not for others but for yourself. Enjoy the process. Break the rules. Be free. Be happy!
Believe me because I've been there.

I used to just dream about this....
and it is slowly coming true :)

It came true on my last year of being thirty-something! Thank you my dear scrappy friends for being there... you will never know how much you made me happy :)  this won't be the last Xoxo! :) 

a layout... just because :)

Love that I made this layout just for myself. It's not a design team assignment. I'm not submitting it to any challenge. I just made it for me... 

Disclaimer: I'm not that "white" in person LOL! It's just my husband's camera's flash haha! And when I took a photo of my layout using my iphone, my skintone became even whiter! Oh my! :D

... these chipboards where leftover pieces when I cut some chipboard frames. Since triangles are trendy these days, I kept it with this idea in mind :) funny thing is when I should this to my (Engr.) husband, instead of just saying "nice" or "pretty" he asked me: "What are those triangles for?" LOL! 

... the prettiest of all the dewdrops are the clear ones.... don't you think? 

... and can you see my back stitching? :) 

... yeah. I'm happy where I am right now, I hope you are too! :)

HUGS

I just turned 39 yesterday and although it's a new day now,  I still feel the birthday vibe and these cards I made for Robin's Nest speak volumes of how I want to do right this moment..  I want to give everyone  some BIG BIG HUGS! *A special warm hug for my youngest sis who needs it very much right now*

Check out my DT post today at Robin's Nest blog where I shared how I came up with these minimalist greeting cards. 

And here's sharing with you a peek at my unplanned but super duper happy birthday yesterday ... 

Balloons were my boys' surprise for me... puddings in cups were brought by a friend, Mona who came over to greet me (true friends come even if you don't invite them! haha! Luv u Mon! I'm really touched and I'm very grateful for our friendship!), cake was not part of the plan but Miguel never stopped asking me to make one, so. 

I wished for nothing. Well not really nothing. I just wanted a carefree day with my boys in clean and good smelling house,  Skype with family, a peaceful heart and deeper faith. I got it all and more! Wait. Our house wasn't that clean lol! A house will never be that squeaky clean when you have two growing rascals I guess. 

Highlights of my day (and the days before too!) for memory keeping... 

• delicious homemade chorizo breakfast 
• Skype with in-laws
• Skype with parents
• chats with siblings 
• nephew Abe's drawing for me
• my boys' surprise balloons and birthday poster complete with "lights off" effects haha! Thanks Mae!
• hubby dear's prank (in fairness! i like it BB hehehe)
• Sister's honoring (sniff. gotta read it when I feel so useless and down)
• Father's testimony (surprised... a lot of revelations on how he felt when I was a growing young adult hehehe)
• JJ's surprise gift :)
• keeping in touch with friends I have missed a lot
• a time spent with a great friend Mona (and Leila too!) thanks for bringing the yummy cuppies and the candles! 
• bike trip with kids, planned by Miguel, that was cut short due to thunder and lightning LOL! 
• rosary with BB 

Thank you my Father in Heaven for my life.  Thank you Papang and Mamang. My family, friends and community. It was one of my best birthdays ever. And because I believe that everyday should be treated as birthday, with His grace, I intend to make each of my days  just like that. Stress-free, less complicated, but with meaning. Is it possible? It depends if I keep myself guarded with the temptations and chaos of this world. It's a daily battle that I can only win with Him by my side :) 

The Cup Song (taking a break from scrapbooking posts!)

I'm just a wife trying to impress her husband (the one taking the video) but gets too distracted and couldn't finish the song hahaha!

... LOL! far from perfect but I had fun learning this* today.  Now I have a talent to show when we go to those children's party where the host would always say, "Bring me your singing Mommy!" hahaha joke :D

*heard this first from Hannah Pangilinan then from Ana Kendrick (Perfect Pitch). If you want to learn this, just search from youtube there are so many tutorials going on out there!

Workspace Wednesday: Enjoying the Now

I'm wishing that...

• I have a brand of my own. With a really cool packaging. 
• That I have friends who come and crop with me. Where they learn from me and I learn from them. 
• I have a shoppe with lots of beautiful things and I would stay there the whole day. With my boys in one corner doing their assignments and playing their favorite games. 

I know it's a long long way to go but I don't think about that. I just want to enjoy the now.... It is not always easy but with God's grace, and the support of my husband and family, I'm willing to pay the price to live the life I have imagined. After all, life is a journey not a destination.

How about you? What do you wish for? :)

narcissism 101

Step 1. Make a project about YOU.
Step 2. Take a photo of YOU looking at the project about YOU.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 

Just Happy In My Happy Place :)

Thanks to those who responded to the giveaway. It is still open, please visit here.  Okay. I am happy now :) Because at this point in my life. I am doing what I love.

• being with the kids at home
• and being with them in school anytime they need me there 
• doing my crafts
• teaching without having to leave the house
• planning menu
• cleaning and organizing
• taking photos
• keeping in touch with loved ones
• making gifts
• wrapping gifts
• selling
• blogging
• managing my online shoppe, ThoughtfulCrafts

Life is short. I must do my passion now. I must spend more time with the kids now. I must do the little things now. Even when it means, having to try to live really simply. Having to walk to the market everyday because it's cheaper than going to Cold Storage. Having to take the bus. Having to stay at home for the weekend. Having to love and appreciate what I already have. And forget about what I wish to have. 

But aren't these the things that really give us genuine joy? The little things? 

So I am happy. Thankful to dear hubby for being so supportive and responsible for providing us our needs and some wants at times :) Even more thankful to him for going with me to the Autism Partnership seminar last Saturday. I like going to talks with him. Maybe because it is in such event we met first. 2002 Singles for Christ International Leaders Conference. Haha! Sweet.

Most of all, I thank him for taking the boys out for swimming. So I could do my thing ... 

... happy ladies in my happy place! :)

... busy hands! 

... don't you just love the beautiful mess? :)

... finished layouts. Thank you ladies! :)

Yes. We scrapped! ThoughtfulCrafts' very first workshop was a blast! Thank you Mariae, Joan, Evie and Alice for being the first to respond to my invitation... can't wait for next time.

So I am happy. I am blessed. Not because I have a lot. I am happy because I have learned to appreciate the little, the simple and the now. I pray that I will stay this way :)