Have You Completed Your Portfolio Yet?

I cannot believe I have not blogged about SSD’s newest challenge system – Scrapper’s Portfolio. Basically what happens is that challenges are rolled out at the beginning of the month – all of them – and you have a month to pick the ones you like to do and complete them for points. It’s very flexible and adaptable for everyone! You can even do some medical travel on the side and be able to complete a couple!

image

Chevrolet Camaro

We have a family friend who collects cars like Matchbox toys – he can definitely afford getting one every month! And it’s not the ordinary vehicles he gets but the high end ones – SUVs and luxury cars. In fact he lets Dad borrow cars from to time, sometimes months at a time. Mind you, he lends brand new cars. The first car he lent to Dad was a Ford Escape (brand new) and the next one was the new model of Ford as well. I saw that he has a new one too. I don’t know what he will be adding to his collection next.

It can be the new chevrolet camaro. It has been hailed as America’s newest pony car – named after the 1964 Ford Mustang. The all-new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is a boldly styled two-door coupe. It has great standout styling,with a great V-6, sex-speed manual powertrain.It debuts with more than enough power to handle its closest competitors – winning from the battle between Ford, Chevy, and Dodge muscle cars. Camaros are more than up to the demands of daily driving and impromptu stoplight drag battles, as the sparkling acceleration numbers show.– Who knows? This car might be next!

Paislee Press’ Off To Press

I am so inspired with Liz Tamanaha’s goal of printing her pictures into a book this year. Nothing gives a more natural high than seeing all your pages in real life. While I no longer have backlogs on pages I made, I have to admit that I have tons of pictures to print. Here is her workflow and project plans, may you be inspired as well.

And just in time she released the Off To Press templates,

image

I love the first set, I wish I can get both but we need to replace the air filter at home.

Studio 365 Weekly Album

So I promised myself that I won’t over think and complicate my P365 project. My only goal is to make sure I complete my year and have it printed by the end of the year. Right? (rrrrriiiiiiight!) But look what I saw when I was reading blog posts on my Reader (and saw some weight loss products I like to try):

It’s the album I’ve been secretly lusting after once I read about it from Karla Dudley’s blog. So very minimalist and the design is just awesome. It’s only $4.40 right now (20% off!) and you bet I am buying this, even if I dont get to use it for P365. It is a steal!

This kit is designed to make your yearly memories shine with ease yet you have total creative control. Designed as a hybrid kit for an 8.5×11 protector album. Grab a template and alter with brushes that give a uniform sophisticated feel.

You can choose to use this album for 365 days or to record weekly for 52 weeks! That way you don’t have to feel the pressure of falling behind. There is a template cover page that you can use to start each week. And there is a journaling template that you can use to sum up your thoughts for each week as well. In between you can record all seven days or just one! It’s all up to you! I hope you enjoy!

    Kit Includes
  • 97 Brushes -(handwritten words, text words + sentiments, 2 flourishes, decorative) All in .png and .abr files.
  • Two word page templates in .png files
  • 2 blank templates both in strait and round corner designs. All in .png files
  • 1 Wave page template with strait edges in both .tiff and .psd files
  • 4 Page templates all in both .tiff and .psd files (8 templates total)
  • Tip document as a .jpeg

2010 Year Beginning Quotes

During the first week of January when I committed myself to trying out P365 again, I searched forums around for completed books on P365 for 2009 and for scrappers who did it and if they had tips. They were a lot and I admire their tenacity, perseverance and how they really captured “life” in a year. So they were assembling their books by that time and their books had awesome photography, beginning and day-in-the-life quotes. I thought I’d share them with you.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Kahlil Gibran

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
Thornton Wilder

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Author: Robert Fulghum

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I get up. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.

LIFE is what happens while you are making other plans. -John Lennon

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is actually one of the many reasons why I quit my teams and now am focusing on my being a Sugarbabe over at SSD. I really want to make P365 work for me this time around. I have to be honest that I cannot scrap as much and as often as I used to, but I still want to document my stories. P365 will be perfect for me, since I still take pictures. Flickr helps me blog and share about it – I just need to have an outlet to make sure it’s printed and my family sees it. If I try to do everything still, I might need anti aging products early (not that I do NOT need – I am using an eye cream already) – my first decision this year is to let go of stuff I cannot handle so I can focus on things I “need” to do. This is one of them.

I Don’t Scrap About US that Often.

Maybe primarily because there are only a few nice pictures of us – it’s always about getting him a picture with the kids recently as he works away during weekdays. So it was nice make a page about us for SSD’s Treat of the Month in January (Jaclyn Bernardo a.k.a mrsjb).

image 

I lifted her My Girls layout.
Credits:
With Gratitude by Lauren Reid, Dani Mogstad and Misty Cato
Gimme Space Font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

We are subconsciously really working hard to focus and make time for each other this year so I really hope we can make it last throughout the year. I am now cooking (yes, it’s a miracle) to help reduce cholesterol and save us money while he is more appreciative of what I do and doesn’t even compete with me for computer time anymore :) . I tell you, miracles do happen!

Category: SSD  Leave a Comment

P365 Progress.

It’s too soon to tell, but I am writing this on the 14th day of January and I am still on track with P365 (Hurray!). It is easier for me I think this time because I didn’t overthink things and make it complicated. I am sure you are so overwhelmed with the number of P365 kits, templates, word arts and brushes in digi-land these days. I am too. But one thing I do whenever I tend to entertain something complicated like scrapping them every week (I am sorry I think that won’t work with me – my photos are too different and I would not want them to be sharing spotlight with other POTDs. I also need to be honest that scrapping them every week might be such a drag for me Id end up stopping the project altogether.). It is very much like when I am reading about appetite suppressant reviews – I get bored immediately.

For now, I have developed somewhat of a system in making P365 work.

  • I import pictures, delete, choose the POTD and edit them once a week. In the ideal world, that should be every Sunday.
  • I upload them to my Flickr gallery. Journalling goes in there too.
  • For now, I haven’t decided on what format or what I will do with them. Many scrappers are raving about Blurb (most of those who completed the P365 last year printed their books there) so let us see.

Deepening One’s Spirituality

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a college friend who was close to me finally heeded the call for priesthood. He has been serving and helping the Church as an altar boy when he was young and then as a lay minister when he got older when we were still studying. The last time I heard from him two years he was still practicing what we finished in college (We are medical technologists) and he was enjoying hospital life and bachelorhood. I reconnected with him through Facebook and learned that he was in his first year of entering a seminary. He would need to finish a four-year course for it before he enters a seminary for priests. Theology Degrees vary from different religions. But I believe that the underlying love for God and the calling to deepen one’s spirituality to serve people is universal.

Take for example the Iliff School of Theology, a graduate theological school related to the United Methodist Church. Its mission is to educate people for effective ministry of its Church – and they have a deep underlying faith in God and the universal basic principles of faith, hope and love. You can find the campus in Denver, Colorado, an eight-acre campus is located in the University Park neighborhood just minutes from downtown and adjacent to the University of Denver offering students access to a wide range of educational resources and recreational facilities.

Enjoying the Seychelles Islands

I have had a lot of time to look over honeymoon cruises for a cousin who is going to be married in summer. Instead of going to the famous honeymoon hot spots like the Caribbean or Europe, she wanted to go to somewhere different but as equally if not more exciting and grand. I came across the beautiful group of islands in the Indian Ocean called Seychelles and knew instantly that they would be enjoying their seychelles holidays there.

image image image

Who wouldn’t want to enjoy gorgeous beaches, peaceful shore lines, amazing tours, out of this world cuisines and nature at its finest?

Seychelles has numerous islands with three main islands, Mahe, Praslin and La Digue. Mahe is the largest of the islands and the central hub for visitors is ideal for the perfect Sechelles holiday – a great way to meet the people (locals) and know their history, daytrips to parks, cruises and the Jardin du Roi spice plantation is a beautiful and educational visit. Praslin is the second largest and most popular because its white sandy beaches are the ultimate destination for a dream wedding. This island is much quieter than Mahé with an obvious slower pace to daily life. While La Digue is one of the most photographed in the World, with Granitic formations so impressive!

Project 365.

I tried doing it last year, and just lasted until January 22, I think.It was just too much for me, and I actually just put my heart half-heartedly to the project. There were days that I never even bothered to think about the picture I wanted. I had so many things to take a picture of – from patio furniture cushions to the mess that is constantly in my house. What I realized was I just didn’t set up a system that worked for me. I had grand plans at the start of the year, only to fall short.

So I am giving it a try again. Actually, I didn’t want to publicly announce it up until I completed at least the month of January but realized maybe announcing it will help me stay committed.

Here are some things I will do with Project 365:

  • I will just go with photos + words. No scrapping them. Really. It is still scrapping, right? (Photos + Words = Memories Kept and Preserved) I plan to compile them all into a book like Janet Phillips did with her 2008 P365.
  • Sharing with different galleries will be weighing me down and taking most of my time. I have decided to upload all P365 pictures at my Flickr gallery. What I like about Flickr is I can upload my hi-res files there, serve as a back-up, put the story in the description field and even link it to publish into a chosen blog. There are days I will blog about, days when I won’t. It will be public. Maybe if I get more feedback about Blurb I will try it out. I can print my pictures there directly to Blurb I think.
  • Edit. Delete. Edit. Delete. This year I want to banish my OC-ness and get rid of multiple pictures that have the same pose. Really. Promise. Trimming them down will help me scrap more.