It's DECEMBER!!!

I can't believe how time flies.  It seems only weeks ago when I started my new job.  And now, it's December!  And to top it off, we don't have work today because of a winter storm.  That means more time to do more stuff!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had our usual warm gathering at DMIL's house.  I made a popular Filipino dessert called Leche Flan.  Never mind the calories, at least for Thanksgiving, because my Leche Flan is good :D

What made this 4-day weekend extra special was our Black Friday shopping.  I won't tell you the details, but my main goal was to get the Cricut Expressions for $199.  Walmart was having that special only for Black Friday.  And I was very sure a lot of crafters will come and swoop them off the shelves in just a snap.  I had an option to buy the Expressions at CustomCrops a few days earlier for $209 with your choice of 2 cartridges and free shipping.  But I wanted to get the Expressions the traditional way - right in my hands from a brick and mortar store.  Going back to Walmart, as expected, the Expressions were all gone.  I was very disappointed.  But I had a Plan B.  We headed to Michael's, with the Walmart Black Friday brochure on hand.  I talked to the first Michael's employee and asked them if they would price match Walmart's price for the Cricut Expressions (while I was crossing my fingers and toes).  And right away, they said "Yes!  Let me go get it for you", with no other questions asked.  That made my Black Friday shopping.  I was very happy!  My new Cricut Expressions came with 2 cartridges:  Plantin' Schoolbook and Accent Essentials.  I played with my planet's new addition last night and it felt like I was a kid opening a present.  I like the new features and my favorite is the fact that I can cut bigger sizes (up to 23.5 inches).  I already have so many projects in mind.  But I still love my original "bug".  In fact, my two Cricuts are nestled side by side on my craft desk.  The Bug has the portability that the Expressions doesn't have.  There goes my Christmas present!

I was also able to buy 2 Martha Stewart edge punches using Joann's 50% coupon on each.  I can't wait to play with my Arch Lattice and Double Scallop.

That's what I like about Michael's.  Even though they don't put out discout coupons as much as Joann's, but they will let you use Joann's discount coupons in their store, and they price match with no questions asked.  More power to Michael's!  Woot!

And since it's 25 days before Christmas, let me share with you these burned-out light bulbs I altered into Christmas Ornaments.  I owe it to a famous Filipino celebrity, Ms. Sharon Cuneta, because she shared this project in a magazine-type TV show many years ago.  And since then, I never threw my burned out light bulbs.  All you need is acrylic paint, ribbon, adhesive and embellishment of your choice.  I love making these ornaments -  in fact they are hanging in my Christmas tree right now.  Check out more pictures by clicking here.

Also, take another glimpse of my November creations here.

If you missed Black Friday sales, don't fret because today is Cyber Monday.  Check out your favorite online stores and I'm sure they have specials meant for today.  Joann.com has really good Cyber Monday deals (including free shipping).

Christmas 2P LO and Birthday Card

I have been in a Scrapbook Kit Club in Splitcoaststampers for two years.  The second cycle started in January of this year and there are 12 members.  Each member is assigned a month, and that member is to make a double scrapbook page layout kit for all the other 11 members.  So each member gets 11 scrapbook page kits for the entire year, 12 if you create one for yourself on your assigned month.

And December is my month.  Which led me to design a Christmas kit/sketch.  My favorite part of this page is the title, which were cut with Cricut (the brackets too!).  To spice it up, I inked "Christmas" with a similar color from the printed paper I used.  Then I drew white lines on the edges of "Memories" using Signo White Pen.  The circles were punched with Creative Memories.  The white cardstock base is by The Paper Company while the printed paper is DCWV.  I stitched the oval on the left with DMC cross-stitch thread.  Then I dabbed ink on the stitching.  I decided to put a pocket on the left side of the photo bunch, and inserted a Georgia Pacific cardstock for more photos and journaling, which was punched with Fiskars. 

I hope the ladies in my scrapbook kit club will like this layout - especially the part where they put all the elements together to create the page.

Also, I'd like to share with you a birthday card I created for my DH.  My favorite part in this card is inside, but that's between me and DH only :)

By the way, check out the cards I received from "For The Birds" card swap here.

Hey fellow crafters!  Thanksgiving Day is just a day away.  I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and I'm sure you have a lot of things to be thankful for this year.  That would be a nice topic for a scrapbook page.

And don't miss those great Black Friday deals!

Inchies

I was introduced to making inchies by Lisa, whom I met in SplitCoastStampers.  She is hosting an inchie swap there, and asked me to join.  I like to join swaps because they give me a really good reason to create.  And Lisa's swap was my great excuse to finally make inchies.  This swap is good for 4 months, and I'd like to share with you the inchies I have received so far.

For September, the theme was Spooky Halloween or Fall.  I decided to create a halloween one.  Because this was my first inchie creation, I decided to shoot a video about it, and you can watch it by clicking here.

The theme for October was "Turkey Day or anything Thanksgiving."  My inchie involved an acorn.  But guess what?  I forgot to take a photo before sending my inchies to Lisa.  But these are the ones I received for October.  Can you guess which one is mine?

This month, November, we were supposed to make "A Disney Christmas or Just Christmas" inchies.  I chose to make a Santa one.  I can't wait to see what I'll get back for this month.

We have one more month for this swap, and for next month, we can make a "New Year"-themed or any theme of our choice.  I haven't decided what to make yet.  I'll worry about that next month... hehe.

November Calendar Page

It's very cold and snowy right now in Michigan.  So far, I'm not jealous with you who live in the warm countries.  I'm enjoying the first snow fall of the year.

That was the inspiration for the November page of my 2008 calendar.  It was the same month last year when my Mommy experienced her first real snow.  My parents were visiting for a month and I was really hoping that it would snow that time. 

For this page, the only thing I followed from the instruction booklet was the layout.  All I used from the kit was the cardstock, background paper and rub-on (November).  I made the big white oval using the Creative Memories cutting system, and drew the dots with Martha Stewart Opaque marker.  The main title "SNOW" is by Making Memories and the "first" is from my leftover alpha stash.  I used Copic Multiliner in 0.5 and 1.0 for the journaling.  I also adhered my photos on white vellum before attaching it to the bg paper.  The ribbon I purchased from Big Lots and the flower is by Petaloo.  For the final touch, I placed some snowflake sequins with Glue Dots.

You can see more pages of my 2008 Calendar by clicking here.

One more page to go....  woot!

Scrapbooking Time!

It's been a while since I did my last LO.

In this blog entry, I'll share with you my latest digital pages and a traditional page I made a few months ago.

I made this digital layout for my cousin's birthday.  She and her bf of many years tied the knot last month.  I'm really happy for her and I wish I was there on her special day.  This page was created with Memory Mixer.

This traditional scrapbook page is about my planet.  I submitted this page for publication, but it wasn't picked, so I'm sharing it to you now.  My bg is black corrugated cardstock by The Paper Company.  This page is basically an ode to my dear craft room - to show my appreciation to my place of creativity.

Here's another digital LO, this time for my vey good friend Lara, again via Memory Mixer.  We've known each other since college.  Even though we're so far apart, we still manage to keep in touch.  I cherish her phone calls when her work takes her to New York, or when she's back in the Philippines.  The last time we saw each other was in Singapore and that was about 5 years ago.  This color combination was an experiment, and I like the final product!

Watch out for my next video tutorial about making inchies.  And I promise to make more product reviews.  Can you tell I have some new additions to my planet?  That answers why I needed to make room.... hehe!