DigiScrapping

The girls back then…

chiki-n-shanti

In my previous post I briefly mentioned sponsoring two of my nieces’ camp fee. Well, these are those two. Chicki and Shanti.  They were born a few days apart, with Shanti coming out in August 30, and Chicki on September 2nd.  But this is a scanned photo from many many moons ago.  I’m pretty sure I took this photo, it was back when we lived inside the Seminary compound and I spent a lot of time with both of them.

I hope they’re having a grand time at camp, and that they’re able to vent out their pent up emotions about their families.  Looking at their smiles here, don’t you just see all that they can become and all that they can achieve?  They’re in highschool now, already at an age where the decisions they make can determine the course of the rest of their lives.  

I hope that they remember how loved they are, and that they still feel that love, and be guided in their future decisions.


Anyway… I don’t believe I displayed my current desktop here yet.  The photos in the template by Heather Ann Designs are of my nephew Esban and my Dad, taken during his birthday celebration, March 31st, which was also his sister’s grade school graduation (she’s the one at the bottom picture):

april09_heatheranndesigns

More on catching up

I am cleaning up my Digital Scrapbooking Links and it is taking so long to go through the list.   I realize that I have missed out on a lot of news from blogs that I used to visit at least twice a week.  It’s nice getting re-acquainted though.  It’s also very inspiring to look at all the lovely layouts showcased in many of those blogs.  And of course, i’m happy to see all the freebies available 🙂

One particular designer blogger I was glad to have visited again is Vicki.  She now sells at a new store with some of her friends, and that is amazing.  One ad from her blog caught my attention, it was for Photobook Philippines! I checked out their website and things look promising.  Kodak stations and Digiprint offer printing for photobooks and albums but if you choose bound ones, I don’t know if the photos will line up for two-page layouts (not that I have those).  Photobook Philippines has a software that will probably help you figure that out.  I don’t intend to have a book printed anytime soon, I don’t have enough layouts for that, but it’s nice to know what my options are.

OOohhh and looking at the various digiscrapping blogs have got me to thinking that I probably should be using templates more.  Just a thought.

I still have a lot of mail to catch up on, but I’ve decided to stick it out with cleaning one particular mailbox for now.  I have two email accounts that receive shares through sharing groups and I don’t get to see to them everyday.  There are so many lovely graphics sent through them and it’s such a waste because I don’t get to see them right away.  I probably should think about delisting from either one or both of those groups…


 

I’ve also tried to catch up posting Project 365 photos on DigitalMe.  I’m still far from being caught up, but I know I must do this otherwise I will just forget why I took those photos or what they represented to me at the time.  I wonder if I’ll ever scrap pages for those? Hah, I don’t want to say I’ll find time, that somehow jinxes things for me.  Anyway, here are the photos I’ve added to the gallery:

    

You’ll see a photo of my big brother (who could be an Ely Buendia or John Lloyd look-alike depending on the angle haha), taken on January 16 at the entrance of San Benissa Garden Villas.  We visited the site of our condo units to sign our contracts for the unit improvements.  He and his girlfriend were actually back there yesterday to submit the signed contract for the property management office to take care of renting out our units to interested parties.  I hope they find renters soon.  That would definitely ease a bit of my financial woes.

There’s also the photo of my nephews and niece from my father’s side of the family (the other half of my family that hardly gets mentioned on this blog).  The only girl in the photo is the beautiful Samantha or Sam as she is fondly called.  She is so sweet, but also a handful! The whole time during the wedding ceremony, she couldn’t keep still. So endearing really. 🙂  Bench is the big boy here and he’s the same age as Sam.  He talks a lot too and together, they can be a tough pair to care for.  I have not seen these kids in a long time and it was good that they were there on my cousin Bryan’s weddin on the 15th of January.  The baby in the stroller is Bryan’s little boy. He was christened right after the wedding ceremony.  I don’t think I wrote a post about the wedding did I?  Honestly, I think I kept myself from writing about it at the time, because I didn’t want to say anything nasty.  But until now I can’t help it.  I didn’t like the bridesmaid dresses! Haha. It was in bright green satin, a material that should never be used for such a purpose.  I’m sorry, I really just don’t think it flattered anyone. The motif was green and yellow/gold.  To be honest, the green and yellow combination in the linens and decor used in the reception turned out better than the bridesmaid gowns did.   The bride was lovely though, no contest with that.  And the wedding reception was held in a nice cozy place.  Food was excellent too.  Too bad we didn’t get to chat with my cousin (who is actually US based and only came home for the wedding) and his mom since we had to drive home already.  We had to sleep soon since there was work in the evening.

The odd photo in the group is my March desktop.  Both photos used here are ones that have me and my brother together.  We’re six years apart.  If you look at us now, you wouldn’t notice that age gap.  Oh and I have to say this, I love that cute dress I had on in the bottom photo.  My Lola Maggie (grandma) did that.  She made us (me and my cousins) many lovely dresses while we were growing up, and she made some for my eldest nieces too when they were very small.  I wonder if we have pictures of those? I hope so.  They looked like dolls in vintage dresses. Seriously. Hehe 🙂

The last P365 photo is a very bad photo of my leg, to show off my ballet flats that I always wear to work.  To be honest, I forgot to snap a photo for that day, January 17th, so I took a photo of the first thing I could think of. Hehe.

Anyway, I have a magazine to read and a letter to the editor to compose (haha).  I really should go to bed instead, but it’s so darn hot!

UPDATE: I just remembered something that I tried catching up on today – Les Miserables, the book.  Oh my god, I forgot exactly when I started reading this but I know I’ve finished at least two books since. And I don’t like doing that, picking up other books while I’m in the middle of another, which is why my to-be-read pile is just growing in number.  It’s just that Les Miz is quite draining to read, with all the history and study of that time’s Paris society.  And all that talk about the gamin of Paris is a reminder of the street children of Metro Manila at present day.  And all the injustice in their prisons? Don’t those still exist today in prisons the world over?  That’s sad.  All I knew about Les Miz was a romanticized version of it I guess, and I wasn’t prepared to read all about the history of France or a study of it’s society.  But it is a wonderful piece of literature, and I will finish the rest of the book someday. Haha 🙂

Not much to say?

Strange. 

Maybe it’s because I didn’t have much sleep before I went to work last night. 

Or because I am a little sleepy now but my mind won’t let me sleep just yet.

But I think it’s actually because I want to work on something that doesn’t involve the computer. I actually want to go back to plotting a fortnightly budget to help me get on track with saving money. So maybe that’s what I should do.

Do you have a system that seems to work when it comes to budgeting and sticking to it? Do share.

There’s another project that I really hope I can start this March 1st, and commit to for the long term. Thanks for the inspiration from The Daily Digi Files #1:

jencaputo-weightlossjournal

To be honest, when I first saw this featured in the site while the 1st pack was up for grabs at the TDD (click the image to take you to the post featuring Jen Caputo, the designer), I didn’t give it much thought and even considered that it was probably the one thing I would never use in the pack. But when I opened up the packages, er unzipped the files I should say, this was the first pack I looked into. Just going through the instructions for the journal sparked something in me. I hope God actually gives me the strength to go through this undertaking. Seeing as I only have a few days before the new month starts, I have to act fast before the inspiration leaves me. 

But first, I must budget. Then the weightloss plan follows. Thanks TDD! 😉

My new digs – Digital Memories

I have yet another online hangout, a new baby even. I’ve setup a photo blog/gallery!

I’ve been trying to keep it under wraps until I’ve uploaded what I wanted to upload, but I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. So here it is, without further ado, my photoblog/gallery/showroom: Digital Memories!

Day 47 - DigitalMemories

I used a very simple template for that photoblog which gives me a lot more to improve it as I go. You may want to click on the Archive link at the navigation bar up top so you can select categories (the closest I could substitute for an album like view). My Project 365 photos aren’t actually there yet, because I haven’t quite decided whether to upload them just as the photos, without any embellishments, or do I upload them the way I show them on the blog.

Please don’t be surprised that the photos and layouts are so hugely displayed, haha. I guess in a way it’s to make sure I use as less words as possible there 🙂

Anyway, I do hope you get to visit and share with my digital memories 🙂

(more…)

Taking photos

When I bought Frankie in November, I knew this year was going to bring me a lot of photos. I knew that I was going to take more photos, that most would be crappy, but that in time they will be better. Sadly though, I have not been using Frankie as much as I want to. I guess I am too much of a sucker for instant gratification that having to wait for the photos to be processed (and bringing the film for processing) just isn’t working well for me. The functions of the camera are just not making much sense for me because I don’t see the results right away. Even if I see the photos after processing, I don’t know the settings I used anymore. There’s probably a method to it, but I don’t have that method as of yet.

So am I giving up on Frankie? No no no. If anything, I want to find more time and opportunity to use her and learn her secrets. 

Doing Project365 this year was a very good decision. I find myself putting thought into photos I take. I don’t just point and shoot anymore. Okay, that’s a lie, I still do. But I think of ways to make a photo look better without resorting to post-editing them with software that’s always readily available to me. I think about the pros and cons of using flash, and I try to adjust ISO on my digicam too. With a digicam, it’s so easy to do this. To shoot, check, adjust, re-shoot. With Frankie, it’s impossible.

When I’m using the digicam instead of my camera phone to shoot a photo for the day, I usually take so many shots before I decide on the best one to use. It’s like kissing so many frogs before finding my prince charming. Surprisingly, I don’t get frustrated with the whole process. I don’t mind re-shooting. I guess that’s because most of my subjects are inanimate. So if I’d have to take photos of moving and breathing stuff – that would probably kill me. Haha.


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*Background paper is from Valorie Brown’s Ture Colors Kit

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