Nothing to say and a Freebie find

I haven't posted to my main blog for two days. So what right? Well, I normally always have something to say and I rarely hesitate to say it. On other days I have photos that I'm aching to show. These past two days though...

It's not that there's a lack of things to discuss. There's MJ's and Farrah's passing. There's the first H1N1 death in the Philippines. There's definitely a lot more worthy news, then there's also personal stuff I can talk about (it is a personal blog after all).

Ahhh...

Anyway... I started browsing through some of my favorite digiscrap blogs and from KimB's I got a link to this beautiful freebie minikit made by one of her friends:

It's from LouCee creations, and you grab the freebie kit at her blog.

It's lovely isn't it?

Project 365 Themed Kits

So I posted about the Project 365 Themed Kits available in the DigiscrapAddicts So you think you can design? contest over at my other blog.

Today though, as I was downloading away, I saw Monica's entry and it is such a wonderful freebie! P365 stuff in ten languages!  Definitely there's gotta be something there for everybody!

Go to the forum (register if you're not yet a member) and download it here!

My Digiscrapping Links

My digital scrapbooking links have not been updated for the longest time because the service I used to host and feed them to the blog was having a huge system issue.  They finally fixed it, but I'm not totally happy about it.

So while I update the links and remove inactive blogs, I also rebuilt an entirely independent list over at http://verabear.net/digital-scrapbooking-links/ The links that are on my sidebar here though, will remain hosted by Blogrolling.

It took me a lot of time to build that list of digiscrapping blogs I loved to visit, mostly for their freebies.  Blogrolling was great and did the job for me at the time, but now, not so sure.

Do you have favorite digiscrapping links you'd like to share?

Scrapbook Saturday #5 : August Girls

(I am cheating again because I changed the post date so it would reflect as if I'm really posting on a Saturday. Shh.)

For a change, I'm scrapping pages for an actual album, albeit a very small one. Hehe. All the pages I've scrapped so far stand alone and don't actually belong to a set. I guess the movie themed pages will end up in one album in the future, but it's the first of its kind so far.

On Wednesday, Alfred and I went out to see The Mummy 3 at Greenhills. Walking around after the movie, I spied these faux leather card holder with plastic inserts. Perfect for a mini album that a girl can carry around in her purse! Too bad there were only two of them left, for a hundred pesos each. I won't post a picture yet, I'll reveal once the album has been put together. :)

So what's going in the album? Pages of my most recent Trinoma adventure with the girls of course! I hope to find more of those card holders so I can make copies for all the seven of us (yes, Pauie and Lanie included).

Here's what I've done so far. This first page isn't even finished yet, I'm still going to add the title.


Don't forget to visit other Scrapbook Saturday participants, starting with Dette.

No Layout - Scrapbook Saturday - for the newbie digiscrapper

No layout for Scrapbook Saturday this week. I had it in my mind to feature some digiscrapping celebrity (not that I am close to any one of them) or to post something that will really help out those who are new to digital scrapbooking. I didn't have time for proper research though so I'm ending up with nothing. But please do visit the SS Headquarters, starting with Dette, and visit other SS participants.

I ran a search for verabear and digital scrapbooking and one of the results led me to my journal archives. This post actually was written when I first found Susan of Raspberry Road. Though Shabby Princess was the first ever designer I downloaded a freebie from, it was actually Susan's kit that I first used for an actual layout (the one I shared on the first Scrapbook Saturday).

Now, Susan sells her designs on her blog but she still continues to give full kit freebies to her loyal blog readers. And I still go there to visit. Believe it or not, I don't just go for the freebies, I actually go to oogle over the beautiful designs and layout created by others.

Over on my sidebar is a very long Digiscrapping blogroll. Yesterday I thought that since Maria of Digifree does a very good job in her automated process of posting freebies from other blogs; and Ikeagoddess also has huge helpings of yummy freebie previews she's collected, I don't really need my own blogroll just to get my own fill of freebie kits. But I realized that I'm not just doing it for the freebies now. I actually visit their blogs to read their posts! I also enjoy and take inspiration from layouts that are posted in those blogs.

There are plenty of sites offering tutorials (free or otherwise) to get you along in creating your very first layout. I think that this freebie from Scrap Girls is one of those things that really gave me the nudge to get started. They also have a huge freebie kit for download that can very well be the newbie digiscrapper's tool kit.

On a different note, I am looking forward to a packed weekend.
Sunday afternoon I'll be seeing girlfriends.
Monday, Alfred and I will be going out to see a movie.
In both days, I will be making truffles like crazy because I haven't made any in the past two weeks. I've offered a special discounted price to my ever loyal fans.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to squeeze in time for bag organizer project. I really want to do that as soon as possible.

Saturday just flew right by me! I was looking forward to getting home earlier than usual for a Saturday but we were slapped with unplanned outages starting at 5PM and I had to be the one in charge at the time it happened. Hehe. It was a fun day at work though, surprisingly.

Anyways, a happy weekend to everyone!

Zune and the Wet Outdoors

This is our current desktop background, a photo of a clean Zune looking out from his doggie door:


The desktop template is courtesy of Jennilyn Designs, using her collab kit with Misty Cato.

I had tried to take Zune out for his morning walk just a couple of minutes ago. I say tried because I didn't really succeed. You see, our little Zune has a thing about wet pavement - he doesn't want to walk on them.

No matter how excited he is to actually go out, once the door is opened and he sees water - he would get to a dead stop.

It had been raining last night and the road is still wet. Today, I carried him down our front steps upto a dry spot. He walked a little, and then stopped to pee next to a parked car. He peed a lot. Then he walked about five paces and then stopped. And then didn't budge again, no matter how much coaxing I did. I had to carry him back in!

Then he refused to walk the rest of the way home from the gate to our door. I guess he could see the puddles in front of my cousin's door. I carried him again up our steps where he refused to walk the two paces to get inside the house. There were puddles of water right outside our door, you see. It took a lot of willpower, but I got him to come in on his own.

Now, he's running back and forth inside the house.

Scrapbook Saturday - #3: Journey

Here I am, posting my first on-time Scrapbook Saturday. Woohoo! (Click on the button to go to the SS Headquarters)

I mentioned in yesterday's post that this was going to be different from my previous entries. This is the first time I am ever scrapping a layout inspired by a movie that Alfred and I went to see. (Click the image to read the journalling)



Wish I had thought about doing this a long time ago. If I had, I'd have a huge album filled with movie layouts from those we went to on our first year dating. I just hope that this is something that I'd be able to continue doing - scrapping what each movie meant to me, or whatever it had me thinking, or feeling. Or who I saw it with.

I hope you liked it. Please do visit other SS participants, okay? :)

Layout credits:
Background paper from Dastash by Melissa Bennett
Alpha - Walking on Sunshine - Sunshine Studio Scraps
Journaling block from Flergs
Element from Fran's Boreal kit
Frame by Tracy
Paper from Tracy King's Sun Girls minikit

Scrapbook Saturday 2 - Anliza's boys: Adam and Daddy Rolly

Here you go. Scrapbook Saturday #2:



I did this page shortly after Adam's birth. He's much bigger and lots more cuter these days, as I hear :)

Full credits are found here.

Don't forget to visit other participants to

Scrapbook Saturday 1 - The best friend ever!

Okay, so it is Sunday already but who cares? Haha. My PC was just fixed this afternoon so I am late in posting my first ever Scrapbook Saturday!

For this first week of SS, I've chosen to show everyone my very first scrapped page. I made this page from my bestfriend's Friendster photos as a birthday present.

For a larger view, and the credits, click on the image. You'll also see the letter that I wrote for JoArni at the time. Then don't forget to look at the layouts by other SS participants, starting with Dette, of course.

Tracy, if you're reading this, join us at Scrapbook Saturday :)

July Desktop

This is on my desktop, using the July freebie from Dani's Girls at GirlTalk.


That's my mom with 6 year old Esban, 11 year old Dalnes, and 9 year old Hannah.

Belle

Okay, so boyfriend was away for about 4 to 5 days last week having fun in the sun. Now, he's been hanging around here for, hmm, about 3 days? Not bad.

That means Patapon is back in town too and I've been playing and getting victories (ok, I've lost several times too). This is one game that Alfred won't be beating me at. He just doesn't have much rhythm (he said that).

So anyway, I was out bloghopping and going through my bluemoon email that's subscribed to a sharing group. Through either of those (I don't remember which one in particular), I stumbled upon a wonderful new blog that I've added to my digiscrapping blogroll.

It's Kirsty Wiseman's blog and you've got to go and visit.

She gives away lovely overlays that you can you use for digital scrapbooking but what I loved about her blog was reading about her 12-year old daughter Ellie (or Belle as she is fondly called). She has a special condition that requires further medical attention and they are flying her to the US just for that. To cover for her journey, Kirsty and family and friends have put up the Ellenor Wiseman Trustfund to raise money. You can purchase a raffle ticket as your way to donate to her cause or just simply donate through PayPal.

As for me, I'll be purchasing the collab kit that some designers have put together for Belle. It's available at nuts4digi.

Anyway, it's almost 3PM, way past bedtime - I've got work tonight at 11. Oh well.

Adam is turning 1!

One of my best girlfriend's baby is turning 1 year old on the 18th. I am looking forward to that because (I'm afraid to admit) I haven't visited him ever. :(

I would so love to hear comments... :)

On another matter...

What I love most about my boyfriend (a tag from Tracy):

• He understands my shortcomings.
  
• He indulges my videoke addiction (haha!)
  
• He's good with kids.
  
• He is a dog lover (yup, mine too Tracy). He is my Zune's personal groomer.
  
• He's like a kid sometimes.
  
• We love shopping together.
• He's my personal computer guy.
  
• He resists when I tell him what he doesn't like hearing, but accepts it in time.
  
• I would not need to cook for him, he'll take care of it :)
  
• He slides in first in the backseat of cabs - I don't like having to do that, so unlike most, it's not ladies first when we ride a taxi.
• He encourages me to dream bigger and reach higher.
  
• He is working his way to being the best him that he can be.
  
• Though our personalities and interests are as different as night and day, we complement each other.
  
• Wherever he is, I feel at home.
  
• There's nothing that I really love best about him, I just love all of him.
  

14 Vera Bits

I am such a procrastinator aren't I? I missed the deadline to yet another challenge, one I really really wanted to participate in. I couldn't get off work on time so I wasn't able to finish the layout right away. Was supposed to finish it last night but I got too sleepy and then did not wake up early enough to complete it. I still want to share it with the Sunshine Designers and I do hope they check it out. I don't mind not getting the goodies (ok, I do, a little. hehe)

I posted a better sized image over at http://verabear.com/14bits.aspx so the journalling can be read better. Check it out from there if you want, but here it is:


I love how it turned out. The 14 bits are totally random. It's anything about myself that I could think of tonight :)

Kikay

Kikay - I don't have a Filipino/Tagalog dictionary on hand but this word should roughly translate to girly girl or very feminine. We usually refer to our make-up and accessories kits as kikay kits.

I did not intend to create a layout tonight, I just wanted to share my latest kikay finds, and this is what happened:

(Click on the picture for Credits and a bigger view))

I bought 7 pairs of earrings in one afternoon, all at a bargain price. 3 pairs (the ones bundled together) came as a set so I had all three for the price of one pair! I so love wearing dangling earrings, it's pretty much the only jewelry I wear, aside from the very simple white-gold bracelet that my guy gave me as a Christmas present several years ago.

By the way, NO, five pairs is not too much. Hehe. Besides, I share all my earrings with my mom (and vice versa).

As for the bracelet, the young lady who makes them asked me what charms I wanted, as well as the color of the beads to go along with them. Two days later, there it was. I've asked for a custom-made bracelet be made for my mom too, can't wait to see how that turns out! Ok, so I ordered another one for me, fancy silver this time. Hehe.

I can actually make jewelry like these, I used to until I kinda lost interest. I'm thinking of encouraging a cousin to continue making them (she took it up after i did) and I'd market it for her - online. The materials are fairly cheap and she has quite a good eye for design so I am sure she can make prettier stuff than these ones. :)

My Pot of Gold

Finally, I finished a layout!

Journalling: (I struggle with how to journal, so this took me quite a while :) )

I have a pot filled with gold...
~ Wonderful, supportive parents who never shut me down.
They lead their lives exactly how I want to live out mine.
I am proud to be their daughter and hope they are proud
of me too.
~ All my childhood memories are happy ones. We had all
that we needed and more. We were free to roam around in the
safe, close-knit community we grew up in.
~ My big brother spoils me although he could be a pain in the
neck too. Hehe. I used to be his shopping buddy.
~ The guy I love loves me back twice as much and I appreciate
it more and more each day.
~ Everyday, I get lots and lots of kisses and hugs from
my nephews (my nieces can't be bothered anymore).
~ My Zune loves me unconditionally.
~ I have friends who will always be there.
~ I have a job that pays me well and challenges me
everyday.
~ Yet there is so much more to look forward to...

Credits:
Fonts - GiddyUp and Pristina
Paper, Frame, Pot stamp - Raspberry Road Designs - Lucky Me
Arrow and Kids at Play WA - Raspberry Road - Suburban Boy
Journal Tab - Gwendoline
Fasteners - Raspberry Road - PreSchool Days
Paperclip - Raspberry Road - Vintage Peddler
Tape WA - Raspberry Road - Alive and Kicking (recolored) and Fun Lovin
Staples by Monti
Pin - Jessica Alger - Give Thanks
Alpha - AnnScraps Beach Comber Add on

On another note, my grandpa is in the hospital. Been in the ER since last night.
Please keep him in your thoughts...

My own digiscrap sites list

On my Mozilla browser on the desktop PC, I have a long Favorites/Bookmarked list of Digiscrapping blogs that I rotate visiting. It takes probably the whole week before I can finish one round of all those links - sometimes I don't finish.

What makes it so long to make the rounds is that a bookmark doesn't tell you whether the site has been updated or not. So I click on each one and wait to be suprised with a new post, or be disappointed that there's nothing new. So I figured, perhaps I should get me the code to Hummie's BlogRoll because it shows you which ones are updated, but then I don't have the exact same list.

Now because Hummie has been ever so helpful to all digiscrappers, she has offered to maintain the Digiscrapping BlogRoll and has even mentioned in her site how she set it up. So I got it in me to set up my own links. Mind you, the blog/site owners don't necessarily know that I got them in my list, and I don't think they'd mind. I will add to this Blogroll which I'm placing on my sidebar, whenever I feel like. For now, there's one link there - Susan's Raspberry Road Designs blog. I'll be adding Hummie's link in too. That's because those are the two links I have access to from this laptop I'm using. Once my desktop decides to pop back on again, I'll copy my bookmarks so I can easily update my links, and more importantly, continue with my journey around the world through my favorite digiscrap sites.

ILU Challenge

I've decided to participate in my first freebie challenge from the ladies over at Bohemian Art: http://everydayslittlemoments.blogspot.com/

I used their freebie for this layout of my niece and nephew:



Credits are here.

The photo was taken 2 years ago; my mom, dad and I took the two kids swimming. It was a fun day. They are my cousin Ada's kids, but the little boy is always with us. He used to spend all of his mornings here in our house. I even used to take him to work with me.

Digital Piracy

Digital piracy seems to be the modern day crime. It is definitely a multi-million dollar underground industry that no doubts fuels economies, and probably even feeds as much families as it deprives.

In this country alone, there are regular police raids at known places where pirated CDs and DVDs are sold and yet, they continue to thrive. They are still everywhere. In a country like ours, I think that what keeps the pirates alive is the fact that original DVDs still cost a fortune. Even the record companies' claims that the original lasts longer than the copies don't discourage people from buying. They can buy 4 copies of pirated CDs in the original's life span, and it would still only be at a fraction of the original price.

The real and more lasting solution, is not just to penalize piracy, but to provide better alternatives for the common man. If they can afford to buy the original, of course they would prefer to buy those. That's just my take on it.

I know there are some Pinoys who don't buy pirated local records or movies, they get those original, in support of the local entertainment industry. But for movies out of Hollywood, and music from foreign acts, you can bet that every household probably own a CD or two.

As a beginning digital scrapbooker (perpetual beginner), I know that piracy is one big issue for the community too. With oodles of generosity from freebie designers, there should be no need for anyone to pirate their beautiful work.

Anyhow, I came across this video from Heidi's blog and that's what got me thinkin:

I hope you enjoyed the video :)