Layers, lots and lots of it

I have always admired scrapbookers who can layer patterned papers, embellishments, texts, fonts!  They're not my style but they're still eye candy to me.  I'm a clean and simple, graphic and linear, fast and easy scrapbooker.  It is very challenging for me to create intricate layouts because I'm afraid of overpowering the focus on words and photos.

Just recently, I came across template designer Cindy Schneider from this post.  She creates the most intricate digital templates.  Luckily, I have a couple of her templates in my arsenal which I got for free so I decided to try one of them out last night.  The whole process took me an hour and a half but I love how it turned out!  Sure, this isn't normally my style because I'd rather create simple layouts with lots of journaling.  However, on times (like last night) when I want to play, it's nice to know that her designs allow for that.  The only downside with this is that I couldn't write long journaling, but in times when I have very little to say, this is perfect!

Template - Cindy Schneider; Papers and Embellishments - Memories by Sweet Shoppe Designs; Journaling Tag - County Fair Journaling Tag by Elle Studio; Fonts - Papyrus (journaling), VT Portable Remington and Scriptina (Title)

A couple of layouts and a Template Freebie

I wanted to scrapbook Kail's speech and language progress but couldn't find a digital template that had ample space for long journaling so I created my own.  I wanted the template to be simple since my focus would be on the photos and the journaling.  Here is the layout I came up with:

Credits - Papers and Flower/Ribbon Embellishment - Sweet Heart Collection by Jodie Lee at www.jessicasprague.com; Date Tag - Photo Tabs by Elle Studio at www.jessicasprague.com; Font - Cafe Rojo (title) from www.kevinandamanda.com and applied Burntwood Action from www.atomiccupcake.com, Century Gothic (Journaling), Papyrus (Date)

Here is the freebie template:

You can download this from here.

Here is another layout I completed last night using Digi Lovely's Template Tuesday:

Template - CT Brenda Neuberger from www.digilovely.com; Papers - Think Spring by Splendid Fiins from www.jessicasprague.com; Flower Element - Sweet Spring by Karen Funk from www.designhousedigital.com; Fonts - Century Gothic (date and journaling), Ali Edwards Handwriting and Cry Kitty (title) from www.kevinandamanda.com

Pope John Paul II

I grew up knowing Pope John Paul II as the Catholic Church's leader.  He had been to the Philippines a few times.  I have always wanted to see him whenever he went, but didn't get the chance.  Besides, it'll be a miracle to even get near him, with the myriad of people showing up everywhere he went.  I was told, by a few people I know who got a glimpse of him, you'd feel goosebumps and an overwhelming feeling of peace and joy whenever he'd pass by.

In April 2, 2005, he passed away, leaving all Catholics around the world in sorrow.  He was probably the most loved, the most visible and the most popular Pope that he was missed immediately.  I was on my way to the Philippines at that time, and I knew in my heart that he will definitely be canonized as a saint soon, because of his amazing work as God's servant.  During the flight home, I prayed for his intercession.  Hubz and I have both been praying and hoping for a baby.  I asked him to intercede for us.  With this prayer was the hope that we'd get the chance to witness his canonization when that time comes.  When I came back to the U.S., I was already pregnant with Kail.  I firmly believed in my heart that he interceded for us and I will be forever grateful.

On Sunday, May 1, six years after his passing, Pope John Paul II will be beatified, the first step towards becoming a saint.  He has touched our lives, despite not having been able to come near him while he was alive.

My Evolution as a Life Artist

I got introduced to scrapbooking in 2004 by a good friend, Christine.  Back then, it was therapeutic for me, being in a long distance marriage at that time.  I also wanted to scrapbook the dozens of photos we have of our wedding.  Here is my very first attempt, and one of my all-time favorites at that (photos by Chito Vecina)!

Up until 2008, I was a paper scrapbooker.  I have tons of scrapbooking supplies that fills up an entire room in our house.  Sadly, I'm more of a hoarder than a scrapbooker because I tend to buy more than I am able to churn out pages.  I love the high of getting my hands on the latest and greatest product.  I love the feel of paper in my hands.  From 2004 until 2007, I have created 64 paper layouts.  In fact, here is the last paper layout I created way back in 2007:

But let's face it, I'm a wife and a mom first and foremost.  I also have a very demanding full time job and I have a household to run.  I do not have the luxury of sitting down for hours on end just to plan and create a single layout, and then spend another hour or so cleaning up the mess.  I also cannot lay all my supplies on the floor without my kids playing along and contributing to the mess, which was why I basically stopped creating layouts, but continued to accumulate supplies. 

In 2008, I ventured into digital scrapbooking when I created layouts for Calix's first birthday guestbook which you can find here. As you can see, the photos looked awkward because I didn't know how to size them properly at that time, but I was immediately hooked!  I love that everything I needed was right at my computer.  I can re-use my favorite papers and supplies over and over again.  I do not have to make a mess of the room, and spend considerable amount of time cleaning up afterwards.  I love that my layouts are not bulky anymore.  My husband has been constantly teasing me that I'd probably need to rent storage space for all my albums.  Now, I can fit 60 pages (the most I've done in a year) into a single 12x12 photobook, and print individual pages for my kids' respective albums.  I can easily print layouts in duplicates.  I can print photobooks of all the layouts I've created for the year for the grandparents to enjoy.  With the help of digital templates, I can easily whip up a layout in 30 minutes (give or take a few).  In fact, I have created a total of 103 individual pages and 5 photobooks to date since 2008 - December Daily 2009, 2009 Year in Review, A Week in the Life, Beautiful Evidence albums, plus Calix's first year layouts which I used in his guestbook.

I have definetely gone a long way since I first ventured into scrapbooking in 2004.  But, paper or digital, I continue to fulfill my main objective of documenting life, preserving memories and telling stories.  This is the one thing that will never change, even as I continue to evolve as a life artist.

The Power of Words

I first saw this video from the show 7 Live.  It showed exactly how powerful words can be.  This is why I rarely create a layout without journaling, and why I love reading.  Words have the power to move us, to change us, to motivate us, to heed us to take action.  Words are powerful.

On a related topic about words, here's a journaling-heavy layout I created from last night:

Template - Ali Edwards; Papers - Rainbow Sherbet by Crystal Wilkerson; Black Solid Paper - Ethan Solids by Michelle Martin; Title Font - Phoenix; Journaling Font - Courier; Date Font - Papyrus

Answered Prayers

Hubz and I got to see sex and the City 2 over the weekend.  I love the scene where Miranda and Charlotte were talking about being married and having kids.  In it, they somehow said that they love their kids but they sometimes wish they could get a break from them.  Charlotte even mentioned that she felt overwhelmed, even when she has help.  Then they did a toast to all women with kids who do not have any help available to them. 

I am one of those women.  Charlotte's overwhelmed feeling resonates with me.  Everyday, I pray for a few minutes alone so I can take a bath longer than my usual 5-10 minutes, and in peace.  Having time alone to do the things we love is a luxury for me and my husband these days.  We are numb to chaos and noise.  Our day is full of laughter, tears, screaming, arguing.  Rest comes when the boys are all deep asleep, only to do it all over again the next day. 

I remembered a teammate once said that the biggest mistake they ever did was allowed themselves to be outnumbered.  Yes, we are outnumbered but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a mistake.  We love these children so much, which is why we're willing to go through hell or high water to raise them up. 

To me, having children requires a balancing act worthy of an olympic gold medal.  Not having help while raising these kids - crazy to some, but reality to us.  In the Philippines, help is within reach.  In fact, almost all households in the Philippines has one to three household helpers.  Growing up, we are probably the only family there who do not have a helper.  My mom insisted on training us to do household chores by ourselves.  She taught us to cook, do the laundry, clean the house, do the dishes, iron the clothes.  I didn't enjoy those chores then, but when I lived on my own, I realized how invaluable those skills were.  I thought she was training us to become maids!  Little did I know that she was training us to be independent.  I got the most out of that bootcamp when I lived overseas, got married, and had kids. 

Thank you for the toast, Miranda and Charlotte.  It is okay to feel overwhelmed from time to time.  It is okay to tune out all the noise once in a while, for sanity's sake.  But everytime I ask myself if we are truly doing the right thing, I remind myself of an entry in my journal more than 10 years ago.  Back then, my life revolved around my job - working 24x7.  At that time, I was crying my heart out because all I wanted was to get married and have children so my life wouldn't revolve around work, and that even if I do work hard, I have my husband and kids for inspiration, and I know that I'm doing it for them.  So, on days when I feel I'm on the brink, these beautiful and angelic faces remind me that God answered my prayers so I have no reason to complain.

Project Life 2010

I have been doing Project Life since its introduction to the scrapbooking community in 2009.  Back then, I wasn't able to get a hold of the kit because it was sold out the first day it was offered, so I had to improvise.  Last year, however, there were enough kits produced so I was able to buy one.  It was definitely a time saver.  All that's left for me to do is edit the photos to add in the day and date, have them printed, insert them into their respective slots on the album, and write the journaling.  Voila, I have recorded our everyday lives in 2010!

What I love most about this project is that we can look back at the previous two years (we've been doing this for three years now) and still get amazed at the kids' growth, what we did, where we were, etc.  Even the boys love looking at these albums.

Those who know me well are aware of my passion for photography and scrapbooking.  These two allow me to document our lives, which, I hope would become invaluable in the future.  I am also encouraging those I know to do the same.  If you have no time for scrapbooking, then perhaps Project Life is for you.  The kit has been designed with efficiency and time in mind.  Everything you'll need is in the kit, all you have to do is take photos, print them, and put some journaling.  In our case, I'm also adding ephemeras in our album - teachers' emails, kids' artworks, enlarged photos, tickets, receipts, etc.  You can take a look at how Ali Edwards does it and you'll get the idea.

To give you an idea on the types of photos we include in our Project Life album, here's a video with a few of our photos.  Everywhere we go, I make sure I have a camera on hand, be it my iPhone camera or our handy dandy point and shoot, or our fancy DSLR.  Some photos might be blurry.  Though I care about getting the right exposure, sometimes, it is more important for me to capture the memory than to get it perfectly exposed.

Without further ado, here's a video of our Project Life 2010: