a matter of teys.t

If you haven’t been in on it yet, you can still catch up and join Jessica Sprague’s birthday bash at jessicasprague.com. Lots of fun challenges and daily freebies are in store for you. I finally had the guts to join in on the fun and guess what - my layout got featured in their blog! I joined the Movie Mania challenge and I used the Forrest Gump poster as inspiration. Here’s what I posted in the gallery :

credits : Amanda Taylor wordart - Composure add-on kit

You can read about it in Jessica’s blog: http://www.jessicasprague.com/

(just look for the birthday bash 4 post)

TFL!

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This is sort of a late post but I just want to post it anyway. I don’t get to post my layouts in the galleries that much nowadays only if I have a few minutes to browse around.  I posted this layout in my Catscrap gallery and I was surprised to know that Kate Hadfield left a comment that it was chosen to be featured in the Gallery Standouts blog. I was thrilled! GSO is one of my favorite go-to sites whenever I need a little inspiration fix and I’m well… for lack of a more eloquent word, I’m just plain happy! I took this photo at The Fort with my trusted Oly a couple of years ago. The lighting wasn’t that good during that time but thank God for digital cams and my 2gig compact flash memory, right? Unlimited deletes hahaha.

So here it is:

You can read about it here:

http://gallerystandouts.com/view.php/article/4298/finger-pointing-june-7

This layout is also featured in The Daily Scrapper Issue 08. Check out the back issues for  lots of good reads.

(layout credits : Ida and Gabi’s It’s a girl thing available at Catscrap.com)

TFL!

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Last year, I was invited to join a free Photography course sponsored by Isuzu (IADI). It was held at the Isuzu Alabang Showroom along Zapote and the course was taught by photographer Toni Cuesta. It was my first formal lesson in photography and I really appreciate what I learned because I now can shoot more intelligently and be more technically correct instead of just winging it. I didn’t know a lot about technique before the class and although I’ve read and am still reading about photography, there are some things that the books don’t teach you. More caught than taught, I would say. 

One of our first few assignments was about aperture settings. We were supposed to submit our work and upload it to flickr and teacher Toni C. would check it online.  I didn’t have much time to go hunting for a shot so I just looked around our house for something interesting to take and I ended up taking a pic of the tree outside our house. Flowering trees are not my specialty but this one is one of the original trees that we had planted when we first moved in.  I love the purple flowers that cascade down the branches of this tree. Now I’m not much of a green thumb and I’ve killed a lot of rose bushes already but at least this one survived. Thanks to our once a month gardener. LOL

You can see more of my homework in my flickr account. I’m not an expert peeps so be kind. Anyway, the culminating activity of the course was a contest. We were supposed to  submit at least 3 photos that fit the theme - Me and My Isuzu and these entries would be displayed in the Isuzu showrooms in Alabang, Pasig and Cavite so that people could vote for their favorites. I don’t particularly like popularity contests because I don’t think I can ever win one anyway. Last December, I think right before my birthday, this was while we were in Davao, I received a phone call from Isuzu telling me my entry had won 2nd place. I couldn’t believe it! There were more experienced and technically better photographers in the class and for my entry to win…it just blew me away. It wasn’t exactly my first time to win in a photo contest ( I also had a winning entry in the first Hershey’s Happiness Contest a few years ago) but it still is a wonderful feeling. I know I still have so much to learn in photography and I know that I’m not in the league of the pros yet but God has a way of assuring me of His grace, His love and His approval of me no matter how little I think of myself. I felt it was His and my dad’s birthday present to me. I just wish I could hug them both…

So here’s the photo that won Second Place in Isuzu’s “Me and My Isuzu”

Title:  Their Safety Our Priority

This shot was taken at the Isuzu Showroom in Alabang. Those are my kids inside that brand new Isuzu monster of a car. LOL  No, I did not win the car, I got a trophy and gift checks. hee hee ^_^

Thanks for looking everyone!

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in Creating Keepsakes Magazine!!!  After around six months of holding my tongue and after a couple of weeks into October and doubting whether it was really going to happen or not, I found out today in the Scrapbooks Exchange Forum/PS Forum that the ladies there spotted my layout in the October 2008 CK Issue. Woohoo! Actually, they are more fortunate than I, because I have not seen the mag for myself. I don’t really know how it looks like. boohoo  I’m supposed to get a copy from them but it hasn’t arrived yet, probably stuck in the P.O. aargh! 

The layout I submitted was a really simple one, (digi of course) and it is one of my fave layouts because it was just one of those fluke things I did by accident and somehow it worked. I didn’t really submit it for publication. I just uploaded it to my online CK gallery and just left it there with no expectations at all. I don’t regularly do this but I just wanted to fill up my gallery there. Later on, CK emailed me and asked if the layout was available for publication. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was dreaming up to the day I submitted all the required documents. It was surreal! I still haven’t seen it to this day and hopefully somebody posts a pic of it. lol 

I started scrapping almost 10 years ago and from day one I was just like the rest of the scrapping world, I wanted to get published. Somehow along the way, this desire died and I just went back to my basics and scrapped for my family and for my own pleasure. I did get close to being pubbed in CK years later for a layout I did and posted at CK’s online gallery and it got picked as Page of the Day (POTD). This was last year. It was a bitter sweet experience because it was the first time I had ever posted a layout online at CK and being picked as POTD didn’t sit well with some. So I withdrew from the site for almost a year and just started posting again this year this particular layout included.

It’s my first time ever in a print publication. It finally happened when I didn’t expect it anymore.
Hopefully, it’s not just a one-time hit. And for those of you who have dreamed of it, God keeps note of those little things you have given up on. Like a little girl, I probably had to let go so that He could be the one to give it to me. So for those who desire to get pubbed, don’t lose heart, it could be your turn next time.

Here’s a pic taken by fellow scrapper Craftski (Joan S.) of the layout as seen in the magazine. I haven’t seen it yet actually so I’m so thankful she posted this for me to see. Thanks, girl!

Lookie here:

Of course, I had to use my real name for tax & documentation purposes so you won’t find it under the name ‘teys’. Think you can spot it? Let me know if you do. :D 

Btw, if you are subscribed to the Memory Makers Page Inspirations Newsletter, you might find a layout of mine somewhere in the 9/20 newsletter. 

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

p.s. 
thanks to the hubby for pitching in for me last post… had to pull him away from his books and ubuntu stuff just to post for me… hopefully my PC will be hiccup free soon.

Ciao!

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Just got home today from watching the CINEMALAYA Film Awards night at the CCP (more on this later) and just checked the Memory Makers Magazine Online Idea Gallery and found this:

Katie Hilbert emailed me a while back and asked if they could feature this layout in the gallery and so here it is!

check out the links below to take you there:

http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/page_idea.aspx?id=19653

TFL!

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Yey!  Just wanted to share another toot for this layout I made. I joined TaylorMade’s Designer Spotlight Challenge and was one of those who won one of the main prizes. You can read about it in Amanda’s blog right here –> TaylorMade Designs

Here’s what I did for that challenge :

TFL!

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Yey! Just want to share a little toot today. It’s like a much needed shot in the arm ’cause ds was confined in the hospital for possible viral gastro and I am a little bit off tangent because of it. But God is good because sudden rainshowers always have rainbows somehow. This is my little rainbow for today. 

Katie Hilbert of Memory Makers Magazine sent me an email a while back asking if she could feature my LO in the Idea Gallery. Of course, li’l ole me won’t say no, right? If you’d like to check it out click here to take you to Memory Makers online mag and check out my LO. Would like to know what you think too.

Psst, by the way. I have another little surprise (not sooo little to me) coming out in October 2008. If any of you can guess what it is, I just might give you a little surprise as well. So check back here often to find out what it is.  Later y’all. Have to go to the hospital in a bit. Say a little prayer for my ds too, will ya? Thanks!

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