[My Scrappy Weekend]

The last weekend has been a great learning experience for me. Last Sunday, I attended the Pinoy Scrapbookers EB in Crisanta Tower (Pasig City), and not only do I get to meet new people, I gained a lot of knowledge, which I could certainly use in my scrapbooking.

Lee and I met past 9am in our usual meeting place and it was a little past 10am when we get to the place. Sellers were starting to set up, and oh boy, lots of scrapping materials to feast on. I didn’t bring much, and I also paid the Cutterpede paper trimmer I owed Au since two months ago, so half of my pocket money went to that already. Although prices were trimmed down, still, summing all the things I wanted to buy didn’t fit my existing budget. Brother told me to invest on lettering materials (templates, stamps, etc) so we could use it over and over. I did see a wonderful rubber stamp set from Au’s table, but I kind of hesitated a bit. It was just minutes when I put back the stamp set in the rack (to give me more time to decide whether I will buy it or not), Beth (Aguila) had already purchased it. There were a few alpha stamp sets available that are of the same price, but I didn’t like the font.

From Au’s Simply-Scrappy store, I bought:
Tim Holtz Distress Ink (red mahogany) – 200 pesos
1 pack of Petaloo flowers – 75 pesos
2 packs of fibers – 10 pesos each
2 sheets of Daisy D’s papers – 20 pesos each (I know, I should have bought a lot of these)
1 sheet of Imagination Project paper – 20 pesos
1 pack of crystal-like flowers – 20 pesos
1 pack flower charms – 20 pesos
1/2 stack of DCWV Old World Stack papers – 475 pesos (I shared this one with Mitch)

I said to myself that would be enough for me, but I did buy this wonderful (and big) tote bag from Beth Salustiano worth 100 pesos. It’s big enough to hold 12x12 albums and papers, and once I saw it, I knew I just had to buy one so I could have a new home for my 12x12 papers. All of my papers are stored in this nearly worn-out paper bag, which actually was the same paper bag where Diane placed the papers she gave me when we first personally met October of last year.

When CH arrived, a lot of scrappers went to her table to see the products she was selling. Lots and lots of yummy goodies (which are quite new to the eyes) being sold, and I felt great having to snag a sheet of Mambi flower and flourishes Rub-Ons (100 pesos) and a sheet of Luxe alphabet monograms (60 pesos). I also got to buy a sheet of Fancy Pants patterned paper from her (30 pesos). Almost all of the scrappers dug in to get a hold of her merchandise, and I seriously hate myself for not being fast enough to buy this pack she was selling for only 400 pesos. In that pack was I think 2 books of papers, and quite a lot of embellishment. I felt sad about that, but no worries.

I got no more money to spend after that, so I went to eat lunch. If the other room was a feast of scrapbooking materials, the hallway was a feast for foods! Lots and lots to eat, but, I did manage to eat just a few. I got to taste this so delicious pasta (Jen B., I need to have the recipe of that), pancit bihon (or was it sotanghon?), a stick of pork barbecue, and for dessert, I ate a cone of BTIC vanilla hazelnut (did I get the flavor right?) courtesy of Candy Lagazon. Come 4pm, I did get to taste one empanada. I controlled myself not to eat much, and I did drink just water in the event. Though I didn’t eat much, believe me when I said that the food was basically flooding!

After lunch, the workshops and demos started. Mitch (of Visual Creations) taught us to make a pop-up mini-album. I didn’t create mine (but I did buy the kit for 60 pesos), but Mitch’s lesson was a wonderful idea to create wonderful mini-album for the holidays. There was a prize for whoever got to finish the album first, and Jen Baradas won this beautiful Christmas chipboard set courtesy of Mitch, too.

Maybs taught us basic lessons on Adobe Photoshop, and oh dear, I am so thankful for this tutorial, for I was doing my photoshop thing the wrong way! Now I know why I was complaining about how hard it was and wondering why people do it so easily, when in fact, it wasn’t as hard as it seemed! You are a life saver, Maybs! Not only that, she also taught us bits of information about photography. I will definitely try that one out.

Cookie demoed on making altered wall clocks. Her demo just gave me a wonderful idea to replace the boring wall clock we have in the house, and I think I might be able to do some for very close friends this Christmas. Now, who says scrapbooking is just papers and pictures put together? Hehehehe...

There was a name tag making contest, and from it three winners were named. Vani won the best name tag (overall), Candy won the most unique name tag (because her name is Candy, she created a big candy-like name tag), and Ms. Marian won for the best journaling in the name tag (there should be a journal at the back of the tag about why we love to scrapbook).

That one ended the gathering. Looking back, I am so thankful being able to attend the EB. To Pinoy Scrapbookers Moderators – Au, Lee, and Cabbie (plus honorary member Nita), thanks for putting together this wonderful event. Definitely the best so far! To Zabeth, Joyleen, Jen B., Rachelle, Candy, Alma, Florence, Pearl, Me-Ann, Jeanie, and Ms. Marian – it was great seeing you all for the first time. Hope in the next EB, we could see each other again.

After the event, I went over my kumare’s house somewhere within Pasig City, too. Had a hard time getting to her place, but was thankful when I finally got to see her quaint condo unit. My goddaughter Michaela was with Frelyn’s aunt that time, so I only got to see her now 9 months old baby (Julian Clark Frederick) and her live-in partner Patrick. Baby Clark was sick that day (got colds and coughs), so we weren’t able to talk that much, because she was so busy looking after the baby. I did, however, get to show her my scrapbook and teach her simple techniques about it (I gotta set-up a tutorial with her). Patrick said Frelyn had wanted to scrap pictures of Baby Clark ever since we was pregnant, but she still hasn’t done one layout. Baby Clark got lots of great pictures, and I really do hope Frelyn would be able to scrap pictures of him.

We slept around 2 am (baby Clark was having a hard time sleeping, he just cries and cries), and we woke up around 8 am the next day. Frelyn needed to rehearse her set (she is a singer at Café de Malate), so by lunch time, I headed home.

Thanks for the wonderful time, Frelyn. I am so glad our friendship didn’t change although we rarely get to see each other. Let’s meet again some other day, okay? I still need to teach you some scrapbook lessons you could use for your son. God bless you.