My new "babies"

No I am not pregnant nor I have adopted a new "little monster"! :)

I knew sooner or later we will have to get this "baby" and I guess now is the right time. As new projects are due this month, we are faced with a situation - our "suki" cutter informed us that they will not be able to service our cutting and trimming needs because they are busy. You know, the printing presses are busy churning out tons of paper (poor trees....) for ballots and campaign materials because the national election is gonna push through in May. And so the day I dreaded came...

I had to make a quick decision. With hundreds of invites due and none of the papers are cut, production cannot move. Our clients are gonna kill me! :) So I called the sales agent and ordered my "baby".

I broke the bank for sure but its a HUGE relief for all of us because this baby really cuts through. Now, we don't have to worry about scheduling of cutting and I don't have to travel 30 minutes just to get to the cutter taking away 2.5 hrs at least of my time just watching and praying the cutter makes an accurate cut! We now have a faster production and turnaround time because this baby. She just sits here and ready anytime we need to make a clean cut!

For my other bebe, we've been eyeing this one since last year but we just couldn't afford it yet. I guess even in making real babies timing is just as important. Haha! And there you go! I am typing away this blog on my new bebe that I can bring along with me when I have meetings in Manila and still work on my vintage website@work in between. And hopefully, this bebe will be a big help on my work!

And so these are what I call my new babies! (minus the diapers, milk and poo!)

Airees
"Live life creatively."

Looking back....

I've been neglecting this blog for the past weeks. Its not that I don't like to blog but I just don't have the luxury of time to sit down and put down all the thoughts that I've been meaning to share. Since January 1st, me and my staff are busy working on new projects, planning out new products for scrapbooking and my upcoming exhibit at the Wedding Expo Philippines 10th Edition on March 10-11, 2007. The whole month of January, we managed to finish quite a number of invitations for our January(!) and March soon-to-weds. We didn't expect it because last year was not as busy as this January used to be!

Despite the adrenalin rush we are having right now, we are more than thankful for all these blessings God has been giving us and the TRUST given to us by our clients. I've been designing a LOT of invites this month and I'm quite excited that my creative juices are finally flowing after a long hiatus! :)

But as I, together with my staff, face 2007, I can't help but look back to what 2006 has been to us.

2006 has been a good year for us. On the business side, we got quite a few media exposure - being featured in Entrepreneur Phils. magazine, September Edition was a dream come true for me. It is something that tells me that I am doing the right thing and I know I have a good business with a lot of passion - for people, nature and my country.

On being featured at ABS-CBN's Kabuhayang Swak na Swak, it was a happy experience for all of us. From the taping here in our home-office, to the hush-hush interview to seeing myself on TV much to the delight of my families in the US, it is something that I am thankful for.

From the list of my 2006 goals, I can say that 80% of those were accomplished. The remaining 20% (website upload, more scrapbook layouts, exercise) is carried over to my 2007 goals. :) Among the accomplished goals, we joined 2 Christmas bazaars that I can say we earned substantially though not taking into account the stress and physical toll on me, but at least I learned a lot from that experience especially on product development. It also caught the eye of SM Management and offered us a space at any SM branch I want. But I didn't take the offer, not now. I still want to do something first that would make me venture in malls. It takes a lot of time, energy and financial resources to put up a branch in a mall and as of now, I feel that I still have to work on these 3.

Just before 2006 ends, another answered prayer came upon. I was invited by a newly-established one-stop wedding resource center at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel to be one of their 2 invitation suppliers. I now have a "Meeting Place" for my clients and a 6-day a week showroom for my invitations.

In between the success and blessings we had in 2006, we also encountered a lot of challenges. I was twice denied of a US B1/B2 visa simply because my parents and siblings are in the States! What a lame reason! I lost 2 BIG opportunities because of that!

One is to attend the Winter CHA (Crafts and Hobbies Association) which I am a member as a Professional Crafter. It was supposed to be an ocular inspection to see if I can exhibit on the Summer CHA to launch our handmade paper products from the Philippines.

Next, I was not able to join the Kasal Pilipinas Bridal Fair in San Francisco, CA which I am one of the exhibitors sponsored by the Philippine Consulate in SF,CA. I lost the opportunity to market my invitations for which I know will be a huge potential waiting for us.

But all these things I accepted as God's plan for me. Its not yet my time... but I do hope I'd be given a chance to promote our Pinoy products abroad because I know we have an edge...not just MY products but for all PINOY products. We should be given a fair opportunity and should not be denied simply because of one US consul thinks a Filipino businesswoman will never come back because her family is in the States!

Airees
"Live life creatively."

Yes, I'm back!!!

I'm running out of a catchy title for my post! :) But I really wanted to update you so I'll post anyway!

I guess the title still applies on me...yes, I'm back to my old self again after having been through with the creative rut, my mind is overflowing now with designs, plans, I barely can catch up! I like the feeling...makes me feel productive.

The 5 designs on my previous post were all done. I'm on my next batch of 12 new designs but I only have 3 more to go! That's the reason why my blog hasn't been update for quite some time...busy working on my projects. Even with my emails, I barely catch up with them but this is one area I'd like to work on.

Here's a sneak peak of one of the designs I made. Will post more soon.

One down, five to go....

This is how my work table looks right now. :) Been working on a few designs for my clients. My creative juices are slowly kicking in and I love the feeling!

The bride-to-be wants a simple yet elegant white invitation for her upcoming wedding. She wants an all-white type but I told her we don't have a pristine white handmade paper because of the nature of our materials. Instead, an off-white, or pearl white.

At first I thought it's quite challenging because I love mixing and matching colors and to be confined to just 1 color and white hmmm...... not my type. :) But I'm willing to give it a try. Here it is: plain off-white handmade paper backing with 64gsm white translucent vellum overlay, organza ribbon with silver edging accented with 5 faux pearls at the center. Envelope is off-white handmade paper embedded with granules & crushed capiz shells. I want to give the invite some dimension & texture so I used this. Size is 5"x7"

I wanted to give the bride another option so I made another sample using the same materials except the wire replaces the ribbon. This is 6"x8".

That's all for now. Gotta work on the next 5 designs. I need a little caffeine fix. :)

Airees :)

A Promise Fulfilled....

I'm still on a creative rut eventhough I'm excited to start designing. How's that possible???! I don't know! But to get things going, I tried working on a promise I made to my son & daughter - that I will make each for them a journal.

They always ask me for papers to draw onto and we end up having lots of them! I wanted to preserve them but I'm afraid our house will be full of papers 5 years from now! And when they saw my very own journal with my monogram, they also wanted to have one but not just the monogram...but their names!

The 2 journals (green & fuschia pink) were on top of my work table long before Christmas - untouched. :) Last night, I decided to finish them so they'll be surprised when they wake up this morning. And they did! Loui likes it so much she has her drawings on it already. I'm glad they like what I did.

This morning, I finally uploaded the design for a client. I hope she'll like it. I'm off to 3 meetings today.

It's back to reality.

Airees :)

"Live life creatively."

Happy New Year!!!

We celebrated our New Year's Eve in our home with family & neighbor friends cracking some firecrackers to get rid of the bad luck. We had a simple Media Noche menu of Pancit Bijon, Okoy & Black Forest Cake. I managed to get some round fruits but didn't make it in 7. :) It's ok.... we still have our Chinese New Year next month! Haha! :)

It's back to work now and I can't wait to start working on our projects and plans for the year! I still haven't finished my to-do list but I'm working on it. We are definitely pushing through with our new web design (gosh! its taking me years!!!!) and new invite collections for spring/summer.

I got to work on 2 layouts during my "vacation" and here they are at MyScrapworks Gallery and this one for Buzy Bee's 1-2-3 Challenge.
Airees :)