What Kind of Intelligence Do I Have?

While taking a break from my work, I chanced upon Ria's blog. Its partly correct for me but I tell you, I will never be a good dancer nor an actor. A firefighter, maybe in my next life! :)

People say I am creative...but for me, I believe we were all born CREATIVE. Its just that when we grow older, we tend to look at things logically - like there should be an explanation for everything.

In high school, I was "influenced" to take up Computer Science since that was the "trend", so I can go abroad and earn $$. In high school, I excel in Math and so I believed Comp. Sci is for me.

I never thought I'll have Math subjects in all the 12 terms (4 years) or so in my course until I saw my course flowchart! But I did still pursue the course until the day I put up my own business while doing my thesis that I realized I should have taken Business Management course or Fine Arts since I was already graphic designing then! I wanted to shift courses but my parents will kill me. I only have 12 units left in Comp. Sci.

But I guess, the "artist" in me triumphed over the "logical" part of me because I am here - designing invitations, product development and scrapbooking! I just happen to realize that I am indeed creative after spending 12+ terms in Computer Science!

Bottomline is, do what you love to do. Life is not a straight line but a series of straights & curves, ups & downs, swirls & doodles that if you put it in a painting, it is one interesting portrait that is uniquely yours.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

You are naturally athletic and coordinated, good at making your mind and body work together. Sports are fun and easy for you, especially those requiring good hand - eye coordination. There's also a good chance you're a great dancer, or good at expressing yourself through body language. You learn best by doing, and you feel like you've always got to be moving (even if it's just your hands). You would make a good athlete, physical education teaches, dancer, actor, firefighter, or artisan.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

"Live life creatively."

Finding My Place Under the (Philippine) Sun

A friend of mine texted me last Friday morning (March 16) telling me that he saw me on the Inquirer. Ha?! I was surprised! "May napatay ba ako?!", I asked. "Hinde. Andun ka sa 'the person above-mentioned is no longer connected with this company!", he joked. :)

So, I drove and looked for the nearest newsstand to buy myself a copy of the Inquirer. And yes, there I was! It IS ME. I didn't expect that the article would land on the Inquirer. The correspondent, Ms. Donna Virola, interviewed me on the last day at the last hour of the Tagaytay Bridal Fair last Feb.26. It was NOT planned. She just happened to pass by Brahma Kumaris's booth and there she noticed my booth. She asked my staff where I was and when I came back, next thing I know is that we are having a conversation under the stairs!

It was a hush-hush interview plus she ran out of battery on her digicam after snapping 2 pictures of mine! She just told me that the article will appear on a CALABARZON daily and might be on the Inquirer. That is, if PDI will choose it.

Among the 3 articles that featured me (ME Magazine, Feb. 2005; Entrepreneur Phils., Sept. 2006), this is the one that captured the WHOLE OF ME. From my sago't gulaman days to macaroons, to my depression, it is ME. And I am not ashamed to let you know that that is how I started. :)

I received emails, calls and SMS from different people that day telling me how they were inspired by the article about my simple beginnings. I am happy to know that somehow my story inspired some people and has given them hope that THEY,TOO, WILL FIND THEIR PLACE UNDER THE SUN.

You can view the article online at http://business.inquirer.net/money/features/view_article.php?article_id=55151

Airees
"Live life creatively!"

Vcoy's 6th Birthday

We were not able to celebrate Vcoy's 6th birthday last March 10 because of the Wedding Expo. However, we had dinner at Mall of Asia together with the "hunnies" & "tita" at a Chinese restaurant. When we asked him what gift does he want for his birthday, he just asked us to play with him at Timezone. What else to play but Jurassic Park!

He absolutely loves anything about dinosaurs. He somehow graduated from "Thomas and Friends" but I know Thomas will always be his first love. :) We also gifted him a dinosaur skeleton toy which he also loves. His birthday was not as grand but we know that he enjoyed his birthday.

But... he also asked us if he can celebrate his birthday with his classmates. And so right after the Wedding Expo, Tuesday, we had a small party together with his classmates and teacher in school. It was simple...just packed snacks with spaghetti cooked by yours truly, chocolate cupcakes, baked lovingly by Ate Let, hotdogs & marshmallow, juice and chocolate lollipops which were made by Ate Cathy & Kuya Toto. :) Vcoy personally asked for a Red Ribbon Chocolate Mousse for his birthday cake. I just bought a safari cake decor (no dinosaurs available) and we just put 2 small dinos from his toys! Daddy sponsored the cake. We all had fun making his birthday special in our own little way.

Last week, I "played" with Photoshop Elements and tried to make his birthday invites. I enjoyed using it... so easy... much easier than Photoshop CS though it has lesser features but OK if you will just edit pictures or make a digital scrapbook layout. Here is my try in making a digital invite using Elements:

After making the layout, transferred it to my flash drive and drove myself to the nearest Fuji - wahlah! Done! Made my life easier. :)

Wedding Expo Philippines 10th Edition

We are on the last preps for the biggest, most comprehensive & longest-running wedding fair in the country "Wedding Expo Philippines 10th Edition". May we invite you to come and visit our booth and see our newest collection and our bestsellers.

And in celebration with the event's 10th Edition, we wanted to make this wedding fair truly SPECIAL: we are giving not just 10% but 20% DISCOUNT (for orders of 100pcs & above) for ON-SITE BOOKING PLUS a very useful FREEBIE and 25 pcs. PERSONALIZED & EMBOSSED THANK YOU CARDS with ENVELOPE.

Even if you order less than 100pcs. (at least 50 though), you will still get 10% DISCOUNT and our freebie.

In case you cannot book on-site, you still have until December to order from us and you still get 5% DISCOUNT. Walang talo! :)

And why should you consider us to make your invites?

- Unique = No 2 handmade paper sheets are the same thus each invitation possesses uniqueness from the paper up to the embedded materials.

- Handmade = each invitation is lovingly done by passionate artists with no formal training (but full of passion!) to bring out the "person" in every creation. It is time to give premium to handmade creations. Why? Because these are done by people, not machines!

- Environment-friendly = our papers are TREE-FREE, meaning, no trees were cut to make paper. They are made from waste cogon grasses, salago & abaca which is abundant in our place of production. Production of paper is monitored by the DENR to see to it that the process does not sacrifice the environment. We are committed to sustainable development and to taking care of our environment.

- Social Responsibility = When you order from us, it is not only us that we benefit from your payment but also the people who are working to make the handmade papers and their families. You provide them a livelihood to alleviate them from poverty. And when you patronize our Philippine-made products, you fuel the growth of MSME's (micro, small & medium enterprises) thus, improve the Philippine economy.

We may not produce the smoothest or embossed lettering nor the perfect invitation, but we can assure you that each one is lovingly done by hand that is really made JUST FOR YOU with the hope that you will also learn to appreciate Pinoy products and be proud of it!

See you at the Expo!

Airees :)

"Live life creatively!"

Another Try at Digital Scrapbooking

I love scrapbooking! Its not just the yummy papers and embellishments but the STORY behind the pictures. I feel that I have the responsibility to preserve our family's precious memories so that my kids and future generations will know who we are and how we lived our lives in our time.

With "traditional" scrapbooking, I use acid free papers & a thousand and 1 embellishments! You can ask my fellow scrapbookers and for sure each has her own story to tell - from hoarding scrapbooking supplies to having her own scrap room, to scrap challenges and EBs.

But now, I am trying my hands on digital scrapbooking. All elements such as papers, ribbons, and almost all of the embellishments we use on traditional scrapbooking also have their "digital" counterpart. They are equally YUMMY! ;) - the only thing is that digital is FLAT - you cannot feel the ribbons nor the textures of the paper. But feeling flat doesn't mean seeing flat. A lot of digital designers are now making real-life elements that you can hardly tell it is digital.

I made my first digital layout last year. After that, nah... I just lost the momentum. I still wanted to work with my hands getting all the glue and paints all over... to have all the paper scraps under my table but in the end, a physical layout for my family to enjoy looking at.

But when I tried using Photoshop Elements, hmmm... I had second thoughts. With its easy interface, even a novice scrapbooker can start making digital layouts in a jiffy. So without further adeu, here are 2 of my layouts (they are just kits though I added a few touches):



















Credits to ShabbyPrincess.com Olivia digital kit (1st pic) and twopeasinabucket.com for the 2nd pic). Photos taken by me & V (they are our guinea pigs! thanks c & m!)
Hopefully next time I'll do better than these 2. :)

One satisfied client, one happy me!

I got an email this morning from my client in Australia. I was surprised to know that she already got her invitations which I sent last Tuesday. Thanks to FedEx's efficient service, the package came right on time (1 day earlier pa!) and it is in good condition. :)

What made me happy is the email she sent me:

"Hi Airees,

I received the invitations and mass booklets yesterday. I have to say, that you did a marvelous job with them.. Calvin and I both love the invitations and cant wait to start giving them out tomorrow :)

Also, the colour ended up being EXACTLY what I had in mind and it matches my theme perfectly so thank you so much for that.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to tie the ribbon! Calvin and I were practising last night but we just couldn't get it to look like the photo you had sent..We might need to practice a little bit more ;-)

Thanks again and it was great doing business with you :) - Natasha Peters"

More than the money that a client pays for my invitations, it is the TRUST that I really am thankful. As for Natasha, the trust she gave was enormous - she fully paid before the production started and to think we haven't met personally and she is NOT a Filipino. Truly, I am at awe with people who still give their trust even online. And for that, I am thankful and happy.

....Life is good to me today..... :)

Brown - the new black??

Mid-year of 2006, I began my "love affair" with the color brown. You can practically pair it with any color like pink, hot pink, aqua, sky blue, orange, gold, apple green, ecru, to name a few. At first, some people it is odd and not fit for a wedding motif but guess what? Brown (or Espresso) is now one of the color trends for 2007.

I just finished this tri-fold invite in brown and green. Actually, the color motif is espresso, gold and green. We had the paper custom-designed by adding some gold threads. I like the way it turned out and I am happy that the bride & her family is satisfied.

Our signature beaded butterfly in gold beads and wire added a the final touch for this invite.