An All-Pink Collage

This is the 3rd collage I made right after finishing the previous 2. But things got busy over here and I had a 3-day Boracay getaway with BFF's last week, hence, a super delayed post!

As I gathered my papers for this collage, I kept reaching for the ones in pink shade so I just went for my instinct and this came out after half an hour.

It was LIBERATING to just CREATE for the sake of creating and not think about any "rules" in designing. It frees up the mind with "what color should go here, there, etc". Just like in life, sometimes we need to break rules, explore and let go so we can DISCOVER new things or even new ways of doing the same thing. We must let go of our inhibitions because they only confine us in our comfort zones. For it is when we take that single step out of our comfort zone we open up ourselves to possibilities and let the Universe work in our lives.

How far have you gone out of your comfort zone? :)

Collage 2012

After making my Starbucks Collage series some years back, I fell in love with the process. It was liberating in a sense that there are no rules - just tear, cut, paste, smudge - it doesn't matter. You may not appreciate the beauty yet but after putting the pieces together you can now call it a masterpiece...your own masterpiece.

It was early morning sometime in March when an idea popped in my head - using my collage paper for the product I helped developed last year. I was so excited with the idea I even made a digital mock-up of how I want it to look like. But making the actual collage paper & the product took a backsear when several family members went home for vacation. Of course, I took a vacay, too! Hehe! ;)

And so, after everyone left last weekend, it was only yesterday that my lazy b*tt got up and WORK! And truly, the hardest part in making something is to get started. But once the mojo is there, wow, there's no stopping until it was time for me to clean up my mess or else, we will sleep side by side with my gel medium, paintbrushes, stamps & inkpads and bits of paper! LOL!

As for doing something again after quite some time, it takes a while for me to gather my thoughts as to how the heck I'm gonna do this???? It takes courage to just tear that piece of paper I've been keeping (coz I don't want to cut it up, just look at it! Haha!) and glue wherever my hand takes me. In between those cutting & pasting, thoughts about life cross my mind. But...I will save that for my next entry. Hehe! ;)

Anyway, going back to my 1st 2 collages for 2012, the 1st one is more on vintage + dark red. I want to see how it looks like AFTER it has been transformed into the "product".

The 2nd one, the process just started with a piece of an "old" Chatterbox paper in orange & brown tones. As I cut it up, pictures of cinnamon, turmeric, cayenne & curry powders started popping in my head. And so I moved into that direction picking up papers in warm shades of orange, brown & deep reds.

I didn't notice that it was dark outside already and I managed not to turn on the AC the whole afternoon amidst the summer heat! (my hubby will be very happy to know this! Hehe!) That's how I got engrossed with the process and slowly, I'm realigning to my center again. :)

On aligning my center...

As I waited for the kids to finish their summer classes, I grab the opportunity to catch up with my blog reading. Its been 6 weeks of busyness with balikbayan families and I rarely had time to follow my “routine”. Although I cannot say that I am a “routine” person, somehow, a bit of structure like having my to-do list for the week; my glancing at my favorite Kikki.K planner several times a day, give me focus; direction on the tasks at hand. Otherwise, I will be lost in my sea of papers (handmade, scrapbook, journals, scraps) and washi tapes; baker’s twines on my table! Oh, and I forgot to mention a pile of magazines & books I bought BUT haven’t read!

After reading Kelly Rae Roberts’ blog entry “on getting further and further away from the center”, I now know the “term” when I write on my journal tired, sad & empty – its not really what those words mean but its more of “losing myself and getting further away from my center and not being present”. I just need to make that everyday decision ALIGN myself with my CENTER and BE PRESENT. The too many hats I wore several times a day for the past 6 weeks took a toll on me and I am totally lost and don’t know where and what to start. When I look at my growing lists of to-do’s (re: work, kids, house, what I really want to do), book wish list (not to mention the unread books list! LOL!), to learn, files to backup, I am completely overwhelmed! But I know now… and I just have to START WHERE I AM NOW, work with whatever is at my command, and I know, better tools will be found as I go along.