Collage Wallet #9: "It's the Little Things"

Thanks, Vanessa! 

One of the best things that happened during my short stint at Made With Love, a scrapbook store in Singapore, was I made new friends at work. We were all passionate about scrapbooking and we understand each other when we palpitate on the sight of boxes of New Arrivals every Wednesday afternoon! :) One of 2 fellow Filipino co-workers I've made friends with at work is Vanessa. A very talented scrapper who always wins in online contests especially in the Prima Flowers challenge every month! Apart from her amazing talent is her positive outlook in life. She taught me how to always think that we have $$ even if our wallets don't tell (blame it to the 40% off promos at work!) that because that is how you attract abundance. Last summer, she gave me this stamp for my birthday.

Fast forward to July 3, while I was gathering papers for me next collage paper wallet, I came across the phrase "It's the little things" in one of the paper sheets. Another reminder for me, maybe, not to be overwhelmed by what I thought to be larger-than-life issues but to cherish the little things I have been blessed with. I've always believed that God sends us these gentle reminders when we need them most. We may not always realize them at once but surely they are not just coincidences. I hope that through this design, whoever will own this will be reminded what my friend taught me. :)

Collage Paper Wallet #8 - Pink + Teal and of Possibilities

Aside from vintage travel designs, I find myself drawn to English garden-designed papers lately. I love Webster's Pages papers that I was inspired to make a collage design out of them. During the process, the phrase "Be open to possibilities" struck me. My one little word for 2012 is actually POSSIBILITIES. I guess the Universe is reminding me to believe in the possibilities of my dreams.

Sometimes life's happenings has their way of sucking out the joy in us and we become closed doors to all the possibilities that the Universe can give us. This statement reminds us that every day is a new day, a new beginning and no matter what happened in the past, as long as we stay open, we allow the Universe to work in our lives in the best way possible.

Paris in My Mind & Tribute to Hey Kessy

This is my 7th Paper Wallet Design...whoohoo!!! :)

I've been dreaming of going to Paris and the rest of Europe for years now. I bought stickers, papers, stamps - everything Europe for my vision board. It may not happen this year but I will make it happen in my lifetime! :) Hello, Universe!!!

So to put my stamps in use, I decided to incorporate them into my wallet design and Hey Kessy washi tapes. By the way, Hey Kessy is my source for washi addiction in the Philippines, lol! ;) They have nice and affordable collection of washi tapes and their projects are enough to make you fall in love (and make you buy, haha!) these pretty tapes!

Collage Paper Wallet #6: Missing Loui....

I was on a roll in making the collages...I need to do this to keep me sane. I miss my children very much. Everyday seems to be a lost opportunity for me to spend time with them. But this is just temporary, I know. Though we keep in touch throughout the day, thanks to Facetime, iMessage, Photo Stream and emails, being physically with them doing things together like biking, walking with our Lab, Smirnoff, making assignments, baking or just watching TV together, is a lot different.

While going through my papers, I found myself drawn to these colors and I kept on thinking about my daughter, Loui. I don't know why...maybe I am looking forward to spending time with her, do girly stuff like shopping, watching movies, eat waffles and create art.

So here it is...a design I made with Loui in my thoughts and I'm sharing this with you.

Inside: Holds 4 cards and a paper bills

Collage Paper Wallet #5: Inspiration: Vintage + Travel

My love affair with vintage travel-themed scrapbook items and stamps began in 2010 when I had the chance to fulfill my dream of working in a scrapbook store in Singapore even just for a short time. I found myself buying (my "reward" for a week's work = spending my earnings to buy scrapbook stuff! ==> craziness!) anything vintage-looking designs of papers, stamps and embellishments. I love the look of postmarks, the Eiffel Tower, anything about Paris, old postage stamps, etc.

So to put my collection "at work", I made this collage design. 

Folding wallet

I made another one this time on my long wallet style. 

Long Wallet

Wouldn't it be nice to make a coordinating passport jacket to complete my ensemble of my vintage travel accessories and one day travel to these countries I only see on the map??? :)

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. :)