Stewardship Month

August is the Stewardship Month in our church. Stewardship is not only all about tithing and giving to church. It is more of managing what has been entrusted to you. Imagine, we came on earth with nothing and only lived through God's provision. All that we have, all the things we have learned, experience, everything belongs to him. I know this is an area of my life that I need to surrender to God. Whenever I have given to the church, I felt like I have done my obligation and I have been a good steward. But that is not enough. God has dealt with me with the way I handle and manage what He has entrusted me – my family, job, finances, time, talent.

And so I prayed and this morning surrendered this area of my life to Him. I know God is with me and will bless me as I go through times of transition.

A Promising Soloist

Bujoi has a passion for singing. I remember during my pregnancy, I joined practices for the December 2003 cantata. Maybe that's where it all begun. As early as two years old, he is already part of the children's choir in our church - the Little Ambassadors for Christ. We live in Taguig while our church is in Quezon City. He has to sacrifice some of his Saturday playtimes just to attend practice in Quezon City.

Two Sundays ago, we celebrated Parent's Day in our church. What a better way to pay tribute to parents having the Little Ambassadors for Christ rendering a special song. This is the first time that the kids performed with a parent. A parent-child duet was assigned for each service. During the Tagalog service, Ish and Bujoi had a duet on the first two paragraphs of the song. This is not the first time that Bujoi was given a solo part in the song, but this time, he really shined and with much confidence, he sang his part.

I am one proud momma! And the best part is, Ish told me that Nanette Inventor, a well-known singer-actress-comedienne, approached Ish and told him " Your son ha! He is a promising soloist". Do I hear a celebrity in the house?

Going to Round 5 at Embellished Idol

I cannot believe I have gone this far. Together with two Filipna scrappers - Helga and Cookie - we are moving to Round 5. Helga and Cookie have won several competitions already so I am really happy that I am still part of the challenge.



Here is my layouts for Round 3 - Scrap your motto off the page (without using paper as background). I altered CDs using alcohol inks, used pictures which will not fit any layout I plan to make in the future. I plan to hang this in my desk at the office to remind me to think about What Would Jesus Do in any circumstances I face.
Materials Used: CDs, Tim Holtz Alpha Grungeboard;KI Memories Lace Cardstock; TH Distress Ink; Glimmer Mist; Maya Road, American Crafts and Basic Grey chipboards; Sizzix dies; Fancy pants felt; Making Memories and Li'l Davies metallic paints; Ranger Stickles; Ranger Alcohol Inks; Judikins Amazing Glaze; misc ribbons; Ranger Holographic embossing powder; Versa Color gold.






Here is my layout for Round 4 - Use stitching to adhere all your page elements. Yes, all page elements including the photos. This one is tough because I don't have a sewing machine which means I have to handstitched everything.

Materials used: Fancy pants chipboard, felt and papers; Daisy Ds, Chatterbox papers; DMC Thread; Misc Fibers, Buttons and Ribbons; Making Memories Journalling Tag; American Crafts foan flowers;

Quarterly exams

Bujoi is on his second year in Junior Casa and I am still in denial that he is actually on a formal education. Since JC1, he's been spending time doing his homework and reviewing for exams. To think, he should be enjoying his childhood, playing and sleeping. Just the regular carefree childhood days I had. Looking back, I cannot even remember what I was doing at his age then.

And now, it's the time of the year - the first quarter exam. The quarterly exams are one of the school activities I dread most. I spend hours and hours going through his book preparing his reviewers few nights before the exam. Aside from that I have to drag Bujoi out of his playing time to sit down and review. We sit down for 15 minutes and off he goes again. I do not want to pressure him with the exams. For him to cooperate and just go through the lesson are much more than I expect from him. And Bujoi never fails to disappoint us because I can see that he knows and understands his lessons.

But still, I think he should grow up as a normal child who enjoyed his childhood. We do the review just to ensure that he understands his lessons and for us parents to be assured that we get what we pay for =). Whatever reward we get from it will just be icing on the cake.

I am feeling lucky

I survived two rounds of the Embellished Idol. We are now at round 3 and the challenge is to scrap your motto without using paper as a base. Here are my entries to round 1 and round 2.

For Round 1, we were given a Sketch. The requirement is minimum of 10 photos, title and creative frame. I wanted to reflect the festive feel of the party in my layout and for the creative frame, I used 3d paints to make it like icing on the cake. I also used oil paint for the background to get the 3d feel of the paint.

For Round 2, the challenge is to use mask and go artsy with colors. I used acrylic paint as a medium, painted with the colors of sky, clouds and trees. I used circular mask to create my sun. I handcut the grass, the trees and the clouds.

Something Old...Something New

For almost three years of scrapbooking, I have accumulated so much stash that either I totally forgot about them or forgot where I kept them. My stash is growing and my space cannot keep up with it. But despite this fact, I still cannot resist shopping. I have so many old papers, old embellishments and what-have-yous that I cannot disposed of, thinking how much fortune it cost me. So I decided that once in a while, I will mix something new from my stash with those that are already accumulating dust, waiting for me to take a second look and pick them up. So here you go, a layout made of Provo Craft papers from The Slab, Chatterbox papers, Karen Foster brads matched with Hambly rubons, Maya Journalling tag, Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, riff raff chipboards, glimmer mist and radiant rain mist, and Jenni Bowlin journalling tag. Come on, dig out those papers and what-have-yous and look at your recently purchased items and stretch your creativity.

Thanks to MaBuglet from ACOT for picking up the Provo Craft Papers, Glimmer Mist and Maya Road Journalling tags in my Use Your Stash Challenge list.