Christmas Arts & Crafts

Our tree seemed like it needed more ornaments but instead of buying new ones, I decided
to just make home made ornaments out of foam board. I wouldn’t be spending a lot plus it
was something I could do with the kids again :)

This is my first time working with foam board. I love it na :)

First, I cut out snowflakes for the kids to color.

Here’s Mati’s:

And here’s Adi’s:

After that casualty I decided that the snowflakes didn’t need any more coloring. All they had to
do was just hang it on the tree :)

After I cut out the snowflakes, there were lots of little pieces of white and red
foamboard that I thought I could still use, so I cut out small circles from the retasos.

Then I sewed them together so they’d look like candy

Mati was in charge of pulling the circles down the thread :)

And voila. Plus some stars that i also cut out for them to hang.
I’ll just teach them about spacing later on ;)

I made these stars as well, but I didn’t know how to hang them up.
I might use them for a Christmas party as place cards na lang.

And I have to finish my Christmas shopping soon! 26 days to go! :D

Sunday at Greenhills

Today, we braved the Sunday Greenhills traffic to attend church service at the Music Museum.

This was the line to the parking lot. It starts just before V-mall near the parking exit!!!!

I didn’t want the traffic to ruin our day so I popped in Frou Frou in the CD player.
It’s just the perfect music to listen and sing to in times like these.

She just has the best lyrics. I didn’t even mind when another car cut in the line in front of us . . . . .
Actually, I did mind a little. Grrrr.

Anyway, we were able to park right away once we got inside. I dunno why but we just always get lucky with parking :)
I told Mark this and he wondered whether we might have the same luck with the lottery. Hehehe. I wish.

Service was good with the word today being about patience. How timely with the traffic and all :D
Plus Pastor Chinky is the funniest

For mirienda, we decided to finally try the food at Crystal Jade. For once there wasn’t a long line when
we got there. But then we found out why. At around 2pm to 5:30pm, you can only order certain dishes
in the menu because most of the kitchen staff are on their break. We decided to go in anyway :)

We ordered Dry Noodles with ground pork and mushrooms, Xiao Long Bao (of course) and Steamed
Cua Pao.

The noodles was pretty good with the cua pao (although it really goes with condensed milk).

The Xiao Long Bao wasn’t the best but it wasn’t bad naman. But I probably won’t be ordering it again though.

Afterwards, a quick stop at Quickly for my usual Red Milk Tea with extra sago. I love milk tea :)

Yum. . . 

Today was good :)

My Little Phony

I saw this new toy at Megamall the other day.

Ginni and her little HORSE. That’s right, it’s a horse ok, not a PONY. ;)

Movie Posters

I love movie poster designs. You just have to admire the amount of thought a
designer puts for a one page layout made to represent a 2-hour film.

My favorite posters are the simple ones that don’t actually show the actors
from the film, or if they do, then just using their silhouettes.

STAR TREK

THE BIRDS. I haven’t really seen this but the poster is gorgeous

THE DARK KNIGHT. Really good poster paired with a really good tagline

SIDEWAYS. I like the poster but not the movie

METROPOLIS. Really, really old but still gorgeous

THE MATRIX

AMERICAN BEAUTY

VERTIGO. I love james stewart

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. I love the poster and the movie

 

LEBANON. Really good film. The poster would look better without all that text though.

PERFUME. Beautiful storytelling

STAND BY ME. The title could use a better font but i really like how simple this is

Other posters I like with images/photos of the actors in them:

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Isn’t this just  the most powerful image?

AMELIE. I prefer this Japanese version better than the close up of her with the green background

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Jack is the cutest

LOLITA.

ALMOST FAMOUS.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Sometimes blurring is good


THE X-FILES

NACHO LIBRE. :)

THE LAST AIRBENDER. Too bad the movie sucked

FORREST GUMP. You know you designed a memorable poster if there a lot of spoofs of it.

THE CROW. I don’t remember ever seeing this movie but  I used to be obsessed with this poster. 
‘

Volver.

I VICERE. I wanted to watch this at the Italian Film Festival last year just cause the poster is so nice.
Too bad I wasn’t able to see it. I think this translates to The Viceroy? Not sure though

MULAN. Actually a lot of the Disney posters are nice, but this is the one that really stands out for me.

GIRL INTERRUPTED. This is so clever

STAR WARS. classic

I also remember liking a star wars poster of just the white highlights of
Darth Vaders mask but I can’t seem to find it. O well.

And lastly some Pinoy posters:

DAGIM. I’m scared to watch the film but I really like the poster.
Plus I heard the sound design here is really good :) hehehe

RANCHERO. Haven’t really seen this but i really like the illustration

DINIG SANA KITA. OK, I may be biased ’cause I designed the poster, but I
was really happy with how Nina Sandejas was able to take this photo just
based on a really rough sketch that I made

ADELA.

LAST SUPPER NO. 3. I love that the image is just at the very bottom against
the yellow plus this movie is the funniest

MANGATYANAN

IMBURNAL. This is just the prettiest illustration

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of other really good posters that I like.

But anyway, I found a site called IMP Awards (International Movie Poster). Aside from the awards which include the Best and Worst posters of the year, you have the option of viewing posters by Actors, Directors, Year it was shown and by the Artist/Design Company who made the posters :) Pretty interesting

Here’s the link: IMP AWARDS

Why I was awake at 3am today

After I gave Noah his bottle early this morning, I couldn’t sleep anymore. I kept thinking of
SAVE THE DATE ideas for my sisters wedding. Not ones she was actually going to use
(someone is already doing a video for her), but because it’s just really fun :)

Here’s one I did last week:

Maybe for computer geek couples? hehehe.

Wouldn’t it be easier to remember if the save the date cards were funny or amusing?

My sister also had an idea of a sinking ship and the DATE asking to be saved. really cute :)
So last night, I finally made the layout study:

Here’s the front:

And here’s the back of it in comic form :) hihihi

That’s it so far. But me and Reg want to do more!
Hay. Why is it more fun to do graphic design when it’s not for work? hahaha

Pretty White Things

Ever since I got the white ceramic crane and birds nest, I seem to be drawn to anything white!
I just like looking at these things again and again. You just have to sigh cause they’re so lovely.

Here are some:

ceramic feathers

paper headpiece from Chanel Couture Spring 2009. from chanel headpiece

paper installation from the Chanel Couture Spring 2009 fashion show. from poppytalk

bird cake topper from etsy

ivory acrylic and bamboo clock from decoylab

Porcini mushroom lamps made of bone china. cuties :) from Just Mushroom Stuff
     

bone china acorn

bunny-shaped sugar cubes

i want these ceramic cones! mabe i should spray paint my pine cone . . . from coeandwaito

campfire tealight holder from uncommongoods (i love the name of the store)

wooden over the door shelf

ceramic lace bowl from etsy

coral vase from target

flower sinks from digsdigs

white tote bags from etsy

porcelain eggs / candles from etsy

Sigh . . .

The Romantic Artwork of James Jean

My soon to be brother-in-law, Brian, gave this to my sister for her birthday last October:

He’s such a sweetie :)

It’s a watercolor print by artist James Jean. I had already seen his artwork before while
reading the "Fables" comic series but I never really got to know his name ’till my sister got the print.

I really admire artists who use watercolor cause it’s not the easiest medium. I tried it while I was
in college and hated it cause it was so hard to control and my paintings would always be so runny!

Anyway, here are some of his cover artwork for "Fables":

i love his monochrome pieces:

Check out the draping and hair details of these two pieces. Love.

This one is also nice:

Oooh. And he’s done stuff for PRADA. Cool :

I probably won’t buy that top, but I’d buy the bag.

From his sketchbooks:

He’s soooooo good. And he’s my age! He was born in Taiwan in 1979 but now lives in the US.
He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York and he’s won several Eisner Awards
for his comic book covers.

He kind of reminds me of Harry Kim from Star Trek Voyager but with bangs :) hihihi

And he has a facebook page. It features photos of tattoos based on his artwork :)

Check out more of his comic artwork here
And he has a website where you can buy his prints : James Jean

Amazing Stage Design!

These are the most amazing stage designs I have ever seen.

Can you imagine being near that giant skelleton? Yikes

skeleton reading a book

Giant eye

under construction . . .

huge table and chairs

I wonder how much they spend for these stages . . . .

These are from the Bregenz Festival in the province of Vorarlberg, Western Austria.
It is a month long (3rd week of July to 3rd week of August) Opera festival that features
lot of young performers.

The festival is spread over 2 stages, the the Seebuhne or Lake Stage which is under the
open sky and the Festpielhaus or traditional opera house (which looks pretty impressive din ha)

Check out the audience. The place can seat 7,000 People!!!!

I’m not really an opera fan but I’d go just to see the stage :)

For more photos check The Telegraph

The Amazing Pine Cone :)

While visiting the Color It Christmas store with my mom earlier this month,
the owner of the store told us how they shipped pine cones here without
it being so bulky. First they wet it, then after a couple of minutes the cone
folds up.

I had almost forgotten about this but yesterday, I remembered that trivia
again when I saw a pine cone on my shelf.

I got this from Greece in November last year and wondered if it would still
fold up even if the pine cone was already a year old. So I tried it :)

After around 15 minutes. I saw this:

It was slowly folding up! I thought this was as small as it would get when a couple of minutes later:

Then later still, it was all closed up na! :) 

Amazing. I just love doing little experiments :)

Random Royal Thoughts

I wonder what it feels like to have a real prince be in love with you.

How does it feel like to know that because of you, a lot of little girls hearts are now broken. hahaha

"nooooo …….."

When Kate was a little girl, did she watch Disney cartoons and wished she would marry a prince someday?

How does it feel like to be the parents of a soon-to-be princess?

Why do British accents sound so nice . . . .  . and royal?

If you had a choice, would you rather marry a prince or Brad Pitt?

I wonder how it feels to know that Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth will soon be your in-laws.

"grandma. . . "

I wonder how it feels to have Camilla as your mother-in-law!

"mama . . ."

I wonder what it would be like if your kids ask you "Mom, I want to be a princess" and you’d happily tell them, "You already are" 

If Prince Charles married Camilla first, I wonder what their kids would have looked like.  . .

I wonder how it feels to be wearing Princess Diana’s old engagement ring

If you’re a princess and your husband is being annoying, is it ok to tell him that he’s being a royal pain in the ***?

If normal little girls want to dress up as princesses on halloween, do little prince and princesses want to go trick or treating as commoners?

I wonder how it feels like to know that you now have access to the crown jewels.

I wonder what’s going through Kate’s mind when she sleeps tonight . . .