Hopefully in the next month or so I can have some free time again to make new drawings or stuff.

My Project 365 Photo Blog

If you want to do it in a group, Flickr has one dedicated to this. Photojojo also has a tutorial here.

So here goes my Project 365: What’s in a day?!

If you have your own Project 365 or Project 52 (like a picture in every week), feel free to share it here.

2009 hasn’t been quite good to me. Well, there were good things and there were bad things. I was able to do some of my resolutions last year. Would’ve wanted to accomplish all but certain issues seem to have affected my goals. Some of the goals I’ll list for this year will be a bit related to what I posted last year so here goes:

• Refrain from letting other people use my credit cards’ limits no matter what. They’re just good at making me feel guilty so that I’d let them “swipe” or pay something online and then never bother to fulfill their promise of paying me on time even if they know it affects the other items on my billing statement, my good credit standing and my finances. It’s a tad bit better if they’ll give partial but, alas, I’m left to pay for what they’ve enjoyed… including the charges. Can’t believe even professionals will do something like not paying. They’ve totally ruined their credibility to me.
• Pay off my CC bills hopefully within the first quarter so that I can finally save for myself. [related to no. 1]
• Save, save, save money and look for feasible investments
• Have the courage to finally use contact lenses
• Have my hair rebonded [hehe]
• Learn another language [again. But this is a must this time]
• Overseas vacation
• Take a picture for every day of the year [project 365]
• Strive for self improvement
• Forget the word “tired”

Career-wise, I found this post tweeted by Smashing Magazine very interesting. I’ll pick some I’d like to achieve this year:

• Get some exercise. Working from home make me stick to my chair most of the time so I really need this goal.
• Live beyond your workspace. Pretty understandable.
• Don’t be scared of the dark side, take more risks
• Work on stuff outside your comfort zone. I think I’ve started this last year. I’m quite happy so would like to continue doing so this year.
• Read more… that and learn more from what you’ve read
• Make time for personal design projects. I’ve started some projects last year and would like to give them a bit more priority this year.
• Network and connect with people (it’s part of the job)
• Work smarter
• Use the internet to make your life easier, not harder

I guess… that’s majority of what the writer posted in that article. But they’re all very useful anyway so…

Here’s to hoping I’ll be able to do most of what’s listed here this year. I’m not aiming for all since that’s quite impossible, I think.

Again, Happy New Year to all!!!

So I took out some sheets of bond paper and she immediately went to “work” doodling on those sheets while I worked on a piece of sandpaper I also saw along with the old pastels. Sandpapers and crayons made me remember my grade school days when I saw my substitute teacher’s work with a piece of fine sandpaper and some crayons. She made a very, very nice bird art with it.

I didn’t know what to draw so I just made the first thing that came to my mind for Lexi: Mickey Mouse. Here’s my mickey mouse drawing and Lexi’s artwork. It’s now taped here behind the bookshelf’s glass for everyone in the house to see. Haha! She was so proud of her “abstract art” and kept showing it to everyone here. And then she sees my sandpaper drawing and she shouts Mickey! She even showed me Piglet and Barney meaning she wants me to draw them next. =p

These are the cropped and resized pics of the drawings taken from my very old camera phone:

Lexi's artwork

Mickey Sandpaper Drawing

I used to have lots of pencils in different shades (6H-6B) to use for my anime drawings before. However, people love to borrow stuff from me and always forgets to return them. That’s why in these two drawings I only used one exam grade pencil and a drawing book I bought for project use. The paper isn’t as thick as the one I used for my Sailormoon drawings so quality isn’t really good. Also, eraser marks are really noticeable esp. the line in Itachi’s cape. Made a line there to end the drawing and then decided to just continue ’til the end of the paper. Ugh! Whatever I do the marks are very, very noticeable. =( It’s also difficult to do the shadings as I only have one pencil to use unlike before.

I have some Naruto pictures/walls here in my lappie and used them as basis for drawing on my drawing book. I can’t remember where I found them really so credits to whoever made the walls/images where I based my pencil drawings. =)

Anyway, I don’t think they’re quite good after years of not doing pencil drawings but I’m glad I managed to draw two. Here’s my drawing of two of my fave characters: Uchiha Itachi and Yondaime Hokage. I just noticed Yondaime’s hair is quite unbalanced compared to the image I used in my guide. :p

[View with PicLens]

Edit: I just finished drawing Naruto in Sage Mode. =) Next characters I want to draw are Kakashi and Gaara.

You might ask why I’m using just paper and pencil. Hehe. Well, I’m not really good with drawing this kind of stuff (anime) in graphic applications so it’s easier for me to just draw and scan and then later on I can trace and color this using graphic software. Also, I have a small drawing tablet here which until now I still have trouble using. :p But I’ll definitely try again next time.

My Old and New Philippine Postcards

I like looking at postcards esp. those of other countries because I start to imagine what it must be like if I’m there. Later on, I realized postcards aren’t just about beautiful places but can just be about anything. This makes it all the more interesting.

However, I’ve lost most of them (along with my stamp and anime/cartoon card collection) when we were transferring homes. I can only find some of them. I stopped collecting then. But friends who knew I love postcards kept giving me some brought by family members during travels. I can’t help it also if some friends who travel ask me what I want to receive and I’ll just automatically say just a postcard is enough.

Various International Postcards Mostly From Friends

So after finding my remaining postcards and along with the new ones I received and/or bought, I want to start my postcard collection again. I also just now registered in PostCrossing where you send postcards to random people in other countries and you’ll randomly receive postcards from others, too.

I’ll be starting a new blog on this. Once I’ve set it up I’ll post the address here.

If you want to help me with my collection, feel free to send me some postcards. Hehe…

Scrapbook Tools

It was in National Bookstore that I saw an eyelet punch tool with a hammer which does not cost much. It’s a product of All About Scrapbooking. Only a couple of stocks left so I bought one. I also saw quite a number of scrapbooking items to choose from. I’m not really into scrapbooking so I just looked at the other items available. The distressing inks caught my attention. It doesn’t cost much, too, and I wanted to try it. There were, however, very limited colors. I can only find two. So I just got the 2 colors along with the eyelet punch and hammer set.

I’m excited to use them. I have so wanted to make a simple fan invitation and other projects using eyelets and I’ll be trying them soon. I also just bought a replacement black ink cartridge for my Epson printer which is nearly out of black ink. I’ll print the stuff I’ll be doing using that printer although printout isn’t that great unless I use the genuine Epson  paper. As soon as all the ink cartridges run out I’ll have my printer converted to CIS.

I’ll post some projects I will be doing using these tools soon. =)

Popup Kiddie Invitations

Ever since I can remember, invitations are normally assigned to me. The past two weeks, I’ve made two kiddies popup (? not sure about the term) invitations. Both are 5R in size (5in x 7in). The first one was a Barney invite. It contained a Barney, Baby Bop and BJ group popup, as well as, 2 popup stars. This week I just finished a word world invitation containing 6 popups (sun, bear, dog, ant, pig, duck). In the picture above there’s also a Thomas and Friends (train popup) in 4R size (4in x 6in). The other Barney invitation was for my niece’s 2nd birthday invitation. The star containing the invitation text was the popup. There’s another one I made last year (hello kitty) but I still have to look for my copy. =)

What I don’t like about this is that cutting the popups can be really, really tiring. I’m left with a sore hand the following day. If only I have a digital cutter like Craft Robo, Silhouette or something like these… I bet it’ll cost a lot! *wishful thinking*

I’ll post better pics some other time…

A short post for those who’d like to help victims of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana).

Spreadsheet list of Donation Centers

Text RED AMOUNT and send to 2899for Globe users or 4483 for Smart users. Amounts that can be donated are P25, P50, and P100.

Red Cross Donations – Select “Others” from the menu

List posted by Definitely Filipino Facebook Group:

• A Relief Operations Drop-Off Center has been set-up at La Salle Greenhills beginning today 9:00 AM, Sunday, September 27. Please bring donations to Gate 2 of La Salle Greenhills, along Ortigas Ave., Mandaluyong
• Relief Goods can be sent to Caritas ManilaOffice at Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge (tel.no.5639298/5639308) or Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. Corner EDSA (tel no. 9257931-40)
• Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas Disaster Relief rop off for relief donations at Balay Expo across Farmers Market contact: a. Jana Vicente: +63 928 520 5499 b. Clare Amador: +63 928 520 5508
• Ateneo Resident Students Association now accepting relief goods for Typhoon Ondoy at Cervini Hall lobby at 12nn. For details, please contact 0917 631 2423 AND 0917 703 5357
• PAOLC – We are requesting for donations (Clothes, blankets, towels, canned goods, Bottled water etc) to be distributed to typhoon victims. You can drop them off at the Philippine Army Gym inside Fort Bonifacio or GHQ Gym in Camp Aguinaldo

I think this is all for now. Will try to find some other list. I’m looking for a way if it’s possible to donate goods from the Visayas and Mindanao area aside from money.

Update:

Reply from Definitely Filipino FB Group: Visit nearest ABS-CBN and/or GMA7 stations as they have ongoing relief operations.

From twitter tweets: For donations via American Red Cross Call 800-435-7669

Inquirer updated list of verified relief centers” Click Here

PayPal Donations via Kerygma.com

PayPal Donations via TXTPower

[ Note: Donations via PayPal are refunded as PayPal doesn’t have the license to receive donations for the Philippines. ]

Another blog with list for people living abroad to donate to Ondoy Victims: Moongirl’s List