PINAY FRANCOPHILE

Jayred paid us a visit and wrote:

Salut! All the best in your scrapbook project. I know that this can be pretty much labor-intensive and, therefore, time-consuming. But because of your passion for Paris, I bet this will be an enjoyable activity for you.

Yes, Jayred, it’s coming along just fine although it hasn’t been as fast as I had hoped it would.  I guess anything that you put your heart into will take time.

It is also a challenge trying to pull together the memories and the photographs and the mementos from that special trip.  It’s more than just pasting the pictures onto sheets of paper.  But I’m getting there.

Thanks for visiting!

Cross posted on my PinayNewyorker and Friendster blogs

I’ve spent most of my free time the past few days “stitching” together scrapbook paper for my Paris scrapbook.  I had mostly blues and a few reds and beiges.  A paper store website gave me some paper samples which I have been able to weave into loud floral borders.

I tried to put together an orange pair and a pink pair as well, but now that I found a website that had free scrapbook background papers for download and one of the packages I downloaded was tartan (or what most people refer to as plaid) backgrounds.  They are such a breeze to “stitch” together even if they download onto regular letter (8×11) pages.  Three sheets will make a 12×12, and the stitching is seamless given the straight lines in the various pages.

Meanwhile, I’ve designed various sheets in shades of blue and printed them onto 12×18 sheets via color laser.  One sheet I’m particularly proud of because it looks as though it had been bought from a store.  I had also managed to scan parts of the two Paris maps we had used and pasted the various parts together into one solid graphic (given that the flatbed could not scan the whole map), giving me additional background graphics.

In my spare time, I try and cut out the flowers and other embellishments I’d pulled off the clipart collection of Microsoft online which I intend to paste into a floral collage as borders, frames and spotholders.

I’ve also collected a sizeable bunch of border artwork which I resized or pasted onto 12 inch strips.  I have saved cutting it into pieces for when I actually find a use for it.

My sewing kit has an assortment of threads and buttons which I intend to use as additional embellishment, and I have always had a penchant for collecting fabric swatches from IKEA and the color swatches from the hardware store.  It’s just that at the time, I was concentrating on reds and greens with just a smattering of blue (because I intended to use them to make my own Christmas cards sometime in the future), but now that I know my color theme, I intend to go back to the IKEA in Hicksville to collect more swatches in my color scheme. 

Browsing scrapbooking sites has also given me a lot of ideas about what I can do for this project, and it’s basically what has convinced me to stick to one color scheme.  I’m glad I did this before I used up the other colors in my paper stock. 

This weekend, I’m piecing together basic pages per tartan pattern, and I’m going to start writing up the captions and journal entries for the scrapbook.  Hopefully before Monday, I’d have been able to put together the first few pages of my Paris sojourn.

I have two friends to credit for the inspiration - Kate and Pier who I sat down with for dinner some two weekends ago.  Kate has even invited me to a scrapbooking event in Manhattan on December 5 which I hope to attend.

My scrapbook has definitely started to take shape — and I’m getting very excited to see my Paris trip unfold again.  Now if I can only find a French dictionary that shows the intonations and definitions, not just equivalent English words, I have red tags to put them on to deck the various pages.  It’ll not just be a trip down memory lane but an elementary lessong in French as well.

Working on the scrapbook has been very relaxing for me — it has even made blogging a second passion only because I’ve devoted a lot of my time online to surfing for scrapbook resources, downloading fonts, artwork, background paper and actually resizing and creating something I can use for my project.  So I guess the books I’ve been meaning to read will have to wait for later..

It was a lovely weekend.  I spent most of my freetime working on piecing together patterns and paper for my scrapbook.  I had previously purchased a whole pad of textured recycled paper from Barnes & Noble for a song, but the size is shorter than the 12×12 of my scrapbook.  I am also piecing together graphic patterns I had printed out from clipart photo stock onto construction paper which has a length of 12 inches (making it ideal!). 

One discovery was wallpaper borders which I bought principally to use in my scrapbook for Angel.  I did manage to get one roll suitable for my Paris scrapbook, so I managed to make 3 pages using that.  I think I’ll probably have enough to make 3 pages more.

The scrapbook is turning out to be multicolored but I intend to group the color scheme according to the places I visited.  For instance, I already know that the Louvre portion will be in shades of brown.  I have pages of embellishments to cut up and this week I have several pages I’ve laid out online to print.  The pages are taking shape little by little and I can’t wait to start writing the actual text to go into the scrapbook.  I’m also getting the pictures ready.  I have printed out the Paris pictures a certain size, but I will need to do them in another for the not so important pictures.  Those with Alan and me I had printed out like ordinary pictures.  I have yet to have the panoramic camera and the black and white printed out, but that should be done during the Thanksgiving weekend. 

I’m so proud of the pages I have created so far and now I have a better idea of which patterns I will need to print out more of.  Hoping to get that done this week.. getting there indeed.

I think I’m making progress on my scrapbook.  This week, I hope to start putting things together — starting at least with the introduction to the scrapbook and the initial pictures I meant to include there.  I have a very good sense of the look I want to use, and I’m trying to put the different sections in various themes.

I’m really into the scrapbooking effort because I want to bring the experience of Paris alive more so now that I have definitely shelved plans to take a trip back in January to be able to save my days to take a trip home to Manila.

I’ve been gathering embellishment materials as well as putting together artwork I will be printing for use in the scrapbook.  Even just going through the contact print of the pictures initially was a trip down memory lane literally, even if it was just months ago that I was there.  Hopefully I will finish it in time before the winter is over.  Then I can begin Angel’s scrapbook, too. 

I have realized that since I’m not working with pre-formatted kits (all color coordinated and you would just have to be creative about where you paste what), I have to actually “design” the scrapbook to make the look gel together.  I’m sticking with tamer shades of blue and green and various hues and textures in brown.  I have tons of scrap paper that I have put aside to use, and I’m collecting various items I will write about here which can be useful in doing embellishments created from scratch.

I definitely will need more pages to use in the scrapbook.. and I hope to get that as I go along, because I’m hanging tight to my plan not to spend on the scrapbook unless necessary –and only when I really have to.

So the decision has been made — I’m giving up my trip to Paris in January for a trip home to Manila sometime next year.  (Don’t ask me when.. don’t quite know yet.)

I’ve already put the floor plan of the Louvre in the plastic sleeves.  Just my luck that the whole thing measures 24×48, and I got two.  I have some other maps I’ve scanned and put together for printing.  I think I’m going to do something else instead of printing everything on 12×12 sheets.  I’m trying to plan the pages before I print anymore, but at the same time, I need to double time on the scanning because I’m “losing” my scanner once I transfer to the new boss.

While I didn’t get to save any newspapers from my stay there, I did manage to grab a tabloid type free paper from the streets one time Alan and I were walking together.  I plan to cut up the pages and make them embellishments inside the scrapbook.

I’m still sticking to my guns about not buying any special scrapbook paper or embellishments — I’m going to pull this off with what I have.  The only thing I’m planning to spend on are the scrapbook sleeves.  The scrapbook itself wasn’t anything fancy except that it has 5 slots for pictures as in a frame on the front itself.  Got it for $14.99 at Target the other week.  It has 20 pages which isn’t even half of what I would need for the actual scrapbook.

Finally got myself a scrapbook to put my Paris mementos and photos in.  I have been trying to pull together the embellishments and the captions, and with the huge number of photographs to put in there, it’s going to be a long project with a lot of pages.  I know some will say to keep it simple, but this trip was much too meaningful to stop at just a few.  It’s got to have everything that embodied that trip.  My deadline is pretty reasonable — anytime before the next trip which will hopefully be in January.

I’ve been creating scrapbook supplies for backgrounds, cut-outs, and embellishments from what I currently have on my hard drive and from various sources online.

Today I am creating flowers to cut out and assemble as bouquets.  I am also starting to put together 12×12 sheets with preprinted designs and colored background.  I figure I’d save some money instead of getting everything frmo the craft store.  I am going to lose access to my scanner soon and I want to be able to scan as much as I can to make sure I’m covered.  You’d be surprised at all the various available items you can also use from non-scrapbook sources.

I’m getting there slowly.

Finally starting my Paris scrapbook.  I’ve already started looking for backgrounds and paper trim to use for the various pages.  I’m not sticking to one color.  It’s too colorful a trip for one.  (Literally..)  Discovered some free artwork and paper patterns on the HP website after googling it.  I don’t really want to spend a ton on this project.  I have a lot of scraps and stuff to put together.  I just don’t want the second trip to catch up with me!

This is indeed exciting.  I cannot wait to start doing PARIS in different fonts and styles.  That alone is a project in itself.  I credit my friends Kate Fernandez and Pierre Reyes (Sorry, Pierre, I don’t have your married name) for the inspiration to finally do this.

I’ve created a new category for the updates.  For starters, I’ve gone to the online Microsoft site for photo cliparts to use as backgrounds and paper scraps.  There are also a multitude of resources to use online, instead of purchasing pre-organized sets and color schemes.

Paris, Paris, Paris!  Can’t wait to go back come January!

With Mom back, we are able to plan on going back to Paris together again sometime early 2006.  Alan is being requested by his company to do a European tour and I have asked him to end it in Paris so that we can meet up and do the Anniversary trip we never got to do. 

Can’t wait.. I am also going to start working on my scrapbook soon.  Have to get going on that!  Definitely!