Yep I'm Still Around + Chellelandia

I apologize for having disappeared rather abruptly from digi-land and the digital scrapbook business. But a working girl's got to do what a working girl must do.

Day 2, Part 1: Honking our way to Taj Mahal

Part 1 of my 2-parts post of my 2nd day in India as one of the 20 ASEAN journalists invited to visit Incredible India.

Kissing Birds Winner Announced

I'm now announcing the winner of the giveaway for Kissing Birds. It was hard choosing just one, believe me. But alas there can only be one winner for this giveaway and it is...drum rolls, please!

Wedding DIY's

Some shots of a couple of the wedding DIY yesterday morning. It seems that the only time when I'm not busy and still sane is right after I wake up in the morning, pre-breakfast. After I step out of the house, the madness begins.

How To Color Doodles Chapter 2

As promised, I am now about to show you how I color the layered .psd templates of my doodles. Although I prefer the lineart .png’s because they’re quick and easy, I have more fun coloring the layered ones.

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Yep I'm still around + Chellelandia

I am sorry. I apologize for having disappeared rather abruptly from digi-land and the digital scrapbook business. They way I left have disappointed a couple of people and for that I am truly sorry. The situation I was in at that time left me no choice but to hastily shut the door to my creative pastimes if I wished to hold on to my day job that enabled me to live quite comfortably. It was quite rude of me and I'm sorry. But a working girl's got to do what a working girl must do.

With a new "management" running things over at my workplace, we received our new marching orders at the start of this year, reflecting our new increased daily targets. There was a collective groan when the office memos were passed around. There was no honeymoon period, no moment to catch our breaths and reflect on our social lives going down the drain. We hit the ground running and we still are up to now, chasing down quotas and working round-the-clock, all week-long. Yes, it seems we work Mondays-Sundays now. In fact, I'm composing news items and catchy headlines in mind when I doze off at night.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job. Especially since I don't work in a normal newsroom like other journalists. Well, at least in my day job, I don't. When the boss of your boss is the president of your country, you don't  tell your boss "Hey, these new targets are insanely impossible. There's no way I'm going to do all these plus work on weekends!" No you can't, unless you want to join the increasing ranks of the unemployed. And yes, I work for the highest government official in my country. Plus, I also work for my father as the editor and layout artist of our family-owned newspaper. Two journalism jobs, plus keeping up with the requirements of a digital scrapbook store? I need superhuman powers if I can juggle that effectively.

So when it hit me how crazy my work hours will become, I knew I had to say goodbye to my creative pursuits like designing digital scrapbook kits. It was on how I made my exit that I bungled up though. But I don't like to think of this exit as final, but more of a hiatus, so I'll have time to enjoy and live a full life despite my work hours.  I might whip up the occasional digital freebies now and and then.

This blog will remain live, as well as the freebies in here (those that aren't time-sensitive). I opened a new blog, Chellelandia, where I can write freely about my personal life and also design-related things. If you have time, do hop on over there and say hello. :-)


It might be a temporary goodbye here, but it's also a hello over in Chellelandia! :-)  

Kissing Birds winner announced!

First of all, my apologies especially to the 5 ladies who joined last week's giveaway. The 5-day training (news writing and feature writing) I attended last week was so intensive and backbreaking that it left me too drained and exhausted. I immediately fell to sleep the minute my butt touched my seat inside the plane on my way home and slept again when I came home.

It was the most intensive conference I've attended so far. Our minds and bodies were put through the wringer- waking up at 6 am to leave for the workshop and going back to the hotel as late as 9 p.m. But really, I'm not complaining because it was also the most informative and most challenging training I've attended. I would love to attend a similar activity again if given the chance.

So anyway, I'm now announcing the winner of the giveaway for Kissing Birds. It was hard choosing just one, believe me. But alas there can only be one winner for this giveaway and it is...drum rolls, please...


Jacque, congratulations! Please send me an email { doodelle at gmail dot com } so I can send you the info how you can get your prize, Kissing Birds.

Kissing Birds is available at SBG and still being sold at 20% off until Wednesday this week. This is a re-release, as it was sold back in my former store (and was quite popular too hehe). Click on the preview below to be taken to the store.



More designs on the drawing board so keep your eyes peeled for more giveaways (and freebies, too) in the following days...

Here's my photo for this week (to reflect how harried I have been this week!). A picture of my bed this morning, after an all-night studying of our new stylebook for newswriting and our daily news qouta.

Manila + Giveaway

Happy 2011 everyone! This may come a bit late seeing that it's now the 2nd week of January, but I hope you're still feeling the "newness" of the year. I'm still adjusting to the new year, continuing to write 2010 instead of 2011 lol. trai

Before anything else, I'd like to say thank you to those who downloaded Melissa and mine's SBG Train freebie and left sweet comments about it. Your comments really made both Melissa and me happy. Thank you!

Anyway, I write this on my first day here in Manila for a week-long business conference. Thank goodness for free wifi! The bed isn't much and there's only 1 small pillow, but that's acceptable so long as there's free wifi :-)


That's how my room looks like in that picture. It's a bit hazy, sorry about that. It's taken using my cellphone.

It's past 9 pm now and I'm waiting for the masseur to come up and give me an hour-long Swedish massage. I need it so I can sleep. My sleep routine goes wacky when I'm away from my comfort zone. Hopefully the massage will send me the zzz's right away. I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow!

So anyway, this Wednesday I'll be re-releasing an old kit which also happens to be one of my favorites. Here's a sneak peek:


I think it's pretty obvious what kit this is lol. But if you still haven't got this in you stash, then it's your lucky day! I'm giving this away to one winner this Wednesday.

To join, simply tweet this giveaway, or post it on your FB, or on your blog or wherever you can talk about it online then come back here and leave the link to your tweet or FB or blog or wherever it is you posted. The giveaway closes on Wednesday! :-)

Hey hey hey, it's my SBG day!

I know it should be "Ho ho ho!" but there's this song I can't get out of my mind right now. I think it's the last song syndrome thing, it was what was playing in the radio earlier. I'm not familiar with the song, but it's heavy metal with a female singer screaming "Hey hey hey! That's what I say!" It stuck with me since it was kinda out of place with the holiday vibe in the air.

Anyway, this is a special post as today is Doodellandia's stop at SBG's Santa Brings Goodies blog train. Thank you to Manu who pointed everyone here.

So to the newcomers, welcome! And to my loyal blog readers who continue to stick around, I welcome you too, especially to Doodellandia's new look (courtesy of the awesome Anne Quade.)

The train has been a massive hit so far, and I hope that my part will live up to the pretty high standards set by the SBG designers and crew so far. Oh the pressure. Sigh.

Ok enough with the chitchat lol. Here's what you're getting at this stop:



But the fun doesn't stop there. You're getting a double scoop for today's stop here! The second freebie is such a delight! It's from Melissa C. of the SBG crew:


Isn't that a cutie? Sigh.


For the newcomers, I sure hope this won't be your last time here at Doodellandia. Look around, there still are a couple of active freebies for you to download. You can follow this blog, or Doodelle's Facebook Fan page or even sign up for my newsletter (I'm giving away a kit called Something Wonderful for the subscribers when its maiden issue rolls out next month!). All the links are at the right sidebar, thank you :-)

So please do make yourself comfortable here in Doodellandia where the best is yet come (I sound like a bad TV commercial lol).

Enjoy the freebie everyone! Tomorrow, your next stop is at Jessica Bolton's Eclectic Scraps blog.

By the way, how's everyone's Christmas shopping going? I tried to finish some last-minute shopping this morning but my, the rush has already started. I still have a couple on my list that I need to get done. Hope I'll be able to get it all done tomorrow.

Everyday Tidbits #2: Heartbreaks + Mom

I'm totally bushed. Just got home. My day today ended on a sad note when I got a phone call from a relative telling me that some shocking, sad news that she has apparently kept to herself for over a year to refrain from hurting her sons and her Mom. But you can't keep something like that bottled up inside you and remain sane. She finally relented, called me to vent and rant and wordlessly scream out her frustration. We cried together over the phone and I cursed her husband for doing this to her.

What is it about most men that make them so dense? Is it some kind of anomaly in their genetic makeup that turns them into morons and drive them to abandon their family so easily. Is that what marriage is nowadays? If the man feels that he's gotten tired of it all, he'll just send his wife a text message and tell her "I want out. It's over. Let's part ways." That's it? Years of marriage goes down the drain.

I'd like to remain single forever if that's the case.

My parents have, thank God, stayed together for nearly 40 years. (And no, don't start making that as a basis to compute my age because they remained childless for quite a while before they had me). Sure they fight a lot. My Dad used to drink a lot. My Mom was a nagger. And I was a witness to how some of their fights would turn a bit nasty when I was growing up (especially when Mom was going through her menopausal stage).

But they stayed together. They worked hard at making it work because they had faith in their marriage. And everyday they prayed hard enough. Sure there were times they must have felt like ripping each other's throats but they're still together now. After all these years.

Thinking of my parents' marriage makes me want to strangle my relative's husband even more. He could have that waiting for him after 30 or so years, but he's throwing it all away for some inane, stupid, irrational reason.

So much for a tidbit of a post!

To end this, just a picture of the other half of the marriage that has inspired me to believe that there is hope in a happily forever after:

Mom, the pork-lover, at our favorite Mexican restaurant during a Sunday family lunch.