Thursday, May 9, 2019

revamping my blog content

It's been almost a year since my last blog post, and honestly, I stopped writing coz my life is one big routine. I get up, work, eat, read, sleep. I occasionally socialize, mostly with the boyf, sometimes with friends. I go to church on Sundays. Go out with the fam if we all feel like it. But that's about everything. I do try to travel at least once or twice a year, but I never really cared to blog about that.

I don't want to give up my blog, though. I'd had this since 2009, and admittedly this is the longest blog I've ever maintained, despite neglecting it for a while now.

So I've been racking my brain on how to revamp my blog and post more content when it finally came to me. 

There's nothing I love more than to read on my free time, and it's been suggested that I write reviews of the books I read, but there's a reason I don't like to do that. First, I hate nitpicking what I've just read. After I finish reading, I only have two feelings: either I love it or I hated it. Well, maybe hate is a strong word - let's just go with didn't enjoy it. I don't like making reviews because I'd rather utilize my time reading another book. I do maintain a Bookstagram though, not those aesthetically pleasing grams, just photos of whatever book I'm reading.

Anyhoo, back to my blog revamp. My second favorite thing to do is playing around in the kitchen. I cook and I bake, though I’m better at baking than cooking. I started pretty young. I was a picky eater, and my Mom's rules were to eat whatever is served on the table and if I didn't like it, then I should whip up something for myself. Which I did.

My Mom taught me the basics. When I was about 7 or so, she got me started on rinsing and cooking rice, washing and cleaning fish, peeling vegetables. Eventually, I moved up to knife handling, and frying, which then led to actual mixing and cooking. 

But baking is my first love. My Mom got me a hand mixer when I was 11, and eventhough I upgraded to a KitchenAid several years ago, I still have it with my and damn thing still works.

Cake decorating is another thing, though. I am not, an never will be, a creative person. So I limit myself to cupcakes, because I find them easier to decorate.

So, yeah. Basically I'm turning my blog into my own virtual cookbook. Share what I've been doing in the kitchen, and post my recipes. Not that anybody reads my blog, because I never shared this, but still. Just gives me something else to do, and this will justify why I need to take a lot of pictures when I bake. LOL
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, June 7, 2018

busy bee

The parents went to Manila for several days for a convention-slash-vacation and I was left alone with a store to tend to, a house to watch over, and 5 clingy dogs to pamper. Good thing we have a helper, so I wasn't alone in all that.

But, despite having help, I found myself to be quite busy over the last few days. looking back, I can't even begin to tell you what kept me busy. It felt like I accomplished nothing at all. I'm still lettering, daily though. Practice makes progress and all that shit. In between all that, I try to sneak in a book or two. I'm way behind on my Goodreads reading challenge and it's already halfway through the year.

On other matters, though, I splurged on something that I hope would become a good investment. *fingers crossed*
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

procreate brushes i bought

So I recently posted about all (the ones I could find again, anyway) the Procreate brushes I got for free. Most of them are awesome - my favorites are mostly from Abbie Nurse - but I also bought a few brushes. And I must admit, I use the ones I bought more frequently than those that I downloaded for free.

So here I'm making a list of all the brushes I bought, noting the ones I use most often and what my favorites are.

Chalk Dust by Ian Barnard - I tried out a couple of free chalk brushes, but I find none that is as easy to use and as smooth as Ian Barnard's brushes. This set comes with 6 lettering chalks, 7 chalk effects, 2 script brushes from Stefan Kunz, 6 blackboards, an installation guide, tips and tricks sheet, and alphabet examples. The ones I use the most are the Stefan's Chalk Brush and Dust.

I modified the Chalk Brush and made it into a monoline brush.

Creative Lettering Procreate Bundle by Dawn Nicole - Dawn is one of the first had letterers I followed. I read her posts, joined her Facebook group, and basically stalked her on social media. Her lettering style is not something I would do myself (because I can't do it lol) but I enjoy looking at her bold colored designs. Plus, her blog is really informative! This is comes with 15 brushes - 7 brushes and 8 stamps.

This is one of my favorite projects. The color palette is also Dawn's.

Step By Step Floral Bundle and Step By Step Floral Monogram by Karin Newport -  Karin is admittedly my favorite lettering artist. She is very responsive on Facebook (she answered all my questions about the brushes when I messaged her, and is very patient despite my many questions), and her lessons and tutorials are easy to follow. I got the Monogram bundle first, but I had so much fun that I also bought the Floral bundle after a while. The bundles come with all sorts of flowers and leaves stamps. The Monogram bundle comes with, yes you guessed it, monograms that you can use as template. Karin also has a tutorial about it that is very useful for first timers like me.

I spent hours working on these. I'm going through all the letters of the alphabet.

Watercolor Advanced Set by Karin Newport - This is my favorite watercolor brush set. I have tried a few, but this is the only one I paid for, and it was worth it! I don't use real watercolor as a medium (because let's face it - I suck at it), but using these brushes feel like I'm actually painting with real watercolors. This set comes with 20 individual brushes,  but the ones I use the most are the Watercolor Calligraphy brush and the Wet Blend. Oh, and this comes with a watercolor texture file, too!

This is my first watercolor project. I followed Karin's tutorial on this. I may have gone a little bit overboard on the colors.

Keep Lettering Set and Lettery Set by Karin Newport - By now, you might have figured that most of my brushes come from Karin. I swear, it's all worth it. And no, I'm not getting a commission nor is this a sponsored ad. I just really like her brushes because I feel like it's tailor-made for me and for the way I write. I never had to adjust the settings, I just use the brushes as is. My favorites are the Serif and Invitation Script Brushes.

Made this using the Invitation Script brush, which I use on just about everything I letter.

And last but not the least, Procreate Brushes and Foil Textures by Summit Avenue - I bought this because of the textures, primarily. The brushes were an added bonus because I also use them often. I've downloaded my share of foil textures but have found none that I really like, until I stumbled upon these. The unicorn textures are absolutely adorable.

I don't have any projects saved on my laptop using these brushes or textures, so I'll just leave this here.

So, that's it. I'm really contented with the brushes that I have and because of that (also in an effort to save money), I stopped searching for and looking at any more brushes. I feel like I don't need any much more anyway, except maybe when it's free. Then hells yeah, I'm definitely gonna get it.
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , ,

Free Procreate Brushes Compilation Part 3


Here's the third (and final) list of free Procreate brushes I compiled.

I have a few more saved on my laptop, but I couldn't find the links to them (I'll keep trying, though). Some are now for sale, so I excluded them here.

I'm always on the lookout for more free brushes, though. 

Again, I included the social media profiles of the creators, so maybe tag them or credit them when you use their brushes!

Enjoy!


By Callie Hegstrom | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Southern Belle Brush
Brush Lettering Guide
Autumn Harvest Stock Photos
Beachy Dreams Color Palette
Sand and Surf Color Palette

By Chelle Perea | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Brush Pen
Mono
Also, her Skillshare class comes with free drills.

By Fabian Fischer | Facebook | Instagram
Brush Set

By _Kym (Couldn’t find a link to her profile)
Cosmic Swatches
Nebula Brushes

By LePunktNoir | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Worksheets and Brush

By Lettie Blue
Check out her classes on Skillshare. I’m not sure which ones have free brushes, but this one has some freebies.

By Mandy Grimm | Instagram
Grim Print
Grim Print Lettering
And for those who stumbled upon this blog by chance (and not from the group), check out her FB Group for all things lettering and sweary stuff.

By Merrie Moore | Facebook | Instagram | Skillshare
Also check out her Skillshare classes, some have free stuff. Like this one.
Candy Cane
Chain
Christmas Lights
Confetti
Glitter Spray
Grunge 1
Grunge 2
Grunge 3
Halloween Ghost
Halloween Pumpkin
Slinky
Snowman
Starry Night
Whimsical Tree
Background Freebies (JPEG)

By Peggy Dean | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Brush Pen
Monoline
Practice Sheets

By PicByKate | Facebook | Instagram
Basic Shapes
Frames
Free Brushes
It’s in the Stars

By Pixel Surplus (You need to subscribe download.) | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Custom Brush Set
Free Brush Pack
Lettering Brush Duo
They’ve got tons of font freebies, too!

By SaulDraws | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Color Swatch
Free Brushes

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, May 21, 2018

Free Procreate Brushes Compilation Part 2

So I was baking banana cupcakes, and while waiting I decided to move on to part 2. 

Note that while I have all these brushes on my iPad, I haven't used all of them. I tend to try out a few, and stick with the ones that I liked. I just keep the others just in case I ever need them. So I'm sorry, I can't include descriptions to help make it easier for you to choose which brushes you should download. Me, I just tend to download everything, try them, and delete the ones I don't like. What do I have to lose? The files are small and easy to download, and they're free! LOL

Plus whenever I see free brushes, I just grab the opportunity to download it for free, because some are just free for a limited time only.

I have more to list, so a part 3 is coming up. But it's almost 2AM here and I gotta get some shut eye.

Again, enjoy! =)

Effects Texture 2
Geometric Pattern Fills 1
Polaroid Stamp


Her free brushes are her Smudge and Eraser Procreate Brushes.

I swear, most of my brushes come from her!

Printable Lined Worksheets
(These are in JPEG, but if you’re using Procreate you can import it to the app as a photo.)

Serif Hand Lettering Worksheet (Includes a fine point marker brush)

So far all her brushes are free as of posting. These include Butter Toast, Cardboard, Fire and Ice, and Straw Hat.

For those who are on Skillshare, Ms. Peever teaches a class called Flourishing on the iPad that comes with 12 brushes.

Just click on Procreate Brushes and scroll through.
As of this posting, her free brushes are Calligraphy Crayon, Curling Ribbon, Flicks, Grid, Halloween Decorations, Ombre, and Streaker.

By Mike West (Couldn’t find any link to his profile)
Wrigley


Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Free Procreate Brushes Compilation Part 1

Everyone who know me know I love free stuff, so when I started learning calligraphy on Procreate, the first thing I did was look for free brushes online. I have people asking me where I get my brushes but I can only answer them with a vague “I Google them” so I decided to dump everything in here.

Note that while all these brushes are free as of posting, the creators might change their mind and charge for them so don’t hate on me if my links take you to a paid site or a Dropbox link that won’t work anymore.

Also, give credit where credit is due. I tried making a few of my own brushes and they never turn out good, so a round of applause to all these people who have the knowledge and patience to keep making these cool brushes and let us mere mortals use them for free.

I have to post these in parts because I'm not yet done compiling them. Yes, there's a lot of brushes. 

So... Enjoy! =)





Color Swatches for Procreate


Glitter Overlay - PNG File








You have to sign up to their newsletter to get these brushes:




Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , ,

Blog hiatus

Wow, so my last blog was some time last year. 

Took a long hiatus from blogging, which just basically meant I was too lazy to do so.

So, let me catch you up.

My days are practically the same - work, chores, and just life in general. I'm pretty much a boring person.

But I started learning calligraphy. Started with the usual brush pens - didn't take me long to realize that I suck and no matter how much practice I get, I'm always going to suck.

So I switched to digital calligraphy, gave my old iPad Mini to my Mom (sold her old iPad), got me an iPad Pro (just the 9.7 one coz it's the cheapest), an Apple Pencil, the Procreate app.. And them BOOM. I am a lettering goddess. LOL NO. I'm kidding. but hot damn the streamline feature is awesome because it makes my writing look so much better that it really is.

I've been practicing for about a few months now, and I see a little progress.

Hopefully by the time the Boyf and I get married, I'll be good enough to make my own invites. =)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Friday, October 27, 2017

Making the transition from Apple to Android

I was an Apple iPhone user for only about 4 years or so, but I honestly cannot remember the time when I was using an Android phone. It certainly felt like I've been using iPhones forever.

My first smartphone was a Samsung Galaxy W. I recall it fondly, because what I really wanted the S2 but it was way too expensive and so out of my budget so I settled for a cheaper one.

It lasted a couple of years, and when it finally broke I went back to using a basic keypad phone that basically had no other functions than call and text. I didn't mind, for at this point I already had an iPad and that's what I used for light internet usage.

When Yolanda happened and I was left with no phone and no tablet, I then bought a cheap Cherry Mobile android phone. It served me well for a few months, and while it was a good phone, I never really liked it much. The battery was crap, it overheats fast, the camera stinks, and while it was quad-core, the phone slowed down after I installed basic apps.

So then I switched to Apple.

Getting an iPhone wasn't an intentional decision, though. Having owned an iPod and an iPad for years, I was used to an Apple OS but I find them to be very expensive (and I still do). But a family friend was selling his months-old iPhone 5 and I bought it at a bargain price. I upgraded to a 6 then a 6S later on.

And that was when my love for Apple started.

I find iPhones to be more user friendly than Android phones. I know there are plenty of iPhone users who buy it for the status, but I chose it for it's functionality. The Boyfriend is a Samsung guy all the way, and we've had plenty of debate regarding the two.

I really thought I'm going to be an iPhone user for life.

Then iPhone 7 came out. And *gasp* there was no headphone jack!

For me, Spotify is life. I pay for a premium account because I want to be able to hear music whenever, wherever. I get bored easily and music helps me pass time. I have my headphones on when running errands. I listen to music while doing chores.

Sure, Apple introduced the Airpods, but for someone as forgeful as I am, it'll only be a matter of time before I lose one or both of them. And I'm certainly not going to shell out a bunch of money for me to lose them again.

Then Samsung announced the S8.

And oh my Godric Gryffindor, it was love at first sight. I'm no techie but even I know how to understand basic phone specs. And the camera, oh my. *fans myself* As someone who takes a great deal pf pictures, damn the camers is heaven. I can count my pores when I take a really close up selfie.

Then an upgrade for iOs 11 came out.

My iPhone friends upgraded, and their feedbacks were all positive so I did, too. But for the life of me I never really like iOs 11. I can't point a finger as to why, just that I didn't like it.

When I finally decided to ditch my iPhone, I was faced with another indecision when Samsung announced the Note 8. Took me a while to decide but I finally settled on the S8.

There was a brief adjustment period, but ultimately no regrets!

I love how I can download Torrents directly to my phone, how easy it is to customize my phone's look according to my preferences, how I can use my own ringtones, and how easy it is for me to transfer movies to my phone without having to go through the process of formatting the videos so it can play on my phone.

And the best part: expandable memory.

There are a couple of things I hated about Samsung, though. First, the emojis. And I cannot stress that strongly enough. Samsung's emojis are fucking ugly and I hate that I can't change them without root. Second, I miss the recently deleted folder on the iPhone.

I've been using the S8 for 10 days now and so far I'm really loving it! 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, September 8, 2017

midlife midlife crisis

Or as everybody calls it, the Quarter-Life Crisis.

I prefer to call it my midlife-midlife crisis, though. Has a nice ring to it.

Feeling a lot of this lately, but it really hit me bad yesterday. I've been stressed AF with all that's been going on, and then my Mom and I had a big blow up over something so small when she effin' overreacted.

Now, I don't have the best relationship with my Mom. I don't know if it's because we're too much alike or too much different, but small arguments could turn into big fights in a blink of an eye. I love her, that was never in doubt. I just don't like spending too much alone time with her because she gets on my nerve.

That was the last straw. And everything just sort of came crashing down on me. I felt like I was having a breakdown, so I went to the church for a little alone time at the Adoremus. 

There are so many things going on to people everywhere, and my problems are nothing compared to those of others', but why do I feel as if I'm bearing the weight of the world on my shoulders?

I have parents who gave me nothing but the best, a boyfriend that I find annoying at times but loves me very much, a best friend I don't always see but can always rely on, and friends who always have my back. I live a good life; I have a business that's not making me a lot of money but is doing great;and by the grace of God we have another one opening up soon. 

By all intents and purposes, I shouldn't be feeling so down. I have so much more than what other people have, and I should be thankful. And I am. I am thankful.

I just want to be happy. Not the I-have-everything-I-want happy, but that my-life-is-shit-but-tomorrow-is-a-new-day-and-it-will-get-better happy. The kind of happy where the world may end tomorrow and I'll face it with a smile because I'm contented with the way I lived my life.

I just want to be at peace. The kind of peace where I know in my heart that whatever obstacle life throws my way, I can get pass it because God is always with me. The kind of peace where just let go, and let God. My faith is strong, but just like everyone else's, it wavers at the most difficult times.

I want to feel fine and stop being a bitch. I want to stop being cranky and snapping at people. I just want to be okay,

And just how sweet my is my BFF? 
She sent me chocolates to cheer me up. ♥

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Saturday, June 3, 2017

adulting

2 days ago, the Boyfriend and I signed a lease contract with Robinsons Malls.

I've been working for our family business since I was a kid (those Asian memes where a 7 year old child tending to a cash register at a family owned store are true), I've been a nurse (albeit only for a short while), I've tried my hand at being a baker, I've worked at a bank, started my own business.. But this? This made me feel like I'm finally transitioning into the actual adulting phase of my life.

I don't know why. Maybe because I think it's a big deal to be signing with a big, national corporation. Maybe because this feels like legit grown up stuff. Maybe because I'm ready to take on more responsibilities than what I actually have on now.

Whatever it is, I'm excited to see what possibilities the future holds.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

looking for something?