I’m hoping to get another blog post in this week (fingers, toes, and eyes crossed). In the meantime, follow my sketch blog on Tumblr: http://wedgienet.tumblr.com

In a nutshell, Charice is a singing sensation from the Philippines. When she was 7 years old, she started joining small singing contests so they can have food on their table. She joined an estimated 80+ singing contests and won most of them. Then when she was fifteen, she was invited to sing on a Korean TV show and the video of that performance generated millions of hits until Ellen Degeneres called (watch the video of that powerful, jawdropping performance here). Charice flew to America for the first time to sing on Ellen and received the first two standing ovations of her life. THEN Oprah Winfrey called. Charice sang on Oprah, blew the roof off of Harpo studios, and Oprah was so impressed with Charice that when Charice was on a plane about to take off for the Philippines, Oprah actually STOPPED the plane to bring her back to her office. Charice, with Oprah’s help, has since sung or performed with Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Michael Buble, and Josh Groban, among others. Charice has been on Oprah THREE times and a FOURTH appearance is coming up on Tuesday, MAY 11th (with current hot topic Justin Bieber), to release her self-titled international debut album. Not bad for a little barrio girl from a third-world country who used to sing for her supper!

If I were to show someone who has never heard of Charice just ONE video of her singing, this would be it. Please indulge me and watch. You’re still reading this, anyway. Charice was sixteen years old in this video (she’ll be eighteen by the time you read this– May 10th (tomorrow) is her birthday):

Those who know me in real life are probably as surprised as I was when I became a huge, huge fan of Charice last year. I have never in my life been a “fan” of any celebrity and a singer at that! I don’t even consider myself a music lover. So it was a huge surprise for me when I “discovered” Charice and got so “addicted” that I would spend the whole night and the whole day watching videos of her singing on YouTube. As in literally the entire day, I would be on YouTube watching Charice videos.  The first few months into the “fandom”, I spent more time on YouTube than I have for all the years YouTube has been in existence. It was so unlike me. (Fortunately, I don’t go on YouTube as much anymore. The comments are so idiotic and also, I’ve run out of Charice vids to watch as I’ve watched them all)

How big of a fan am I, exactly? Well, I have all her music. Since July of last year I’ve watched all her new videos that come out on YouTube.  I read all articles and news about her. I go to her concerts and gigs whenever I can. I’ve met her in person. I visit fan sites , chat with other fans, and I help out as moderator on one of her fan forums. My being a fan has actually come to the point where I MAKE FAN ART FOR HER.

See, I told you this was design-related.

Lying awake in bed the first night after I “discovered” her, incredulous from the realization that I, formerly a practical, sane, level-headed person, was turning into a fan(atic), I was thinking I wanted to help her by designing her official or fan-made website. I woke up the next day, went online, and saw she already had an official website manned by her record label (and well-designed at that) and dozens of other fan sites. So scratch that, let’s make fan art instead.

Making fan art is actually a great way for me to merge two of my interests together: Charice and design. It’s a chance to promote Charice, flex my design muscles, and have fun all at the same time.

This is my most recent Charice fan art (see my other fan art here). Charice appreciates it and told me she’s going to use it as her wallpaper. And you can, too.
Download 1440 x 900 | 1600 x 1200

Also watch the sped-up video of how I put this together.

Charice is an amazing artist and an awesome person to boot. You may already be hearing her song PYRAMID feat. Iyaz on the radio. If you haven’t yet (which cave are you living in?), you will soon. Her debut album comes out in stores and online on May 11th– same day as her Oprah guesting. She’ll also be on QVC on May 11th (8 pm), performing LIVE with her mentor, legendary music producer David Foster, so be sure to tune in and call in to order her CD.

For more of Charice, you can visit the following:
YouTube – http://youtube.com/user/charice
Myspace – http://www.myspace.com/charice
Twitter – http://twitter.com/officialcharice
Official website – http://charicemusic.com

Photography by Punchdrunk Panda

My very own pair of skimmers arrived last week.

Yes, I’m a size 7. *hint, hint*

I love them– they’re super comfy! I used them for the first time out today (because I’ve been wearing them around the house) when I went to church and had dinner out afterwards. I’m tickled pink by the fact that I’m wearing one of my own illustrations.

You can order your own pair of skimmers online from Punchdrunk Panda’s Multiply site. Check out their other skimmer designs (I love the blue and orange origami design as well) and products! Make sure to sign up for their mailing list so you get a discount off every purchase. The skimmers are also available at Analog Soul stores (Trinoma and Archeology in Rockwell).

On display at the store window of Analog Soul, Trinoma

Thanks Jen and Gail! You girls rock!

Punchdrunk Panda
Multiply: http://punchdrunkpanda.multiply.com
Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Punchdrunk-Panda/53197316806?ref=ts
Twitter: http://twitter.com/punchdrunkinc

Last year, I was introduced to Re-ment figures by way of Cla’s Flickr photostream. They’re miniature plastic toys sold by a Japanese company called Re-ment in blind boxes (you won’t know what you’re going to get until you open the box). They’re available mostly in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and a few other Asian countries. I got my first few boxes last year, courtesy of globe-trotting friends (hi Kate, Gail) who brought them back to me from their travels.

This was my first set of minis coming from five blind boxes. Most of those are no bigger than a coin, and those little Oreo cookies inside the box are no bigger than the fingernail on my pinkie! Check out the detail; it’s amazing.

I thought I was content with just those figures above, but my friends kept adding a few more boxes to my collection. Also, when my family and I traveled to Macau last January, I kept my eyes peeled for a couple more boxes of Re-ment miniatures. We were three days into the trip when I finally spotted them:

Here are some of the Re-ment sets I’ve acquired recently:

Re-ment partnered with Disney to produce Disney-themed miniatures. My friend gave me a Stitch set knowing how huge a fan I am of Lilo and Stitch. I went through a phase when I watched the movie on DVD every single day for a few months.

I like this chemistry set– very unique as most miniature sets are often food-related.

I bought this in Macau. I am not a fan of Hello Kitty but I bought it anyway as I didn’t find a wide range of Re-ment boxes to choose from while I was there. Nevertheless, this is one of my favorite sets because of the “animated” syrup suspended in mid-air!

Another Stitch set I got in Macau. I’m not too crazy about this one but the Scrump doll straw is adorable!

The cupcakes from the first Stitch set above. I love these! Don’t they remind you of my Cupcake Bears?

I love Re-ment minis! I get asked what I do with them and my answer is, “Nothing!” I just like taking them out every now and then and looking at/playing with them. Sometimes certain pieces make their way onto my product shots on my shop. But that’s really just an excuse for me to acquire more. In a way, I’m glad they’re not readily available here in the Philippines, or else I’d lose a fortune buying them!

Anyone on Tumblr? I don’t know how long I can keep this up as I have too many online accounts, but I have a sketch blog/dump on Tumblr. Follow me!

I’ve just returned from almost a week-long vacation in Macau (which was wonderful) with my family. I have to ease out of my extended vacation mode fast… as I START A NEW FULLTIME JOB TOMORROW. It’s totally unexpected and this job offer just came out of the blue, when I wasn’t even looking for a job. Remember my article How I Quit My Job to Follow My Dream? Saying yes to a fulltime job seems contradictory after everything I’ve said, but I said yes to the job after finding out it’s not as much of a 15-18 hours/day time-suck like my previous job (where all my free time was spent catching up on sleep) so that means I still have time to maintain my Etsy shop on the side.

Memo pads and to do lists available on Notebooks, Etc.

I may have to let go of my freelance design/illustration projects in the meantime, but nothing’s set in stone yet. For now I’m turning down freelance projects until April 2010 to get a feel of how I can balance a fulltime job and my Etsy shop.

I still have a backlog of new things and recent projects to post– I’m looking to churn out another post in a week or so!

Our booth setup

The bazaar was well-organized with various activities like a dog show, fire dance, an impersonator show, a fun run, and all other things I didn’t get to see/attend– we were busy attending to our booth as we had a good amount of people buying Christmas gifts from us! I didn’t even get to go around much to visit the other booths, all of which selling unique items unlike some bazaars which tend to have just clothes and not much else.

For those coming to this website from one of the cards we handed out, thank you for dropping by and/or buying from us! For Notebooks, Etc. (handmade notebooks, illustrated tumblers, memo pads/to do lists, and button pins), our items are available at our local reseller’s Multiply site, The Fundamentals: http://thefundamentals.multiply.com.

I’ll also be uploading/listing a few new items to the shop (both on Multiply and on Etsy, our online store for international customers) within the next week including a new batch of notepads fresh off the press (literally– we got them from the printing press the day of the bazaar) so watch out for that.

* * *

For those interested in King Beans Coffee (short name: King’s Coffee), our Batangas-sourced Barako/Liberica coffee, check out this Multiply album for details on how to order. We’re accepting local orders and we are looking to have a proper website created for King’s Coffee hopefully in the first quarter of 2010. Stay tuned!

Second, Notebooks, Etc. and King’s Coffee will be at the Zonta Christmas Carnivale bazaar on December 5 and 6!

We’ll be selling our handmade paper goods and Barako coffee. For all the Southeners in the area, come check us out! I’ve temporarily closed my Etsy shop in preparation for the bazaar. We will reopen after December 6. Thank you!

Aside from the Save the Date wedding e-card, I also designed my cousin’s wedding invitations. They didn’t want anything overly-girly and invites that were too formal-looking (embossed Bickham/Edwardian Script fonts, anyone?) , so this is what I came up with.

Due to restrictions on invitation printing, I was allowed only two colors to work with– dark brown and orange. The plant motif on the side is a modified free Photoshop brush/vector image. The invitations were printed for free by one of the bridesmaids whose family owns a printing press. Don’t you just love free stuff! It came out like this:

The invites came in this envelope bound by a satin ribbon with the wedding seal (which I also designed). The wedding’s color motif is green and orange.

Inside, the envelope expands to reveal the wedding details and a pocket containing the entourage list, map, and RSVP info.

Here’s a close up of the wedding logo/seal I designed which was used for various wedding collaterals like souvenir gift tags and wine labels.

The table setting with a wine bottle providing the table number.

The wedding seal and plant/foliage used on the wedding invitations also made their way to the couple’s photobooth pictures. They rented out an instant photobooth for the night where you can have your pictures printed out right on the spot.

My cousins and I (left, in orange dress) goofing off at the photobooth. Pose and Print also printed a large tarpaulin backdrop with my wedding logo design for the background.

Last but not least, I also made a five-minute audio-visual presentation (AVP) with the couple’s pictures which was played at the reception. Some screencaps:

The wedding was a big success. Every little thing was planned and coordinated down to the littlest detail which made for a truly beautiful celebration. Congratulations to Roxanne and Rudolph!

Rudolph and Roxanne – November 8, 2009
Photographed by Atty. Raymond Fortun – http://raymond42n.multiply.com

]]> http://www.wedgienet.net/weblog/silva-torres-nuptials/feed/ 5 http://www.wedgienet.net/weblog/wedgienet-studio-tour/ http://www.wedgienet.net/weblog/wedgienet-studio-tour/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:21:31 +0000 Reg http://www.wedgienet.net/?p=1403 I’m back from my cousin’s wedding weekend! Before I share the stuff I designed for their wedding though (I’ll save that for my next post), I first have to tell you that CJ from Missy Posh has a Q&A feature on me up on her blog! Check it out.

CJ also asked to take a peek at my studio/work area for her readers. Now remember the bazaar I joined last September? To tell you the truth, I hadn’t cleaned up the studio since! I had strips of paper lying around, stray spiral coils on the floor, supplies unceremoniously dumped on my table. You can’t see what color the tabletop is anymore, seriously.

Well, my cousin was coming over our house to work on last-minute wedding details and CJ needed pictures of the studio so I set to work cleaning and straightening up the studio. I have a couple of pictures up on my Q&A interview but I don’t want to have my clean-up effort go to waste so I’m posting the other pics here. This clean state may not last long as I have another bazaar coming up in December to mess up the place again.

My work table – this is where computer stuff gets done. My laptop, drawing tablet, printer, and DIY lightbox (that white box thing at the end).

This just might be my most prized material possession– my 15″ Macbook Pro. It’s two years old and I bought it myself with my own salary back when I was still working a toxic day job. Below it is my month-old Wacom Intuos 4 drawing tablet, given by someone (who doesn’t want to be named) as an advanced gift for me on my birthday (I turned twenty-something last week).

My craft table. I cut, fold, trim, glue, assemble on this table. On it is my guillotine paper trimmer, bundles of paper for my notebooks awaiting covers, and a couple of pencil holders. Behind it is a drafting table and a green supply cabinet plastered with pictures of Ryan Philippe, Prince William, and various magazine cutouts– relics from my teenage days.

None of us in my family are engineers or architects but my dad likes to have various, useless furniture made and this drafting table is among the rare pieces he had done which we actually have a use for. Its surface covered with a huge cutting mat, this is where I cut large sheets of bristol board into smaller pieces for my notebook covers. The table’s downward slope also makes it an ideal place to work my slide punch (left). The contraption on the right is my wire binding equipment.

A peek inside the green supply cabinet. Some of my papers, packaging supplies, and art materials. Hanging from the door is my small collection of kawaii Japanese/Korean erasers.

Various kawaii erasers shaped like food. Looks good enough to eat!

One of my cabinet shelves. This one has various art supplies from blocks of polymer clay (bottom left) to padding glue, markers, paint, paint trays, brushes…

An orange candy can on my craft table doubles as a pencil holder… so does my Donuts tumbler which holds my scissors and paintbrushes. Behind it is a stuffed dog named Whitey hanging out on the couch.

Thank you CJ for the Q&A opportunity! :) Looking for more artist workspaces? I’m always interested to see how other artists work. Check out Workspaces on ShareSomeCandy for design/creative inspiration and major eye candy!