Michi Photostory

Anyway, before the year 2024 ended, I reflected on how my year went, and even though there were sad moments, overall, I am thankful for 2024. 

1. I am thankful for God’s provision for our construction, home, medical, funeral and travel expenses. I had no idea na magastos pala magpagawa ng bahay, to think home improvement lang ito pero feeling ko bumili na kami ng bahay sa laki ng gastos. Yes, kapresyo na ng nauna naming bahay yung expenses namin. Grabe lang sa inflation. Nakakapagod at masakit sa bulsa maglipat ng bahay, we purchased new appliances and furniture kasi to match our new house.

My mother-in-law passed away last May and before that, pabalik-balik siya ng hospital hanggang sa naggive-up na talaga ang katawan, We all know, magastos mahospital sa Pilipinas. 

With all of these expenses, I thought we could no longer travel so I am really thankful because we were able to travel pa and I just realized, majority pala ng travel trips namin, hindi ko pa naibablog. We’ve been to different resorts, hotels, Bohol, and Melbourne. 

2. I’m thankful because this year, we had more family get-togethers. When my father passed away, it was the only time that we reconnected with his family. After two decades, it was our first time to attend the annual family reunion last January 2024 (father’s side). Imagine, 23 years have passed and a lot has changed. Ang konti na lang namin sa reunion, marami na nawala at mayroon na rin nagmigrate sa ibang bansa. We also attended my uncle’s 90th birthday. 

Last March, we had our first family outing sa side ni hubby but sad to say, yun na rin pala yung last outing with my mother-in-law. 

My mom and aunt went home last summer and we had a family get-together too. And that time mas complete kami. 

Since we already moved to our new home, I was able to invite my family, college, and mommy friends to our new house for a get-together. 

3. I’m thankful that my husband has still work, nagtanggalan na naman kasi sa company niya. I’m thankful that my son was part of the overall top last school year and became an officer of their Student Council. 

4. And lastly, I am thankful because I already have my own craft room. It may be small but I am glad I can craft whenever I want. Hindi ko na iisipin kung may telecon ba si hubby because I have my own space na. 

I was thankful that I became part of Bee Happy Crafts Guest Ambassador Quarter 2. And sa dami ng sinalihan ko na challenges and contest, may napanalunan naman ako. Yey! 

Sharing our food trip and travel trip in the year 2024 

Wow, first day of the year and may blog entry ako. Baka sipagin na ulit ako magblog kung magstart ako ng January 1. Hehehe! 

As I looked back, I felt happy and relax this past holiday, feeling ko hindi ako stress ngayon compared sa ibang holidays. Maybe because, maaga ko bumili ng gifts and even yung mga handmade gifts ko, hindi naman ako nastress sa paggawa. I did not cook this holiday, nag-order lang ako food and bumili ng potluck. We did not travel except for our Christmas Staycation in Pampanga. Surprisngly, hindi kami natraffic sa biyahe kahit holiday siya. 

And for our New Year Eve’s celebration , my husband was the one who prepared for it. Simple dinner lang naman since ayaw namin ng maraming leftover. My only contribution is my New Year Photo Props. Gumawa ako ng props para hindi ko makalimutan magpicture. Last year, wala kaming picture.

The New Year Sunglasses are from SVG Nation and the 2025 is from the Printable Cuttable Creatables website.

I have already shared this Christmas Teddy Bear. I like this Male Christmas Teddy Bear too so I used it to design this simple square box. This is the box that I used for my Christmas Ornament Gift.

This Snowman Treat Box SVG file is from Main Road Digital Creations. It can fit 8 pieces of nuggets but in the end, I put 16 pieces of Hershey’s Nuggets. 

Christmas is over, but I will share my last-minute craft project before our family get-together. After 5 years, we hosted our Christmas get-together again. If I remember it right, 2018 yung last party namin sa bahay. This year, we moved to our new home so we have more space na so my husband decided na sa bahay na lang ulit.

So aside from food, I prepared some games and of course prizes. And para happy ang lahat, I made these Christmas Chip Bag Treats for consolation prizes. Last year, I made the Halloween Chip Bag Treats so now, Christmas version naman. 

I used the same chip bag template so drag and drop lang ng design. For the image, I used the following graphics of Keithzo. 

I printed the design on photo paper and assembled the chip bag using double-sided tape, pinking shears, and a paper crimper. This is a small chip bag so I can only put 7 pieces of chocolates and marshmallows. 

Last month, Laura of Gilded Stork had a “Craft a Card Stash Challenge.” I like this challenge because I can use my paper scraps. There were five projects, but I only finished three designs. 

I made this Christmas Star Postage Stamp Card after I made the Christmas Star Bunting. I tweaked the design so I could use different colors. 

A few weeks ago, I made this Deck the Halls Card. This was my entry for Bee Happy Weeklies Week 49: Garland. Mini garland sa stairs. I added the Happy Holidays phrase from the Merry Christmas Nordic Bundle. 

This week, I made my last Christmas card project for this year. I like this Christmas Gift Card so I submitted this as one of my entries for Bee Happy Weeklies Week 50: Greeting Card.

This is supposed to be an insert card but I changed it to draw so I can color. 

This Silly Santa Card is so cute so I immediately cut the design. 

Honestly, I don’t really give gift cards but I still cut this design so I can use my scrap paper.

It was a 12-day challenge, but we only submitted 9 craft projects because on Days 6, 11, and 12, we only needed to submit collage photos of our entries. I am sharing the different craft projects that I finished.

The first-day challenge was Christmas Stickers, so I searched my files and found this Christmas Stamps Bundle. I uploaded all the designs to Cricut Designs Space and cut them. I printed the designs using glossy, holographic, and holographic rainbow sticker paper.

When I saw the second-day challenge, I realized that I don’t have Christmas plans yet and I don’t know if we will stay in the house or I will book somewhere. But one thing is for sure, I won’t cook so if ever we celebrate at our house, I will just order food at Alba’s since my son likes lengua estofado.

I used the Snowman Placement Card design from Dreaming Tree. This is an easy project, I just printed and cut the labels and the rest of the elements, I cut using cardstock. 

The third-day challenge was a bit challenging because I wanted this 3D Silent Night Design but this is for a shadow box so it took me a long time to figure out how to change the design to a rectangle. I checked YouTube for some tutorials pero puro circles lang ang meron. 

After so many trials and errors, I was so happy when I finished it because I learned something new. 

Among the 9 craft projects that I finished, this is my favorite. The gift tags look simple but it took me a long time to finish them because there are so many processes involved. First, I designed my gift tags using Cute Christmas Nativity Clipart and Silent Christmas Watercolor Set. I printed, die-cut and embossed all the designs. 

Next, I die-cut gift tags using cardstock. To match the design, I make my own background using Distress Oxides and Miya Himi Metallic Gouache. Lastly, I assembled the pieces together. 

For the past few years, I have always seen this 3D Angel Tree Topper, but I was scared to try this project because I think the design is too intricate, and I have a love-hate relationship with my white cardstock. 

So I'm thankful for this challenge because I finally made this. I used glitter cardstock and white shimmer cardstock. I'm so happy kasi walang nasirang cardstock. hehehe! It is so easy to cut and assemble pala, pinatagal ko pang gawin. The design is from Jennifer Maker. 

My next favorite is this Christmas Money Envelope because I finally used the embossing folder I ordered last August. The money envelope template is from The Bearded Housewife. Instead of using patterned paper, I cut the template using white cardstock, embossed the paper and colored the pieces using lunar paste. 

When I saw the challenge, I told my husband that I needed to go to the mall tomorrow because I would buy a white mug. I wanted a certain design and I needed a plain white mug. But when I woke up, I changed my mind and convinced myself to use whatever materials and supplies I had at home. 

So for my Christmas Mug Decals, I used this Christmas Gnome Clipart I purchased three years ago. I just printed all the designs using a glossy sticker sheet. A simple print-then-cut project. 

Sometimes we get so busy preparing for the holidays that we forget the real reason for this season. Cliche as it may sound we all know that “Jesus is the real reason for this season”. I made this Happy Birthday Jesus cake topper for my Christmas Cake Topper this year. 

The Baby Jesus Design is from Craft with Sarah and I just added the Happy Birthday Phrase. Font is Pretty Summer. 

I remember last year that I only used stickers for my Christmas shirt entry but after that challenge, I already purchased Light Fabric Transfer Taper. My material is already one year old so I was crossing my fingers that I can use it. Fortunately, I was able to make my own Christmas Family Reunion Shirt.

12 Days to go before Christmas, are you ready? Me? I’m Fine, This is Fine, Everything is Fine. 

I used Christmas Gnomes Tangled Lights last year so this time, I used Funny Christmas Skeleton Halloween and I’m Fine, This is Fine, Everything is Fine SVG.