Mid week scrap post......

I have a love and hate relationship with the "on call" part of my job. Love because when they don't need me, that's an extra day that I get off and hate because when they do need me, I'm a little disappointed that I have to scrap all my plans for that night. Anyways last night's on call shift was a bust so that meant that I had an extra night off. Woohoo!!! and you can easily bet that I headed straight to my scrap space as soon as the kids were in bed. Here's what I made.....

My Night Job
-pulled out for publication-

this is a page about my experiences in Charlotte Russe, my first retail job after staying home for a few years with my kids. I kept my lanyard and used it for decoration and to house my journaling.

pulled out for publication-

I used some fun papers from the Just Chillin line of Making Memories. Love the fun colors of it. The lined paper was the perfect one to use for my handwritten journaling.

-pulled out for publication-

I sewn in the lanyard, cut out some butterflies from the same paper line and sprayed it with glimmer mist for some added shine. I made blocks with decorative edges from the pattern paper and sewn around it to mimic fabric which emphasized my fashion and retail story.

The "SHOP"

This page is a documentation of where my hubby works.


I used some fun white out We R Memory Keepers papers. Love the designs on these lines.


I concentrated on the historical parts of the business like when it started, when they changed ownership and when they started their own tool. Things and important informations that I want my kids to know.


The red title wasn't popping out too well with the background so I washed the paper out a little with some white paint.

Happy Father's day card

Father's day is in a couple of weeks so I thought it's about time I get some cards going here. This was inspired by the latest sketch (119) over at CPS blog. Love their sketches!


I used my latest Studio G stamps (the dollar acrylic ones found at Michael's and Joanns). I stamped it with blue then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I'm so happy that I can finally say that I know how to heat emboss. For the longest time, I kept on messing this technique up.


I heat emboss the title of the card too and added it onto the middle of the chipboard circle with some pop up dots.

[Good luck] card

this one was made for the Be Inspired #35 challenge over at the Cuttlebug blog. This week's challenge was to use basic grey products. I was into the challenge because I haven't used any of my BG stuff in a while and now was the perfect time to bust them out.


I used the elegant Ambrosia line. Added a silver cardstock embossed with the swiss dot template and finished it off with a rubon sentiment.

So that's it, hope you're having a great day and week.

Till next time,
Grace

what a weekend.......

I sure didn't realize that you can cram so much activities in one weekend but this past one sure showed me!

Saturday....
I went to work
Went home to have a late lunch with family
Off to Lowe's to get paint and floor supplies for the kitchen
Talked with my sister Gem on the phone
Attended a baptism
Went to Scrapbook store to use a coupon about to expire
Got a haircut
Went to Arbys for dinner
Got the kids ready for bed and did dishes
Colored my hair
Checked my email
Helped paint the kitchen walls
Finally hitting the hay at midnight

Sunday.....
Early church meeting
Attend Church services
Clean the house
Fed the kids lunch
Cat nap
Mom and Dad visits
Home teachers visits
Make Calico beans and chocolate cake (in the crockpot) for dinner
Had Amanda and Grandma for dinner
Did dishes
Cleaned up scrap space
Go online

Here's some of my fave pics this weekend....

Here's my dear hubby getting the walls ready with a primer.


Picked up the wall paint at Lowe's. We're going with yellow walls. I'm a little afraid at how bright the yellow will look but I think it'll all work out.


A new do for me. I was getting tired of putting my hair in a pony tail day in and day out.


took this photo of the Maddie just before we left for Church. See the yellow wall? What do you think? Oh and her outfit came from the Philippines. My dad went there a week ago and he came home with some gifts for us. This is the dress he got for Maddie. She looks darling in it!


Of course I can't pass up a new photo of Marcus too. He's almost done with Kindergarten and I'm still in shock!


and finally my fave shirt right now. It says "Filipina since birth". My dad got us all some fun shirts when he was in the Philippines and this is what I got. I LOVE it!

How was your weekend? Hopefully you had a great one and with more downtime than I did.

Till next time,
Grace

Be Creative week day 6 and 7

Wow what a day! Another day of totally blowing off all my plans to come in here and finish off our fun Creative week. So sorry. But I did have great excuses of not being able to log on. I had church all morning. From now on I have to wake up at 6:45 am so I can make a 7:30 am meeting. Let's see how long I can keep up with that.
After church, I cleaned up the house then took a cat nap only to be awaken cause Mom and Dad came to visit. Then our home teachers came; then we got a call from Amanda (our daughter who's in the military) that she's arrived in California today. She took a leave to come visit cause she's having a birthday this month. There was seriously no downtime ALL day. But it was all great, got to go to church, saw my parents, visiting with home teachers and got to visit with Amanda. All good!

Anyways, onto our final creative assignment. I wanted to post this one on a weekend since it was a great excuse to get out and have fun with your family but since the weekend flew by so fast, maybe you can file this one in the "soon to do" file.

This exercise is a pretty easy one. All you'll need is your family, a great activity or place to visit and your camera. The weather this time of the year is the perfect one to get out there and enjoy the scenery. Here's some samples of my pictures I took last summer....

one with a water theme. Took this one in our local water fountain by the library.


one at the park while Maddie's enjoying a slice of apple. This was actually two summers ago. Wow I can't believe how much she's grown compared to this photo.


don't forget to include yourself in the photos. You're part of the activity to make sure you document that as well. You can hold the camera yourself and make a weird pose like I did on the picture above or...


hand the camera to somebody else. My son took this photo on our trip to San Diego. Look at me with all my hiking gear!

You can even take this experiment and give your least expensive camera to your kids and let them explore with it. You'll get a different perspective plus it'll be a cute theme to scrap. Here's a digital page that was published in the Scrapbook Trends magazine (March 2009 issue) of my son having a little fun with the camera.



So there you have it, I hope you had fun playing along with our creative week. Tomorrow I'll compile all the comments from all the Be creative post and pick a random winner. If you've been reading the posts but have not yet commented you still have a chance. There's a nice pack of scrapbook supplies set aside for a lucky winner.

Till next time,
Grace

WHAT?!?!

what??? no "Be Creative" week day 6 post!!!!

For those that were following our great week, sorry to have disappointed you today. I planned it out. I was going to go online in the early afternoon as soon as I came home from work but sadly my hubby pulled me away to go to Lowe's and then I had to attend a baptism. I'm so sorry. My life is not always in my control.

Tomorrow I promise to be better.

Till next time,
Grace

Be Creative week day 5

We're nearing the end of our creative week. Are you exhausted? inspired? motivated? or just plain bored? Hope not the first and last!

Anyways today's post is another tip. Since I billed this creative week with kids' in mind, how about going through your stash, collecting items you no longer want, put them in a box, decorate the said box if you wish and give it to the kids the day after school ends as a summer gift. I know they'd be surprised that (a) they get a gift after a successful school year and (b) it's stuff that they can do whatever they want with.

Here's what I did....

I was going through my scraps yesterday. I didn't feel inspired to create so I decided to organize a little bit in my space. I think this is a very healthy break for your creativity. It rejuvenates all the senses (I think) and makes you look at your stuff in a new and fresher light. Try it, it's great!

Anyways, through my cleaning up, I had an idea that instead of throwing out pretty good papers, some still in big sizes, I can gather them up with some other stickers and tools that I don't want and give it to my kids. Now I've done this thing already before but not in a way that I've put it in a kit and called it a "gift". I think the part that it's a gift would make it very exciting for the kids, for my kids anyways!


I also added some glue sticks in there, so they're ready to craft whenever they want.


I used some more letter stickers from that sticker book that I shared yesterday to dress up the cover of the box. By the way the box is a shipping box I got from a publishing company when they've returned my project. It's a perfect size for 12x12 papers. If you don't have this, you can always use a USPS priority mail box or a clean empty pizza box.

The reason why I wanted to share this is because, I know for me, I've told my kids' that my "stuff" is OFF LIMITS to them! No little hands is to touch my scrapbook supplies. Yes, I'm stern but that's the rule in my house! Anyways, I think by giving my kid's my old stuff, they can get a sense that they can be a part of Mommy's "addiction". With this way I'm including them in my hobby. They don't know it's old stuff.

I'm excited to give this to the kids after school ends and who knows we might be spending a lot of time in the scrap space since "all" of us have supplies to use. *wink*

I have one last idea to share tomorrow and then we'll wrap it all up on Sunday.

Till next time,
Grace

June Crazy Daisy kit "Warning: photo heavy"

The last time I worked on a monthly kit was way back in November 08. It's been a while and although I've enjoyed the freedom of putting my own "kits" together to create my projects, getting back in the mode of creating with what you're given had my creative juices pumping like crazy.
I got my kit last Wednesday and was very lucky to have a lot of free time both Friday and Saturday (family went on a camping trip without me cause I had to work both days) so I spent my "me" time in my scrap space and here's what I came up with.....

Nature

Here I wanted to feature the fun monogrammed letters exclusive to the Crazy Daisy kit. One trick that I just stumbled upon is layering F and L on top of each other to create an E. I thought it was an easy and fun trick. You can't hardly tell it was two different letters combined.


I covered some of the Basic Grey chipboards with pattern paper then trimmed and distressed the edges. One trick I did with this was actually adhere the sticky side (back side) of the chipboard to the pattern paper instead of the front side. This way you know that every part of the chipboard are adhered onto the paper because the adhesive's already there. I painted the swirly chipboard shape brown to create my flower stem. To finish off the flowers, I added a button in the middle.


I created a visual triangle between the photo corners and the scallop strip on the right edge.

Walk with me

In this page, I used the felt ric rac, green fabric, chipboard shapes, buttons and the stitched alphabet rubon.


I machine stitched the fabric onto my page which complemented the stitched letter rubons.



Just BE yourself

This page was inspired by the Basic Grey paper that was in the kit. The beehive pattern inspired me to make my pattern paper background and the "bee" was a great jump start for my journaling and title.
The beehive pattern also gave me the opportunity to use up all the pattern papers in the kit. They were all so gorgeous and hard to resist that I wanted them all in this page.

I created balance by having the pattern pieces towards the left side and a vertical stretch of pictures on the right and then connecting them all with the sheer ribbon.

Soda Shop Field Trip

This page focused on the pictures. I had a lot of them from the event and although they were printed on a smaller scale there were still a lot of them. If you have these kinds of events that one picture is just not enough, go ahead and use as much pictures as you think will convey your story. Don't be afraid that there's no room for elements/embellishments. Sometimes, scrapbook pages need to give more room and emphasis to the picture especially if it tells a certain story. If cramming too much pictures onto one layout makes you uneasy, you can always make a two page spread instead.


I also added the stars from the Autumn leaves stitched alphabet sticker sheet. I rubbed them onto white cardstock first, cut them out and adhered them with pop up dots. This created dimension to my page.
I loved the Cosmo Cricket Tuesday paper cause the backside had lines on them already. The perfect paper to use for a journaling block.


To make my light blue thickers stand out against the light pattern paper background, I painted red over the paper before adhering the stickers. This makes them pop out more.

Backyard Roasting Party

this layout's theme was all about fun since it showcases pictures of an everyday "fun" family moment.


I used a lot of reds here to play up the "fire" in the picture and story. I loved the Chipboard shape and was the perfect "flame" accent for the layout. I also created a visual triangle between the flames, red pattern paper which had my title and journaling and the canvas "play" accent.



Notes Minibook

I didn't decorate the front that much since it had the pretty bird and floral pattern on it already. I did add a few pebbles to the top to create some balance.


The theme of the book was inspired by the "notes" sheets in the kit. I cut out each of the titles of these sheets and used them as tabs for my "planner" book.


I decorated the first page with pattern paper, border trims and flower. I used the leftover canvas sheet to write a little title.




To decorate the rest of the pages, I punched out circles from the pattern paper, cut them in half and adhere them on the edges. This gave the white pages some life and yet left room for whatever I have to write on there.


For the back, I created a monogrammed block by covering one of the chipboard blocks with pattern paper and adding my initial in the middle.

Like what you saw? Get the kit here, while its HOT!!!

Till next time,
Grace

Be Creative week day 4

Wow our week is halfway done. Have you been creative this week? I've enjoyed reading the comments and would really LOVE to see some projects. C'mon, I know you have em, why not show em off!

Anyways, today I decided to give you a break from the projects (so maybe you can play catch up) and share a storage idea I recently stumbled upon...

Have you ever had the dilemma of what to do with your leftover alpha stickers? More importantly how to store them effectively so they're not collecting dust in your space/storage?

How about compiling leftover alphas into a sticker book.

While organizing my alphabet stickers I came across a problem, I realized that I have packs that only have a handful of letters left.


I didn't know how to effectively organize them where I can have them all in one place, it's easily accessible and I'd remember where I stored them. It just so happened that my kid's used up all the stickers (that I've been saving since I was a kid) in this old sticker book.


I was going to throw it away but thought that the book can still be used for my letters. So I grabbed all my sticker packs and started transferring them.


This book doesn't have enough space for all my leftover letters since it's old and the kids have ripped some of the page already but I think this is a great idea to store leftover stickers (letters or images). And since I was so inspired by my new storage solution I was able to whip up a card with scraps.



Since the letters are visible, I immediately saw which letters was usable. No more messing up a project thinking I had enough e's or r's only to find out that I'm all out of them.

I didn't have anymore "w" so I put together two v's here. That's another good thing about my storage solution- I can easily view which letters I can easily alter to create a different letter.

So there you have it, hope you'll get creative today.

Till next time,
Grace

Be Creative week day 3

So I hope you're getting busy and creative with your week so far.

Today's share is an altered project using paper packs and your die cut machine. We all have these. One time or another, we all have been suckered to buying stacks or paper packs. There's nothing wrong with them but sometimes we buy them faster than we can use 'em up.
And then there's the die cut machines- Cricut, Cuttlebug, Silhouette, Pazzles, Slice whatever you have, bust them out today and make something pretty with it.
I love this idea cause (a) Paper packs are all coordinated. There's no more battle and time consumed thinking if they're all going to go well together and (b) die cut machines make projects easier and faster. They do the cutting for you and, more than not, better than if we cut it out ourselves.
So what are you waiting for? make something creative TODAY !

Here's my sample:
Butterfly mobile featuring Chic Bebe line from GCD Studios with butterflies cut from the Home decor Cricut cartridge.



this is my version of a baby mobile. I know it's not exactly round or big but I like it! I thought the use of the small hanger was also a cute touch to emphasize the theme. Oh and the scroll foundation for the title was also cut from the Cricut with the same cartridge.


Aren't these butterflies pretty?


Added a chipboard shape on the bottom for a final touch.

Hope you'll create today.

Till next time,
Grace

6th birthday card

Changing gears here a little bit today. "Be Creative" day 3 will be posted a little bit later but first let me share a card I made yesterday with this challenge in mind.

Happy Birthday card

the challenge to use Thickers really got me excited cause we all know that I have TONS of them. I figured to use the numbers one here. My son's birthday is next month and he's turning 6, so I thought to think of him for this project. I still can't believe it's almost 6 years since I gave birth to my first baby! sorry about feeling a little "senti" here.


I actually designed the birthday block myself. I did it in Photoshop. I wanted that big, eye catching design and didn't have a stamp for it so I made one myself. I guess sometimes it's good that you don't have everything cause it forces you to be more creative with what you have. Hey that's another "be creative" tip. Hehehehehehe!

Supplies used:
Cardstock- white, The Paper Company
Pattern paper- See saw, Play, American Crafts
Number stickers- assorted Thickers, American Crafts
Ribbon- Gala, Celebrate, American Crafts
Letter stickers- Tiny Alpha, Making Memories
Sentiment font- (b) Times New Roman, MS word; (celebrate) LD Vanilla, Letterdelights.com

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

Be Creative week day 2

Hope some people are getting creative with out little "experiment" here in the blog. So onto today's project....

Today's crafting prompt/project is to get your kids' hand or footprints scrapped. Just recently did I realize that I'm not consistent with this thing. I don't even think I did this when my kids' were babies. Shame on me!
If you're like me, then now is the best time to start preserving such fleeting memories. Their hands won't be that small for long.

Here's my example:
Muddy Maddie
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

I got my little girl to put her handprint on the page, I thought it was a great idea to preserve her tiny hand prints and at the same time, it emphasizes the "messy" and dirty story behind the pictures.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

I wanted to continue the bright fun colors and feel of the background pattern papers, so I lines up some random sized buttons.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

This quote was the perfect little addition to the page.

Thank you for looking and hope you'll play along today. Keep those comments coming. *wink*

Till next time,
Grace