This is what's it like to live in Colorado (Grace's Version)

Happy Sunday everyone. Hope you all had a great Christmas.
This was our first Christmas away from family so it was a bit strange not going to Lolo and Lola's and also Grandma and Grandpa Tolman's home. But we were blessed to have friends around us, they invited us to dinner and that was nice. As for gifts, I guess we were all good this year because Santa showered us with some great stuff. I'll share the photos of our Christmas morning soon but until then, let me share you what I think of Colorado so far.

I've been here about two weeks and here's what I think sets Colorado apart...

You can eat some great country style food like Fried apples, meatloaf (so yummy) and


and collard greens. We tried Cracker Barell for the first time a week ago and I was very happy with my meal. They even have a cute country store infront of the restaurant with all sorts of old style candies and some fun knick knacks. I scored a great decorative plate with a Christmas theme for $10. And the best part of it all.... they're only 1 mile away from our home.


Average temp for this week was around this much...

Cold, cold, cold!!!

Fog can be super thick that you can hardly see anything...

this was our view on the way to a friends house at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. When we got home that night (9pm) it was super duper thick that we were solely relying on our headlights. It was pitch black out there.

but there are also days where it's super clear and beautiful...

this is the day after the super fog day. We got frost due to the cold and moisture and seeing the trees white was so lovely. See the mountains in the background? Yeah that's our view every day. Isn't it gorgeous?


beautiful frost. Taken with my 55-200mm lens through one of our sky lights.


layering up with clothes and STILL be cold! On this particular day I had a tank top, long sleeves shirt, this little knitted cardigan and a thick jacket. I'm having a hard time being fashionable around here. I seem to gravitate to sweaters and jackets all the time. When can I wear my cute clothes again? LOL

and finally....my most favorite "only in Colorado" share....

Yes that's a fox that you see. Where is it you ask.....in our backyard! Marcus saw it first and I quickly ran to my room so I can grab my camera. I didn't have time to change lenses so I can only zoom up to this much but as you can see, he's as close to us as we would want him to be. The kids wanted to get out and be personal with Mr. Foxxy but I didn't think that was a good idea.

So that's all for today. Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

a layout share

Hello everyone. Thanks for all the nice comments on our home. Yes we feel very blessed, which overpowers the stress feeling of getting all the boxes unpacked.

Anyways, I thought of sharing a layout today since I haven't done it in a while

A Place of Learning

As seen in the CK Sketch/January 2011 of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher

This layout is all about one of our favorite hangouts in California- the Cerritos Library. We've been to the library here in Colorado Springs area and although libraries tend to be similar to one another, there's a part of me that's still missing our "great" Cerritos Library. I'm glad I was able to document that part of our "California life".

Oh and before I leave, some people that stopped by for the Clear Scraps blog hop asked what kind of adhesive I used to adhere the transparency to the acrylic tag. This is the adhesive I used. I just started using this adhesive about a month ago and I'm really liking it. Hope this helps.

Thanks for stopping by and till next time,
Grace

sneeks of our new home *photo heavy*

ok so here's the much awaited photos of our home. It's not all of it. It's been a bit of a task for me to unpack the 40 or so boxes that we've stuffed with things that made up our lives for the past 8 years plus coming from a 3 bedroom house and trying to fill all 5 bedrooms of this new home has been a challenge. Let me just tell you that I've gone to Walmart 3 times in the last 7 days. The other four days was spent in Home Depot, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Costco. LOL


so here's us in the front of the house. Sorry for the blurriness. If you look closely, I'm using my remote for the camera, therefore there was no way for me to adjust the lens at this time.

*let me tell you a little back story first**
The house closed on the 3rd of December and Mitch flew in on the 4th to pack up our rented moving truck and we were all supposed to leave on the 6th (Mitch driving the moving truck while I followed with the Expedition).
Anyways, on the 3rd (Friday) the expedition started acting weird. It was shaking and the "check engine soon" light was blinking. Of course this freaked me out but by the time I took it to the mechanic place, they were closed. So I waited for Saturday, took it to the dealership only for them to keep my car for the whole weekend without even touching it. That annoyed me so much.
So we went to the dealership on Monday, took it out of there and brought it to the mechanic that was close on Friday afternoon. He took it in and by noon called us up to tell us the bad news. Apparently it's something to do with the intake manifold and that it won't be done by that day. With this development, Mitch and I had to make a quick decision. He'd drive that day to Colorado in the moving truck and I'd follow with the kids in the expedition whenever the car was done.
This proved to be another blow to what I thought was a planned move. Again, the Lord has shown to me that I'm not in control of my life and that he can easily change the course of it anytime He wants to. I was upset and was terrified with me driving the 1500 or so miles by myself (with kids in tow) to Colorado.
So after a few days of panic and waiting, on Thursday afternoon we finally got our car back and it was in working condition. I started my journey that same day and thankfully got to Colorado in one piece (for all three of us) on Friday night.

Ok so now that's out of the way, here's what my home looked like on Saturday morning......

the kitchen


Maddie's room


the family room


our bedroom

and after a week of intense unpacking and reorganizing here's what they look like now...

the kitchen


the family room


Marcus' room (Maddie still had to sleep with her brother because we haven't purchased her a bed yet)


Maddie's room


Upstairs bathroom


Master's bedroom bath


our living room (view from the stairs going upstairs)


upstairs view (the two doors on the left are Maddie and Marcus' room and the two doors on the right are the bathroom and the master bedroom)


the dining room area. See my cute model? :)


our bedroom. Not as big as our Norwalk master bedroom but we love the view. We can see the mountains from our bedroom window. Sooo cool!


the laundry room (this one is in the same floor as the family room.)


our extra 1/2 bath/powder room across the laundry room.


stairs to go down the basement.


here's the weight room.


and here's my future scrapbook room that will double as a guest room. I left this room last because I know this one will take the most time reorganizing. As most of you know I have a TON of scrapbook stuff to go through so making this an effective and less crowded workplace is going to be a challenge.


and here's a sneek peek of our deck in the backyard. This photo was taken on Thurs. when it started snowing. On Friday morning, this whole deck and the yard was covered in powder. It was beautiful to behold, if only I had the extra ounce of energy to take a photo of it, it would've been better. Maybe next time.

So that's it for me. As you can see the walls are still bare and there's still room to fill up and reorganize. This week, I have a few organizational things to do but my main focus would be preparing for Christmas. Aaahhh, can't believe we're only 6 more days before the big day.

Thanks for stopping by and till next time,
Grace

Clear Scraps blog hop

I know what you're thinking, FINALLY! she's posting something new. What's up with all the silence??? Well more than a week has past since my last post and I'm happy to announce that I was busy because I finally moved into my new home in Colorado. I have a few pictures to share of our home and what has kept me busy all this time but for now let me share with you a project I made for the Clear Scraps blog hop going on today.

Clear Scraps Holiday Card Inspiration BLOG HOP!!!!

Are you knee deep in the holidays? Why not take a few minutes and enjoy the inspiration the amazing Clear Scraps Design Team has put together for you.

Comment on each blog, then come back to the Clear Scraps blog

there is a special prize we will randomly give to one lucky winner!

And the prize is....*drum roll*

WINNERS CHOICE OF 20-25.00

WORTH OF CLEAR SCRAPS PRODUCT!

You choose what you want...what is better then that?

Get to hopping! :)

Here is the Blog Hop List

First stop is the amazing Rita http://letsembellish.blogspot.com/

then on to the fabulously talented Tonya http://creativit-tonya.blogspot.com/

then the awesome crafter Cathy http://cathysartblog.blogspot.com/

then off to the awe inspiring Hilde http://scrapworld.web-log.nl/scrapworld/

then the fun and beautiful Elisa http://perpetualstew.blogspot.com/

then of course the quirky funky Pinky http://www.blueyecicle.blogspot.com/

then to Grace's blog (you're currently here)

then right back to Clear Scraps!

Leave a comment on all the blogs and you might just win BIG!

*winner will be chosen on Monday*

Thanks for hopping with us, we hope you found as much inspiration as we find in our designers every single day. Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas tag

for this project I used a half round acrylic tag from Clear Scraps as my base. I covered the front with a transparency from Hambly Screen Prints which created that wonderful lace design but maintaining some of the clearness so you can see through the transparency and the acrylic.


I used my Cuttlebug machine (haven't used this baby in a long time) to make my layered flower accent from some Basic Grey paper. I finished the layering with an acrylic flower and a pearl.


here's another look at the tag.

thanks for stopping by and make sure you complete this round of blog hop by coming back to the Clear Scraps blog.

Till next time,
Grace

Holiday Cards *Upsy Daisy Designs*

hello, hello!
It's the 7th day of December, are you sending out Christmas cards this year? If so, have you mailed them? Well, if you are still on the "planning" stages of your cards this year, don't worry you are not alone. I'm in there too and quite frankly, I'm a bit stressed out as each day passes me by.

But don't fret. Today's post might just be the inspiration you and I need to jumpstart those cards.

Holiday Cards

this set of cards were made for Upsy Daisy Designs using the Hot Chocolate line. It is also based on the December sketch over at the Daisy Diaries blog. You need to check out all the cool projects the rest of the DT's have shared. It's definitely worth the peek. :)

Make A Wish

In this card,I wanted to incorporate the beautiful snowflake design of the Wintergreen paper. I handcut one from a kraft background as my focal element and added a UDD brad topped with a red bling to compliment the theme.


The sentiment is a sticker added onto this paper and handcut.

Happy Holidays

This card has lots of layers. I matted the kraft paper with the Cinnamon Stick paper which was cut with a scallop scissors for a decorative edge.


The tree was a handcut item from the Frosted paper and the frames are actually rubons from Man About Town package. I covered the inside with papers from the Hot Chocolate line and added my sentiment and tree. The flower also has a UDD brad in the middle.

So there you have it. Some inspiration that will hopefully result to some creative cards soon from you and me. Hey, I'm not excusing myself from the procrastination too. LOL

Thanks for stopping by. Check out the rest of the products here.

Till next time,
Grace

What a surprise!

I was at JoAnns Craft store a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to get a few tools for my knitting project. I knew I had a budget and had totally forgotten my coupons so I was extra careful not to wander too much or I'll regret it.
Anyways as I was on my way out to pay for my purchases when I decided to stop at the magazine section and quickly peek at the latest special edition from CK which is all about scrapbooking your everyday memories.


the cover was cute and was enjoying my browse when all of a sudden I was in shock to see this in one of the pages.....


Yes that's my page! Why was I surprise you ask? ....well this page was already published once before and I was not informed that they were republishing it again. Don't get me wrong, I was not mad, instead I was utterly excited!

Excited to see a page of mine being picked up the second time; excited to see a page pubbed with both kids in it (that's always been an issue to me, I want both kids to have the same exposure all the time) and third, excited because I got a check in the mail for it!!!

The only draw back to this excitement was that, this was my first time to get pubbed twice on the same layout so I was not sure if I was going to get a complimentary copy of the issue. I was not willing to chance it so I decided to let go of some of my purchases and went ahead and bought me a copy of the issue (which by the way was a great one. I enjoyed browsing through all the great "everyday" layouts and the articles were fantastic).

And the irony of this was that, just after two days, my comp. copy arrived in the mail. LOL. I guess I would've waited but then again, now I have two copies so I was able to share one to my mother in law.

So there's my story today. Make sure you check out the issue and the mag here.

Till next time,
Grace

Acrylic Christmas Ornaments (Clear Scraps + Tombow project)

Did you catch all the great shares at the Clear Scraps blog this past week? Clear Scraps teamed up with Tombow adhesive and the DT's got to share some creative uses for both products. Here's what I made for the team up.

Christmas Ornaments

For this assignment I decided to go with the Holiday theme since it's right around the corner.
I used the acrylic Christmas ornament shapes from the Clear N Chip Believe pack of Clear scraps as my base. I layered it with pattern paper but decided to place the paper behind the shape instead of over it because I loved the sheer effect the acrylic adds to the project. I used Tombow's vellum adhesive with it and I could swear, you cannot see the adhesive through the acrylic piece, it's that clear. Amazing product!
To give the edges a finished look, I added liquid pearl around each shape. This technique also gave the ornaments it's shape emphasis.

It was pretty much "play" after that. I worked with one basic sketch for each ornament with one element going horizontal (ribbon, strip of paper, words) and a collage of items in a vertical manner (i.e. handcut shapes, bows, flowers, stickers). And then I finished it off with a green ribbon on top so I can easily decorate my Christmas tree with them. Here's the look of each acrylic piece....

The Tombow adhesives really made this project easy peezy! Make sure you check the blog for all the other inspiring projects made.
Happy Holidays everyone!
-Grace

Products used:
Clear N Chip Believe pack- Clear Scraps
Paper- Jovial, Basic Grey
Adhesives- (Vellum, dot adhesive and multi liquid glue) Tombow
Flowers and bling- Accent Creative Designs
Liquid pearl- Viva Decor
Trims and tools- own scrtapbook stash

Achievement box

hello weekend!!!!

So I thought today's post should be a craft share one. It's been a while and since I've made a ton of Holiday projects in the past month or two I think it's time to start sharing them.

Today we'll start with an altered tin using the beautiful Avalanche line from Upsy Daisy Designs.

Achievement box

for the base, I decided to alter one of my Maya road tins. I covered it with the papers, and I love how the colors are so cool and perfect for the winter season coming up.


I added some UDD ribbon, brad and letter rubons.


I dressed up the brad a little bit more with some bling. Everything looks prettier with bling added to it.


I used some Helmar adhesive on this project. It was super duty to make sure that my papers don't peel off of the tin.


I know it's an achievement box which can be used to store school memorabilies and such but it can also be a great inspiration for your baked goods container. After all, it's the season for giving so why not store your homemade gifts in this pretty package.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Do you like your voice?

Well I don't! But still I jumped into a wonderful and totally out of my comfort zone opportunity that was presented to me about two weeks ago.
You see I got a surprising email from the producer of Paperclipping.com. It's a podcast for scrapbookers and they invited me to be a guest. At first I thought they wanted me to be an audience because why the heck would somebody want to hear me talk?! But then after they replied, it seemed like they did want me to TALK!
I was beyond nervous and excited about this fun opportunity. I've never done anything like this before. The only voice recordings I've done was for karaoke and that's strictly for home and family listening or torturing, depends on who's listening to it.
So anyways, yesterday was the big "recording" day and so at 11 am, I got online through Skype, placed the headset with microphone that Paperclipping sent to me and participated in an episode of the "Roundtable".


You can hear the episode here. I thought the topic was a very good one and I'm already thinking of my next "job" themed layout.

So there you have it. Wow I can't believe it's already Dec. 1st.!

Till next time,
Grace