And the winners are......

first off I wanna say how grateful I am for all you guys that came to my "party". I got great response. My site got over 140 hits that night!!! You're all amazing.

Ok so now for the winners of the random drawings.....

For the blue earrings:
Michele said...

I'm late for this post but I just wanted to wish you good luck with your venture! I love your creations, Grace!

June 28, 2008 8:33 PM

For the Journaling blocks:
Leisha said...

This is so fun just like NSBD!
1. 2
2. Accordion Mini Album with pink ribbon
3. 6
4. 4
5. Your Offical Invitation pack
6. $2
7. $3
8. Free!!
Fun fun!

Leisha
Leisha_kaye@yahoo.com

June 28, 2008 8:35 PM

For the stamp set:
Rochelle said...

I hope I am not too late! I am trying to catch up right now.
So are Grace this sounds wonderful!

June 28, 2008 8:50 PM

For the laura ashley notepads:
Allison said...

Okay... here are my answers (I emailed the last ones so that nobody would "cheat" off me...I guess that is the teacher in me. I'll follow the directions this time).
1. htwaogrecyr =Graceworthy
2. soutmc = custom
3. sseptyho = etsy shop
4. cnotloainsut = consultation
5. meanolcGTra = GraceTolman
6. eidaebnswrnbegn = web banner design
7. lsteyarspsac = party classes
8. atoemthasoymm = stay at home mom
9. pbkcooras = scrapbooks
10. iavitintsno = invitations

phew. Not the first one done, but I did it! :)

June 28, 2008 9:13 PM

For the earring set:
Amanda Sevall said...

Best of luck Grace! Amanda :)

June 28, 2008 10:37 PM

I wish I could give everybody a prize! Seriously, you were all great guests. Thank you all again for participating and maybe on my 1st year anniversary, I'll have a party again. hehehehehehe.

For the winners, I'll be contacting you pretty soon.

Grace

Hi latecomers......

Hi guys,

if you are just now jumping in the party, welcome!!!

I suggest you start with this post and work your way up. sorry that's how this blogging thing works!

Another reminder- ANYBODY CAN POST COMMENTS HERE. You don't have to be a blogger member to post, just click on the anonymous button and post away. You should be good! Just make sure you put your email address in your comment so if by chance I pick your name for the drawing there's a way for me to contact you back!

*smile*

Grace

9:30 POST

***edited*** forgot to add some links (red in the face here)

did you guys have fun??? I hope so. Remember BOOKMARK both my website and my etsy shop. The etsy shop will be updated OFTEN, so visit, visit, visit!!! Plus I'm in the middle of designing my own journaling blocks to sell. Hopefully my scrapbook friends (and non scrapbook peeps as well) will find it a "must have". *smile*

I wanna thank each and everyone of you for visiting me today and having fun in my little "launch party". Please share my name, my business and what I do with all your family and friends that might benefit from my services. I'm very honored to call you all my friends. You're support is making me "brave" enough to jump into this thing with both feet!!!

Before you leave me today make sure you have:
1. bookmarked both my website and my etsy store.
2. posted your comments on each of the "party" posts so you can have a chance to win those fun prizes. You have till tomorrow night (8pm 6/29) to be eligible for the drawing.
3. played along in my fun games. Weren't they fun!
4. Checked out my etsy store. I'm having a GRAND OPENING sale and all purchases made within the next 24 hours have FREE shipping and handling. :)

Oh but wait...... for those that joined me at THIS TIME of the party, I want to send you a gift certificate to my etsy store. Email me and I'll send it to you. I'm only awarding gift certificates to those emails that I recieve by 10 pm TONIGHT!!!

Please tell your family and friends about me and wish me luck on my new venture.

One final prize drawing. Tell me what you thought of my new venture, my launch party and if you have any advice you wanna share, leave it in the comment section. Did you have fun? Are my site and shop well presented and easy to get around to?

I'm sorry this is taking so long, I guess I type slower than I thought!!!

I'll pick a lucky person to win this


mwah, mwah, mwah!!! hugs going all over the place!!!

Grace, signing off!!!

9:02 POST

ooops sorry for the late post. two minutes late is not that bad, right?! I'm going to continue this party a little longer since we have some "fashionably" late comers. hehehehehehe. Take time playing along. Don't worry if you can't do this RIGHT THIS MINUTE, heck I understand. I got kiddos too. *wink*. Remember you have till tomorrow night to comment on any or all of the "party" posts. I will pick a winner after that. Reminder though---- please add your email addy on your comments (this is very important, especially to those that do not have a blogger account cause when you win, I won't have any way of contacting you back. *smile*)

C'mon play along :)

8:45 POST

Yehey!!! I got my peeps here!!! Woohooo!!! Thanks ladies.

Ok so onto another game..... it's a party after all right?!

This one's an unscramble the words game. Here are the words to unscramble and I have to warn you they're kinda hard. The answers are related to my business, of course, and if you're looking for some hints, check out my website. *wink*

1. htwaogrecyr
2. soutmc
3. sseptyho
4. cnotloainsut
5. meanolcGTra
6. eidaebnswrnbegn
7. lsteyarspsac
8. atoemthasoymm
9. pbkcooras
10. iavitintsno

and the prize for this post is this one.....


One last post after this. :)

reminder.....

for those that just joined in. Click to this post and see what's cooking in this party :)

Grace

8:30 POST

Having fun so far??? Hope so.

With this post I would like to explain in more details the service aspect of my new business.

With grace-worthy designs I offer:

1. Custom made scrapbooks and scrapbook pages.
Do you have a special person/s you want to celebrate? How about making a scrapbook for them! Don’t have the time, supplies or feel you’re not creative enough to pull this off? I can help you!

I will first sit down with you in what I call “creative brainstorming”. You will let me know what your vision for the book is and I will toss my ideas out there and see what we can agree on. I want you to feel that this is your book and that I’m just steering you in the right direction. Your pictures and journaling (words you want to include in the book) needs to be handed to me at this time. I will not accept any project if these items are not complete. You wouldn’t want to receive a book with only a portion of it filled with your pictures and words do you?

Pricing for a custom scrapbook made by me are as follows:

8x8 album with 10-15 pages- $75

8 ½ x 11 album with 15-20 pages- $150

12x12 album with 15-20 pages - $225

Each additional page - $10

Single scrapbook page (12x12)- $15

All prices will include the album and all the supplies needed to create your book. A 50% down payment is needed at in our initial meeting. This will be used to purchase all the materials/supplies needed for the project

As you can see my prices are very reasonable. I don’t believe that it should cost you “an arm and a leg” for a special scrapbook. Your pictures and stories will be the main focus in designing the books. The rest of the embellishments are just made to “accentuate” them and not overpower them.

Turn around time for a regular 12x12 postbound album with 20 pages is one week. Although time may vary depending on how detailed the project is. If you wish, I can email you scans of the project when it’s half way done so you can see the progress but due to time constraint, I can only do this once.

On our second meeting, I will hand you the finished book, packaged nicely. You will also receive a detailed copy of your receipt so you know where your money was spent on. The rest of the payment is needed at this time as well.

*If you are not local, all meetings will be done by phone or email and additional cost will be charged for shipping and handling.

2. Custom made invitations and cards

Want to start your next party off to a great start? How about with a tailored invitation?

I can make unique handmade invitations for any occasions. Do you have a wedding, baby shower, birthday, anniversary or a themed party coming up and want that handmade touch to show to your guests? I can help you.

A 10 piece pack of invitations will only cost you $20. That’s not a lot considering all the oohs and aaahs it will generate from your guests. Can also make packs of 20 and 50.

*if you're not local all consultations will be done by phone and/or email. There will be an extra cost for shipping and handling.

3. Classes in a party setting

Do you have a bunch of girlfriends looking for some “girls night in”? Is your teen or preteen wanting a slumber party? Or are you just looking for a different way to put some “craftiness” in your next party? How about having a project based class? I can design a project, whether it’s a scrapbook page, mini album, card set or altered item that you and your guests can do while enjoying each other’s company. All materials will be provided and I will be there every step of the way so you’re sure to finish the project successfully. Class prices will vary depending on the type of project you want to do.

*classes only available in southern California.

4. Creative consultations

Are you looking into doing your next paper craft project yourself? Want to make that special scrapbook or batch of cards but don’t know where to start? I also offer creative consultations. One hour of brainstorming with me would only cost you $20. I will come to you and bring resources that will help you jumpstart your project. I offer design ideas, make the prototype card/invitation with you and share all other resources that I feel will help you make your page, scrapbook, or cards. I bet you will brim with pride once you finished your project and your family and friends would never have a clue that you had a little help along the way.

*if you don't live local, meetings can be done on the phone or email.

5. Web banner designs

Have a website that needs some revamping or sprucing up? Or blog that needs some of your personal style shown on it? I can make a web banner that will fit perfectly with your site/blog’s mood. I use digital scrapbook supplies and my trusty Adobe Photoshop CS software to make you a banner that will help your site visitors’ better feel the mood of your web page.
Pricing for a custom made banner will be $25. This includes an initial consultation with you which can be done through emails or on the phone. I will email you my design once during the process so you can proof it. Turn around time for each banner is 3 days. Your finished banner will be sent to you in the original file (big size) and a smaller version ready to be uploaded on your site. I’m willing to resize the file to fit any site specification if it’s needed.

Whew! I know that's a lot to read but I do hope you were inspired, intrigued and of course interested. *wink*

Check out the website for picture samples.

Do you have a burning question so far? Type them in this post's comment section and I'll try to answer it on the next post.

For this one you might win this.....



Be back in 15.

Grace

8:15 POST

ok so I hope I'm not the only one here right now *wink*

how about we do a game right now. Wanna play for this prize?



Here's a fun Scavenger Hunt for you....

Go to my etsy store and try to find the answers to these questions. Post your answers in the comment section of this post. Ready?

1. How many cards do I have listed?
2. What product has the most views?
3. In my "join us" invitation pack, how many cards is in the pack?
4. How many accordion albums do I have listed?
5. Which invitation pack has 5 invites/cards included in it?
6. How much is shipping and handling for an accordion album if combined with another item in the store?
7. How much does a card cost?
8. If you purchase something in my store between 6/28 and 6/29, how much is shipping and handling?

So go check out the store, find the answers then go back here and comment away.

Be back- Grace

WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME

come in to my party....

Well everybody, thanks for the great response to my emails, board messages and pm's. You all have been very supportive. So now is the time to unveil my new venture. Here it is....



Introducing my very own Scrapbook business- grace-worthydesigns !!! Like the name? It took me a while before I figured that one out.

And here's my very own website- http://grace-worthydesigns.weebly.com/

And my etsy shop link- http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5362730

Please, please, please visit them and BOOKMARK THEM!!! So you can pop in regularly. :)

So onto the party....Here's what's going to happen....
1. every 15 minutes I will be adding another post to THIS blog. I will explain a little about what my "business" consists of and I will also have fun games for you guys to play along to.

2. From now (Saturday 6/28 8pm) to Sunday 6/28 at 8pm, I'm having a GRAND OPENING SALE at my etsy store. If you order during this time, you will receive FREE shipping and handling on ALL orders. When you check out, just write this code down on the comment section- GRANDOPENINGSALE.

3. Plus, after every post (new ones every 15 minutes) I will show an item up for grabs for my random drawing. How do you get a chance to win prizes? Simple. Just click on the comment section, leave a message and tell me what you think so far and I will pull a name out of that group to win that specific item. Please one comment per post and only one gift per person. :)

4. Can't be here at the 8pm party? No worries, the posting of comments will run until tomorrow night as well so comment anytime between now and Sunday 6/29 8pm and I will pick the winner after that.

So how about we'll start now, shall we? This is up for grabs on this post


A pair of cute earring from Charlotte Russe.

Again, all you have to do is leave a comment with your name and preferably your email address ( so in case you win, I can contact you) and tell me what you think of my new venture? love the idea or hate it?

Check back in 15 but for now run over to the site and etsy store ok. :)

Grace

invite to a "launch party"

ok so I'm announcing for the first time that I'm going to have a new "gig". If I've intrigued you, stop by here on Saturday, 8 PM (pacific time) for my big LAUNCH PARTY! Check out my big reveal and who knows you might even win some cool prizes. Oh and to my dear family and friends that don't scrapbook, the prizes are not ALL paper related items.
I'm so excited and can't wait to see you in the party. :)

Grace

what can I do with this illustration board?

that was my question to myself when, after making that minibook inspired by Erin Lincoln, I was still left with an almost 3ft. square of illustration board. Well after much thought and a paper that I've been dying to work with, this is what I came up with.....

Homemade purse


this is what it looked like after I cut it out from the board and taping it with duct tape.


I know this is not the greatest thing you've ever seen but I'm pretty proud of myself with this project. I executed this ALL BY MYSELF from start to finish. No idea or even template copying. Yeah pretty proud of that. :)

Here's some more pics of the purse

this paper from Glitz (delirious floral) was the thing that got the wheels in my head turning. It's so fancy. Plus the flowers were just so beautiful so I wanted to focus on them.


I cut each flower out, placed them on the purse in different placed then added stickles (glitter glue) on them for added bling.


On the top edges, I added a scallop border from the solid cardstock side of the pattern paper. yeah, can you believe it, I only used one piece of 12x12 paper here. Cool huh!


Some of the flowers, I wanted the glitter to go on all parts of it, so I used a popsicle stick to spread the stickles around the flower piece.

Now that I've finished it, guess who's eyeing it? Yep, Maddie is already thinking of things she'll put in her new fancy purse. :)

Thank you for looking.

cramming it all here.....

ok so I was going through some of my recent pictures and thought I would blog them. Didn't realized that I've past through a lot of "occassions" around here without posting/blogging and they've all added up. So to warn you this post is going to be lllloooonnnngggg!!! But don't worry, there's a lot of photos so you can feel that you were right there "celebrating" with us....
Are you ready??? Here goes....

Preschool Graduation
For the last day of preschool, we had a little "graduation". This was more important to the older kids that are going into kindergarten in the fall. That's why I wasn't too upset when Maddie refused to wear the white shirt (graduation gown) and do the little "graduation" walk. Marcus didn't care for it either, but I insisted he get with the program and this is his demeanor the whole time...


The teacher, Mrs. Hom, impressed me at how much time she spent talking about the achievements of each kid while she hands them their certificates. Her thoughts on Marcus was that he's improved in listening and doing the project but also very impressed at how much he loves books.


Now this was blurry, but I like how Maddie smiled right at me. A very rare occurrence.


Lolo's birthday party

Lolo is tagalog for Grandpa. We call my dad that so the little kids can distinguish Grandpa Tolman from Grandpa DeLeon. Anyways, he had his birthday the day before Father's Day and we went to his house for a little celebration. It was also the last time we would see our Tita Eileen and Jeleen before they leave to go back home to the Philippines. Here's some pics from that event...

Marcus and Lola (my mom). I really like this pic cause Mom's eyes are not squinting (she does that a lot) and Marcus is smiling. Precious in my books!!!


Gary surprised me by his desire to learn more about photography and asked if he could play with my dslr. So with hesitations (wink) I let him. These are some of his shots...




If you know our family, my picture with the magic mic won't surprise you. It's like a norm that if there's any gathering at the DeLeon's, karaoke is bound to happen. LOL

And here's the birthday guy showing off our gifts to him....We got him two movie gift certificates and a sugar free candy pack (sugar free cause he's diabetic).


Carino's Dinner

Then after we ate at my parent's, we took our little family to Johnny Carino's in Downey. We wanted to take Amanda for a pre-graduation and pre-birthday celebration. She's staying at her mom's for the next two weeks so we figured we have to get on with the celebration early.






Ok so I'm not a professional food critic but eversince cooking, I've come to have a certain appreciation and interest on how foods are made. My take on Carino's food- it's ok. Not that great as what Mitch has made it to be. We had the bowtie pasta dish and it was hohum. Not enough complex flavor to make me salivate although the Lasagna that Amanda got was very tasty with it's sausage filling instead of the normal hamburger meat. Plus I tasted their "italian soda" and didn't really see any BIG difference to the reg. sodas. Just a lot more frizzies.

Father's Day
Mitch got a lot of candy for father's day. As always my ward gives the father's big old candy bars while they give the Mom's a book and pot of flowers. (cough)mom's like (cough) candy (cough) too!!! The kids made tie's filled with candie's in Primary.


ok just a few more, you're almost to the end....
Amanda's graduation
On Monday, Amanda officially finished high school What an accomplishment considering she had a rocky start with school. We're just very glad that she's past this hurdle. Now we got some crappy seats and I don't have a long zoom lens so here's the best I can do.


I blurred this one so you can focus on the little, itty, bitty girl there receiving her diploma. ;)


And here she is, closed up....


and the family...


It's getting hot in here......
Southern California sure started the summer season a few days early. To cool off, I brought the kids to the Cerritos dolphin fountain, across the library and city hall. At first they didn't want to touch the water....


Then after a while, they realized it's so much funner if they actually got wet!!!


And before you know it, they were running around the whole thing....


Can't beat a cooled off little girl's smile


Then we ate our lunch under some fun trees. These trees are cool cause they're like mini play places. The kids got to be monkeys. hehehehehe.


Oh my do you see the curls in this little girl's hair!!!


And finally a shot of what we had for dinner tonight.

Amanda's at her mom's and Mitch went on a scout trip so the kids and I decided that we would have breakfast for dinner. They had fun doing the opposite game.

So there it is. If you got to this point without yawning or actually falling asleep, you guys are AWESOME friends and family.

Take care and have a happy weekend. Now off to use my night wisely. Off to play with paper. ;)

Grace

FUNtastic Cosmo!

Heard that the Cosmo Cricket company was having a DT search and thought since I have some of their cool papers in my stash, I'd throw my name in the hat as well.

Oh my after working with their cute stuff, I'm very inspired. Their papers range from girly, floral ones to fun artsy, distressed styles. I'm lovin it!!! Needless to say, I'm going to run to my lss to get me some more Cosmo Crickets!!!

Ok so here' s some projects I made with their fun lines...

Six Years




Lines used: Hey Sugar "sweet nothings" and Get happy journaling blocks

An Early Teacher







Line used: Storytime Itty bitty albums*
*I used the album pieces to form my blocks in my page.

"You had me at Hello" card


Line used: Jitterbug Itty bitty album*
Used the album pieces to make my card.

"Thank you" card


Line used: Get happy journaling blocks

Don't you agree, this brand is just so much fun??? If you're wanting more, check out their site here.

thank you for looking and have a great day,
Grace

Father's day projects

I made a few Father's day projects for my hubby, dad and dad in law and I thought I'd share it here....

for my hubby I used a K&Company mini album to make this book documenting some things I love, adore and cherish about him.








Inside views...




for the back, I traced the chipboard butterfly onto a paper, cut out the image to form a mask then painted it.


then for my dad and dad in law, we're giving them movie tickets/gift certificates so I made these...










and sneaking this pic in here....

Our dear Amanda's graduating high school on Monday. I still can't believe it's that time already, felt like it was yesterday when I met her and she was still in Elementary. The little kids had a preschool graduation too that's why they have the caps as well.

Have a great day,
Grace