Home is where the heart is......

I think I might have just gotten my mojo back. I still lack sleep but I've managed to create here and there and I'm so happy about that!

I was able to make 1 page, 1 page in progress and 2 altered items. Plus I just ordered 76 pictures through Costco. If you get the costco coupon booklet in the mail, did you know that they have a coupon there for 9 cents on a regular 4x6 print? Yeah, I about fell over my chair when I saw it. That's why I was pretty much glued to my computer and photoshop all of last week trying to crop and prep pictures for printing. I think I'm set for the next three months. Woohoo. Can't wait to get crackin on those pics.

So onto the share today......

This was inspired by both my GCD studios items and the Be Inspired challenge #28 over at Cuttlebug blog.

House projects is very inspiring for me lately. After I was done with this easy frame, I already had another project in mind. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

"Home is where the heart is." frame

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Almost everything in this project is from GCD Studios with the exception of the letter stamp, brad and rhinestones. Sorry they don't carry those (hopefully not yet, anyways).

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

I just love, love, love the glitter letters. Kinda sad that it doesn't photograph well. Made the epoxy heart pop out a little better with foam dots.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

I love the beauty of GCD papers. They're double sided so there's much more options. Too much that it was actually hard to narrow it down with this project! Hehehehehehe. I also added some little details to some of the houses like the rubon bee above. I transfered it onto white cardstock, cut out the image and adhered with foam dot.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

this chipboard star stood great alone so I didn't mess up with it.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

I was trying to make a flower with this ribbon but now it looks more like a butterfly. Oh well it still works ok.

So that's my share for today, hope you liked it! Oh and the GCD blog is giving away a great "green" giveaway this weekend. Come on over the blog to check out the details.

Till next time,
Grace

Some GCD studios layouts

Lately I've been on and off with the creative mojo. Sometimes I'm very productive and other times I just run around going through stuff without anything accomplished. I think it has a lot to do with time. Oh how I wish there were an extra 2 hours in a day. Can you imagine the amount of things I can do with an extra 2 hours each day. Oh well a girl can wish right!?

Anyways, in those times that I had the spare time and mojo I was able to make these layouts. I just love, love, love GCD studios products. Did you know that their papers are double sided? double fun!

Holiday 2008

This is a page to recap the very busy Christmas season that we had last year. I know the pictures were small and it doesnt really say much about all the different events/activities we did but I think for now this will suffice me. I'm liking the "summary" idea for big events/trips/lots of picture activities. At least they're scrapped and not forgotten. It makes me feel better about being behind.


All the items in this page were non Christmas themed items. I love the fact that I can use my own stash to make a holiday page. Try it, it's refreshing. If you use traditional colors like red and green, nobody will know that you've used School or every day themed products. *wink*


This page was made easy with blocking, prepping the photos before hand and adding fun colorful items from my GCD pack. Oh how I love those big chipboard letters.

Items used: Pattern papers-(green)# 604 Coaster Circles - Carnival Ride Collection, (red)# 279 Happy Baby - Chic Bebe Collection (blue) # 266 On the Square - Canta Collection, (pink and brown) # 432 Tootsie Pop - Eye Candy Collection, (white and blue) # 277 Bebe Dots - Chic Bebe Collection; Chipboard letters, tab (ravishing red) and ribbon (Winter Wonderland)- GCD studios; Buttons and rubon words + arrow- Scenic Route; Journaling tab- Days, Heidi Swapp; Bling- Icons, Me and My big Ideas; Black pen- Millenium, Zig

Our Dear Lola

This one features the beautiful papers from this GCD line. I used it to feature the pink and brown colors in my daughter and mom's clothes in the picture.


I grabbed a shaped journaling block and traced it onto a cardstock to create my title and journaling block.


I punched out the circles from this paper and added stickles to them for some shine before adhering them in layers with pop up dots. I also spruced it up a little more with some flower rubons.

Supplies Used:
Pattern Papers- Eye Candy, GCD Studios; Ribbon- Rockets Red Glare- GCD Studios; Letters- (white) White Glittered; Others- Roly Poly, Plantin Schoolbook, Cricut, Provo Craft; Rubon- Sunkist Gold, GCD studios; Glitter- Frosted lace, Stickles, Ranger Industries; Black pen- Millenium,Zig; Others Thread and Sewing Machine

Halloween Party

Believe it or not some of these papers are from the Chic Bebe line of GCD Studios. Yes, it's a baby line, very far from the topic of the page but I thought the yellow with embossed circles was so much fun and it encompasses the feeling of this Halloween party that I just had to use it.


I stamped some spider images (from SEI), cut it out and sprayed with glimmer mist for added sparkle. Adhered them with pop up dots and stitched some lines going down to them to create the web effect.

Supplies used:
*GCD studios
Cardstock- Bazzill;*Pattern papers- (yellow)# 281 Loop Di Loo - Chic Bebe Collection (blue)# 266 On the Square - Canta Collection (Red)# 279 Happy Baby - Chic Bebe Collection;*ribbon- Plaines and Trains;*Glittered letter stickers- Orange glitter;Spider stamp- Eeire alley, SEI;Glimmer mist- Pearl, Tattered Angels;Border punch- Floral Lace, Martha Stewart;Die cut letters- Roly Poly, Plantin Schoolbook, Cricut;Others- Thread and Sewing Machine

Till next time,
Grace

Happy Earth Day!

Hi one and all. Happy mid week, Wednesday and Earth Day. Lots of things are making me smile today.....

-Marcus is no longer sick. He was sent home early on Monday because of being ill, later on we would find that he had a mild case of food poisoning, or so we think.

-I'm right on track with all the things that I have to do this week. If you know me, I always have a million things on my list and I'm so happy that I'm halfway done. Woohoo.

-Fumigation is over and hopefully no more "suprises" to come.

-It's Wednesday and for me that means a day off from my other job (retail associate). I don't have to work tonight. *jumping for joy*

-I was able to run this morning! Something that I haven't done in a whole week. Didn't do as fast as I usually do but slow and steady wins the race too, right?!

-We have a special reminder today to be kind to this wonderful Earth that we live in. Let's try to think "green" and repurpose stuff around us. And of course, BE CREATIVE at it! Check out this project that I did for GCD Studios.

Till next time,
Grace

My cards this week...

There's always a silver lining to things. Mine this week was that being away from home and staying with my inlaws gave me some time to create. My mother-in-law was so nice to take the kids to the park on Friday afternoon. She wanted me to rest since I had work the night before and I had to go back to work that night. I know I really needed that time to take a nap but you know me, as soon as I have free time, I run straight to my papers.

Luckily, I had my GCD studios stuff with me at my inlaws. With all the fun goodies in there, it was all that I needed to be creative away from my space.

I made these cards.....
"Age is just a number" birthday card

this one was made for Cuttlebug's Inspire #27- numbers. I had this number border cut out from Cricut (graphically speaking cartridge) and knew I wanted to use that as my "number" element. I run it through cuttlebug with the swiss dot embossing folder and adhered it with pop up dots to create dimension.


The GCD papers from the "carnival ride" collection was a no brainer to pick for this card. I loved the texture of these papers, not too heavy nor too light. Plus did I mention they were double sided! Woohoo!


I wrote a simple handwritten note inside to finish off this card.

Grateful for you card

love the elegant look of this card? It all started with the flocked black and white paper in the background. That's from the Paris Nights Collection.


complete source list: Papers- Paris Night, GCD Studios; Ribbon- Rocket's red glare- GCD Studios; Sentiment rubons- Ravishing Reds, GCD Studios; Flowers- Flora Doodles, Petaloo; Brads- Source unknown; Border punch- Lace, Martha Stewart Crafts; Scroll block- Home decor cartridge, Cricut, Provo Craft



{heart} Baby card

Source list:
Cardstock- The Paper Company; Yellow dot pattern paper- # 271 Yellow Polka Dot - Canta Collection; blue pattern paper and journaling block- Chic Bebe, GCD Studios; Ribbons- Striped- Winter Wonderland, GCD studios; Plain- Offray; Rhinestones- Icons, Me and my big Ideas; baby buggy die cut- Cricut, Provo Craft


I have to say I'm very impressed at the designs of the "chic bebe" line. It's very cute for all those baby projects but it has that hint of sophistication that it would totally work for any other themed projects.

till next time,
Grace

as promised....

***warning: Photo heavy***

Fumigation is over and we're back home so I can finally give some much needed family update......

Let's do this chronologically so it's easier for me to run them down.....

First off, I was very excited with Spring Break. I think I was more excited about it than my kids were. I guess the idea of me not having to get up early and drive to and from school was considered a "great thing" in my book. Our break started the Friday before Easter and I took the kids to Heritage Park. Maddie commented one time that we've not been to a park in a long time. I agreed so that was the first thing on the agenda.


The kids' favorite part was feeding the ducks. Look at how excited Marcus was!


I'm so proud of this big boy. He can now swing himself and can even go really high. Kindergarten is the best!

Then on Saturday we had our Primary quarterly activity and the theme was "treasure hunt". Here's Marcus with the Pirate eye patch. One of our older boy in primary made for the activity. I'm in charge of this quarterly shindig but some of the older kids need certain "jobs" to fulfill so they can check off their progress book both in scouts and church so I made the boy make eye patches and he distributed them at the party. He did an excellent job making them.

My kids had a lot of fun (of course) and came home with some great treasures aka candy!

After the activity, we had our own traditional activity at home- Coloring our eggs...

I bought a egg dye kit and the containers in the kit were collapsible ones. I thought it was pretty neat but after using them, not that impressed. Because it IS collapsible, the eggs keeps on pushing them down and the water would come out. It was a good thing the containers were all in a pan.




And here's our eggs this year. My kids are not that patient to wait so the egg can absorb more dyes.

The dye kit also came with face stickers which I thought was just very funny. Here's my kids' eggs with personality. Maddie was even naming some of them with the seven dwarf's names. She doesn't remember all of them so I think he names three of the eggs Dopey! *laugh*


Then on Easter Sunday...

We usually have hot breakfast going on on Easter Sunday but since I don't have a kitchen to make Easter morning rolls we just settled in with Cereals. Oh how I miss my oven!

After church, I told the kids that they can't eat any of their candies till we take some photos. I was all set up for some fun shots. We started first with some family shots and got these. They don't look professional but pictures are better than no pictures at all.





I was doing all these with a tripod and my remote (oh how I love this little device!) We were having a hard time getting some shots done cause at first I thought that my remote needed a new battery but then I started taking solo shots of Marcus and my camera just died on me! aaaarrrggghhh! I hate it when I forget to charge my camera battery. I guess next on my wish list is a spare battery.

This made me a little irritated. I didn't even get to take photos of Maddie! and Mitch and I! and the kid's Easter baskets! Oh well, I guess a take lots of photos of the family during the course of the season that I'm sure my scrapbooks won't be incomplete without the annual Easter shots.

In the afternoon we went to G'ma and G'pa Tolman's home for some fun egg hunting.


Took some photos of the colorful eggs that were scattered in the backyard. We had all the grandkids go into the house while the parents scatter and hide the eggs. You can say this part was the "calm before the storm".



And then they were off......They divided the kids into age categories to make sure that every kids will get a fair chance with the eggs. And of course the little ones get to go first. Maddie and her cousins Lorelie and Cassidy got to go first.


Then it was Marcus' age group.....


I love how this photo just shows his intense concentration and competitiveness when it came to getting eggs. You see one hand just about to grab one in the grass while the eyes already focusing on the egg up on the tree branch. Funny dude!


Here's another funny one....I took this cause Maddie was trying hard to find eggs and all she needed to do was look up to get one.

I eventually pointed it out so she can grab it before someone else does.

And here's a little sneek peek in Marcus' basket. I'm glad my kids' got a great balance of plastic and boiled eggs.


and Mitch found "our" egg. My mother-in-law puts together a great big plastic egg with goodies for the adult children to look for. Fun tradition.


It's brimming with our fave see's bordeaux eggs and malt eggs. Yummy!


After all the Easter festivities, we switched gears and started getting things in order for the fumigation. I was on the phone getting estimates on Monday, Tuesday the Terminix inspector was at the house, Wednesday it was packing to leave the house and bagging food and Thursday we were out! I'm telling you I still don't know how I handled all that stuff PLUS working over 25 hours this week.

One of the new things my kids' got into this week was reading (of all places) in the trampoline. Here's Maddie surrounded by books.


On Tuesday morning, Marcus came up to me and showed me one of his bottom tooth loosed and about to fall off. I didn't want to pull it out, I was a chicken! So when Mitch came home, he yanked it out and Marcus had his first tooth come off! You can see from the picture below that a new is already coming out.


We placed the tooth inside a white envelope and that night he placed it underneath his bed and the tooth fairy came to visit and left hime 4 quarters. I thought tooth fairy was very generous!


I just noticed that this post was heavy with pictures of Marcus so here's one of Maddie channeling the "princess" inside of her at Grandma's house on Easter....


She insisted she wore the crown.

So that's it! Some crafty posts to follow. Till next time,
Grace

Easter festivities, tooth fairy, spring break, new family pics....

....... well all that's gonna have to wait till Sunday cause we're doing this tomorrow....



I promise, the next post will have better pictures than this.
Oh and raks will be mailed by the end of the week.

Till next time,
Grace

I'm becoming Jane + rak winners

before I explain my new fascination with Jane Austen let me announce the two winners of the GCD studios rak....

Dan and Cat said...

My favorite thing to alter is whatever you're teaching about! Congratulations, Grace!!!

stinkydudette said...

i don't have a particular favorite item to alter. BUT i've been playing with my Prima bottles and tins lately! heehee...

and that quilt's lovely! congrats on the DT!

Please email me your addresses at graceelainetolman@yahoo.com and I'll send you some GCD stuff.

Ok so onto my new love......

Before I continue, I wanna give you a little history about me and books. I was never really into them. When I was old enough to read chapter books, I didn't really like them cause there were no pictures. Yes I was that lazy to even use my imagination! I am known for my laziness when I was a child and no I will not elaborate! Hehehehehehehe.

Going back to the subject.... I remembered that the only books I read in highschool was Sweet Valley High books and that's because I saw the tv series so I had faces in my head to connect to the characters. And the rest of my reading time was spent on magazines. That was my form of reading/gaining information. I did read the usual seventeen magazine and teen bop but I also read National Geographic and the newspapers, believe it or not.

So with that being said, I was not familiar with "great" literatures, until late last year. You see my kids love PBS and every night before I go to bed I would always reset the TV to the PBS channel so when my kids wake up (which is usually before I do) they can turn on the TV and watch their Sesame street. This buys me about 30 minutes more of sleep. Anyways, one night, I turned to PBS and was drawn to the show that was on. I could tell it was one of those BBC miniseries and it was old and a period piece. I was drawn. I ended up finishing the show. The funny thing was that the whole time I was watching, I didn't know what the title was. When it ended, they named the show and it was Pride and Prejudice based on the same title novel by Jane Austen.

Got me all intrigued. I've heard of her before but didn't really know anything about her work. I liked what I watched and decided to go to the library and get more videos. I didn't have time to read and figured that I'd watch some videos first before I invest my time on something that I wasn't even sure I'm going to like. To my surprise, I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice (this time in its entirety) and Emma. Then PBS showed Sense and Sensibility as a miniseries. I cried after watching that.

Then last night I saw a modern movie titled "the Jane Austen Book club". Loved it! And so now I'm planning on actually reading the novels. I think I'll start with the ones that I haven't seen (Persuasion, Mansfielf Park, Lady Susan, Northanger Abbey) then go back and read the ones I've actually watched.

For me, I think the thing that draws me to these stories is that it gives me a refreshed outlook on love and courtship. Nowadays with all the excessive show of skin and sex on TV, it's nice to watch a man and a woman just look at each other and you can feel their love for each other. Very romantic! I also enjoy listening to the formal way of talking back then. It's so proper, full of respect and eloquence. I love it all.

I was even talking to one of my girlfriends earlier at Church and talked about maybe setting up a book club. At first I thought maybe I won't have time to read and join a book club, but then again I really, really wanna do this so maybe I'll just "make" time.

Don't worry I'll still be blogging and who knows maybe there will be a few Jane Austen posts here and there. *wink*

happy Easter and till next time,
Grace

oooppsss

wow what a great response for the GCD raks from the last post. Keep em coming. But I totally forgot to give a deadline.....oooopppsss..... my bad!

so let's give it till Sunday. Post your comments on this post and I'll pick two names on Sunday.

Have a great Easter weekend everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

Wednesday in Pictures + rak

Heeelllllooooo everyone!!!

first off thanks to all the kind words that you guys gave me with my new job. I'm so excited to be in the GCD Studios team. There are a lot of "altered items" swirling in my head now. I can't wait to play with their fabulous products.

And to think Monday could've been any better, I got this package that day....

It's my GCD package. Wowzer!!!

Now I only see this kinda package from other people's blogs, I never dreamed that I can put one of my own pics of this in my space.

Oh and look how sweet GCD is, they even sent some candies to go with their "sweet" package. Thanks GCD.


Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love the sunshine, the nice weather, the planting season and the fun paster colors. To make me feel the mood of the whole season, I busted out this quilt to put on my bed. My mom labored on this quilt for years and she gave it to us for a Christmas gift. Oh how I love this family treasure.



And finally my little static girl. This is what Maddie's hair look like when she jumps on the trampoline. I'm so amazed at how much they stand up. Marcus refers to this look as "rockstar".



oh and since I'm in a happy mood why not do a rak! Just leave a comment here on what's your favorite item to alter and I'll send two people something from that great GCD package that I got.

****RAK Closed******

So there you have it. Happy midweek.

Till next time,
Grace

yes, it's for realzzzzz!!!

definitely a great start to my week. Check out this post!!!

I still can't believe I'm part of their team!

Till next time,
Grace

Grandparents are special

This year, I've made a goal to get better at my cardmaking skills so I try to participate in card challenges as much as I can. Here's a couple I made and since I rarely make cards for Grandparents, I thought now is the best time to do so.

Grandfather

this was inspired by the sketch in CPS last week. I missed the cut off date to submit but I did have a lot of fun with the sketch.


I have the dear Cricut expressions back from my mom this month and I'm playing around with it again. Aaahhhh, how I've missed that baby!

I cut the flourish and frame from the Cricut. I sprayed the silver flourishes with glimmer mist for added shine and covered the heart chipboard with gold stickles (glitter glue)

Grandmother

this one was inspired by the Be Inspired #25 over at Cuttlebug blog. It was a sketch challenge this week and I loved how this turned out.

I used the swiss dot embossing template (love this stuff) and my new purchase which is the decorative circle embossing folder for the white cardstock. I added some chalk to it to make the circles stand out more.


and to emphasize the "frost" in my card sentiment, I added tons of buttons onto the cupcake.

Thank you for looking and Till next time,
Grace