a Cosmo Cricket weekend for me.....

last week's constant "play" under the sun had left me with no or little time in my scrap room. Thank goodness for the weekend!

Armed with some new and fun Cosmo Cricket buys I went to work and made the following...

Pretty Maddie

This layout featured the Girl Friday line and Tank Mix Die cut letters. I'm a little sad that the blue cardstock in the background looks darker in the picture than in real life. I might have to take another picture of this.


I layered a lot of the pattern papers to create my block design. I love to work with one line at a time. It gives me the freedom to move things around without worrying if they will blend in together. I printed my pictures at home for this page and was able to crop the line of little photos in photoshop before printing, taking out some time I would've wasted just trying to crop them and line them up behind the white mat.


I highlighted the letter M (for Maddie) with a handmade circle and handwritten the title all around it.

Oh Boy!

This page featured journaling blocks from the Get Happy line and papers from Girl Friday and Halfway cafe. I also played with tank mix number die cut and rubons here.


this page was all about my son's first time loosing a tooth, so I made a vellum pocket to store the loose tooth and added rubons onto the front.


Used a number set here from the tank mix die cut paper and highlighted the number 5 with ink since that's the age he lost his first tooth.


I added design to the subtle halfway cafe paper by adding rubon words.

Happy day card
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-
this card featured some more Girl Friday papers, a little bit of Mr. Campy (red and stripe paper) and fun black board leaves. I enjoyed layering them all together here.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
I was so surprised at how fast I was able to whip this card together. I guess when you have a fun paper and designs to play with it all comes together very easily.

Let's get back to Nature minibook

this minibook featured papers, journaling blocks and blackboard from Mr. Campy line. I made my own 6x6 minibook from Illustration board and binding it with the bind it all machine. I also incorporated some papers from Girl Friday and Halfway cafe for the inside pages.


I painted the blackboard green, then added some brown to it and finally spraying some copper glimmer mist onto it for the "rustic" look.

Here's a glimpse on the inside...

I loved all the fun shapes from the blackboard pack. It was the PERFECT embellishments for my camping minibook. I've never had so much fun adding a tent and hiking people embellishments to my project. I painted most of the blackboards to change the color and some of them I highlighted with a marker or pen.


here's what the back looks like. How fun is that car shape?
!
so there you have it. I hope you too had a great weekend and have a great rest of the week.

Till next time,
Grace

altered item plus some sneek peeks....

Happy Sunday everyone!

I hope everybody's enjoying the sunny days. I have to say that I L-O-V-E summer breaks. No schools, no taxi-ng kids all over the place, no set schedules and especially no waking up early!!!

This IS definitely my favorite season.

Anyways I hope to share some pics of our trip to the California Science Center soon but for now I wanna share a wall decor project that I did a few weeks back but never got around to sharing it.....

Let Freedom Ring wall decor

I like hanging something around my house that's seasonal or holiday themed and noticed that I don't have any for 4th of July so I quickly made this one.

I say quickly cause it really was easy. Thanks to tools like the Cricut and the cuttlebug.

I used scrap papers here and kept it in a blue, red and white theme. I adhered it to chipboard/cardboard so it can have some weight under there.

I cut out my cardstock letters from the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge (Cricut) and added texture and subtle design by using Cuttlebug embossing folders. I tied all the blocks with ribbons then put it up. Oh and I also inked the edges for a distressed look.

July's in a couple of days (can you believe that?) and here's some sneeks of my projects for the Crazy Daisy kit. Did you know that you can prepurchase this wonderful kit by subscribing? Find out more details here.


So that's all for now.

Till next time,
Grace

finally a page to share.....

This week has been C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Loving all the outdoors stuff I've been doing with the kids but sadly I've been neglecting my scrapbook space. huhuhuhu! So for now here's one layout to share.....

Chill day

this was inspired by the most recent challenge over at the Method Playground blog. Love their challenges. They make me go out of my comfort zone.

Anyways the challenge was to incorporate everyday paper (toilet paper; paper towel; tissue paper; etc) into your scrapbook page. I used wax paper and made it into snowflakes. I love that it's somewhat translucent but heavy enough that it won't rip on me while I make my snowflake cuts.

I wanted it to look like it's floating (kinda like the real thing) but the problem was that foam adhesive shows underneath it. So my solution- I punched out a 1" circle from the same cardstock as my background (blue) adhered the snowflake on the circle with clear adhesive then added foam dots underneath the circle punch for a 3d effect.

I added a punch of color underneath the two page spread so the page don't get too boring with the "snow" colors.

linkies.....

Hi all. This is going to be a quick post. Kids are out of school and we're enjoying our summer vacation outdoors. This week we've - been to the library and played in the dolphin fountain; watched a free movie at the mall; went to the California Science Center (in LA) and tomorrow will be at the park. It's been crazy here but we love it. Like what my son said "we've been having lots of fun all week!" We have and hope you are too.

Anyways, since this blog is missing some craft share, how about links that might interest you.....


Cuttlebug blog's getting ready for CHA with some great Provo Craft sneeks. Click here for more details.



I'm sad that SoCalScrap website is closing in two days. Huhuhu! It feels like a part of me is going away for good. I've met a alot of great ladies/scrappers in the forum. I hope we all can keep in touch. But there's always a silver lining to things right?, so check out the store cause Robin put up all the stuff on sale. 40-85% off, can't beat that!

Did you know that GCD Studios blog are giving away free stuff on Wednesdays? Click here for more details. It's so easy to play along. Oh and we're starting Wedding week so watch out for some great wedding themed projects.

and last but not the least is a sneek peek at the July's Crazy Daisy kit. Oh how I adore this kit. There's lots of Prima love here. It's soooooo good!!! I already played with it and finishing up my mini album as we speak. Will post some sneeks of my projects soon. Oh and "the" Donna Downey is the July's Guest Designer. How awesome is that?! I mean how "crazy" awesome is that?! Check out the blog for updates.



So happy Thursday everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

Happy Father's day....

to all the father's (Dad, Stepdad, Grandpa, Uncles, Adoptive dad, Future dads, etc.) out there, Happy Father's day.

I know I'm greeting a little late here since it's past 11 pm, pacific time, but it's the thought that counts right? LOL.

Anyways, ours was pretty mellow. I got Mitch a box of see's candies, a handmade card and cards from the kids. Marcus wrote his own sentiments on his card and I'm really impressed at how smart he's become because of school. He was able to write "I love you very much" and that he's dad works very hard. I'm in shock!

My favorite thing of the day was when I got this shot of Mitch helping Marcus with this tie.


One of things I try to do right now is to be more aware of relationships between each family member. Of course the usual activities, holidays and special events takes more room in our scrapbooks but I also want to capture those special, tender moments between each family members. I'm so glad I didn't let this pass without capturing it in photo.

Oh BTW, GCD studios is having a photo challenge this weekend. Check it out here. It totally captures the thoughts that I mentioned above.

and finally here's the card that I made for Mitch for Father's day.

Dad, you're the greatest!


This one was also inspired by this challenge. I'm not much for the masculine colors/look but I gave this one a shot cause I wanted an excuse to play with my new Cuttlebug embossing folder.
Whaddya think?

Till next time,
Grace

Digitized

If you know me, you know that I love free stuff. Who wouldn't?

Well lately I've been on an "addiction" of some sorts to free digital kits. You can find them everywhere and most of them are really adorable. Well yesterday, I was going through Picassa, looking at pictures to print, when I scrolled through my downloaded Digital kits and realized that I've not played with these yummy lines.

So off I went to adobe photoshop and before you know it, I made three pages. How cool is that?! I've rediscovered the beauty of digital pages, how fast they can be done; how easy it is to rearrange them without getting my hands all sticky and dirty with glue; how inexpensive it is to produce these layouts; and how fun it is to play on the computer.

Now I don't think myself as an advanced digital scrapper. I have a lot more learning to do but you can totally see in the following pages that I bring my traditional scrapper feel to my digi pages as well, focusing on using products versus techniques.

Lookie look....

SWEET TREAT

I used the ice cream image to fit my journaling. That was fun!


This is from the same collection. I can't believe I made all these treats last year. Oh how I miss my oven right about now.


I'm amazed at how real looking some of these digital elements can be. Look at the glitter vines, they sparkle like the real thing.

The first two pages came from the Memory Makers mag site (can't find the direct link,sorry!) and the second one was from Peppermit Creative. Oh and the best part...... all of them were freebies!!!

So if you're still lukewarm about digital scrapbooking, let me tell ya, FREE is worth trying, right?!


Till next time,
Grace

Watch out world, here we come.......

first grade, first grade!!!

Those were the last lines of a poem the Kindergartners from Burbank Elementary School recited last Tuesday (June 16th) during their promotion ceremony.

We practiced the poem at home for the past two weeks and I have to tell you, every time Marcus said these lines, I felt a bittersweet feeling come over me. Bitter cause my baby's no longer a baby but sweet cause we've finally overcame the hurdle of Kindergarten. I was so worried in the beginning of the year that he wasn't ready for school. I had thoughts of holding him back because I've heard from some moms that have boys "that boys mature slower than girls and it's for their best interest to hold them back". Obviously I didn't listen to this advice and I'm so glad I didn't. Not only did Marcus improved in leaps and bounds with his maturity but also academically. I'm so surprised at all the information that he would randomly blur out and then when I ask him how he knew that, he's reply would always be- "I learned it at school". Isn't that the greatest?! There is still hope in our educational system. (my opinion, no hating ok!)

Anyways, Mitch and I and also Maddie went to support Marcus in his promotion. I borrowed my parents camcorder so we can video tape this major milestone in our kids' life. Mitch was in charge of the video taping and I took the still shots with my brother's camera. I borrowed his cause he had the bigger zoom lens. It was perfect and I was able to get in tight and focus on my son, especially during the little singing program that they did like this one....

it still shows some kids but I was waaaayyyy on the other side of the auditorium when I took this shot. I would not have been able to get this close with my 55mm lens. Thanks bro.!


Here's a pic of Marcus getting his certificate of completion from the Principal (Mr. Cizmar) and looking on is his teacher (Mrs. Johnston). Sorry for the blurry photo, Marcus was on the move!


We were suprised when they were handing out the academic awards. We didn't know that our dear Marcus was in the Principal's honor roll. How cool is that! We're very proud of him. My little honor roll, oh I gotta stop or I'm going to cry. *HUHUHU*


and here's Marcus with Mrs. Johnston. She was a great teacher! I cannot have asked for a more kind, compassionate and patient teacher than her. She really helped my son blossom to the boy he is. She quickly found his strengths (math, story time) and encouraged him to continue to better at it and with his weaknesses (keeping his hands to himself, little attention span) , she worked with him and I to improve in those areas.

We are very excited with summer but we vow to continue learning through out the season so he'll be, like he said in his poem, READY FOR FIRST GRADE!

Till next time,
Grace

Random Monday

Yesterday I busted out the camera to take pictures of some projects and also of the Kitchen. Then I decided to do a photo collage of my Monday. Here's the breakdown....(1) We got a bunch of Mangoes from my parents and the kids and I were filling up on them in the afternoon. Sweet mangoes always reminds me of summer back in the Philippines. (2) My yellow colored fruit basket. The kids keep on asking me if the bananas are riped already. We always get them green at Costco and it takes a few days before they're ready to be eaten. (3) Since we colored our kitchen walls yellow, my mom was inspired to give me these. She picked it up somewhere and the colors reminded her of my "yellow" kitchen. She's so thoughtful. (4) Our kitchen remodeling's finally moving along in leaps and bounds. Last Saturday, Mitch and a friend put up some cabinets. It's so exciting seeing it come together now. See that box in the middle of the cabinets on the bottom? Our brand spankin new dishwasher's inside that box. I can't wait to use it. (5) Mitch also started on our floors. Here's the backer board all installed. Next step, the tiles! Woohoo! (6) Finally got the TV in my room hooked up with a dtv converter. It only took the deadline for the dtv conversion to get me to install my converter. I love it though, I'm getting addicted to all the extra channels. I especially love the live well chanell (7-2) and the Create challenge (58-3). (7) load of laundry on my bed. Here's what my bed looks like every Monday afternoon. After an average of 8 loads, I spend my afternoon folding ALL of these. It's a lot but I like to get them out of the way earlier in the week so I don't have to worry about them later. and finally (8) my messy scrap space. I made a couple of cards and started on a page last Sunday and didn't get them cleaned out. What a mess!

I loooovvveeee random Mondays.

Till next time,
Grace

Be Inspired #35 + GCD contest

I didn't realized that it's been a few days since my last post. Sorry for the odd quietness in the blog, just livin' life.

Here's the first of many posts today......

Inspired by the latest Cuttlebug challenge which was to integrate "movies" into your project. I love watching movies so it was not that hard to get inspired by it, but I did had a hard time narrowing down which favorite movie line I wanted to use on my card. After some thought, I came up with this....

You had me at Hello card

doesn't that line just scream love to you??? it does for me.


I used my swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder as the sublte background for my card. I also played with a bunch of stuff in my "new stuff" basket like the Thickers letters (courtesy of a dear friend. Thanks Rochelle) flower stamps from KI Memories and paper from my new Just Chillin pad of Making Memories.


I heat embossed the flower stamps with just clear embossing powder for some added texture then adhered them onto the card with pop up dots.

Were you inspired by this card? GCD is having a card contest today. Check out the details in the blog.

Till next time,
Grace

Our June so far *photo heavy*

Today is just the 11th day of the month but it seemed like my family have had a ton of events that should last us until the end of the month! I wanna take a few minutes to recall the past events. I know my family awaits these kinds of posts plus I get some scrapbooking journaling done!

June 2nd
Maddie's Preschool Carnival

At the end of every school year, the Mommy and me preschool that I take my kids too always have a big themed party/activity. Last year it was an olympics type of theme and this year it was Carnival. Maddie had been ill the past couple of days prior to the event so I didn't know how she'd do but she did ok. At first she didn't wanna do any of the stations, she just wanted to play with her friend Danica. But then after a pushes from dear old mom, she did enjoy it. Here's some of our favorites from the activity....

this one was in the middle of an obstacle course. It was sprinkling the whole time we were there so that kinda bummed me out.


look at this muscle girl! All the activities were very cute, I might just steal some of the ideas for a primary activity. *smile*


this pompom throwing activity was one of those stations were she actually started to enjoy. It took her about 6 throws before she got one in the hole though.


Another station that brighten up her day was the face painting table. She wanted the designs on her hand instead. The images were supposed to be a rainbow and a flower, so sorry it's not that great, Mom realized she can only work her magic with papers and not face painting mediums and kid's skins.


and to top off a great activity she had pizza and a juice box. Definitely a great activity to end a great school year!

June 9th
Maddie's last day at preschool and it was a big graduation ceremony.

the kids all got to "parade" in their "togas" (Dad's white shirt) and homemade caps. They were all very cute.


here's one of my favorite shots of that day. I love it when the parents/grandparents all crowd the kids like paparazzi's armed with their cameras and camcorders. Love it!


and here's my little girls turn to get her certificate. I love that our dear teacher, Mrs. Hom, always say something personal and unique about each kid. She says their improvements, strenghts and achievements. We are definitely lucky to have her as our children's first teacher outside of our home.

June 10th
Amanda's in town and her birthday is on the 22nd. Since she'll be back in Texas at that time we figured now is the best time to celebrate so we took the family out to T.G.I. Fridays yesterday for dinner. Here's some fun shots....


Can you believe these are our children now! They've all grown up. All looking more mature than last year. This picture just touches my heart so much. They all make motherhood so much more meaningful for me.


a daddy-daughter shot.


and in my goal to be present in all activities/events, I handed the camera over to Mitch so I can take a pic with Amanda.

So after eating and visiting here's Marcus still eating.....

I just realized that he's now the official family "vacuum". He ate his pizza plus mandarin oranges then Maddie didn't finish her pizza so he ate that then some of her fries and finished it off with Amanda's leftover birthday ice cream. Dang! that dude can eat!

oh and another thing to add for this month is that one of Marcus' artwork made in school is up on display at a local bank. The Teacher's Credit Union bank over at the Cerritos Town Center has some projects from local kids' up on their walls and we saw Marcus' handmade jelly fish up on display. I had my big camera at that time but didn't check the battery so I didn't get a shot for proof. I had my camera phone but somehow can't send the picture from the phone to my computer for saving and showing off. Oh well. Somethings I just need to choke up to experience.

Plus, Mitch is planning to get some of our kitchen cabinets installed this weekend. I'm so excited that the ball is rolling now with our remodeling project.

So there you have it, life is full right now and that's just how we like it.

Till next time,
Grace

I love school breaks.....

Maddie's officially done with preschool this year and that means that I get my Tuesday and Thursday mornings back! Woohoo!

I'm able to workout more, check my mail and actually scrap during the day. Marcus' school end's in the middle of next week and that means that these days would be even better cause I won't have to wake up too early. Haaay! I just love Summer!!!

Here's my latest projects....

Memories (Christmas 1994)

this is a page inspired by the latest challenge over at the Studio blog of American Crafts. We were to go through our old photo stash and make a scrapbook page about them. I have TONS of old pics (both mine and my hubby's) so I was all over this challenge. Making this page really got me all nostalgic and very grateful that I had a great childhood. These pictures are of my first Christmas here in America when I lived with my Aunt Eloisa and Uncle King for a year in Oregon.


The title was cut from the Home Decor cartridge of Cricut. I also inked the edges of the tiny alphas to make it stand out a little bit more against the white background.


I created my homemade Christmas tree, sprayed it with glimmer mist for some shine and added brads to mimic tree decorations.


the fun American Crafts papers I used here gave my oldie but goodie pictures a little bit of a modern touch. I also added a few hand stitching here and there for a homemade feel.

Products used:
Cardstock- (white) The Paper Company; (red) Colorbok
Pattern papers- Christmas line, American Crafts
Title die cut- Home decor cartridge, Cricut
Letter stickers- Tiny Alphas, Making Memories
Border Punch- Upper Crest, Fiskars
Thread- Embroidery floss, DMC
Glimmer spray- Pearl, Glimmer mist, Tattered Angels
Brads- Source Unknown
Journaling font- LD Vanilla, Letterdelights.com

B.O.M Achievement

I'm so happy I got this page done. It's an event that happened in November and although it's not that long ago, I've had the prints for a while and just haven't had the inspiration to make it until now and with this newest challenge from Method Playground.


In the challenge we were to use envelopes and I made my own big one for the certificate to fit in. I trimmed a 12x12 American Crafts paper and sewn on all three sides and created a pocket on the top.


I also made my own closure my punching circles and adding brads. I closed the brads only halfway through so I can turn those threads around it.


I had a leftover "o" from a previous project that I added to my group photo to make my son stand out more.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace