a wonderful weekend

how was your Thanksgiving weekend?

for me- it was WONDERFUL!!! Full of stuff, lots of going on and didn't get to sleep in at all. But I'm not complaining cause most of my time were spent with family and that's my greatest blessing.

Before I go on to my main topic for this post, I wanna say to my dear friend Cassey.....I hope you won't get mad at me that I saw this movie without you. I still love you my dear friend and I can't wait to go on a flea market date with you one of these days. *smile*

So anyways, on Friday I worked in the morning. Gosh I was so surprised to see all the shoppers that morning. Seriously where's the recession? I can't see it in our mall.

I got home early and our night was free. Mitch asked me what I wanted to do that night and because of some exhaustion, I just said let's just chill at the house. So the wonderful hubby that he is, got pizzas and rented DVD's for us to watch. I let him pick the movies and when he came home from getting the food and the movies he handed me three DVD's. I remarked at why he got three but then I looked at the top movie and it was this......



I seriously screamed!!!!

He knows that I've been stalking the cheap theater for this. I have wanted to watch this movie ever since I saw the trailers of it on TV.

Don't you just love hubbies that get you? *smile*

Anyways so after dinner and getting the kids cleaned up, we cozied up on our bed where, because of p90x, we now have a DVD player in our room and watched the movie.

My take on it- it's a definite chick flick and I LOVED every bit of it. Oh there was this one scene that Julie Child's husband's character blurted the F word which really irritated me cause it's so unlike the era of where the scene took place. But other than that, the movie was right up my alley.

I was amazed at how Meryl Streep turned into Julia Child so remarkably. From the voice, even to the little malnerisms. Just pure amazing!

The thing that I loved most about it is how Julie Powell (Amy Adam's character) resonated to me so much. She was (at that time that she started her cooking project) 29, and looking for more meaning to her life. I too am having that feeling that I'm in the middle of a crossroad in my life. Being 29 and going into the 30's it makes you wonder what you've done so far and what you can still become/amount to in the next decade of your life.

Now, I know my purpose but I loved that I could relate to her need to find a passion and be successful at it. Oh how I love to be able to quit my retail job and be able to pay the bills with scrapbooking checks.

I also love how through her cooking with the Julia Child's book she found that woman inspirational and became somewhat of her imaginary friend. I have that same feeling with Jane Austin. Everytime I think of her novels, I feel like she's one of my friend that's filled with creativity.

Another fun thing is that Julie Powell's project started as a blog. I too have a blog *smile* and maybe this will lead me to become a writer just like she did. Hehehehehehe. Maybe but I doubt it!

And finally I love that these women are taking charge of their lives. Not being happy with the norm and finding their "niche" in this world. I really love that idea! I know we can't have it all at the same time but with determination and lots of support we can achieve our dreams.

And I will end this post with that. If you are looking for a fun chick flick to watch. Give "Julie and Julia" a try. It'll at least make you wanna try to make "Beef Bourguignon".

Have a great day and till next time,
Grace

Family fave minibook

Family fave minibook

I used all the leftover products from making my five layouts to make this minibook. I love that Crazy Daisy kits are chock full of items that there's no limit to how many projects you can finish with the kit.

Being a scrapbooker, I've accumulated a TON of pictures over the years. Most of them of course go into scrapbooks but there are certain ones that are my favorites that doesn't go into any scrapbook category so I'm filing them here in this minibook.


I chose pictures from one year (2008) and will print them as regular 4x6 sized photos so I can slap them quickly into this book.



I'm intending to give this to my mother in law for Christmas but you can also keep this project to yourself as a brag book. I love that the bazzill minibook is easily adaptable to any project theme.

The fun embellishments included in the kit made this project easy and full of great details.



If you want more info about the November kit or any other kids Crazy daisy offers, click here.

Till next time,
Grace

Knott's berry trip

Mitch and I are known to be cheap skates. We are proud of it (most of the time)! That's why the only time we take our kids to an amusement park is when Knott's Berry Farm does their Veteran's deal during the month of November. In the years past they allowed the military veteran or active member bring themselves plus another person for free and 6 people for $5. Then two years ago it became $10 for the 6 additional people and then this year it's $15. I'm thinking in about 2 years there won't be much of a "deal" but for right now I think we are still scoring great with that price. Imagine with our family we only spent $30 (plus $12 for parking) for a whole day of fun at the park. Still not bad, don't you think?!

Anyways we went last Wednesday. Mitch took the day off from work and we pulled Marcus out of school. I know that sounds bad but we don't like crowds and with the retail season in full swing, weekends won't work for our family. It actually turned out GREAT cause we didn't have to wait in line for any of the rides we wanted to go on. Mitch loved that he can walk straight up to the front of the line, pick the seat that he wants on the rides, go through it and go around and still hit that same ride all over again.

Here's some shots that I took of our fun day....


Here's me at the carousel. Don't worry the kids were strapped well on their horses so eventhough my attention was away from them when I took this shot, all was well. :)


Last year I got the kids cotton candy at the park and then this year Maddie remembered it so I guess that's one tradition will have to continue.


Mitch and Maddie at Calico Ghost town


Marcus and I at the same ride

One thing I did this year was take photos of what I saw just before a ride starts. Here's a couple of my "ride" perspective shots...

at the bumper cars


at the Ferris Wheel


and finally some shots of the kids.....
Maddie enjoying her solo rides at one of the rides at Camp Snoopy


Marcus and Snoopy. Maddie was scared to come up to Snoopy. She didn't understand why Snoopy was moving. Our girl thinks Snoopy should be like her snoopy stuff animal- lifeless! Funny girl!


We had fun. We were there when the park opened and just before it closed. All was tired and thank goodness for a great coupon for Arbys, I didn't have to worry about dinner too. :)

Till next time,
Grace

hole in the wall pictures + a digital page

"live one day at at time" is really taking it's shape in my life right now. There's soooo many things going on that if you ask me what I'm going to be doing two weeks from now, I can't answer cause right now I'm living one week at a time. I figured that's the only way for me to keep my sanity. And to think that the Holiday season is just starting!

Anyways, last weekend we took the kids to Hole in the wall. It's a part of the Mojave desert that we always go to every year. Mitch has been going to this spot since he was little. He likes to hunt for quail birds while the kids like to explore the many hills and rock formations all over the campsite and as for me, well I'm there to get away and to eat as many junk "camp" food that I can take! LOL.

Here's a few pics of beautiful landscape there.....


I took the kids on a short hike on Saturday morning. Love that I can walk with my kids, chat with them and see all the beauty that surrounds us.


A long time ago, there were some volcanoes around here and then the lava flown and dried up to be hills and rock formations. Because the fluid has some vapors on it, it popped when it dried up hence the "holes in the wall". We love this place!


It's pretty bare around here (being that it's the desert) but we enjoy all the hiking and exploring.


a fun shot for mommy. *wink*

and to end this quick post here is a digital page I made last week. It documents my favorite thing in the world to do. Can you guess it? *wink*

I Create

Journaling reads:
I scrapbook because I want to preserve my family's memories. I want to document our life stories. I want my future families to know how we lived, who we loved, and how we made a difference in this world. I create because there are stories to be told. 2009

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

November Upsy Daisy share

Did you know that the Upsy Daisy blog is hoppin' with great projects? Well if you haven't visited the Daisy Diaries blog in a while, check them out here.

Here's a couple of projects that I made for Upsy Daisy this month....

Thank you card

although most people are still just now thinking about Christmas greeting cards, I'm already starting on my Thank you cards for the season. You never know when you'll need that extra special thank you card to show your appreciation for a holiday gift.


I used the Hot Chocolate line here. I love the whimsy feel of the pinks, greens and brown. I'm also inlove with butterfly right now and I added that together with a rubon sentiment.

Hark frame
PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
The Spirit line had this pattern paper that had an angel with trumpet design on it and that's what jump started this idea.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
to learn more about this project and how to make it, check this post that I made for the daisy diaries blog.

Thank you for looking and till next time,
Grace

Crazy Daisy November Add on kit

I was very fortunate to receive two fun kits from Crazy Daisy kit this month. If you haven't seen what I did with the main kit, check it over here. Kim and Jen also sent me the add on kit. It was definitely a fun kit. Lots of earth tone colored items and it jump started my creativity pretty quickly. Here's what I came up with....

Park day fun

This page was inspired by all the earth tones on the paper and embellishment plus the jillibean soup paper with fun trees on it.

I added ribbons and date ticket here too. I cut out the trees and used them as embellishments on the page.

I cut out strips from the JBS notepads and handwrote my journaling.

Best Dad in the world

I loved all the papers in the kit that I decided to show them off here. I picked two that I cut out in pieces and then punched out circles for the rest and created the design on the left with them.
I also punched out more notepads into circles and then handwrote my journaling.

To make my green title stand out from a bold designed paper, I painted brown on the paper and then adhered my title.

I connected the blocks of paper with the circles with a strip of ric rac ribbon and added flowers and two owls.

Card set
the add on kit had tons of items on it that I was able to make three more cards with it.


happy birthday card

I used a lot of the embellishments here and created a visual triangle with the yellow stars.

Mom

I used a journaling sticker as an element to lead the eye to the card title. I also added flowers for the feminine touch.

Thank U

I adhered a big journaling sticker onto cardstock, trimmed it and cut in into two pieces. Making the edges point to the butterfly.

If you want more info about the add on kit or any other kits that Crazy Daisy offers, check them out here.

Thank you for looking and till next time,
Grace

Artsy Urban projects...

Last month GCD Studios released a great collection called "Artsy Urban" designed by Melody Ross. As part of the GCD design team, I was very lucky to have received the whole line and here's the first two projects that I made with it.

For you gift tin and bracelet set

I love all the butterflies from this paper collection that I decided to make them the focal point of my projects. So I created this tin can container with a fabric bracelet with a butterfly accent on it.


For the tin can, I spray painted an empty altoid can. After it dried, I covered it up with some papers from the collection. I chose to use the 8x8 paper pad for this project. I feel that because the item that I'm altering is small, that smaller designs/prints would work best so I opted for the smaller version of the patterns.
I edged all the papers before adhering them to create a distress look.


After that, I worked on the cover of the tin can. I layered lots of fun embellishments from the collection like the journaling block, crochet flower, button, epoxy sticker, clear butterfly sticker (adhered first onto white cardstock then cut out) and jewel brad.
Then I handwrote a short sentiment.

For the butterfly bracelet...

I first created my fabric base. I measured my wrist all the way around, cut out a fabric with that measurement plus 1/2" seam allowance on the sides. I also added the silk ribbon to two ends of the fabric before stitching it all the way around (wrong side together) and then turning it right side out, hand stitching it to close. Then I ironed it to make it flat.
Then I grabbed the blue pattern paper from the 12x12 pad, cut it into a circle and crumpled and distressed the edge.
Next I layered two butterfly accents. I connected them all together (butterflies and paper) with a jewel brad and added an epoxy sticker for an extra layer of texture.

Butterfly headband.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Continuing with the wearable art...I grabbed one of the felt strips from the paper collection and placed a strip of pattern paper underneath it before hot gluing it onto a thin headband I had lying around my dresser.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

For the flower embellishment, I cut out a strip of paper from the 12x12 pack and rolled it around to create a flower. I also distressed the edge of it.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Next I layered it with an acetate accent, crochet flower and a butterfly brad.
I adhered the flower accent with glue gun on the side of the headband.

Liked what you saw? GCD Studios posted another project of mine in the blog today. It has a Thanksgiving theme with it. Check it out here.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

a C-R-A-Z-Y week revisited

I'm posting this because...a. I wanna laugh out the tiredness that I feel; b. when I thought last week was crazy, this week's activities makes this long list of things that I did small in comparison and c. because I have tons of pictures I wanna share....

Sunday
Church in the morning. It was Ward Conference so it was a bit crazy.
Had the missionaries over and served them an early dinner.
Mitch and I met with the Bishop and he gave me a new calling.
Went to our nephew's baptism.

Monday
this day is almost always devoted to cleaning and laundry. I'm always welcomed by this sight....

and turn it into organized piles like this...

I also worked tonight.

Tuesday
Maddie and I were at the preschool just for a little time before heading out to the Court house to witness this....

My brother George decided to marry his girlfriend of four years (more or less) at a very small and short ceremony at the Norwalk Country recorder's office. My parents were still in Virginia visiting my sister and her family and everybody else were working so I was the representative for the whole clan. Mitch was there too, by the way.

Wednesday
Devoted all morning to this....

dived into my November crazy daisy kits and worked on some scrapbook projects.

In the afternoon I had a little emotional breakdown. Who knew that 1st grade could be so hard! I choose not to go into details on this.

Thursday
Took Ms. Tinkerbell aka Maddie to preschool for their Halloween party. She enjoyed all the crafts and games oh and of course all the treats!


Right after school, we drove to here to pick up my parents who flew back from Virginia.


Tonight I attended a church meeting. Broke down again but this time it was good cause I was confiding to a friend. Gotta love great friends.

Friday
Continued on with my scrapbook projects.
Went to the grocery store and Walmart.
Bought and wrap a present. We were invited to a birthday party Saturday.
Worked tonight

Saturday
Took in a morning shift at work. I need the hours. *wink*
Went to the birthday party
Made this when the family got home....


and then took the kids around the neighborhood to get their candy fill.....


Was your week crazier than that?!

Till next time,
Grace

November Crazy Daisy layouts *photo heavy*

I truly feel blessed to be receiving the Crazy Daisy kits every month. There kits don't disappoint. There's TONS of products in there and I love that I'm always inspired to try new things with this kit. Here's my November projects....

Calendar Helper

In this layout I wanted to use those fun JBS notepads as part of my design so I punched out 1 1/2" circles from the papers, cut them in half and made them as scallops on top and bottom of my picture strip.


I added a fun cluster of embellishments on the top. I love transferring rubons onto cardstock, cutting them out and then adhering them to my page.


I created a visual triangle between the orange letters from the title, orange brad on the cluster of embellishments and orange star by the journaling block. I also used the Crate Paper border and journaling stickers here.

Girlfriends

I love the floral design from one of the Pattern papers and used that as embellishments. The size of the flowers created for a more dramatic look. I added the Pink Paislee brads on it for more texture and dimension.




I also added a rubon onto my main photo for added interest.

Papa's birthday

This double page spread was made quick with all the fun stuff in the November kit. I used some papers, the grungeboard, letter stickers and embellishments.


I love the owl ribbon and it reminded me of my "old" man! Kidding aside, I thought it would be a cute addition to my dad's birthday layout. The ribbon was a little bit too short for my 12x12 page so I added a journaling rubon, transfered first onto cardstock then cut it half.


I created a visual triangle between the two sets of grungeboard and letter stickers.
The grungeboards were painted first then sanded down to show off the circles on the board.

You are....

I love the patterns from the papers in the kit. They provided me with lots of variety. These earth toned papers worked perfectly for these pictures of my son with the tree behind him.


I angled the brown paper for some interest. I cut out the word "adore" from the bingo card and added that to my layout together with some border stickers,ribbons and lots of embellishments.


Because the ribbon was thick, I added pop up dots to my photos so the ribbon won't create a bulk underneath it.

Beautiful Graduate

I chose to make this page cause the subtle colors from the background pattern paper had the same kinda blue that my step daughter's graduation gown has.


I used the transparency word as part of my title. I also used the page block in the kit as a mat for my main photo. I added journaling on the extra space around the picture.


Three punched out butterflies was added for visual triangle. I also added two photo corner stickers to show the location of my daughter during their line up before the ceremony.

Grab a kit NOW and be inspired!

Stay tune, I had a pleasure of working with the add on kit as well and I'll be posting those project soon.

Till next time,
Grace