Three things on my mind right now...

Sorry for the previous sad post. I know it's not the type to hear from a place like this but I thought I'd share. Maybe some one out there needed that little reality check like I did.

Anyways.... my goal for this coming weeks is to stay busy. Think of things other than the house or the move because clearly that's not happening anytime soon. So with that being said, I'm shifting my mind and start thinking of "happy thoughts".

Today there's three things that is making me happy and they are...

1. Baker's Twine

I know I'm not the only one that has seen the big "rage" for this in the papercrafting world. Just ordered some from Etsy. Gosh I love that place.

2. Happiness in the wind (Korean soap opera)

Before you laugh out loud and totally discredit everything I've said in this blog....hear me first. A few weeks ago I was thumbing through the TV channels. I came across this and got stopped dead in my tracks because it had English subtitles. I watched until it was over. Then I made a mental note on what channel it was and what time it was showing. And then the next day I watched it again, and then the next, and then the next. And before you know it, I was planning my nightly routines around this show. How crazy was that!?
I'm not sure if you guys know this about me, but I'm fascinated about other cultures. I'm very engaged at conversations where people describe how life is like in other parts of the world. Being that I grew up overseas (Philippines) and then eventually "Americanized", how people behave/eat/sleep/think and do their daily tasks around the world really intrigues me. So with that being said that's why I was hooked on this show. Not only did it have a good story line but it also gave me a glimpse on how conservative South Koreans are. Although they are very hip and up to date with technology and fashion, this show and it's characters are not vulgar, they're very true to the family ties and respect for elders and there's no sexual innuendos. I mean the husband and wife kiss on the cheek or the forehead, how sweet is that!!!

I know this totally drove my character meter to "totally dorky" but what the heck, I want everyone to know that I'm dorky that way. *wink*

and third...

daydreaming and wishing for this (photo courtesy of Pottery Barn). Oh how I've missed having my scrapbook space. I'm getting tired of working on the floor, or on a small TV dinner table. But alas, I can only dream right now.

So there you have it, three things on my mind.

What's on your mind?

Till next time,
Grace

In a blink of an eye.....

On Friday night I got a call from a friend telling me of a tragedy that happened in our church family. One of the families in our ward (church) had lost their 8 year old child. She died in her sleep.

Even now this news shocks me. This truly reinforces the fact that we will never know when our time is up, when our work here is done. I've known this little girl since she was a toddler. I was very privileged to be her leader in Primary (children Sunday school) for 6 years. I've been a recipient of her love, her enthusiasm and her wonderful and beautiful smile.

She will surely be missed but at the same time I'm very grateful to have known her. This tragedy, as bad as it is definitely put things in perspective for me right now. I can say I needed this jolt to get me out of my "poor me funk". As most of you know, the limbo we call our lives right now is still an ongoing stress. We still can't see the light outside of the tunnel and as each day passes it seems like it's getting worse before it gets better.

But after hearing of this sad event, I really, truly can't be complaining about anything. My life, even the stress that it is, is still very full of blessings. Too many too count.

So with that note, let's hug our family members a little tighter tonight. Kiss our children a little longer and smile at our loved ones a little more. We never know when they're "job" on this earth is done. We can never take loved ones/people/moments for granted.

And I leave you with two of the most beautiful and precious people in my life...



Till next time,
Grace

Clear Scrap and Unity Stamp blog hop

Well hello again. It's a busy day on the blog today because I'm doing two posts. If you came to check out my latest Get Sketchy card, scroll down a little bit but if you're here because you are following along with the Clear Scraps and Unity Stamp blog hop, welcome and hope you enjoy your hop...

This past year, we had an awesome opportunity to team up with Unity Stamps and we'd love to show you some of the projects we were able to create pairing a crisp, clean rubber stamp image and the acrylic and chipboard products from Clear Scraps.

Start at the Clear Scraps blog and follow the list of designers blogs. Comment on everyone's blog and then come back to the Clear Scraps blog and let us know that you did. Everyone who completes this blog hop will be entered for a really nice prize package from Clear Scraps.

Here's my project...

Delight in the little things card

I used the Clear Scrap frame and Best wishes and Blooms set from Unity stamp in this card. I also used some Cosmo Cricket papers and Viva Decor's pearl pen.


To add some sheer on the acrylic, I brushed some pearl pen onto it and then added dots on the edges to emphasize the shape some more.


I stamped the image onto white cardstock with black ink and then colored it in with colored pencils and then added some Viva Decor pearl pen for the middle for more texture and shine.

Now check out the rest of the projects....

This will be the order of blogs:

You are here: Grace's blog
Pinky's blog
Rita's blog
Hilde's blog
Irene's blog
Elisa's blog
Cathy's blog
Tonya's blog
end here: Clear Scraps blog

Thank you for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Let your wings unfold

Happy Friday. We are starting this day with the Get Sketchy newest sketch and challenge. I love the sketch, it's simple and yet full of possibilities. Here's my take on it.

Let your Wings Unfold

I turned the sketch to its side and used three butterflies instead of the three circles in the sketch. I don't know if you've noticed my latest projects but I'm still inlove with the Homespun chic collection from GCD Studios. I love that the recipe card created just the right subtle background for my card.


no pretty card can be without a ribbon. This one is from KI Memories.


I used my trusty Martha Stewart butterfly punch to make this little pretties here and then finished them off with a bling.

Thank you for stopping by and make sure you check out the rest of the cards on display at the blog today.

Till next time,
Grace

And the limbo stage continues....

as just our luck would have it, it seems like we are staying put in California for an unknown number of months AGAIN! I don't want to get into too much of the details but this is what I will say, we are having problems closing this California house and might loose the Colorado house in the process. And the worst part is that it's all out of our hands.
It aches me every time I think about so I'm not going to dwell on that. Let's continue on to some better things shall we....

Because of the crazy August that I have I was not able to play with the Crazy Daisy kit. But don't fret, I just peeked at the rest of the DT's work and it was definitely an amazing kit. I sure missed it. I'm already having kit withdrawals. LOL. I can't wait to play with the September kit. Make sure you check out the projects made with the August kit here.

and speaking of September, here's what is in the Piggy Tale Academy Sept. kit. Doesn't the color combination intrigues you?



and some photos of what I'm doing to keep myself and the family busy....


Last Thursday Mitch and I took the kids to Cabrillo beach and aquarium. It was fun but the water was too cold to swim in.


the kids loved to chase these poor seagulls.

and then on Saturday we were at the Newport Beach temple to attend our niece's wedding.

it was a beautiful event and we enjoyed visiting with family.


the flowers show her wedding colors. It reminds me of mine, I used lavender for my wedding. It brought me some great nostalgic memories.

So that's it for now.

Till next time,
Grace

Upsy Daisy designs new lines....

check out more about these projects at the Upsy Daisy Designs blog today.

till next time,
Grace

Get Sketchy #52 plus an extra layout

Happy Friday everyone.
Hope you are all enjoying the start of the weekend and if you're in Southern California, hope you're keeping cool. It seems like the summer season finally caught up with us here. It's been hot, hot, hot!

Anyways today's the start of another challenge and sketch at Get Sketchy. Here's what I made with the latest sketch...

I {heart} U

I've been loving the blue/pink/yellow combo lately. I'm thinking that'll be a great combo for Maddie's room in Colorado.
I also created a visual triangle between the black ribbon and black letters in my card title.


and of course the flower has to have some "bling" on it.

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT's work here and play along if you can. There's always great prices in store.

Plus here's a layout I made a few months ago. It never got posted (I don't know why I missed that) so I thought today is the day to share it..

21 dollars (worth of fun)

This page is about how much it usually cost for our little family to have fun. Yes, in this movie family date we only spent $21. $4 of that got us in to watch a movie at the cheap theater. Gotta love those bargains!


I painted over the pattern paper to make my title stand out against the background.


and I had to add some fun buttons for embellishments too.

So that's it. Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Check it out....

Today I posted this project on the Clear Scraps blog...

check out the details of this book here.

and then check back tomorrow on the Clear Scraps blog again to see this...



Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Crafty Day

I designated last Thursday to be the day that I would immerse myself in some crafting. You know that I never let a day pass without playing with paper but it's been a while since I've touched my glue gun and so I thought Thursday would be the best day to make something other than papercrafts.
Actually, I was a bit pushed into crafting because I had a few gifts to give. I love the art of gift giving and more importantly making homemade gifts. I feel like it is more valuable than a pricey gift because somebody took the time out of their lives (most of them busy lives at that) to get their hands busy and think about you in the process.
Maybe some would disagree with me on this but I don't care. I know some (like my husband) would say it's not practical to give them something that they can't use or eat. But I say to that, even if you are buying gifts, you can still give it that homemade touch with your wrapping and here's some examples of that....

Baby diaper cake

I haven't done this in years. It's super easy but it does take about an hour of your time to put this together, not to mention the shopping. I've been busy with retail work that I haven't had the chance to put one of these together until now. I'm giving this to a friend who's having a baby shower this week. This is both cute and a practical gift because we all know that a mom can never have enough diapers.


diaper cakes are not new in the crafty world, but with my versions, I make them pretty. You've probably seen them stuffed with other baby needs like onesises, bibs and such but with my versions, I add artificial flowers. I feel like, this gift is as much for the mommy to be and the baby so I add the floral accents to make it pleasing for the mommy too.


Artificial flowers are the cheapest way to make grand accents. Get them in bunches and pluck them out then hot glue them onto some cute ribbon.


Another shower I have to attend to this week is a bridal shower for Mitch's niece. I made a towel cake for her.


this is another practical meets artsy gift. We all know that towels are an essential gift for a new couple and I made it pretty by adding, again, more artificial flowers.


I love the silk ribbon, it adds that touch of elegance. When I made this towel cake I didn't know our niece's color scheme but I decided since it's a summer wedding that green with yellow flowers will look good together.


in this one I even added some artificial leaves. It was the perfect touch for this "looks good to be a real" cake.


and then for our wedding gift, I got something from her registry. Here's a great example of getting something you know is fool proof (because it's from their registry) but adding your own touches to it. I grabbed one more artificial rose from the same bunch I used in the towel cake and just hot glued that to the top of the gift.

On Saturday I made some handmade cards to go with this gifts. You know I need to add some papers to any gifts, it's just natural to me. *wink*

and then because I was feeling crafty after a couple of hours of making the cakes, I made some bows/hair clips for Maddie.

These are a combination of supplies on hand, left over flowers and ribbons from the previous projects. Gotta love scraps!


If you know me, I don't do things tooo fancy. It's just not my style, so with these bows, I went as far as layering two bows together with a button or brad in the middle and called it a day.


and here's Ms. Maddie with one of her new bows.


she's definitely rocking the rosette style.

Thanks for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

Our Colorado trip in pictures *photo heavy*

Ok so here's the much promised Colorado trip in pictures and some words...

We left California on a Monday morning and everything seemed to have gone as plan. Went through Vegas and its heat, passed by the beautiful St. George Utah and saw a glimpse of the temple and then hit some rain by Beaver...


We didn't know at this time that rain will be a constant companion for most of the trip.


stayed at a friends house in Manti. They own an Alpaca ranch. These creatures are very cool to look at but just from a distance. Thank goodness for my new zoom lens. *wink*


here's my beautiful girl. See the bags under her eyes? that's a direct cause of allergies to cats. We had to discover it the hard way. Our friends had cats and as soon as we got there Maddie started sneezing and rubbing her eyes and before I knew it, her eyes were swelling. Thank goodness our friend has a stock of Benadryl.


Then Tuesday came and the bad luck started to shower on us. Our Expedition's transmission got crazy on us near Green River. We limped it to Grand Junction and got it to a transmission place but didn't get any rental cars so we can continue our journey. We had to pay a hefty price for a one night room rental at the nearest hotel. So much for a view.


But we made the most of it, by using their indoor pool and Mitch and I got to run on the treadmill in their exercise room. We have to get the most out of the "arm and a leg" price they billed us.


Then the following morning we finally got a car to rent. Just cost us another "arm and a leg" for it.


It was a mid size Chrysler Sebring. It's so small compared to our Expedition. No leg room at all. By mid day, we were already missing our big SUV.




Mitch commented that after being SUV owners for so long, we can't go back to a midsize car. There's just no way.


Because of our events in this past two days, we figured on investing on a GPS system. During our trip to Grand Junction on Tuesday, I called my sister in Virginia just so that she can go online and search some Auto repair shops for me. With a GPS, if in case we get stuck in a problem again, we'll have an instant yellow pages in our hands.


As soon as we got to Colorado Springs we went house hunting. For two straight days that's all we did. Finally on Friday we got some break while waiting for our bid to be accepted so we went to Garden of the Gods. It was an awesome sight, minus the cars!


me and Ms. Maddie while on a trail to go see the Siamese twins rock formation.


and here's the twins...rock formation that is!


I brought my new lens to this day trip and I loved the results. The only bummer about it is that because it starts at 55mm, I have to stand back pretty far from my subjects. But I sooo love the aperture it gives me. Here's some fun shots of the kids.


another one of Ms. Maddie.


more of the rock formations


here are our boys


and then as our luck would have it, it rained again on us and this time we were stuck on the rock formations, miles away from our car. So what did we do? Well we waited out the rain under the rocks.


we only sat there for about 45 minutes hoping that the camera won't get wet! Yeah that was somehow our luck in this trip. Every bad thing that can happen, happened!


I have to get use to the Colorado weather because after that rain, come Saturday, it was bright and sunny and pretty again. Here's our quick trip to the park near our friends house.


here's my beautiful husband that rarely gets photographed. Gosh I love my lens!


Marcus enjoying a fun ride down the slide.


On the second week of our trip we had to stay at a hotel. The last week was a little bit more stressful being that we were narrowing down the choices and making bids were not the funnest thing to do plus the people seemed to have been showing their emotions too much on their sleeves.


and finally a rainbow! We saw this on our way back from Colorado Springs near Manti, Utah.


and here's me, the official photographer of the trip.


and here's pretty much our view for two weeks- never ending roads.


and finally on a sad note, Mitch's hot rod is no longer ours. He sold it yesterday (Saturday). So many memories of this car, about it and in it! Oh well another thing we are saying goodbye to. Seems like that's the theme of these past weeks, saying goodbye to people, routines and to things. Another sad truth in our life right now.

Till next time,
Grace