Random four- October edition

It's that time of the month. There's nothing I dread and anticipate at the same time than my random four post. Dread because most often I've forgotten things about this month (yes I'm that bad at remembering stuff now) and anticipate because after searching my brain for all the memories, it fills me up with joy that the family had survived another month and that we all have grown (in some way or another) in the span of a month.

So let's go, shall we?

Mitch

1.this is the only good photo I have of him right now. It's hard when he's not around for most of the month. Do you see what he's doing? Yep that's karaoke. He can't be married to a filipina girl and not do karaoke once in a while. hehehehehe!
2. He's been working hard at his new job. He was busy these past two weeks. He had to inspect about 70 cell sites and they were all over Colorado.
3. Got to visit his Aunt Norma in Wyoming. It was by the border of Colorado so he was able to take a back and forth trip in a day. I'm happy that he's just a drive away from family.
4. He was asked to teach a lesson in Elder's Quorum last Sunday. Somehow he can not truly get away from teaching a class. :)

Grace

1. This month has been better. I think it's because of General Conference in the beginning of the month. My mind frame has changed. I was more positive this month and more grateful of what I have.
2. Went back to school this month. I'm enjoying the new challenge. Still far from getting that Medical Billing certificate but it's been good so far.
3. Driving all over the place, ALL THE TIME!!! Because Mitch is not around, I'm always driving people around. If the family have to go to family events or parties, I'm the one driving the long distance. I don't mind seeing the family but I'm not used to driving all the time and I'm not that confident driving at night.
4. Knitting is still very enjoyable. I love picking yarns, getting a new set of needles and looking at patterns that I can do. I've been very ambitious lately, picking up projects that are beyond my capability but saving them for that "someday" when I can actually decipher what the patterns say.

Marcus

1. School has been going on for two months now and like the past years, it is in this month that we start having problems with his behavior at school. He's one of those kids that when the "newness" of things wear off, he starts getting bored. But I'm grateful that he's teacher is sooo kind and are trying really hard to keep him focused and gives him so many chances to redo the day.
2. He's been the most affected that Mitch is not around. The poor guy has been reminiscing on all the fun things he does with his dad like camping, swimming at Grandma's house and horsing around on the trampoline. His sadness is felt by everyone.
3. Marcus has been improving in his reading. I found a book series written by a lady named Margaret Hillert and it's the perfect read for him. There's alot of repetitive words/phrases that makes it able for him to read the entire thing by himself. I'm so proud of him.
4. He was able to tell me the story of Jonah and the whale without any help. I'm so happy to hear that he picks up things at church.

Maddie

1. Our sweet girl turned 5 this month. She was showered with so many gifts but her favorite is the Minnie Mouse shoes. As soon as she comes home from school, that's the first thing she puts on. So funny and cute!
2. Her idea of school is all about making and keeping friends. Every time I pick her up from school, her first words are..."I made a new friend today Mom." or "I played with so and so today". I love her concept of school which equals to playing with friends.
3. She is so into drawing and coloring lately. I gave her a clipboard with paper and she can be happy with that and some crayons or colored pencils for hours. I love her passion for the arts.
4. Homework is breezy with her. She's always ready to do the next step/paper. Not much whining from her unless it's about the poem. She always stresses about the poem they have two weeks to memorize.

Thanks for stopping by.

till next time,
Grace

Halloween Checklist mini

Only a few more days before Halloween. Are you ready? Well how about a themed mini with a checklist? This one was made using the products from the Crazy Daisy October Main kit.


This mini was inspired by one of the papers in the kit. It was the MME kraft paper that had fun things noted about Halloween. One part there was the Halloween checklist. I decided to cut them off and use that as the spring board for the mini.


Of course I used the wonderful Basic Grey mini. I covered the more part of it with pattern paper. I used the Pink Paislee paper for the front page because I loved the tree and tombstone designs on it. With that on my front page, I knew that I didn't have to dress the cover too much just to emphasize the theme.
I added some orange glitter glue around the front and back covers and placed the title block on the cover.

For the inside pages, I visualized it to be simple and repetitive. I feel there's nothing wrong with the inside pages being the same basic design. It actually brings all of the pages together.




I also sprinkled the JBS buttons in there. The acted as my one constant embellishment all through out the book.


This book will most likely be for this year's Halloween's activities so I left lots of spaces for pictures with precut white cardstock. These cardstock will also act as matting for my photos when I'm ready to print and add them to the book. It'll save me time in the future.












And for the back, I used the Pink Paislee paper again and added a simple strip of paper to add my signature.


Hope you like it!

Check out the kit here.

Till next time,
Grace

October Crazy Daisy kit layouts (photo heavy)

Yipee, it's the weekend! I don't know about you but this week seemed to have drag on wayyyy too long!

So how about we start the party with a showcase of layouts? Here's the pages I made using the aptly themed yet ultra cool October Crazy Daisy kit. I love the that the main kit had a lot of things to use for your Halloween pages and the neutral base of the color scheme lets you match it perfectly with any photo.

Trick or Treat

This was a fun page. I was so happy when I saw the Witch paper in the kit. I knew it was the perfect backdrop for this specific pictures.
The "treat" part of the title was not showing well with the busy background so I added rhinestone to the letters to make it a bit distinguishable against the basic grey paper.


I added a ribbon (from my stash) to the page for texture and more layering.



School Spirit '09

I love this layout. There were so many fun things in the kit that I was able to put to good use here.


First thing is the shape of my title block. I used the packaging from the JBS buttons to use as a template for the shape.


The days of the week strips was part of a whole MME journaling block, I cut them out and spread them around the pictures to show what the kids had to wear each day of Spirit week.
Because there were days that my son was not able to participate, I added pattern paper on those days but still added the "day" strip on it.
I used the black die cut flower to bring attention to the journaling strips that I placed on the top right hand corner.
I added some fun to my neutral base with a ransom style title. I opted for bright, close to dark shades to make it stand out against the black paper.

Miss Tink

Again because the kit was predominantly neutral in color, I used some green (from my own stash) to tie in the pictures. I really like this concept because you can connect any photos with your neutral base by just adding a tiny sprinkling of dominant colors in your photos to the page. It makes everything pop out better, don't you think?


I did a block design here and layered a bunch of papers. I liked the shaped paper from Making Memories but thought it was too small to stand alone, so I placed it on top of a MME paper.


I added the embossed die cut flowers layered with the JBS buttons for a visual triangle element.

10 Reasons
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

This page started off with the My Mind's Eye journaling block that had the 10 reasons header on it. I love list journaling, it's easy yet meaningful. So with this one, I made the list of 10 reasons why I can't live without my hubby.
Because the main kit was predominantly black, grey and brown in color, I decided to add hints of red with some glittered cardstock (from my stash) to tie in my picture with the rest of the layouts. I also used red pen to add more color to the page.

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Because this is a "love" layout, I added some die cut hearts to the My Mind's Eye pattern paper and sprayed glimmer mist on it.

A favorite family activity

This is my two page spread for the month. I used white cardstock as my background (from my stash) on this page. I liked the clean look of the white background. It also made my dark pattern papers "pop" out of the page.
The MME journaling blocks made my jotting down of important notes to remember about this trip to the lake so easy, breezy!


I also loved the Maya Roads birdies. They are so cute and I just so happen to have received four of them so it was perfect to symbolize my family.


I love the Pink Paislee Artist tape. I used them here as a fringe type embellishment.

So there you have it. Make sure you check out the kit here and check back next week when I share the mini and an extra project that I made with the kit. YES, Crazy Daisy kit is always packed with products that you can pretty much use it for a whole month's worth of creativity!

Till next time,
Grace

More Clear Scraps....

Today let me share with you the rest of my Clear Scraps projects for this month.

U are my star card

I love playing with the Acrylic shapes. Here I used to of the stars to make a card. I punched a hole on the side and attached the two pieces together with a ribbon.


To make the shape stand out, I added liquid pearl around the edges. I used some papers and stickers from Cosmo Cricket and tranparency from Hambly Screen Prints. To adhere my clear products, I used the Xyron sticker machine. That little baby is soooo cool!

and I posted this book and all of it's details on the Clear Scraps blog yesterday.

check it out here. I used the Spring mixables album.


don't forget the Halloween Contest Clear Scraps have. There's a great prize in store so there's no reason not to participate.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Double trouble

Did I get you with the title? This post is actually not related to Halloween but instead a showcase of a couple of "double" page spreads. Get it? Double??? I know it's corny but I'm trying to keep you guys amuse here. *wink*

Anyways, I've made these two page layouts a while back and for some reason forgot to share. I'm telling you my mind is all over the place lately, I can't hardly keep up!

Creating our new Friends

this page is about our first trip to Build-a-bear where the kids got their first, of many, bears. I took photos of each step we did in the workshop to personalize the kids' bears and I lined them up chronologically here. I used a circle punch and some papers to create tabs for them. I also added the names the kids gave to the bears on the bottom of their photos.


I added the ribbon and bow on the title to emphasize the "gift" part of the story.

Happiness is where you find it

this one is about Maddie and how she inspires me to love the mundane things in life. I love her happy expression with a few slides down the slide. When did you last feel a sense of happiness and joy in the normal, everyday routine of life?


I used some GCD Studios paper here. I love the Homespun Chic line! It's so pretty. My favorite part of this page (besides my daughter's photos) is the recipe card that I turned into a journaling block. I always go for the papers that have lines on them already. I'm not a fan of my own handwriting so anything that we'll make my "chicken scratch" neater looking is always a plus for me.

So that's it, thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Finished scarves

So most of you know that I started knitting last month. It's been a great therapy for me. You all know how I love to keep my little creative hands busy all the time and knitting is the perfect craft to take anywhere and do anytime. I can knit while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of school, knit while watching TV or a movie and knit while listening to Marcus read. I've enjoyed this new adventure tremendously.

So what have I accomplished you asked? Well I was able to make scarves for the kids...

I finished Maddie's just in time for her birthday and then after that worked on Marcus'. I took the kids to the park last Saturday and thought that would be a good time to take some photos of them and their scarves.


the kids decided on their scarf colors. For Marcus I made it skinnier in width but longer.


Maddie's scarf is about 8 inches wide. My friend/knit teacher told me that I measure the length of the scarves according to the height of the recipient so the kids' scarves are as long as they are.


The best part of this projects.... the kids actually like them. They haven't stopped wearing them. They even wear them to bed, if you can believe that! The only time they don't wear them is when they're at school because I'm afraid they'd loose it.

I'm still in the very beginning stage of knitting and I have yet to learn how to read a pattern but I'm enjoying every minute of this new adventure.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Upsy Daisy October share....

Happy Monday! I usually love Mondays but today I'm particularly sluggish. I don't know if it's because the sun hasn't popped out yet here in SoCal or that the events of the weekend got me really tired. Nevertheless another week is upon us and so today I wanna share my October assignments for Upsy Daisy Designs.

Birthday Ice Cream

this one was based on this month's sketch provided by our lovely DT coordinator Kim. She has a knack for making cool sketches that you will always have room to put your own spin on. Make sure you check it out here. I used the Circle of Friends line here and some brads from A New Day plus alphabet rubons. Can't live without those!


Are you interested to know how I made those cute and easy ice cream cones? Well head on over to the UDD blog today cause I just happened to have posted a tutorial on it.

And of course October won't be October without some Halloween projects and here's what I made with Upsy Daisy papers....

Halloween Cupcake Toppers

See the whole thing on the UDD blog today plus learn more on how-to and supplies here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace

digital share....it's about time

Hi all. Before I share my digital pages let me tell you first what has kept me busy this past week....
About two weeks ago I was trying to figure out ways to keep myself busy and preoccupied. There's just so much stress I can handle with regards to this house selling that I needed all the distractions I can get. Plus with the kids being at school in the morning, I wanted to fill up my growing "me" time. So I quickly filled it with a lot of trips to the stores and malls, creative time, knitting and wasted time on the computer.
After a couple of weeks of this, I got bored. I felt like I was not being productive enough. There was not much meaningful stuff done with my time. So with that I started contemplating on what constructive thing I should do with my time and so on Monday I went to the adult school and enrolled.....

I signed up for a "learn at your own pace" training for a career path to Medical Billing. I went to school tree days this past week and I enjoyed it immensely. I'm part of the learning center where a bunch of people come and work on their own thing. Some brushes up on their computer skills, others are working on their accounting clerk certificate, some for graphic design and some, like me, are getting skilled in the medical billing field.

I'm happy that the kids are excited for me too. When I told them that I was going to school the same time they'll be in school, Maddie said..."I wish you'll meet some friends there, mama!". Yes, school to her is all about making friends and I so adore that about her. I even made lunch for me on Tuesday night to bring on Wednesday so it was kinda cute to see three sandwiches made that night instead of just two.

There is a curriculum that I need to follow and thank goodness for blogging and all the typing that I do I was able to test out on the typing part. I got 57/0 on my test. That means I did 57 words per minute with 0 errors. Thank goodness I got two tries on that test, because I bombed the first one with 65/11, meaning I did 65 wpm but 11 errors. For me to past the test I needed 50wpm/3. I got nervous with the timing part and just typed and typed even if it's wrong.

So anyways, that's what's keeping me busy right now.

Onto the digital pages shall we...

I said it's about time because I haven't made any digital pages in a looonnnggg time. I guess I was lacking inspiration to do so but alas October was a month of discovery and rediscovery so here they are...

Love, Love, Love

This page was inspired by one of Ingrid Michaelson's song. I love her!

The ABC's of Madelyn

And then here I wanted to write down all of the many traits my daughter has and what better way to showcase them that to do it alphabetically. At first I thought I'd have a hard time describing her with certain letters but she has sooo many great qualities, all of it came naturally.

So that's it. Sorry the post took longer than I have expected.

Till next time,
Grace

She's all that

Hi all. Happy Thursday. Sorry I've been a bit MIA here. It's funny when I'm busy, I'm REALLY busy! But after some down time that I just had, I'm surprisingly grateful for the packed schedule.

Anyways here's a project I shared today at the Clear Scraps blog....

She's all that!





learn more about this project and what I used in this post.

But wait...there's more.....

Clear Scraps Halloween contest

Scare us. Spook us. Give us the chills.
We want to see your acrylic Halloween projects!
Cards, layouts, candy boxes...whatever you want - just show us how you would use some acrylic to celebrate this spooky holiday.

Send your projects to: contest@clearscraps.com
One project per person, please. Submissions to this contest will be posted in a Facebook album for easy viewing and each submission will be an entry into a drawing for a prize package from Clear Scraps. If you'd like a second entry into the drawing - become a Facebook Fan or a Blog follower and we'll put you in there twice (or 3 times if you submit and follow both places). Drawing will take place on Halloween night and the winner will be announced the next day on the Clear Scraps blog.

So what are you waiting for....get those Halloween Project done and submit!!! Can't wait what you guys come up with.

Till next time,
Grace

a new skill plus a card

One major thing I learned from General Conference last weekend was from our prophet, Pres. Monsoon when he said that "we need to live a life of GRATITUDE". That's what I'm trying to pattern my daily life on, being grateful and I know that despite of things, I have so many things to be appreciative of.

Two of the many blessings I have right now is that 1. I have my weekday mornings to myself. Since both of my kids are in school, I can plan my mornings however way I want. and 2. I have so many talented and giving friends around me.

So with that being said, let me share a bit of what I did on Thursday morning. I made this.....



One of my dearest friend (Becky) is a great cake decorator/maker. She has wowed everyone with her cute cakes. Sometimes they are soooo pretty to eat and when you do eat them, they are delish to boot! One thing that makes her cake so cute is her ability to make so many wonderful things with fondant icing. I know some of you have tasted fondant and have not been impressed with their taste. I'm with you there but Becky has her own marshmallow fondant recipe that not only looks good but taste even better.

So on Thursday morning, I went to her house and she thought me how to make fondant and she let me play with her "baking tools" to decorate this cute cake.


If you've seen my attempts on "creative cakes" before on this blog, you know that I'm not at all talented in that area but with the help of my friend, I was able to transform this 6" round cake into something adorable.

I was not the only one that was excited that day. When the kids saw the cake I made they were more than thrilled. I had some leftover fondant after decorating the cake and I gave it to them. They called it "cake playdough". We had the cake as a desert that night and had leftovers to eat the following night. Believe me, counting points went out the door as soon as I tasted this cake!


I'm very excited with this new skill and I'm going to write the recipe and all the things I learned from Becky down soon or I'll forget it.

and before I head out, I wanna share a card timely for this month...

Boo!

this card can be seen at the Get Sketchy blog this week. I used their latest sketch and also at the CARDS blog. I entered it for their week's challenge and it was posted here.

So that's it. I'm grateful for friends and the many things I learn from them.

Have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace