Head on over to....

GCD studios blog.

Lots of chances to win great stuff and inspiration is always overflowing.

Hurry over!!!

Till next time,
Grace

the finer things in life.....

Have you ever been inspired by a product before? Well I have and this card is one of those things that sprouted from the fun and yet elegant hambly transparency.

Finer things in life card

I looked, well actually stared, at this transparency for a few minutes thinking, what the heck am I going to do with this? Then suddenly an idea came.... the items on the sheet were fancy things. Fancy, finer things...hence the sentiment- "of all the finer things in life.....you are my most treasured one."


This one was inspired by the latest challenge over at the MoxxieFab world blog. Check them out here. They have tons of inspirations and some of the best cards out there.


the challenge was to use a household item as the focal point. I consider the transparency with all the vintage household items as fitting the bill plus the card sentiment was inspired by the items on the transparency as well.

Because the card base was transparent, I made sure that my paper block on the front matched well with the block inside the card. I also wrapped the ribbon all the way around this time instead of my usual, cutting and then taping edges on the back.

To add to the vintage feel of the card, I used a vintage pin and dressed it up with an adhesive backed pearl.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

back to school card

School is in full swing around here and what better way to celebrate than a fun card...

Goodluck

this one was made with the latest American crafts Studio blog challenge. We were to use two or more AC products to make a back to school themed layout or card. I chose to make a card cause....well....why not?!


I loved that the felt, brad and chipboard created dimension and texture to my card. I also used the brown "o", star and brad to create a visual triangle. Although the text paper is from the Baby line, I thought it can also be adapted to a "school" project.


the apples and star just screams back to school for me so I wanted to incorporate that in my card.

Products used:
Card base- Best Occassion
*Pattern papers- (green) See saw, Play; (Letters) Ring around the Rosie, Baby; (stripes and yellow) Beach towel, The Goods; (orange) Bubbles, The Goods
*Felt letters- Playroom Thickers
*Felt "o" and Chipboard star- House Collection
*Brad
*Black pen- Slick Writer
Paper thread- Source Unknown
Apple and star die cut- Plantin Schoolboook, Cricut

*American Crafts products

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

my gift for hubby

This coming Thursday, hubby is celebrating another birthday and of course, as the papercrafter that I am, it just makes sense that I make something "crafty" for him.

Here's what I decided to make...

Altered notebook and card

I used some of the Vintage boy papers from GCD Studios for my project. I love that this collection is so masculine in colors and designs that when I'm in the mood to make something "guy" themed, I easily reach for this and I don't have to worry about anything else.


Mitch was inspired to start the P90x workout system when he heard about it from his brother. He hasn't started it yet but will soon get going with it. In the system you're supposed to write down your goals for how many situps/pushups/etc you can do. I think a notebook will come in handy so I made him this.


I added a tag bookmark which is just attached to a paper clip with a brad so he can move it around to pages as he goes on in this system. He wants me to join him but I'm a little apprehensive. We watched one workout and it was intense! But they guarantee that if you follow it for 3 months that you will be RIPPED! So we shall see.


I made this card which was inspired by the lion. I added the crown to emphasize the "king of the jungle" theme.


and finished it off with a simple sentiment inside. I'm going to have the kids sign the card before we give it to Mitch.

So there you have it. Giving gifts can be a lot easier and rewarding if you make it yourself. For more info on the Vintage boy collection, click on here.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

Oh by the way, I finished the John Adams miniseries last night and I cried! The last episode had some tear jerking moments there. Over all I really liked it. I wonder what historical shows/videos I should watch next? LOL

family + water = fun times!!!

Now that our kitchen is done we have our "dad" back with us and one of the things that we've been enjoying as a family lately is driving over to my inlaws house and swim in their pool. I enjoy this activity for a few reasons...
1. of course anytime with my little family is a time well spent.
2. It's an activity that doesn't cost us anything
3. doing a few laps can be counted as my exercise for the day
4. the kids are getting better and better with their swimming. When the summer started, Maddie refused to be in the water and when she did go in, she was content being on the sides or the steps but now she has shown bravery by jumping in and swimming all the way in the middle of the water.

Yesterday (Saturday) I didn't have to be at work till night time so after lunch we swung by their and took a quick dip. Here's some photos of our family time...


Here's two fishes representing my little swimmers. When they're in the water they're just fishes swimming away, having fun!


gotta have some protection against the sun.


we brought our boogie board and Marcus just had a blast with it.


Maddie and her "refusing to smile" phase.


We brought our own snacks so we won't be tempted to go to a fast food joint. What's on the menu? Pop tarts, veggie chips, juice boxes and water.


Here's the "fishes" resting and getting some tan.


and here's the whole family. I'm telling you, my little remote for my camera was one of my best investments.


when everyone was getting changed look who I saw getting her little hands on some veggie chips! Another thing that makes me laugh about this picture is how big that veggie chips bag was. It's the same length as Maddie's legs and thigh combined! LOL

and finally on a different note. Got #9 and #11 accomplished in my list.

I reused our own microwave stand and used it to house all my albums and got a basket on sale at Target which fit perfectly on that middle spot. This system doesn't show any room for growth so this might change in a few years.

Till next time,
Grace

Happiness is a Spring day card

Oh it feels good to create again. I started last week with some anxiety that I'm way behind my projects but now that all of my assignments are done and submitted, I can finally make things without too much pressure attached to them.

And what better way to start off my crafting again than with a card.....

Happiness is a Spring Day

this card was inspired by the latest sketch from Get Sketchy. I'm always inspired by their sketches and not too much all the great examples the DT members shares. Make sure you check em out here.


the bonus challenge was to make your own embellishments and I made mine by layering a chipboard butterfly with bling.


I also added some bling to the flowers on the floral pattern paper and finished it off with a rubon sentiment.

Thank you for looking and till next time,
Grace

a new addiction....

About a week ago, my family went to my inlaws house to swim. It was also a good day to borrow more books from my mother-in-law. She has a big library and since I'm in a reading kick, it was time to stock on more reads. *wink* Anyways while going through there shelves of books, I remembered this video that my father-in-law got for Christmas.



I asked him if it was good and the review was great. Mitch and I then asked if we could borrow it and they graciously let us.

So fast forward to today and it's been an addiction of some sorts for my hubby and I. Everynight after the kids went to bed (sometimes after I've come home from work) we would watch an episode from this mini series.

There's 8 episodes and we just finished #5 last night.

I have to say that this video/mini series is FASCINATING; INTRIGUING; FULL OF INFORMATION; AND CAPTIVATING!!!

Yeah it's that good!

I've always been intrigued by history. The facts and decisions made by people that have lived before us always makes me curious just for the fact that whether it be big or small, it affects our lives right now. Our "normal" right now was an effect of their decisions and ideas.

So if you're looking for something good to watch and maybe a good bonding with your special someone. Give this video a shot!

Have a great weekend and till next time,
Grace

a new day.....

the house is smelling clean and fresh, there's a big pile of clean laundry on the bed waiting to be folded and only two days before school starts. Today is definitely a day to celebrate. LOL.

Sorry for being so quiet around here. I have had a crazy month/summer. Lots of fun things all around but that also meant that I physically didn't have the energy to sit here and recap. I even felt sad that half of the time, I wasn't carrying my camera to capture the moments. Shame on me! But today is a new day.

I'm aware of the things that I've slacked on during the past few months but hopefully with routines going back to normal, a kitchen that's finally finished, a long list of must do things and a new sense of optimism I will be ready to welcome fall.

Speaking of the kitchen, I finally took an overview picture of it. Here's the result of Mitch's labors and hardwork......

I stood on a corner of the room and took frame shots of the kitchen then put it all together in Picasa.


and here's a shot of it coming from the front room side. Don't you just love that yellow wall?

and because my kitchen has been very inspiring for me lately, I have been baking like crazy. The last two weeks was the hottest days here in SoCal but I didn't care, I still turned on my oven and made cookies, casseroles, brownies and even tried making bread!

One night, I was watching Julia Child's baking show in PBS and they were making quick breads. I was amazed at how fast and uncomplicated they made Irish soda bread so I tried it myself. Here's the result...

because it is a quick bread, it's very dense but I liked it. After my attempt, I realized that I need to work on my kneading. It didn't come out that pretty like Julia Child did it!

But it tasted good fresh from the oven with some butter and honey. MMM!


Because I was so excited with my new found "baking" skills, I googled quick breads the other day and found out that Pillsbury has some great recipes to make with their products. I always have crescent and biscuit rolls in hand so this site was a great resource for me. This week I'll try the doughnut recipe.

and finally some latest pics of the kids. I'm trying to get my camera out more again. I just felt that I've neglected capturing the moments lately.

I gave Marcus a buzz haircut the other day. One of the things that we had to do to get him all ready for school. I'm always in awe when I look at how fast he's growing up. He's so tall too, he's almost up to my chin. Before you know it, I'd be the one looking up to him instead of the other way around!


and my little diva! I chose this picture out of the many shots I took of her the other day because it showcases the Maddie that she is right now. A little diva; princess loving; wearing the same outfit all week long; hair always on her face kinda gal!

so that's it for right now. Have a great week!

Till next time,
Grace

calling Lori....

somebody named Lori left me a comment saying she needs help with the love lingo minibook kit. I'd be happy to help but you didn't leave me any contact info. If you happen to read this email me at graceelainetolman@yahoo.com and we'll get that minibook situation figured out. *wink*

Have a great labor day weekend everyone,
Grace

September Crazy daisy layouts *photo heavy*

I know this blog has been a little quiet lately. I'm still here, just in the middle of projects galore. It's all good though and in time I can show them all to you but for now here's my layouts using the September Crazy Daisy kit.

A

this layout features my stepdaughter's graduation picture. Because it was a professional photo, I wanted to maintain the focus on it so I kept everything else to a minimum. I found a great quote that matched the event of the pic and used that as my journaling.




I used the stickles and flowers to create a feminine accent to the page. I wanted to match the brad with my glitter stems so I picked a dark blue brad and added stickles on top of it (letting it dry completely before adding it to my flowers) for that extra shine.

Natural Match

Because the kit consists of everything in the distressed and rugged style, I incorporated that by distressing the background paper. I first sewn around the paper, 1/2" inside the page then run my scissor blade through the entire paper. I think sewing the page first helps you to not go way too much in with the distressing. It also allows some type of grounding for your page.


Since the main focus for me is always the picture, I decided to "scatter" hearts punched out from the pattern papers in the kit so I don't overpower the picture collage. By the way, I made the collage in Picasa, which is so easy to use. It gave me the easiness of using more than one photo on a page without worrying too much where each one will go.


I sprayed glimmer mist of the two tags (that came in the kit) and tied it. It housed my computer generated journaling.
-I loved the look of overlapping letters. It created texture and added dimension to the page.

School boy

here's another example of how versatile the papers are. Although they have the vintage feel, you can still use it for your more modern pictures. I was inspired to pull these pics of my son (one is the beginning of the year and one on the last day of school) from the abc ribbon. I loved the look of comparison (from first day to last) It shows the growth of my little boy.


My tip of layering pattern papers, small designs are best to use in majority while big, bold designs should be used sparingly or at the least degree. That way the bold designs don't overpower the rest of your elements on the page.


The lined paper helped me keep my title and journaling straight. I also made my son write his full name. I love the concept of preserving handwritings as well.

She did it (all by herself)

this two page spread was made easy with 4x6 uncropped photos and strips of pattern paper. I created a visual triangle with the horizontal and vertical paper strips plus the tags that housed my journaling and title.


I added stitching and border (from punches) onto the paper strips for added interest. I also painted a little on the pictures so the number chipboards will pop out more.


To seperate the title and journaling, I added circle stickers from the 7 Gypsies sticker sheet.

Temple date

I have to say that I'm not use to such dark tones to work with. You can usually find bright colors on my page so it was hard to pick pictures to use for this kit, but one thing that made a match was these pictures of my date with hubby last year. We try to do some spiritual dates once in a while. It balances out all our movie nights. :) Here I part of the shaped pattern paper to lead the eye to the photos.


I also used the gaffer tape to make my ribbon. It's very easy to twist it around to make a circle because of the adhesive already on the ribbon/tape.
-Because my "e" on the title had the same color as my red paper, I added some hearts behind it to make it pop more. The two hearts also made a good symbolism for a love page like this.


Because the ribbon is a school themed item, I used the back side of it and fancied it up with the basic grey rubons included in the kit.

I finished the minibook but it needs some pictures in it. I will share it soon.

If you need more info on the kit click here.

Till next time,
Grace