Some paper share

So what's on your mind today?

Well for me, it's a bunch of random things therefore I have no fun, witty, interesting or even a coherent opener for you today.

So with that being said (I know so random and weird, right?!) let's move on to my paper shares today....

Sunday Dinners

I participated in two challenges last week and this layout was for the Crate Paper blog's color challenge. Although I didn't have much yellows and pinks, I wanted to play along because I have one of their paper collections on hand that I wanted to play with.


This layout was both fun and a bit sad for me. Fun because I was creating and a bit sad because it reminds of the wonderful Sunday dinners we used to have at my parent's home back in Cali. No more special filipino dinners. :( I miss that so much!

This die cut flower came in the pack but there was only one. I wanted to sprinkle it a bit more in the layout so I handcut some of the same flowers from one of the pattern papers in the collection.

Summer is here card

this one was inspired by the CARDS blog challenge last week which was waves. I've never really been into paper piecing but I was feeling quite ambitious to make my own accents and I have to say, it turned out decent!

I added glitter glue to the sun and edges of the waves to have that shimmering look like what we see when light reflects against water. I used some brown chalk to mimic sand.

so that's it. If you guys want to participate in any of the challenges above, you can find the links in my sidebar to the right. :) Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the day.

Till next time,

Grace

CongraHOOTulations! Cardabilities #32

Today's the mid month reveal for Cardabilities. I'm so excited that I get to continue on for another term as a design team member. Their sketches are just so much fun, I had to try out again. :)

CograHOOTulations!

Anyways, with this sketch, we were asked to use the sponsor digi images. You can learn more about the sketch and the sponsor here. And if you are so incline, come play with us, there's always a great prize up for grabs.


so my main inspiration for this card is the oh so cute owl digital stamp. I colored it in with some markers and gave the card the whole graduation theme with school papers and accents. I was feeling a bit soft when I made this so I added some sheer ribbon and flowers as well.

When we were given the digital images to use, I have actually made a card for the sketch already but being that the "owl" stamp was just to precious to pass up on, I submitted that instead. But you my lovely blog readers get to see my original card for the sketch. :)

Happy Spring

the sketch had a birdcage as the main accent on it. I wanted to play on that inspiration but found this super cute felt bird from Maya Road in my stash. I didn't want to cover it up so I used some mesh on the background for the birdcage inspiration but placed my beautiful bird accent in the front.


I used some flourish stickers from Making Memories and flowers from Prima to give the card a finished look. I know the card has a spring theme but I'm thinking that with this one, I'm way ahead and ready for NEXT YEAR'S Spring! LOL

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Four Mile Historic Park

Last Saturday, Mitch had to work. He's assignment was to go to Denver. We decided to tag along with him since we don't really to go Denver that often. In all honesty, the only time we get to go out of the Springs area is if we tag along with him. :)

Anyways we lucked out where he had to work because there was a nice historical park down the street. So while Mitch worked, me and the kids toured the Four mile historical park. Here's some of the photos of that adventure....

We started out with a guided tour inside the main house

There were lots of interesting things we learned inside, unfortunately they didn't allow photos to be taken inside, hence no proof of our fun in there. :)

When the tour was done, we were allowed to roam around the park on our own and the first thing the kid's saw was the chicken coop.

I was surprised how much they thought the "coop" was soooo cool! Maddie kept on coming back to this area during our walk around the park.

Here's the main house in it's full view. There were three owners of the home before it was taken by the city as a historical site. The initial house was just the part on the right (with white wall) then the last owner added on the right side (the one with bricks). The last owners were more affluent that the ones before them so they were able to affort the extension plus their furnishings were a bit more on the luxurious side because at the time of their living in the home, railroads had already spread it's tracks in the west therefore homeowners are able to bring the "east to the west".

my two favorite subjects.


The park was offering rides in this buggy for cheap but I didn't have cash with me so we settled in just taking a peek at it and having a photo op with the horse.


It was a great experience for the kids to see how things work "back in the day". In the park, they had a running well, where the kids pulled on the rope for the bucket to come up and I told them a little about this water pump. It's crazy to think how hard it took people to do simple things like getting water compared to our time now.


love all the fun things I can take photos of around the park.

they had set up a small barn to look like a blacksmith's shop.


the last owner of the home/ranch built a school in the property so that his kids' and the neighboring farm's kids can have a school closer to home. It sits right next to the main house. Once inside, I showed the kids the little chalkboards and old books they had displayed. Again, another thing to show the big comparison to life 100 years ago to life now.


there were some beautiful flowers right outside the school building, I couldn't resist from taking photos of them....


Here are the kids jus outside of the "bee house" which was the school.

Maddie is standing outside of what used to be the ranch owner's food storage room. Half of the room sits underground, I'm guessing to keep the items inside cooler. They had displays of canned fruit jars and ham hanging on hooks on the ceiling.

The kids' were able to "pan for gold" too! Of course they weren't real gold, just extra shiny rocks but the kids loved the chance to play in the water.

The pans were layed out by the little water stream the docents have created so that anybody can do the panning at their convenience.

and there you have it! Fun and educational, that's how we like our adventures!

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

Sky Sox Baseball game

On Friday, the family and I went to a local baseball game. The city's team- Skysox was playing against the Reno Aces.

the reason we went was because we were invited by our realtor to her annual Client Appreciation night. In this event, we were able to watch the game and be treated to a buffet dinner plus the kids got a unlimited pass to the fun zone, all paid for by the realtor. When we got the invite, we knew it was too good to pass up.

Speaking of realtor, here's our great hostess throwing the first pitch of the night.

We were watching up at the balcony (where we had the dinner before the game started) Thank goodness I had my 70-200mm lens so I can capture some of the field shots "upclose" without needing to be "too close" to the game.

here's the SkySox fox mascot doing this thing!

While Mitch was watching the game, I took the kids to the fun zone where we spent most of our night. They couldn't get enough of the big slide!

I love how I was able to capture the genuine joy on the kid's faces right after they slide down.

the fun zone was located on the far edge of the field and the balcony was on the other end. While with the kids, I took a photo of Mitch watching the game with one of his friends (which was the one that introduced us to our realtor). I know you can't see him clearly but Mitch is the one with all black standing by the balcony to the guy with the red shirt. Remember, my camera can only zoom up to 200mm, hence the photo.

The game finally finished at about 10 pm with Sky Sox winning. Woohoo!!!

Here's the teams giving their high fives after the game ended.

And after the game, we were able to watch a firework display. The kids' loved it! It was awe inspiring how much art fireworks can produce. Just wonderful!

so another thing to note about this event was that the realtor held a raffle for all the people in attendance. The biggest price was a Kindle.

I was with the kids at the fun zone while the raffle was taking place but guess who won the biggest price....

US!!!How lucky are we! First we got to go to this awesome event, without spending any of our money and then to top if off, we got to take home the biggest prize in the raffle.

Like I said, I was not there when they called our number so I was not able to take a photo of Mitch grabbing the prize. So I ended up getting a shot of him with our prize a day later.

We've never had an e-reader before so maneuvering through our Kindle has been interesting and a learning experience but so far, it's been great! This specific model even comes with a 3G wifi, so I'm able to get a sneek peek of my email when I'm not close to the computer. How fun is that?!

So that was our eventful Friday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

Wrestling camp

so many stories to tell, so little time.
It's funny how when you thought you've gotten caught up with the blog then BAM! events happen one after the other and then you're left scrambling for time to upload photos and blog about them.
That's my situation right now so with a heads up to my crafty readers, for the next three days, I will be sharing photos and events. No need to fear though because the crafty goodness will return on Tuesday (I'm hoping!) :)

Let's start with wrestling camp, shall we.....

This past week, Marcus attended Wrestling camp at the local high school. It was organized by the same coaches that started the Wrestling lessons/practices last Winter.
Mitch went with him on all four days (it was only 2 hours per day for four days) so I didn't get to see my boy in action but at the last day Mitch brought the camera and here's some snippets of what Marcus did at camp.....


stretching in the beginning is an integral part of the sport.


Marcus enjoyed his time, although Mitch said that he wanted to play with the boys more than learn the moves. Marcus was also thrilled to see a boy that goes to his elementary school participating in the camp. He loved the idea of having an instant friend right away.


On the last day of camp, they had sparring sessions and Marcus won two of his three "fights".

At the end of each day, the guys get to have a popsicle for a treat.

So that's Wrestling camp. Short, sweet and a good refresher for Marcus. The coaches will begin Wrestling practices/lessons early this year (in the fall) so we're looking forward to that. This will allow Marcus more time during the season to learn and master the moves.

That's it. We are proud of our growing boy and all that he's exploring right now.

Till next time,

Grace

Lately indulging into...

It's Friday. Yipee! Even though it's Summer and everyday seemed to have been a Saturday or Sunday with no pressing matter to worry about, I'm still looking forward to the weekend. There's something about it that says it's an official time to relax. :)

Well today, I thought I'd break up the craft posts here with a share of things that I'm "digging" right now.

Ever since I've become consumed with crafting, music has become a necessity. There's something so inspiring about tunes that either gets me groovin or helps me think about scrapbook journaling or themes.

Lately, I've become hooked on these.....


my favorites are: Love is blind, Doesn't mean anything and Like the Sea


I got introduced to her by my sister Glady and I'm so happy she mentioned Adele to me 'cause I'm so inlove with her voice! My favorites are- Rumour has it, Turning tables and Someone like you

I have her first album and this second one didn't disappoint. I wish I sang like her. My faves are- Happy, Love Letter and Lost then found.

and my constant addiction lately....is Pinterest!

I've heard about this for a while now and resisted big time because I didn't want another thing to get me sitting infront of the computer more than I'm already doing. But alas, all the resisting didn't stop the inevitable. I'm constantly adding to my board and browsing through the many pins people add to their boards.

If you wanna follow me, just click on my Pinterest banner on my side bar to the right here. The red button. :) Everytime I go in the Pinterest site, I'm always amazed (and a bit intimidated) at the cleverness, creativity and pure genius of people out there. I'm telling you, this crafty girl is in awe at the inspiration that abound there. If you're crafty or just has that itch to be inspired...Pinterest is a MUST!!!!

So that's it. We are going to a baseball game tonight. Never have gone to one so I'm super excited.

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,

Grace

Patriotic vase + how to

So I've been very impressive with all of the "dollar store" crafts out there. I'm always amazed at the level of creativity some people have to turn items from the dollar store into cool projects/items to decorate their home. So with that I took the challenge of making my own "dollar store" craft.

But before I share with you what I did. I want to make sure I share a sneek peek of a mini I made for Glue Arts. This week's sponsor was Clear Scraps. I decided to make a masculine album since Father's day is coming up. This book will be my gift to hubby. *wink*


make sure you check out more photos of it and my step by step how to on the project in the Glue Arts blog here.

ok so onto my dollar store project....

I made this patriotic vase using products from the dollar store.

here's my supplies- glass vase, white rocks, artificial flowers ( I got two bunches), flag and wide ribbons. Additional tools will be a pair of scissor and glue gun, plus a chipboard star, red button and blue baker's twine.

here's a quick tutorial on the project....
1. Heat up your glue gun.

2. Fold the edge of the ribbon before adding glue gun to it. This will give a nice finish to the wrapped ribbon.

3. Wrap ribbons around the vase, adding hot glue to the edges to adhere. I decided to add them to the center of the vase so the white rocks will be visible on the bottom of the vase. It is part of my color scheme after all.:)

4. Add half of the rocks inside the vase. Cut out the tags from the flowers and stick in between the rocks. Do the same thing with the flag. Move them around until you get the look you want. I bent some of the flowers to give it a look of different heights. *If I willdo this again, I'd grab another bunch of flowers to make the vase a little more fuller looking*. Then pour the rest of the rocks in between the flowers and the flag stick.

5. Then I decided to add some embellishments on the vase so I grabbed some items from my scrapbook stash that fit the theme (white chipboard star, red button and blue baker's twine) I layered the items together and added them to the center of the red ribbon with glue gun.

There you have it. For a few dollars and little time, I know have something fun to display in my front room.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace