Spring Break!!

Posted on | March 23, 2011 | 5 Comments

It’s been nice the last few days. Granted everybody but M has been fighting off a cold and the world is chaotic, I am on spring break. Yes I have a bit of grading to do and yes I need to make sure the next few weeks of assignments are wonderful and accessible, but I can relax a bit. The weather’s been wonderful too and Jovie cannot get enough of the ducks who lives just down the road. So almost everyday we’ve been walking to feed the ducks.

Speaking of chaos… Sometimes it’s hard to believe how peaceful our lives are in comparison to many. While I am here sipping a hot cup of tea and blogging about preserving (wonderful) memories and card making there are others who just lost their loved ones and homes or those fighting for their freedom. At times like this I sometimes feel guilty having what I have.

Anyhow… been scrapping Jovie a lot lately. M doesn’t mind but I wanted to do just a page of her last night so she knows she’s still very special. I showed this photo last year but I never got to scrapbooking it until now. I wanted to use this photograph because I found the most perfect digital kit for it: Be Mine by Echo Park which you can find at Jessica Sprague’s store. I have not seen the paper version of this line and when I saw the digital sets I got very inspired. Although I’d buy everything in this line if I ever see it, I loved creating with the digital products because I can resize the different pieces as needed. I can’t do that with the real deal. This is one of the many benefits of digital scrapbooking.

I love how this page turned out. I did three digital pages last night (it takes me 30 min. to do a digital page in comparison to hours for a paper page) and this was, still is, my favorite.

This digital kit reminded me of my promise to take Miss M to Paris. It’ll happen soon enough, just need to figure out exactly when. She’s been working hard with her French lessons and very very proud of her efforts!

À bientôt!

PS: None digital folks can easily recreate a layout like this using rub-ons, stamps, and different pieces of papers and embellishments. Even when I digiscrap I try to stay as close as possible to the look and feel of a paper and glue page.

Materials:

Echo Park Be Mine Paper and Element Pack 1 & 2
Echo Park Spring Time Paper and Element Pack 1
Carina Gardner Essentials – Stitches 2

No!

Posted on | March 21, 2011 | 6 Comments

Lately I’ve been wondering about this: IF the word yes means no and the word no means yes would kids be more agreeable? Jovie’s full blown into the no stage. She knows the difference between yes and no but she prefers to say no than yes. I should probably do more videos of her. I have quite a bit of M’s at this age and M loves watching them. Kids (and pets) are just so darn cute and we all know, they’re only little once and for a very short while!

Here’s a little clip that I got yesterday… If you’re having a bad day I guarantee this little clip will make you smile at least!

Besides the clip, I have a page to share too. It’s a simple one using Scarlet Lime’s February kit. This page gives you all a break from all the crazy pages I’ve been sharing the last few times {::SMILES}.

Despite the fun of playing with different media and toolsI want to remember that scrapbooking is about the memory -- the writing/photo on the page. Simple pages like this emphasize this first and most important purpose for me.

The girls are so great together. They even cry for each other when one’s hurt. It’s sweet although I highly recommend ear plugs at times.

I hope you all have a great day. It’s Friday and I am hoping to take M pants shopping… or trousers shopping. I was told by hubby and M that pants shopping is underwear shopping in the UK.

Repetition

Posted on | March 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

Just a very short post for today… It’s All Eye On today at WPlus9 and today’s focus in on repetition.

For this card I repeated the usage of stamps (Poinsettia Patterns and Flora and Fauna I), ribbons and inking/background stamping. If you’re wondering, no, the lanterns were not stamped. They’re American Craft papers that I trimmed out.

Made this card last night with my friend Clouds. We’ve been Skype crafting a couple of times now and each time it’s been nice. She lives in Colorado and the only blog friend that I chat regularly outside of blog land/email. We got to meet a month or so before the girls and I left for the UK and that made our friendship more real. We have a lot in common and a very inspirational crafty person. I love her style and if you haven’t seen her stuff yet, either on her blog or in craft magazines, you should check her out today!!

Have a great one all and catch you later!

Something Fun

Posted on | March 19, 2011 | 13 Comments

Happy weekend!! So glad the weekend’s here because there’s a good chance I can sleep in and/or nap!! M is so good baby sitting Jovie and they can play for a good couple hours after they get up and Jovie’s diaper’s changed or in the afternoon when Jovie and I nap and I continue on napping while M watches Jovie. LOVE both girls but M is such a wonderful little help!!

Speaking of the two, I want to share this quick video. While Jovie is cooperative for the most part she does quit when she wants to quit just like any toddler.

This card I made was inspired by Waltzingmouse’s sketch AND their awesome new set. A lot of paper manufacturer have banners in their line but it’s so much fun to have banner stamps because one they never run out and two I can make them whatever color I want.

The card is fairly simple. I actually didn’t do a lot of stamping. The kraft paper’s from Jillibean Soup and it has that pattern on it. Trust me, if it was me stamping, the background wouldn’t look that good!!

Alright, have a great one! Don’t forget to visit Waltzingmouse’s sketch site for inspiration. There are TONS this week. All the DT went above and beyond I think! Take care!

It’s Red Nose Day!

Posted on | March 18, 2011 | 5 Comments

Last month I was featured on Penny Black’s blog. Jenyfur was so kind to have contacted me and invited me to guest design using three new stamps of theirs. Do check out their blog post to see the three cards I made! I’ve never used PB’s stamps before and was pleasantly surprise to find how well made they are. I got a photopolymer set and a couple wooden rubber ones. The above birds on branches is a rubber stamp and I was happy to see how crispy clear it went on to the kraft paper. The only thing I wished was that I could color better. While the stamps I chose were versatile enough to go either way, I think some would just be more stunning if I am more talented in the coloring department. Anyhow, do visit their blog and tell me what you think about me not coloring them.

On to Red Nose Day. To celebrate this day M’s school is doing a non-uniform day with red as the main color. I was told that Red Nose Day runs every other year and we’re happy to be able to participate in a fun and great cause.

We’re very fortunate to have the lives we have now and whenever we can we like to support different efforts or charities. As we all know, especially from the latest event in Japan, our lives can change dramatically over night. Although we strive to do our best, sometimes there’s nothing we can do to avoid misfortune – or some just weren’t born into decent standards of living. I don’t wish this but tomorrow it might be our low day but today, while we’re still in good fortunes, we want to do what we can to help others.

Here’s M posing in her redness. You can’t tell from the photo but I sprayed her hair red. Claire’s had a buy 3 for 2 deal and the spray was part of it.