Hope everybody had a great Father’s Day weekend! Ours was nice. Relaxing and we didn’t do anything but hung out and on my part, scrapbooked {::SMILES}. I made six digital pages and a page since Friday, the first one being the one I showed you Saturday. I am sooooooo itching to get my hand n some real paper and also do some hybrid from the stuff that I’ve downloaded over the weekend but can’t… we have guests. It’d be so nice when the basement is all done, I can do crafts even when there’s somebody in the guest room.

Here’s one of the page that I did. An M page. I used a kit from Kasia at Shabby Pickle Designs: Blowing Dandelions. Gorgeous kit! I also mixed it up a bit with her For Him For Her kit that came free with my first Dandelions purchase… the special for the weekend. It was sweet! I love the colors in this kit and right now, I am so into bright colors.

The picture (and many more which I will gradually scrapbook too) was taken at a winery May 30th. I put June on the page initially, changed it, but never resaved the newer version. She was just messing around and quite happy that day but I just love this pouty look that she had.

Here’s an M story: In my yesterday’s card I used SU’s dots for a background. If you know this thing, this stamp is a big chunky stamp, maybe 5×6. I could not find it this morning when I was trying to put things away. Then when I was getting Emma ready for bed, I saw it on her art table. I asked her why it’s there and she said, “It flew in here from your room, mommy.” HA! Creative liar, huh?

Well, have a great week everybody. More later!!

My blog buddy, Ally, started a sketch blog site, So Sketchy, and this was her first sketch. I changed it up a bit since I didn’t have anything with three wallet size photos. Instead of a third photo, I layered a few embellishments and voila.

I love sketches. It helps me focus on the content and not the general big picture. If you’ve never done a sketch before, you should. It’s really fun and you don’t have to stick to everything on the sketch. For example you can flip this layout so that the pictures are on the left. Or like me, replace a picture with an embellishment.

This is Ally’s first sketch on So Sketch but she’s got a lot of other cute ones and I can’t keep up (girl, SLOW down!!).

What did I use for this LO? I use a lot of Amy Butler’s (K&Company) new stuff. The swirl paper lace is Prima and the overlay behind M’s first picture is Hambly. The paper I journaled on is Making Memories. For the embellishment, the replacement of the third photo, I just used my thicker pop-dots to layer them. I used pop-dots too for the butterfly, the red/pink flower, and the “special” sentiment. It didn’t take me long to make this page. Maybe 45 minutes. The sketch was awesome and all I had to do was put it together to my liking.

Thanks, Ally! Now I just have to decide on which five sketches that she’s got posted that I want to do next. Oh, not to mention the card sketches. {::SMILES}

I’m quite challenged this week. First off, it’s probably not a good idea for me to create two cards and one scrapbook page in one night. But here they are, the cards at least. The Scrapbook page I’m still debating. I created for the Scrapperie contest but hmm…. It just doesn’t seem right. So, if I can’t come up with anything better before the deadline then I’ll submit, if not, then I hope the next one will be better {::SMILES}.

Here’s my first card, which I did for the color challenge at SCS. I used the Garden Silhouettes stamp for this card and my rub-ons for the sentiment. The colors are celery, pretty in pink, and lovely lilac. I’m not a big fan of purple and it’s obvious. My hubby bought me two sets of SU stamps three Christmas ago and I’ve just opened my lovely lilac stamp pad. Wow, huh?

For the ribbons, I used a lovely in pink shade of gingham ribbon and rose regal grossgrain. Do I like? Not sure. But I did the challenge.

My second card is for the sketch challenge. Uhm… can I say interesting? I used my brand new, imported from Canada, Pink Cat Studio Stamps. The set is 13 Sweet Treats and it is super cute. I’ve been wanting some cutesy and large stamps and I found a set. The sentiment is PaperTrey and the circles I cut using my Nestabilities.

This is my first order from Pink Cat and I must say, I received it in a week. Odd since it was sent via regular mail. My Bellas took two weeks. I’ve only cut two of the stamps, they come uncut, and I need to glue/tape them to my mounting block in order to use. In essence this stamp set combines Stampin’ Up! and Bellas.

Definitely not my style but I couldn’t sleep. Ahh….

Is Wednesday already? Wow, this week is going by fast! Laters!!

Here’s my take on Beate’s weekend sketch challenge #45. I used Kraft, again, as my background paper and the Cuttlebug. This was a really quick card to make. I think it’s another five minute card.

I used the Spring Solitude set and I used the Stamp-a-majig to stamp over the bigger flower. I love that tool! The DP is from SU’s Cutie Pie and the “hi” is American Craft’s alphabet chipboard. Colors: Pomegranate and Marigold Morning from 2007 the in colors. The ribbon is Regal Rose.

Our outing was nice. Short but nice. Went to Michael’s and grabbed a few K&Company’s new items, some Amy Butler series. LOVE the new stuff. Not only are they cute, cute, cute, the packaging is recycled and also reusable. You should check them out!

I cut into my paper already and putting a page together. Another M page. Can’t wait to get it done! Loving the feel of the whole set.

The sushi restaurant was delicious as always. For the first time, Emma skipped the steamed dumplings and opted for the california AND tuna rolls. She LOVED the spicy crab salad and onion soup. She was a little piggy!!! She even dipped the rolls into some soy sauce and was brave enough to try the wasabi although that ended up in her spitting the content of her mouth onto my hands. I told her it was spicy but she wanted to try.

I love that girl, she’s such a great eater. I wonder if she’ll continue to eat if I tell her that the fish is raw… naaaaah, I’ll wait until she finds out on her own, why ruin it {::SMILES}.

I’ve been doing more me layouts this year. Now that Emma’s older, and loves looking at pictures with me, I thought that it’d be nice for her to see that once upon a time we were little too. I have a few photos of my hubby that I’ll eventually do (right now it’s all about me. ME, ha!).

I created this layout based on Scrap Mojo’s “The Office” theme where you’re suppose to use items that you’d typically find in the office. The layout design I sketched myself. This was a sketch and page that created for last weekend’s sketch challenge. Want to play along? Feel free to. I had fun creating this sketch. I don’t do a lot, this is my third one that I’ve posted but both times have been great.

I used a lot of stuff for this LO. If you’re interested in a particular item, let me know. I’m too lazy to list them all out.

Just some info about my picture. This was me before first grade in Indonesia. I know this for sure because I went to school in the U.S. I thought I was four but I looked at some other pictures and nope, I am for sure older than four.

My mom, still does, always made my dresses. Back then I loved wearing long dresses… I wanted to be a princess. Sounds so familiar. M’s like that too {::SMILES}.

I wasn’t the most outgoing or talkative little girl. I’m off and on now but still not as outgoing as many I know and some take it as snobbish. I loved to read. I read early. My grandpa owned a book store and there were always books all over the place. Nobody taught me, I just figured it out somehow. Not sure how and I still love to read and I’m glad M’s the same way too. I think she’s almost ready to read, she’s so good with her letters and numbers right now.

So that’s mini me. Have a great Friday and more late.

I did another me page. Just last month I found these photos while cleaning my office drawers. Two years later almost {::SMILES}. I used Pencil Lines sketch for this layout. It’s an older sketch, maybe last months. I like it since I don’t do a lot of circles.

The brown paper in the background is handmade paper. Hubby got me this a long while ago for Christmas and I finally got around to using it. The alpha, they were bright green, Stampin’ Up! green galore-ish, but I used Making Memories paints to get them to look the way they do now. It’s my first stab at repainting chipboards, kind of fun.

A few stories… yesterday we helped feed the locals who are in need of warm food. My duty was to bring dessert and I told the others that I’d bake some brownies. Well, after trying two recipes, none of my brownies turned out as brownies. The first one looked like a brownie but the taste and consistency was unknown. The second didn’t look like a brownie, more like a pound cake, but it tasted better according to hubby. So, I gave up and felt so depressed - M was so sweet with the hugs and kisses. We ended up stopping at Wally World to pick up some cakes and apple pie. URGH!!! I am such a horrible baker!!! I thought since my cookies have been great and I did make a cake last year that the brownies (which reviewers said were so easy to make and yummy) would be easy. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Today I received a t-shirt from Adobe or Kuler to be more exact. A few days ago I received an email thanking me for the Kuler video that I created and he gave me some other tips and also asked if I wanted a t-shirt. I said sure (and before I emailed him back I Googled him first to make sure he is from Adobe… ha!). Today I got the shirt. Quick! It’s a girl shirt too and a size S. Whoo hoo!!! This rarely happens, most freebies are too big for me. Now M’s wearing it. She loves running around it my Ts. It’s a perfect dress for her.

Have a great night. More later…

Blogged with the Flock Browser

I used Pencil Line sketch to help me with this LO. This was March’s sketch. Here’s the story behind the title… When M was a baby, up to two years I think, she was not the most generous kid in terms of smiles. She’s even tougher when it came time to take studio photos. We’d do everything and we’d just get a stare and she she did smile, either the camera person wasn’t ready or she blinked. So these are a few photos that we got from Sears. There’s one good smiling photo and the rest looked like she didn’t care to be there… of course there’s got to be one where she either has something, her hand/thumb usually, in or in front of her mouth.

Now she’s a totally different person. Quite friendly although there have been days where she’s just not camera friendly or will not smile for people she doesn’t know well. Her excuse… “Emma’s grumpy.”

Now, does any of you have a Ning account? Ning is a social networking account. Once you have one, you can create a group of your own or join another group. It’s like Yahoo group but with a better interface. I’ve used my Ning account to join educational groups… so work only… but recently I just joined two scrapbooking groups: Pink Paislee and Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine. If you’re not socialed out yet, check Ning out and the two groups. You might like it. In my field, I find the groups I’m in very informational.

We got home yesterday, right at 5 p.m. My last session, on Joomla CMS and WordPress/Mu, went really well and a lot of people seemed to have gotten a lot of info from myself and also others attending. That’s what I love about conferences, other people to physically share information with (instead of my Twitter and Ning virtual buddies). I also had Internet access — wish I had this the other day too. Oh well…

The first thing I wanted to do when I got home was go into my arts and crafts room. I’ve been itching to make something but of course I had to be responsible. Also, I got some new stamps. I have the stamps from H&M, the new stamp company that’s coming up in May that I’m the guest CT of, and also some goodies from PaperTrey Ink. Plus, I have new circle Nestabilities from Cutathome (40% off!). They’ve been on back order but I wasn’t in a hurry so I didn’t care when they’d show up. But I’m glad they did, it’s fun to play with them. So now I can stamp — well, I can do more after I grade {::SMILES}. Since it’s’ a weekend, and I did miss last week’s, I went to Beate’s site and did her sketch challenge for this week. This was a HARD sketch. I’m not use to having these types of intersections.

I used all sorts of brands for this card:

Stamps: H&M Dad’s Outdoors and PaperTrey Favor It Wedding Stamp Set

Cardstock: Stampin’ Up! carft, green galore, pink pixie, and black paper
Pattern Paper: KI Memories Chill Out Ticking and Flair Design Paradise Paisley
Ribbon: SU
Eyelets: Making Memories
Tools: Corner rounder, Crop-a-Dile, Nestabilities, ATG glue gun, SU Markers and paper piercing tool
Markers: SU

The top square cardstock is 3×3 and the pattern paper is 2.75×2.75
The bottom rectangle is 3×3.5 and the pattern paper is 2.75×3.25

Ok, so the boots are from a manly stamp set BUT, M has boots similar to this… I scrapbooked it even (I’ll show you later) and I thought hmmm… these boots can be used for so many things. I wish I had a stamp set that says “Perfect Pair” but this will do. I love the colors and the boots turned out so cute in green and pink (M’s colors). I’ll have more to show this month and next from H&M.

Have a great weekend!! I have a few video tuts in mind… and part II of the part I I did. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to whip one out.

I want to share a card that I did based on Beate’s #40 sketch. It’s more colorful than I’m use to but this was what I got out of the sketch. I used the Always stamp set, Polka Dots and Paisley DP, Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Regal Rose, and White card stock, and Regal Rose ribbon. Then I pierced around my center design. It’s such a sturdy card… with all the card stock layers {::SMILES}. After some getting use to, I like the colors.

I hope you had a great Easter weekend. We missed all the egg hunting but did make it to church. We went to a different church and their hunt was before mass and not after. It was nice though and the important part was that hubby liked this church a lot better.

M did love her Easter basket from the bunny. She woke up at 6:30-ish and my baby is not an early bird on weekends, this chick can sleep until 10:30 a.m.! But not Sunday morning. She came in the bedroom and said, “Mommy, I think the Easter bunny came already.” So I got up, went down with her and asked how she knew. She said she came down already to take a peak - HA! So we looked at the basket and she noticed eggs all over the downstairs so we did some hunting. That was fun. Then I told her mom’s going back to bed, ha ha!! She went to her room and when I finally got up, I found her under her covers, awake, just cuddling her new bunny. Sunday afternoon after church I got some good pics too. I’m working on a LO.. I’ll share when it’s done.

I was so happy this morning. I showed M the “Sweet Child” page that I did for her last night and she loved it. She had a huge smile on her face and her favorite piece was the bird (I thought so!). One day everything that I made will be hers and I want to make sure that they’ll be something she’d love to look at over and over again. I know she’s only four but her thoughts are important to me and even at her age, she’s already got good taste.

Today, after we did a bit of cleaning, I got a chance to scrapbook again. I did this page based on a few items:

- I need to do a layout for Dana Frantz since I’m her guest CT and I’ve only done one thus far. So I need to use her two kits, Party Flower and Chronicles of Life, that I downloaded a few days ago.

- I only submitted two things for VSBN since I didn’t have time all week to do anymore and so I incorporated the black, white, and red challenge, the sewing challenge, and the use a recent picture challenge. Ok, there were more to each challenge but the ones listed were the ones I used in my LO.

-A sketch that I did while I was waiting for my hot cocoa water to boil. This is the first time that I sketched before I work on my LO. Usually I just wing it or like the last few times, used Pencil Lines sketches.

I am quite happy with the result. This page isn’t hard to do. It’s just all about layering. The only add-on that I did isn’t too noticeable is added some grunge brush effect to the red paper and the strips of paper on the left. If you want these brushes, go to the “Texture Overlay” tut that I posted yesterday. You can find the link for the brushes. It’s also interesting to see how the end result of my LO look like in comparison to the sketch that I made myself.

Here’s my first sketch and my sample LO with it. If you want to try this sketch please do so and if you share your LO with me either through email or by posting a link to your LO, you’d really make my day {::SMILES}. Also, if you use any of my tuts, I’d love to see your LOs too!