can I blame it on a tornado?

This week I've been busy making all sorts of paper projects during my spare time. Because of life, I usually just leave things as they are when I'm needed by the family, drive people to places or to go to work.
Since I don't have much time in between my life to clean up after myself, I decided to work in this chaos....



do you think I can getaway to blaming this big, monstrous MESS to a tornado?!

It's funny cause I keep digging through things during crafting cause I keep loosing my ruler or my glue stick. How long do you think it's going to take me to clean this mess up?


and finally just a new picture. I bought this cute hoodie at Aeropostale and it just makes me look forward to Spring so much.

Have a great weekend everyone and hope to share some of my latest projects soon.

Till next time,
Grace

Random 4- February edition

Hi all and happy Wednesday.

I know it's not the end of the month yet but I figured I get a jump start on my random 4 this month since I have the time and things are fresh in my mind.....

Mitch

1. he was recently called to be the 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum at church. He's had this calling before so it's like deja vu for him.
2. have not been consistent with p90x, although he still sports the famous "ab ripper" abs. It's pretty hot, if you ask me. *wink*
3. just finished our taxes. Have I told you guys of how wonderful this man is? He really takes care of us in so many levels. (just too bad that we live in a place that has stinking high taxes and that we are considered to still have been making too much to qualify for some needed tax breaks. Gosh I hate California!)
4. The "shop" (their business) weighs heavily on his mind right now. More explanation on this in the future.

Grace

1. I just finished this book. I learned a lot from it.
2. Have been very productive in the "papercraft" aspect. Got lots of pages and cards made this month.
3. I have a love and hate relationship with this show right now. I've been following it since day 1 and I'm very disappointed that this last season is dragging so slow and yet I can't stop watching cause I wanna know what happens to the characters next. I guess that's what you call good tv?!
4. I'm so ashamed that I am still not done with my ever so simple crochet scarf project. I guess easy to some means really hard for me.

Marcus

1. This boy is wonderful in every sense. He still has his days at school but he actually does most of his homework by himself now. He knows the drill and transitions from spelling to math to reading without my supervision. Although I still need to remind him to stay on task when his mind starts drifting away.
2. I watched him during his taekwondo class on Friday and I'm so impressed at how his skills and knowledge of the sport improved over the month. He can count to 10 in Korean. How cool is that?!
3. He still has it in his mind that when he turns 8, he will get a puppy. I told him yesterday that if he does he will be the one responsible of taking care of it. He told me that he'll do it when he has the time. Uummmm, I think this boy still needs to stick with his stuff animals for right now.
4. He has a love/hate relationship with his Nintendo DS. One day you'll see him tell me of how happy he is that he's getting to the next level and then just a few minutes later, you'll hear him crying. And when you ask him what's wrong, he says to you...."I don't want to play my DS ever again!" Can you tell, he's not very good at accepting defeats.

Maddie

1. She was very happy when we saw the Princess and Frog movie at the dollar theater last night. On our way back home from the movies she said.... "I like this day!" I like it to sweetie *wink*
2. I bought the outfit in her picture for Christmas. I thougth it was really cute. It reminded me of Princess Sara (an inside info that only my siblings can understand) but unfortunately she was not into the outfit during the holidays refusing to wear it but for some wonderful change, she now loves the outfit. She wears the jacket part almost everday.
3. She also digs the hair do right now. Oh and I gave her a little trim last week. 3 inches actually. If you could see her hair wet and straight, you wouldn't believe how long it is!
4. Obsessed with candy is an understatement with this little girl. We just barely got done with Valentine candies and I'm glad that Easter is not till the beginning of April.

That's us right now.

Till next time,
Grace

Miss Sassy

Ok so this morning Maddie and I went to our Mommy and me preschool. It was her "share" day today so she brought her little purse with all of her lip glosses and makeup brushes. She even demonstrated how she puts on her "lovely" gloss. Truly a diva!

It reminded me of this picture and so I scrapped it....

Miss Sassy

this one was based on the latest challenge at the American Crafts Studio blog. It's all about sketches and you know me, I just LOVE sketches.


This one was based off of Danielle Layton's sketch. I love the simplicity and the thick strips of paper that makes the layout well designed.


I got some Letterbox papers the other day and thought I'd put them to good use right away. I love the bright springy colors of them.


Miss Maddie is definitely our Miss "Sassy" around here. There's no other than can compare to her.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock- The Paper Company
*Pattern papers (green) Ala Carte; (others) Letterbox
*Letter stickers- Regards, Thickers
*Letter Rubons- Frank
*Flowers- My house
Ribbons- *(green) Elements
(pink) Making Memories
Button- Source Unknown
Border Punch- Fiskars
Journaling font- Bookman Old Style, MS Word

*Supplies from American Crafts

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

You are my sunshine

I went over to the Cosmo Cricket blog last week and was inspired by the latest challenge. We were to look within ourselves and overcome something that scares us.

Such a powerful inspiration. It took me a while to figure out something that scares me as far as papercrafting was concerned but after a couple of days of contemplation, I found my fear....

You are my sunshine card

I am totally scared of the shabby chic look. I love looking at creations with this style but I'm always afraid of trying it because I always grab the bright colors versus the muted hues. But then since this is a challenge, I said a little prayer and started going through my Cosmo Cricket stash.


I am a person that believes in baby steps. I know I wouldn't be totally happy with a project if it's so away from my norm so with some honey pie papers, an ever after tag, velvet ribbon and glittered blackboard I went to work.

Everything here is Cosmo cricket except the letter stamp and stickles.

So what are you most fearful of? Wanna get over that fear? Well, try my technique and use baby steps. I always feel energized when I try something new.

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Remember this moment

I am loving life right now. Not because trials have passed me or that I have more money than I have in the past. No, challenges are still there and even more than say a month ago, but I can honestly say that life is good. I guess one thing that is making me happy right now is that retail has slowed down therefore I get to stay home more and therefore I get to be more crafty than I was compared to late last year.

Yesterday (Saturday) I didn't have to be at work till 4:30 pm and so for most of the day, I was at my scrapbook room, playing with papers. I can't share all of my creations just yet but here's one card I made....

Remember this moment

this one was inspired by the latest challenge over at the Cuttlebug blog. We were to use stitching all over our project.


I took the challenge and made a grid of stitching in my background. I used some leftover supplies from a layout I just finished. I was also able to use an embossing folder that I've tucked away in the "new supplies" basket. I love rummaging through that basket, it feels like Christmas every time.

Need more inspiration? Check out the Crazy Daisy blog today. My minibook from the February kit is up. See more details and explanation behind the book here.


thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace

Family Tradition

One of my goals this year was to use up the scrap stash that I have. I have this bond with my papers and sometimes it goes way overboard that I don't want to use them. That's why I've decided to sign up on as much manufacturer challenges that I have time for so I may use up as much products that I can in one layout. The following page is an example of that....

Family Tradition

I've had this Narrative paper from Creative Imaginations for a while now. It's so pretty, how can I use it up? But after a big gulp, I finally did. It actually wasn't that bad! LOL.


I got some pretty CI products from my scrapbook trends goodies and this rubon and brad was some of them. I love how pretty they are.


The narratives journaling block housed my title and journaling. I was very happy at how fast and easy this layout came together, all because of sticking to one brand. Who could've thought?!

and with my new rule to make a card with the products I already have out I made this one......

Gracias card

used another journaling block, this time as a background and to house my card sentiment plus the rubons.


The rubons added the subtle color to this black and white card.

Thank you for looking and have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

Has it really come to this???

Hi everyone and happy Friday.

First off I wanna say thanks to all my new blog readers. Thank you for all the sweet comments. I totally appreciate your kindness and friendship. :)

Anyways, this past three days I've been on a hunt for some specific brand name scrapbook papers. I went online and saw them on my fave online stores but I'm really the type of gal that hates paying for shipping so I resorted to going around town to my local scrapbook stores (of what is left of them) and tried to hunt down the papers.

After four stores, I only got one paper line from the five that I was looking for. And what surprised me the most is the price of them. I have been very blessed to have received so many great papers and products from companies and kit clubs so it's been a while since I really shopped for products other than tools and adhesives. Did you know that one single sheet of double sided pattern paper can run up to $2 a sheet? That is just unbelievable.

I saw papers that I could've gotten online for 89 cents that run me $1.10 at the store. Unbelievable!!! Is this really what the scrapbook industry came down to???

Whether it be online or in store shopping you'd still pay some outrageous prices for paper! I'm really sad about this. I guess the days of .70 cents a paper (good quality, brand name ones) are long gone. So sad!

Well, I don't want to leave you guys with just a sad story so here's a card I made recently....

We are home

I used some scraps here and played with a new stamp I got at the dollar bin at Michael's.


The letter stickers are from Basic Grey, button from Jenni Bowlin Studio and ribbon from Michael's.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

As seen in print.....

I got some of my recently published projects back from Northridge Media and thought I'd post them back up again....

as seen in Cards Dec. 09 issue


as seen in Scrapbook Trends December 09 issue


As seen in the Scrapbook Trends "Quick and Easy Scrapbooking" book, released Jan. 2010


As seen in Scrapbook Trends Jan. 2010 issue


and if you're looking for a quick project to make with scraps.... hop on over to the Crazy Daisy kit blog where I shared how to make this quick project.


Have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace

Upsy Daisy February share....

One of the many perks of being on the Upsy Daisy Designs team is that I get to "play" with their new lines. Have you seen them? They're really cool and my favorite part..... the clever idea of adding a quote or a strip of pattern paper on the end strip of a 12x12 paper that we usually cut off because it has the brand and name of the paper on it. I think that was very clever. Now there's no way we need to throw out any part of our paper. I just LOVE that!

So here's what I made this month...

Check up time

the dt's were given a sketch to be inspired from and this is what I made. I used the new Vogue line. I have to say that I was a little afraid using the paper for something other than a "girly" page but the beautiful blues and greens of the papers just screamed "boy page" to me.


I stayed with the colors scheme even with my title, using green and black.


I created a visual triangle with the circles, star and some newly released UDD bards. I added some stitching for texture and handwritten my journaling.

Love Frame

another assignment we were given was to create something with the "love" theme since February is the month of luuuvvveeee. *wink*


I altered a hanging wall frame with some pretty Blossom papers. Because I love the quote strips on the papers, I didn't think twice to using one of them here.


I also added some of those wonderful newly released brads here. The round tree accent was cut out from one of the pattern papers, I added dimensional adhesive on top of it and made it an instant epoxy accent. Fun stuff.

Thank you for looking and make sure you check out the site for more inspirations from the other design team members.

Till next time,
Grace

Crazy Daisy kit.....

I feel so blessed and very grateful to Kimberly and Jennifer, owners of Crazy Daisy kit, that they've asked me to stay in their design team for another term. Woohooo!!!



The announcement of the new team is up on the blog, plus if you scroll down a little, you'll see the sneek peek of the march kit. Hope on over there to learn more.

Till next time,
Grace

Just a little note to say Thanks

Over at the Cuttlebug blog, their latest challenge was to use fabric.

I love fabric, but I'm one of those people that have a hard time incorporating them into my paper projects. I mean how do I work it when I already have a lot of designs on the project? Well since it is a "challenge", I took the jump and grabbed a few fabric scraps and here's what I made....

Just a little note to say Thanks card

I made yoyo flowers with my fabric. It was actually quiet easy and it turned out cute. That's one thing that I love about challenges, it helps me to get out of my comfort zone and try something new.


I used my very favorite Cuttlebug embossing folder (swiss dot) to add texture to my cardstock background. I also added some scraps from my GCD Studios Artys Urban collection. Then I finished it off with a simple sentiment stamp from Fiskars.

To make sure that the buttons stay on the yoyos, before cutting the thread, I added the buttons threading it a couple of times through to make sure it's secure then tied a knot. This way I know that the buttons won't fall off the flowers.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

You are wonderful

Got the challenge bug over the weekend. I was able to finish two layouts and three cards because I was inspired by a few challenges. Don't you just love things that jumpstart your creativity?

Anyways this one was made with the latest American Crafts challenge in mind. We were to make a layout or card that has the "love" theme. I made mine a layout about my son....

You are Wonderful
PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
this layout was made primarily because I wanted to incorporate a letter that I wrote for him. You see, ever since he was young there have been some people that have insinuated that he is either Autistic or ADD. Now I didn't dismiss the idea, infact I did some of my own research to see if he was truly in that "spectrum". But every time I did look at the symptoms, he can't be consider as one. The letter tells about how I feel about always having to be in the defensive mode about him and his "boyish" behaviors towards people that don't know him. I also told him (in the letter) that I love him and I think he is "wonderful" no matter what else anybody says.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
Everything here is American crafts excep the buttons, tools and the cardstock.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
I had the letter tucked in underneath the picture.

Supplies used:
Cardstock- The Paper Company
*Pattern paper- (heart, numbers and dots) Everyday line; (green floral) Ala Carte; (brown) Monograms
*Chipboard shapes- My house
*Letter rubons- Frank, Mini Marks
*Boy rubon- Kids book two, Mini Marks
*Letter stickers- (brown) Giggles; (green) Rockabye, Thickers
*Black pen- Slick Writer
Buttons- Basic Grey
Border Punch- Fiskars
Journaling font- Century Gothic, MS Word

*American Crafts products

Congrats Card

and because I'm in the trend of making cards with scraps, I made this one from the leftovers of my layout


I sewn on the button to the layered flowers to make sure that it stays intact. I also used a rubon sentiment to make this a fast and easy card.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

Wild and Free card

Because of my son's love for red, I've got accustomed to incorporating red into my masculine/boy projects. This one is an example of that....

Wild and free card

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION

this card was made based on the latest Get Sketchy sketch. I like the simple style of it and how easy it is to adapt to my papers and theme.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION

I used some more of the wonderful My Mind's Eye that I used in the past layout and card. The sentiment came from the same collection.

Till next time,
Grace

Family time

Hope you guys had a wonderful Valentine's day. As for me, it was great. Dear hubby made breakfast, I didn't have an early meeting, and we just lounged around the house after church. We even had family home evening. It was definitely a perfect day!

Anyways here's a page and a card to share today....

Family time
PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
I made this with the latest sketch up on Pagemaps. I love how sketches instantly inspires me. I used some fun My Mind's Eye paper. The colors are great and the distressing details are just right for this page.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
I love this font from the Thickers stickers. Lately I'm into cursive titles, I don't know why but I'm liking them.

PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION
I created a collage of fun stuff at the bottom of the page. I used a round journaling block from Little Yellow Bicycle.

then I made this card with the scraps...

Friends card

the colors of the paper worked really well with the neutral kraft card.


I used a stamp from one of my dollar stamp set. You know me, I hoard those dollar stamps. LOL.

Thank you for looking

Till next time,
Grace

My heart is full.....

With Valentine's day just around the corner, I thought of breaking up the "project" posts and share something personal with all of you.

I love Valentines day. I love all the sweet things you can give your special someone. I love how we "stress" out on how to show our dear ones how much we love them. I love how kids and adult alike get some type of valentine treat, whether it's roses, a nice dinner or sugary treats. All of them are great.

But today, I wanna focus on the intangible things. I wanna share the people I love. They are after all, the main reason why this holiday is so "sweet" to me. Without each one of them, I'd be one of those people being a "scrooge" during this love filled season.

Let's start with this man...


he is my strength. he is my protector. he always got my back. we are a team in everything and I love how he respects and actually listens to my opinion. I'm definitely the "best" me because of him. he doesn't let me use excuses in life and because of that I'm forever grateful for him

then we go to this little man....

he teaches me that with resiliency and faith, you can be anything that want to be. he teaches me patience (something that I never had an ounce of before I had him). he is pure, honest, fun, cute, very smart and whatever anyone says.....he is wonderful!!!

then her.....

this is the first time i'm going to come out and say this but I see so much of me in her. I didn't wanna admit that but it's true. The little things that she does that sometimes gets me, it's EXACTLY what I am or was when I was little. The impatience, totally girly, smart, divaish attitude. All that is me! AAaccckkk!!!
But seriously, she is sweet, very sweet. No day passes by without her telling me how she loves me. I enjoy her company (most of the time) cause she has tons of stories to tell and she actually listens to what I tell her the first time! Now that's a great trait to have in my books.

and my family...

they are my support system. Each and everyone of them play a huge part in my improvement in this thing we call life. Dad shares with me his expertise in cooking; Mom is always ready to give me motherly advise; George and Ali is so sweet to my family, especially the kids; Gary is my go to guy for cameras. I've learned so much from him eventhough I got my camera first; and Robert and Gem who are quick to lend a helping hand whenever we call them. Oh and I love my Penalosa family too. They are far from us but we think of them often and love them dearly too.

Oh, of course I love my "Tolman" family too, I just don't have a picture of the group. It's very big. :)

My heart is definitely full of love. I feel it everyday from all these wonderful people and I hope I show it too *wink*

Have a wonderful Valentines day everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

GCD studios share....

this post is a little bittersweet for me.

Sweet cause I love GCD studios products. Their collections are so different with each other that you just want to have them all. Their range is from cute, fun, bright to vintage, sweet and soft.

A little sad cause this will be my last post for them. You see my term in their DT is coming to an end. Don't worry about me, I was happy to have worked with a great company but it's now time to move on. and if you have been wanting to join a wonderful company, now it's your time. They're having a DT call. More info here.

Anyways here's my share this month....

To my Sweetheart card

since this month is the "love" month, what better way to celebrate it than with a fun, bright, cheery card.


This valentine inspired card was made using the Party it up collection. I love the "fun" colors and designs in them. And they just so happen to have papers that have hearts in them. Perfect for the theme!
Since I'm going to be giving this to my "sweetheart", I decided to go for a more masculine color scheme focusing on the blues rather than the typical red and pinks that we associate with Valentines day.

One Year Wiser layout

We had an assignment to make a layout about what we've learned in the past year. I took the assignment to heart and really thought about the important life lessons that I've learned over the past year. There were five that stood out and thinking about them made me thought that I am really wiser because of these lessons thus I came up with "one year wiser" for my title.
I used the Morning Glory collection here. I thought that the papers were pretty, feminine and yet with that touch of "grown up" that I was shooting for with the layout.


I've seen the pleated flowers everywhere lately,so I thought of trying them out myself. They were very easy to make although keeping them stay in shape while the adhesive dried was a little tricky.


I created a visual triangle with the paper threads, adding two to the flowers and one tied on top of the pattern paper.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace