The inevitable is here....

Yes, after years of fighting it.....I am finally on facebook. For my closest friends they know that I had nothing against facebook (although, it seemed like I was an anti for a long time) but I just didn't have enough time to invest in something that can be addicting and time consuming as another social network.

I thought to myself that keeping up with the blog is a task enough but lately I've been missing my friends back in Norwalk/Cerritos so the inevitable happened tonight. .......I signed up!!!!

I don't know my way around the site yet and right now I'm only picking really close friends. But if you happen to be my friend or family and I have not added or requested you (whatever the term might be) please don't hesitate to call me out on it. I'm new to all of this.

So there you have it. Lesson learned tonight......... never say never because you'll end up eating your words!!!

Till next time,
Grace

Random Four- November edition

Another month is coming close to an end. I can't say "time flies so fast!" enough these days. Anyways I want to keep to at least one of my goals this year, so I'm making my November edition of Random four. Here goes....

Mitch

1. Still working hard for the family. He spent almost all of November working and working and working some more. Sometimes more than 12 hour shifts a day and we love him dearly for that.
2. Somehow he has found a liking to online shopping but have been unfortunate with it. It seems like everything he gets online is either not working, not complete (as in parts missing) or not quite right! And don't get me started on the shipping costs of his many "purchases"!
3. He is experiencing snow at it's best. His truck even got stuck in snow one time. Aaahhh the beauty of living in Colorado!
4. He has become the expert in ordering fast food. He knows what's the best deals for McD, Taco Bell and Carl's Jr. But I'm sure he misses homecooked meal too. LOL.

Grace

1. Went on a short weekend trip to Colorado in the beginning of the month. It was a very quick getaway with some purpose.
2. My knitting projects continue. I have found knitting to be such a stress reliever that I'm constantly in need to knit. This month I was able to make both kids some beenie caps and now I'm working on a purse.
3. Still going to school. I have a strong feeling I wont be able to finish the course since the move is soon but I keep thinking that even though I won't be able to finish it that with all the new knowledge and skills that I've learned that it wasn't a total loss.
4. I started to run again and do some yoga. It's not the most challenging exercises that I can do, I know, but I feel good knowing I'm trying. Now if I can only have that much determination in my eating habits I'd be on my way to loose all that unwanted pounds!

Marcus

1. This month has been interesting for this young man, he lost his beloved trampoline but have found an addiction to cartoon network channel. Sometimes it's hard to pull him out of watching the tube!
2. He is reading every night. I'm amazed at how much discipline and desire he has to read. Last night after coming home really late from Thanskgiving get together, with his eyes half awake and half asleep he sadly said that we weren't able to read. We made up for it today and I'm so happy that he has found joy in reading.
3. We had his teacher-parent conference on Wednesday and I felt so proud when the teacher said that Marcus is excelling in Math. That there were tests that they had taken in which only two students got a perfect score and my son was one of them. Now can I hope to have an engineer or a scientist for a son? *wink*
4. If there are good things, there are also bad things...one of the things mentioned in his conference is his constant noise making at school. It has become such a nuisance that even the teacher can't concentrate at times. I feel really bad about this and hopefully when we get to Colorado and move to the new school we can get some needed help for him. The idea of maybe he can't control his actions have come up and I'm concerned. We shall see!

Maddie

1. My little diva. She is constantly irritated by something. Whether it's her shirt sleeves stuck in her jacket sleeve, or that her shoes or socks are annoying her or that we are making her bed the "wrong" way, something is always making her irritated! I'm telling you this girl is sometimes more of a handful that her brother has been to me. But we still love her!
2. She is very loved by her friends. When I was gone for my short trip to Colorado,the kids had to miss a couple of days of school and when we got back, there were a few girls that was shouting Maddie's name even before we got into the gate. Some even gave her a hug and said that they'd missed her. Oh I'm so happy that my dear daughter is friendly and loved by her friends.
3. She is constantly begging for candy. My candy addict child never stops! I guess if I wanted the madness to stop I'd just let her finish her Halloween candy in one swoop but then again I have to pay for the dental trips and then the rationing of candy just makes more logical sense but I'm telling you this girl is crazy when it comes to candy!
4. She's doing good in school. She started reading some easy sight words and I try to encourage her to not be too discouraged if at first she can't remember the sounds or the letters. She can get a bit too perfectionist (now I wonder where she got that?!) so when drawings, letters or any work doesn't look right to her the first time she can get a bit overwhelmed and discouraged. She always wants to get it right the first time!

So that's it. Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

We are Family mini

Thanksgiving always seems give us the time to reflect on our most cherished blessings, and of course,family is always on the top of anybody's list including mine. So what better way to celebrate this special holiday than with a minibook. Here's what I came up with using Clear Scraps album....

We Are Family mini

I used the Auntie Acrylic brag book for this project. I covered the front and back with pattern paper and added a die cut title in the center. For texture, I added dots of liquid pearl onto the side of the mini. This reminds me of the studs or metal brads that you can typically see in a handbag. I also added layered flowers to the mix. The flowers are from Accent Creative Designs which is also Clear Scraps. :)

I love the "earthy" tones of the papers but added some turquiose to the mix for that burst of freshness.

Here's a peek of the inside...

I wanted to show off some of that beautiful Acrylic so I covered only parts of the pages. I highlighted the shapes though with liquid pearl from Viva Decor.


I used the layered flowers as a recurring accent all through out the book.


nd here's the look from the back. Again I used same paper as I did in the front, used the pearl pen for the dots on the edges and die cut blocks to record the important details of the event.


Because the book had layered flowers in them, it was extra bulky. And it's just the way I like my mini!

Make sure you check out the blog especially this coming week. We have a great week's worth of share for you. It's a great one!

Till next time,
Grace

Thanksgiving Place Cards

We are only two more days before Thanksgiving and three more before the much anticipated and super hyped up Black Friday. What are you gonna do? Will you be waking up super early (or not sleep at all) and bear all the lines and crowd to get a great deal? Well I've done that before, three consecutive years I might add, but this year I don't feel up to shopping. I think I'm going to sleep in and maybe go to the park, I'm sure everyone's at the mall that day!

Anyways, backing up a little, I'd like to share an idea that can be used for Thanksgiving. This is my extra project for Crazy Daisy kit...

Thanksgiving Place cards

So for this month's extra project, I went with something that might easily be used for this year's Thanksgiving dinner.....place cards. We know we need them, especially when you have a big group for dinner and what better way to use up all the fun and perfectly themed products from the main kit!
I used white cardstock as my base and settled in with a basic, simple design. I had fun hadcutting the leaves and flowers from the WeRMemory Keepers paper and using them as my embellishments here. I used some small white letter stickers from my stash to make the names, but I'm sure you can easily use the stickers from the kit for this project. My suggestion would be to use it as a monogram instead since it's pretty big sized letters.


The size of my place cards are 3" squares but you can have yours smaller or bigger, whichever would work for you and your table setting.


I'm also thinking since the place cards were created to be a little notecard (so it can stand on top of the plate) I can use them later on as thank you notes to my guests.
So try it for this year's gathering, you can even have your kids help you out with this. Let them write or stick the names of the guests. It'll be fun!

So that's it. Make sure you check out the kit here.
Advance Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Till next time,
Grace

November Crazy Daisy kit layouts *photo heavy*

Yes I may be called crazy to have pulled off making 5 layouts, an album and one extra project using Crazy Daisy kit when I only have my adhesives, some tools and paper trimmer with me. But to be honest with you, I've enjoyed this time to be creative, especially with the limited resources that I have. It really made me think outside of the box and use up what I have in the kit.
Speaking of the November kit, I love how it is aptly themed for the season we are in right now. It has great fall colors and lots of products that would be perfect for all the Fall and Thanksgiving layouts that you might be planning for this month. I, on the other hand, didn't have any fall photos to play with but did manage to tweak some of the products to suit my themes. Here's what I made with the main kit....

Vegas Circus

A layout using the shaped pattern paper as my page frame. Because my photos lacked enough color in them, I used a bright orange background to make the black and white photo stand out more.


I added one of the Kaiser Craft envelopes here and I'm planning on storing some of our Vegas memorabilia in there.
I wanted the white letter stickers to stand out against the background so I opted on adhering it to the photo.


A page utilizing the Crate Paper borders and I even added some liquid pearl to the dots of the border for extra texture.

Peruvian Dinner
-pulled out for publication-
This is my two page spread share for this month. I went with a smaller size but fit for the 5 photos I have of me and my family.

-pulled out for publication-
I used the loaded text paper from Imaginesce here to emphasize some of the words in my journaling. Since the paper was fall related and my page was not, I had to improvise some of my sentences to fit my words like "fall" and "bountiful".

-pulled out for publication
To balance the scallops from the border sticker I added scallops around the top and bottom part of my title block using 1/2" circle punch.

Park day

I've been digging the shaped papers in the kit. They provide the best frames for my layouts. I used one of them here. I layered more of the strips of paper here plus the Crate Paper border sticker.


I made my own flowers to add to the page. I handcut the circles from one of the papers and then added strips of green paper in the back, layered on top of each other. Secured with lots of glue and reinforced by threading the embroidery floss through the flowers and button.


To create the visual triangle, I used the blue embroidery floss as the element,adding it to the flowers and handstitching some lines for my journaling.

So Happy to have you

I love this page. Not only because my son's the star on it but because it gave me a lot of room to journal on which lately is hard for me to do. Anyways, I cut out the lined paper part of the circle paper and added the half circle on the bottom of the page. The big ricrac was also a nice addition to the page.


I love the MME block and decided to use that for my title. Because there's an empty space in the title block, I added a layered butterfly plus some more of that Crate Paper border stickers, gosh I love those stuff!


I used some more butterflies here, again for a visual triangle element plus added a round M sticker from the JBS pack.

It's Dentist Time

I used the Jillibean Kraft paper as my background and layered some pattern papers over it. I love the Crate Paper border stickers and used up everything in the sheet in my projects this month.


For this page, I also added the MME die cut journaling block and centered it along with my title. Since the kit was heavily themed for Fall layouts and I just so happen to NOT have any Fall layouts with me, I had to improvise a little to make the most of the products. I did this to show that you don't have to use themed products for only the suggested theme/event/holiday it's meant for. The title sticker said "It's Pumpkin Time", so to match my layout I added rubon letters to spell out dentist onto white cardstock and adhered it over the word pumpkin to complete my improvised layout.


I also fell inlove with the Making Memories butterflies. I used them here as my visual triangle elements. I broke some of the pearls from the Basic Grey pack and added some in the middle of the butterflies to create a finished look.

Sorry for the bad photos, I took photos of them in very bad lighting.

Make sure you check out the kit here.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

Just some things....

I know I've been extremely quiet over this past few weeks, and I'm sorry.
Lately, I've been struggling at what to say other than show projects that I've made. We are still in escrow period for the house in Colorado and although things are promising, I don't want to relay the events blow by blow for fear that I'd just jinx it.
But I did get to finish a book and my favorite (only) Korean drama show ended and I thought I talk about that...


I loved how the story spanned so many years and the concept of telling a story at the exact day every year. I'm not European so many of the terms like "bollocks" are not familiar to me but I can see the funny aspect of the book like some people have reviewed it to be. I think it'll make for a great love story movie someday but I was sad at the ending. I give this book a 4 star at my Goodreads page.

Happiness in the Wind

It's finally over! Yehey! I'm happy because it had a happy ending and that I don't have to stress out on figuring out if there's a Korean channel in Colorado or not. But at the same time, I'm a bit sad because I don't get to see my Obok, Daehan and Doklip everynight now. Ha, who knew I'd be into Korean shows. My mother in law said that I should find another one to stay tune to but I'm feeling like it's time for me to stay out of the soap operas for right now. They can bring so much drama and emotions on me that I really don't need. LOL.

So that's it. Hope you guys have a great weekend. I'll be back soon with some more project share. :)

Till next time,
Grace

Christmas Train

With shopping malls all decked out with Christmas decorations, I can't help but get the "holiday bug" early too. So with that let me share with you my other project this month for Upsy Daisy Designs.

Christmas Train

this layout features the beautiful papers from the Spirit line. Last year, my sweet mother-in-law babysat Maddie for me so I can do some Christmas shopping. She brought all the ingredients to make this cute train with her and they put it together. How amazing is this. And you know the best part....we ALL were able to eat it!!! There's nothing better than a beautiful AND edible art!


The hand cut train was what glued me to this line. It was the "perfect" accent to emphasize my story and support my photos.


I also added ricrac, brads and letter rubons to the mix. All from Upsy Daisy Designs as well of course.

So there you have it. Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

U are such a Poser!

Hi everyone. Things are coming along good for us here. We have found a house in Colorado and crossing our fingers that everything will be good so we can move into it within a month.

Today I'd like to share a layout I made using some Clear Scraps acrylic squares that I dressed up with some liquid pearl.

U are such a poser!

I used some My Mind's Eye paper as the background.

For the acyrlic itself, I got them from my Clear N Chip Little Miss Molly pack. I just love that set. Anyways, I was inspired by the grunge feel of the background in my son's photo and I decided to color in my acrylic to blend in with the look/feel of the photos.

I smeared some Viva Decor liquid pearl on their and then smoothed it out with a foam brush. I love how the liquid pearl gives it that shine,not to mention the burst of color. *If you are going to try this technique, make sure you let your acrylic pieces dry completely before adding to your page. You don't want bold blue colors smeared all over the rest of your layouts, do you?


I added some more My Mind's Eye elements here. They're all from the So Sophie collection.


the small letter sticker and the hand stickers are from Cosmo Cricket.

Hope this project got you inspired to get a little bit "dirty" and add texture and bold colors to your next project.

Till next time,

Grace

A Sweet Holiday

happy weekend everyone. I can't believe it's November already. Sometimes when I think about not having enough time in a day, I think of not having enough days in a year too. As I get older, days seems to swirl into weeks and weeks becomes months and then before you know it, a year has passed!

Anyways, enough of that! How about an early Christmas share....

A Sweet Holiday

Over at the Upsy Daisy blog, we shared the November sketch this week. And here's my take on it. I decided to use the Hot Chocolate line for this holiday themed layout. I love baking during the holidays. All the smell, sweet treats and gift giving that involves with this activity always brings a smile to my face. Mmmm, just thinking about it makes me wanna break the bag of flour and start a batch of cookies right now.


Anyways for this layout, I hadcut the snowflakes from paper and used it as an embellishment. I used my favorite "my guy" journaling stamp to create my title block. I added heat embossing to the edges of it to give it that festive look.


I love the fabric brads but personalized it with some glimmer mist spray and glitter. I added the glitter while the mist was still wet on the brad so it'll easily adhere.

So if you are inclined to making something crafty this weekend,why not try using the UDD sketch as a jumpstart? Check it out here along with all the many samples provided by the DTs. And check out the wonderful Upsy Daisy Designs products here.

Till next time,
Grace

some hiatus

hi all. I didn't realize that it's been more than a whole week since my last post. Things have been busy around here because of this....



Our home finally got sold and we've moved out of it just this past weekend. We are in transition right now so I'm going to give you guys a heads up that there will be some hiatus in the blog.

We are happy with this news for we have been waiting to get out of the house for three months. Now we can move on and plan for the future. And that means that our time away from Mitch won't be long.

I'm still in the "settling in" part of my transition, so after that maybe I'll pop in here and share some projects that I've made for November. But until then, hope you guys have a great month and till next time.....

Grace