Latest layouts for Epiphany Crafts

Last day of the week and second to the last day of the month. Can you believe we are days away from September? That means that before you know it, all of the major holidays will be arriving at our doorsteps. Time sure flies when you are having fun. 

Speaking of having fun, I enjoyed my assignments this month for Epiphany Crafts. I was able to work on some layouts for the kiddos and think outside the box in utilizing some fun EC products. Check the two layouts I made this month...

Hello Today layout

I know that it's not officially Autumn yet, but I couldn't help myself in scrapbooking these fall themed photos of my son which was taken about two years ago. I created my own brad using EC tool and brad maker. I also added some epoxy stars with the Epiphany Crafts star tool and bubble sticker. You can view more details about this project along with a how to guide in this post. 

She is layout

I love, love, love this photo of my daughter. If you've been to my home recently, you've seen this blown up into a beautiful canvas piece. That's how much I love it. But of course, I still needed to print them so I can add them to her scrapbook. 

This month, EC wanted to show how it's "hip to be square" and I took that challenge and created this layout. I love how I was able to use the EC square tool and bubble stickers to create my diamond shaped embellishments in my page. I also added some vintage charms in the mix. You can view details on this layout as well as instructions in this post. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend,

Grace

Fishing trip

Two weekends ago, we went to our church's youth conference and one of the activities planned is fishing. Mitch got his license and we got the kids their own poles. Everyone was excited about fishing. Unfortunately, the kids and Mitch weren't lucky to catch anything. 

Because it was kind of a sad experience,we decided to have a 'redo' of this activity in hopes that we will be more successful the second time around. Last Saturday, after I came home from an early morning photo shoot, we packed up our fishing tools/supplies, a packed lunch and some excited kids and headed to the mountains. Here are some photos of our excursion...

We went to a spot that our neighbor went to. When they visited this place earlier in the Summer they were very lucky and got a good amount of fish. We thought we'd give this a try since our neighbor has good luck here. It was a beautiful spot. The only thing that we didn't expect was how cold it was up there. We were dressed for warmer weather since the forecast down in the Springs was in the high 80s and early 90s. Note to self, weather up in the mountains is not the same as the one in the city.

For the first hour, we were not lucky. We were getting disappointed. Marcus was getting impatient and was asking me what time lunch would be, every two minutes. Plus it was getting cold and the kids and I were huddling together to warm up.

Thankfully after lunch time, the cloud moved away and the sun came out and Marcus got the first fish...

Maddie followed after that, getting the one and only rainbow trout of the day.

Mitch got some too.

After about an hour and a half, we caught 8...Marcus got 4, Mitch got 3 and Maddie caught one.

I had to be in photos so Mitch got this on our way back to our car. We carried our camp chairs in our back to and from the lake.

When we got home, Mitch cleaned the fishes and fried them outside. He has his own favorite recipe in cooking trout so I let him handle that.

and this was our dinner...fried trout with cornmeal crust, spanish rice, a little bit of refried beans and steamed veggies. It was definitely delicious. 

and since we caught 8, we can have this meal again this week. I love leftovers :)

Till next time,
Grace

A scrapbook page in 15 minutes *Video Tutorial*

Happy Wednesday friends. I had to bump my video to Wednesday this week to make way for the fun announcement I was able to share on Monday. By the way, thank you for all of your support. It means the world to me. :)

In this week's video, I wanted to challenge myself to see if I can put together a layout, from start to finish, it just 15 minutes. I was stressing all the way through and I'm not sure if I will ever put this challenge on me again but check it out and see if I made it...

Here's a look at the finished layout...

A bountiful Harvest layout

and some details....

So what do you think? I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that spends a good amount of time in creating their layouts and I think this is a good challenge to put on ourselves, once in a while. :)

If you wish to see more of my video tutorials, you can click on the tab on the right side of this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel to get the videos straight to your inbox.

Have a great day.

Till next time,
Grace

First day of school 2013

School started last week for my kiddos. I can't help but tear up a little bit with this year's start of school because it's Marcus' last year of Elementary. Is it really true? I'm going to have a middle school-er next year? Well before I get sentimental, here's the pictures from our first day of school...

Before you we go on...I just found this picture from three years ago...

My heart aches a little that my babies are growing up so fast. :(

Anyways here's more of the first day of school photos...

This year...
-She's not in the same class as her "girlfrieds" but I think this would be good for her as she can broaden her horizon and get to know more people.
-We have a great teacher. So far I've heard great things about Mrs. Lehman and I'm looking forward to my little girl growing and being her best.
-I have a feeling that this year, we will have to deal more about "outfits" and stressing about the question "what will I wear to school today?" I say this because we already dealt with it, three days in the first week of school. Sheesh!

This year......
-We are going to work on more independence and responsibility since Marcus is getting ready for middle school.
-He had a great first week. I'm so glad that he was given a great teacher, one that understands his strengths and weaknesses and will work around his issues. Mrs. Bailey is so understanding as well. I'm sure she didn't expect me to talk her ear out about my son on our first parent-teacher meeting.
-He gets to hang out with some of his great buddies from last year and I'm glad that he has friends. It really means the world to me to see him interact with other kids and be able to get along (most of the time) with them. For a family that deals with ADHD this is huge for us.

Thank you for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Some fun announcement to share....

Hi friends, I'm starting this week with a fun announcement to share...

I'm so honored to be chosen as part of the 2013 Paper House Design team. I'm elated to be included in this list of talented crafters. You can view the official announcement here. 

Visit my fellow team member's blogs here:

• Christine Meyer

http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com/ 

• Dana Tater

http://datatar.blogspot.com

• Joann Jamieson Larkin

http://castleparkdesigns.wordpress.com

• Michelle McClure

http://outofmybook.blogspot.com

• Susie Bentz

http://mytime2play.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace

Happy Birthday card *Inspired By Stamping*

Hi there friends. 

Even though we are weeks away from the start of the Fall season, I'm still in the Summer mindset and you can definitely see that in the color choices I made with this card. It's my version of a Summer Soiree. 

Happy Birthday card

I love the background stamps from Inspired by Stamping and in this card, I used them to create a fun dot design on the bottom of the card. I also used a fancy frame stamp to hold my sentiment. This is a pretty simple card from me but that's the good thing about experimenting and going out of your comfort zone, you never know what you're going to come up with. 

To see more stamping inspirations, please visit the IBS website here. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

Best Wishes Today and Always card *Inspired By Stamping*

Hi Friends. 

Today I'm sharing this fun card that I  made recently using some colorful paper and beautiful stamps from Inspired By Stamping.

Best Wishes  Today and Always card

For this card, I wanted to challenge myself in finding ways to stamp these awesome washi tape stamps on different mediums to see how it will look. I decided on vellum since most washi tape have that translucent feel to them. I love the effect. The one thing I learned from this test, is to use a very bold ink so that the designs will stand out better. As you can see, the pink one didn't transfer very well compared to the turquoise and yellow one. 

I love using colorful paper so I can grab the ink colors and other design elements of my project from the colors of the paper, making them all well coordinated. 

You can view the sentiment stamp here, and the washi tape stamp here. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

Die Versions' latest release + projects

Last week Die Versions released their latest dies. This one was a huge one, featuring 30 new designs. Wowza!

Here are some of my projects using some of the dies in this release...

I am so grateful card

I wanted to highlight the beautiful “falls foliage” image on this card so I made the rest of my design very simple.

I added texture to the background cardstock by running it through my die cut machine with an embossing folder.

I decided to cut out the foliage image from Kraft cardstock to give it that “natural” look.

Flat Stanley's Visit layout

I was so excited when I saw the new Corner Concepts dies. It was the perfect addition to my layout about Flat Stanley. I love how these dies, along with the half pints, can work with any project by just changing the color of your paper.

I also cut out a part of the leaves and vines image to add some natural element to my page.

To add more die cuts to my page without overpowering my photos, I layered the “loops” and “good times” Corner concepts dies.

Happy Halloween Card

I wanted to add texture to my crow die cut so I heat embossed it with copper.  This resulted to an image with texture and “personality”.

You can learn more about these projects and how to get your own dies from Die Versions here. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Till next time,

Grace

Pile It up Series Video 4

Happy Monday friends. Today my babies go back to school. This year, I will have a 2nd grader and a 5th grader. It's my son's last year of Elementary. I still can't believe my baby boy is going to be in middle school next year. Where did the time go?

Today's share is my last video for my Pile it up series. I've enjoyed making these videos. It really helped me make a dent in my stash. We all know that four layouts don't make a difference in the big scheme of things BUT I love the idea of piling up products more than I usually do. I hope you too have enjoyed this series and have taken some ideas away that you can incorporate in your own projects. 

If this is the first time you've heard of my Pile it up Video series, you can catch the previous "episodes" if you hit the Video tutorial tab on the right side of this blog. >>>>>>>>>

Here's another look at the final layout...

Thankful Heart Layout

I would love to hear your ideas on what video topics I should work on next. Leave me a comment here or on the video tutorial in YouTube. 

Till next time,

Grace

Autumn Memories layout

I know that we are still in the middle of August but I can't help it if I start thinking about the fall season with these photos of the kiddos two years ago. 

Autumn Memories

This layout was inspired by the sketch challenge over at Life.Paper.Scrapbook site. I loved the clean design but there's room to add embellishments and make it my own. I used a combination of older products with new finds. I feel so great when I can mix my supplies up that way. Here are a few more detailed shots...

To check out the sketch, please click here.

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

Pirate's Cove Summer 2013 Visit

So last year we discovered a fun water park in Colorado. It's not as big as the famous "Water World" and it's not that pricey either. It was just the right size for us. At the end of May this year, I got an email from Pirate's Cove letting me know of their admission deals. I couldn't pass it up so we purchased one. I was so excited about the deal that I shared the link to one of our good friends and she purchased a pass for her family as well. 

Our Summer turned out to be quite busy so we had a hard time finding the right Saturday that would work for both our families so we can go together. Good thing we had August 10th open for both of us and so we penciled it in. I was worried that mother nature won't let us enjoy this day but thankfully she cooperated and we had a sunny day to enjoy our time at the water park. Because water and camera don't mesh well, I had very little time to capture the day, but here is a glimpse of our fun filled trip to Pirate's Cove...

We got their quite early (it was my fault for not checking the time better) but it was a good thing as we were one of the first ones to walk in the park and we secured a good spot, under the shade, for our stuff. While in the line to wait, we got everyone lathered up with sunscreen so the kids could just "dive" in the water as soon as we got in. It was a great move because the wait made the kids even more anxious to start playing in the water. 

 We feel so blessed to have found a family that have the same age kids as ours. Nobody was bored and each had a "buddy" to hang out with. :)

Mitch is always so kind to offer to photograph me. It's not anything "fancy" but the fact that I can be included in our photo memories makes me happy. Oh and that big bucket behind me dumps water every so often. The kids loved that part. 

Here are our dear friends.... The S family

And a pic of our family....as I looked at this picture, the first thing that popped into my head is how fast my children are growing. Marcus is almost as tall as me and he's still in Elementary!

and the kiddos after a day of swimming and fun.

We only go here once a year but it's always a blast. Pirate's Cove...see you next year!

Till next time,
Grace

No Ordinary Girl layout

Have I told you how I love sketches? Yes, they are my favorite way of getting out of a creative "funk" or even when I'm just looking into stepping out of my comfort zone. 

A few night ago, I was browsing my favorite sites and came upon the latest sketch challenge for Paper Bakery Kits. I loved the design of the sketch and I knew right away, that I will use these photos of Maddie from two years ago. 

No Ordinary Girl

I used some of my new pink papers for this project and added some inking stamps from the Guitar set of Inspired By Stamping. I also added a phrase stamp from this set, also from Inspired By Stamping. I handcut the butterflies from paper and added brads in the centers for a finished look. Here's a few more close ups of the layout...

If you would like to "play" along with PBK's sketch challenge, please click here.

Thank you for stopping by.

Till next time,
Grace