This Little Art of Mine

Father's Day Post

2013-06-16T16:31:00.002-05:00

In honor of Father's Day, here's to my dad, one of the family gardeners! Speaking of gardens, how is yours coming? Other than the Chinese chives which apparently cannot be killed, we haven't eaten anything from ours yet. The season did start a little late but I think it won't be long for the strawberries now. Just as I am typing these words, someone just walked into the house with a bunch of cilantro! I believe he is making me a avocado cherry salad on Father's Day. Yay me!
As seen in Scrapbooking Boys and Men, special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

It is so much fun to create titles using my Cameo. The software definitely makes it easier than what the Cricut stand-alone offers.

In just three days, Cheese and the girls are coming to stay with us for a few days. It's unbelievable since Minnesota is fly-over country. No one has ever visited me, so this is quite an event. On the other hand, what do people do here? Lord knows I wouldn't choose it as my touristic destination so I count my blessings twice that they are coming to see us!!! I do have a few activities planned including several trips to the YMCA. She said that she wanted to relax so relax we will, after a hard workout! Meanwhile, please let the air mattress fit in my scrapbook room, lol.

I have also been pouring over the internet researching everything and anything related to our upcoming Alaskan cruise. It's safe to say that after this trip, most everything will appear inexpensive in contrast! The line is drawn in the snow when it comes to dog sledding on the glacier. At $550 per person for 2 hours, my children are welcome to pay for that excursion when they visit Alaska on their own. I will, however, look into booking something up north of Minnesota for a dog sledding trip this winter, something I had never considered before researching this cruise!

The house is starting to smell good. I'd better go help prepare dinner being it's not my day after all :)

Tasty, the Father Baker

2013-06-09T14:25:00.000-05:00

I have been so delinquent in the blogsphere lately. When I find myself falling asleep and waking up to thoughts of an all consuming project at work, everything else just falls by the wayside.

Father's Day is right around the corner. Along with a couple of layouts published in the Scrapbooking Boys and Men, I have a few projects to show in the next couple of weeks. First is this layout I did for the Creating Keepsakes' blog, taking inspiration from Mandi Buchanan's layout.

The photo was from last fall when my dad decided to taking on baking which ended in many tasty treats and expanded waist for us. He took his skills back to Shanghai and his braided breads became extremely celebrated among all the friends and relatives.

The arrows really drew me in and I can only wish to achieve that kind of realism on a non-digital page! I imitated the look by using my Cameo and creating a negative space of the gray polka dot paper.

Summer officially arrived this week for the kids as they both tearfully said goodbye to another school year. Just the thought of summer bores them to death even though their schedules will be packed with many activities. First Born starts a three-weeks course at Summer Academy next week. Between summer piano lessons and YMCA swim team, she will barely finish reading one book a day. Second Child will go to day camp every afternoon. While her schedule will be less structured than her sister's, there's plenty of opportunity for excitement. To go out on a bang, we are taking them to Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise at the end of this summer, so their complaints of boredom annoys me to no end.

Tonight is the season finale of HBO's Game of Thrones. Last week's red wedding was every bit as awful as I imagined in my head and worse! Obviously nothing is totally resolved since we are still waiting for book 6 and 7 to be written. While I am not looking for a happy ending, but my gosh, let there be something cathartic please!

Piano and Scrapbook

2013-05-19T20:40:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday evening and I can finally relax a little. The weekend was a frantic one, mostly due to my own procrastination. Furiously did I work on my projects this weekend for CK between piano rehearsal, concert, and recital. I skipped both days' workout to make time for these activities. You know it's serious when I sacrifice a workout, let alone two days in a row!!

First Born performed in MMTA's Honors Concert last night. Her group's piece was about two minutes long but I enjoyed the two hours concert listening to various levels of piano performance. The two solo performances from the Senior Competition winner and the College Competition winner were really stunning and thoroughly inspiring. Jay and I also enjoyed looking at all the lovely dresses the female performers wore while they were taking their bows. Our verdict on our own daughter's dress is that it would fit her for at least three more years' worth of concerts if she makes it again, LOL.

On the scrapbooking font, I haven't shared this Color Room layout yet so here it is. More yellow and brown this time! I really adore this gorgeous palette of colors and right up my alley! The good ol' summer days are back in town. So I can look at these photos knowing that we can go pig out on DQ any time we want now, for a little while at least, and by "pig out" I mean a bite or two, lol.

That's it folks. It's Sunday night and when I play the game of thrones, I play to win! Good night! :)

Mother's Day

2013-05-12T11:00:00.002-05:00

It's Mother's Day and it is quite lovely outside. I am waiting for the winds to die down before heading out to have some casual pictures taken with the kids. They baked some delicious Dutch baby pancakes for me and I had to fight them for a fourth pancake. They each had two by that point so I had to share half of mine with them! Here I thought I would get it without saying on Mother's Day!

The long and perpetual winter will definitely delay the season of growth for us. The tulips are almost about to bloom and the vegetables seeds are just in the ground. I imagine we won't be picking strawberries till later in June and who knows when for blueberries. This is the first layout on blueberry picking from last year. I just got my hands on these incredibly beautiful WRMK and American Crafts papers The green is so soothing so I really wanted to focus on that for this layout.

WRMK has the best gromlets! I received some glittered ones and put them to use on this layout. I also got to use my Crop-a-dile to set them. I did have to rip out the first one I set but you can't even see my mistake on this close-up photo, can you?

The "Life documented" is Project Life card from WRMK. Not only perfect for PL stuff, they make wonderful instant embellishment for all projects! The little bee seems to agree with my assessment!

It is time to get ready for lunch and then off to BodyPump I will go. May your day be sunny and bright!

Countdown to National Scrapbooking Day

2013-05-01T18:51:00.002-05:00

To kick off the National Scrapbooking Day this Saturday, May 4, the CK Dream Team, contributing writers and contributing editors are posting to the CK blog all week to share some scraplifting inspirations based on projects featured in the May/June 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes.

Yellow is all the rage in my book right now, so I was immediately drawn to this page by Christa Uttely. I know I wanted to do something with the yellow and shape them like ribbons. Not only is yellow a trendy color, it juxtaposes with the dark rich reds in the raspberries in my photo.

Today is May day and we had some snow flurries, can you believe it? At this rate, harvesting these delicious antioxidants will be a very long time off yet! I suppose I will just dream about them, the crown jewels, the cash crop of our garden, sigh...

They are indeed too good to be true because I simply never imagined in my life, living in the 'burbs, that I would have the opportunity to harvest such amazing fruits! The bounty that is the good earth... now all we need is consistent warm weather. How we all miss the gardens!

Please stop by Creating Keepsakes' blog and view more blog entries from the team and to enter to win many fabulous prizes this week! Good luck!

The Color Room 148

2013-04-25T18:16:00.001-05:00

Continuing from the last post, I am showing a few photos borrowed from others for this post. We visited Persnickety Prints during our CK trip. Laina asked me to do a jump outside of the store, and I enthusiastically obliged. One shot was all she took! Hilarious stuff! I do this jump on a very regular basis in workouts and am more than extremely happy to show it off on the street, LOL.

One final photo by Megan before we all boarded our planes. Is it me or does Gretchen's suitcase look like it can swallow the other three? lol.

Here's looking at us: creative time at Stampin' Up!

I have more photos so I'm going to milk it! There will be a next time :)

Now onto something I have not done in a long time: a Color Room layout! How I have missed doing these so I am back participating with the palettes! Lydell has done an amazing job running and keeping up the Color Room. She is my hero and I really am glad to be able to contribute what little I can. One tiny sad note: I thought the sage green was gray, oh well!

I was immediately reminded of the reasons why I love doing these palettes: it's just pure fun. Find a photo, match some colors, say something if I want to, nothing if I don't. Dig through the stash, use up some products, enjoy myself! I love scrapbooking!

Back from Creating Keepsakes

2013-04-19T17:09:00.002-05:00

This week, I had the pleasure of attending the annual Creating Keepsakes' editorial board meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah. I spent three glorious days evaluating the magazine issues from the past year, discussing trends of today, brainstorming ideas for upcoming issues with fellow Dream Team members and CK's editorial team. It was all work and all fun at the same time. There was plenty of good eats and creative time too. It is so cool to see how things work behind the scenes and to be given the opportunity to understand the business side of the magazine.

Some great changes are being made to Creating Keepsakes, digital editions are available and a substantial expansion of the digital portion of the magazine is coming to subscribers. The magazine is definitely taking steps to adapt to the environment, both economically and also technology-wise. Adaptability is a key to long term business viability so it is a good thing that the management is actively taking these necessary steps.

Here are some photos from the three glorious days: Jennifer, editor-in-chief, at the helm, leading us through three days worth of meeting agenda.

This is a hint as to where we did our creative time!

The whole gang inside the headquarter of Stampin' Up!

We also visited another little spot... WOWsER!

Lastly, here we are with Joannie in the CK office!

The last 48 hours were far from glorious. Due to flight cancellations and bad weather, Jana and I traveled for two days to finally get home, even spending a night in Spokane! I need to get the dust off me to attend a birthday celebration for my father-in-law. Have a wonderful weekend and I shall be back with more photos of this fun trip.

Miao Headdress

2013-04-14T18:23:00.002-05:00

What a week this had been! The weather really played a number on our situation, to go or not to go, that was the question. First Born suggested to her daddy that he should make a pros and cons list regarding his intended business trip to Wisconsin. We had a huge laugh over that suggestion. She was serious though, as the next day, she handed me a pros and cons list on playing violin. LOL!! + oh no!

Here is a layout I did for Creating Keepsakes' blog using Glitz Design's Love You Madly. I am so in love this glorious collection, the soft colors are so delightful.

This is a major milestone for me, using washi tape on a layout for the first time! They are quite fun to use especially when they are so very pretty! I did some misting on this layout too, using this really cool stencil from Crafter's Workshop called Cell Theory.

As for this layout, it is about this lovely headdress my parents got for Second Child, leaving me having to explain the injustice and unfairness of this world to First Born! Oh well!

I am headed to Salt Lake City tomorrow at the crack of dawn to attend meetings at Creating Keepsakes headquarters! Meeting all the editors and fellow dream team members will be a dream come true in of itself! I'd better sign off and keep on packing, I will report back when I return!

Splash Fun

2013-04-07T14:23:00.000-05:00

I am totally excited to dive into these beautiful and bright colors of Sweet Girl by Echo Park. They really perfectly complement the crazy colors of summer fun! The rainbow paper of this collection was particularly fun and I basically cut it up first and designed the rest of page around the cut-outs. The snow has almost melted but it is a long way from this kind of splash fun for us, so I reminisce and anticipate by doing this page!

Here is a close up photo of the 3-d elements on this page. I think I am reverting back to my flatter page days so I have to actually think about adding accents that are dimensional. Also, all the amazing Project Life products out there are like a flat girl's dream come true!

This close-up photo shows the lovely rainbow paper and the sticker title I added to it.

This upcoming week is going to be an interesting one. DH is out of town for a business trip so I have to take over the kids' daily routine! I will have to get them breakfast and prepare their lunches! I don't know how their father does it every day! Just typing it makes me tired! LOL. I have planned a few fun excursions for us, mostly involving the mall and restaurants. Who would have thought that I would one day love to shop for workout clothes?! Gone are the days of frumpy look, that's for work and home! At the gym, I shall look like I own a franchise of Lucy Activeware, LOL!

Today was the launch of BodyPump 85 for me and I thought the bicep track was a killer. Much ado about nothing was made about the Lunges track due to the jumps onto the step. Fortunately, I am very accustomed to doing them for BodyStep so I survived admirably. It's always good to change things up and I think I will be happy to do this release for three weeks.

Here's to a great day for all of us. Night gathers, and now my watch begins. Waiting for Dark Wings Dark Words!

Easter Sunday Catch Up

2013-03-31T11:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter! The sun is trying to peak out from behind the clouds and it is having a hard time! The temperature is not as friendly as it was yesterday but at least the snow continues to melt.

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated the blog and during that time, I have been working on eating more super foods! The kids and I watched a documentary Food Matters while DH was away for a Saturday and I've been a little obsessed since then.

Interestingly enough, several years ago when First Born started to show asthmatic symptoms, DH started to research on what could help and many sources he had discovered pointed to the foods we eat. While we will never know whether what we eat did or did not help her in the end, but he started the family on the path of healthier eating. I remember him introducing quinoa to the family. I was simply intrigued by the fact that it rhymes with Chinois. It must be good!

Fast forward five years and two weeks ago, after watching this documentary, my third in one month, my obsessive personality kicked in and now I'm on a rampage to add superfoods into my diet! One extremely easy addition is chia seeds. I add a few teaspoons of this delightful food into my daily Noosa and I have not been hungry before my lunch work out every since! Second Child loves it with me! Hurray!

The other thing I am learning to eat is chocolate, the real and dark kind! After all, how many people have you met that do not like chocolate? I am one of these people and now I know why I didn't like chocolate! Most of the chocolates as we know them have so little cacao content that one is basically eating sugar. This woman is all about savory treats so sugar does nothing for me.

"Unbeknownst" to us, DH has been buying 72% cacao chocolates since 2009 and that stuff I don't mind. I have moved onto even darker chocolates and eating it to stave off any temptation at work when treats abound. Here are a couple that I really like: Alter Eco Dark Blackout 85% and Endangered species dark chocolate 88%. I can honestly tell you that three years ago I thought the 88% cacao content chocolate was inedible, but now I eat it because it is a super food! That and I sound more normal to people when I say "Oh yes, I eat chocolate too!" One square of the Endangered species dark chocolate was consumed in writing this post. I feel antioxidated! LOL.

On the scrapbooking front, I will share this layout that's published in the most recent CK magazine. My picture here was taken before everything was glued down. Technically, it is as seen in the magazine only this version is a little more crooked. Like I said earlier, the sun is trying to come out and spring is coming soon (we've been saying that for weeks). We (DH) are anxious to get planting started! There's no food so super than the ones grown in our own garden!

As seen in March/April 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Lastly, tonight is the long awaited premier of Season 3. I can't wait to see how book three part first half is interpreted by the production! Epic!

Happy Layout

2013-03-18T20:24:00.002-05:00

I made a layout about her first friends' birthday party and it's a 2-pager! I misted this huge background and I did machine stitching! These are techniques I have not tried in a long while so I'm extra proud of myself! A layout like this makes me wish for Project Life. I really need to try it!

Here I used an 8x8 paper pad from Glitz Design's Color Me Happy line. I tried to mimic the colors of this fun line by misting the background "Celtic Circle" on the Glitz paper. What fun it is to mist and what a mess it creates! I should try inking with a cat's eye for the next project to reduce the mess! It suffices to say that my scrapbook room is a disaster and I am not being a good role model to my children by leaving it like that!

Here is a close-up photo of the adorable Elle's Studio tag and I stamped the "twenty-thirteen" from a Technique Tuesday stamp set. Wowser, I am happy with how this layout turned out. These types of photos usually sit in my stash forever but I did them!! Rejoice!

Lastly, since winter does not seem to want to leave Minnesota, let it come! :) Two more weeks!!! Color me excited!!!

Soup and Stencil

2013-03-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

As new products roll in, I am so very anxious to try them all. There is not enough time to do everything I want to do or as quickly as I want to have them done. The kids are on spring break right now. Even though I am home for the day, my eyes are constantly being drawn to the clock thinking about the upcoming meal that I must prepare for them! Why must work of every sort interfere with creative time?!

I just finished this layout and braved the 20 degree weather outside to have the picture taken in relative daylight for a change! I combined a couple of brand new collections by Jillibean Soup: Irish Farm House Soup and Peeled Cucumber Soup. The only thing better than these two soups would be for Jillibean to come and make them for our lunches! I don't know how to describe it but the current trend of colors on the market tend toward a bit of hazy bright or muted bright? If only I understand art and/or color more, perhaps I would be more accurate in my description. No matter, these colors, me liketh.

I also used a brand new stencil from the Crafters Workshop called Subway art. It has been a while since I did any misting on my page so I was a bit scared. The page sat under a pile of heavy stuff after I did the misting to reduce the potential warping of my paper. This is another resolution I must make: to use my stencils and mist collections, to experiment more even if things don't turn out in the end.

First Born really loves winter but lately she's been lamenting the snow is preventing her from doing kick ball and riding her bike. The subconscious prompted me to dig out these photos and perhaps it will also influence the weather gods. lol. The close-up is a die-cut bicycle from Jillibean. I layered it over a couple of stickers. Now that I look at it, I forgot to add some die-cut arrows, lol. Haste haste haste...

Now it is time to think about what to make for lunch...

Face Paint

2013-03-06T20:10:00.005-06:00

Last week I received one of Bo Bunny's latest lines Mama-razzi 2. I still remember going absolutely bonkers over Mama-razzi. In fact I can still find a couple of sheets of them in my stash! No time is better than the present so I dug in and made this layout. Midway through the project, another package arrived with some of the most adorable tags on earth from Chic Tags. I decided to incorporate the two companies together onto this layout.

The pictures were from last fall when the girls and I got our face painted at a customer appreciation event. The girls have had their fair share of face paintings in their lives, but this was by far the most sophisticated and glamorous one. She picked out this particular design and I thought it looked absolutely fantastic.

Here is a major shout-out to Chic Tags. I am loving discovering this new-to-me company. Do take a look at its catalog, so chock full of absolutely darling tags of all shapes, sizes and colors! I am most delighted to have received the entire Road Trip collection. It's beyond cute and perfect for several projects I have had in mind for about a few years now, LOL. Here's to hoping I will finally get down to business and scrap those trips!!!

Here is a close up of a circle tag with Bo Bunny die-cuts from Mama-razzi 2.

Here is the most perfect camera tag to go with a layered Bo Bunny sticker! Seriously fun stuff!

Last and not least, I am completely in love with this beige colored cardstock from Close to My Heart. I think the color neutrality would work great for die-cuts of people's faces or other body parts, think Paper Doll. I need to get me more of it.

We got about eight inches of snow yesterday. One could say that March came in like a lion alright! The snow banks are at the highest point of this particular winter but they won't stay high too much longer! I look forward to Daylight Savings Time this weekend. It would be hard to lose an hour but it just might mean I will scrapbook during weekdays again with more sunlight!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Many Cards are Close to My Heart

2013-03-02T08:53:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, I received some delightful products from Close to My Heart. Among the pile of goodies were the two Cricut collections by CTMH that I have been drooling over since they came out. The Philosophy collection has long been praised on 2peas as extremely versatile with tons of useful staple shapes. The Artiste collection is the more recent one and a wonderful encore of Philosophy. Most intriguingly for me was the fact that there were many stamp sets in CTMH that are of the matching shaping of the cuts on the cartridges!

I dug in last weekend and made a batch of cards. I even stamped in colors, imagine that! Stamping on die-cuts with coordinating stamps was all the fun I thought it would be. Also, with a little playing around, it's easy to find shapes that can accommodate pretty much all the stamps I received, as evidenced by the first card's die-cut shape and stamped sentiment.

I used a bit 3-d foam adhesive to prop the tails of my cut banners to help them stand out a little more.

I used the Chantilly collection for all these cards. It's such a pretty collection, perfect for the upcoming spring season, even if it is still completely covered in snow outside yet :) Here is an Easter card with several cuts from both Cricut collections including the rolled flowers.

Here's the second card with the label die-cut and stamped. I really love that look.

I used the negative space of the die-cut to assemble this particular card. With so many shapes to choose from, you can easily find a few that would stack well atop of each other.

Hopefully you can see the 3-dimensional effect in this photo.

One last card using a fancy frame and a sentiment die-cuts. Gosh, what fun it was to make these cards and I need to explore more with these cartridges! I can't wait to dive back in this weekend. Meanwhile, it is time to head to Cardio Kickboxing for another kind of thorough enjoyment! Have a good Saturday!

Independence National Historical Park

2013-02-22T10:36:00.002-06:00

This is a 2-pager I did last month for a sketch call by Creating Keepsakes. Even though the layout was not picked up, I really really love how it turned out. I feel that the sketch was phenomenally well designed, lending itself easily into an easy and good-looking layout.

There is a spot in the sketch that called for a 4x10 photo. I have a tip to share on what I did with that photo requirement.

Take a regular photo and sized it in Picasa (any photo editing tool would do) to be 4x10, call the photo A.
Size A into two photos:

Take the left most part of A and sized it to be 4x6, saved it.
Reverted A back to its original 4x10 size.
Take the right most part of A and sized it to be 4x6.
The two 4x6 photos have some overlap. Have the two 4x6 photos printed and cut them to form the bottom 4x10 photo that you see in this layout.

I realize most people have printers at home and print at will the size they want. However, there's gotta be at least one other person in this world like me who still has all her photos printed in a store online or somewhere? :)

I am proud to say that I had the kids dressed in red and blue for the express purpose of visiting the patriotic parts of Philadelphia! Why complicate my scrapbooking life when they can fit immediately into paper collections meant for the U.S. of A? :) They can wear purple when we go see a Barney show :)

I have been saving this particular collection, American Made, by MME for a couple of years. Talk about a classic collection that will never go out of style! I like it!

Winter is still raging on outside! I dream of summer and vacationing...

Recent Happenings

2013-02-18T12:19:00.000-06:00

It's the middle of February and this winter has long outlived its welcome. However, the days are getting noticeably longer and it's not pitch black when I leave in the morning any more.

This week, we take time to celebrate this special little lady. Her father and I did reflect a little on this significant milestone: half-way point till she is out of our house! LOL. I wonder if we will follow her or will she be a homebody and stay near us? Due to my own life's circumstances, I wonder about this more than I wonder about some other stuff. One day at a time, without trepidation, I tell myself. Changing diapers, potty training were hard stuff, but the teenager years are on the horizon. She is aware enough to let us know the other day that rough waters are ahead. And since she is a girl, she just might shout "I hate you" to us as a rite of passage!! Well, I can't wait! LOL.

Remember my dreadful skiing experience last week end? I had to resort to scrapbooking to cheer myself up as I put it in a blog post I did for Creating Keepsakes. Yes, sledding is a much happier experience, one which I would gladly do again soon! I am noticing that I really like mixing wild colors and papers together. I do like the result but my goodness there are some crazy colors going on here!

I used a Laina Lamb's Die-namics Story Starters for the strip die-cut. The title is an assembly from the Silhouette store.

I hope to be back soon. I received some amazing goodies from Close to My Heart that I am absolutely dying to try! Maybe by next post I will have a few things to share! Fingers crossed!

Sledding, Skiing, Snowing, and Snake

2013-02-10T16:39:00.000-06:00

In the thick of winter, we are waiting for our own snowmagedon of the month. Not expecting three feet of snow like the East Coast but it is clipping away heavily right now!

There can be moments of levity and enjoyment in the dead of winter and I have found my limit in terms of winter fun yesterday. I went skiing for the first and last time in my life. If it seems drastic to say "last time," let me amend my statement by saying that should I be given the choice of passing another kidney stone or go skiing, I would gladly go skiing again. The worst part was that I had to miss my favorite group exercise class for it. Every skier who passed by reminded me how I too could have been having fun and burning calories! In the end, (by "end" I mean, 1/3 way through the course) I had to take them off and drag them all the way back. The humiliation was both utter and complete!

Let me remind myself of good times in the snow and cold. I think after today's snow, a sledding event could be in our future soon. These photos were from last year and I did this page in July using the then just released WRMK's "Down the Boardwalk" collection, summer papers for a winter page! This was my first project as a CK Dream Team member. We were asked to do a page of using the "scrapalete" theme. I thought "spinning" would be a good idea even though I've never done it in my life. If I were to guess, I probably wouldn't pronounce against spinning as harshly as I have against skiing!

As seen in Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

Here are a couple of close-up photos of this layout. The spinner is a cut from the Silhouette store. Wow, there are just so many great ways to make your own fun embellishment with a cutting tool! I really love it!

The horizontal photo show some of the subtle rubons I used on the layout. I should mention that I didn't mist this page at all, but the droplets you see are printed on the patterned papers! I encircled the journaling with another cut from the Silhouette store, only I can't find it for the moment.

Today is also Chinese New Year! Happy prosperous new year of the Snake!!! 灵蛇出洞吐春意；喜鹊登梅报福音!

Cheesesteak

2013-02-06T18:12:00.000-06:00

I have an enormous pile of unattractive photos, do you? There was a time that I scrapped them with unwavering determination, pressing on to complete albums. While I still print them, they just sit there for years on end! It would be nice to do more 2-pager and get stuff "done." I realize this is a hobby without a deadline, a creative outlet that needs no catching-up. However, I have operated under that mode for several years now and I wouldn't mind to reduce my photo stash and being more "caught up" in my own definition.

Here's one layout of the four of us shamelessly devouring Philly cheesesteak sandwiches in public at the historic Pat's King of Steaks in Philadelphia. It was definitely an experience to be had! I am glad to have had friends to take us there because there was no way we would have found a parking space anywhere close to the establishment, lol. Honestly, I do not remember the food all that well, but I can say that I've eaten there, the place of origin of Philly cheesesteaks! The other thing I remember was sitting across from Michael's uncle, talking about how the rest of the U.S. just don't do cheesesteaks right. It was an experience and destination dining at that!

Now that I have shocked the world and myself with a mid-week post, it's time to say good night and ask myself this question: Have I hugged a kindergartner today? :)

Making Invitations

2013-02-02T12:58:00.000-06:00

For the first time ever, First Born is getting to have a birthday party! I don't recall what brought it about but I think she asked for a party and we did not recoil from the thought. I feverishly worked on making invitations so she could bring them to school last Friday, only to find out that it was yet another day off for the kids!

No doubt, you could suggest that I simply use store bought invitations, but my gosh, with a room full of stuff, how could I resort to something else? At a minimum, I had to make a simple card (many times) if just to say that this hobby has some use outside of being creative and having fun!

Yep, I used Birthday Bash, my most beloved and most frequently used cartridge in my collection. I would like to share a tip with you. Instead of cutting the beige cheek + ears and the black eyes + nose, I drew them using markers. It is very difficult to get a really good cut of these small pieces, so I color them in to make life simpler. This issue is not exclusive to the Cricut machine, cutting a dot is challenging with Cameo as well.

Now it's time to relax after a very exhausting (as usual) cardio kick this morning. Tomorrow will be spent at the pool waiting and waiting for First Born to swim her races. I just might miss most of the Superbowl activities tomorrow! I still need to figure out who I would like to see win.

Oh the Humanity!

2013-01-27T14:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I hit Archiver's with the full intention of blowing all the money I would have spent had I gone to CHA this month. I should have known that things don't ship that soon after the show as I found not a lot new stuff yet. Thankfully, there were several new lines from My Mind's Eye! I had just come from an hour of cardio kickboxing so my legs were too tired for more squatting, so I sat on the floor to drool over the new stuff. Another shopper remarked "Nice stash there! I'll have to take a look when you are done." Oops, I guess I made myself a tad too comfortable, all stretched out with piles of goodies next to me :)

KI has a new collection called flashback and Archiver's must have ordered just a few sheets from this line. I really liked it and came home with some papers and used them in this layout. It's so nice to see an old favorite company coming back with new stuff. I hope this is a sign that KI is back in the game! I'll be ready with wallet in hand :)

This layout documents a recent anecdote: First Born declaring for Jesus and her need to work on her "humanity" when she really meant humility :) Now that I think about, I will add some quotes around the title.

I think my favorite ready-made embellishments will always be chipboard elements. Here is an adorable bicycle from Crate Paper's Fourteen collection.

The "True Story" is cut using a Laina Lamb die from My Favorite Things' Die-namics called "Accent It - Story Starters." I trimmed it into arrow shape to match the others on the page.

It started to sleet and snow when I was leaving the YMCA this afternoon so I decided not to go to the Chinese market. I'm a scaredy-cat when it comes to winter driving. Now I have to go figure out what to make for meals since I don't have the ingredients! Oh the humility!!! :)

A Recap of the Last Two Weeks

2013-01-20T18:21:00.001-06:00

Two busy weeks have passed and so much has happened, like CHA! Not only did I not have time to attend the trade show, I did not even manage to see a lot of sneaks this time around! Therefore my plan is to happen upon Archiver's in the next two weeks and come home with a lot of new stuff!

Work has kept me very busy in the recent months and the last two weeks were no exception. I manage stress by going to the YMCA, so I've been extra diligent recently :) This weekend saw yet another swim meet and this time I was there almost the entire meet which took nearly six hours. My mother-in-law saw a t-shirt with a sign: "If this is the last day of your life, spend it at a swim meet. They last forever." True Dat.

I finally allowed myself to start watching Downton Abbey last weekend. I knew from one glance of the "cover" that I wouldn't have any self control once I start. Thus I waited till season 2 was completely available online so I watched both seasons in two short days. That sums me up really, obsessive.

Finally, I have been scrapbooking though you can't tell judging from the lack of posts around here :) I have been creating projects for upcoming Creating Keepsakes issues. In six months' time, I will be able to show them.

I did this layout last December, on the day of the Newtown shooting. When I heard the news on the radio, it changed where I was going with it and certainly changed what I was going to write about these photos.

We are bracing ourselves for a cold stretch. Negative numbers for temperature are in the forecast for the next week. It hurts just thinking about it!

Wherever you are, may you keep warm and safe. Know that I am very envious if you live in a warmer climate. Maybe one day... that dream will come true for me :)

Welcome New Year, Thanks for the Cold!

2013-01-06T16:29:00.003-06:00

Obviously, I did not make a new year's resolution to keep this blog updated more regularly! On the last day of my December holiday stay-cation, I came down with a bad cold. The next day at work, everyone around me talked with an echo and I felt sleepy the entire day. Thankfully by now, the cold has moved onto the coughing and blowing nose stage. While I generally feel okay, the people around me look at me with eyes full of fear. Stay away indeed, don't catch my plague!

It is as middle of the winter as it gets. With the holidays in the rear view mirror and the Vikings one and done, the wait for spring will be long and arduous. I dug out some photos from warmer times to scrap right before I was knocked out by the cold.

This is a true story: the kids and I walked 1.6 miles to a Dairy Queen in 80 degree weather back in September. They were relatively enthusiastic on the way there, but the sun came out when we were on route home and the adventure turned sour quickly. Thankfully daddy came and picked us up half a mile away from home, lol. I doubt I could convince them to go on foot ever again, but I will surely try again :)

I used the Love Notes collection by Fancy Pants in this layout. Fancy Pants now make glittered paper and I cut this title out using my Cricut and Create a Critter cartridge. Again, I employed the technique I recently discovered. I flipped the design and the paper I wanted to cut. The result was a winner!

Now it's time to make dinner and get ready for the evening of watching TV. I am really excited that the Biggest Loser is returning tonight. It is one of my favorite shows and completely inspirational! Apparently Jillian returns!

Christmas Layout

2012-12-30T12:44:00.000-06:00

First order of business, Linh C wins a copy of the Creating Keepsakes Fast & Fresh special issue. Please leave me your email address so I can contact you.

The holidays are drawing to a close and soon I will need to return to work! I have enjoyed my stay at home time for the most part. Time goes by so quickly and I hardly have had any chance to scrapbook. This is the only page I have made in the last two weeks. I am not overachieving if you think these photos are from this year! Scrapping Christmas can be such a challenge because the photos tend to be incredibly busy: lots of people against mostly cluttered backgrounds. I would encourage you to mat your photos in white or cream to help them stand out more on the page. Of course, I was way too lazy to take my own advice here, lol.
I am using a stamp set by Laina Lamb Design for My Favorite Things called Journal It - Calendar Basics. It did provide a break in the series of photos. One could easily make a cute little calendar with this set but I chose to highlight just one day of the month and used it as a background for a flourish cut.

Speaking of cuts, I know many of you were good last year and Santa brought you a Cameo or Cricut for Christmas. One thing I have just figured out in the last two weeks is that if you flip the design upside down and then put your paper on the mat desired-design-side down, the cuts come out even cleaner and crisper!

Speaking of Santa, who needs that chubby old guy? lol. I took myself to the mall two days after Christmas and made out like a bandit. I hope I can get back there again sometimes this week yet. The new Gregorian new year is right around the corner. Here is to you and yours, may 2013 bring you love, joy and success!

Christmas Cards with Fancy Pants

2012-12-21T09:41:00.001-06:00

Christmas is right around the corner. The kids are off to school for the last school day of 2012 and I am home for the remainder of the year. I am headed to BodyPump to get this staycation kicked off properly, then a lunch at an India restaurant with my beloved, and then poetry reading at school with the kids. Somewhere in between, I need to visit Archiver's and make more Christmas cards. I was ahead of the game a couple of weeks ago when I made these, but they go out faster than I can make them!

I used almost exclusively Fancy Pants Designs' collections for these Christmas cards. I had a jolly good time making them and the recipients were so gracious and it was all around wonderful! I am incorporating my cutters as much as I can nowadays. I used the Cameo and cuts from the Silhouette online store for these two cards. That reindeer is a Fancy Pants rubon from several years ago.

Then, onto my beloved and trusted Cricut machine. One of the new cartridges I got on Thanksgiving this year was Suburbia. It is now my all-time favorite cartridge! Most images on this cartridge take no more than three cuts before it can be assembled and done! I love it!

I have a little tutorial for you using the Scor-buddy tool. I created it as a part of the Fancy Pants Designs and Scor-pal blog hop. First I cut out the shape using my Cricut and Suburbia cartridge. Then I flip the cut over and draw lines on the skirt to indicate where to score.

Then I score the dress following the pencil lines. When you turn the cut over, you can see the dress is now nicely scored / embossed with such lovely texture.

Then you assemble the cut and add a little trim for additional pizzazz Isn't she good looking? In another version of the card. I added a button to enhance the cut. I cut out a gift from "Holiday Thoughts" from the Home for Christmas collection for both cards. Put the gal in front of the layered background. Add sentiments and voila!

This is how I will wrap up my post today. I wish you and yours a lovely holiday season. Whatever you may be celebrating, may it be blessed, joyful and full of peace and grace!

Creating Keepsakes Fast & Fresh Special Re-Issue Blog Hop

2012-12-18T02:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Creating Keepsakes Fast & Fresh special re-issue blog hop. Back by popular demand, this special issue features hundreds of time and budget saving tips, product highlights, journaling solutions, design shortcuts and more! Yours truly has two mini-albums in this special issue and here is a photo of the cover of one of them.

Here are some links for you so you can get yourself a copy of this wonderful issue:

What's a blog hop without a give-away right? So if you leave a comment on this blog post by midnight CST Christmas Day 2012, you will be entered to win a copy of this special re-issue!

There are many other opportunities to win, you can visit the following blogs to increase your chances:
Laina Lamb
Jana Morton
Gretchen McElveen
Stacy Cohen
Autumn Baldwin
Kim Watson
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful holiday season!