Totally Radical

Here's a digital quick page by Lori Barnhurst called "Surfer Dude".  I had this for a few years and have re-discovered it in my files when I was backing them up.

This is a layout for my niece, Ysabella (the one on the left).  She's with her BFF here.

I added the green paper flower, the seahorse skeleton, and the seashells (which I downloaded from the internet); the swirl pearls are fromLaura Burger, the Cherish charm from A.Clegg which was a part of her Gazebo kit.  I tell yah.... these are really old files, some of which I got as freebies.  Thank you for the freebies, Ladies!!!

Forever My Baby

This picture was taken a few days after we took Christina home. I just loved holding and kissing her; watching her sleep and make little baby noises. When she's awake, I loved how she stared back at me,  She seemed to be memorizing my face. 

I heard somewhere a long time ago that babies are God's messengers... that they were sent to us with a message that God loves us; rhat when they look at us, they are trying to tell us what the message is; that they cry because they get frustrated they can't voice it out and that we do not understand them; that it is unfortunate by the time they can talk, they have forgotten what the message is.

But all was not lost.  I felt the love Christina gave back when she looked into my eyes. I thank God for her and for the love.

Supplies used: Butterfly - cutout from K&Co; fonts: Palace Script MT; Pristina; all other items from: Scrapbookflair - Ava & Lilly's Mom: Expecting kit; torn notebook [Craftfairy1]; scraplifted from KellyGoree [thanks for the inspiration!]

Deep In Thought

I caught Christina staring into space with hands on her chin; something adults would do if they were looking out the window as they lean on the window sill. It looks like she was so deep in thought. I stared at her for a little while before I decided to take this picture. For a moment, just like her, I was also deep in thought.  I wondered what on earth babies think about. How they know when to smile, when to cry, and how they get startled. They are such a bunch of little wonders that make us wonder!

Supplies used:  graph paper & yellow border [Cays Creations It's Easter Kit]; Love wordart [Digital Scrapbook Memories In the Mood]; all other items from Digital Scrapbook Memories Collection 2 cd; fonts: Chiller and Birch Standard

Beautiful Autumn

It's Autumn! DH's favorite time of the year - because it is so colorful.  I like it too because it looks like it's the time that everything comes out to life, every creature showing their beautiful plumes!  The only thing about Autumn that makes me sad is what comes after.... cold, cold, WINTER!!!

But in the mean time, I have to enjoy every moment of Autumn, which is cool, windy, sometimes, cold.  I've made 2 layouts using Cay's Beautiful Autumn kit.  Just look at the rich, warm colors!

DD and her cousin Stephanie [the birthday celebrant] were both born in Autumn. For years, they've been celebrating their birthdays dressed in Halloween costumes, and of course you can just imagine the eerily cute layouts I've been making. But for the past 4 years, no costume parties...just typical teen parties.


What's special about this picture is that it seems each cousin caught up within the hands of Time.  Where one was still a baby and the other still toddling around, 3 were already playing with make-believe make-up and such.  Look at them now! They seem to be all of the same age!  Why are they in such a hurry to grow up?

Those freezing Autumn nights didn't deter these adoring fans to watch a home game.  With Cay's Beautiful Autumn kit layouts can be made with pictures taken indoors and outdoors.

TFL!!

Alexandra's Garden

Cay's Alexandra's Garden Kit is fun to play with! I did a lot of layering in this layout! It's good that I found the perfect background picture for it.  The picture was taken from the Chicago Botanic Garden last Spring, and DD's picture was taken at the food court in Starved Rock, IL.  It was perfect that she was seated on a bench and I replaced it with one of the bench elements that came with the kit! 

Below is a preview of Alexandra's Garden.  Just look at it! I haven't even used all of the elements for my layouts.  There are just so many beautiful flowers it took me a long time to choose which ones to use!

Thank you Cay, for a wonderful design! and TFL.

Secrets

I'm back from whatever it was I was busy with these days. I found out that I do enjoy digital scrapbooking so much and that I missed creating! I missed my computer!

Here's anotherLO I made using Cay's Beachin' Fun Kit. Just to prove that the kit isn't solely for beach layouts. I've re-sized and re-colored a few items to match the most of the colors I used. The border is from one of the templates I made using shapes from Photoshop. I also used paper tearing and I hope it really does look like torn paper. I have yet to master this technique!

Also, I can't take credit for the design...I scraplifted this from Yukari.

 Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday, Lee

...and many, many more...

Supplies used: Cay's Ice Diamond; recolored background paper and crown; positioned diamonds on butterfly's body; yellow flowers by CraftFairy.

If All of the Raindrops...

Alright, I'm guilty... guilty of using the diamond elements (from Cay's Designs Ice Diamond kit) again. They just reminded me of rain.

I wanted to make an LO where DD is enjoying a shower of diamonds so I started searching for the perfect picture and I found this!


She wasn't holding an umbrella in this picture but I managed to scrounge around for a picture of an umbrella. I think the umbrella gave the complete story that it's raining diamonds and flowers.


Then I remembered a happy little tune she learned in pre-school, which she taught me. I changed the words a little bit and made that my journaling.


The song is by Aimee Leigh


If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops
Oh, what a rain that would be
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide
Singing " Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops
Oh, what a rain that would be

If all of the sunbeams were jellybeans and ice creams
Oh, what a sun that would be
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide
Singing "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
If all of the sunbeams were jellybeans and ice creams
Oh what a sun that would be

If all of the snowflakes were chocolate bars and milkshakes
Oh what a snow that would be
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide
Singing "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
If all of the snowflakes were chocolate bars and milkshakes
Oh what a snow that would be

If all the mosquitoes were nacho cheese Doritos
Oh what a bug that would be
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide
Singing "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
If all the mosquitoes were nacho cheese Doritos
Oh, what a bug that would be

If all the tornadoes were French fried potatoes
Oh what a wind that would be
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide
Singing "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
If all the tornadoes were French fried potatoes
Oh what a wind that would be
Ah, ah, ah, what a world this would be.

And you can listen to the tune here... I tell you, it's a very catchy song...

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/song/showsong.asp?docid=626



TFL.

Best Friends, Like Diamonds, Are Forever

Best friends since the 7th grade, they hug and squeal every time they see each other, like it's been a thousand years since they last did...when in fact it was just a few hours ago!

Distance did not make their hearts forget. Every opportunity they got (holidays, school breaks, etc.), they have to meet, go to the movies, have a party, sleep over at someone's house and catch up with what ever BFFs talk about. Truth be told, whenever they meet here at home, I don't hear any conversations, just bursts of laughter...like laughter is their own language, and they have mastered it so.

Each is a unique diamond, giving another meaning to they saying "diamond is a girl's best friend". Theirs is a friendship unbreakable and sparkling. Theirs is a bond more precious than anything on this earth.... and may it remain that way.

The kit I used is called Ice Diamond and it's from Cay's Designs. It is so sparklingly delicious! It makes even the simplest layout look elegant and complicated! Of course, I love bling so, from out of the many elements that came with this kit [I think there were more than 70 of them!] I opted to use the diamonds over and over again!

TFL!

Another Spring LO

Another Spring LO. I have to take advantage making and posting them while it's still Spring. In another 4 weeks it will be Summer. Don't the days go by too fast for you? It seems to me that the do.

There's really nothing new about the digital elements I used here. I just love colorful flowers and I tend to use them over and over again. That's just the beauty of digital supplies - you never run out of them!

This was taken in the backyard of our first home. It was our first Spring. DH and I looked around the yard figuring out what kind of plants and critters lived around us. A pear tree, a yellow apple tree, a red apple tree, a green apple tree, a 2 big maple trees, lots.... I mean 7 cypress trees, 3 really big pine trees, a crab apple tree with pretty flowers, plenty of orange spotted lilies, lilies of the valley [very sweet smelling], green plants with white star-shaped flowers - also fragrant, though the leaves smelled like onions when you break them off; lots of rose bushes... and other shrubs we can't identify. According to one of the friendly neighbors, the previous owner planted everything everywhere!


Supplies used: MyMind'sEye background paper; SF Ava & Lilly's Mommy: Spring is in the Air kit; Fonts: Arial & Alba Matter

TFL!

You Are So Loved

I'm still playing with the digital kits Marj gave me. There are 3 CDs with hundreds of supplies to choose from! I can't wait to use them all! I've been making lots of pages with no pictures yet. I usually pick out my picture/s then the supplies. But this time, it's the other way around. I find I scrap faster this way. What slows me down is choosing supplies for my picture and I just can't make up my mind which ones. It seems that, like traditional scrapbooking, I should bring out a few supplies to use and stick to them!

This is DD...again...! It seems like she has been my favorite subject lately. Being a teen and having her own digicam, she produces so many pictures of herself and her friends. It is sometimes so difficult to choose which ones to put on layouts.

For this LO I used supplies from Digital Scrapbooking Memories' In the Mood CD: Funky & Fun kits; Calm alpha from Collection 2; Font: Minstral.

Girl icon template from CS3, modified by CraftFairy; Yes, I've been playing around making my own templates. I'm trying to give my digital layouts a kind of a traditional look. I need more embellishments to do this. I know I've got great ones from digi supplies I've purchased and gotten as freebies somewhere in my vast collection. So vast I can't find what I need right away! Oh, yes, I admit, just like traditional supplies I also hoard digital supplies..shame, shame... but I don't have any other hoarding habits anymore. You should have been present when my family started complaining that our house started to look like a department store! They confined me to one room and one room only, but I am now slowly creeping out into the loft. Complaints start pouring in about my kalat when they expect guests and I couldn't clean my mess as fast as I spread them out!

TFL!

Supermom Layouts

The digi supplies used here are from Cay's SuperMom Kit. I first made an LO for my sister, Lee, for Mother's Day. She is one of the supermoms I know. Just reading her blog and viewing her pictures make me stare in awe! All the activities her kids do, places they have to go, her stories about being with her husband on business trips...! Then she comes up with beautiful traditional layouts that take more time to make than digital layouts! Where does she find the time to do all that? Has she found a way to "keep time in a bottle"? I need some of that time!

With her LO I erased parts of the blue paper that came with the kit to give it a torn/tattered look. To say the least, I was satisfied with what I did. The design of the paper made it easy. I folded a corner using another piece of paper in the kit. Sadly, I forgot how to do a fold that looks real - you know, one with the shadows and dimensions. I have to bring out my photoshop tutorial book sometime to review techniques I haven't done in a long time.

A few days after, I decided to make an LO of Super Mommy. She is really a supermom. She took care of 8 kids of her own, took care of my siblings' kids also, and I'm sure the grandchildren are being looked after as well.

This picture was taken when she and Dad spent a few years with us in the U.S. Looking at this picture tears me up. It was taken a few days before they left for the Philippines and I have not hugged her since. It also reminds me of what she said.

She was on the sofa crocheting baby blankies [it's her therapy because she had a stroke sometime ago and lost full use of her right arm]. I told her how my kids are growing old and pretty soon we'll be empty nesters; and I blurted out wondering if any of the two kids will take me in and take care of me when I am really, really old. She stopped crocheting, looked me in the eye and said, "if only I would still be alive when you grow old, I will take care of you." I will be hearing echoes of those words for the rest of my life! I love you, Mommy! I miss you!!!



And who says that this kit is just for super mumsies?! Here's a playful one I made for my Babycakes. This is DD when she was 6 years old. I still call her Babycakes. In fact, when I call her on the phone [or when she calls me], as soon as I hear her voice, I have to sing Babycakes [to the tune of Baby Face]. She patiently waits until I'm done. Patiently, I say because I am soooo out of tune!

I discovered some blings in Cay's kit. Yeah... discovered. The kit is huge I can't get to see everything in detail right away! I re-sized and re-colored the bling to fit my purpose. And have you noticed the ribbon I used? that's the very same heart ribbon that came with the kit, except that I replaced the hearts with blings [I hope Cay doesn't mind. I just love to play around with digital supplies!].

Now, I have to post Cay's blinkie so you can find your way to her blog. It goes right here!
where is it? It doesn't seem to work. I will have to try again this PM. Hubby needs help killing the weeds! TFL!

You Keep My Heart Beating

This picture was taken long ago. Just like the first First of May when I carried your heart in my heart. On this our anniversary, let me say it again, "I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad,in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Supplies: Kit: Digital Scrapbook Memories Collection 2: Heartbeat Kit and Digital Scrapbook Memories In the Mood: Love kit

Into Her Secret Playground

Meet Hannah... my niece Erika's first born. Isn't she cute? and the collection in this kit from Digital Scrapbook Memories, In the Mood: Playful kit is full of fun things to do. I love colorful supplies such as these. I love to use flowers. There should be more of these of different varieties included in every digital kit out there. These give life to every layout, don't you agree?

Just playing. hmmm... how many traditional LOs have I done so far? Digital LOs are far easier to do, I think. No mess to put away either.

I've been back to digital scrapbooking lately. It's fast and easy. Yes, I can make fast and easy traditional layouts but nothing fast and easy and handy is comparable to digital scrapbooking.

Marj gave me 3 CDs of Digital Scrapbook Memories 2 birthdays ago. I haven't used any of them and I even haven't opened the other two. So the last few evenings I've been completing one or two digi layouts. TFL!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I saw a message from my niece Erika asking that I make scrapbook pages for her [again]. Said message was somehow lost in a big pile of unread messages. Hadn't I played catch up with reading my emails, deleting unimportant ones and filing the rest in folders, I wouldn't have seen that request.

I found this picture in her Friendster site. I had a perfect kit to use for it. Something about Mom and Me. However, just when I needed it, I couldn't find it!!!

I am happier with this kit I found in Scrapbook Flair. I've been a fan of Scrapbook Flair and it has been a long time since I visited them. The cleaning up of emails reminded me. This kit is called Whimsical Garden by Gigi. [Thanks much for sharing, Gigi!!!]

I thought I'd do an extraction this time to get rid of the "noisy" background. In place of a bee flying around, I used a butterfly which is also included in the kit. The font used for the title is called Pussycat. It came with my CS3ext. I cut the pink border in half and inserted the title in between. So Erika, my dear... how does your garden grow? I see that Hannah is growing beautifully every day!

Once Upon A Time...

...not too long ago, there was a shy, quiet Princess who didn’t know what the future will bring.

She was known as Princess-Dream-A-Lot. She always day-dreamed all the wonderful things she could imagine, thinking, "why not"? If the dreams don’t come true, then at least in her imagination they did!

Soon enough Princess-Dream-A-Lot married Prince Forget-Me-Not. They lived in a castle in a kingdom far away. In due time the giggles and laughters of a young prince and princess filled their hearts with joy.

Princess-Dream-A-Lot saw all these in her dreams. She now knows that reality is far better than dreams.

The end...!



Well, not quite the end. Princess Dream-A-Lot still dreams a lot and is now also known as Princess Nag-A-Lot by the kids, Princess Scrap-A-Lot by her friends, and Princess Chat-A-Lot by her husband.



Parts of this layout is a sneak peek of what Cay has for us for May.


Supplies used: Cays Creations's Spring Blossoms : blue background with dainty embossing, the flower swirl stickers, and the yellow paper I used as a mat.


Ava & Lilly's Mommy [Scrapbook Flair] Spring Is In the Air blue mat and leaves.


CraftFairy: flowers and template used with the yellow paper from Spring Blossoms.


Font used: Vivaldi

..and yes, there is hidden journaling. It is a digital layout but it has hidden journaling.

TFL!

Life Springs Forth

All right...! this is my favorite layout of all layouts this year! I've never done something like this before where the embellies are larger than the picture...but isn't it just perfect? It seems that the trees, flower, and the bush [yeah, the small tree is a bush] are part of my backyard!

This is from Cay's second It's Easter Kit. Told ya it's full of awesomeness! I enjoyed making this layout so much. I re-sized and re-colored the flowers to have colorful ones, I colored some of the leaves on the bush. With the use of one of the papers in this kit, I made a border using a template I made. I just love it!

Renew

If I loved Cay's first It's Easter kit, I love the second one even more! Everything in this kit is just awesome!

My first LO using this kit is about renewal.


Journaling: There's this side of Easter that some people forget about. It's not just about bunnies and chicks and chocolates and such. It is the forgiveness of sins and renewal of life!

The pictures were taken during Jessica's Easter confirmation. She chose St. Christina as her patron saint and my daughter Christina as her sponsor. Frances Cardinal George, 8th Archbishop of Chicago officiated the Sacrament.

So Grown Up

They are so grown up now.  Especially DD, what with her attire; so very professional-looking. 

These pictures were taken during Jessica's confirmation on March 29, 2009.  Cardinal Francis George officiated the confirmation.  Jessica chose Christina to be her sponsor.

Credits: bg pp - from DCWV luxury pack; circle lace template -CraftFairy1; Fonts: Pristina, Tunga, Ravie; all other embellishments - Scrapbook Flair's Nayan-Dream of Spring Collection; layout scraplifted from Sarah de Guzman

TFL.

Easter Eggs-citement

After painting the eggs, Diego and Sarah went hunting for them. Hunting??! they're all spread out in the front and back yards... for lack of shrubbery at Xavier's new house.

Just like I said... the paper I used for the mat is one of my favorites, so I'm used it again....and oh, what fun to use the round frame for a basket. It was like an Easter egg hunt for me too, gathering the different eggs in this kit and putting them in the basket.

The other kids in this picture are Xavier's sisters and cousins. Xavier and family moved to California. Sarah and Diego went back to the Philippines. All the other kids live in the western suburbs... too far to go celebrate with them the following Easters after these pictures were taken. Ahhh... sweet memories...!

Supplies from Cay Creations