Oh please time slow down.....

even just for a bit so I can get my life back in order.

Yep that's exactly how I'm feeling right now. I'm sure I'm not alone on this, especially during this time of the year, right?! echo....echo....echo..

Anyways, I wanna give you a heads up that I might not be popping in here as much for the next two weeks. I'll try but I'm not promising anything.

Work is getting to be longer and later (last year I was coming home from work at about 1am on the last week before Christmas); I have a wedding reception to pull together on Saturday; I have a board meeting to plan and execute plus prepare two crafts for my church's children group; I'm working to mail off my first batch of Christmas cards; Presents need to be bought and handmade gifts to make (yes, I'm that insane that I'm still thinking of handmade at this point) and cookies to be baked.

So if you pop in here and it's the same old thing for a couple of weeks, I apologize and know that if I have the power to stop time, I would do it in a heartbeat.

But before I go away and dive into the many projects that I need to do here's a few things I wanna link you up to....


the December Crazy Daisy kit is up and ready to be shipped. I got mine in the mail last week and I have to tell you, it's cheering me up just looking at all the fun Christmas themed products in it. Not too mention the wonderful minibook that came in the main kit. I can't wait to play with this kit. If you want one, check it out here.


One of the projects that I showed a sneek peek of in the last post have been posted in the GCD Studios blog. Here's the link to see what my process was in making this craft. This is definitely one of my most favorite projects. It's easy, fun and inexpensive.


Upsy Daisy designs is having some great deals like this one on the site. Check it out. I am fortunate to have these lines and I love, love, love them. Truly brings the spirit of the Holidays in every projects that I make.

So that's it. Now off to check off some stuff on my list....

Merry Christmas everyone and till next time,
Grace

random friday

Hi all.

How's everyone doing today? relieved that it's friday? stressed that it's the 4th day of December? happy to see all the Christmas lights displayed at night? shopping like crazy and trying to get everyone's wishlist checked off without breaking the bank? Keeping warm with a blanket and some hot chocolate?

Well if you ask me, I'm all of that and then some.

Gosh, this month is really a big STRESS for me but I have plan.....I will take it one day at a time and breath with every issue I have to tackle. How's that for positive thinking. *smile*

Anyways here's a few things I wanted to share today....

With the weather looking more and more like Winter lately, I had to go to my local Bath and Body Works store and get my "winter hand lotion". I got this as a gift from my visiting teacher a few years back and ever since I've been hooked. This is the only product (that I know and have tested) that really keeps my hands soft and uncracked despite the bitter cold weather. It's a little pricey for hand lotion but if I figure in that I will use it for an entire season (3 months) I can justify the purchase. *smile*

I got a coupon from that store that if I purchase a certain amount, I get a free product of my choice and while browsing through the many things I wanted to get, I was struck with inspiration when I smelled this....

this is my new fave scent and I love the gentleness of the flower smell on it. Try it, it's great!

Like I said before, I'm dreading this day....

I bought some stuff for the kids that Santa will be bringing to them on Christmas Eve (*wink*) but they have changed their minds about 4 times since I bought the items. Hence I will be bringing said items back to the toy store and will be waiting till the last week before Christmas so I don't have to make anymore unnecessary purchases.

Oh and if you're looking for some great Christmas projects. Hop on over the GCD studios blog. All this month we are having 25 projects for Christmas. 25 days of fun, inspirational crafts, Can't beat that! Here's a sneek peek of my projects.



Stay tune to know when this will be posted on the blog but for now check out the other dt's work. They're fabulous.

So that's it right now. Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm planning on putting up my decorations tomorrow morning. Maddie's been bugging me all week long about it.

Till next time,
Grace

a wonderful weekend

how was your Thanksgiving weekend?

for me- it was WONDERFUL!!! Full of stuff, lots of going on and didn't get to sleep in at all. But I'm not complaining cause most of my time were spent with family and that's my greatest blessing.

Before I go on to my main topic for this post, I wanna say to my dear friend Cassey.....I hope you won't get mad at me that I saw this movie without you. I still love you my dear friend and I can't wait to go on a flea market date with you one of these days. *smile*

So anyways, on Friday I worked in the morning. Gosh I was so surprised to see all the shoppers that morning. Seriously where's the recession? I can't see it in our mall.

I got home early and our night was free. Mitch asked me what I wanted to do that night and because of some exhaustion, I just said let's just chill at the house. So the wonderful hubby that he is, got pizzas and rented DVD's for us to watch. I let him pick the movies and when he came home from getting the food and the movies he handed me three DVD's. I remarked at why he got three but then I looked at the top movie and it was this......



I seriously screamed!!!!

He knows that I've been stalking the cheap theater for this. I have wanted to watch this movie ever since I saw the trailers of it on TV.

Don't you just love hubbies that get you? *smile*

Anyways so after dinner and getting the kids cleaned up, we cozied up on our bed where, because of p90x, we now have a DVD player in our room and watched the movie.

My take on it- it's a definite chick flick and I LOVED every bit of it. Oh there was this one scene that Julie Child's husband's character blurted the F word which really irritated me cause it's so unlike the era of where the scene took place. But other than that, the movie was right up my alley.

I was amazed at how Meryl Streep turned into Julia Child so remarkably. From the voice, even to the little malnerisms. Just pure amazing!

The thing that I loved most about it is how Julie Powell (Amy Adam's character) resonated to me so much. She was (at that time that she started her cooking project) 29, and looking for more meaning to her life. I too am having that feeling that I'm in the middle of a crossroad in my life. Being 29 and going into the 30's it makes you wonder what you've done so far and what you can still become/amount to in the next decade of your life.

Now, I know my purpose but I loved that I could relate to her need to find a passion and be successful at it. Oh how I love to be able to quit my retail job and be able to pay the bills with scrapbooking checks.

I also love how through her cooking with the Julia Child's book she found that woman inspirational and became somewhat of her imaginary friend. I have that same feeling with Jane Austin. Everytime I think of her novels, I feel like she's one of my friend that's filled with creativity.

Another fun thing is that Julie Powell's project started as a blog. I too have a blog *smile* and maybe this will lead me to become a writer just like she did. Hehehehehehe. Maybe but I doubt it!

And finally I love that these women are taking charge of their lives. Not being happy with the norm and finding their "niche" in this world. I really love that idea! I know we can't have it all at the same time but with determination and lots of support we can achieve our dreams.

And I will end this post with that. If you are looking for a fun chick flick to watch. Give "Julie and Julia" a try. It'll at least make you wanna try to make "Beef Bourguignon".

Have a great day and till next time,
Grace

Family fave minibook

Family fave minibook

I used all the leftover products from making my five layouts to make this minibook. I love that Crazy Daisy kits are chock full of items that there's no limit to how many projects you can finish with the kit.

Being a scrapbooker, I've accumulated a TON of pictures over the years. Most of them of course go into scrapbooks but there are certain ones that are my favorites that doesn't go into any scrapbook category so I'm filing them here in this minibook.


I chose pictures from one year (2008) and will print them as regular 4x6 sized photos so I can slap them quickly into this book.



I'm intending to give this to my mother in law for Christmas but you can also keep this project to yourself as a brag book. I love that the bazzill minibook is easily adaptable to any project theme.

The fun embellishments included in the kit made this project easy and full of great details.



If you want more info about the November kit or any other kids Crazy daisy offers, click here.

Till next time,
Grace

Knott's berry trip

Mitch and I are known to be cheap skates. We are proud of it (most of the time)! That's why the only time we take our kids to an amusement park is when Knott's Berry Farm does their Veteran's deal during the month of November. In the years past they allowed the military veteran or active member bring themselves plus another person for free and 6 people for $5. Then two years ago it became $10 for the 6 additional people and then this year it's $15. I'm thinking in about 2 years there won't be much of a "deal" but for right now I think we are still scoring great with that price. Imagine with our family we only spent $30 (plus $12 for parking) for a whole day of fun at the park. Still not bad, don't you think?!

Anyways we went last Wednesday. Mitch took the day off from work and we pulled Marcus out of school. I know that sounds bad but we don't like crowds and with the retail season in full swing, weekends won't work for our family. It actually turned out GREAT cause we didn't have to wait in line for any of the rides we wanted to go on. Mitch loved that he can walk straight up to the front of the line, pick the seat that he wants on the rides, go through it and go around and still hit that same ride all over again.

Here's some shots that I took of our fun day....


Here's me at the carousel. Don't worry the kids were strapped well on their horses so eventhough my attention was away from them when I took this shot, all was well. :)


Last year I got the kids cotton candy at the park and then this year Maddie remembered it so I guess that's one tradition will have to continue.


Mitch and Maddie at Calico Ghost town


Marcus and I at the same ride

One thing I did this year was take photos of what I saw just before a ride starts. Here's a couple of my "ride" perspective shots...

at the bumper cars


at the Ferris Wheel


and finally some shots of the kids.....
Maddie enjoying her solo rides at one of the rides at Camp Snoopy


Marcus and Snoopy. Maddie was scared to come up to Snoopy. She didn't understand why Snoopy was moving. Our girl thinks Snoopy should be like her snoopy stuff animal- lifeless! Funny girl!


We had fun. We were there when the park opened and just before it closed. All was tired and thank goodness for a great coupon for Arbys, I didn't have to worry about dinner too. :)

Till next time,
Grace

hole in the wall pictures + a digital page

"live one day at at time" is really taking it's shape in my life right now. There's soooo many things going on that if you ask me what I'm going to be doing two weeks from now, I can't answer cause right now I'm living one week at a time. I figured that's the only way for me to keep my sanity. And to think that the Holiday season is just starting!

Anyways, last weekend we took the kids to Hole in the wall. It's a part of the Mojave desert that we always go to every year. Mitch has been going to this spot since he was little. He likes to hunt for quail birds while the kids like to explore the many hills and rock formations all over the campsite and as for me, well I'm there to get away and to eat as many junk "camp" food that I can take! LOL.

Here's a few pics of beautiful landscape there.....


I took the kids on a short hike on Saturday morning. Love that I can walk with my kids, chat with them and see all the beauty that surrounds us.


A long time ago, there were some volcanoes around here and then the lava flown and dried up to be hills and rock formations. Because the fluid has some vapors on it, it popped when it dried up hence the "holes in the wall". We love this place!


It's pretty bare around here (being that it's the desert) but we enjoy all the hiking and exploring.


a fun shot for mommy. *wink*

and to end this quick post here is a digital page I made last week. It documents my favorite thing in the world to do. Can you guess it? *wink*

I Create

Journaling reads:
I scrapbook because I want to preserve my family's memories. I want to document our life stories. I want my future families to know how we lived, who we loved, and how we made a difference in this world. I create because there are stories to be told. 2009

Have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

November Upsy Daisy share

Did you know that the Upsy Daisy blog is hoppin' with great projects? Well if you haven't visited the Daisy Diaries blog in a while, check them out here.

Here's a couple of projects that I made for Upsy Daisy this month....

Thank you card

although most people are still just now thinking about Christmas greeting cards, I'm already starting on my Thank you cards for the season. You never know when you'll need that extra special thank you card to show your appreciation for a holiday gift.


I used the Hot Chocolate line here. I love the whimsy feel of the pinks, greens and brown. I'm also inlove with butterfly right now and I added that together with a rubon sentiment.

Hark frame

The Spirit line had this pattern paper that had an angel with trumpet design on it and that's what jump started this idea.


to learn more about this project and how to make it, check this post that I made for the daisy diaries blog.

Thank you for looking and till next time,
Grace

Crazy Daisy November Add on kit

I was very fortunate to receive two fun kits from Crazy Daisy kit this month. If you haven't seen what I did with the main kit, check it over here. Kim and Jen also sent me the add on kit. It was definitely a fun kit. Lots of earth tone colored items and it jump started my creativity pretty quickly. Here's what I came up with....

Park day fun

This page was inspired by all the earth tones on the paper and embellishment plus the jillibean soup paper with fun trees on it.

I added ribbons and date ticket here too. I cut out the trees and used them as embellishments on the page.

I cut out strips from the JBS notepads and handwrote my journaling.

Best Dad in the world

I loved all the papers in the kit that I decided to show them off here. I picked two that I cut out in pieces and then punched out circles for the rest and created the design on the left with them.
I also punched out more notepads into circles and then handwrote my journaling.

To make my green title stand out from a bold designed paper, I painted brown on the paper and then adhered my title.

I connected the blocks of paper with the circles with a strip of ric rac ribbon and added flowers and two owls.

Card set
the add on kit had tons of items on it that I was able to make three more cards with it.


happy birthday card

I used a lot of the embellishments here and created a visual triangle with the yellow stars.

Mom

I used a journaling sticker as an element to lead the eye to the card title. I also added flowers for the feminine touch.

Thank U

I adhered a big journaling sticker onto cardstock, trimmed it and cut in into two pieces. Making the edges point to the butterfly.

If you want more info about the add on kit or any other kits that Crazy Daisy offers, check them out here.

Thank you for looking and till next time,
Grace

Artsy Urban projects...

Last month GCD Studios released a great collection called "Artsy Urban" designed by Melody Ross. As part of the GCD design team, I was very lucky to have received the whole line and here's the first two projects that I made with it.

For you gift tin and bracelet set

I love all the butterflies from this paper collection that I decided to make them the focal point of my projects. So I created this tin can container with a fabric bracelet with a butterfly accent on it.


For the tin can, I spray painted an empty altoid can. After it dried, I covered it up with some papers from the collection. I chose to use the 8x8 paper pad for this project. I feel that because the item that I'm altering is small, that smaller designs/prints would work best so I opted for the smaller version of the patterns.
I edged all the papers before adhering them to create a distress look.


After that, I worked on the cover of the tin can. I layered lots of fun embellishments from the collection like the journaling block, crochet flower, button, epoxy sticker, clear butterfly sticker (adhered first onto white cardstock then cut out) and jewel brad.
Then I handwrote a short sentiment.

For the butterfly bracelet...

I first created my fabric base. I measured my wrist all the way around, cut out a fabric with that measurement plus 1/2" seam allowance on the sides. I also added the silk ribbon to two ends of the fabric before stitching it all the way around (wrong side together) and then turning it right side out, hand stitching it to close. Then I ironed it to make it flat.
Then I grabbed the blue pattern paper from the 12x12 pad, cut it into a circle and crumpled and distressed the edge.
Next I layered two butterfly accents. I connected them all together (butterflies and paper) with a jewel brad and added an epoxy sticker for an extra layer of texture.

Butterfly headband.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Continuing with the wearable art...I grabbed one of the felt strips from the paper collection and placed a strip of pattern paper underneath it before hot gluing it onto a thin headband I had lying around my dresser.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

For the flower embellishment, I cut out a strip of paper from the 12x12 pack and rolled it around to create a flower. I also distressed the edge of it.
-PULLED OUT FOR PUBLICATION-

Next I layered it with an acetate accent, crochet flower and a butterfly brad.
I adhered the flower accent with glue gun on the side of the headband.

Liked what you saw? GCD Studios posted another project of mine in the blog today. It has a Thanksgiving theme with it. Check it out here.

Thank you for looking.

Till next time,
Grace

a C-R-A-Z-Y week revisited

I'm posting this because...a. I wanna laugh out the tiredness that I feel; b. when I thought last week was crazy, this week's activities makes this long list of things that I did small in comparison and c. because I have tons of pictures I wanna share....

Sunday
Church in the morning. It was Ward Conference so it was a bit crazy.
Had the missionaries over and served them an early dinner.
Mitch and I met with the Bishop and he gave me a new calling.
Went to our nephew's baptism.

Monday
this day is almost always devoted to cleaning and laundry. I'm always welcomed by this sight....

and turn it into organized piles like this...

I also worked tonight.

Tuesday
Maddie and I were at the preschool just for a little time before heading out to the Court house to witness this....

My brother George decided to marry his girlfriend of four years (more or less) at a very small and short ceremony at the Norwalk Country recorder's office. My parents were still in Virginia visiting my sister and her family and everybody else were working so I was the representative for the whole clan. Mitch was there too, by the way.

Wednesday
Devoted all morning to this....

dived into my November crazy daisy kits and worked on some scrapbook projects.

In the afternoon I had a little emotional breakdown. Who knew that 1st grade could be so hard! I choose not to go into details on this.

Thursday
Took Ms. Tinkerbell aka Maddie to preschool for their Halloween party. She enjoyed all the crafts and games oh and of course all the treats!


Right after school, we drove to here to pick up my parents who flew back from Virginia.


Tonight I attended a church meeting. Broke down again but this time it was good cause I was confiding to a friend. Gotta love great friends.

Friday
Continued on with my scrapbook projects.
Went to the grocery store and Walmart.
Bought and wrap a present. We were invited to a birthday party Saturday.
Worked tonight

Saturday
Took in a morning shift at work. I need the hours. *wink*
Went to the birthday party
Made this when the family got home....


and then took the kids around the neighborhood to get their candy fill.....


Was your week crazier than that?!

Till next time,
Grace