Well well well... its been two whole weeks since I blogged! I know soooo bad.. but I know you all understand.. I haven't had a ton of time to create and I've been busy, but I cleared off my scrap table and layed it all out to play tonight! I have been toting around this 6x12 album I made and bound with the Zutter (most awesome tool ever!) and I finally finished it.. but I need to use MDW's Zutter to finish. I am planning on buying one in the near future! Its fanatastic that you can make any size book you want and all you need is chipboard.
We have moved the My Daughters Wish Store this past week, and whew, you thought moving a house was hard, try moving 100,000 pieces of paper and embellies.. I am super excited about the new space. Its feels really nice in there and its more "open".. come visit us starting Wednesday, September 19th at 2835 Contra Costa Blvd. I have posted a pic that Sheri took of the old space when we had everything packed up.. wow it was a bittersweet day to see it empty, but so exciting to start fresh in the new space! See Sheri's blog for more pics!

I promise to post more "creative" pics tomorrow and if you don't see me blog, email or post to me and bug me, if you do I'll send you something! lol!
I need motivation people!

Its September 1st! I wanted to share some layouts I have completed with my Scrap For A Cure kit and my Creative Hearts Studio kit. Both were so beautiful this month, and I have had so much fun playing with both of them.

First is the Creative Hearts Studio kit, which features me and my grandfather. The picture was taken in Brazil where my family is originally from. My grandfather was the perfect gentleman. Always dressed properly and had impeccable manners. I loved this paper and the embellishments were just perfect for creating some wonderful pages. Check out their gallery for more ideas and projects!

Secondly is the Scrap For A Cure kit layout. This is of Bianca this past week, which was the first day of high school for her. Bianca has been going to a private catholic school her entire life. This year we decided to let her attend public high school, so its a huge transition for her. She just looks beautiful! She is just growing up to be such a wonderful young lady. I am so proud to be her mom! This kit has all kinds of fun things, check it out!

One final note, today is the last day to submit for the My Daughters Wish Design Team, I hope to go in this afternoon to a bunch of submissions! Thanks to everyone who has submitted and I can't wait to start working with some of you!

I know everyone has a favorite manufacturer of scrapbook products. My friends all know that mine is Hambly Studios. I love that they are different, and a small family type company, all their products are made right here in the good ol' USA. I had the EXTREME pleasure of going to visit their studios yesterday. I had set up a time to come meet the fabulous Allison and talk to her about our WISHFEST event coming up in September, and to talk to her about teaching a class for us at MDW. Coming up to the building it is very unassuming warehouse type place. A small sign indicated that we were there. As you walk in, there are paper holders that have EVERY type of paper and overlay they carry.. can we say "AAAAHHHHHH"... scrappers heaven! Allison came and greeted us and she is a doll.. so cute, down to earth and just so happy to show us around. Seeing the overlays made is incredible. The huge machines. The great workers with big smiles.. you can tell this is a great company to work for! We even got to see how rubons are made! Have you ever noticed that their papers have a sweet smell to them? Well, I found out that they put a trace of VANILLA in the ink for the papers! How cool is that? We were able to see how Allison gets her designs and the ins and outs of the company. What a wonderful treat to be able to do this! We were even able to spend time with MR. HAMBLY himself. What a sweet sweet man.. The company is everything I expected and more! Look for Allison to teach at MDW on November 8th, and also look out for MDW in the Hambly newsletter next month! Silly me had forgotten my camera.. duh! I was so excited to get there, I left it at home.. but wow what an experience I will never forget, thanks so much to Allison and everyone at Hambly!

I want to first say THANKS to everyone that came and took my Inspiration class! I know it was a lot of little things, but I am so happy people stuck through it and left with a completed book. Big shout to Sheri, for being my TA. I couldn't have done it without her help, we would have been there till midnight.
I was lucky enough to actually have a few hours all to myself on Sunday afternoon, and I was INSPIRED! I had this project on my to-do list for a few weeks, and just couldn't figure out what I wanted. WOW did it come to me and I just worked my hands all afternoon. They were all orange, black and had some dried hot glue on them, but I felt soo good when I was done! I don't know how you feel but wow I was a happy girl all night because I finished from start to finish. I can't wait to do this class! I know you all have see the Doodlebug magazine ads. I personally think they are one of the best most creative ads I have ever seen. I knew when I saw these houses, that I needed to do one for Halloween and Christmas. Here is my Halloween version and I used Making Memories, Daisy D's, paint and ink. I am really happy with the result. The class won't be until October 6th, but sign up early! Hope to see some of you there!

Happy Friday everyone! Wow, did I ever get caught up in a big gossip thing this week. The whole Stacy Julian email and the hubub about her comments and BPS. It was one of those things, where you are reading a message board, it references another site, then another, and all of a sudden two hours later and you have no idea where you are on the internet. How many times has this happened to you??? Its sad that something like that got out in the public, but more sad that someone you respect says comments like that about us scrappers. For me, online classes would never work cause I am a touchy feely person and I love interaction with people in classes or crops. I spend too much time as it is on the internet. I love the relationships and fiding out what is new and hip in our world, but it is time away from our families and our craft. Whilst roaming around I found this blog Scrapsmack and this lady tells it as it is. I respect that she has the guts to say what is really going on.. You go girl!
For today I'll share a layout challenge I did from my girl Wendy, and our little group, IT Girls. It was a challenge to use Grey in our layouts.. here is mine.. If your interested in joining our little group.. see here.. It Girl Media!

Well I'd like to introduce you to TULA! She is our brand new baby! She is 3 months old and she is a Doberman/Lab mix and she is a doll! We love her so much.. she loves Rocky and Tony, and we are having a great day getting to know her..

I can't believe its been over a week without a post. Life sure does get busy and mixed up as I am sure everyone goes through it. This past week I just haven't had the time to be creative for me. But, I made a point yesterday to complete a project about ME! I was worried so much about everything else in my life and family and I didn't take the time I needed for me. Scrapbooking and creating really makes me a HAPPIER person, and I feel like I have accomplished something if I get to "play" a little bit every few days. I just didn't have that this past week and it showed.

So, I am making a pact with myself to take the time to just be at my space and create something or play with a product. I did that last night and it felt so good! I didn't know what would come out of it or if it would turn out nice, but it was fun to experiment and just let it happen! Try it this week! Take out a product and just try different things you can do to it or with it!

This is one of my favorite acrylic books I've made. Its a 6x12, my absolute favorite size! I can't wait to make a book this size, I am going to try tonight with a zutter. Its such a fun and funky size. These are all pictures of my "younger" years that are my favorites. I used the Love, Elsie Lola line, a bunch of alcohol inks (my favorite product to play with right now), felt, Hambly overlays, ribbon and rubons. These are my favorite colors, so this book made me smile. I hope you enjoy it too!

I have a suprise hopefully to share with everyone tomorrow... stay tuned.. hint.. its tiny, soft and precious!

Happy Thursday everyone! I am very excited to say that I am now the Lead Designer/Class Coordinator at My Daughters Wish. I'll be helping Sheri keep organized, on her toes and help our new Design Team become integrated to the store! There is so much going on with MDW. If you don't know, the store is moving in September. We are moving to a place that actually has a parking lot! I am very excited about it. I visited the empty space yesterday and it has really good vibes. If you aren't on the MDW email list, please get on it for all the details about this and the fabulous event coming up for the grand opening, WISHFEST! Also, if you don't know about the design team search check the BLOG for the info or just email me!

I finished my class sample for "What Inspires You?" which will be held on August 25th at 1:30pm. Come join us for this fantastic journey to document what inspires you!

Happy Sunday! I have had a fun weekend, spent yesterday scrapping/teaching/creating so it was a very happy day. This morning I took Tony to the "Little Farm" and Steam Trains in Tilden Park. He loves loves loves to feed the goats, cows and chickens.
I am a fan of the ScrapJacked gang and they have started a new "Jack" of Kristina Contes.. I thought I'd jump in and play.. my interepretation of her layout is very loose, but it gave me the inspiration to create this layout of Bianca.. I am still obsessed with Acrylic, but now am so intrigued by 6x12 layouts.. so I mixed the two. I used a bunch of alcohol inks on the edges, and buttons. So, Enjoy.. if you decide to do this jack, post a comment on my blog.. I'd love to see them too!

Well here it is! The Acrylic Wall Hanging! This is my next class at My Daughters Wish, and I am so excited for how great it turned out. Its a 12x12 layout with two 4x4 squares and one 4 inch circle acrylic piece. We'll use masks, alcohol ink, buttons, rubons and have a blast making this! The class is next Saturday August 11th at 1:30pm and will be $28. This is a really great price! Come join me next Saturday!

Hello Friends! I have so much to talk about and tell everyone! I am one busy lady and my plate is overflowing with creativity, teaching and all around scrap happiness! I can finally post my new layouts for Scrap for A Cure. This is with the new August Kit "Copa Cabana" and it rocks! I tell you this is the BEST kit I have ever had the pleasure of owning. The product rocks, and is so easy to work with. My buddies over there have a fantastic eye to pick products for this kit club. Best of all, a portion of the sale of each kit, not profits are donated to charity at the end of each quarter. For this first quarter, they have chosen St. Jude's Hospital. How much better can it get? You get fantastic fun product and you are helping out a charity, go support this kit club!

I have added another class to my list on the right sidebar! I am teaching my 5x5 Acrylic Book Class at YoungPlay Memories. It will be held on Saturday August 18th at 1pm. Come join us and make a fun Acrylic Book!

By the way, I will also be at the YoungPlay Memories Anniversary Crop doing a make and take, come by and make a fun little book with the Your Pictured Memor-ez products!

Oh my gosh! Our new ad is on the backside of the front cover of Somerset Magazine! Here is the picture of it! I have been unofficially published! There is my little Biancas mug on the picture.. Very exciting! Also we are getting a lot of buzz about my Acrylic Book and kit, I know we have orders for a ton, so if anyone wants one, please email me and we can set one aside for you!

Oooh here are all the goodies for my class in August. Its going to be called "What Inspires Me" and will be filled with all the things that inspire me/you to be creative and want to scrapbook. We'll use felt, transperencies, paint, hand sewing (don't let that scare you in any way!), and ink. I am pretty sure its going to be on August 25th in the afternoon. As soon as I am done with the sample I'll get word out to everyone. Nighty Night!

Good Morning people! Whew its super early here.. I couldn't sleep anymore. My mind started going on this new project that has been dying to get out of me for a few weeks. I had a pow wow with Sheri (MDW) and its coming to life.. and I am so inspired and can't wait to get started on the sample. Its going to be called "What Inspires Me" and will have tons of really fun thing to play with. Fabric, Embroidery Thread, Felt, buttons, all wrapped up in a 7Gypsy album. I'll take a pic of the items I picked (tons of Turquoise, Black and White) and post here hopefully later today.
I taught my 5x5 Acrylic class yesterday to the best group of ladies. We all had so much fun. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to see other people having fun and really enjoying making something you created. The best feeling EVER! If I can inspire just one person to "go outside" the box, or be creative on their own, I am such a happy girl! We'll be doing the same class again next Saturday, so if you missed it this weekend, be sure to come join us on July 28th, call the store for details 925-952-4437.
I am also going to be offering a Wall Hanging Acrylic piece that will have different shapes and beatiful ribbon, paint and more alcohol inks.. look for that one in August as well. I am going to be teaching alot of fun classes this fall so make sure you check here and are on the MDW email list.
We are having Tonys 2nd Birthday party here today.. not a great day to have only slept a few hours, but I'll sleep tonight.. I can't believe my little guy is growing up.. he is half my size now.. big big boy..
I leave you with an older project of mine, but I never posted it. Its my HOME cigar box. It has a mini fold out album of our house. This was a fun project enjoy!

Antoher quick post today.. this week is very hectic as I have a few dt deadlines, class on Saturday and Tony's 2nd Birthday party on Sunday, so quick posts, but fun creative stuff I have been working on.
This is a layout using the Scrap For A Cure Kit of the month for July, Premiere! Loving the things in this kit! Its of course of my sweetie Bianca.. love those eyes! The Stars are hand sewn, my favorite thing to do on most of my layouts.
Enjoy

Just a quick post with a new Picture of the sneak peak of Your Pictured Memories paper Angelic and an altered FrameEase Frame. This is beautiful paper! I had so much fun altering this frame, they are great for your layouts and are held together at the top with magnets.. so easy!
Have a great night!

Here is the final product! Wanna learn how to make an amazing acrylic album? We'll be decorating this 5x5 square acrylic album. You'll learn all the techniques you can use on this wonderful medium. No two albums are alike! This class will be held at My Daughters Wish, July 21st at 1:30. Cost is $36. Come join us in this fun filled class! 925-952-4437.

My first OFFICIAL layout for the Scrap For A Cure Design Team! Isn't the paper just yummy? I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the Rouge de Garance paper. Its a limited edition set and you can get at Scrap For A Cure website and kit club. I can't wait to do more. Everything used in this layout is in the kit!
I'll be posting something new everyday now for about a week! I have been busy with design team stuff and I can finally show it to everyone. The Your Pictured Memories line is being debuted this weekend, but you can see some of it here tomorrow.

Good Monday Morning! I meant to blog more last week, but wow how busy can I get? Your Pictured Memories came out with a bunch of new paper lines and I needed to make all the projects for CHA which is next week. I had so much fun working with the new papers. I really enjoy the challenge of being under pressure to get it done quick and being creative with what I am given. I think I met the challenge and hopefully everyone will enjoy what they see. I can't show them here until next week, but I am really pleased with what I did.

On another note, I received the best phone call last week from Diana at Scrap For A Cure. She asked me to design for them! I was so excited and just floored that they would choose little ol me! The first kits and add ons are FANTASTIC! If you haven't checked them out, please do, the project is just beautiful and they have a great eye for coordinating paper lines and embellishments. I can't wait to get started! This kit club is run by the most giving wonderful ladies. They are always looking for ways to help the community and do a ton of charity work! Please please please support this club!

One more thing, don't forget I am teaching a really fun 5 x 5 Acrylic Book at My Daughters Wish on July 21st. It is going to be a ton of fun, come join us!
This is just a pic I took at Lake Merrit where we went to feed the geese/ducks. Tony was literally running away from the flock that was chasing after him. HILARIOUS!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend we had here in the bay area. I did some cropping on Saturday night with my girlfriends at MDW and got a few projects done. Mallory was rocking her layouts. She is going to enter a big scrapbook contest this month and I am mentoring her to do it! She is so talented and young, she has a great career ahead of her. She did a layout of her and Bianca, and it was B E A U T I F U L! I wish I could post it here for her or link you to it, but it can't be published cause she is submitting it! It made me cry! She said such wonderful things about Bianca. I never knew that getting compliments about your daughter like that from someone you love would affect me like that. It makes me feel so proud of her.
On another note, some girlfriends of mine have started a fantastic kit club Scrap for a Cure. They are donating a portion of the proceeds to a needy cause each month. Take a look and sign up! Great job ladies!
So today I am heading out to YoungPlay Memories to turn in some projects and I am hoping to get a sneak peak of the Your Pictured Memories new products! They are so excited about all the new paper and embellishment lines they are releasing at Memory Trends. I can't wait to get to play with the new stuff! Keep on the lookout for this great upcoming product line!
I know everyone is probably tired of seeing this picture of Tony on all my projects lately, but I just can't get enough of it. Its so darn cute! Anyway, this is a Making Memories Clock kit and I didn't use any of the papers that came with it, I just made it my own and I LOVED the turn out! The other project is "Laugh" which is a Bare Elements wood word. This is the kind of projects I am loving. Doing something which I thought was cute, but just didn't think I had the time or resources to do it. Being creative with what you have in front of you is a fantastic way to work, I love it!
Enjoy!

Are you ready for a class? I am so excited! I will be teaching the first in a series of acrylic classes at My Daughters Wish The first class is called "Paper or Plastic" and will be a 5x5 Acrylic Book. We'll use transparencies, stamps, pens and paint. It will be a variation of this book I did of Tony. The class will be held on July 21st and will be $36. Just contact the store to sign up. Look for more acrylic classes including circle books, 12x12 layouts, a clipboard and a wall hanging. Its going to be a fun end of summer schedule for the store!

Wow, yesterday was my daughters 14th Birthday. Time has passed so swiftly. I can't believe my little girl is going to high school, becoming a young woman. We had a wonderful family/friends party and she and 6 friends went "Disco Bowling". If you haven't seen this or done it, you must try it. I so wanted to hang with the teenagers and bowl, but alas, moms aren't welcome anymore. I'd love to go do it with friends. Disco lights, dance music.. how much more fun could you want? I didn't get any sleep last night since everyone stayed the night. I had to finally go tell them to get to sleep at 3:30am...
I woke up all bleary eyed and a little dizzy from lack of sleep and came to the computer to check on a design team announcement that was coming up. I didn't want to get too excited... a girl has gotten her share of "no's".. so to my surprise, I was chosen! I am the newest member of the Creative Hearts Studio Kit Club design team! I look at a lot of the design team calls and visit the websites and read the conversations going on. I really loved this website, it was inviting, not too intimidating and I had heard fantastic things about the owners. I am really excited to start creating and getting to know the people there. Please come visit the website and join the club!
Here are the photos of the gifts I made for Bianca for her birthday. The first is an acrylic 12x12 layout which will be on a picture shelf in her room, the second is an altered comp book for high school. Not too fancy, but Elsie.. she rocks the product.. lastly a 12x12 sketch book. Bianca is taking her first "official" high school art class next year and I think she has it in her.. her dad is a fantastic artist with a degree from the Academy of Art.. and geez, I like to dabble in a little paper/ink/photography medium.. so who knows? Enjoy your day..

Happy Fathers Day! I hope everyone out there is celebrating with their loved ones. We are going to my parents in laws for brunch pretty soon. I am so blessed with the most fabulous family. My father in law, Dan is the most generous caring and giving person. He would drop everything to help out someone in need. I am so grateful to have him in my life. I hope everyone has someone like him that they can depend on from being the plumber to computer genius..
Here are my projects for fathers day. The card is for both Dan and Aaron, totally cute. You can make the tree up for any occasion, so its a perfect stamp. The frame is obviously for Dan. Its a pic of Cole and Tony eating their barbeque chicken legs. They sat there for easily a half an hour, just chowing away on Mothers Day. The mini envelope book is for Aaron and has a bunch of pics and coupons from things like I'll do garbage for a week, to Bianca walking the dog every day and washing both cars for a month.
Even though my real father is not with us any longer, I hope he knows I think of him often and wish he were here to see our wonderful family. I love and miss him so much. Give your dad or someone in your life that is a father figure a huge hug and tell him how much he means to you on this special day.. hey what the heck you should do this every day and cherish the time we all have together.
Hugs to everyone,
Daniela

What a fun week its been for me! I finished another acrylic book. This is the square version and it is 4x4. I made it for Tony, and outlined his many faces. This was too much fun to make. I have a bunch of other sizes and I can't wait to get started on them, look for them soon.

OH WOW! I am so excited for this project. I got the idea off of 2Peas, and I ran with it. My husband was a huge help in making the "pages" for me! These are acrylic pages! It was so much fun, and I think it turned out beautiful! I have an 8x8 ready for me to complete as well. You can use all your transperancies and rub ons on these. I am going to see if I can teach this at My Daughters Wish so look out for it!
Have a great Friday everyone!

What a week its been for me! My little girl has now graduated from elementary school and is moving on to High School! I can't believe how grown up she is. She is moving from a private catholic school with 30 kids in her 8th grade class to a public High School with 2200 students. I am so thankful that she already knows a lot of people that are there. She is going to do fantastic in High School and she is ready, but wow what a shocker for me. She isn't my little baby anymore, she is becoming a little woman. She'll be 14 next month. She amazes me every day. Every day I look at her and I burst with pride that she is my daughter. She does fantastic in school, she is sweet, she is fun, and she is a wonderful person. I see a little bit of me inside there somewhere.. even though she is much cuter than I at this age.. She has a great core group of friends, which I love so much. I spent the last two nights making them each a graduation mini book. I wanted them to have something to take with them. They were a ton of fun to make and the girls loved them. I am tired, I am happy, but a little sad that it all ended today and that I won't be seeing her everyday in her uniform.