Ooh I've been busy this week! I was comissoned to prepare a friends moving announcements (48 of them!) and I am finally finished! Whew! I think they came out darn cute! It took a lot of time and finding of alternate products. Isn't that always the case? You make a sample, go back a few days later to get all the paper etc..and they are sold out! Luckily the scenic route paper all works so well together in the fall colors, so they all worked together.. and then they all have their personality!

On a professional note, I have been so busy working with the FANTASTIC ladies of the My Daughters Wish Design Team! They are all so talented.. I am working on getting them all linked to my blog, so check them out soon! I am so inspired by their talent and creativity!

I am adding a new class to my list, which will be "A Whimsical Christmas".. this is totally a "Daniela" album.. Its using the new Rhonna Farrer Christmas line, Making Memories Christmas line and will be using file folders, hambly overlays.. and tons of cute buttons, flowers and ribbon.. and its in pink, turqoise and green.. the unofficial new colors of Christmas in the scrapbook world.. I'll try to take a pic of all the things I am using in it and get it up asap!

Here is a pic of all the moving announcements.. Suz... they are in the mail tomorrow!

Happy Morning! I have been up again, but not with the best of lucky creatively.. we have had the "sickness" in our house this week, and I am finally back to "normal".. ohh do I hate being sick.. it got passed around at a family function on Saturday, and at least 10 people got sick.. kinda scary how things can travel so fast through people. Here are a few more layouts from my October design teams.
The first is from Creative Hearts Studio and its of Bianca and her BFF Alexa.. one of my favorite pics of them, just playing around.. I need new pics of them badly.. they are sooo much fun to photograph and they are so beautiful, that every picture is just great! The second is from Scrap For A Cure October kit and its on the day of Tony's baptism last year with my mom.. A very special day for us.

Enjoy your day everyone!

WOW two posts in one day! I must be on a roll or something! I finished my latest acrylic book, and I must say, its darn cute! Its a stepped album the first page being 4x4 and the last being 4x8. It was super fun to make.. I am hoping it will be my next class at My Daughters Wish, stay tuned for final details!

Happy Friday everyone! Its still dark here at my house.. I love being up before everyone else in the house. Its all MINE! No kids, no dogs running at my feet, just me and the quiet of early morning. I am seriously an early morning person. As soon as I am done here, I'll put on a pot of coffee and go to my craft table and start playing for about an hour. I am fully inspired at this point and have a ton of ideas and things I'd like to play with.. I bought some new Tinkering Ink, I think its called BLUR, and WOWSERS, this is my kind of paper! Its screaming at me to play with it! I am also working on a new acrylic class which is a book about home..
soo as promised here are two more layouts from my kit club designs.. First is of my Grandfather Humberto. This is one of my all time favorite pictures. Its from the 1920's and is in Brazil. Look at their clothes and look at their shoes.. wow.. I'd love to travel back in time and see what life was like back then wouldn't you? This is from the Creative Hearts Studio October Kit. The second is of Tony. Very simple layout, but I love this paper and this picture is priceless. Its of when he was about 8-9 months old and first learning how grass feels under his hands.. This was made with the Scrap For A Cure kit club for October. Have a great day everyone, try
to play a little bit!
Also, there are about 3 spots left in the Haunted House Class tomorrow at My Daughters Wish 925-952-4437, your going to feel like Martha Freaking Stewart in this crafty class.. come play with us tomorrow at 1:30pm!
OOOH a quick shout out to Laura.. see the previous post? I CAN do layouts with more than one picture.. (once in a while.. ) I know these have only one.. but I did do it! Challenge completed.. love ya!

My scissors have been on FIRE these past few days.. I finished 8 layouts.. can you believe it??? I have done my work for Scrap for a Cure and for Creative Hearts Studio,so each day I'll share one layout from each kit.. First is Me-1972, made with the October kit from Scrap For A Cure.. check it out fantastic! Second is "My Family Tree" made with the October kit from Creative Hearts Studio. So much fun! Loved them both this month!

Whew! What a WEEKEND! We had the WISHFEST celebration this weekend at My Daughters Wish and wow it was so much fun! I got to hang out with all my friends, meet a lot of fantastic women.. and just get soo INSPIRED! I have ideas so full in my head that I am about to burst! I can't wait to create.. I have a ton of shouts to everyone that came and helped MDW throw a FANTASTIC event, that I can't wait to do again next year!
I have a lot to share this week, so today I will share a pic of a super cute HUGE rubon I got online. It has my favorite.. an owl.. It makes me so happy to walk into the family room and see this on my wall. You can get one HERE. They have all kinds of fun things to put on your walls.. I bought a bunch and will share when I get each of them up.

Stay tuned this week for more fun and exciting things coming up!

So, on Monday I had a birthday.. at my age, it really is a normal day, running around with toddlers, going to the grocery store.. but I must share the most meaningful gift I have received in a long time. My precious Bianca, who is now 14 and just adorable.. she amazes me everyday. She knows how much my hobby means to me.. she used to want to crop with us when she was a young girl. But now she is just too cool, and we are just too old to hang out with. She doesn't scrapbook anymore. But for my birthday she made me this 12x12 layout. What an awesome gift. her journaling blew me away. Its a lot to get from a teenager these days.. She loves me and appreciates me.. I think thats all we mothers want from our children. Confirmation that your doing the right thing, that your children are happy, feel loved and are learning from you. Thanks Bianca for the best present a mom can get, I love you with all my heart!

As many of you know, I am on the design team for the kit club, Scrap for a Cure! This is a fantastic club that donates part of their sales to different charities each quarter. They are having their first official Charity Crop on Saturday October 20th! Its an all day event and I have been asked to teach a class for them. I am super excited and think we are going to have a great time! The details can be found here CROP. The project I will be teaching will look a bit like this one that I have pictured! Please please please come join us for a fun filled day of scrappin and raising money for the Susan G Koman Foundation!

Here it is! I am finally finished with my fully handmade, "HOME" book. I made it with chipboard and the Zutter! I truly have been dragging on this one, but I am super happy with the finished product. It has a ton of interactive pages and elements, and it has all my favorite things in it, my family, my home, my animals. I am truly happy in my home and with my family. I truly love love love my home. It is a place where I am comfortable, I am myself and I am surrounded by all the things that make me who I am. I hope your home is the same sanctuary to you as mine is to me.

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!