Wow, time is passing by so quickly these days.. Christmas was fantastic, to see Tony start to understand the ripping open of presents and playing with his new toys brings so much joy and happiness to our lives. I hope everyone can enjoy a Christmas with small children. It really puts things in perspective. We have one week to go before our big move. Tomorrow I am actually putting ALL my scrapbook supplies away. I have been putting it off each day and its finally time. Its so hard to not have your supplies out and handy for when you get the creative bug. I think I really need to start that art journal and get things down in there. I made journals this year for all my friends and really hope they get the message I am sending by writing things down. This past week I actually had lunch by myself out in Walnut Creek, and had a book with me called Visual Chronicles. I was really inspired by it and I am hoping to teach some kind of class at the store centered around it. I also need to document this move as it is such a big one for me. I am moving into a house that has such a rich and wonderful history and the sense of happiness and love that surrounds this house is just wonderful. I can't wait to start our lives there. I'll have picures of it soon. Also, I am teaching two classes at My Daughters Wish in the month of January. I am teaching the Recipe Book and the Wings Purse Album (renamed from Wishes). Check out the My Daughters Wish calendar or call the store for details.
For today, I am including some pics of the journals I made my friends this year. They were a ton of fun to make.

I know everyone has been so busy these past few weeks getting ready for Christmas! I know I have and with our impending move coming up on January 8th, our lives are in a whirlwind. I am taking time to reflect and think about this past year and how my life has changed and how some people come in and out of our lives. I have become closer to many of my friends this year and that has been so important to me. I have met some incredible people who inspire me and make me a better person. I am now working at a job that I can actually say I love. The people there are fantastic and I feel so welcome and appreciated, what a wonderful feeling. I am so thankful to have a family that I love, friends that I can count on and a future that I am excited to walk into. Much love hugs and peace to everyone who comes by to say hi!
On another note, I have been frantically working on Christmas presents and I will only show one today that I made for Bianca. It was a Bare Elements trunk that I altered with the Daisy D Girlfriends line. It turned out really cute and I think she will like it.
Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!
I can't believe that Christmas is only 22 days away! YIKES! We are also moving in January. I am so excited to move into our new house. I will have deer and wild turkeys in my backyard, I can't wait! Its very hectic and stressful to plan a move and try to get it done through the holidays. I am so blessed in my life to have a fantastic family, great friends and a understanding and supportive husband. I am now working and I love it! I now know what motivational speakers say to do a job that you love and it will be rewarding. I love working at a job where I love the products, I love the people and my coworkers are supportive and I am appreciated. It means the world to me. I am including two layouts I did a few weeks ago, one is of Tony at the Pumpkin Patch. The other is of Bianca and Tony up in Weaverville this summer. Have a great day everyone and remember to be thankful of our blessings and tell the people you love that you love them all the time!

Wishes 2007

What do you get when you merge Bare Elements, 7Gypsies, Petaloo, Bazzill, Bohemia and Basic Grey? A fantasic project that will be my next class at My Daughters Wish! This will be a fun filled class where your going to create a keepsake for yourself to hide away all your wishes for the upcoming year! Take the time during this busy holiday season to reflect on yourself and where you want to be next year. The class will be this Friday night from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Please call the store at 925-952-4437. The cost will be $34, we'll have a lot of fun come join us!

Hello World!
Well my first class at My Daugthers Wish was so much fun Friday night. It was such a surreal experience to have created something that I love and seeing others creating the same thing in front of me and they really liked it! Thanks to everyone that came, I can't wait to do it again.
Saturday I spent 13 hours at a crop with my girlfriends. These are the best days. The worst part is how FAST it goes by. We went out for lunch and of course chatted ALOT, but wow, its over in a flash. I love just being with a great group of friends that are so talented and to get inspired to do better by just being with them. So thanks to Laura, Nancie, Mallory, Gina and Sharon for hanging out with me. Above is my favorite of the day. I love this picture of my Tony even though its from behind. When I look at this, I think geez I am getting the hang of this photography thing. The second layout is of my Grandparents, Amandina and Humberto Pinho. This is one of my favorite photographs ever. The clothes, the smiles, and the car behind them. Things were so beautiful then. I am lucky to have such great pictures of my family.
Lastly, I get to teach another class! I got so excited when I was given a BARE ELEMENTS purse. So intimidating but I am so excited to create! Look for a picture of my finished product here early next week. The class will be on Friday December 1st from 6:30-8:00pm. I am not sure of the cost yet, because I have to pick out all the fun things we'll be doing to it. But I do know that its going to be something like your favorite things, or hopes and dreams. It will have a mini album inside made with Bazzill envelopes.. how fun! I hope to see you there.

I am so excited! I am going to be teaching my first class at My Daughters Wish Scrapbook store in Walnut Creek! The class is a Recipe Book and I will have so many fun things in store for you in this class. We will be using all kinds of new products and doing things from inking to painting to sanding and stamping. You'll leave this class with a beautiful book to keep all your favorite recipes and also a few tips and ways to use things. The preliminary schedule of the class will be Wednesday, November 14th from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The second time is Friday November 17th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The class will be $34 and your going to have a ton of fun. Here are some pictures of the project. Please call My Daughters Wish at 925-952-4437 to sign up! Hope to see you there!

Ok I've been Tagged! My buddy Laura got me!

The rules are : List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

1. I must have a flavored creamer with my coffee every morning. I'll even run to the store in the morning if I am out.
2. I must have ice in my drink. I'd rather go without if I can't have ice.
3. The bed must be made every day (or I try really hard to have at least that done!)
4. I'd rather drive 10 miles farther to get it on sale or use a coupon than pay full price right in front of me.
5. I will drive an hour to go to a scrapbook store to get that one special item I HAVE to have today!

So.. I am tagging my dear friends.. Ally, Tab, Wendy, and two new friends..
Kim, and Yvette both from the My Daugthers Wish Message Board!

enjoy!

So its Sunday morning, before anyone in my house is awake, I have a perfect cup of coffee in front of me and all is well with the world. So many things, great things, happening for me. I took a chance and went into one of my local scrapbook stores, My Daughters Wish and talked to Sheri about the job opening she had. I brought in my "book" and probably 10 projects. She was so nice to me and really liked my stuff! I can't tell you how nice it is to hear from someone who is not your close friends or family tell you that your work is good. She was very happy to have me come work there and asked if I would like to teach also.. Would I like to TEACH? Um.. YES! So, I am going to start working with her on teaching at MDW. This is exactly what I needed in my life right now. I am also going to be teaching make and takes at the upcoming Scrapbook Expo in Sacramento. I am so excited for this opportunity.

I also want to send a prayer to my sister Nadia who right now has been running in a 100 mile marathon for 25 hours straight.. yes you read right 100 miles, 31 hours to complete the race.. and at last night at about 8pm, she was at mile 50 2.5 hours ahead of schedule.. SHE ROCKS! What an inspiration she is!

Here is a random layout that I picked for today.

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am starting the process of selling our house, and wow is it stressful. We aren't one of the lucky ones that is going to make money off the sale of our house. We have only been here two years, and we will be lucky to get out even. The realtor just left and she found all these things, I didn't get clean and took apart our house. Then the bombshell on how much the houses in our development are going for.. not much.. So, we are going to have to do a bunch of work on the house to try to sell it without a loss. The good thing is that we are moving.. to a better neighborhood, with a good school district. Its amazing what we will do for our children right? I would walk to the ends of the earth and work until I collapsed just to provide a good home for my children. It puts things in perspective and you realize that it the long run, it will be a great thing we are doing. But the next 9 months are going to be hard on us. I have so many things to do. But for now, I am going to work on something creative for my honey for his birthday. It will make me feel better, once my hands are dirty and my craft table is a mess again. Here is a page I did at a great store crop at Young Play Memories. Its a fantastic store, which I would frequent if I lived closer. Its another oldie of me and my mom when we lived in Hawaii, I am about 3 years old. Have a great day everyone!

Wow, I can't believe how long its been. Life happens so fast these days.. I have been so busy, but I am still taking the time to be creative and see my friends. I am on an "old" picture kick. I have taken a bunch of my old slides from when I was a child and putting them on disk and printing them for scrapping! I found this old picture of my mom pregnant with me. I LOVE this picture! She made all her clothes back then, and Bianca and I agree that we wish we had this dress/outfit for us today. She is so fashionable and just darling. I promise to add more scans of recent pages I have done. Much love to all!

A few weeks ago, I decided to submit for a scrapbook design team. This was the first time I tried out for one. Now, I have never been published or won any contests or anything. I really only have submitted a few things. But this one was relatively easy to enter, and I had the products so I did it. I was so happy with my resulting layouts. Really some of the best pages I have produced. I was sad on the day the winners were announced as I was not picked, but was really happy with my effort. You must continue to try or you'll never succeed. I will try again when the time is right and hopefully some day I will succeed. I do have to remember that I do this as a hobby and I do it for the satisfied I get from creating something that will remain long after I am gone. I have so much fun creating my layouts and projects and I think my family appreciates what I do. I keep telling myself that I don't need validation from the industry, just my own inner validation. Keep my head up and keep creating! Here is my favorite layout that I created for the design team submission.

This past weekend, I started to pull out old photos which I thought were important to me, that I haven't scrapped yet. I found this old picture of my mom. She says she was about 15 years old, so that would make it 1955 or so. Its just a candid shot of her playing the guitar. Its important to me because she looks so happy and beautiful. I also still have the guitar stored away in the garage. Maybe its time to bring it out and learn a little. Ha ha! I wish I had the time.. lol!

The second layout I did this weekend, was of a favorite picture of Tony almost a year ago. Did you ever have that picture that you love so much that your scared to scrap it? This was it for me. I think it turned out pretty cute. So, take out a favorite old picture and scrap it. Document the picture forever in your book of memories.

The week before Grandma Costa passed away, I borrowed a book from the library "Notes on the Kitchen Table". I had her in mind, as well as all my good friends and family. This books premise is that each person writes a letter, poem, advice, story, anything that they would like to pass on to future generations. Then they leave this note on the kitchen table for all to see. The following is an excerpt that I thought really hit home to me this past week.

"Maybe you've been told you have your mother's eyes, your uncle's curiosity, your father's sense of humor. An inheritance is not necessarily a material asset, it is not always money, or jewelry, or land. An inheritance is the connection - your mother's eyes, your uncle's curiosity. It is what we've heard and what we've learned, what we've gained from our family and embraced as our own.
It is what ties us, both visibly and invisibly, to those who came before us.
It is recognizing ourselves as the embodiment of the dreams of generations gone.
It is knowing, deep in the bones, that there is an uncrossable distance between right and wrong, which we measure from having the eyes of our mother.
From looking through her eyes.
From seeing the world as she would have us see it; a road, sometimes bumpy, yet paved with delight. A road meant to be traveled undauntedly while accompanied by worthy companions.
An inheritance is our unseeable soul.
It is our greatest fortune, earned without visible effort - from being loved, even before we were born."

In our hobby we always say to get our stories in our scrapbooks, and do it now. We always think we'll have the time to ask the questions or take the pictures. Do it now, tonight, tomorrow.. Ask a friend or relative to tell you a story, their story, so you can tell your children and grandchildren through our hobby.

It has been a sad week in the Costa family. We have lost our Grandmother, Leone Irene Costa. She passed away on Saturday, August 19th. Leone was a beautiful soul, so full of love and happiness. She was married to Grandpa Joe for 67 years, and had 5 wonderful children, and many grandchildren. I was lucky enough to know Leone for 6 years and she brought so much to my life. I loved her like she was my own grandmother, and she always made me feel as though I was her own granddaughter. I love you Leone and I will always tell stories to my children of the great Grandma Costa. In her voice I can hear her say "Aww Hon"! I made this layout of a picture of her in 1937 when she was 15 years old. Such a beautiful picture, we will miss you so much...

This is the second layout I did this past weekend, also with the Bohemia line. These pictures are so fun. Bianca and Alexa had just dyed their hair pink (yes dyed it pink!) and I had to get some pics of them. They are the best of friends and I love how they are so playful together. Some of my favorite layouts are of their friendship. It amazing to me how much Bianca is growing up. She really does remind me of myself at that age. I was adventurous and not afraid to express myself so I am proud of her for being a strong independent girl.... if only I can keep the boys away for a little bit longer. Have a great day everyone!

This is my first official "post".. wheee hoooo!

This is a layout I did on Saturday night at Stampers Warehouse. I am using the fantastic new Bohemia line by My Minds Eye. Another layout is below. I love this line its easy and you don't need to add much to this paper to make it work. I also worked on my submission to the Scenic Route Design Team contest, but won't be posting those just yet. I must say that the Design Team layouts have been the best work I have done. This was the first time I am "submitting" or trying to do something with this hobby. Its a hard step to take, to put yourself out there. You do this as a hobby and friends and family that don't "know" the business tell you how great you are and that you should be doing more, but then you look at other peoples work and realize how many talented "artists" there are out there. So, for now, I'll dabble a little send in things and hope for the best. Just doing this blog is a step outside my "box". I've also posted a bunch of layouts on Two Peas (see link on side). Wanting to share something you love is a great experience and I hope you can all enjoy it too!

Welcome to my BLOG! Yep, I jumped off the boat and diving right in. This is the baby stage and I am going to do my best to keep it updated with my projects, happenings and just interesting things I find in my life.

Check back often for updates and probably new pictures every day.