Pages

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Thanks Giving For My Daughter


 layout made with the mini kit Hay Day(add-on)from  Snickerdoodle Designs.

my daughter made the effort to color paper flower cut outs and write a little greeting at the back.  made me feel guilty for not having anything to give her back. so i made this for her then realized it might be simple but still a layout and i might as well enter it in the Featured Designer Challenge at The Studio.  i looked back at the last layout i made and it's been a year!  getting pregnant, having a baby and all that, made it difficult to keep up.  in fact, i did this layout sitting in a recliner chair with baby in my arm, nursing and the mouse resting on the arm of the chair on the right or beside my knee when i have to use my left hand... quite the rig i got there lol
the perk is that i'm using a 42 inch TV screen as my monitor.  i'll miss that when i return to a regular desk setting.  but for now, it's nice to be able to surf comfortably while nursing or rocking my baby. 

i haven't had my nap in 2 days and i find myself not always making sense when i talk today.  hopefully, i can get back into digi-scrapbooking here and there.  creativity seems to run thin when functioning on fumes or total lack of sleep but i really enjoy the memories they become when i look back at them months and years later. 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Long Summer Break

This spring, I could hardly wait for school vacation.  I was exhausted from the routine and the struggle to get my daughter on the bus on time.  Summer vacation wasn't much more relaxing but at least it was a change from the routine i guess.  and now that school is started again,  it's back to routine.  i've been feeling too mentally exhausted to be creative.   although i never know what i'm doing when i start and have no idea how it will turn out, i've always been satisfied of my work when i look back at it and i'd love to have a lot more to look back upon. 

i haven't participated in many challenges, mostly the Featured Designer Challenge at The Studio and dear Kimberkatt who host the challenge has taken a break this summer.  i was able to make a page before the challenge ended for the second half of September 2011. 

the last challenge before that was for the last part of July and we just had gone to the company's family picnic. the kids had a real good time there. 

and for the first part of July, the mini kit made me think about some older pictures of my son.

In May, there was Vivian in the clouds

 and a picture that remind me that our kids are not always bickering :)
April was a little more silly(my daughter like accessories a bit over the top) with some inspiration from Will and Kate's wedding. 

with that, i should be all caught up with the pages i've made so far.  i will try to keep up a bit better. i should probably add the credits for the kits that were used but it's getting late... i'll try to edit that tomorrow.   i hope you enjoy.  thanks for visiting :)




Friday, April 8, 2011

Spring Fling

Yesterday was the last day for the first week of The Studio's Spring Fling Design Contest. I've looked at it a few times and downloaded some amazing paper packs from the participant but participating myself, was the last thing i would've imagine until yesterday. my wedding dress kept nagging me... scan me! scan me...

it's all well and good but i don't have any texture packs, overlay or any such thing, or if i do, i don't know if the Term Of Use would allow me to use them. beside i haven't really learned what to do with them yet. i plan on learning, with time... i'm not rushing myself in any way. i figure that in about 4-5 years, i'll have gained experience and knowledge to consider getting more serious about scrapbooking/designing. the reason i give myself so much time is because...

  • i have very little energy and burn out easily(chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia or what not... no official diagnostic)
  • i have 2 young kids and they are on the autism spectrum
  • i want to enjoy it and not put stress on myself. i can be hard on myself for trying too hard to be a perfectionist.
i often have a hard time believing in myself but this i know i can do... i know i have some artistic talent. i went through Jewelery Making in college and did quite well in it. being the first in my class was something i was not used to in high school and it was a new experience to see the others strive to outdo me. i really enjoyed those 2 years, our class was like family. now it's my turn to look up to amazing designers. i might never have a big name like them but it would be nice to make a little bit of a name for myself. but first and foremost, i want to enjoy it and the extra beauty it brings to my world. I love meeting others in the scrapbooking world because everyone seem to have such a beautiful and positive attitude.

now, here's my paper pack for the first week challenge. there's a download lnk over there. i'll probably leave it up till the end of april. the image is linked to my part in The Studio's gallery for now, where you can also find other amazing paper packs. they might not be up for very long though so hurry up!don't forget to visit the designer's play along section, they also have amazing paper packs to share!

and even though you missed the first week, you can still participate in the second week of the contest and following weeks too :)

Each Week there are 3 Winners

  • First: theStudio CU $10.00 Gift Certificate
  • Second: theStudio PU $10.00 Gift Certificate
  • Third: Persnickety prints $10.00 Gift Certificate
for the second week, we have to make 30 elements!!! i better get busy hehe
hope to see you there :)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Barely under the wire

there's this challenge at After Five Designs's forum that i found. being that my daughter just love pink so much, i felt it would be a perfect mini kit to download to make pages for her so i downloaded it around the beginning of march and spent the whole month trying to figure out what i would do with it for the challenge... sometime ideas takes me a long time to come. i felt that since i enjoyed the download, i should show my gratitude by participating in the challenge.

by that time, i was quite intimidated because there's a lot of very nice layouts. lot's of techniques used that i haven't learned yet. so once i started having an idea, it took me 3 evenings to work on it. by that time it was the last few minutes before the end of the month. so this is what i ended up with.

you probably recognize some of the elements my daughter used in her layouts that i posted earlier.

seeing that it's April now, i'm looking forward to the new Featured Designer challenge at the Studio. and while i looked in the shop for what i might get with my non winner participation coupon. i found that Christine has quite a few affordable and very cute mini kits to choose from and i was agonizing over which one i would pick. i asked my mom who was visiting, if she'd help me make up my mind. then i checked, out of curiosity, if someone had won already and who it might be only to be completely shocked to find out that i'm the one!!! i won the draw for the huge full kit... Lime Sublime :) wow!!! and only after participating in the Featured Designer challenge 3 times... i guess the saying is true... 3rd time's a charm hehe

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Dreaming of Spring

While it's technically spring, our yard is still covered with about a foot of snow. It's melting though. already 4 feet are gone! oh yeah! we got buried this winter. It will be nice to see greenery grow again. Until then, I have to be content to scrap with green. Lime green! that's the color of the kit for the Featured Designer Challenge of march 15-31 at The Studio. It's called Lime Sublime by Digilicious Designs.

It's the 4th time I submit a layout at The Studio for a challenge and Ii find it's somewhat easier for me if I do it early on so I don't risk other's layout influencing my creativity or awing me so much I get intimidated. since it takes me quite some time to make a page and I already had made 2 this month. I took a bit more time to think about it. then I tried to make a little sketch on paper. I don't use templates, I'm still not quite sure how to use them yet but I remember seeing the wall/floor concept when I surfed for freebies, so that's what I decided to try for this one.

An other reason why I took a bit more time to get started on this one is because I'm still downloading freebies and the space on my hard drive is shrinking. after a year of downloading, I had nearly 50 Gb of .zip files to burn and remove from my system. I took 2 days to burn a dozen DVDs. An extra, LARGE, hard drive would probably be a nice b-day gift :p

any other digital scrapbooking hoarders? how do you keep your stuff organized?

Thanks for stopping by :)

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Grand Maman Rose

For The Studio Color Challenge of March 2011, i decided to use an old picture of my grandmother to make a page in memory of her. i made it between sniffles and coughs. i didn't get many cold and flu this winter but it got me good this time.

i don't know if it's because of the cold but i'm more critical of my work this evening and i have this tendency to second guess myself. anyway, here's what i came up with.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Future Generation of Scrapbookers

the flu is making ripples in my world and i haven't felt very creative lately, but my kids have cheerfully taken on the challenge to learn of their own. so today, i'll post their first creations with as much credit as i can figure out. they have been dipping a bit all over the place for their layouts.

here's my 5 year old daughter's first attempt.

she used background paper, flowery heart, balloon and birthday hat from Digitreats Sassy and Charlie kits.
Chaos Lounge November color challenge for the bird house and February's color challenge for the gift boxes.
the word art and circle frame are from "Life Happens Sweetly" by Kay Miller Designs, offered as a freebie for the March "On The House Challenge" at After Five Designs

her second attempt uses mostly "Life Happens Sweetly" except for the ribon rose from Digitreats Charlie

My son's work was a bit more difficult to identify the source of his material. the bunny is from "Life Happens Sweetly", bingo card from Digitreats, felt bird and butterfly from Chaos Lounge. not sure about the circular frame and the star in it or the background. the little bird, same as from my daughter's first layout is a bird that wouldn't fly away in the snow when i went to refill the bird feeder. i was able to take real closeup shots of it.

my daughter is patiently waiting for me to finish this post so she can do some more scrapbooking. i'll try to go for a nap to fight that flu and see what she came up with when i wake up.