its a layout, gasp!

I actually took a picture of a layout I made last night. I can't wait to get a photo printer. I had this picture of me and my favorite God Child Brianne (haha, I only have one God Child). Anyways, so this summer we made a quick trip to the beach on our way home from camping. Now Brianne is always ready for a cheesy photo taking session. I love that girl. Plus she's photogenic, lucky kid.

I'm so happy that we have a camping tradition, as the kids get older it gets a litte easier because now I have free labor:)

I used the scraps I had from the Craft Retreat class. I'm not really sure if yellow and pink go together but I liked it. Anyways, I love the beach and the sand between my toes. (my random quote of the day).

Some early Thanksgiving love

football and layouts

It wouldn't be sunday without a little football in the house. My 49ers beat the Giants and are 8-1, yay yeah! I like this concept of football and scrapping. Now if only I had all my stash in one place to make the process more seamless, at this rate it takes me just as long to find stuff as it does to create:)

Here's a little layout I did with some inspiration from KP's sketchpad class. Since I still don't have a cool photo printer, I was a little limited with my 4x6 print but I made do. Her sketches had a really good variety for the smaller prints like 3x5 or 2x3. Anyways, here's my take, plus a little fun in photobucket.

I know my colors look a little flat photographed, but i really like the yellow/grey/brown combo

fun cartoon layout, i likey

retro layout, red and black - another favorite combo

The day wouldn't be complete without a little love from my favorite cat, Alexandra"double dizzle" Remington. Ha. Love that cat.

those eyes. awww.

11.11.11

Today was an awesome day. Although Samantha Rabbit was home sick, I still had a nice morning with her, laughing, getting updated on her fan fiction peeps and sanitizing my hands behind her. She just makes me smile. I love that kid.

Also I'm taking part in the whole 11.11.11 hoopla over at Dear Lizzy and took this picture of me and Cleo. As you can see, she was not cooperating and turned away before the picture snapped but here's our attempt at documenting what we were doing on 11.11.11 11:11am, hee.

Anyways, I played hookie today and picked such a beautiful day, it was gorgeous outside (take that Fritz Coleman). I was super excited for my Craft Beach Retreat class with Paige. I really didn't know what to expect because I've taken only a few classes and most times the instructors didn't really walk you through the project but we pretty much received a step by step approach to the layouts. I really liked that because I actually finished, count them - 3 layouts. I know, stunned here too. Since I didn't sign up for any of the other classes, I felt a little bit of an outsider but hey, I was there to learn some new ways to scrap it down (I'm starting a new scrappy language here). Seriously though, I'm really happy with the results and Paige was awesome, super talented which I knew already.

So, we were suppose to pick an event that was important for us and the 3 layouts would represent the phases before, during and after. I thought really hard about this and honestly the only two things I could think about were my life long struggle with school and the birth of my lovely child. Back in the day, most of us weren't so paparrazi-ish so I had to make do.

Ta-da: Layout 1

You can't really tell here but I'm pregnant with Samantha. Its our first trip to San Francisco to visit Tia Abuela. My title was nervous because I was nervous and scared to be a Mom, consider the circumstances and all. I was happy though but at this time mostly scared if I would be a good enough parent.

Layout 2:

I know there is a bit of a glare, oops. This layout showed that I was happy, alive and a little worried. I mean, a new mom. I think I held a baby like a handful of times before holding my own. But it felt so right and Samantha was a beautiful baby, she really was. She had the cutest little lips and fluffy hair. I knew I wanted to be the best Mom I could and I promised I would try my best, I knew we would be ok. I liked how the banners made the page so full. I did the whole misting thing but I don't know yet, I'm not into it.

3rd and last layout:

12 years later here we are. We have so much fun together. I know we are a little goofy but it works for us. I'm so proud to be a Mom to Samantha, she means the world to me. I know she's going to grow up to be a sweet, kind, caring, successful woman - its just in her. I liked the whole paper triangle thingies, I just feel like I didn't get it to pop properly on this page, probably because I got lazy with my triangle thingies and did one solid and 2 multi colored. Anyways, cool techniques learned. Oh, by the way - I was of course the girl that spills her water all over the table and kept dropping my supplies on the floor, crawling all over to look for them. Yes, I was that girl!

Overall it was really cool to actually finish a page, I mean I know I finish a page but there are distractions and things all around me and then I get un-motivated (is that a word?). Today, I was focused on finding my inner scrap-deezy (see another word for my dictionary). Another interesting thing was meeting all these different woman that had different reasons for wanting to be part of the retreat, the lady I sat next to, Liane - was really sweet but her reason for coming to the retreat was to cheer herself up because she was going through some rough times with her family. I felt kind of a sad for her for a minute and then I thought, how awesome is this lady that she knew she needed to find a way to get herself out of a rut and do something. Most times when I'm down, I just stay down. I need to learn to pick myself up and like Liane remember that I don't necessarily need someone to pick me up. Okay, the rambles are coming.

Here's a random pic at the beach before I left. It was so pretty out there but the rain was coming and the traffic I was going to be sitting in was calling so I really didn't to explore my beautiful surroundings. Isn't that sky beautiful?

I was suppose to have dinner with some of the women but I ranked out, I just wanted to get home to my baby, check and see what was going on. Harry Potter marathon in full effect, I think to myself "well at least its not Twilight, blah".

i'm just a stalker

But who cares. I'm in awe of this girl, Ahmazzzinggggggggg. Nayda Rocha, from Brasil. Her blog is so fun, so colorful, sooooo happy. I love it. Man, I wish I would have learned spanish, seriously 3 years in high school and 2 in college did nothing for me. Anyways, seriously amazing stuff. I'm like WOW and I'm in full stalking status right now.

i possibly might try to do this for my december daily, looks fun huh

hello, she's a layering queen plus i love the misting

this one you need to see on the blog, its hand cut for added dimension, really cool

gratitude

Today I'm saying an extra prayer for my Dad. He's taking a test and we're not really a family of test takers. Sometimes its hard to go out of your comfort zone, in this case to actual believe in yourself. Even with my 10 plus years of school, I still get nervous when its test taking time so I feel for you Daddy. Love you lots, you'll do great. Remember if you're unsure pick one, hahaha. Thats what I do in trivia and it works most times - just kidding. Just do your best right.

Anyways, I know a few peeps that need some cheering up so I'm going to make a few cards and send some holiday/friendship cheer their way. I like it when I have a purpose on my lunch break. Most times I'm just browsing through youtube or the studio calico message board, ha. Today i have a purpose, I'm cutting out a bunch of leaves - wow big purpose ha, I live a wild life dont' I? My wild life will lead me home where I will catch up with the newest Top Chef episode and ask my daughter out on a date for tomorrow night. Yes, the adventurous life I lead.

Since I don't have photoshop, I had no idea I could edit in Photobucket, duho (homer simpson voice)

sketchbook 2012

I'm super excited to finally have received my book for the Sketchbook 2012 project. There are so many talented people out there and I think its really cool to be part of something like this. I would never call myself a sketch artist, mostly a doodler but I'm looking forward to my book theme: How can I help? I plan on showcasing all the different charities I've helped in LA and some I would like to in the future. I think its cool (yes, I've said that like a bazillion times already) because its my way of getting the word out in my own perspective.

Its kind of a quick turnaround (postmarked by Jan 31st) with all the holiday projects I plan on attempting - christmas carol garland (most likely jingle bells) , a December Daily, and the normal holiday tree and decor. So somewhere in there I have to attempt my sketchbook. I love the idea that friends and family will be able to see my work in a digital library. Not just mine but Samantha and my Mom's too. Its always a family affair!