A Beautiful Song

I just found this today and it made my heart smile...enjoy!!!

CCCCHHHHANGES!!!

Missed Me??? I know, I've been bad again at updating my blog but things in this household have changed quite a bit.

Hubby has been looking for a new job for almost 6 months now and we have had to make some drastic changes. My blogs have not been on my priority list for a while and probably will not be still for a few more months.

This life experience has really taken me and my family all by surprise and we have all been learning a lot here. We are all still going throgh it and the light at the end of the tunnel is still pretty far away but hope has not left us.

I have had moments of time where I still made a few creations and layouts. This is one that fits this post pretty well because that is how we all feel here lately...just plain WORN OUT!!! But in reality, this picture was taken this past summer and it was the only time my son had fallen asleep at a table while waiting for lunch. Needless to say, he has a lot of fun this summer and was always pretty exhausted from all the activities.

This layout uses retired patterned paper from a Stampin'Up. Love using thickers lately and the black ones are still my favorite...brown ones come second.
I used the negative of our exclusive Big Shot Top Note Bigz Die as a frame, some white acrylic paint, gaffer tape from 7Gypsies and a big felt flower from Target. This was an easy and quick page!!!

A Tutorial

Hello Friends...

Just wanted to let you know I posted my very first tutorial in my Stampin'Up blog for a cool mini album.

Here's a pic:



Just go to www.creativitywithstamps.typepad.com for the tutorial

oh...and leave me a comment if you like the project or the tutorial...the blog is pretty lonely without any comments

Lots of Hugs!!!

Just Keep Going, going, going...

Just got over a week long flu and the antibiotics almost killed me this time. Seriously, they made me so weak and finally today I started catching up on house work and actually got to send out my Stampin'Up monthly newsletter so I am starting to feel like I am breathing well again.

Kids schools are keeping me busy as well...they seem to have after school activities once or twice a week now. Once I start them on a sport, I think I may be either driving them a lot start coaching them into biking with me to places.

Since I am a youtube fan, I often have my kids with me and we all watch new videos together...it may be pretty lame for some but since we don't have cable and rarely watch TV, this is a really nice past time for us.

Of course, once we find some cool videos, my kids ask me to play them over and over again which results in us all having crazy songs stuck in our heads. Here's what has been stuck in our heads for two weeks...enough to drive the sanest person MAD!!! So here...get these stuck in your head too!!!

INSPIRED!!!

There have been so many people inspiring me lately!!! One in particular caught my eye so strongly I quickly went out to get a canvas and create something similar myself.

I have been a fan of Heather Nichols for a while now and stalk her blog quite often. As soon as I saw her canvas project, I had to give it a try and came up with this...which oddly enough, my hubby had more to say about it than just "that's nice"...which means he truly liked it. You can see Heather's project HERE

SIMPLE CARD

Hi there....

I've been creating up a storm lately in my room and it's been keeping my mind occupied from being in limbo...hubby has been looking for a new job in these past two months and I do often get anxious since I hate the feeling of not knowing what we're going to do next.

Here's a simple card I did for my dad's 61st birthday. I love the simplicity of it and even though I don't color all too well, I do actually like how my coloring turned out.

Isn't this stamp lovely? This stamp is actually a gift I got from my friend Serena in Italy at Impronte D'Autore

MET TIM HOLTZ

Yes, it's been a while....

Been scrappin', stamping, taking some classes in these past few weeks.

I started the month of august by attending my very first Tim Holtz class and it was soooo good. Tim is an excellent teacher and full of tips and knowledge. He is a very generous and patient man..yes, I guess the patience level does need to be pretty high with 36 + women in the class...all with different and unique personalities (if you know what I mean)

Anyhoo, here's a pic that I got with him...wish I had turned out a bit better but who cares!!!

What kind of FRUIT are U?

Ok...I normally don't do these types of things but I thought this one was cute and I do like the result...because it'a true.

You Are a Strawberry

You are friendly, outgoing, and well liked by many people. You are popular, but there's nothing you ordinary or average about you. You a very interesting person, and you have many facets to your personality. Sometimes you feel very conflicted. Your different sides of your personality pull at you. You are a very sensual and passionate person. You are fiery... you can't help it. In general, you keep your passionate side under wraps. You are only wild in private.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

BACK FROM VACATION

I'm finally home from our two week adventure vacation. I am pooped and after 4 full days of doing laundry for 8 people, I'm still trying to catch up on everything.

Here's a pic of all of us on vacation...we're in Carmel here to be exact and I think this is the only pic we managed to take of all of us at once...this was our first day so we all still look pretty good and full of energy.

MOVIE NIGHT

We celebrated Elisa's 4th birthday yesterday and had a chance to spend some time with friends. It was a lot of fun!!!

Today we decided to take it easy before our big two week adventure. We watched the Lion King II and we all enjoyed it very much. I really love Disney movies and they never give me nightmares at night.

Here's one of my favorite videos that reminds me of the Lion King!!!

I'M A WATER SIGN

Yes, I discovered this when I went to massage school and I am happy about it. I found a video (at the end of this post) that inspired me and I wanted to share it here.

I spoke to my friend Helen today...not only is she one of my best friends but also a person that has amazing intellect. I was reading a quote to her today from my journal and I decided to post it here (it's from a book called "Thinker Toys"):

We do not choose to be born.
We don not choose our parents.
We do not choose our historical epoc, nor do
We choose the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.
We do not, most of the time, choose to die, nor do
We choose the time or conditions of our death, but
Within this realm of choicelessness,
We do choose how we shall live, with purpose or adrift,
With joy or joylessness,
With Hope or with despair,
With Humor or with sadness,
With a positive outlook or with a negative outlook,
With pride or with shame,
With Inspiration or with defeat,
With honor or dishonor.
We decide what makes us significant or insignificant.
We decide to be creative or to be indifferent.
No matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices or decisions,
These choices and decisions are ours to make,
We decide...we choose.
In the end, our own creativity is decided by what
We choose to do, or what we refuse to do, and as
We decide and choose, so are our destinies formed

Summer 2007 Album

Here's a pic of the front cover of an album I am currently working on...that Donna Downey inspired me so much with the fabric albums I decided to work my Stampin'Up chipboard book covers, cover them with canvas fabric and alter them. This will be a 9X9 album and I will use three rings to hold my 9X9 plastic sheet covers.

FABRIC ALBUM PART 2

Here are the final pics of the album

FABRIC ALBUM

Here's a new album I worked on a few months ago...again, even though I do not post for a while, I do scrap and stamp...I'm just very lazy at uploading pictures, tweaking them and updating my blog with everything. These things seem to take so much of my time, I keep thinking...with all that time, I could be creating something new...but, nevertheless, I do at one point decide to let you all see my creations.

This is a mini fabric album I got from an amazing scrapbook artist, Donna Downey. I loved this album kit as soon as I saw it and I was so happy to get it and finish it on a weekend.

Me - The Dumb People

Ok...so why do I call myself the "Dumb people"...well, here's the condensed story.

About a year and 1/2 ago I decided to stop watching the news and reading the newspaper. I was tired of getting up in the morning and starting my day with all the "bad" things that people were doing around the world, get back home, turn the tv again and even more bad things people did from the time I left in the morning till the time I got home in the afternoon...I mean, all that crap just put me in such a bad and negative mood.

So, I decided to stop it all and just get the important facts from family and friends (just the important ones) once in a while...I did not know what to call myself but after watching this old Goldie Hawn clip, I decided to call myself the "dumb people" since I obviously don't even get informed anymore by the smart people in the media and newspapers. I can truly say that I feel more at peace now and love to see the bottle half full rather than half empty.

Having lived in many countries and seen/heard all these smart people delivering information to us all, I can tell you that one event is almost always conveyed to us all in different ways by different people, in different institutions and different countries. Even after taking a couple of statistics classes in college, I remember learning that the "official" studies done by medical and food organizations and other types of companies are almost total flukes since they do not reveal all the gathering data from the people or tests to come up with their results. I mean, when I was pregnant, I read that a study found that eating fish was dangerous during pregnancy and just the other week, a friend told me that a new study has found that eating fish is actually good for you and your baby. This is just one example of the many studies redone and coming up with different results than before.

How many times, do people decide to get a second or third opinion from different doctors? How many times, did we find ourselves that each opinion was different? Think about that...

Now, here's the light bulb that just made me realize how me the "dumb people" is letting the "smart People" screw up this world...I must take action, even if it's in a small part.

I am sure my opinion and way of life probably does not apply to all or any of my blog readers and I am sure a lot of readers would disagree with me but that is my opinion and I love that I can write it down and share it here in my blog.

Enjoy this funny and "dumb" video!!!

Album In A Box

As usual, it's been a while and I will probably not post very often since this summer will be packed with visitors coming over to see us and stay with us for the next three months.

We also will be taking our first road trip here in the States with the kids and will be visiting Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Big Sur, Grand Canyon and a few other places.

I have had some time here and there to work on a few projects and this is one of my favorites. I had gotten a big pack of chipboard coasters from a friend and had been sitting in a box for over a year. Well, I managed to get them out to build this album box and the make front/back covers for the four mini albums that are inside the box.

I absolutely love my bind-it-all and I love playing with it...it does cut through chipboard. Can not forget to mention one of my favorite paper collections from Stampin'Up called "Spring Fling" used here and the ever-delicious chocolate chip taffeta ribbon.

Also, if you have not paid a visit to my new blog with all Stampin'Up goodies, you can go check it out HERE Make sure you subscribe to get automatic updates!!!

MY OTHER NEW BLOG

Been MIA for a while here....been working hard!!!

I did want to tell you all about my new blog exclusively for Stampin'Up.

You can go see it HERE.

You can subscribe to it so you get notified of new postings automatically. There will be a lot of Stampin'Up eye candy, tutorials, tips, and some contests...so go sign up!!!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE...

Hello All,

Yes, back again...been busy with flu, colds, scrapbooking, my Stampin'Up business and organizing again.

Actually I have been doing a lot of crafting but with everything else going on it's been a challenge to keep up with everything.

I am busy creating a new blog that will have only Stampin'Up related material...tons of pics, some tutorials, news and more...so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, here is a layout I recently did of a day last summer spent with my friend Angie and her wonderful family. Angie is one of those women I just met randomly while posting on Splitcoaststampers and actually became neighbors, by fate, when I lived up in the East Bay Area. She too is a Stampin'Up demo and she is by far, one of the most giving and true friends I have ever had. Angie...I LOVE YOU!!!

Spring is in the Air

Yes, Here in Sunnyvale, CA Spring started two weeks ago with all the trees blooming, rain falling for days and my hubby with his allergies which is keeping us up at night. I am not sure why Spring came so early but maybe it's also an indication that Summer will come early as well? I truly hope so because this girl loves HEAT!!!

I know I have not been good at updating my blog lately. But I have been creating tons of things for my workshops, upcoming classes and now I am going to start teaching at a new scrapbooking store that just opened nearby...oh, yes and I have been creating layouts for myself as well...one of my layouts is shown here.

I have been loving using my new Stampin'Up papers and they are just so beautiful. Even though I think the Spring/Summer 2008 Collection catalog is doing a terrific job at showcasing the stamps, I think it needs quite a bit of work at showcasing the true beauty of the Designer Series Papers and Scrappin' Kits.

This layout features the new Ginger Blossom Designer Series Papers and one of the new Hostess stamp sets called "For A Friend". Oh, can't forget to mention that dainty little chipboard heart from the huge chipboard paper pack "On Board Accents" and the gorgeous flower from the "Pretties Kit"...hey, did you know that you can color those flowers with just about anything? You can apply our poppin' pastels on them, color them with our reinkers (yes, the same reinkers that are used to reink our ink pads, ink spots and markers) and even stamp on them? Yes, they are truly amazing and extremely alterable and versatile.

Now, I just have to find time to work on my photo skills...see, this pictures is showing you how bad I still am at taking good photos.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

This was the idea when I was creating this layout...my family is my home!!! All papers, stamps and embellishments Stampin'Up.

Valentine's Day is approaching...so many flowers, hearts, chocolates abound...LOVE IT!!!

CHRISTMAS 2007 LAYOUT

I was able to do only one layout for this past Christmas so far...mostly because I have been working on classes. Finally breaking in my Hambly goodies. The music paper was bought from Etsy and I just sprayed it with archival spray.

Remembering Xmas 2007

Just wanted to share some pics of the home decor in my place this past Christmas...yes, I know, I am probably the last blogger to post this subject. (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE PICTURES BETTER).

Couple of comments on the pics: The "Trust" ornament was a gift from one of my Stampin'Up team members, Heather (thank you!!!), the owl is one of those things that you just see at the store and even though you don't "need" anything new, you just need to have, all the other ornaments are our family favorites, the little clay angels is another piece of artwork from my mom, the little skinny Santa was bought in Italy during a visit.

I did get a few other gorgeous ornaments and gifts from friends and family but I did not get a chance to take pictures of them...guess, I'll post them for Xmas2008.

Happy New Year 2008!!!

Happy New Year to All!!!

I have been on vacation...spending time with family, revisiting "SNOW" (and actually enjoying it for a change), putting my scrap room all together and preparing for upcoming classes (yes, not much scrappin' done).

I had been tagged a little while ago by a talented paper crafter VICKI.... and I finally have a moment to sit down and fill in my 7 random things:

1. I am picky about where I lay my body to sleep...picky with mattresses, picky with room temperature, bed sheets and I must sleep on the right side of the bed (I swear it's about the only "princess" thing about me).

2. I have been a good cook for only about 3 years (my hubby will tell you different but then again, he could eat at a fast food place for a week in a row)...you think growing up with an amazing cook (my mom) that I would have picked up this talent early but I was a VERY VERY lazy person.

3. I am a messy person by nature and organization for me has been a BIG challenge!!!

4. I still love goth music...just when I think that it's out of my system, every time I run into a new song and I love it soooo much...I find out it's goth

5. I am an introverted extrovert: I may seem that I am very social but I am soooo terribly shy (I put up a good front; and my Stampin'Up business has made me step out of my comfort zone...thank you Stampin'Up!)

6. I lost my best friend from high school this year...no, she did not pass away, she just decided that not calling her for 4 months straight meant that I obviously did not care and that no one can be that busy (oh...she is not married and does not have any kids)...this event has been a very sad one for me lately.

7. I got a nose job right after a bad car accident in 1996.

Ok...so off on to tagging other people:

1. My friend Brigitte from Australia
2. A new cool SIS from ScrapinStyletv
3. A girl I am hoping to meet next week...her name is JANE and she lives nearby..how lucky am I?

I think I was supposted to tag either 1 more person or 4 more people but that is all I can do for now so you can tag yourself if you would like!!!

I wanted to leave you with a new layout I did a little while ago (I have been doing a few scrapbooking projects but I have not had a chance to load them up)