06.30.11

I don't know if anyone else has been having problems with Blogger, or if it was just me, but I spent most of yesterday and all this morning completely unable to log on.  I could view my blog as well as others, but as soon as I attempted to create or edit a post I would get an error message.  So completely frustrating!  Especially when I have limited opportunites to get on the computer and update.  And now I'm just irritated because when I upload photos they come in sideways.

Anyhow I just wanted a chance to share some favorites of all the cards I made this month...which was a lot!  Once we got back from our trip to Dallas, I dove into making thank you notes for all of Santiago's birthday gifts, the invitations for Paolina's 1st Birthday party and then thank you notes for all her gifts!  I also needed to get caught up on some birthdays I had missed while we had been on our trip, the birthday cards I needed for throughout the month of June as well as Father's Day cards.  So first up is a card I made for my friend's birthday which I had missed while we were gone. Seriously though...she almost did not receive it.  I really, really loved this card and wanted to keep it for myself LOL!

I have mentioned in a few of my past posts that we recently lost a friend to cancer.  We are also friends with his widow (so hard to even use the word "widow"...she's so young and his death came so quickly!) who has a daughter who is just now 19 months old.  Unfortunately she will be going back to work this coming week...her first time back after the diagnosis back in March.  I wanted to let her know that we are thinking of her and praying for her diligently, so I made this card to send her:

Then of course I made a Father's Day card for my wonderful husband who is an absolutely amazing father to our kiddos.

I won't bore everyone with the three dozen simple thank you's I made...although there was one in particular that I liked most of all that I will share.  And it couldn't possibly be the flowers & butterfly...or the all the texture & yummy purple ;)

Thanks so much for looking and I hope that everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

06.27.11

I'm starting to feel like a broken record (as my mom would say) but seriously...June is almost over already?  So I guess I had better get posting with all my projects from this month before we get into July.

I completed five more layouts for challenges over at Colorful Creations.

First up is a simple layout I did using a picture of Noé holding Santiago on his first Father's Day in 2008, along with the Father's Day card I made for him that year. This layout was for their June Holiday Challenge. After photographing & posting it on their site I realized that there was no "apostrophe s" in the title, and I have still yet to go back and add it...and knowing me it just might sit in its designated album forever incomplete LOL!

Next up was my June layout for their 2011 ABC Challenge. This month we were to have a title beginning with the either the letter N, O or P, or a number. And we also had to have the following criteria:

N for name/nickname, needle (and thread), no photo layout or number

O for orange or owl

P for pattern paper or punch

I did a layout of Santiago at the Pumpkin Patch on Halloween in 2009. And to fulfill the criteria I did some handstitching and used orange patterned paper. I look at these photos of him and still feel slightly bad for dragging him out there in that bat costume when it was almost 90 degrees that day...but he looked so darn cute in it!

This layout is of Santiago at Huntington Beach when my in-laws came out to visit over the summer in 2009. I did this one for their Summer Glitter & Glam Challenge.

 

Below is the sketch for Colorful Creation's 4th week of June Guest Designers. This week was Carree Williams.

For my interpretation of the sketch I used some photos of Santiago wearing this adorable winter hat my mom had given him for Christmas. He had just turned 9 months old in these photos...it's hard to believe Paolina is already older than that! Speaking of whom, I'm realizing I've been scrapping an awful lot of photos of her older brother...I really need to get more photos of her developed so she can be in the spotlight too!

My final layout for this month was for their June Birthday Challenge.  We had to complete six challenges along with making a layout using the following sketch & color palette in order to qualify for the drawing.

Here is my interpretation using a photo of my Aunt Sarah & Uncle Ray at the top of the St. Louis Arch when we all went "back home" for 4th of July in 2009. I totally struggled with the color scheme in this challenge, but ended up being extremely pleased with the results!

So I was only able to get seven layouts done this month.  Not because I was too busy to create, but because I was also working on an altered project as well as a plethera of cards.

I finally was able to finish this memorabilia box for my friend who is having a baby girl in July.  This is kind of my signature gift for baby showers.  I try to make a box that coordinates with the nursery and the style of the mother.  This box was a struggle for me because I just wanted to keep adding more, but I knew that my friend would appreciate a more simple style.  I almost wonder if the bling will be too much lol, but I couldn't resist! Anyhow, I had wanted to make it & give it to her a month ago, but her shower was the night before Paolina's 1st Birthday party, so I had been consumed with crafting & cooking for the party, not to mention that every craft store in the area was out of the dark brown wired ribbon that I needed for the handle.  Very strange and very frustrating.  And here is the card I made to go with it:

I have to admit to cheating on this card.  It's basically from a Basic Grey card kit, and I added the Prima flowers, mother of pearl buttons & punched butterflies.  And instead of using the rub-on they had provided (which said something about mothers) I used Thickers to spell "Baby"

I also made end-of-the-year thank you cards for Santiago to give his preschool teacher and the two assistants:

I also made several dozen simple thank you notes for Paolina's birthday gifts plus some other miscellaneous cards but posting those will have to wait for another day as I hear one of my little rascals stirring from their afternoon nap.

06.07.11

Well it's official. My baby girl is now a One-Year Old.  How did this last year fly by so fast?  I don't remember Santiago's first year going so quickly.  It's making me feel a bit grateful that I am so far behind in my scrapping so that now I will be able to look back at Paolina's first year and reminisce, like I do as I scrap Santiago's photos.

Speaking of which, I just finished a layout of him when he was about 7 months old.  I had posed him in this little "sock monkey" outfit that my mom had made and given to me at my baby shower.  And he was holding a sock monkey that my grandma had made for me when I was a baby.  You can also see it over at the Colorful Creations gallery where I entered it into their June Trains & Tiaras challenge.  I apologize for the photo...the lighting really washed out the red and despite fooling around with it in Photoshop, I just couldn't get it to look right!

I also completed a layout for another challenge site that I really enjoy, The Color Room.  Here is this week's palette:

And here's my interpretation using a photo from my birthday date last year.  One of my favorite things about this photo of me is that I was almost 30 weeks pregnant with Paolina, but you can't even tell!  Unfortunately the photo of the layout is another washed out one that just doesn't do justice to the beautiful teal paper and scrumptious embellishments!

As far as scrapbooking, that's all I've had time for.  Paolina's first birthday party had me consumed this past week.  I even decorated her cake myself.  Before you check out the photo, please keep in mind that I have never, ever in my life decorated a cake.  I also ran out of icing while I was decorating it at 10:30pm the night before the party, so the bottom of the cake looks unfinished because...well....it is.  So while I'm considerably proud of my work as a first-timer, I'm doubting that there will be any pastry chefs knocking down my door anytime soon lol.

I'll be back soon I'm sure.  There are lots more challenges at Colorful Creations this month, and now that I've completed some of my recent commitments I hope to have time to scrap more and get all my creations posted!

Colorful Creations Blog Hop Winner!

So I decided to go the "old fashioned" route (no computerized, random generators for me lol) and I put all the participating Colorful Creations members' names into a box and drew....Kerys!

Congratulations Kerys!!!

Please PM me over at Colorful Creations with your mailing address so I can get your prize to you.