Nice Start for Holy Week...

Ready to finish March? And to start April with a Holy Week? How cool is this? The very first week of the month is Holy Week. Palm Sunday is tomorrow, April 1st. This indicates April is going to be a great month, I know it...

Sometimes you need to convince yourself of positive things and the attitude will lead you to great things, believe me... And you'll have more fun... try it.

I am excited for Holy Week for many reasons... but one of them is this card I made as a special request for someone. You know I love to do cards with a meaning. This is very special. A father who has not seen his children for near 20 years. I am not the one to go into details of this true life story, but I can tell you this father was unfairly accused so their children could be taken away from him... He's suffered as much as you can imagine, but always has been strong thanks to his faith. He finally demonstrated innocence and all of the sudden, his 20 something year old daughter contacted him with the wish to meet him. Can you imagine? Nearly 20 years wishing to see your children growing old and you could not contact them, didn't know where they were, what they thought about him... This man not only got strength in God but is strong enough to be a good example as a man, husband, worker, citizen, friend, brother, uncle... and all the roles you can imagine.

Anyway, he'll see his daughter in Holy Week. What a blessing.

And he's bringing this card with him, for her daughter.

And let me explain you its meaning... because this is not just another card.

First of all, an olive green handwriting paper (it's embossed with Cuttlebug machine embossing folders). The color was chosen because he told me he has always identified with that color... and it's also kind of the color of hope, right? The words embossed in the paper are God's Word in which he always found hope all these years. He has always found comfort in his Bible... these words live with him.

And then... the big red heart... He's had love for all... he's never hated anyone (some people might think he has reasons to hate and be angry). And this heart is also representative of the love for his children, and in this case his daughter to meet. The heart is in pieces because has suffered, and it has one of the pieces in green color to simbolize the hope and faith he has never lost. The center of the heart is broken and weak (I even used sand paper to really mistreat this heart so it can show this way).

The girly pink high heel shoe? It's his daughter! Already a woman, and placed in a special frame, standing out from all other elements because for her father, she is the most precious and loved master piece. I used lots of 3D squares and circles to pop up the frames and the shoe. They show the shoe in a different dimension vs the rest of the card elements.

Then the numbers... meaning the father never stopped counting the days for the reunion... they mean time...

The arrows lead to the road the father had always in mind... focused in one and only direction: his goals with his daughter in mind... straight forward, not looking to the past... And the rows are olive green and pink, the colors of both the father and daughter.

There's a dove to represent the Holy Spirit, God's blessings that the father never stopped sending and wishing to his daughter. And also those blessings that never lacked during the whole process.

In the interior of the card there is a message from the Bible... one the father always have for those "sad" moments throughout his life.

They are going to meet this week. I can't wait to hear how it went, so many emotions!!!! Inspiring story, isn't it? Sometimes we think we can only hear these stories from movies or soap operas, but this is life.

I only hope my card can be part of a special memory, a moment to remember and value, a representation of that reunion of love.

Artwall... Wall Art

Hola a todos...

Hope you are enjoying and scrapping your life to the full potential!!!!

Today I want to show you a project that I have still not finished but I am excited to share... so why wait?

You know I recently moved to a new office... but I have not put anything in the walls yet. The photos and framed articles I had in the old office were not appropriate for the new one (too big, branded, old...)... So I decided to do my own wall art for my new office.

It's not a big deal... I know most of you do it all the time... but well, this is mine! hahahahaha...

I didn't want to spend money on this, so I used these very same frames from the office. These had photos displayed in the hallway and were going to be destroyed. I just got 4... and later I thought I should have got some more...

So I've already made 2 of the projects (my plan is to do 3 or 4)... and I decided to share with you now...

This is the first one... It's totally made with cutted images from Cricut. It's very simple...and this is what I like about it. Lots of differents flower shapes, in vibrant colors. I used papers from a TAC collection I bought several years ago, and still have some scraps and elements...

The cardstock in the background has texture and a pearlescent look. Beautiful!

I placed "parenthesis" shapes to simulate stems. Outside in the mat, I placed some other little flowers with the theme and stamped the sentiment "Live, Laugh, Love". The stamp is from Inkadinkado.

When I finished it, I thought it was maybe too girly for the office... but at the same time it's a nice message and, what's the problem being girly, right? Anyway, I have not hang it in the office yet... let's see what happens.

I decided to have them all finished before I take them to the office, so when I hang them on the walls I can see how they all look together.

I made a second one... It happened the same thing when I finished... I was like... this is not what I had in mind for the office... but I like it... So I am going to show you anyway.

The idea was to do something with the sentiment: Wherever you go, go with all your heart. I have this stamp from Unity, and I really like this message/quote. I also wanted to use mixed materials... I wanted to paint, to cut, to draw, make my own things... you know... I wanted to express myself in this one... so this is the result...

My big heart has wings... it goes a lot of places! It's purple because I like that color and this is how I made it... I painted a piece of canvas with the purple ink. I cut it into little pieces and glued them in a carstock square. When arranged as I wanted, I drawed a heart in the back side and cut the shape. I love the result. The wings are from Fancy Pants chipboard shapes.

I love my flying heart...

Then I used washy tapes and stickers to have a fantasy corner... with the ballerina representing the girl I'll always be... I handwrote the word "dream" to remind me to not stop dreaming.

I also placed chipboard elements, and strips of papers bent and painted to create some dimensions... and handwrote the word "heart" in the corner as well. At the bottom of the artwork I also used some washy tape. It's supposed to be Christmas washy tape, but I do this a lot... I do not use it for what it's supposed or meant to be... I love doing that!!! Rebel?

The base of the project is painted and stamped with different colors and images for background... Here I just wanted to express freely.

Then I stamped the sentiment in the mat frame, and drawed a little heart along.

The bycicle is important because goes perfectly with my message... "wherever you go, go with all your heart"... it represents I'm "going" any place... and the heart is with me all the time. It's a girly bike from Dear Lizzy products (American Crafts), and I added in the basket some cut flowers from a patterned paper.

I really hope you liked my projects... I enjoyed a lot doing them.

When I have the other one or two to complete the series for the office walls... I will share them with you.

Thank you for your comments. I enjoy so much reading them... :)

SFO Layouts

And there was a time all I made was layouts... and now it's different... so many projects and different things (cards, party favors, special requests... blah blah blah)....

So I recently met with friends and did some layouts... finally... wooo hooo!

Here are two of them...

You know I like to document things in layouts in kind of weird ways... When we were in San Francisco we took these pictures of us drinking sangria in a restaurant called Cha,Cha,Cha... and it's just our chest, hand and glass...

I remember when we visited this restaurant, which I had read about it, we were on our way to Napa Valley (from San Francisco)... so we were with all our bags and ready to leave San Francisco behind and go to Napa. We had planed to go to this restaurant for lunch, then stop in Sausalito, go to the Muir Woods National Park, and arrive to Napa at night...

So when I saw this paper from DCWV Mainstreet Stack, that my friend Mineluz had given me at Christmas... I immediately thought it could be nice for this layout since it has these bags or trunks printed in a corner...

Then, the look of the patterned paper reminded me the colorful place and the nice time we had there...

Without saying too much, I tried to compose a page that would remind me of the moment... feeling like a real tourist with lot of things planed for the day... Loved it...

Then I also made this other layout about Lombard street. Have you heard about this curvy street in San Francisco?

I have several pictures taken of this street, but the one I like is this with my husband enjoying the moment... and the flow of people around the touristic spot ... It's the real movement of the place... people taking pictures, going up the street and down for more, taking videos, crossing, the cars very carefully because there's people like me in the middle of the intersection trying to take a good photo...

I made the page simple, also taking advantage of the patterned paper from same Mainstreet Stack.

There is a street sign in the page, so I rubbed on the name of the famous street so I did not have to include it in the title...

I cut the pole on the sides to let a patterned paper strip slide behind. I also liked the handwriting journaling and the handmade embellishment (which I also made a similar one for another layout of Las Vegas)... to make it special.

So I felt good doing these layouts... Relived the moments, enjoyed the blessing of having the opportunity to be there at that moment...

This is one of the reasons I love scrapbooking...

Thanks for your comments... :)

All in a Tray!

Have you seen those nice trays you can use to display photos, cover with art, or simply embellish for a hand made house decor?

I was crazy about them and so wanted to do something with it... So I decided to capture my trip to Napa in one of these trays... and here it is...

I included a photo within a photo from my balloon trip, which is very representative of Napa...

The large balloon is from another photo and I cut it and placed on top of this one with 3D squares for dimension.

I used this Tim Holtz' grungeboard shapes to add related icons of the trip... I painted them and placed in cardstock and chipboard circles for different layers...

I divided photos to show in two as the tray has divisions... I love the concept of the photo to be continued...

I also added elements from the trip that were significant... like this cork from one of the wineries we visited...

Instead of using the name of NAPA as the title, I used a photo of the valley sign to establish the place of the events...

I also used stickers which I placed on top of cardstock circles to add personality, and stamps in patterned papers.... just to kind of half make my own embellishments.

These letters are also from Tim Holtz. Just snap them and place them... they are self adhesive.

Photos or elements are at different levels from the surface... I thought this was so cool.

So I hope this is just the first one of other trays I can work. They come in many shapes and different sizes. Divisions can also be asymmetric (not as this one that all spaces are the same size and shape).

Leave me your comments and show me yours.

Car Nightmare

Isn't it a nightmare when you go to buy a car? Not necessarily, I know... It could be a little stressful when gathering information to make the right choice according to budget and needs... but it should also be fun. And when you finally have decided to buy the car, then you should be happy, don't you?

Well... my mom has had a horrible experience. She went for a used car because she cannot pay a high monthly debt, so after some research, she bought a used car. Then the very first week she had problems with it and had to return it to the dealer...

Long story short... she has been given about 5 cars as replacement in the last two months while the dealer "fix" the car she bought and she has been paying to the bank.... What a nightmare...

Finally, after some fights... she ended up with a new car, and a debt I'm not really sure how she will be able to pay... :(... what a crazy end!

Anyway... it's a stressful situation... and I admit I can sometimes be unhelpful, since when she tell me about these things I also get frustrated and would love to help, but you know... there are some things I cannot decide for her. So it's been tough...

And since finally she has her car, that hopefully won't give her any problems, I made her this card...

The card can look kind of childish, but knowing her... she'll love it! Since she has had several cars of different colors lately, I cut these from "Graphically Speaking" cartridge, with the Cricut Expression.

The road is totally handmade paper piecing... I did want to have the childish look for her...

And the sentiment means "Smile". And I have to say... she's awesome... Even though she has struggled in all this process... she's always smiled and made fun about the fact that she has had more cars than anyone else in such a short amount of time!!!! LOL!

Have you had a bad experience when buying a car? How about a house, or maybe any other simple article that you've had to return endlessly? Tell me about it friend... be imperfect and tell me... :)