Water Please...

My husband works a lot.  Actually, we both do... but in household matters I have to admit he's always busy...  I wish he could rest more.

After passing of Hurricane Maria, we needed water.  Long story short, the water we had in the tank, was lost and the serivce was interrupted as you all already know...

So we had to use water from rain to basic everyday chores...  

I just had to document the fact he was very hands on getting everything done and make it happen.  He does it always... and during this kind of disaster he even did it for other lots of people.  I am very proud of him.

For the layout I used several patterned papers and cards, stickers and letters.  The rain/drops in the light blue paper behind the photo, is a stamp from Unity Stamp Co.

... And we Found Gold...

Hi there my friends...

If you have followed me in my social media pages, you know I've been documenting everyday miracles and happenings all my life.  I've been recently making layouts about some things related to Hurricane Maria...  Not complaining.  I am very blessed... but still there are things I want to remember after all this mess is gone... if it happens...

Anyways...  during those months without power and water, and with lots of difficulties to find hot food or cold drinks, we found this local pizzeria in my hometown that was serving food.  

Oh my God... I don't even drink soda and I had this "Coco Rico" with my pizza and it was great.

The layout is titled "Gold"... because this food was gold for us that day.  Even though we had a little gas stove to make food, it was really good to have this pizza and with cold sodas.  It seems something less important to get hot food and cold drinks... but there's a lot of people still suffering without electricity and without resources in my beautiful Puerto Rico, and around the world.  We should give importance to what matters.  Embrace your blessings.

I used several pattered papers, wash tapes, jewels, sequins, doily, chipboard, stickers and more...  Hope you like my page.

Hobby or Therapy?

You know I've been documenting a few things that happened during pass of Hurricane Maria thru Puerto Rico... or as consequence after it...

One of the things I confirmed during these times of desperation was that having a hobby can be a life saver.  Yes... because in good times, you have a hobby and you enjoy free time, and you share with others in some cases, or simply "pass the time" (There's no coincidence that in Spanish, "hobby" is "pasatiempo")...

But in difficult times... in hard times... it seems that you don't have time for a hobby and it's not a priority.  

However, a hobby like scrapbooking, paper crafts or general crafts... is life saver.  It's like therapy and it gives you a great opportunity to escape.

In my world I get lost... Time passes and I don't realize it.   My mind runs and travels... imagines, creates, and is free.   During these hard times when we didn't have electricity or basic services (we did have food and all we need to live), when I needed to relax... my hobby was there.

So this layout shows how I am free in my world, when I am creating.  I used a design paper as base, that kind of reminds me on things flowing... like air...  it has flowers and beautiful colors but the swirls kind of let me go...

I place my photo in a corner and surrounded it with circles... because I am in my own world and in my own circle when creating...   

Note the bird cages and the birds...  it's symbol of my escape when I am creating...  the cages are a stamp from Unity Stamp Co...

I hope you like my page.  You probably saw it in my facebook or instagram pages.  Let me know your thoughts.  

Two Quick Layouts

Hello my dear friends...

Remember I made a layout about a specific happening/learning during struggle of Maria's Hurricane?   Reference HERE.

Well... I intend to make several layouts to document some of the other things that happened or are related to the pass of Hurricane Maria thru Puerto Rico...  It's not a complain whatsoever, but just to remember some things that were and are still being part of our everyday life, worth to remember.

My beautiful Puerto Rico always offers great skies... sunrise or sunset... you enjoy looking at our skies and the different kind of clouds... and the colors...  I'm used to photograph our skies all the time and sometimes I find myself with lots of photos of clouds and skies in my phone... LOL.

But the couple of weeks after Hurricane Maria, I think there was something special in the sky...  There was hope... there was a message of beauty, new beginnings, and faith.   At least that what I felt.  So I chose three photos to represent this in this simple layout.

Another experience related to Hurricane Maria has to be with my birthday.  Yes... my birthday.  I had planned to go to a spa, or maybe have dinner with my husband, or who knows if gathering with friends to celebrate...  But Hurricane Maria had passed about 2 weeks before and we were living chaos in our island.

Millions without basic services such as communications, water, electricity and food.  People without their homes... living in shelters... and lots leaving the island or losing their jobs.

So, the only reason we seem to have to celebrate was my birthday...  but the feeling was not to go to a fancy restaurant of have a party... I just wanted to be there, enjoy the day and be grateful for my life... and the fact that I was going to be able to reintegrate in my job two days right after my birthday (after being very worried and stressful about it)..

So I used lots of elements such as "project life" type cards, patterned papers, stamped images and phrases, buttons, sequins, vellum, and more...

I hope you like my page and thank you for your visit and/or comments.