Blessing!

Hello.... I know I know... it's been a while. I have just a few followers yet but hopefully they miss me when it's been a while and I haven't posted anything. Hope you are fine. I've been incredibly busy at work... so busy that I really haven't done any Xmas shopping... (not that I will spend a lot or are used to buy a lot of presents because remember it's the 3 Wise Men the ones who mainly visit my house, but still I haven't had the time for any of that... but I believe in magic!!!!). Anyways, I made this layout to somehow reflect what Xmas means to me.

I used a photo of the three of us and the title is "Blessing"... and in my journaling I tried to explain that there's a lot of things we thank God everyday, but no matter all obstacles in life, or how you feel, it's in the Holidays you think most about God's blessings, because Christmas is magic!!!

I used some pre made embelishments but I also made some with stamps, and distressed circles of different sizes, and so. I hope you enjoy it and at least make you think of your own blessings.

(Patterned paper: Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye; Chipboard shapes: Fancy Pants; Stamps: Inkadinkado, The Angel Company, Portafolia; Inks: Color Box, Vibrance; Adhesives: Scotch, Generations, Glue Dots, Scrapbook Adhesives, Glossy Accents (Inkssentials); Paper punches: Martha Stewart, Memory Makers; Miscellaneous: buttons, cardstock scraps, gel pens, fiber/feather, scissors, paper trimmer)

I also wanted to share with you some photos of us participating of the Operation Christmas Child. It's an activity coordinated by a non profit organization. They ask people to donate Xmas gifts for children in need around the World. It's fun to do it, a process you enjoy, and especially if you have children of your own I would think it's a great activity so they can understand the value of giving to other children in need. These kids from other countries will receive a gift from your kids and or families in a very cool way. I am very happy we were invited to participate and had the opportunity to do it.

Let me explain more... You have to use shoe boxes. Decide age and gender of the kid destined to receive your gift. Wrap the box, fill it with nice gifts that you can accomodate in the box, identify it and you are done.

We decided to make 6 presents; 3 for girls and 3 for boys at the three ages groups provided. So we went to buy nice things to fill the boxes.

We then coveed the boxes and lids with nice Xmas wrapping paper.

We also covered the inside of the boxes with Xmas scrapbooking paper.

Some members of the family tried to call our attention while we were working...

We filled the boxes with the nice things we bought (personal care, school supplies and toys).

And we also included a Xmas card and a photo!

Closed the boxes...

... Identify age and gender with the tag provided....

And ready!

Six children will receive gifts from us... and it felt great to do this for little persons we don't even know but we feel they are going to be very happy....

I told you! Xmas is magic!!!! Merry Christmas...

Oh, Christmas Tree!!!

Is the first week of December already gone? Wow! I need to get conscious about time going so fast and start partying.... My husband and I said that this Xmas we should go to more parties... hahahaha... So if there's nothing to do one weekend, we should make it happen... Yes... make it happen... Even if it is just the two of us enjoying a bottle of wine, or going to the movies, or just hanging out... make it happen... and make it a party. And you know what? That's kind of what we should have in mind all the time. MAKE IT A PARTY. Make your life a party. Enjoy every second of it... Even if you are living through a tough phase of your life right now, try to see the positive side of it, be conscious that you are breathing and have your senses working, and simply you are alive. I know it is easy to say so when you are not the one going through the situation, but most of the time one doesn't realize the value of the experience until it has already happened... So have patience and in the meanwhile... MAKE IT A PARTY... woooo hooooo!!!

Anyway... let's talk about Christmas trees... Here are two more Christmas cards to remind us of this beautiful Xmas season...

The first one is a little card featuring a red Xmas tree. Why does it have to be green, right? The phrase "ho, ho, ho" is cut from a patterned paper and then I applied some Glossy Accents. Hope you like it.

Then there is this other card, also with Xmas trees. The featured one here is chipboard and I framed it to be the star of the card among the other trees from the patterned paper used as base. I liked the result very much... Hope you like it too.

(patterned papers: Flair Designs, My Mind's Eye, DCWV; chipboard: Fancy Pants; ink: Color Box; miscellaneous: ribbon, paper punches, adhesives, Glossy Accents, Cricut Expression and Stretch your Imagination cartridge)

And talking about Christmas trees... Remember I said my Xmas tree was special? Surrealist, creative, different, extraordinary, unexpected.... hahahaha... I really like it.

Let me tell you about it... Since we are kind of saving some money and trying not to spend a lot lately, I knew I had to use the same ornaments I've had for several years. And last year I'd said that this was the year I was going to buy new ones... Yeah, right... Well... long story short... I told my husband that I wanted to add a different touch to the tree. Since it was going to have the same ornaments, we had to do something that made it stand out from the previous years. It was magical.... because we were thinking and throwing ideas... and then we saw a Xmas garland in a store with a triangular shape hanging in the ceiling and we looked at each other and said at the same time: "Let's put it upside down!!!!!".... yeah! And that's what we did.

Here I share the steps that I follow, in case you want to be monkey see monkey do...

Step 1: You need to have a loving husband who is willing to do the hard work.

Step 2: Make sure you enjoy the process... love and be loved while working...

Step 3: Let your husband work and do not be such a pain... but be in charge of the finishing touches.

Step 4: If you are too tired, continue the work the following date... but have your assistant always beside you.

Step 5: Enjoy and don't get mad when people call you "crazy", because it's true.

And now... tell me about your Christmas tree... Did you already have one at home?

Giveaway from Robert's Arts & Crafts and DCWV

Hello friends...

Just stopping by to alert you about this amazing giveaway sponsored by Robert's Arts & Crafts and DCWV.

Die Cuts with a View is one of the favorite brands and I'm subscribed to their blog... and I just found out about this giveaway. There are several ways to enter, but please click HERE to read more about Robert's Arts & Crafts and the details of the giveaway.

Good luck!

Driving Back Home...

Hello...

Well... I'll be travelling a couple of days for work and I wanted to make sure to post another message this week... and it's a great opportunity to confirm this "scheduled" posting works... So if you are reading this message before November is gone... then it works!!!!

Well well... so what's this post about? Does it happen to you? Is your mind very active when you are driving back home? I know minds are awesome and are always doing something... but when I'm driving back home is like I have relaxed and stressful feelings combined at the same time... Crazy, huh?

It takes me an average of 45 minutes to drive back home from the office everyday, from Monday to Friday... and that is if there's not any special happening affecting traffic. And there's so much in my mind... I review the day... all the things I did, what I left for tomorrow, things being said to me and by me, projects completed, new tasks...

And then... I remember something and I write it down... so I don't forget. And then, I remember I have to buy things, I need to clean that, I should call ... blah blah blah... Then... I get a call from mom, read a text message from my brother, tell my husband I'm on my way home, etc... (I'm not a saint, but really... I avoid using the phone while driving, I use a bluetooth, and I text if the traffic is slow and there's no risk...)...

And, driving back home, I look around and see other cars, other people, the trees, the signs, the sky... And I give thanks to God... And I turn on the radio, listen to music, sing (or make some noise), and move my hands to the rythm of music...

And one day I said to myself: How do I look while driving back home? And the traffic was too heavy... I was almost stopped. So I took my camera and turned on the timer and get ready for a picture... and this is how I look!

And I scrapped the photo... and I documented my driving back home experience. Here's the layout...

Have you ever scrapped your "driving back home" or similar experience? Do you like to scrap on everyday situations or do more traditional scrapbooking for birthdays, special occassions, etc? Please share your experience with me...



(patterned paper: Fancy Pants Designs, Basic Grey; journaling card: My Mind's Eye; stamp: Glitz Designs; flowers: Prima; brads: Fun Expressions; ink: Color Box; pen: Sakura, Sharpie; punches: Martha Stweart; adhesives: Scotch, Scrapbook Adhesives; miscellaneous: cardstock, ribbon, Cricut cartridges Opposites Attract & Graphically Speaking)

I Love...

Hello everybody...

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day... and that your Black Friday is not so black after all!!! My Thanksgiving was very good. I was at my mother in law's with all the family and we had a great time together.

And I haven't posted anything for a while. My computer is kind of crazy. We are planning to ask Santa Claus for a new one... or maybe the Three Wise Men will take care of it... (In Puerto Rico we celebrate the Three Kings' Day or Three Wise Men's Day on Jan 6th. and is more of a local tradition. They bring presents as well. For what I've learned, most people in the metro area think of the 3Kings' Day as a secondary festivity during Xmas and the toys or presents expected are less important than the one received in Xmas Day. However, for us people from the center of the Island, the 3Kings' Day is even more important and they bring better toys and presents because they are three -instead of just one - and they are rich because they are kings...). So, let's see what happens...

So anyway... I've worked several layouts recently and haven't posted... This one I worked it last weekend. I met with some friends and celebrated our "Wine, Cheese and Scrapbooking" activity. Yes... just like my blog's title. We've been celebrated this activity for a while. We meet to scrap, and our husbands are with us... serving us wine, cooking, and just sharing... Isn't it nice? We've celebrated 20 WC&S already and hope we continue doing it. It's great to share this hobby and it's an opportunity to keep on feeding our friendship.

This layout is called "I love"... and shows a picture of my goddaughter, Fabiola, with my dog, Malbec. I just love it when Malbec is so kind and always willing to play with kids and allowing them to touch him, and just love him... All kids love him, for sure... And Fabiola thinks she owns it when other kids want to touch him... her face just changes completely like saying... "this is my dog" ... hahahaha... but I love the way Malbec behaves around children.

The paper from Bo Bunny already has a lot of elements, so I just used it as base as is, and added some things like the heart banner I cut from other paper, the ribbon I placed with glue dots, just bending it with free from (you know... just don't forget to add the obvious imperfect touch), and the little chipboard hearts to emphasize on love.

I used this yellow letters from American Crafts to break a little bit on color pattern the layout was resulting to have, but I also lined them with a glitter pen so they can be more noticed...

I'll be posting more LO's during the next weeks... as far as my computer allows me... hehehehe...

Hope you continue enjoying the Holidays... and by the way... Do you have your Xmas tree already? We already have ours... and it's just something so different from traditional... but you'll have to see it... I can't tell you... Maybe in some future post...

(patterned paper and journaling card: Bo Bunny; Heart banner from patterned paper, letters and chipboard hearts: American Crafts; ribbon: EK Success; adhesives: Glue Dots, Scotch, Scrapbook Adhesives; miscellaneous: glitter pen, cardstock)

My First Cards of the Season

Is it Christmas yet?

Yeahhh... It's the most beautiful time of the year! La la la la...

These are my first cards this year... I used My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection and with the help of some stamps, ink, punches and ribbon, I created them.

This one shows some symbols of the Season... Aaaaah the tree!!! Santa's hat!

This other one features a Christmas ornament in the middle with a detail of three trees in a corner...

This one, very simple and delicate... the tree as the main character!

I love the way the ribbon lace looks combined with punched borders from patterned paper.

And here's a tree made with a simple triangle, ribbon and flower punches. I like my very own made up tree.

Here's a picture of all together... These are my first cards of many I will probably make within next weeks...

Do you make your cards for your relatives, or maybe for sale? Have you started making the ones for this year?

(patterned paper and cut outs: My Mind's Eye; ribbon: Multicraft Imports; stamps: Inkadinkado, TAC; punches: Martha Stewart, Memory Makers; ink: Staz-On, Color Box; adhesives: Scotch, Glue Dots; miscellaneous: gel pens)

Puzzle Card

My brother's birthday is this month... He's 45 but he's still a kid inside... so the card I made for him is a puzzle...



This is what he's going to receive:













I imagine his face when he gets it... He will open the bag and get the pieces just like these:











Then he'll have to put them together to be able to read the message.... Here it is:

















Because it's the first one I make of this type, I worked in the surface of the puzzle with paint, stamps, embossing, gel pens, and glossy accents... I wanted to make it fast and simple... and for me these elements are better to work with...especially since you are working in a surface that you'll break apart in pieces. But with these puzzle cards from Joann you can work with patterned paper, 3D elements, fibers, fabrics, use the pieces as stencils, etc. etc... The cards come with envelopes, but I thought it was better to send in a bag as a treat... Do you like it?









(puzzle card: JoAnn Craft Essentials; inks: Staz-On, Color Box, Portafolia, stamps: Glitz Designs, Inkadinkado, Plaid; embossing powder: Ranger; miscellaneous: gel pens, embossing gun)