Lil' Charmer

The very talented Anam Stubbington just launched a new sketches website called Twisted Sketches. Her challenges are sketches with a twist, hence the name. :D This was her first sketch and my interpretation. :D Love these pictures of Alyssa! She really is a little charmer. :D Thanks for looking!

Title: Lil' Charmer

Materials: Bazzil cardtsock; MM Patterned Papers, ribbon and brads; Teresa Collins Patterned Paper; Me and My Big Ideas flourish rub ons; American Crafts vinyl thickers; Staedler pen; Marvy Uchida puncher; Prima floers; others: buttons

Walk a Little Slower Daddy

Here's my Father's Day layout for this year. Incidentally, this is also featured at Journaling Junkie this week. I love how this layout turned out. I love this picture of Mier and Alyssa taken on my birthday last February. I love the poem. I just love the overall feel of it. :D Thanks for looking!

Title: Walk a Little Slower Daddy

Journaling:
Walk a little slower, Daddy." said a little child so small.
I'm following in your footsteps and I don't want to fall.
Sometimes your steps are very fast, sometimes they're hard to see;
So walk a little slower Daddy, for you are leading me.
Someday when I'm all grown up, You're what I want to be.
Then I will have a little child who'll want to follow me.
And I would want to lead just right, and know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy, for I must follow you!!
~author unknown

Horse Trainer

This week's scrapbook challenge at Mothers and Daughters Creations is to use Mixed Media. I created this layout with some computer/digital usage. I typed my journaling and created a journaling note. I also printed my title. :D

I used Kaiser Craft and SEI Patterned Papers, Bo Bunny rub ons, Prima flowers and SEI Dill Blossom Ribbon all available at the MDC Store.

These pictures were taken during our Bukidnon trip last March. Right now, Nadine is into horses and has appointed herself as the "horse trainer" of the farm --- that will be her work, according to her. For someone who used to be afraid of animals, she has definitely gone a long way and we are all so proud of her!

Title: Horse Trainer

Journaling: Nadine, you insisted on riding the horse by yourself when we went to Bukidnon. This was because you appointed yourself as the Horse Trainer for the farm and felt that you needed practice. We love you very much! March 8, 2009

Materials: DCWV cardstock; Kaiser Craft Patterned Papers; Bo Bunny rub ons; Prima flowers; SEI Patterned Paper; SEI ribbon; assorted brads; Microsoft font Tempus Sans

No Ordinary Girl

This month at the Kaya blog, Janis asks us to take THE PEARL CHALLENGE. Details for the challenge are here.

This wasn't really easy for me simply because I realized that I didn't have many pearl embellishments. LOL! So I had to check and re check my materials and see what I could use for my "pearls." :D

I used one big brad conch from Imaginise for one of the flowers. I also used MM pearl pins as part of the photo corner. Oh, and I found photo corners from Jolee's Boutique with little pearls on them. I removed some pearls lang bec the photo corners didn't really match my layout colors. Hehehe!

By the way, I used Creative Scrappers Sketch #54 which was actually made by LG, another very talented scrapper. :D Thanks for looking!

Title: No Ordinary Girl

Journaling: You are all girly girl when it comes to dolls and dresses, cooking and princesses... But you prove that you are no ordinary girl when it comes to other things. You are tough. You are spunky. You are a daredevil. You speak your mind. You are unique and we love you very much! Raya - age 5

Materials: DCWV cardstock; Pink Paislee Patterned Papers and alpha stickers; MME butterfly die cut and tag; Making Memories pearl pins and journaling paper; Craft Express alpha epoxy stickers; 7 gyspises stickers; Imaginisce conch; Bazzil flowers; Prima flowers; Jolee's Boutique photo corner and pearls

Finger Lickin' Good

I apologize for not being able to post the past few days. It has been quite hectic here at home with different activities for everyone. I can't wait for my girls to start school so we can get into a more constant routine. :D

This month's challenge at Scrappin Kids is a great sketch challenge created by the SK Creative Advisor, Jessy.

Here's my take on the sketch challenge. I was so excited to capture Alyssa when she suddenly grabbed Raya's hand to lick the Cheeto crumbs off her fingers. We all burst out laughing when it happened. Alyssa is such a cutie!

Title: Finger Lickin' Good

Journaling: Alyssa wasn't content with just eating the yummy chessy Cheetos. She surprised us all when she suddenly grabbed Raya's hand and started licking and sucking her fingers with all her cheesy crumbs! Alyssa is so funny and cute! April 2009

Materials: Pink Paislee Patterned Papers and rub ons; Colorbox Ink; American Crafts vinyl thickers; assorted buttons and flowers; alpha strickers; Staedler pen

@36 Living, Learning and Being Thankful

This is my layout for Journaling Junkie' challenge to create a layout using "age" as a title. I decided to scrap about my present age and what I've learned and what I am presently thankful for. Journaling is quite lengthy but hey, that's why I scrap. :D

Incidentally, this layout was just accepted at the BG gallery. :D Oh and please take note that my 7 year old Nadine was the one who took the photo with my Nikon D60. Not bad eh? Looks like I have a budding photographer in my hands. :D Yup, proud moment for me!

Title: @36 Living, Learning and Being Thankful

Journaling:
I am thankful for many things --- simple things yet truly wonderful and life-changing things. A lot of times, we take for granted what we have in life: the food we eat, the clothes we wear or the air we breathe. There are times when we are consumed by the thought of the things we want or we think we need and fail to be appreciative of what truly matters.

I am thankful for electricity and water and the comfort that it brings into our homes. I am grateful for the Internet that has enabled me to communicate with a lot of families and friends and the wealth of information it brings. I am happy that we have a roof on our heads, a car to bring us around and good health for everyone.

One time Nadine simply commented, “I’m happy I have eyes to see.” I don’t know what she saw or what made her say that but her innocent comment made me ecstatic that she has learned to appreciate other things aside from the material ones. How many times have we taken our senses for granted? The colors and things that we see, the sweet sounds that we hear, the food that we taste.

I am deeply grateful for the ways we have all grown as a family the past few years- in ways we never expected we would have to. Our move to Cagayan was not an easy decision for us but with lots of prayers and discernment, we felt that this was best for our growing family. And somehow it has proven in itself. I am grateful for the conveniences the city brings, the car rides to school, the breakfast dates with my husband.

As a family, I feel we have grown closer to one another, knowing each other more and learning the little quirks that go with each personality. With this, we have learned to deal with the frustrations and obstacles that come with life. It has made us grow. Our life is far from perfect. There is still so much to strive for, to work on in our lives. But I am hopeful that with our goals in mind, anything can be achieved. It is, nonetheless, the journey that’s what matters most.

I am thankful for expressions of love, especially within our family. I know everybody is different when it comes to how much “love they show”, but I really believe that there is no such thing as “being too loving”. I love that my kids feel comfortable and it comes natural for them to kiss us and to say I love you. When we bring Raya to school every morning, she never fails to hug us and whisper, “I love you SOO much!” (Emphasis on the SOO.)

It really is a wonderful thing to pause for a few moments and realize the number of things we all have to be thankful for in life. No matter who we are or where we are. There are blessings when we choose to 'see them'.

In the Company of Friends

Here's another layout for Mothers and Daughters Creations. This is a picture of my two older girls, Nadine and Raya, with their friends taken when we went out of town last March. I used papers from Bo Bunny, SEI and Magenta. I used a ribbon from May Arts for my photo corner and a big brad from Imaginisce. Thanks for looking! :D

Title: In the Company of Friends

Journaling: During our road trip to Bukidnon, you had a lot more friends becasue Kimi, Lourdes and Jiana were around. :-) Nadine and Raya, ages 7 and 5