LSS: Love the Little Things in Life

There's a new challenge over at Little Shop of Sketches. Come and play with us! This week, Lindsey Krauss has her sketches featured. There are two similar sketches and you can use any one of them to inspire you to create your layout:

OR

The photo on my layout is one of my favorites that was taken by my husband. We were at the beach and my baby, Cerise, looked up at me with her adoring eyes (and her tongue sticking out! LOL!) I love it that my husband was able to capture this! It makes me appreciate the little things in life. Someday, Cerise would grow bigger and older and I would definitely miss the time when I am the center of her life.

Title: Love the Little Things in Life

High Hopes

There's a new challenge blog that was launched today! Anne Pennington's Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge showcases a challenge on the 15th of the month with a sketch and a little extra, and on the 30th, a prompt with another little extra. I was fortunate to be a Guest DT for the launch. Do check out their site for the challenges and join in the fun!

The launching challenge is to make a layout that tells about one's dream! In the layout, we must incorporate any two of:

• cloud
• rainbow
• kite, or
• symbols of the dream – you can use a photo or drawing that is representative of your dream.
  

Here's my layout:

Title: High Hopes

Journaling: I have simple but high hopes for the four of you. I pray that you grow up to be strong and independent women. I wish for all of you to be successful in whatever you wish to pursue. I hope that you find peace and contentment in life. I dream that you be the best that you can be and make a difference in our world. I love you all very much! Be happy!

Part of the challenge also is to include a link to a scrapbooking technique or tool video in the blog posting for this challenge. I've been a big fan of Becky Higgins and love her philosophy on Documenting Life. Here's a video I found on her blog:

Thanks for looking! Come on in and join in the fun!

Out and About

I was fortunate to find time to scrap again last night. The creative process gives me such a sense of relaxation. I am at my element when I scrap. :-) I used the July 21 Sketch of Sassy Lil' Sketches which uses three horizontal photos on the right side of a 12x12 paper. I also found this site --- Scrap that Baby! --- that has prompts in scrapping babies under 4 years old. This is just right for Cerise's layouts. Alyssa is still three but turning four in a few months, so I guess I can still use some of her pictures. Here's my layout. Thanks for looking!

Title: Out and About

Journaling: Because of your weak immune system, we don't take you to malls or highly crowded places lest you pick up germs and get sick again. But on this day, we and other families spent the day at the beach. You enjoyed the fresh air and warm sun. It's so nice to see you out and about. We love you very much, Cerise! April 09, 2011

Climb

Title: Climb

Journaling: I watched with pride as you climbed the 2nd time. Before that, you froze midway up, panicked and cried to be brought down. I thought that would discourage you to climb again. But no. Again, you climbed. I love your perseverance! I love your passion! I love your spunk! I love you, Raya! July 31, 2010

I just love how this layout turned out! Raya has always been my bold and independent adventurer. So I wasn't surprised when she gamely wanted to wall climb one Saturday afternoon. As she put on her harness and started climbing she got cold feet halfway to the top and started crying uncontrollably. We brought her down and soothed but after a few minutes, I asked her if she wanted to climb again, and she surprisingly said yes. My heart swelled with pride that she didn't easily give up. She went on to climb 3 more times, not really going very high up but at least she would try and not give up. :-) I am just so proud of her!

I used the 7.21 Sketch of Sketchy Thursday for this layout. Thanks for looking!

Sassy Lil' Sketches DT and a layout: Let's Read

I just love sketches! So it is with great pleasure and honor that I announce that I was chosen to be part of the Sassy Lil' Sketches DT! I am part of the "Switch it Up" Saturday Team where we can flip, rotate, use a different number or orientation of pictures, make it a double page layout or anything else we can think of that shows how to stretch the use of the sketches. Phew! What a challenge! And I can't wait to start on mine. Check out the site in August for the start of our challenge. :-)

In the meantime, here's my take on the July 14 Sketch of Sassy Lil' Sketches. I've had this background paper for years and I'm just so glad that I was finally able to use it. LOL! Thanks for looking!

Title: Let's Read

Journaling: Reading is a passion in our home. Whether it be books, magazines, I Spy, comics, etc. we readily embrace our love for it. And it brings me joy to see us all into it. Books will bring us to far away places and allow us to experience adventures. Enjoy the little moments. :-)

LSS: Family 2011

Want a challenge? Check out Sketch 89 of Little Shop of Sketches for this week! The sketch, by Anne Pennington, makes use of multiple photos that are small in size. You can see the DT's different interpretations of the sketch using bigger photos or less number of photos, etc. The ideas are endless! This is the sketch:

I had printed wallet size photos that I wanted to use for this layout but wasn't sure whether to cut them out or not. I decided to just tweak the sketch a bit to accommodate my photos. :-)

By the way, check out the corners of my layout. I brought out my stamps and wanted to use them but found myself limiting myself to just those corner stamps and a flourish stamp in the middle. Hmmm... I'm a little timid playing with stamps and paints. Need to be more bold about that. Will try next time. :-) So here's my layout:

Title: Family 2011

Check out the rest of the DT's work over at Little Shop of Sketches. You'll be amazed with all the creations. :-) And if you decide to use the sketch, upload them at our Ning site or Facebook page for all of us to see. :-) Thanks!

Full of Life

One of the best ways to encourage myself to scrap is to join blog challenges. I've been following quite a number of blogs and picking up ideas from them. I'm usually happy with the stuff I've created guided by these blogs. Here's my layout:

Title: Full of Life

Journaling: My dearest Cerise, I admire you for yiur strength and courage. you have been through so much in your young life and yet, you continue to be good-natured and cheerful. You have taught me to embrace life as it is and to trust in Him for peace and strength. You are so dear to us and we love you so very much! Thank you for your presence. Love, Mom

I brought out my paints and stamps for this layout. I think I need to practice more using these media. Hehehe! I used the challenge at Color Combo Galore to use these colors:


I also used the July 7 Sketch over at Sassy Lil' Sketches but I turned the sketch clockwise to accommodate my photo.


Lastly, I used the journaling prompt at Bird is the Word to make use of the word Admire in your title or journaling. You can read my journaling at the bottom of my layout.

Combining challenges was fun to do. I'm sure to do it again sometime. :-) Thanks for looking!

Buwan ng Wika

I'm afraid I haven't been very productive with scrapping lately. My baby has been sick for the last two weeks and as usual, sick babies make me really tired and sleepy which I take advantage of during my free time. I was able to squeeze in some "me" time last week and I was able to make a layout based on Got Sketch? Sketch 121.

I worked on Alyssa's Buwan ng Wika pictures last year. Buwan ng Wika is a Filipino term roughly translated to Language Month. It is actually a month long cultural celebration in schools that showcase everything about the Philippines. Alyssa is wearing an authentic Ifugao (an ethnic group) costume given by my father-in-law to my girls. I love how she looks wearing the costume. :-) Here is my layout:

Title: Buwan ng Wika

Journaling: I was so happy and proud that you agreed to wear the Ifugao costume for Buwan ng Wika. You look so cute! So patriotic! Aug. 2010

Thanks for looking!

LSS: Howdy

It's time for a new sketch over at Little Shop of Sketches! I'm so proud of being part of this Design Team because all the layouts are awesome! Love everybody's interpretations of the sketch. And I've already picked up one or two design tips from each one. Great work! Here is Sketch 88 created by Anne Pennington:


I knew right away which pictures to use for the sketch and how I'd like it to come out. Doesn't Alyssa, my DD3, look adorable in these photos? This was her first time on a horse and she was brave enough to ride on her own! She just enjoyed the ride. :-)

Title: Howdy

Journaling: This was your first time to ride a horse and you insisted on doing it on your own. :-) Alyssa - 2 years old

Check out the rest of the DT's work over at Little Shop of Sketches. You'll be swept away, I'm sure. :-) And if you decide to use the sketch, upload them at our Ning site or Facebook page for all of us to see. :-) Can't wait to see your creations! Thanks for looking!

Big 7

I cannot resist multiple photo sketches! It's the best way to put more photos in a scrapping page and I just love it! So when I saw the June 21 Sketch from Sassy Lil' Sketches, I couldn't help myself. Teeheehee! Here's my layout using pictures of Raya's 7th birthday party at the beach.

Title: Big 7

Journaling: You wanted a beach party for your 7th birthday. We found the perfect place. You really enjoyed celebrating your day. We love you very much! Nov. 6, 2010


For the design, I incorporated her invitation (printed on photo paper) into the layout. I also used a letter "O" as a slider to emphasize the num 7 on the inch line. I added buttons on top to accent the circle background paper. This was a fun layout to do. Thanks for looking! :-)

Beautiful Sunshine

Another great layout challenge from the PageMaps blog! Couldn't resist using this sketch to scrap Cerise's 8th month photos. She is such a cutie! Our sunshine at home. :-) Here's is the sketch:

And here is my layout. I used my Basic Grey Sugar Rush papers for this. I printed the journaling block from my computer and cut it out. Cerise is such a cutie!

Title: Beautiful Sunshine

Journaling: Cerise, you brighten up our days with your smile and loud sounds. You are such a sweetheart and we love you so very much! May 14, 2011