This Moment

Well I hope your Christmas was a good one!  Part of me always feels somewhat relieved when the day is over because it's such hard work!  But it's fun and such a labor of love...so worth it!

Speaking of a labor of love...here's a December Daily page featuring photos from 12/14:

I've been enjoying a few kits from Sweet Shoppe Designs lately.  I actually went through their Freebies section and downloaded a few that I liked.  If you're thinking of getting into Digi, before you invest a bunch of money into buying kits, I strongly suggest perusing the many many Digital Shops out there and look in their freebie sections!  It's amazing what you can get for free!

I scrapped about a day that I spent just craftin' around at home.  I enjoy those days alot because they are relaxing and productive at the same time!  I spent a couple hours crocheting some handmade gifts that I plan on giving on Christmas to my family.  To create them I found a few fun and FREE crochet patterns just by doing a simple Google search!



This fabulous template is by Nettio Designs and it was FREE!  Love love loooove it!

And now...for New Years!

Hugs,
Mo

Remember: A December Daily Page

Okay, now that I've bought and wrapped up the presents, I'm trying to catch up on my December Daily pages.  This was for December 16.  My goal is to finish them all before December is through because I know that if I don't, it won't ever get done!



Every year you can count on a couple things at the Esquillo household: 1) Family Pictures 2) Ugly Sister Picture

My sisters and I get GOOD AND UGLY in our photos!  I love it!

A pleasant surprise came when I looked at a few of the photos my 6 year old took while we hung out.  Using Instagram helped to give all the photos a uniform look and made any blurred photos a bit more...artistic looking!  My digital page came together quickly with the help of one of  Carina Gardner's photo masks.  (Click on photo for credits.)

If you're doing a DD this year, how is the progress goin'?

Hugs,
Mo

Merry & Bright Memories Just Dancing!

Yay!  Two more pages done!  Maybe I'll actually finish this years December Daily!  I've been combining my love for Instagram photos with digital scrapbooking and I'm loving the frame the IG photos have around them.  It's also nice to toss in a square photo to offset the rectangular photos.  It adds something extra to the page.  Believe it or not, I've used alot of FREE mini kits I've downloaded over the last couple of years.  You'd be amazed how much free stuff is out there!  Couple that with lots of free fonts available and digital scrapbooking is a pretty nice and affordable alternative once you invest in a good program like Photoshop Elements.  As long as you organize your kits, papers, and other elements, time can be spent quite efficiently!

For digital credits, just click on the images and it will bring you to the link on my Flickr Photostream.



My son made some paper boobs the other day!  Funny kid!



And the kids love playing with the Kinect.  They enjoy dancing and Just Dance 4 has helped them to spend time dancing which makes me happy because they get less tv and get some exercise!

When I can, I try to pull images from the internet to add to my pages.  It really adds a special touch and is something that cannot be easily achieved with traditional scrapbooking.  Oh how I love digi!

Don't worry, come January, I'll have some non-digi shares for you!  LOL!

Have a wonderful week my friends!

Hugs,
Mo

Deep Down Inside I Know They are BFF's...DEEP DOWN!

One of the most frustrating things for me as a mother is listening to the constant fighting between these two pesky monsters!  Ugh!  I could pull my hair out!  Needless to say, time outs are a very popular item on the daily agenda for these two.  Aaaaahhhh...and also a period of quite time for me!  I love time outs!

Which brings me to my topic at hand....December Daily.  I finally tackled Day 1.  Nope, I do not create them in order...and nope...I don't know why not.  I just go with the flow, I guess!

For this one, I used a digital kit called Project February by Isabel Mendez aka Crisdam Designs.  I find that I gravitate towards her kits because she has alot of date and calendar elements that fit perfectly for doing December Daily pages or even Project 365 type scrapbooking.

I also grab templates when working with more than one photo!  It makes it so easy and quick!  I love Tiffany Tillman's templates!

Once I'm done with my DD, I'll probably order a book from someplace like Shutterfly.  I've tried the 12x12 sizes and decided, those are way to honkin!  I'll do an 8x8 instead and save myself some money and shipping!

And I am pretty much done with all the important Christmas Shopping!  I don't think I went to the store for ANY of it...exclusively online!  I'm so happy!  Now for the wrapping!  Sigh....

Happy Decembering my Sweets!  May you be able to sneak some time for yourself in all the crazy ruckus!

A Day of Chill

Okay, so this December Daily business is much easier to do digitally!  I whipped out another one this morning!  I still have some catching up to do but I don't feel so overwhelmed.  I had recently celebrated 5 years working at the company I work for ;)  Hopefully I'll stick around awhile.  I have been making some progress on the knitted projects I'm doing for my family and friends.  And took a quick snapshot of me and my not-so-little girl as well.  (Click on photo above for credits.)  I used all elements and papers from Isabel Mendez aka Crisdam Designs!  Love her kits!

Today will be spent putting up our tree.

Yesterday I took my girl to see Breaking Dawn Part Two and we enjoyed it!

Oh!  Almost forgot to say!  I used this fabulous template by Leah Farquharson that I downloaded FREE here:  
http://www.amykingsford.com/2012/11/scrap-like-leah-farquharson-templates-and-sketches-november-2012.html

Cool huh?

Until we meet again...

December Daily Attempt

Just a quick share!  I'm going to attempt a December Daily Album!  I've already missed a couple days I think...lol!  December 1 and 3 I believe but I'm not going to let that stop me!  My digi skills are getting better.  Here's a day in my life....

Christmas shopping is near-done and now I'm knitting and crocheting small do-dads for stockings!  I can't say what they are yet because I don't want to ruin the surprise for those I'm gifting them to!

This page focuses on the cozy part of my day today spent cuddling with my lil man, watching some show on LMN and knitting!  LOL!  It's the little things that can make a day grand!

Hope you're shopping is close to done as well!

Hugs!

Look What I Can Do!

I've been at it again!  Look what I was able to put together!

I'm using this page as my December Daily page for December 28.

The kids were curled up together watching t.v. while I went over some online tutorials for digital scrapbooking :)

Wow this could cut some of my scrapbooking time by ALOT!

I used elements from the kits I got after donating to Project Ewan!

The elements above were used with the Jen Martakis part of the kit.

It really is such a great package!  And you're contributing to helping children at the same time!

If you haven't already, please consider donating to Project Ewan!



Fun Dip, Chocolate and Shonuff!!

Just a quick share here!  I'm usually at work all day on Monday...yuck!

I'm still working on completing pages for my DD.  Here's one!  I'll take a photo of it when I get a chance later this week!

In the meantime, I've been sneaking a few minutes here and there with some online lessons from Jessica Sprague's site!  I'm learning some blog designing fun as well as a beginner digi scrapbooking class!  I really pampered myself by getting a few things from Me to Me for Christmas!  I've worked so hard this year!

I'm really loving documenting life with a December Daily mini!  I'll have to be sure to do it EVERY year now!

What's soooo great is the digi pages I make can go into a mini book and presented to family for NEXT Christmas!  Hmmmmmm........

Now I'm in the mindset for the New Year!  With that comes goal setting, reflection on the past year and plans for the new one.  My friend Jess got me thinking about a word for 2011 with her blog post.

I think I'll choose Faith.  I really need to connect with my Faith this year.  I need to reprioritize my life and make time to do things that bring me peace and hope.  I need to pray.  I don't do enough of that...not the kind of praying that's good for the soul.  Over the past few years I can feel the weight of everything in my life piling up and it's getting harder to breathe.  I need to confront certain things and take action to right what's wrong in my life.  And I'm scared, because whatever journey I may start could lead to a big change in my life in so many ways.  But it's time.  I've hit the emotional breaking point.  It's time to fight.....

I hope you had a wonderful Holiday with those you love!  I can't wait to get into the swing of things and chit chat with all my scrappy friends as the blogosphere starts jumping after the Holiday Season is over!  What have you got planned for next year?  Have you thought of a Word of the Year?

DD via iPhone!

Sometimes I need to take a photo quickly.  Most times, my trusty iPhone is nearby...if not connected to my hand!  While they don't take the best photos...especially in low light conditions, they are pretty decent.  With some editing in Picnik.com, you're good!  I used both Picnik and PSE (for journaling because I have tons of fonts in my computer)!  (Psst, get FREE FONTS at KevinandAmanda.com!)  She'll even show you how to save it to your computer!

I found that when a photo is out of focus or if the face is just too bright from the flash, just switch it to black and white and it looks better.

To keep my pages flat, I used some stamping on the photo.  It adds a special touch without adding bulk!  So....PULL OUT THOSE STAMPS!

By the time next year rolls around...I plan to be very PSE and digi savvy...and I hope my creating will at least take half as long!

If you've been working on your DD, have you been using some digital elements?

Hugs,

Mo

Crafty Kiddie Fun!

Just a day spent crafting with the kiddies!  They love to draw, glue, cut, paste, and watch Mommy!

Isabel got one of those crafting kits for her birthday.  She made this cute messenger bag.  It had iron-ons and bling.  Totally fun to make...even for Mommy!

I just used PSE and clicked on the collage to showcase my multiple photos.

I'm trying to keep the pages flat so that everything fits...but IT'S SO HARD!  I love texture and embellishments!  Ugh!  It's like an addiction!

Have you been able to work in some crafty fun this busy month?

Hugs,

Mo

Field Trip FUN and Family Photos!

Aaaah...it's Thursdays...and I LOVE Thursdays!  Mostly it's because by the time Thursday rolls along, I've recuperated a full day (Wednesday) from work and I'm ready to have some fun!

Plus, I looooooove watching Vampire Diaries and Nikita in the evenings.  It's the only day I watch television!

I have my December Daily Day 15 to share!

It's two pages.

What I'm loving about doing my DD is playing with Photoshop Elements.  I'm really learning just by playing around.  I'm one of those people that have a hard time learning from books and do much better learning hands on!  I do have my PSE for Dummies book which I flip through when I get a chance.

I snapped some quick photos during Isabel's field trip.  I was one of the parent chaperones.

If you click on each photo you can see the journaling much better.

Isn't she the cutest!  Her teacher keeps saying we're like twins!

 I love seeing her smile when she hears that!

Later that evening we dropped by my brother-in-law's house.

(In Washington?  Check out C Kao Photography and shoot him a message!)

He was in full swing taking photos of my super cute niece!

We got in on the action!

Sleeping Beauty!  One of the last photos...she was soooo tired!

My VERY photogenic nephew.  These Kaobabies are absolutely adorable!!!

Loving these December days.  I'm so happy I jumped in and started my DD this year.  I'll just have to plan on doing this EVERY year!  So many memories to cherish.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the Holiday Season!

Hugs,

Mo

A Good Book!

 I've been so busy with my DD that I haven't had a chance to post!

So, I'll just share some of the edited photos!

I'm getting lots of practice with working with my PSE!

I've been bitten by the "Digi" bug!

I used Picnik to create added effects to both photos.

I found this one on my iPhone.  I think Gabe took it while we were curled up in bed reading!

I love it!  It was pretty blurred but I was able to fancy it up a bit....

looks kinda cool now!

Just a quick share!  If you're working on a DD, how is coming along?

If not, what have you been up to friends?

Hugs,

Mo

Book, Birthday and Bag!

So here are some pages from my December Daily Mini!

The cover is still unfinished...but here's what I got!

Planning on adding a transparency page on the top and further embellishing with some doo dads...snowflakes, ribbon, etc...

Most pages are real simple.

I made extra special pages for the extra special days of December like my daughter and Mom's birthdays, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

I used a few brown bag envelopes I purchased long ago!

I used LOTS of my old stash...to make way for the new goodies I've placed on my Christmas Wish List!

Gotta replace the scrappy goodies!

I love the various sized dots!  I used Liquid Pearls (Ranger) in Platinum!  I need more, but Two Peas has sold out of the metallics!  They've got some yummy colors though!  I'm so excited to get those for Christmas!

I used one of those plastic zippered cases that housed the Christmas Rub-ons I used on this mini!  They're like those zippered pencil cases kids use in their binders!

And I just HAD to add some great texture with cardboard!

The days of the week were handwritten...EASY!

I used LOTS of fun ribbon trim on my envelopes edges!....CUTE!

And added tons of tags and tabs using scrap pieces of ribbon and cardstock, clothespins, paperclips, pieces of fabric and canvas!

I love those kraft envelopes by Maya Road!

And I made some cute pockets with scrap cardstock.

That red corner was a scrap piece of a die cut snowflake (see cover)!

I doodled around some of the numbers...

Lots of beautiful scraps put to good use here!

Mom's birthday pages...

he he.....

Speaking of birthays, Lil Sis had one a little bit ago!

Sweet Bel painted this fairy for her Aunt.

On the fairy's chest, she wrote "Anty"!  So cute!

I sewed this yoga mat tote for my sis!

Learned from this AWESOME book I borrowed from the library called

Bag Bazaar by Megan Avery!

Yummm....ribs!

My sweet baby!

...posing...reminds me of Madonna...Vogue!

The family pics!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  It's been quite busy here!

The snow in Seattle messed us up for a few days...but I'm back and I'm catching up!

Been cleaning out my craft room and various other areas around the house to get ready for Holiday company!  The house is starting to look presentable!

Are you making a December Daily?  Need some motivation?  You have really got to check out the different pages that everyone's linked up on Ali Edwards' site!  That's how I got MY but in gear!

Have a great week!

Hugs,

Mo