Lucky U

Feeling St. Patricky?  The new challenge (#12) is up at Scrap That Poetry, and I have been honored to be Guest Designer for this challenge!!!  Yay!  This was so fun to do!

The poem is actually an Irish Blessing...a very beautiful blessing.

I chose this gorgeous photo of my nephew Samual.  He was a gift to our lives.  He's such a sweet boy.

He is also blessed with great loving parents Cham (Dad) and "Big D" (Mom), so I entitled it "Lucky U".

And I HAD to use the Lucky Me line from Little Yellow Bicycle which is a kit from Simply Obsessed.  Sorry, the kit is sold out, but they do carry most of the other items and sell them separately!

And what makes this photo super special is that my BIL took it

(C Kao Photography)!  Aint this shot gorgeous!?

Here's the poem:

May the road rise to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

the rain fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I love this, it's so peaceful and good and calming.....

Hope it inspires you!  Don't forget to check out the DT creations to get your MoJo flowin'!  Um....one word.....AMAZINGWORK!

Hugs,

Mo

The Year I was born (19sumthinsunthin6)

If you haven't peeked over at AAM (Challenge #12) "The Year I Was Born" for the last prompt YOU SHOULD!  This was soooooo funnnnnn!  Just scrap about the year you were born!  SHARE IF YOU DARE!  I learned a few things about what happened in 1976!  If you click on the photo of my layout above, it'll give you a SUPER DOOOPER close up!  And I am TOO LAZY to type up all that shtuff in this post!  Or let's just call it efficiency!  :)

And...AnD........AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm channeling the lovely Julie right now)...side note...Does she talk like that IRL???????  curious!  I'm sure I'd love her either way!!!!!  Cuz I love her already!  He heeees!  Guess what??????

I just realized I WON THE LAST STP CHALLENGE for THIS layout (yeah, the last post that's been hanging out on the blog for like....A WEEK!  Sorry, been SOOOOO FLIPPIN' BUSY!  Just got off a stretch of a few work days....rough stuff!  I think I get to GDT for Challenge 12 (like...the next challenge)!  I sooooo love STP and am sooooo happy my layout was chosen!!!  Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking of STP, the new poem is up......Haven't seen it yet????  Think....famous Doctors.......

Play along with two of my fave places to play!  March is here!  I love March for special reasons...he he...hmmmmmmm

Shout out to my Pisces Girls!  Question, if you are a Pisces, are you scared of water?????  How bout fish, do you like fish?  Cuz I am FREAKED out when I'm in the ocean....whenever I can't see into the water and see what's around me or under me....ick!  I also don't really eat a lot of fish (tho I LOVE crab, lobster, shrimp, scallops) but if a piece of fish tastes FISHY.....I start to gag!  So, I don't get a good dose of my Omega 3s...cuz I don't DO FISH!  Weird.......

Thanks for visiting me!!!!  I've LOTS of layouts to share...COME BACK TOMORROW!

hUGS,
mO

License to Kiss

Remember how I was talking ON THIS POST about bummin' that I didn't have tickets to see the new Teatro Zinzanni show for Valentine's Day?  Well, a couple days after my blog post, I was contacted by the box office who had some seats open up to the sold out show!  I scooped those tickets up quick...well, Hubbs did cuz I was on a ski trip!  I was ecstatic!

So, Tim, if you happen to read this, Thank You soooooo very much!  It really made our Valentine's Day extra special to go to the show!  We both enjoyed it tremendously...especially the "Vertical Tango" (that's our favorite part).  Thanks you thank you thank you!!!!!!

Lemme tell y'all it was amazing!  The food was yummy, the cast was so talented, and the people we met there were fun and spirited!  They also have another Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco!  Well, I will just have to see if I can fit that in to my trip to California later this year!

The show is called "License to Kiss" and it goes till April here in Seattle.  Then, they change the show.  I will soooo have to see the new one!  My parents would enjoy it, I just know it!  Maybe we'll go for our Anniversary (which is around the same time as my parents').  There is also a brunch show on Sundays which I really wanna catch!

So here's the photo we took.

Gee, am I THAT much shorter than Hubby?  Man, I'm wearing heels too!

And here I am taking photos to remember my fun hair and make-up!  Hah hah!

Once again I did some doodling on my face.  And added some bling!  This nice man and his date complimented me on the bling...and asked where I got it.  And I fessed up and said it was scrapbooking gems!!!  LOL!  Yes, it worked!  It stayed all night but I was very careful not to touch it.  I think that if I had some eyelash adhesive or any skin adhesive it would have been way more secure.  I even contemplated on using some glue dots on my face!

Thank you to Victoria's Secret for these wonderful "dinners"!  (he he)  The last time I had real dinners, I just had Gabe...and then...they REALLY were dinners (as well as breakfast, snack and lunch)!!!!!!!  CLICK HERE for the DL on the "dinners" term revived by Beth Perry and her Mom!  Plus you can see the cool mini she made!

I LOVE playing with make-up.  Maybe that's why I enjoy Halloween.  I can count on my fingers the amount of times I HAVE NOT had a costume on Halloween!  Anyway, I got this idea from this wonderful You Tube channel BY Kandee Johnson.  She is so sweet and inspiring and FUN!  This look was inspired by Rihanna.

Oh!  I also learned how to do that masky looking doodling on my face from her channel.  Peep it HERE!  Now that video has inspired some scrapping technique which I'll share on another post!  It's amazing where you can draw inspiration from!

Sorry if this is a long post, I just have so much to share!  I scrapped the photo of us using the prompt over at Scrap That Poetry since the current poem is another love poem in honor of Valentine's Day!  PERFECT!  The poem is called "Freedom and Love" by Thomas Campbell.

Here's the part which inspired me:

Love's a fire that needs renewal
Of fresh beauty for its fuel:
Love's wing moults when caged and captured,
Only free, he soars enraptured.
Can you keep the bee from ranging
Or the ringdove's neck from changing?
No! nor fetter'd Love from dying
In the knot there's no untying.

So here we are working on renewing our love.  I'd like to fall in love with my husband again...and again...and again...

AND!  This is also my newest favorite memory and I DON'T want to forget it so I scrapped it REAL FAST!  And also, I would be able to submit it for the TAAFOMFT prompt, Favorite Memories.  Heh heh!

I used some goodies from Pink Paislee which I purchased from Scrap Freak.  I've said it before, the forum is soooo amazing and inspiring!  Those ladies work so hard to give us good ideas and challenges FOR FREE.  Thrifty Thursdays are a good thing to check out.  The last one I shopped, I got Maya Road Mists for 30% off!  In April, they will debut embellishment kits which I am soooo excited for!  I don't know about you, but I buy kits mostly for the embellishments rather than the papers!  So, this should work quite nicely for me!  The store inventory is always 10% off  and shipping free when you purchase $60.  I think they will be getting rid of SOME of the inventory, so you should scope out the clearance items from 50-80% off I believe!  DO THE MATH...good prices!

Phew, I think I'm done!  On to more scrapping!  Thanks for visiting!  I hope to make my blog visiting rounds today and tomorrow!!!!

Hugs,
Mo


For more fun scrap booking inspiration, designs, and fabulous sketches, check out my class!

To My Valentine

I love the new poem up at Scrap That Poetry!  It's called "Ah, Yes! Love" by Clarence B. Campbell.

Again, I broke into my Vintage Plum Stash!

What a beautiful kit!

Sorry for the glare in this photo but I am not going to take another photo just to have one without the glare...I figured you ladies wouldn't mind.

The journaling reads (it's part of the poem):

"Ah, yes! Love

The transparency I used is to blame for all that glare (which I was able to correct pretty well with my Photoshop Elements).  I figure out how to do some cool things by trial and error while working on this layout.  I put on some of this ink, intending to color the inside of this heart a beautiful blue.  But I found out that it would NOT dry onto the transparency (duh)!  Luckily, as I placed my elbow over that area and discovered it was wet, I DID NOT smear it all over my beautiful page!!!  I then placed another transparency over it to blot it and got this cool look.  Now....to seal it....I added some of that clear-drying glue/craft laquer (Stampin' Up! calls it Crystal Effects) but they do sell another brand at Michaels.

I used lots of Liquid Pearls and Stickles for all that added zing!  I had another photo that wouldn't upload...but you get the idea of how they look, right?  If not, I'm sure if you click on the full layout you get a big gigantic photo.  For a supply list check HERE.

Well, that's it!  I'm loving this layout!  I think I'll frame it and give it to Luke for Valentines...along with something else he might like such as golf-related stuff.

Hope your week has been great!  Thanks for visiting!  What are you doing this weekend?  I'm skiing on a GIRLS ONLY trip!  Woohooo!

Hugs,

Mo

Is bubbles and beauty and lantern light,

Music and madness and dizzy height,

Tender words,

And a star-filled night!"

This verse went PERFECTLY with my photo taken around Valentine's Day one year (Hubby and I argue if it's 2005 or 2006..I think he's right but I didn't tell him that...wink wink).  So contrary to what I thought, this was taken in '06 NOT '05.  Anyway, my POINT IS....we saw this dinner show at a place in Seattle called "Teatro Zinzanni" where you have dinner while they perform all around you.  There's music, singing, acting, comedy, lots of costumes and make-up, and even acrobats!  Oh, it is sooooooo amazing! Oh!  AND FACE PAINTING! (See how it talks about that in the poem????)  I hoped to go this year, but Hubs was too late on booking the tickets (ahem....Mo was actually too late in reminding him)!

 Side note...I've figured that I have to help romance along by sending links to what I want for special occasions and telling him what I want for Anniversaries and Valentines Day...etc.  I started last Christmas and have been VERY VERY VERY HAPPY.  I didn't think I could be... at first...because my gifts would not be HIS idea but MINE.  Then, I realized IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME...cuz I get what I want and I'm not moping around when other people talk about what THEY got!  Sorry, it's not the thought that counts with him...because when he's stressed...he doesn't think clearly...he he!  Examples (clothes purchased online that don't fit...not even close (SMALL UNISEX is NOT SMALL!!!), ANOTHER gift certificate to a place for which he's already given me 3 previous ones, a framed piece of artwork that SUCKED (not my style at all...and he payed WAY TOO MUCH for it), and the most INFAMOUS present....BIG FAT NOTHING...not even a card...or flowers).  Yep, I remember stomping upstairs that day after yelling and slamming the door behind me.  It was not a good year for us that year.  Sigh.

So we will be celebrating our 8 year anniversary this May...yep...it took me THAT LONG...to figure out I needed to SPELL OUT WHAT I WANT!  It's a win-win situation!  With those I love, I'm not great at compromise....I want what I want...yes, I know I'm spoiled....I'm a brat.  But they never tell me...that's why when I realized this a few years a go...I shocked myself...heh heh!  More on that another time.  I stumbled across some cool techniques while working on this layout!

The Journey

Hello my friends!  Thanks for visiting me today!

I've got another layout to share!

Some of you might know I've been scrappin' up a storm lately.

I used the September 2009 Simply Obsessed Kit (the one I've been hoarding) for this layout.  I LOVE this kit because of all the BEAUTIFUL Bo Bunny printed papers!  I love all these colors together!

I also played with my stamps and Distressing Inks as well as some gold UTEE!!!  Soooo fun!  I took my stamp and inked up the trunk of the tree with Vintage Photo, the leaves with that green ink (can't remember what it's called), and touched the edges of the leaves with broken china.  Didn't it turn out awesome?  I then went in with my glittery stickles and placed dots here and there....too bad you can't see this IRL...the tree is pretty blingy!

I then took a piece of scrap white cardstock and inked it up with some more distressing ink (fired brick).  Next, I inked up my stamp with embossing ink and sprinkled the gold UTEE on it and quickly heat embossed it.  Because I used the Ultra Think Embossing Enamel, the effect is different and there was some beading...which is what I wanted.  The stamped image becomes distorted, but I love the feel of it after it's done!

 I used the current prompt at Scrap That Poetry using the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.  The journaling consists of part of this poem:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

This layout expresses the long journey through life.  I know how lucky I am to share it with these three.  I am truly blessed.  Even though family a joy, it is also a sacrifice.  Like many of you, there are other things in life I have to spend less or no time doing/experiencing (scrapbooking, going to movies/hanging out, freedom to make decisions that affect only one person, spending money freely, going on trips...partying...etc).  But the sacrifice is well worth it all.  I cannot imagine life without these three.  We are all on a the journey called life and I am honored to be a part of theirs.  I love The Ogre and my Monsters!!!!  He he....

Oh!  I wanted to mention also that I recently got this idea of hand cutting your own scallop border from one of the JSYS Challenges at Scrap Freak!  I've used it lots of times in the last week or so...on cards....on a few layouts and I LOVE how IMPERFECT it looks!!!!  Can you see it in the photo above?  So fun!

Okay, I've started on a mini book for my Mom for Valentines Day...I don't think she reads my blog...so I'll tell YOU!  I'll be sharing some pages as I go but I've got a stretch of 4 more days to work before I have a couple days of scrap time at home!  I'll work on the MOTW post for Sunday!  See you then...maybe sooner if Mommyhood doesn't tire me out too much over the weekend!

Hugs,

Mo

Hope

Remember how I got all those 2 Peas goodies from Hubby?  Well, I put them to good use with this layout!  FUN!

I did some distressing and inking and painting and playing!

To the right, i used a rub on.  I love that beautiful brown color!  I then layered some of that clear glue over it so that when it dries it has a shiny epoxy layer.

This layout was created using the awesome 12-31-09 sketch at Sketchy Thursdays AND the poem Hope by Emily Dickinson which is Challenge #7 at Scrap That Poetry!

Here's the poem:

Hope
by Emily Dickenson

Hope is the thing with feathers

that perches in the soul,

and sings the tune - without the words,

and never stops at all,

and sweetest in the gale is heard;

and sore must be the storm

that could abash the little bird

that kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

and on the strangest sea;

Yet, never in extremity,

it asked a crumb of me.

I used the photo also as a pocket and tucked this library card behind it which I had distressed using my inks and Distressed Stickles (Vintage Photo)!

I used a picture taken in 2004 of Isabel and my two cutie patootie cousins.  Look at my sleeping Bel, isn't she so adorable?

I used some Dimensional Pearls by Ranger here to layer onto the chipboard...GORGEOUS!  You can also see the crackle paint I used behind the title for texture.

I made A BUNCH of circle pearls (using the Dimensional Pearls) in 2 different colors.  You can make a whole bunch and use em later to add to your pages...and they are ALL DRY!  All you do is squeeze the dots out onto a craft mat or glass mat...just make sure it's material that won't permanently stick to the pearls.  After you make lines of dots, just tap the bottom of the mat to flatten them out so they don't look like Hershey's Kisses (unless you want them to).  Let dry and scrape up.  I used my spatula to my Cricut and it worked GREAT!  I'll keep the rest for next time!

There's Bel, J, and Dimples (from left to right).

I used the kit I won at A Million Memories (October 2009 Kit)  for winning the Challenge #3 at Point Blank Period. 

This photo was taken when they were 2 1/2, 4, and 2....(from left to right).  Now they are 7, 9, and 6!!!  We drove about 45 minutes south to go to the Puyallup Fair...and this is what the back seat looked like when Hubby and I turned around!  Soooo cute!  They day was just beginning and they were KNOCKED OUT!

Even though it rained slightly on the way, it stopped when we got there...thank goodness.  The kids had fun riding all the kiddie rides but Dimples was too young so the poor thing just watched.  And he was NO TROUBLE, he was quite entertianed watching the other two have fun!

So, my HOPE is that these 3 (now 5 when you add the youngest two Gabe and "Sweet T")...stay together until they grow up.  I hope they treasure the close bond they all have and the fact that they are being raised together and that we are all so lucky we are able to share our lives together.  For those of you that don't know or remember...the other kids are my youngest cousins on my Mom's side (I'm the eldest at 33).  And the 3 cousins I help take care of are 9, 6 and 3...How adorable is that?????

I also hope that they all follow their hopes and dreams and know anything can happen.  Hope is such a powerful thing.  I've lived my life so far on Hope and have never been let down because even when things seem wrong, I try to cling to hope that it will get better.  These beautiful kids have so much potential and I am so excited to see what they do....

I LOVE THESE KIDS!

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Mo

I am Wonder Woman

Here's another SUPER COMBO layout!  It's soooo cool when you realize you can combine challenges!  I did FOUR with this one!
1)  Sketchy Thursdays Sketch 
2)  Point Blank Period  (Get Over It.)
3)  Pink Ninjas (Which cartoon character would you be?)
4) Scrap that Poetry (inspo was Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou)

Here's the sketch:

BooHoo...this is the second to the last sketch I get to play with!  I haven't done the last layout...cuz I think I'm too sad...he he!  But I got some new scrappy stuff in the mail yesterday and so I may just muster up the MoJo I need to GO OUT WITH A BANG!

The inspirational poem over at Scrap That Poetry was "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou.  What a perfect choice!  I've always loved this poem!  I chose to journal the section above because I felt it sounded the most like me.

This layout is more of a way to be my own cheerleader.  I've said it before, I have challenges with feeling like a good Mother and person.  Maybe it's because there's so many things I want to do but I end up cutting some things out of my "to do" list.  And maybe it's because I really idolize my mother and see her as a strong woman...a selfless woman.  And I see myself very different from her and I'm realizing as I type this....that I believe she's the best mother anyone could ever have and I'm very different...so that must mean, I'm the opposite.  That's it!  Do you know how long I've been thinking about this?

So, I did created this page to remind me that I do have some great qualities, and although I feel like I could be a better person, that doesn't mean I suck as a Mom.

I know my job is difficult on my body as well as my mind (emotionally).  I've seen life coming into the world and life leaving it. I've seen young people who's lives have been cut short because of poor choices (drug addicts) and people who have dedicted their lives to saving people who contract cancer and die because of their jobs (a Firefighter).   As a Nurse, I've taken care of people I admire....honest to good people...and evil people (murderers and child molesters).  But you have to treat them equally and care for them all.  And I've done that.  I've been praised and I've been insulted, I've been hugged and slapped and punched.  Yet MOST days I still love my job.  And the bad DOES outweigh the good, even though sometimes there are more bad things happening, the good counts more in your mind.

I also love that I'm not afraid to tell my kids a thousand times a day that I love them and I hug them and tell them how special they are.  I try to encourage them to think and learn and also play and create.  I teach them responsibility yet try to remind them not to take things too seriously.  I'm lucky I have the time to spend with them and I'm glad I made the decision to enter a career in Nursing so I could work part-time and stay home with the kids and live a content life.  I'm proud I choose to skimp on the fancy and splurge on necessity.  And I sure picked a good man to marry.

So, I guess I do classify myself as a Phenomenal Woman

just like Wonder Woman!

I'm sooooooo over feeling like I come up short.

I'm awesome just the way I am!

I'm strong, I'm beautiful, and I'm THE BOSS!

CLICK HERE for a supply list.

Hugs,

Mo

Alone.....

I've been waiting for the first challenge at Scrap That Poetry ALL WEEK! I loved how my page turned out.

The inspiration poem is "If" by Rudyard Kipling. See the entire poem HERE.

As I read the poem, I was reminded of some not-so-great years in college. Most people might look back and enjoy this time. I didn't.

Not all of it was bad...but let's just say, women can be mean and I discovered some enemies I never knew I had.

I will never understand why a person can decide NOT to like someone "just because" but that happened to me. And it happened several times.




Here's the part of the poem I used in my journaling:

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you; But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting; Or, being lied about, don't deal in the lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;


No matter what I did, I felt it would backfire....and things did. If I looked nice, I was talked about. If I dressed down there were whispers. If I talked to a guy friend, I was accused of flirting with someones man. In the end I just gave up and walked away. But I can't say I was the bigger person, because when you hurt...sometimes you hurt back.

So that's the reason for the title. I felt very alone during this time in my life. I gradually changed the people I hung around with and slowly I started to enjoy myself. But in the process I tried to do the right thing, but didn't always succeed. Hate is such a self-destructive thing....and I think it even lead to some self-hate. But I worked through it and realize I wouldn't be the person I am today with all the hurt and pain and the mistakes I made then.

My feelings transferred onto the layout as I created. The hurt, patched by lots of prettiness. I added bling with the torn edges and everything held together with stitching....to create a facade: underneath the pretty papers I layered some Walnut ink over some Kraft card stock to give it a dark feel. I projected strength but inside I was torn and wounded. I masked the hurt with bitterness. I didn't like the person I became. And I was lost for awhile. Other things in my life were leaving scars. Scars of unworthy people I let into my life and bad decisions I had made. I was lost for a long long time.

Here you can see the torn edges and stitching. I love how imperfect this page is. I love the upturned and ripped edges.

Lots of dark colors are blended with red...fire...anger. Parts of the real me are sprinkled throughout the layout...the turquoise, the bling.
But if you look closely, it's not really me.

Here's the title. See the crystals? Think salt on wounds.
Hurt.

Pain.

Screams.

Loss.

ALONE.

And there's my fiery red flower. All by it's lonesome. The key locking away the pain.

The scraps are crumpled and distressed as well.

I love all the texture in this layout. The rips and tears.

Luckily, I climbed up out of that hole I was in. I found myself again. And the sun was shinging. And I was happy. I found Faith again. And I loved myself again. Really loved myself. And I found love too. By then it was 2001 and my life was about to change big time. I was ready for what life had in store for me.

For this layout, I used the September Kit - Gypsy from Simply Obsessed. I loved all the Bo Bunny papers together. The colors are so spicy...and passionate.

This is absolutely my most expressive layout. It's become my favorite one too. Weird huh? It evokes all these feelings and parts of me from a time I don't like to remember...but I love it because of the honesty in it.

THANKS SCRAP THAT POETRY! This was an amazing poem and I can't wait to see the other submissions! Thanks everyone for reading my deep dark secrets! He he!

For a supply listing CLICK HERE.

Have you tried scrapping to poetry? Do you like it?

****I've got some fun in the works....he he. Want a hint? Check out the vote box above! That's right! Cast your vote for the Man of the Week of October 19th! The poll is in the sidebar*****

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I will be busy working till Tuesday afternoon so I will blog visit ya'll Wednesday!!!!

Hugs,

Mo