Five things.

OK, I'm copying Ali Edwards and sharing five things that I've come across and love.

First, these new D. Reeves acrylic albums. It's called a Style File and all albums now come in pink and white, too! Love it!



Next, I LOVE these 12x12 We R Memory Keepers page protectors that house 12 4x6 photos (front and back). I bought lots of them when I came back from my Spain trip in November and I recently ordered more. The plan is that I will put all the images in a 12x12 American Crafts Modern album and as I feel inspired, I can take out a photo or two (or three) and scrap them without feeling overwhelmed. In the meantime, I can share my vacation photos with family and friends. I'm still editing Spain photos, but I'm almost done and then I'll place my final order and put them all in these awesome page protectors.



Trish at Work in Progress is the sweetest ever! And her blog is the greatest for ideas, inspiration and even recipes! LOL! Her kits are always chock-full of the latest goodness... like this one full of Theresa Collins gorgeousness!



I recently discovered The Scarlet Lime scrapbooking kits and I love their site and giveaways. Here's a peek at the March kit with lots of new Making Memories and other goodies.



And last but not least, my DH finally built my IKEA bookcase and it's a beauty! I love it so much that I want another one! :-) It makes me happy... I've been reorganizing my scrap room for weeks now and I hope to be done one day soon!



That's all for now... Peace and happy scrapping!

My Mom and Dad...and I've been tagged!

This is a very special picture to me. I get all teary-eyed when I look at it. It's the one and only photo I have of my Mom and Dad together. In fact, I don't really have any other good photos of my Dad at all! This photo was taken at my cousin's wedding some 25 years ago, but they were not together at the time. Still, it's a sweet photo and I love that they're holding hands.

* * *

My scrappy friend Dayami tagged me on her blog so I better give it a go!

Here are the rules: You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

Vanessa is my middle name (betcha some of you didn't know that!)

V-Vocal: I like to speak up and get my point across!
A-Artist: Life Artist, that is! My passion is my art.
N-Neat: I am a neat freak and I like everything nice and organized.
E-Energy: It's something I'm lacking and striving for more of in 2008!
S-Sensitive: I am sensitive and sometimes take things too personally.
S-Social: I can be shy at first if I don't know you, but I am quite social and I love to hang out with friends.
A-Articulate: I think I am a good, effective communicator.

Now I'm going to tag Mika, Elizabeth, Nancy, Balou, Trish, Ady and Damaris (again)!

Have fun girls! :-) Peace and happy scrapping!

A Card for Lois

I came across this on Wilna Furstenberg's blog and it captured my attention and my heart.

Here's the story: Wilna has a friend, Lois, who is 40 years old and has cancer. She is in pain and needs positive, uplifting people to make her smile. She has an amazing husband and four beautiful kids. The doctors are not giving her long to live.

Wilna is asking us all to take 10 minutes of our time and create a card for Lois. A card that speaks of life and laughter, of fun and flowers. A word of encouragement, maybe your favorite scripture. Take a picture of it and upload it HERE for all to see. Then you mail it to her. Wilna will make a list of all the cards she gets and she will let Lois draw names out of a hat to win an awesome RAK. The deadline for all the cards to reach her in Canada is March 20th. So if you want to play, make her a card and post it. That's how simple it is!

Please email Wilna at wilna71@gmail.com if you want to participate and she will email you her address. Imagine her smile and tears and amazement when she sees how many people care. This will be a great surprise!

Here's the card I made for Lois!

A cool find and a thought for today

OK, so you all already know how much I simply adore Cocoa Daisy and Work in Progress kits, right? Tricia and Trish are the absolute best EVER!!!

SHAMELESS ENABLING
Well, I came across a new kit club last night (I was feeling so bad that I couldn't go to sleep) and they seem to have some amazing goodies. It's called The Scarlet Lime and I already emailed Christy to find out more (I'm such a scrap addict!)

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
I came across this in Cathy Z's Clean & Simple Scrapbooking book and then again on Ali's blog. So relevant.

Above all else, it is about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid. I was hopeful. I had an idea and I had a good purpose and that's why I made works of art.
- Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Hugs to all and thanks for stopping by my blog! You make me smile :-)

Feeling sad and sick today

OK, I finally had to go see my doctor today and she told me that I have a very bad case of Bronchitis. That explains everything. So now I have to take heavy-duty antibiotics and use an inhaler every 4 hours to help clear my chest. I am really hoping that my body gets stronger and stops getting so sick. This year has been tough and it's only February. What the heck is going on here?

Today would have been my Mom's 62nd birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! For those of you that don't know, she passed away 3 years ago so I'm really missing her today... I spoke to my stepdad earlier and we both said a little prayer for her. I know she's with me all the time. This is a layout I made last year using an old photo of my Mom (it's my fave picture of her!)



Speaking of prayer, my dear friend Anilu needs some prayers because her little girl has been in the hospital so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers this week.

Also, I read Lisa Bearnson's blog and I have an overwhelming desire to help out this boy, Brian, who collects stickers (you can read all about it and see pictures on Lisa's blog). So I'm going to put together a package in the days ahead to send to him. If you live in Miami and would like to give me some of your stickers to include in the package, that would be great! Otherwise, if you're in another state or country, maybe you'll want to send him your own gift.

Peace and happy scrapping!

I love scrapbooking!!!

Hi my friends,

I have been so sick this past week that I haven't left the house except to go to work a couple of days, but yesterday I had to get up and get my butt outta the house to celebrate my wonderful friend Damaris's birthday and oh, what fun we had.

She got tons of birthday goodies from friends and family. I got her an autographed copy of Kristina Contes's book, "We Dare You," (which I see is already sold out!) along with lots of other delicious stuff. I got to see some old friends and meet new ones, too! I finally met Dayami, one of our online scrappy friends who also lives here in Miami, and she was a blast! It was so great to meet you IRL, girlie! I can't wait to get together one of these days!

I would share photos with you, but I don't have any yet because I forgot my camera and I'm waiting for my BFF to burn her pics on a CD for me. In the meantime, check out the video that Dayami shot by clicking here.

I also want to share a layout I made a few days ago based on Anilu's Pencil Lines Sketch. Love that I used so many photos and yet it looks so clean and simple! :-) I used KC's Label Love collection from SIS TV.



I really love scrapbooking!!! I have met such amazing women through this craft and I hope that our friendships continue to grow and blossom.

I'm going to get some rest now cause I woke up today feeling worse than ever! Yuck!

Peace and happy scrapping!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I usually love Valentine's Day, but today I am sick with a bad chest cold (I just got out of bed) and my honey left town this morning. He went camping near Naples with one of his best friends. I told him to go because we were supposed to celebrate Valentine's early, but we had to postpone it instead. So next weekend is our Valentine's celebration! I can't wait! (Actually, now that I think about it, I was sick on our very first V-Day also! How romantic!)

Anyway, I was inspired by Anilu's post today so I've decided to share a couple of my wedding photos with you. I cannot believe that this year will mark our fourth wedding anniversary! Time flies when you're having fun...

A couple more layouts and I've been tagged...

Here are two more layouts that I created at Barb's house on Friday night using some very cool American Crafts papers. Sorry about the crappy photos, but I've been real sick with a chest cold, the lighting was bad and I ran out of patience while trying to get a good shot! LOL!




TAG, YOU'RE IT
Elizabeth tagged me so here it goes... A look at some of my favorite sites and stuff:

Old Favorite: Hmm... I'd have to say Scenic Route because I've liked their past paper lines for a while. Also, Kodak Gallery because I still print my pictures there when I have a large order. The quality is good and I can pick my pics up at the CVS Pharmacy near my house.

Food Favorite: I don't cook, but I've been getting some easy and yummy-sounding recipes emailed to me by Recipe Matcher and I printed out a couple of them to try. Examples include Peach Cobbler, Lemon Bars and Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

New Favorite: I love Tiny Prints. Their greeting cards are beautiful. I also love the new Pink Paislee patterned paper collection.

Challenge Favorite: Pencil Lines and One Little Word

Favorite Movie: I love The Notebook, Up Close and Personal and Heat...

Clothing Favorite: I don't shop online for clothes because I need to try stuff on. Some fave stores include NY & Co. and Macy's. Clothes shopping isn't much fun right now since I'm trying to lose weight!

Creative Favorite: I love, love Ali Edwards. Her style is amazing and she inspires me to no end. I also love Celine Navarro and Kristina Contes. Also, Rita Weiss creates some amazing pages. Finally, Trish has a great idea blog over at Work in Progress so check it out!

Favorite Scrapbooking Products: D. Reeves albums, Thickers, felt, Prima flowers and acrylic paint.

Guilty Pleasure Favorite: Coach, Starbucks and Etsy. Love the handbags, gotta have the coffee and Etsy rocks.

Paper Favorite: Right now, I'm loving Collage Press, My Mind's Eye, Love Elsie, American Crafts, Heidi Swapp and Hambly, of course!

CHA NEW RELEASES
Finally, my dear friend Balou sent me this cool link to Craft Critique, where you can find lots of links to new CHA product releases. Lots of good stuff, so check it out!

That's all for now... I gotta get some rest. Peace and happy scrapping!

A Splurge and Some New Layouts (finally!)

Hi my friends!

I just had to purchase this gorgeous Limited Edition kit that Trish over at Work in Progress put together. It's already sold out so I'm thrilled that I was able to order mine in time. It has lots of new Pink Paislee papers and goodies that will debut at CHA and a Making Memories album with a chartreuse spine (my fave color green!) So, I went ahead and bought it because I couldn't resist. Whoohoo!

Last night, I got to scrap at Barb's house and Esther joined us, too. We had a great time chatting. Barb created the most adorable Valentine's Day cards and I worked on a couple of pages. The rest of the girls couldn't make it, but hopefully we can all get together again soon. I feel so blessed to have these amazing women in my life!

Here are some recent layouts that I hadn't shared with you yet, including my last two Christmas 2007 pages. I have a couple more from last night, but I'm adding some finishing touches so I'll post those later.





I started this layout a looong time ago and forgot all about it, so when I accidentally came across this I decided to finish it. I'm not thrilled with it, but I do like the stamped flowers on the cork paper from Cocoa Daisy's August 07 kit featuring Kristina Contes's favorites products (one of my all-time faves).





I used my new SEEDS paper kit from Collage Press for these two layouts. I am in love with that paper! Check out the chopsticks on this layout! :-)





That's all for now! Peace and happy scrapping!

Pencil Lines and more...

Hi my friends!

My dear friend, Anilu, is the guest designer over at Pencil Lines so please check out their website this week. I'm very excited for her and I will definitely be creating a layout with this sketch. In fact, I'm already thinking of some great photos we shot in December while out on my best friend's boat that would be perfect for this page... So inspiring!

And now I just learned that Anilu will be creating some jewelry pieces for Rita Weiss's Details shop in New Hampshire. That is awesome! I love Rita and her scrapbook layouts are amazing. If I'm ever in NH, I'll definitely be stopping by her store! :-)

On Sunday, I got to scrap with Damaris and Ady at one of our local scrapbook stores, Scrap 'N Elegance. They moved to a new location in Historic Cauley Square and we had so much fun! I love the new space.

I'll post a few layouts soon (sorry my peeps, but I haven't taken photos of them yet!). I'm also working on a new mini album so I'm very excited about that... I cannot wait to share it with all of you!

Peace and happy scrapping!

I caved!

I coudn't resist this delicious temptation from Jenny Bowlin. The February kit premiered last night and my BFF just had to bring it to my attention and I caved! So much for "I'm not buying anything because I need to use what I have!" Oh well! I love these papers and those butterflies are irresistible!

My sweet, sweet friend Damaris launched her new blog today so check it out. She always has lots of good stuff to share and she's the one that introduced us to scrapbooking many years ago... I'm looking forward to blogging with you, girlie!

I'll be scrapping this Sunday so I hope to have a few new layouts to post...finally! Whoohoo!

Have a happy weekend!