Scrapporreia

R

2012-02-12T22:55:00.001-05:00

I found out that a co-worker's husband was diagnosed with a form of cancer that had metastasized to his lymph nodes. They are a very close couple and the vision they'd both had was of growing old with each other. Luckily, its totally treatable and he will hopefully be fine in a few months after some rigorous treatments. In the meantime, they are just going about life and being hopeful. I wanted to do something small for them both, knowing that a big gesture could potentially make him feel like the disease is too much in the forefront and being talked about at our work.

Before the holidays, the couple had gone on a yoga retreat and the both loved it. In fact, the husband said that it was a life-changing weekend for him. I decided to gather some yoga-type grownup treats and package them together. There is a 2 CD set that I got from Target and scented candles from Walmart. I personalized it by using his first initial to brand the products. His name is Russ, so I chose some R words that related to healing. Here are the photos below, and if you continue scrolling down, I've included a freeprintable (minus his name). I used some decorative paper from Michaels to build a layer up.

I placed it all in a cheap box I got at Tuesday Morning (under $3) and some coordinating brown tissue.

Here is a free downloadable printable of the REwordsI'm trying something new, I think you should be able to grab the jpg directly from the image below. If that doesn't work, please contact me. :)

2012-01-29T17:36:00.001-05:00

Tutorial: How to make your own cookie cutters.
WHY? Why would anyone bother doing this? See below - for the why and the how. I was inspired by a You Tube video (I think) which I've since tried to search for so I could credit her, but I couldn't, so I took a shot and making my own and thought I'd share it with you guys.

And here are the finished cookies. I didn't have time to ice them - mostly because they were all eaten, but also because I didn't have yellow food coloring. Maybe the next batch. For the Cookie, I used Martha Stewarts recipe

The Dragon New Year ... and a giveaway

2012-01-22T22:53:00.005-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Dragon - MY year. :) Which, if you can do the math, means I'll be 48 at the end of the year. Yikes!With my Aunt getting older and my mom living so far away, I cooked the whole meal (well, most of it) for my family. It was surprisingly so much fun.

Chinese New Year is akin to Thanksgiving for us. Its a time of reflection, happiness, and hope for the future. So, even if you are not Asian, Happy New Year everyone. May the luck of the Dragon spread to you all

And for the occasion, I have a giveaway printable poster. Grab it here.

I wanted to make something to go in a frame that I rotate prints in. I am also printing one for my mom's restaurant - with the addition of the restaurant name.

GONG HAY FOT CHOY

Lego Mania

2012-01-16T01:16:00.000-05:00

Have you ever tried to build something with lego and been frustrated by just digging around for the pieces you might need? We did. It felt like it took longer to find the pieces than it did to make anything. My husband decided to separate the bigger pieces by color after a night like this...

We put them in ziplock bags and dumped them into a big box that we'd gotten. The box was perfect for just the bigger pieces but it overflowed when you added all the Legos we had into it. This is the box we started with - our neighbor had gotten 2 boxes as a gift and gave us one.

The best part of organizing the Lego is that the next morning, my 5 year old came down, pulled out all the bags, tossed them all over the floor, took out what he wanted, built his toy then - shocker - put all the pieces back into the bags, pressed the air out of the bags, zipped them back up, and put them all back in the box. What? That made it all so worth it. This is what he built. He called it Wormy and carried it around for a week.

But folks, that was just the lead-in ... THIS is what I really wanted to blog about. Take a look at my Lego Organization!

Lego-Mania

i bought some boxes that stacked and (see the handle looking things?) they clicked on to each other so they can be carried as a group. Some of the boxes even had little trays inside to further separate into boxes. This allowed me to break them down by color and some by unique shapes.

Mainly they were grouped by color according to the ones that had 'regular thickness' and 2 circles side-by-side.

Here is a detail of the Yellow box. I wish this had a separator so I could keep the 2 circled pieces from the larger ones.

(oops, I have a typo below, but its late and I'm too tired to fix it right now.)

Voila! My masterpiece!

I know... I call it organized, my friends are calling me uber-anal. But this is how the Legos have stayed, for months, even with my son playing with them regularly.

So, yeah, I'm a little crazy. Yeah, it took a long time and a good bit of my Christmas break. But I LOVE it. :)

WHERE TO BUY IT.

TARGET: the stackable boxes that click into each other - 4 pack (was a bought at a post-Christmas sale and I haven't seen it again ), 3 pack with smaller boxes inside.

K-Mart/Wal-Mart: Baby Tackle boxes (top row), Medium Tackle boxes

Wal-mart: Largest tackle boxes (the ones that held the flat pieces)

How did we get so many Legos?

We started out with our neighbor cleaning out his aunt's house and he gave a couple of boxes to our friends. They didn't need that many so they gave us a big box. I love Lego so we were thrilled. We didn't really have any yet, so that was great. Then my sister got rid of all the ones her sons played with. That more than doubled our supple. Then, we cleaned out my aunt and uncle's home before they moved and they gave us about 4 giant box sets and the rest is organizational history.

Over this Christmas, we did actually buy my DS some more sets. Don't laugh. But there is a new kind called Ninjago with dojos and other things from the Ninjago Spinjitzu show.

Blog Prompts

2012-01-05T23:08:00.000-05:00

I found this on - you guessed it - Pinterest from a site called Jenna's Journeys. I loved doing the ScrapMatter's daily blog so this naturally appealed to me. Here is a link in case you want to play along at your own pace.
http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/16-blog-prompts-for-when-youre-stuck.html

Thanksgiving Wall Sign

2012-01-05T22:55:00.002-05:00

This year we decided to have a few friends over for Thanksgiving and what better way to really make them feel like part of the family than printing a welcoming poster? I included our guests' last names, printed it cheaply at Costco and found some nice wooden frames on sale at Micheals. Our guests loved it and even asked if they could have it when we took it down.

Greek Balls - Kourambiedes

2012-01-04T23:04:00.002-05:00

Wow, has it really been a month since I last posted? Shame on me! What have I been doing? Baking, wrapping, gifting, all the usual holiday stuff. I think I baked about 15 dozen cookies -- so far.

Tonight alone, I made 2 different kinds totaling 7 dozen. One of the cookies I made was from an older woman named Mary, who lived on the third floor of my uncle's Chinese Laudromat. We always visited her when we went to his place in the Summers. She'd give us lemonade and these rich butter cookies and these awesome, light morsels covered in powered sugar.

She's passed away over 20 years ago, but her recipe lives on. We've always called them Greek Balls because Mary was from Greece, but (thank you internet) I think the real name is Kourambiedes.

There are some delicious and complicated recipes on the internet but I think some of the best recipes are those simple original ones handed down. I'm sharing them with you to pay forward the delicious yumminess that was shared with me as a child.

Greek Balls

Ingredients:

4 sticks unsalted butter - room tempurature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/.2 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups chopped pecans

Save a bowl of extra powdered sugar for finishing.

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Blend powdered sugar and flour together well.

In a bowl, mix butter until light and fluffy

Add in the flour-sugar mixture, egg yolk, vanilla and chopped nuts - mix well.

Form into balls, bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Immediately roll in powdered sugar.

Nativity Scene Mini Cakes

2011-12-02T08:47:00.001-05:00

I saw this on my Wilton cake ideas app wand I really want to make it - Not that I need that many cakes in my house lol. I may attempt it in a couple of weeks, if I do, I'll post step-by-steps.

2011-11-30T22:55:00.001-05:00

I think I'm finally done with all my holiday and holiday-related Thank you cards, too!
Shutterfly is making a lot of cards for us this season. We made 'Family' cards with the grandparents on them, I made a set for my in-laws to send with their photos, a set for my son's friends... whew.

And for those of you who are on my blog list... I guess you get a preview of it since I want my $10 back from Shutterfly! lol

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Holiday Cards 2012

2011-11-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

I just had a House Party Shutterfly Holiday Card party where I got some free cards. Then I did a search and found a code for 5 more free cards if I used it by Nov 18 (btw, the code is Karma5). To make it even sweeter, if I shared a link, I got free shipping and my friends got 10 free cards. One of my friends sent me their code for 10 free cards. All told, I got 30 free cards for FREE. Cool, huh? Here is the card.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Don't randomly click.

2011-10-31T23:17:00.000-04:00

Holy cow, that's what I get for being off-line for too long. I saw a new feature on Blogger so I started clicking around. Now my Blog layout is all changed. Ugh. This isn't really that worthy of a post, but I'm annoyed with myself, so I'm posting this. :)

Halloween Treat Bags

2011-10-31T22:44:00.000-04:00

I've (sadly) been absent from the scrapping world for a little while now. Life (and mostly work) have gotten in the way. But regular life continues and sometimes, I get to do few little fun projects. Here is the latest one from Halloween. They are Trick or Treat bags that have slits in them for glow bracelets. It gets dark by 6-ish and our kids aren't the best listeners when we say, "Don't run" or "look both ways".

I saw these bags and had to try a hand at making them - with my own designs and twist. My son was a Ninja so I make the Ninja bag for him. I made a few but gave them away before I got shots of them. Below are shots of them in the light and one in the dark with them all aglow. lol

I was inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest. Did I mention lately how much I love that site? :)

Here is the original pin and below that is a link to a tutorial from the original creators.

Source: news.holidash.com via Linda on Pinterest

My twists and reviews

I didn't do the mesh that they recommended. Instead, I got some cheap bandanas, cut them in half and sewed it to the bag. They say to use felt for the design, I just cut it out of the bag, making sure to leave some parts touching the edges.

The most difficult thing was finding 6 matching glow sticks. Did you ever notice that they have white sticks that are yellow and green when lit? Well you can't tell what they are when they're 'raw'. I put the sticks into the bags and figured we'd pop them when it got darker. I gave my hubby the duty of separating the glow sticks - guess what? He's color blind! What was I thinking? lol

Pinterest inpired

2011-09-11T23:29:00.004-04:00

I have been obsessed with Pinterest lately. There is just so much inspiration on that site. You have to be invited (unless they've changed that) so if you're interested in checking it out, let me know. I love love love it.

Anyhow, I saw some photos people did of their kids with posters of the first day of school. I also saw some others with things about their kids like: favorite TV show, book, etc. I decided to combine these along with his size and other personal stats and made this photo to commemorate each year as he grows up. I just hope I remember to do this every year.

Gulp. He got so big!

(BTW - I wasn't going to put in his name but he typed it, so I wanted to keep it there. )

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T21:02:00.003-04:00

Anniversarys are usually a good thing and a time to celebrate. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is a time to reflect and, for me, to really appreciate what we have in so many aspects of our lives. It also makes me think about all the lives lost and wars fought in the name of religion and 'for a higher purpose'. Is this what God (or whomever your god is) wants? Just doesn't feel right.

Like many others, I think of where I was, the people I was with and the times and days the directly followed it. Here is my story. Thank you for reading, and if you feel like it, thanks for sharing your story, too.

Remembering 9/11/2001

I was in Portland, Maine. Some of you will remember that as the location that the terrorist departed from on that infamous day. I was in a meeting for work that would have kept me away from home for another 2 days. We were all sitting around in a huge conference room with what seemed like a 30 foot projection screen, waiting to hear sale presentations and get geared up for 'another great year of selling!'. As the meeting started, I got a text from my roommate, who was back in New York City. She was working on 23 street, as she was walking from Penn Station to her office, she sent me, "Plane hit WTC". She saw the first plane hit the first tower. Then minutes later, the second text said, " OMG another plane hit 2nd twr."

I was the only one that I know of who got a text during that meeting. That was before everyone had blackberries and mobile devices. There were a group of my team that was off in a side room preparing cupcakes for the VPs birthday. I think they heard it on TV. So a handfull of us knew something big had happened. They went on with the meeting but my mind was reeling and I have no idea what they said. Once the bosses were informed and conferred, they decided to end the meeting part, let everyone contact their families back home in New York City and the outlying areas. They kept the giant screen on and streamed live news coverage. It made everything seem that much sharper seeing it unfold so large, on what seemed like dolby surround sound. We watched the planes hit over and over. We watched the ashes and debris fall over and over. We heard the cries and scream over and over.

Then the hotel came in and asked us all to stay put because there was someone in the main part of town, with a rifle - and I don't even recall anymore if he was shooting randomly or just standing there. We didn't know what had happened - why it happened. This was a sleepy town in Maine. It felt like, to me, that the entire coast was being attacked simultaneously. I panicked for my family in the beach town of Myrtle Beach, SC. I panicked for my boyfriend in NYC and my roommate - who was either in New York or, hopefully, heading home. And I worried about our nation; the land of the free. And I worried if we would still have that freedom.

I had my laptop with me - it wasn't a time when everyone had a portable computing device - and I was able to instant message with my roommate and boyfriend. All the phones were down, actually jammed with calls. The only way most of us got to communicate out of Portland - out of the hotel - was via IM. My room was off of the conference room and I left the door open so people could sign on and find their friends and families. It was a slow parade of people stream in all day, hugging me to thank me for letting them use my computer/room/connection, crying when they finally got in touch with people. Everyone was so emotionally raw.

Later, AT&T got sporadic service and I was able to call out. I will always remember that they contacted all of their customers and erased all charges for the 2-3 days surrounding 9/11. I will always be loyal to them for that reason. They had amazing customer service and made a really difficult time, a little easier.

Everyone felt helpless, our town was being invaded (as far as we knew) and we were hours away, not being able to do anything - not even being able to leave the town. Many were stressed out about how to get home with airports closed, rental car agencies emptied. Somehow, someone decided that they'd try to get to a local Red Cross to donate blood, time - whatever. They weren't ready or equipped to take all the volunteers that poured into their space. Everyone wanted to do something.

We kept up with the dinner part of our meeting, but instead of doing a working dinner, we all spoke and reflected. One man, a vet, stood up and started singing, "God Bless America". We all joined in, standing - and cried. We were in a beautiful town on a docked dinner boat. It was gorgeous and surreal. All of it. All of it was a disconnected mass of events, emotions, visions.

The amount of lives lost was astounding. After we returned home and got back to work, we'd hear everyday of some who lost a loved one, friend, former colleague, neighbor. It was heart-wrenching. I remember listening to the news to see if I recognized anyone, afraid I would. I remember reading the list of names and seeing, at one point that a bunch of people on one of the planes were all from one company, heading to a company-wide meeting; and I remember thinking; 'that could have been us'.

I talk a lot. I type a lot. I could say much more but I don't need to. We all have vivid memories of where we were and how it affected our lives. If you'd like to share yours... I'd love to hear it.

God Bless you all and God Bless this country.

...and one other note, God Bless the emergency service people who helped, those who lost their lives helping, and those that are still battling illnesses as a result of the dust, ash and other contaminants they breathed in trying to help.

Kindergarten already?

2011-09-06T00:02:00.000-04:00

Again, its been awhile since I posted. There are so many reasons for this that I don't have the energy to get into, but here I am now, Kindergarten-Eve, post earthquake, post hurricane, and post our own little whirlwind of activity related to the first day of Kindergarten. Starting tomorrow, my DS will be attending Strathmore Elementary School.

In addition to buying a new outfit (my DH's idea - not mine), we've been buying snacks, supplies for a teacher's gift and putting it all together. Once he started 'real school' I thought we'd be done with making food for him. Nope. It appears we need to pack snacks for during school, snacks for aftercare, lunch for the first week -- "just in case". ugh. really?? And everything needs to be clearly labeled with every bit of information.

So, I made labels for each type of food, put a photo of my child on it (figured it would be easier to identify if it gets separated from him) holding a sign with his teacher's name - which we took at orientation.

We never got to meet his teacher because she was out sending her own kid to college, but we wanted to give her a little token on the first day of school. Tyler made a mug (similar photo) with a handdrawing on the other side. He made a heart and signed his name. Inside the mug, we put in tissues, dry erase pens, kids-safe scissors, file labels, fun paper clips and an individual Oxy Clean... hey - she's working with kids all day. lol

Summer Camp Gifts

2011-08-14T13:23:00.003-04:00

Its been a crazy, busy Summer and I've neglected many things scrapping related. In fact, I've bowwed out of most of my CT duties, with much regret. I'm still bouncing in and out of MScraps - because the stuff in the galleries are always so inspiring and also because the ladies there are so fun and inspiring themselves. There is also no pressure there. They love when you join in but don't make you feel negligent when you can't. If you haven't checked out the shop and forums, you must. :)

Anyhow, my DS will be finishing his 8 weeks of summer camp at Rolling Hills Day Camp. We love the place and feel like he's so well taken care of - especially since he's there from 8:30 until 4 - with an additional hour where he's on their bus. We get regular reports and photos as well as a LOT of things sent home that he makes and achieves. Thanks to them, our son dove off of the diving board for the first time.

So I didn't want to just send in money at the end of the Summer (Not that its in my nature anyway), so I made these fun - camp inspired - packages for each of his counsellors and the other important people who've taken care of him this Summer.

Camp's S'more Fun

Sucker Send-off

2011-07-26T22:34:00.004-04:00

I have a new obsession that has sucked up my time. Its like a vortex whirling around and mesmerizing me. Its Pinterest, a site that you can post things of interest and others can view and share. Kinda like a bulletin board meets facebook.

I have a board just full of things I'd like to make or do. One of those things were these giant lollipops. I saw the photo and thought, "I can recreate that!" but I needed an occasion. Luckily, my friend was leaving our company and I got the chance.

I used gift wrapping paper rolls, wrapped them in white kraft paper (using glue tape along the length) then blew up balloons and wrapped those in cello bags held together with scotch tape. They came out so cute!

Then I made banners with the words: It SUCKS Ur LEAVING.

For kicks, I threw in some real lollipops. My idea was to make the word SUCKS out of the lollipops so I bought this humongous bag. Turns out I didn't need nearly that many.

My friend was really happy with his decorated office, even if he spent the day doling out candy.

Cooperative Kids or How to Photograph a group of kids

2011-07-13T22:06:00.008-04:00

When it comes to photography, there isn't any such thing as cooperative kids. Which is why I thought I would give a little photography tutorial. How do you get a great shot of a group of kids without making it look photoshopped? You have to start with the right kind of shots. Not the right shots. Because if you can get those anytime you want, you wouldn't be reading this.

The first thing you have to do is gather the kids. Here are some key clues:

Feed them

Let them sleep

Tell them what's happening.

Tired kids are cranky. Period. There is nothing more you need to know. No one wants to work with a cranky kid - especially their parent. Trust me.

Same goes for hungry kids. Cranky. See above.

Prepare your kids. As with most things, let them know what is going to happen. If they think they are going to the park to play with their friends, and you suddenly make them sit still and smile - they'll feel duped. Then they'll get cranky. See above again.

Just tell them that you are going to have all the kids sit together, smile really nicely, be happy to be together. Then Mommy (or Daddy - or whomever) will take a few quick pictures. I usually add: If you smile really nicely, look right at the camera, then we will be done much quicker and then they can play longer.

These are pretty simple precepts for doing anything with kids. Eat, Sleep and Information.

Once you get to your location, get rid of any overt distractions. Don't bring balls, bikes, dolls and lay them all out. If having any of these helps focus your child, bring them along. In a bag. Try taking the photos just using your vocal commands. Get other parents to place themselves directly behind you and call to their kids. Try these things first. Once toys come out, their focus is all over the place and you may even lose a kid or two to a truck, never to return again.

Let me go back to the parents helping. If you have many parents trying to take the same shot, you will NEVER get all the kids looking into your camera. Every kid will instinctively hear their own parents and look in that direction. If this is an important shot, have each parent take turns quickly shooting. Or give all the shots to the best photoshopper. Otherwise, if you are the only photographer, its important that the parents who are calling out to their kids is directly in front of you (under the camera) or directly behind or over you. That way, when the child looks up, they are also looking at the camera.

Now for the actual photos.

Get down on their level. Kneel, sit, squat. Otherwise you will get a shot that looks unnatural or uncomfortable. When the camera is parallel to the children, the photos look engaged and the people don't look distorted.

Take a LOT of shots. My unofficial rule of thumb is about 2-4 shots per kid. With digital, thats totally feasible. Your goal is to get one nice shot of each kid so you can composite them in Photoshop later. Above are the photos that I pieced together to make the final layout.

Back-Up Plan When in doubt have an alternate game plan set. For example. I wanted to take a group shot of a bunch of kids sitting down, arms around each other. I decided this when they were all playing. No notice, half of them had not eaten, TONs of toys all over the place. Whats a girl to do?

I tried to get them to sit down. I even got off a few initial shots. Then mayhem. Kids were annoyed, some ran off. You get the idea. So my back-up plan came into play.

Original plan: line up the kids sitting, arms around each other.

Back-up plan: Shoot each kid standing, happy, smiling, then photoshop them together later. More work, but could work.

Then Photoshop.There is a lot of controversy these days about parents photoshopping their kids. This is not what the uproar is about. This is just preserving your mental state, not for the sake of looking perfect. Sanity vs vanity. I addded heads, took away feet, removed fingers, added bodies, took bodies away. But, an hour later, I had a great shot that I could actually use.

Here is the final

NOTE These guys are: Irish, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Isrealie, Russian and Korean. Crazy, huh?

School's over

2011-07-06T22:30:00.000-04:00

...and that meansTeacher Thank you gifts. This year was easy (and hard) for me. My son graduated out of The Goddard School (sniff, sniff) so I took pictures of every kid on my son's class, contorted into the letters of the alphabet and made a poster for the school.
For the teachers and staff, I created Thank You cards. It was a practical and personal gift. Some of these teachers have known these kids since they were mearly a few months old. Here is what the card looks like.

and I did hang cards from the wine bottles we gave to the teaching staff. I was pretty thrilled with the idea because even if we just got them a fruit arrangement from Edible Arrangements, we would have spent about the same as 2 cases of wine - once we got the 'case' discounts.

I used paper from MScraps' June Collab: The Things You Do - a perfect kit for father's day. I don't recall where I got the stitching from.

Here is the poster that I made from the photos I took. I presented the school with the poster along with the teacher's gifts.

Food fun - its Grill Time!

2011-07-06T21:15:00.003-04:00

Happy Post 4th of July, everyone!

As the weekend approached, I got an email from Michaels showing these way cool cupcakes that looked like little grills. I put my own touches to it but basically, they are the same. Here are the ones I made.

Here are the 'instructions':

Fill silver foil cupcake liners about 2/3 full with packaged cake mix.
After baking and cooling, level off the cupcakes with a knife so that they are flat.
Ice with dark Chocolate frosting. I used Dunken Hines' Whipped Dark Chocolate.

Sprinkle Red sanding sugar in the center to simulate hot coals.
Select Black ready to use Wilton icing. Using a round piping tip, evenly squeeze lines across the icing to simulate the grill bars. (Michaels suggested silver bars using a mix of black and white - I don't know about you guys, but my grill has been black since day one. lol)

For the candies, I used yellow Jelly Belly jelly beans, wrapped with the green part of fruit roll ups. Did you guys know how hard it is to find green fruit roll ups? I ended up having to buy a mixed box of 3 different types, and cut the green part off of a 'double-sided' kind. This is sorta what the box looked like, only mine didn't come with tatoos.

To make the steaks, I cut the caramels into 3rds so that they were thinner and pinched them in at the bottom a bit.

The hotdogs were the pink and red Mike and Ike candies. And the burgers were some random bug shaped gummies I'd found and pressed way into the icing.

To make the grill marks on the candy, used cake decorating pens. They came in a set of 4 different colors in the baking aisle. They didn't have black, so I ended up using blue and they seemed to work just fine.

Challenges

2011-06-28T22:35:00.006-04:00

While I was on my forced internet hiatus, I wasn't able to download any new kits or files, but I did manage to spend some time on some of the challenges they have at MScraps. Let me first explain why I love doing the challenges. Being new-ish to digi-scrapping, I have found that challenges on the scrapping sites were a great way to push myself and learn new techniques. What I love about the challenges on MScraps is that they have something for everyone, the newbie and the more seasoned scrapper.

Here are some pics from the last month's miscellaneous challenge by Jenny -which was to take one subject and photoshop 3 images onto one photo. I LOVED this challenge. LOVE, love, LOVE it.

Credits: Kit Playground by Jady Day Designs, Paper: The Things You Do/Mscraps June Collab

We all love getting comments on our posts. My favorite comment I got with this layout was one where someone said, Triplets, how cool!. LOL. Lordy, if I had triplets, I think I'd be in an asylum. lol

This page I did using Sherry Ferguson's Tropical Paradise kit (available at ScrapMatters) for MScraps' Miscellaneous Challenge for June. The assignment was to scrap a page with part of your image extruded out.

Credits: Kit: Tropical Paradise by Sherry Ferguson Designs, Paper: The Things You Do/MScraps June Collab

Back from 'hiatus'

2011-06-27T08:54:00.007-04:00

When technology works, its great. When it doesn't it can just about stop all progress if you've come to rely on it. And I have. My internet was barely working (like 20 mins here, 10 mins there) and it was beyond frustrating. Then we thought we'd fixed it, and it'd be out again. Needless to say, I haevn't been much in the digiworld during the past two months. But I haven't been stopped either.

I'll start by posting my latest pages and work backward until I catch up.

Here is Wimpy Chomper's latest kit: He's Out of This World, available at ScrapMatters. She does the funnest kits, perfect for kiddie shots.

And here is my page Blast OFF, created with it.

Weather - Theme shots

2011-05-16T08:25:00.005-04:00

I had some internet issues and didn't get to go online for nearly 2 weeks. Its almost unfathomable, isn't it? I seriously don't know how I did it!

Well, I missed last week's photo theme but I still took some shots. My scrapping pal, Romy, came up with the idea of 'Weather' as the theme. I thought it was a really intriguing idea. Then of course, its been non-stop raining. Well, Rain is a weather condition, isn't it? The first couple of shots are through my office window.

Weather Rolling In

Weather Through the Window

And finally, on Mother's Day weekend, the sun peeked out. A little. Even though it got covered right up again, we had one nice day, so I had to shoot it.

Semi-Sunny

Nikon D5100 - my new treasure

2011-05-01T21:15:00.003-04:00

TA DA!
Here she is. My new toy. This was shot with my Torch blackberry - but here it is with my camera bag. LOVE THEM!!!!

Just testing out the new camera. I am sooo happy with it. Words can't describe it, so here are some test shots:

I was wondering how to organize it on the blog, so I'm posting the shots chronologically - all shots are taken in NYC unless otherwise noted.

Night vision in Times Sq.
The night I got the camera, my friend, Alana, drove me down to Penn. This is smack in the middle of Times Square. I took a bunch of shots and various settings, but the motion blur was pronounced in all of them (probably because not only was the street scene in motion, but our car was, too. Then I tried the Night Vision feature. This is what I got.

Here is one of the first shots, taken along 3rd Ave on my walk up from Five Guys (yes, PMS bad eating - lol). They have the Spring flowers up and each gigantic planter was more beautiful than the last.

Spring. finally

View down 28th Street (I think it was 28th - wonder if this thing has geo-tagging?)

Shadowy Swirls (original)
This is the same as the one in my Curves theme, except not in night vision mode.

Outside Penn
This is the view North toward Times Square, just before I ran for the NJ Transit train.

Streaming Pop News
This is one of my favorite shots of the night.

Paella
I took this using the 'food' setting of the camera. Delish, too!

And the crab legs...
(my friend's boyfriend got the left overs. Unfortunately, all that was left was the baked potato and green beans! lol lol lol )

Hot
This is silly, but this was the first shot I took using the Food feature. Its so crisp and real!

Keyboard
What I love about this one is that the shelf this was on was in complete darkness. There was a bit of ambient light that filtered onto the front of the keyboard, but the night vision setting took a really cool, grainy bw shot.

I just love this shot because its got such an edgy, urban feel to it.

And the last one - cliche, I know, but what is more NY than the Empire State Bldg?
And red hot at that. :)

Photography Theme: Curves

2011-04-30T09:34:00.003-04:00

What a crazy week. Ups, downs, exhaustion - you name it. Still I made time to roam around and take some shots for the Curves theme.

Shadowy Swirls

Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60), Aperture f/5.6, Focal Length 18 mm, Focal Length 18.3 mm, Flash Off, Did not fire,
Lens FStops 5.33, Scene Night Vision, Color Monochrome

This shot was taken using the Night Vision setting on under the Scenes feature of my new camera. I just loved how the light and shade combined to make the playful shapes on the concreate as they filtered from the shop window.

Column Curves

Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.077 sec (1/13), Aperture f/3.5, Focal Length 18 mm, Focal Length 18.3 mm, ISO Speed 3200, Exposure Bias 0 EV, Flash Off, Did not fire

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor ...well, you can read it yourself on the top of the main post office between 32rd and 34th Street and 8th Avenue. I love the majesty of the building with the bustle of the street traffic.

Number Curves

Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30), Aperture f/5.6, Focal Length 55 mm, ISO Speed 3200, Exposure Bias 0 EV, Flash Auto, Fired, Return detected

The catty corner view of the building awning made the triple 3s standout in my nighttime walk.

As you can see, I'm fascinated with low light shots and I'm trying to play with my new camera shooting in the various settings.

Thanks for checking out my shots!

Themed Weekly Photographers

2011-04-28T08:55:00.000-04:00

Here is a list of everyone who has joined in the MScraps' 'challenge yourself ' theme photo exercise. Be sure to check out their awesome shots and follow them if you like what you see.

If you want to read more or just join in on the chatter, you can find the posts in this forum over at Mscraps

Heather T's Blog: http://oohlalaartsy.blogspot.com

Linda (Scrapporreia)'s Blog: http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com

Meg of OceanWideDesigns' Blog: http://www.oceanwidedesigns.com

Romy's Blog: http://by-romy.blogspot.com/

Reminder:The idea is to have a theme to shoot a set of photos over a week's time. This will hone your eye and give you practice with your camera. You're only challenging yourself, so shoot what you can. Make something fit, or see how it doesn't fit. Just have fun with it.

C'mon -- join us!

Today my baby turns 5

2011-04-25T00:23:00.006-04:00

I'm so proud of the little boy he's growing into and sad to see the parts of him that are a little baby fade away. This one little guy gives me more joy and genuinely melts my heart more than I ever thought anything could.

Happy Birthday my little love!

Here is a shot of his school birthday cupcake. I made 30 of them. yeah, THIRTY. That's a mama's love, huh?

Help, my house is infested with catepillars... cupcakes, that is!

Theme photo blogging - announcement

2011-04-24T01:14:00.002-04:00

I'm a regular participator in MScraps. I love their designers, the store is awesome (and why I'm always broke!) and the ladies there are so varied, creative, supportive, caring and I could go on and on. Its a place I feel I can throw ideas out and get real feedback and tons of back up.

Recently, there has been a lot of chatter about buying new cameras, comparisons, brands, etc. It led me to think (because, yes, I am also waiting for the Nikon D5100 to get to my store!) that I loved doing the Theme Photo blogging 'contest' after I got my D70 slr. It wasn't just the contest; it was the fact that it forced me to get out and shoot. I'd go for walks at lunch with my friends and it was so much fun to talk about our shots and what made it hard, what we liked, etc. I started a thread in MScraps to invite some of the ladies to join me in a self-challenge - a blogging circle of photography.

Interested in joining?

Here is how it will work:
4 Themes a month (theoretically one them per week)
Pick 3 - 5 of your favorite shots
Post to your blogs All blogs will be listed after I get some takers (bonus:we can each post the full list of blogs and the link back to mScraps' forum)
Everyone comments, reviews, critiques, etc.
We'll start on May 1, Sunday and the week will end on Sat (May 8)

Benefits: more photos, better shooting increase traffic and 'followers' to our own blogs Can get photo help from a group of fellow photogs

Example from a theme photo contest I ran a few years ago: We chose Circles as our first theme and we all had to shoot things that reminded us of the word. Shots included: Bi-circles (bike tires), retro lamps, the moon, ironwork around NYC, puddles, etc.

THEMES (thank you for those of you who sent in your suggestions prior to this thread) Be sure to name each of your shots - sometimes a clever title makes the shot that much more appealing. :) And it helps if we end up comments about it in the thread, we dont have to say: the one with the blue. lol

WEEK OF
May 1: Curves (hints: Many things curve; the curve of a body, curls in hair, winding roads, or you can to to the opposite extreme: lack of curves - as long as it relates)
May 8: Weather (hints: This outside the box, don't shoot just rain or sun, challenge yourself.)
May 15: Anticipation (hints: lots of us have kids/grandkids - there are so many possibilities here for them, but we can do inanimate things, too: plants prebud, ketchup dripping, an envelope)
May 22: Double takes - This one requires 2 photos; 2 things that look or seem similar (hints: obviously twins, two uses for the same thing, reflections, -- there are so many possibilities to this one.

The other photographers can come and comment on your shots.(I'm planning on posting the full list on my blog as well). Don't worry if you don't do each week at the same time as I've dated them. Whenever you shoot and post, we'll all be taking a look (and those like me, will surely be commenting).

This is just to get us all out and shooting. Practice makes perfect. The more we shoot the better our pictures have to become. Once I see how much interest we get in this, I can post a longer schedule. :)

If you know of a budding photog, send them to this thread at Mscraps so they can join in on the fun, too!

My little patch out back

2011-04-10T21:48:00.000-04:00

I love being outside (minus the bugs and the animals - lol ). So I decided to make it feel more like me. My son has the whole house, my husband has the garage. I don't have a room thats just for me. So, for the few months of decent weather, I want my own space.

April Food Break

2011-04-04T21:45:00.006-04:00

All this scrapping and creating makes you hungry, no? I thought the time was ripe for a food break. heh heh heh

I'll start with my April Fool's treats. I made these worm riddled apples for my son's lunch bag and it came out so cute that I decided to make 2 more for each of his teachers. They loved them and one of them saved it to take home to show her son. :) I love a 'pay it forward'.

I saw this 'treat' on a site or a magazine and I can't recall which, or else I'd give them their due credit. Here is how it was done, I trimmed a gummy worm, used a paring knife and dug out a hole. Then dripped some lemon juice inside to keep it fresh. To keep the gummy candy from getting too gooey too quickly, I dabbed the hole after a little bit. Then I shoved the cut side of the worm in. That's it!

Next Up are Cake Pops. You seen these online a ton of times by now. There are many variations: cake mixed with a binder (like cream cheese), straight up cake baked in ball shapes, or scooped out to ball shapes. Covered with a chocolate concoction, covered with frosting then fondant, frosting and dipped in chocolate, and so on. These were from my local Starbucks on Third and 48th in NYC. Rocky Road, Birthday Cake and Tiramisu. They were a little too sweet for me, but I wanted to try them, so I had to buy 'em. Cute though, huh?

For my DHs birthday, we had some of our close friends and their kids over on Saturday night. For his actual birthday, I didn't want him not to have a cake, so I picked up this peanut butter silk pie at Perkins. They have some yummy pies. I topped it with these colorful, rubber, finger puppets (available at Target). Aren't they hideously cute?

Blog Train Freebies with The Design Girl

2011-04-01T07:30:00.002-04:00

Happy April Fool's Day! The start of the month, the beginning of Spring, and what better way to start than with a new Sprint kit from The Design Girl and a whole blog train of freebies? Here is her Hop To It kit. How cute are those little bunnies and chickies?? Here is a layout I did with the kit from last year's Easter Egg hunt down in VA.This is our adorable God-daughter (and neice) on her first Easter Egg Hunt.

I have create 4.25 x 5.5 printable labels for those Easter gifts or just to use as a fun mailing label. Click on the preview below to download the files. Then be sure to scroll down so that you can find all the other free goodies by The Design Girl's CT team.

Your next stop is Andrea's blog

If you lose your way you can find the whole list of blog's here :

Linda/Scrapporreia (you are here) - http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com/

Andrea - http://grandmasgotworms.blogspot.com/

Sharon - http://quietangelsb.blogspot.com/

Emma - http://scrappy-dappy-doo.blogspot.com/

Kris - http://myworldinscraps.blogspot.com/

Tamara - http://www.yesterdaytodaytamara.blogspot.com/

Donna - http://www.scrappydonna.blogspot.com/

Ulrika - http://www.ulrikaulrika.se/

Enjoy the goodies!

Be sure to check out some of the other freebies on this site before you go - click on Freebies on the tab above.

And I wanted to thank Danielle, her CT lead Andrea and all the other ladies for making me feel so welcome this month as a CT guest. It was a blast!

FREE Silhouette Birthday Banner Template

2011-03-29T23:46:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone, In honor of my wonderful husband's birthday, I'm giving away a free Silhouette banner template. I'm a circle girl. I like dots, dot patterns... circles. I wanted to make my hubby a sign for when he came downstairs on his birthday so I decided to make them in circles. My poor husband is color blind and I torture him about it all the time; "What color is that? Do you see that color next to that color?" and on and on. What better than to make a crazy mixed up color banner? The credits will be longer than this post, I'm sure. I needed to explain all of that so that you'd know why its all such a hot mess. It was intentional. :) This template uses an 8.5 x 11 sheet of card or regular paper stock. I strung them up with baker's twine from his cake. (yes, I know... how lame is that??) lol. Please click here or on the image below to download the free Silouette cutting template: Credits for Crazy Colorful Banner: Boy Oh Boy by Heather T, Camden's Buddies by Wimpy Chompers Creations, Happy Go Lucky by Sherry Ferguson Design

Clearance Sale

2011-03-28T08:29:00.004-04:00

There is a huge clearance sale at ScrapMatters this week and Wimpy Chompers is having a HUGE 60% sale then the kits and alphas are retiring - for-evah! If you're just starting out or have those photos you've been meaning to scrap, now is the time to shop and buy! You can click below to go to her store.

The Letter O - for Oreos

2011-03-22T00:10:00.005-04:00

Yum. Oh wait... I mean YUM!

If you've been reading my blog lately, you'll see why I'm no skinny minnie. I love to cook and bake. And I love my discovery: The Picky Palate. She has an awesome website and she just loves to concoct her own treats. She made these things that she called Cookies and Cream Squares.

Like Oreos? yum. Like marshmallows? yum. Here is a twist on rice krispie treats that's sure to send the kids and grown-ups back for more. I made these into tiny 1 1/2 inch squares for the letter O day at Pre-K. I tried to convince my son to bring in an onion but he wasn't going for that. I just thought it woulda been hysterical for a kid to show up with an onion. I dunno why. lol

He decided to bring in his Thomas train because Thomas is the #1 engine. Get it? One - starts with an O. We're just so darned clever. ha.

Anyway... here they are. They look like dark brownies, but they are something else entirely. Try it, its easy and yummy.

It only takes like 10 mins and 3 ingredients.

1 bag Oreos
1 bag Jet puff marshmallows
2 T butter

Melt the marshmallows and butter in a bowl - about 45 seconds in the microwave.
Crush the oreos in a food processor.

Mix together.

pour into buttered pan to cool and set.

I added the extra touch of the drizzled glaze and candy pearls.

Movies Under the Stars

2011-03-20T21:37:00.006-04:00

OMGosh,I feel like I haven't blogged in eons! I've been so tired and post-vacation run down - not to mention catching up with work.

So, here is what I've been up to: Friday night, we did a really fun thing: Movie under the Stars. None of the photos came out so I probably won't be scrapping about it. We were trying to come up with what to do for Tyler's bday party since we already took him to Disney as his big treat. My friend suggested projecting a movie outside, which we'd all been talking about for ages. So my DH and I went to Lowes and bought a plain painter's canvas dropcloth, draped it over an old conference exhibit that my company threw out, set out some cushions, fired up an old Sony projector that my DH's company threw out (which he fixed) and voila! Outdoor movie night.

It was awesome and so much fun. This is the only pic that really depicts it but its kinda lame. :)

March Freebie

2011-03-13T23:24:00.005-04:00

You can take a guess at what's inspired me - VACATION!

Who doesn't love vacation? Time off, eating out, playing instead of working... ahhhh. So, to keep that feeling going and spread the love, I wanted to extend my vacation bliss by giving you something, too.

Here are some border/frame masks that pay homage to the larger than life characters we met along the way last week.

Click here to DOWNLOAD

And here are some layouts I did using them.

Kit Color Your World - Red by The Design Girl

And here is a preview of the kit I used:

and my previous blog post has links to the pig-ish layout's kit.

Weekly Blog Challenge

2011-03-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

Heather from Haynay Designs posted a weekly blog challenge on ScrapMatter's forum that I thought I'd play along with. Here is the list of topics

Monday's Moment: on Monday, blog about a wonderful, unique awesome moment. It can be from the past week, or from 20 years ago. Just share it!

Tactile Tuesday: a bit of a play on words...you can chose to blog about how you FEEL about something, anything....or how something feels (like through touch)...your choice!

Wacky Wednesday: Share a funny or wacky or silly moment or picture!

Thoughtful Thursday: be thoughtful...this is the time for a deep post about a topic of your choice

Photo Friday: Share a favorite photo

Sit-around Saturday: this is a time to blog about the every day things...things that are sitting around your house, car, your life.

Surprise Sunday: Blog about anything you want! Surprise us

Since today is Sunday, my "surprise" is that I'm starting the challenge and this is my list of prompts. C'mon, follow along if you'd like... :)

The Design Girl - guesting spot

2011-03-13T00:57:00.003-05:00

I got a spot on The Design Girl's CT as a guest but she got a bit under the weather for the past few weeks, so I hadn't been able to start any projects for her. I checked my CT forums, and she posted new kit and a slew of others that she wanted to re-promote. Here are some layouts I did with my Disney photos. :)

P is for Piglet was created with her latest kit: A Little Love

Grab her kit now ... on SALE at ScrapMatters for $4.40 - so cute.

For my Buzz page, I used an older kit: Jolly St. Nick where I played with the snowflake and made it look like alien antaenna. lol

Here is her full kit. Its adorable and I can see many uses for it later. :)

Post vacation posting

2011-03-13T00:38:00.002-05:00

Well, Disney was AWESOME. Many LOs and postings will follow but I'm, frankly, still recouping from it. I'm beyond exhausted. Except for the energizer bunny that is masquerading as my son, the rest of us have been going to sleep hours earlier. This is an extremely late night for me, but I had to get all my postings up so I thought I'd get one up on my blog as well.

Here is a hybrid project I completed before my vacation. One of the 'young 'uns' in my office told me that when he went to Disney as a kid, one of his goals was to get the autograph of every character. I thought, 'autographs? people still did that?' So, the a couple of nights before I left, I had to look for an autograph book, just in case. Well, lo and behold, we went to a Kids Eat Free night at a local restaurant (Park East), and they had both Spiderman AND Superman there, and Tyler wanted their autographs.

Guess what Mommy did the next day? I made a Disney autograph book for my little guy. Then I put it in a little card bag that I made using Krisi's Kreation's template: Card purse-Tall.

Here is a link to Krisi's template in case you wanna grab it over at ScrapMatters

Post 25 - First 10 Shuffled Songs on My iPod

2011-02-23T18:40:00.003-05:00

Well, when I set my iPod to shuffle (I never use that setting) it plays everything, podcasts, music, audio books, videos... whatever can play- will shuffle. That said, here is my list:

Sisters are doin it for themselves - Aretha Franklin
I think I love you - Partridge Family
I'm gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross
Since You Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Never Find a Love Like This - Natasha Beddingfield
Disturbia - Rhianna
Lovely Day - Bill Withers
Everyday I love you - Boyzone
Forever and Ever, Amen - Randy Travis
Toby Feels Left Out - Thomas and Friends Audio Book

Post 24a - addendum

2011-02-21T12:50:00.002-05:00

lol

I learned that you can't do 'lesser than' 3 for a heart because Blogger thinks I'm trying to write code! lol lol lol

Post 24 - Something I've Learned

2011-02-21T12:43:00.003-05:00

Wow, there aren't enough bytes for a post like this, so I'll try to jot down some and try to make it interesting:

Something I've Learned about:

Parenting: That I can do it, that I love it and everything about it is something I've learned because it was all new to me!

Scrapbooking: EVERYTHING - since its also new to me, everything I'm doing is a newly learned skill - or lack of skill - depends on the moment. lol

Dieting: I suck at it. I've always been ok with my 'built for comfort' body and I excercised because it was something novel or something I enjoyed. Since my DS, I realized I have to work harder to not expande the 'comfort level' and wow... that's hard. blech, moving on to a different topic!

Friends: I amazed by my friends everyday. Some just break out and show me what you can do with life if you step out of your comfort zone. Some show me how giving and selfless they are everyday. Some exasperate me but are still awesome people. Some I never knew I'd miss, until they were gone. All of them touch me in some ways, even the ones I never met. :::raising a glass::: cheers to you all!

You know what? I could write more, but I'll end with that warm and fuzzy now.

Post 23 - Favorite Vacation

2011-02-21T12:37:00.002-05:00

We are going to Disney in less than 2 weeks. I can't wait. Let me come back to this one, and I'm sure there will be pics and LOs.

Post 22 - Whats in your makeup bag?

2011-02-21T12:32:00.004-05:00

Ha ha ha ha. I literally laughed out loud when I read this. So, I'm a bit behind on the actual days, but I'm catching up!

I looked inside my make-bag and was horrified to see that (along with my list of cosmetics) there was a big old mess. The broken poweders, discarded applicator heads, gum wrappers, bits of not dirty q-tips. blechh. So, that is what is REALLY in my bag.

As for the makc-up, I have a Nars blush, Bare Minerals powder and bronzer, brown eye shadow for my brows, some cover-up cream from Sephora, and eye shadow combos - Studio, I think the brand was - and eye lash curler and some maybelline mascara.

Do they help? probably not, but they can't hurt either! lol

DSA

2011-02-16T23:57:00.003-05:00

My friend pointed out to me that if your layout is featured, highlighted or otherwise hosted on a scrapping newsletter, that means your work has been 'published'. Coming from the world of print publishing, I'd never thought of that. So... guess what? I've been published! lol

This week, Sherry Ferguson is a featured designer at DSA, and also featured on the January issue of their online magazine: The Fix. They did some weird thing to her photo - it got all stretched out, but (as she says) at least they made her face longer and not wider, right? lol

One of the 2-pger layout I did with her Snow Fun kit was used as the example to help showcase her awesome kit. This kit is one of my favorites of the season.

Addendum note: I guess I officially got published when I got Project of the Week (POTW) over at ScrapMatters.

Bake Off Goodies

2011-02-16T00:30:00.000-05:00

I swear, I'm not trying to kill your diets. Just bloggin' lol

My contributions were the Cinnamon Roll Sugar cookies and Double Chocoloate Hazelnut biscotti - with pistachios

And the winner was: Lemon Square Bars

'Taster's Choice' Awards: Devil's Food Cake

I don't recall the other winners but I got a ribbon for Best Texture for my Biscotti. :)

And how cute is this award trophy she found?

21 A photo of me

2011-02-16T00:07:00.000-05:00

This photo is me in a nutshell. My parents used to call me Radio as child because I was constantly yapping.

I took this as I was on the phone with my (then fiance) when I was on a week-long business trip so he could 'see' me talking to him. LOL

Post 19 and 20 - Something I miss, and Nicknames

2011-02-15T13:58:00.004-05:00

Something I miss
Bonnie - my friend who just passed away a few weeks ago. 'nuff said, huh?

Nicknames:

Since it wasn't specific, I choose to retell a story that isn't really about me.

I call my son all kinds of names: monkey, cuddle bunny, Dr. Destructo, energy machine...

My girlfrend was telling me that she hit a landmark with her youngest boy - her baby - he is about 8 I think and he announced that his name was Max. Not 'love bug', not 'snuggle muffin', not 'patootie' - Max. And that is all she is allowed to call him now.

So there. Lol

It was so cute and so sad at the same time. See, WE may hate the nicknames our folks gave us - but I bet they had special memories for them. Just like my little monkey has and will always have special memories for me. :)

Office Bake Off

2011-02-15T00:26:00.004-05:00

Today was our Baking Contest. It was such a hoot. We were cracking up the entire time. Perhaps it was all the sugar. (ya think??). Tomorrow I'll post the pics and stuff, because I have no idea what any of the names of the entries were, what awards anyone won or anything cuz we were too buzy being all loud and stuff.

I will tell you I made my Double Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti with Pistachios, and The Picky-Palate's Cinnamon Rolled sugar cookies.

One of them won something. I'm not being a tease, because I have no idea what it was it won. LOL

How is THIS for a completely useless post? LOL LOL

Post 18 - something I regret

2011-02-13T23:35:00.003-05:00

This one is easy for me, though I'm not sure it fits into the meaning that Heather (Haynay designs) intended it. LOL

But I regret that I am not a sounder sleeper and that I can't fall asleep easier.

Red Velvet - Chocolate dipped 'strawberries'

2011-02-13T23:22:00.004-05:00

Something delicious for Valentines...

Wowwee. Look at what I found online. Its from the Dollhouse Bakeshoppe (which I'll be going back to check out some more).

Its the night before Valentines Day so, I'm clearly not making these, especially since I just made like 12 dozen cookies for tomorrow's Office Bake-Off. But don't they look so cute and so dee-lish?

She dipped them like regular strawberries. Maybe I'll try them -- one day.

If you make them, drop one by MY house. ;)

XOXO mini-card

2011-02-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

St. Anthony is awesome. He always comes through when I lose something important. I lost my multi-digital card reader that I use to download my photos from all the different cameras. I love the thing but the last couple of days, its been MIA. I know I checked the side of the armchair like 3 times, but my digi-card reader was never there. After I said my little prayer to St. Anthony, I reached down and 'poof' it was there! Whew! Thank you. :)

Here is the mini-card files I made using my Silhouette and printer on card stock. In the background you can see the matching envelope I created to house this tiny little thing.

In my prior post, I gave away the template and all the supporting files for FREE. Here's thedownload link again now that I have the photos.

Papers: Generic Card stock printed with: Forever Love papers by Sherry Ferguson Designs and Organic Collab by the designers at MScraps

Happy Valentines everyone!

Here is also a preview of the papers:
Sherry Ferguson's Forever Love

and MScraps Organic Collab

Valentines XOXO Free Cutting file

2011-02-13T01:36:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone,

I was feelin' the love and wanted to give something away. I wish I had thought of it earlier so that you'd have more time to play with it before the big day of luv. But, hugs and kisses can be for ANY time, can't they? lol

Here is my Valentine's inspired mini-card. (I can't find my camera's download cord so I don't have the samples I did with it, but I'll post those when I can).

Download your FREE cutting file template here or by clicking on the preview image above. I've included the Silhouette SD files as well, for you Silo owners. I'm getting back into the swing of using mine, so I hope you guys enjoy this February Freebie!

I printed the papers then cut using my Silhouette with the registration marks OFF. I also ganged up as many as I could reasonably fit on the page but you do whatever works for you.

I didn't make this as one of the examples but you can choose to only cut the outline for the folded part and then you have more space to write in. Me, I don't wanna write a bunch on cards, so I cut it all out.

If you download this file, please let me know what you think and if you make the mini-card, I'd love it if you could come back and share that with me. :)

Included in the download are:
Full layered psd file, For both the fold-over bottom card and the top XO letters: pngs, svgs (not tested since I don't have a Cricut) as well as a tiny envelope template to house them. Also included are native Silhouette files for all.

NOTE: There are no Terms of Use included, but please do not use commercially. And if you post, I would love if you could credit with links to my blog. Thanks

Project of the Month at ScrapMatters!

2011-02-11T22:23:00.007-05:00

No way. Yes, Way! My little hanging 'ornament' that I made a over the holidays got nominated within the ScrapMatters team for Project of the Month. I am sooo psyched! What an honor - especially for a newbie like me!

I wanted to publicly thank every one over at ScrapMatters. This totally made my week!

Here is the project:

The project was published in the ScrapMatters' eNewsletter.If you haven't subscribed, here is a link for you to sign up. Its got tutorials, interviews, and much more. Its a 20+ page electronic magazine, essentially. :)

mScraps Oscars still going on!

2011-02-11T21:22:00.002-05:00

For those of you who think its over, you can still nominate yourself with your best work. The sponsors' prizes are Awesome!

Post 17 - Something I'm Looking Forward To

2011-02-11T16:54:00.005-05:00

What? What happened to Post 15 and 16? Yeah, well.... They were replaced by Layouts and projects so I'm slipping right to 17. :)

Something I'm Looking Foward To:

And here it is: TA DA!

We're going in mere WEEKS. Before that, I'll be having house-guests, which I wish would be at a different time. ugh - but it is what it is.

I'm so excited to see my little guy's face when he experiences all the stuff we have planned -- and unplanned. ;)

Sweet Treats box

2011-02-11T16:31:00.005-05:00

Wanna great freebie? Sign up for Krisi's Kreations eNewsletter and receive this cool template for a little box.

Here is the little boxes I created using Wimpy Chomper's Savannah kit. They exactly hold one of my Brownie covered Reese's cups (or the Brownie covered Oreos - its all the same size). I plan on giving one to each out to a group of friends so this little box is perfect for that. I know, its a little bit cruel to only give out one, but I can't bake more. lol

Sweet Treats
Template: Box It Up: Box Template freebie by Krisi's Kreations
Kit: Savannah by WimpyChompers Creations

And here is Wimpy Chomper's kit just released at ScrapMatters.
Savannah

So much new in the stores

2011-02-11T15:21:00.006-05:00

Wow, what a day 2.11.2011 is! So much new is popping up in the stores. Take a look at the layouts and projects I've been doing, and where you can get the stuff to do your own.

I've been spending a lot of time over at ScrapMatters and have recently joined Wimpy Chompers' CT. yippee! She has some fun and fanciful stuff. There is actually a cute story connected to my joining her team. For the last few months, I've been putting up an ISO for a boys gymnastic kit. No one has come through. I thought I'd post it one more time on ScrapMatter's forum and Christina of Wimpy Chompers said she'd create one. How cool is that? She wrote to keep watching and I'd see a kit soon. So I wrote her back to when it didn't come up the day it was supposed to. lol. So when her CT call came up, I thought... why not stalk her further? lol

We hit it off and here I am... take a look at her latest kit (not the gym one, I still haven't downloaded it, yet. lol)

Here is the layout I created using that and the newly released Template Set 10 by Le Pingouin Designs

Cupcakes 2010
Template: Template set 10 by Le Pingouin Designs
Kit: Cupcake Frenzy by Wimpy Chompers
Fonts:Century Gothic, Chunk Five, A little Pot

Here is Wimpy Chomper's new kitCupcake Frenzy

and it has a cute little friend.. the add-on!

Post 14 - A Photo I love

2011-02-10T19:55:00.001-05:00

I have a thing for small twinkling lights. Christmast lights, city lights, anything tiny and sparkly. That's why the view from my office window at night captivates me to much.

That's the 59th Street bridge. The view is as you're looking towards Queens, where I lived for over 10 years.

Post 13 - Goals

2011-02-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

I have soooo many goals, so I'm just going with the first 5 that pops in my head:

1) Complete ONE full year scrap album, in chrono order that tells a full story and looks cohesive.

2) Get a $50,000 raise (ha... well, they didn't say an attainable goal!)

3) Lose 40 lbs in 4 months. (double ha ha)

4) take a real family vacation (not one where we're visiting grandparents)

5) go away for a weekend with just my husband

Post 12 - What I believe

2011-02-10T01:04:00.001-05:00

I have been deeply, immensely touched by the passing of a friend and colleague and that has caused me to do a lot of reflecting. It has made me look at my friendships and be vocal about what people mean to me. Which is why my Post #11 is so un-lighthearted. I could have gone a million different directions with the subject, though - just to let ya know. :)

I believe that nothing compares to the love of a child - the love you feel, the love they give.
I believe that God knows what he's doing, and he knows your love and respect whether or not you are in his house.
I believe that I have powers that are unhoned and untapped and there is much potential yet to be seen.
I believe you can learn almost anything, if you open your mind and shelf your fears. (I don't practice this, but I believe it).
I believe that I will have love in my life forever; friends, family, children, elders, and some from people I've yet to meet.
I believe that music can soothe you. It can excite you, it can evoke memories, it can uplift you and make you melancholy. Music is powerful.
I believe that I learn something from everyone who enters my life; all my relationships, my acquaintences, my relatives and in-laws.
I believe that snow days are awesome because you can't go anywhere and you get to spend all that 'free' time with your family -outside, playing and enjoying each other.
I believe in tradition and family.
I believe that Facebook has really made me reconnect with people I've held dear.
I believe in coincidences and 'kismet'.
I believe one day, I will write the great American novel.
I believe that I was here before and will be back again, to improve on my self and my soul.

Thank you for reading this post. Its perhaps one of the most sincerely personal ones I've ever written.

Post 11 - TV shows

2011-02-09T22:22:00.008-05:00

While I like to watch a lot of different types of movies, when I watch TV, I like crime dramas over almost all else. Maybe its the hottie on the lower right, huh? ;)
oh yeah... and cooking shows.

now that I notice it, all of my crime shows has at least one really hot guy. heh heh heh

Post 10 - what I'm afraid of.

2011-02-09T01:00:00.002-05:00

This post is taking me forever and is a speed bump in my continuing my 30 Days of Blogging. I went in many directions on this - emotionally afraid of? in general? a phobia? my 'worst' fear?

I clearly overthought it. lol

Then it hit me... THIS is what I'd be MOST afraid of:
All of my fears coming to life in front of me, at the same time. YIKES!

whew... now I can move on with the Blogging. Done!

Social Media Week NY

2011-02-09T00:55:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I attended one of the sessions for Social Media Week NY. They are doing a multi-city simul-event, running Social Media week worldwide. There were so many courses I was interested in, but got closed out of most of them.

The reason I'm posting about it here is that one of the panel speakers near the end was a woman from Oreos. They are the #3 fansite on Facebook. Who knew? They have a vigorous social media initiative. I just thought it was funny because of all the Oreo discussions I've been having IRL, on my blog, in forums... everywhere!

If you're interested in attending, all sessions are FREE - if you go to their website, you can also view it streaming live.

Free Calories

2011-02-06T03:05:00.000-05:00

as long as you don't eat them. lol

I'm participating in a Bake Off at work next week, so we're testing out a few recipes at home. Sorry for the diet distractions but I just had to share the latest ones. They came out so cute. They are tiny little cinnamon roll cookies. (again... Loving the Picky Palate!)

If you live near me, I'll drop some off. Heh, Heh, Heh.

Brownie Covered directions

2011-02-06T02:23:00.002-05:00

Well, it strange to do a second post following the first but I got so many phone calls, emails and other questions on how to dip the cookies or how they get to the pan, etc. I figured I should post my how-to. (sorry, dieters).

I have the full article on my foodie blog Savorings under Test Kitchens, but I'm repeating the jpgs with detailed directions here. The only thing Savorings has more of is the test kitchen info.

Post 9 - Friends

2011-02-05T21:51:00.003-05:00

I mentioned this in the ScrapMatters forum but I'm clearly not doing these daily posts ON the day, so I've renamed mine to Posts #x instead of Day #x - that way I'm doing it on my terms and I don't have to self-flaggelate for not getting it done 'on time'. lol

So... friends. Wow. This post comes at a particularly appropos time in my life as I just lost a great friend, Bonnie. And that has caused me to reflect on my relationships - friendships. I spent the memorial service talking with my friend's sister telling her stories of how Bonnie was with us at work - a life her sister wasn't part of - and all the antics she would get up to. This led me to think ... I don't want to have these conversations with my friend's survivors - these conversations of how great they are, what fun they have, how much they mean to me. These are stories I need to share with them.

As a result, I have started writing short but genuinely heartfelt emails to those friends who knew both of us (mainly because they understand where my emails are coming from and they, too, are grieving). What I did not expect AT ALL - were the responses. Gee. I'm such a dope!! lol
I totally didn't expect responses. I have no clue why not - perhaps because I've had no sleep in days. Anyway... lol... they all reciprocated, which made me well up. Hmmmm...that wasn't my intent! Who the heck wants to make themselves cry?? I need to rethink this idea! ha ha

(Its still a good idea but now I tell people... no need to reply). lol

Here is my very first layout I ever did. It was for a template/mini-kit challenge at MScraps. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know if I HAD to use all of the elements, so I was left with this bow thing. I stuck it on my pal, Alana's head. She is soooo not a 'bow in my hair' kinda girl, so it cracks me up every time I see it. lol

Credit: EH Studios template/mini-kit challenge

Journaling (with link to recipes/blog) says:

A fun, food-filled weekend where we laughed more than I have in a long time. We cooked and ate a weird mish-mash of delectable food from pasta to dumplings to French onion soup, and topped it off with white wine Sangria.

After waking, we had a full day of Scrabble in our jammies, more laughing and leftovers -- oh yeah, and cupcakes with bacon on them. Surprisingly good!

Brownie covered... What??!!???

2011-02-04T21:56:00.003-05:00

I was reading my rss feed the other day and came across a post (forgive me, I don't recall who's site I saw it on, but will gladly give credit if anyone knows) for this yummy treat that was all store bought, easy, and... OMGosh so yummy.

The original blog was the Picky Palate - who has some amazing stuff. She made these Brownie Covered Oreos which were scrumptious. I made a batch (or two) and they were a huge hit.

For those of you interested in the How-To, she has a step by step on her blog but its so simple there is no recipe. Just buy a box of brownie mix and a package of Oreos. Make the brownies according to the box directions then drop an oreo in the batter.

Grease a muffin tin and drop the brownie-battered oreo in there. (important step to avoid the sticking) Bake for 15 mins. You're done!

To make it even worse, I dunked Reese's cups in the batter and baked a few of those. OMGosh... beyond heaven! Soooo delish.

Directions are same as above but with the candy instead. We talked about trying a Peppermint Patty -- but I'm not a fan of mint cookies, so I passed. But my DH liked the idea.

Hints

I usually grease then flour my pans - its guaranteed non-stick. And when I make a chocolate dessert, I mix a little cocoa powder with the flour. It doesn't really do anything extra, I just don't like to see the white flour on the chocolate.

I tried a few different Brownie mixes in my 'test kitchen' and Betty Crocker's regular ole original brownie mix worked the best and stayed moist the longest.

The Picky Palate suggested using white chocolate to drizzle on the top of them. You'd think it wouldn't need more sweet, but on the Oreo ones, I drizzled some homemade royal icing (confectioners suger mixed with a tiny bit of milk - mix well then drizzle) because I'm not a big white chocolate fan. My friend Jenn (JK703), made the oreos with double stuffed oreos and used Whipped Icing. I think I went into a sugar coma just hearing about hers... then she made me taste one. I drank 2 cups of milk. lol

Krisi's Kreation's Box it Up Basket

2011-02-04T13:40:00.004-05:00

For my first Hybrid CT project, I tackled a new release - out today and on sale! Box it up: Basket. Its an open top box with a long 'handled' wrap around it, tied with a nice little bow that unties to reveal the goodies you're giving away.

This is great for tall gifts that you want to show off, like a bottle of homemade herb-infused olive oil, a rolled up art print, or even smaller goodies that you don't want rolling around in a big ole basket.

I just love this wallpaper looking paper Krisi's CT chose, so feminine and pretty. If you buy the template, be sure to read all the way down on her description because she's giving away a FREEBIE of the word art from this preview as well. Cool, huh? A little hidden surprise.

For those of you who have been reading my posts, you know I'm obsessed with my silhouette, so when Krisi asked me to do a guest spot, I was drooling at the thought of using it.

Chinese Treasure Box
Credits: Box It Up:Basket by Krisi's Kreations
Paper: Genia Beana's The Orient freebie (available at Scrapmatters)

This template was great for allowing me to 'make it my own' as they say on American Idol, because its really a blank canvas. I had these old chinese coins that I thought would be cute to show and hang (like an ornament) and peek through a large circle hole. I think it came out pretty cute and simple. :)

Indoor Fun

2011-02-03T13:33:00.003-05:00

While I love the 30 Days of Blogging, now, lets get back to scrappin'! Here is a layout I did for my Project 52 - week 3. I may still do some tweaks before it goes to Shutterfly. I created it using Le Pingouin Design's Template Set 9. It was the perfect format to showcase Tyler's exuberant energy that he displays every day - and that I got to capture it in the moment. (I'm thankful it was a bouncy and not my sofa, lol ).

INDOOR FUN

Credits
Template: Template Set 9 by Le Pingouin Designs
Kit: Atta Boy by Mye De Leon
Fonts: Milktop Girl, Quasart

Day 8 _ Places I've been

2011-02-03T01:31:00.004-05:00

I keep hearing the Beatles song in my head, "there are places I remember, all of my life..."

Here is a photographic smattering of some of the ones that stand out in my mind. There are many, many more that I didn't fit into the template, like, San Diego, Rhode Island, Maine, Cape cod, Boston... well, anyway, here is the graphic below. The mystery place is my home town, Myrtle Beach, SC:

Day 7 - My favorite movies

2011-02-01T00:05:00.006-05:00

My tastes are all over the place but my all time faves are Horror. Lucky for me, my DH loves them too. Our Netflix queue is full of horrible screamers.

Who's doing 30 Days of Blogging?

2011-01-31T13:58:00.003-05:00

I had fun reading a few of the posts so far, and some of you know these ladies in your forums, so I thought I would post their blogs + names so you could check them out, leave them comments and follow the ones that strike your fancy. The usernames are their ScrapMatters names - in case they have different names at different shops.

As of today, here is the list of everyone who has signed up. Keep in mind that some of the ladies have not posted yet, but most are catching up by doing multiple posts. I've started with me, so you don't need to click on it, cuz you're already here- otherwise, they are in no particular order.

http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com/ - Linda: Scrapporreia
http://www.thetypativescrapper.blogspot.com/ - Jenn: JK703
http://www.tanyatumbles.com/ - Tanya: Tanyariley
http://www.cinna-angelcookie.blogspot.com/ - cinna
http://franscraps.blogspot.com/ Fran: fran98765
http://rockourlives.blogspot.com/ Lynette: Lynette_rock
http://scrappingchelcreations.wordpress.com/ Chel
http://lifewiththeberkans.blogspot.com/ Sandra: Sberkan
http://grahamlikethecracker.net/ Jen: Graham like the Cracker
http://isingidreamiloveanyway.blogspot.com/ Shari
http://morelovemorejoy.blogspot.com/ emileem
http://scrappymelly.blogspot.com/ Melanie: Scrapmelly
http://digiinspirations.com/blog/ Day
http://haynayn2010.blogspot.com/ Heather: haynay
http://ofnofixedaddresscards.blogspot.com/ Ami
http://www.wimpychompers.com/ Christina: WimpyChompers
http://www.sassydigiscrapper.com/Tammy: TammyBean

Day 6 - my favorite thing

2011-01-31T01:22:00.002-05:00

This was an easy post for me. Here is a 2-fer, my favorite thing photo is:

My little munchkin and Sleep!

Boy do I love sleep. I have such a hard time falling asleep, that I envy people who sleep well, sleep anywhere, sleep soundly... you name it.

And I love my little guy.

How cute is this photo of my little Superman??? (yeah, I'm a little biased - lol lol )

Guest spots coming up!

2011-01-31T01:17:00.002-05:00

The new year is here and some of my guest spots are coming up. Once I get the OK, I will let you guys in on some of the great designers I'll be guesting with. I'm really excited and have been waiting patiently to work with some of these groups!

I'll probably know for sure by next week, so come back and find out and follow along on some of the fun projects coming up in 2011!

Day 5 - My Favorite Recipe (a Step by Step guide)

2011-01-31T01:04:00.004-05:00

Being Chinese it seems obvious that Dumplings would be my favorite. But dumplings come in many cultures from pierogies of Western Europe, to Raviolis and Tortellini from the Italians, and so much more. And I love them all. Out of all of those, though, my favorite CHINESE DUMPLINGS - pretty much anything wrapped in a thin pasta wrapper is great to me. Add dipping sauce... ooh yeah. Love me some dumplings.

So you won't be surprised that I have, yet another, blog - for food: Savorings (over at wordpress). My goal was to test out recipes, post my trials and suggestions on how to make them better and toss in some step-by-step instructions on how I did my own recipes. It just so happens that I have a how-to on MY dumplings.

I tried to copy and paste the entire post here... but it wasn't working, so, please go here (and feel free to leave a comment! I love comments! lol) for a Step-by-Step instructions, including how to wrap the dumplings.

Enjoy - I know I did... tonight, as a matter of fact!

Day 4 - my parents

2011-01-30T23:47:00.003-05:00

Parents are such an important part of our lives. Not only did they bring us to this earth, they shape who we are, how we think and the things we do. Even if they aren't around, their absence shapes us. That's why I didn't want to fold Parents into a multi-post.

My parents were immigrants from Hong Kong. I've spent the last few years piecing together stories of their lives, but from what I know now, my mom grew up in essentially Communist China, the daughter of a wealthy (?) shipping magnate. At some point in her youth, there was some war (WW2?- details are sketching and I still need to piece together dates with events) and the Japanese invaded and took my grandfather's ships and most of his belongings in Hong Kong. He left behind his 3 sons and daughter. Because of how it was, once the war ended, he could only collect 2 of his children and my mother stayed behind.

My mother was one of the few women to go to University back then, I believe there were only 2 colleges. She was lucky to get that far in schooling because by the equivalent of our 6th grade, the children got tested and she was very good in gymnastics so she was allowed to continue schooling. Going to school saved her from tedious, menial duties for the communal living that they were all a part of.

By 21, she had moved to Hong Kong and met my father at a factory that they both worked at. He was 17 years older than her, and I assume, to a young girl, rather worldly. Tho, from the stories on his side, I imagine he was a bit of a 'bad boy'. Showing me that the apples don't fall far from the trees. (guilty on the bad boy magnet here).

When Daddy was young, he was kidnapped by a gypsy. I don't know if gypsies are the same there as their stories tell here. I don't know what they wanted with him, either but I hear he was a beautiful child. Maybe they wanted to sell him.?? Boys were a commodity back then, even in 'progressive' Hong Kong. My aunt found him and brought him home. He was wild, having lost his mother as a baby. He started smoking at 6 or 9 years old. (yuck and ewww).

By the time I was born, he made shoes. Literally. He cut our leather, stitched and nailed shoes. How weird is that? Today, you just assume machines make the shoes. lol

When I was about 1 1/2, he left for America and landed in Myrtle Beach, SC. Which is where he settled and eventually sent for the rest of us. This is where my mom and dad raised us.

They worked all the time and I remember many nights of starting our 'family time' at 11 pm. No matter how hard they worked, they always made time for us.

I love that this challenge focus on parents. I know I never give mine enough credit for raising me and giving me the confidence, guidance, support and love to be the person I am today.

Days 2 and 3

2011-01-30T00:00:00.003-05:00

Here comes the combo.

Day 2: Meaning of Your Blog Name

I didn't know anything about scrapping when I created this blog and I did it to mark my journey and as a way to show all my favorite pages in one place. I had another name for it originally, but I don't even remember what that was.

Then I learned about CTing and Challenges and all these other fun things about scrapping that aren't really about scrapbooking but more about the community and promotions, so I thought I should actually come up with a name since I'd be helping designers promote their wares (not that I had anyone who read it at the time, mind you).

I figured that my screen name was different enough, so I chose to use it. Simple. And (from a marketing point of view) all my 'properties' have the same brand (like Galleries, forums, twitter, FB- should I choose to do a 'fan' page and my blog).

Scrapporreia = Scrapbooking + Correia

Day 3- Your First Love

I've had a serious boyfriend since college (Not the same one - but a string of serious boyfriends). And I don't really think I was ever in love with them. I was a little wild so maybe I was just into having fun. I even lived with an amazing guy for 5 years - which broke my heart to break up with but it was time, I had to - but I don't think I really loved him either. So ... I think it wasn't until my early 30s when I fell in love with a man named Mike. He's not the Mike I married, though. :) But from him, I learned about love and how it can touch and melt the heart. And from him, I learned that I could really open my heart. Which allowed me to be there when I met my husband. :)

Day 1 Introduce, pic and 15 facts

2011-01-29T23:09:00.003-05:00

Rolling up my sleeves... here I go.

DAY 1
They are on to day 5, but I'm jumping in anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up, but I can picture that there may be a few days where I'll be doubling up. :)

My IRL name is Linda and I'm a working mom of one little boy, and wife to a really patient, understanding, loving husband. I work in the city with a horrendous commute but I have a job that is interesting, pays the bills and keeps me from going bonkers.

Here is a recent pic from Dec. Someone recently said in one of the galleries that I have a lot of pictures of the snow. Well, it needs to quit snowing up here! lol

15 Interesting Things About Me
"Interesting", huh? Well, I'll try to be interesting.

1) I told my husband (after dating for about 2 months) that he should meet someone else if he wanted to have kids because it wasn't something I was interested in. He responded by saying, "I'd rather be with you with no kids than have children with someone else." (go ahead, "awwwww").

Years later, he has no recollection of saying that which means he was either drunk when he said it or he's too daft to milk the moment - which could have given him many free passes out of the dog house! lol

2) and this is interesteing only because of #1 - I had a son. lol

3) I believe in the possibility of almost anything, including ghosts. I know my last apt was filled with them and my current home has none. But I feel like I got a visit from one yesterday. (this all bears more explanation, but sounds much kookier if I don't give one. lol)

4) I've dated at least 4 men with the same name: Mike.

5) (while this isn't about ME, I find it fascinating so I'm including it) My sister has never read a packaged food label. Every. (really????)

6) I thought I could sing. Until I played the Wii Glee last week and was grossly disappointed by my lack of singing ability. (Which I told my husband, and he laughed and laughed). I can't sing.

7) The superpower I'd love to have is to instantaeously travel anywhere - along with all the stuff I wanna carry.

8) The superpower I would never want is the ability to read minds.

9) Before last week, I have never had a friend pass away. Doesn't sound like much, but apparently, by 45, you should know at least one if not several friends who have passed. Lucky me to have avoided that all these years. (hmmm... or maybe that's a commentary on how many friends I have??)

10) I've traveled to Europe 3 times for free.

11) I am not so strategic at games but I'm really a good guesser. Apparently I've passed that trait down to my son.

12) I've dated 2 men (try to follow this line, it may be clear as a puddle of mud) who's mothers' maiden name was the same as their married name.

13) I'm superstitious as anything, and whenever I have to do a list, I cringe at the 13th of anything! If I owe you $13, I'll give you $15.

14) I'm such a messy - well, mess, that my company hired an organizer to help me. She spent like 3 weeks just cleaning my office. (I can't believe I just typed that for the world!)

15) I graduated the top 5% of my class and I can't spell weird. or wierd. I know the "i after e rule". I can't ever remember if this is some odd exception or its not an exception. So I just generally avoid typing it.

Thats scratches the surface of me for day 1. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)

30 days of Blogging

2011-01-29T22:57:00.002-05:00

Over at ScrapMatters, Heather of HayNay designs started a thread to challenge all of us to keep our blogs a-goin'. It sounded fun and interesting so I thought I'd join along.

To keep me honest, here is the challenge below.

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3-Your first love
Day 4-Your parents
Day 5-Your favorite recipes
Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7-Favorite movies
Day 8-A place you've traveled to
Day 9-A picture of your friends
Day 10-Something you're afraid of
Day 11-Favorite TV shows
Day 12-What you believe
Day 13-Goals
Day 14-A picture you love
Day 15-Bible verse
Day 16-Dream house
Day 17-Something you're looking forward to
Day 18-Something you regret
Day 19-Something you miss
Day 20-Nicknames
Day 21-Picture of yourself
Day 22-What's in your makeup bag
Day 23-Favorite vacation
Day 24-Something you've learned
Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26-Picture of your family
Day 27-Pets
Day 28-Something that stresses you out
Day 29-3 Wishes
Day 30-a picture

Mscraps' Birthday Bash Busy-ness

2011-01-29T21:33:00.002-05:00

Lots going on at MScraps for their Birthday Bash.

I tossed in some layouts for the challenges, and thought I'd show them off. They also show off iScrap's latest mini-kit LOVED

Here is a preview of her kit
:

This first one is The Bride (which would be me)

Credits:
Template: Mscraps Birthday Bash Template by Queen of Hearts
Loved Mini-kit by iScrap

font: Walkway

This one is i {heart} you

Credits:
Template: Mscraps Birthday Bash Template by Queen of Hearts
Loved Mini-kit by iScrap

font: Walkway
Scriptina

maybe one day I'll do a casual wedding album. Who knows?

Free Word Strip - in honor of Bonnie

2011-01-27T21:23:00.001-05:00

I like to keep this blog light but sometimes life just settles in to your life and your heart. This past week (for those who didn't read it earlier) I let a little piece of my heart go when a dear friend passed away. In her honor, I wanted to give away a word strip that was inspired by her zest for life and friendship. That way, you, dear surfers, get a little back from me for following my journey and hopefully, my friend Bonnie touches even more people than she did IRL.

So, here is a combo, folks. My thank you for reading my blog and my thank you to Bonnie for enriching my life.

I hope you enjoy the Bonnie Wordstrip freebie. Download by clicking here or on the image below.

(I wanted to produce a layout as a sample but I was getting so emotional as I was even opening the psd, so I asked my friend to do one, but she got caught up in her own life - and a wake as well - so she was unable to complete it. If one gets done, I will still post it so you guys can see how this can be used.)

Included are: full psd file - with each word as text (font: Walkway), png, psd of the type rasterized in layers in case you don't have the font, and a preview.

There are no TOU, but please do not use commercially or sell this product, if you do use this, please credit this blog scrapporreia.blogspot or Scrapporreia where possible. Thank you for downloading. And if you like this, please post a comment!

Crazy Sandwich Cookies

2011-01-27T13:30:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow I am going to a memorial for my dear friend's passing and after, we've been invited back to her new apt to celebrate her life. We are all bringing something so I chose to bring some of her favorite foods - things she'd ask me to find in Jersey for her like a certain pate and lobster spread.

I also thought I'd make some cookies, but how to tie it into my theme? Well, my friend was nothing if not fun-loving. She loved a good laugh and it could be at anyone's expense, even her own. She was also my boss and when we moved to the new office, she put my office in between these two girls (who we both adore) but they had some idiosynchracies. So I playfully yelled at her one day, "I can't believe you put me in the middle of a Crazy Sandwich!" (meaning I'm between Crazy and Crazier). The term stuck. She'd say, I'll meet you down by the Crazy Sandwich or we'd call the girls the Crazy Twins.

So, I made a Sandwich cookie - fits rights? Its basically a homemade Oreo type of cookie with a carmel or mint flavored filling. I colored the filling in bright colors because my friend loved color. In fact she could match a color from memory.I made them heart shaped because she still holds a bit of my heart (along with many, many, others). The cookies came out really cute so I'm sharing them.

Bonnie's Crazy Sandwich Cookies

Just finished these - "Bon"ana Whoopie Pie cookies.

Bonnie loved banana desserts. Every year I got her a banana cream pie or banana pudding for her birthday so again, in her honor, I thought I'd tackle something similar. If she were attending, I know she would love these. Cheers, Bonnie.

Wait, scratch that, I just tried one and I KNOW she'd love these. YUM.

click on the image for a link to the recipe

Hybrid Guesting for Krisi's Kreations

2011-01-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Its February... the month of cold frost, winter winds and of course snow blizzards. What better time to start tackling something new or expanding an area that you've been lightly dabbling in? For me, that area is the world of Hybrid.

I have been dipping my proverbial toe in the waters and - who knew - the water's been fine. I've had a lot of fun seeing my stuff in 3D. I mean I'm new to all of this so even seeing it on screen is a treat, but to touch, move and view all around a project is really ... neat!

This month I am guesting for this awesome designer: Krisi of Krisi's Kreations (no 'h', no 't', no 'y' - even her name is kinda fun!). I'm a little nervous (I don't want to let her down) and a good deal excited. Join me on this virtual tour of Hybrid-land!

I was about to post a card I made with her template then realized that the designer I made it for wasn't releasing her kit for ...3 more weeks!! yikes. So, instead, I'll show you some things from her store.

Krisi's Kreations is selling at Scrapmatters and she is guesting this month at MScraps as well. Here is a link to her shop there.

This is a CU handwritting font. Fun and most importantly, legible.

This little gem has a hidden treasure -- an all occasion card with, surprise!, a gift card holder inside! LOVE this.

I have made one of these myself, but, of course, Krisi's is far more professional and the dimensions are all sized for accuracy. I may actually use this template not for a gift card but to put a couple of cookies in to celebrate Chinese New Years at my son's Pre-K. (Ok, so don't hold me to that. he's got 2 classrooms with like 30 kids + teachers, so I may make like oh... one. We'll see) Uber cute, huh?

Come Celebrate MScraps' First Year

2011-01-26T23:44:00.003-05:00

MARK THESE DATES:

Friday Jan 28 until Monday Jan 31

HUGE MSCRAPS 1ST BIRTHDAY BASH

For times and events, go to the forum. For those of us in the USA, be aware that they are not in any of our same time zones so look carefully. You don't want to miss your favorite chats. These ladies are a nutty bunch! (and I won't call anyone out by name lol).

fun! fun! fun!

Here (time adjusted from their forum) is the current list of events. Enjoy!

Friday 28th January 2011: 8 PM EST - (Friday) Start Blogtrain---> blogtrain time {posts} may vary because of the different timezones we're all in :-)

MScraps Birthday Bash activities
Saturday January 29th & 30th, 2011

Saturday 29th January 2011:

4 AM EST - PROGRESSIVE PAGE
6 AM EST - SCRAP LIFT CHAIN
8 AM EST - SCRAPLIFT CHALLENGE
10 AM EST - TEMPLATE CHALLENGE #1
12 Noon PM EST - NON PHOTO LAYOUT CHALLENGE
2 PM EST - WHITE SPACE CHALLENGE
4 PM EST - WORD SCRABBLE - MSCRAPS STYLE
6 PM EST - SPEED SCRAP CHALLENGE #1

Sunday 30th January 2011:
8 PM EST - GUESS WHAT KIT
10 PM EST - BIRTHDAY CARD TO MSCRAPS CHALLENGE
12 AM Midnight EST - TOPSY TURVY TEMPLATE CHALLENGE
2AM EST - FINISH ME OFF CHALLENGE
4 AM EST - AVATAR CHALLENGE6 AM EST -
10 QUESTIONS8 PM EST - SCAVENGER HUNT
10 PM EST - INSPIRATION SCRAP CHALLENGE
12PM Noon EST - TEMPLATE CHALLENGE #2
2 PM EST - SPEED SCRAP CHALLENGE #2
4 PM EST - SCRAP BINGO GAME
6 PM EST - SIGGY CHALLENGE

Down due to snow... :(

2011-01-26T23:21:00.000-05:00

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I don't have the word art freebie to release. The snow caused me to be on Mommy duty (and substitute Mommy duty) rather than finish what I had to. I will try to finish it tonight and release tomorrow.

Gracias for your patience!

Finally, finally

2011-01-24T02:06:00.002-05:00

After MONTHS of suffering with double posts on every page of this blog. It was so annoying to scroll through my images then to see, well, "ooh, there... its all loading AGAIN".

I was finally able to find a thread that told me how to get rid of it. Whoo hoo! Gotta love Google!

:)

A big Thank You

2011-01-23T21:02:00.002-05:00

This is a huge Thank You for all of you who have subscribed to my blog. My goal is to start making more regular posts and to give it a little value back to you guys and those that find it along the way in their online travels.

Keep an eye out for Wednesday night (EST) when I will be releasing a FREE word art/template.
I'm still not sure what to call it, but I have a fellow scrapper making a layout using it and I'll tap into her to see if she has an idea of what to call it.

Be sure to come back on Wed, Jan 26 and grab your freebie.

Profoundly Sad Day

2011-01-22T23:57:00.002-05:00

Today has been such a sad day. I got a call that my boss, friend, confidante, and so much more - passed away last night.

'Sad' does not even begin to describe what I am feeling. The sense of loss, the sense of disbelief, the sense of dread, the immense sense of missing her so much. She is everywhere I look, I see memories connected to her all over my house, in the grocery store, everywhere.

Its not that she hasn't been sick for the past 6 months. She had terminal lung cancer. But she had such a positive, upbeat attitude that she made us believe that she could fight it. And suddenly, she's gone.

Since I've known her the longest, and through several bosses and a smattering of co-workers, I have had the sad, sad responsibility of calling many people who only know her and me these days. Each call makes me relive my sadness and escalates it a notch. Tomorrow is another round of calls.

It'll be fine. It is what it is. Deep breaths. I can do it. All the same, it will be a difficult week ahead as everyone starts to find out, discuss it, deal with it and need comforting because of it.

RIP my dear, special friend. You live on in the things you taught me, in the laughs you gave me, in the love you shared with me.

Thank you for indulging my somberness. This is so overwhelming that I can think of little else.

Mscraps January collab...

2011-01-22T01:01:00.006-05:00

I created a few projects with the January collab from Mscraps, Live Love Learn Grow

but I haven't posted them because I'm still not done. So, WTHeck.... I thought I'd post them here to remind me to

a) finish them

b) do something with them. lol

Here is the first of them... I wanted to create a fully integrated Blog site with backgrounds and separaters, blinkies - the whole nine yards. I even took a Jessica Sprague class. But I still can't figure out what the heck I am doing. So... here is the blog template design I made. who knows if I will ever do anything with it. lol

There was a LO I created but I couldn't find a pic I wanted to use with it. But I still need to convert it to a jpg so that will have to be edited in tomorrow.

New Kit: Simply Kelly Designs

2011-01-11T11:15:00.004-05:00

I had to bow out of her CT due to some work committments but I still like to see what she has going on. Her Talk to Me kit looks adorable for scrapping those pages between friends, the precocious things your kids say, and just everyday life. This kit is available at Owl Tree Studios (a monthly membership site).

I also saw a note that she released a project 365 Template, too. Find out more of what's going on with her on her blog: Simply Kelly designs.

Where the heart is by Sherry Ferguson

2011-01-10T23:57:00.000-05:00

After a pretty crazy month for Sherry Ferguson, 2011 brings the relaunch of Gotta Pixel's site and a new kit from Sherry: Where the Heart is. It coordinates with the site's new colors as do many of the new kits from the designers in the shop. This is a great opportunity to grab a variety of styles in all the same colors and create an album with a lot of possibilities.

Here is a preview of the kit:

and here is my LO using this kit + a mask from Lauraskathi's Watercolors

Free Photoshop Print Safety Action

2011-01-03T00:40:00.005-05:00

Tis the season to print your photobooks, isn't it?

I recently received a free 8 x 8 book from Shutterfly and that prompted me to create an action to convert all of my layouts over to be printed.

What is an Action?
It is a photohop add-on that allows you to automatically perform tasks that you do over and over again. The files have the .atn suffix and can be 'loaded' into your photoshop actions palette.

Why do I need to do that?
For some reason, even though we create our LOs in the proper proportion, there is about a 10% drop off on the outer edges of the page. Weird, huh? What you want to do is collect all the layers of your project except for the backgrounds and scoot them down (ctrl/cmd T) so that they fall within this 'safe' area (ergo the 'safety').

To save you the time and guesswork of determining where to move your LO elements, I've created an action that automatically drops in a guide 10% into your canvas.

Click here to download. And enjoy!

The Final Blizzard

2011-01-02T23:37:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wow, 2010 went out with a bang here in the Northeast. We were snowed in the day after Christmas and were forced to spend all this together time. I LOVED it. :) Tyler got lots on Nana and Pop-Pop time. He loves being with them.

(On a side note, I did manage to get in an hours worth of post Christmas shopping before the snow fell too hard and got some GORgeous ribbons. Love me some ribbons, folks.)

Here is my first LO of 2011. "The First Taste of the Final Blizzard"

I created it because I loved the kit I'd just bought and for an Mscraps Ad challenge. I liked the kit so much, I made a companion page. So much went on this stay-cation that I'm sure I'll be making lots of pages from the photos.

"The last Blast of Winter"

I used Heather T's Boy Oh Boy kit from MScraps. Gosh, I love this kit. Of course, I do have a boy. ;) I'm not on her CT or anything, but I love it so much that I just have to show you the kit cuz you're gonna love it, too. Actually, I've recently discovered Heather T and she does some fantastic stuff, be sure to check out her Blog, too.

Holiday Gifts for the Photographer in Your Life

2010-12-15T01:42:00.000-05:00

Some of these items are WAY too cute. I am definitely buying some of these for some of my pals. Very cool stuff

http://photojojo.com/store/

Portable North Pole

2010-12-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

What is better than a personalized message from Santa for your child? At the PNP (portable north pole), Santa gives your kid a real personal touch, from their name to the gift they want, to other small details that lets your child know Santa's watching!

I love, love, love this site. We did it last year and Tyler was amazed. I can't wait to see his face when he see's his photos and Santa's message to be a good boy.

Click here to go to the Portable North Pole

I'm a Cheer Chick!

2010-12-08T23:12:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm way too old to be a cheerleader, but I'm now officially a 46 year old Cheer Chick for MScraps. I (along with a group of really fun. funny, cool women) scour the galleries and forums of MScraps for interesting threads and layouts and just comment. Yes, I have been 'tapped to talk'. Hard to believe, huh? lol

The great part about that is that its something that I do all the time anyway, just not as vigorously. Now I do it, am part of a great community of women with similar interests, and I get a little something for my efforts.

The other cool thing is that MScraps has just started this group so I'm part of the pioneer launch of cheering. Perfect timing, too since its the Cheer time of the year - holiday season!

Free Silhouette Template

2010-12-03T23:48:00.011-05:00

Hi everyone,

Back to my ole' skool roots of traditional designing, I played around with Illustrator today and made up a freebie for those of you who pop on to my blog every now and then -- a Star cupcake liner.

I created it for my new Silhouette SD digital cutting machine but I didn't make/have any cupcakes around to put them on so the photos of that will come later.

Star Cupcake Liner

What can you do with it?

Print or buy your own papers and use that as the base to cut from. Here is an example using HayNay designs. My files are all over the place so I don't recall which kit. But see how cute it can look?

I have no official 'terms of use' since I'm not selling in stores. But please do not resell this. It is a FREE product for share only. And if you post, please give credit to me: Scrapporreia and link to my blog if you can. One of the files is a .svg for the Cricut, but I don't have one so I don't know if or how it works, but if you do and it works for you, please come back and let me know.

Also, if you comment with links to your project, I'll post them in a future blog.

DOWNLOAD the Silo file, ready for cutting by clicking on this link:

Star Cupcake Liner template for Silhouette SD

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

:) Linda

Silhouette SD

2010-12-03T12:31:00.001-05:00

My new toy arrived on my birthday. I got a Silhouette SD. I don't even know if I can type enough words to say how much I love it.

I typed in Tyler's name and cut it out of copier paper. That was fun - and I hadn't even done anything with it, yet! Then I wanted to see how it cuts a custom design, so I pulled a jpg I had on my harddrive and voila! so easy and so cool!

Here is my 'test run':

No credits, I downloaded this card online, the papers are construction and copier paper... but that's part of what's so cool - nothing special needed!

I chose the Silhouette because I wanted a die cutting machine that would do what I wanted, not what some cartridge supplied. And I didn't want to have to buy catridges. I went to art school - I can design my own stuff and I have the internet to download what I'm too lazy to design. I wanted the flexibility to do what I want to do.

Wait -- did I say.. I LOVE IT? lol

I'm working out how to do all the things I think its capable of. I'll be back on with more goodies as soon as I get some done.

I Love Rides!

2010-12-01T01:10:00.005-05:00

Well, I don't but my kid sure does. lol

Here is a layout I did using Simply Kelly Design's latest template (15 photo layered template) and just about every kit in my stash. I've gotten a lot of ribbing on the length of my credits. lol
It is also my last layout for my November guest CT spot for Chelle's Creations. And not to be overlooked, I also used some of the awesome stuff from my other CT designer, Sherry Ferguson Designs.

and :::rolling up my sleeves::: here are my credits:

Template:15 photo layered template by Simply Kelly Designs

Papers:Ticket To Ride by Chelle’s Creations
Cool Dude by Sherry Ferguson Designs
Bikini Season by Lynne Marie
Future Star by Spinky Dink Scraps
Playdate by RL
Hunk O’Tin by Spinky Dink Scraps

Elements:Ticket To Ride by Chelle’s Creations
Doodle Frames by Chelle’s Creations
Stitch Me Up by Chelle’s Creations
Little Engineer by Spinky Dink Scraps
Hunk O’Tin by Spinky Dink Scraps
Aydens Adventure by Colie’s Corner
Toolshed by Colie’s Corner
Play Stamp by Katie Pertiet

Fonts
A Little Pot
Centaur

Here is Kelly's Template. ON SALE TODAY!