See you later!

Off to Argentina for a well-deserved break, time to see little sis getting married. Scrap a lot, enjoy a lot, and see you in about two weeks!!!

Mission 0010 part deux

Deborah from Mission Create has proposed a second challenge based on the concepts selected for Mission 0010, this time, using them in a card. Mission 0010 Part Deux can be found in her blog, Nevermind. This is my card, which includes all concepts except Glimmer Mist/Maya Mist or Smooch Spray, because I don't have any and I am a continent away from any scrapbooking store!!!  The lovely digi stamp is Love cake, from DigiStamp Boutique.

Now do a bit of blog hopping and check out Teacher Jessy's fantastic card for this challenge!!! There's a tutorial and a RAK as well, so don't miss it!!!

SNOW challenge

This is my take on Let's Scrap's challenge number 37, the SNOW challenge:

And now you are probably wondering why there isn't any SNOW in this layout. Well, the SNOW challenge had to include:

S: some bling

N: nine of one embellishment (buttons, brads, etc.)

O: one photo

W: white space

And if the layout looks familiar, it's because I used Elizabeth Kartchner's beautiful layout for inspiration! (Creating Keepsakes, Sep. 09). And here are the close-ups I love so much:

Scraproom Blog - Week #6

The Challenge at The Scraprom Blog this week was to use scallops. I had the perfect paper for it!

Some close-ups of the embellies:

Let's Scrap - Sketch 2-10-10

My take on Sketch 2-10-10 at Let's Scrap. I love these photos, even though they were taken from the other side of the glass, because it was a sweet moment when my daughter fell in love with that squirrel? chipmunk? (opinions welcome!). There weren't any of either where I grew up, I really can't recognize them.  

Lots of felt on this layout, I love the look and feel of felt.

And I absolutely loved the Bling-ons, though they were not as easy to use as I'd thought they would be. Already placed an order for a new pack!!!

Aleida's Challenge

I was not planning to post anything else today, I was actually just planning to brush my teeth and go to sleep. But there is always just one more click before shutting the computer down, too hard to resist. Then I found this:

Many scrapbookers knew Aleida Franklin. She was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn't know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget.

She emailed me last year to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I liked my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, "Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" Of course my answer was no.

She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child.

Aleida tragically and unexpectedly passed away in an auto accident in September of 2008, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. After she passed I thought of how those children must feel to have those precious photographs. I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I try to take photos of myself with my children....double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all.

I invite Mothers everywhere to take Aleida's Challenge. To photograph yourself with your children each and every month. And to post them here so that we can see Aleida's legacy unfolding.

It really touched me, I find it so hard to move from behind the lens sometimes. I will go brush my teeth now, though I won't probably fall asleep as easily. Lots of thinking to do.

You can find Aleida's Challenge at http://www.flickr.com/groups/aleida/

Sandstorm

I finished a layout for this week's challenge at Let's Scrap today (not the card I have to make with the scraps, though, I've left that for tomorrow), but there was a sandstorm when I finished it, so it was impossible to take any pictures of it (the light is the same as the light you get when it is pouring with rain, awful). The forecast says more sandstorms tomorrow, so I may not be able to take the pictures, either. My daughter was counting on a trip to the zoo, so I hope the forecast is wrong!

No scrapbooking these days

We've been getting ready for a playdate with all of my daughter's pre-k 3 classmates, so no time for scrapbooking. We baked and decorated mini cupcakes together, and enjoyed the preparation as much as the playdate itself.

The children are incredibly well-behaved so we had a great time, and I now have photos of the "event" to scrap (I'll probably need one of Cheri's multi-photo layouts!).

Mission 0010

I am so early for this new mission I can't believe it!!!! (I am usually one the last to post). I used three of the concepts: 1) turquoise, 2) lace trim (at least I hope I know what it means and used the right thing!) and 3) cardboard. I did not include hearts or glimmer mist. Here it is:

I like the way the number looks on the cardboard circle.

Great mission!!!!

February 8 challenge at the Scraproom Blog

The Week #5 Challenge was to use multilayered flowers.

I had some beautiful multilayered felt flowers, but as part of the challenge I wanted to make one myself. I really like the way it pops out of the page!

February challenge at Let's Scrap

There's a very interesting challenge going on at Let's Scrap. Really useful for me, because I never know what to do with the paper scraps left after a layout. It's so hard to get supplies here in Libya that I can't throw away even the tiniest scrap, but I never use them either so they just accumulate.

The challenge for this month is to produce a card using the scraps left from the layout we make for each weekly challenge. It means I will have fewer scraps left and four cards in stock by the end of the month, which I normally wouldn't, as I prefer making layouts to cards (I love giving hand-made cards, though). Here are my layout and card for the first weeek:

I've lost the B in my "CLUB 8 X-MAS" layout and I can't find it anywhere! I suspect my three-year old has something to do with this disappearance...

HELLO!

A new look, a new theme, an almost completely new blog! Long ago, this was a blog about our first experiences in a different continent, a different culture, a different life. When the novelty wore off, the time between posts started to grow longer. After the birth of our baby daughter and the discovery of scrapbooking, there was no time for blogging. More than three years later this is now a scrapbooking blog. How can I resist the temptation when there are so many yummy scrapbooking blogs around?