Everyone has a story to tell, here's mine sprinkled with some creative projects along the way.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you come back again.



Friday, July 31, 2009

Ulitmate Giveaway...

Whew! What a week! I was so floored at the amount of traffic my little ol blog got from our GCD studios hop. Thank you to all that stopped by and left comments. Your sweet words touched this little girl's heart. *smile*

But the party hasn't ended yet. Make sure you stop by GCD studios blog this weekend, leave a comment and you will be entered in a random drawing to win all 4 collections. Yes you heard me right, ALL 4 collections!!!! That's going to be one lucky person...... and if you hurry now..... that might just be you!!!

Winner will be announced on Monday at the GCD Studios blog.

Happy Weekend and till next time,
Grace

Thursday, July 30, 2009

beach trip #3 + Crazy daisy sneek peek

I can't believe that I've been to the beach 3 times this summer and the season is not even over yet. Last night our family and some friends got together at Bolsa Chica for some swimming, corn cooked with beach water and smores. Great stuff and even better company. Here's some pics....


When we got there it was already 5pm and it was very windy. The only brave ones from my family to get in the water were the boys.


I can't believe how much thinner my boy is when he doesn't have his floaties on him. LOL. He really liked not having to carry the vest anymore and to Mommy's relief, he didn't go too far from the shore.


Maddie chose to play in the sand instead of swimming in the water. I think the waves are still very intimidating for our 3 year old.


Haven't done this kind of shoot/picture in a long time. See the footprints on the left side? That's mine. *smile*


Our friend Becky introduced us to Corn being cooked with the salt water and it was great. I love that she cooks it with husk and when you're ready to eat it, you just pull the husk out and use that as a handle on your corn. Very portable and you can really taste the saltiness in the corn. Definitely a new fave. Everyone enjoyed the smores too!

We had lots of fun and didn't leave there till 10 pm. A late night for all of us but it was worth it. Some was even suggesting to make this an annual thing. I like that idea!

Anyways, are you ready for the August Crazy daisy kit? I got to play with mine already and I have to say, Jen and Kim's kit just gets better every month. Here's a sneek peek of the kit....

and here's a little share of what I did with the kit.....


So if you haven't subscribed, go over here and don't wait till they're all gone.

Till next time,
Grace

Morning Glory

I can't believe today's the last day of our party! Again thanks to all that are participating. What did you think of our blog hop? which line is your fave?

As for me, I can't just name one cause they all have a different and distinct look. But I have to say Morning Glory's feminine touch and designs but with the color palette of blues, yellows and green got me really inspired.

Here's what I made...
Just for you Altered bag + card

I covered up (both front and back) a paper bag that I already have on hand and made an accompanying card.

Here's some more close ups...


The bag was green so it went well with the line plus the fun ribbon handle also coordinated well.


I love that each line comes with it's own set of die cuts and journaling blocks. Perfect little additions to any project.


a close up of the card.

So now hop on over Brenda's blog for more eye candy.

Till next time,
Grace

Blog hop day 3 winners

First off thanks to all that are taking the time out to look at each DT's projects and commenting. The love that you all are leaving for our projects are very sweet and I personally appreciate it.

Anyways onto the winners today. I used Random.org cause it's hard to find 3 out of 73 comments so here's the result..

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

12
64
52

Timestamp: 2009-07-30 07:25:32 UTC

Bloggerand those are.....

Joli said...

Your cards are all beautiful!!!

July 29, 2009 8:51 AM

what great cards fab colours and patterns love this collection-

July 29, 2009 5:35 PM

Delete
Blogger Lisa said...

Beautiful cards, I love this line and all the wonderful creations you all have made with it! THanks for sharing!

July 29, 2009 6:24 PM

Blogger deana said...

Such a fun & fresh collection! :-)

July 29, 2009 2:59 PM

Please email me (graceelainetolman@yahoo.com) your info and I'll send it to our coordinator so we can mail your collection to you.

Remember there's one more day of the hop. See you tomorrow.

Till next time,

Grace

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sunny days

We are on our third day. What a party we're having huh! Today's share is from Sunny days. Definitely a line that easily puts a smile on my face.

I decided to make a set of Thank you cards with the line....


Here's some close ups....





can you tell I'm also in love with the Martha Stewart butterfly punch right now? LOL.

Well this is the last stop for the hop today. Don't forget to leave a comment so you can get entered to be one of 3 to win a Sunny day collection pack.


Till next time,
Grace

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Party it up!!!!

We are definitely having a party over here! Thank you to all that are visiting and following along with the GCD Studios blog hop. Today's the second day but if you're just now tuning in, you might wanna hop on to the GCD studios blog for more info plus there's some fun prices in store if you participate.

So onto the share shall we.....

First of all the Party it up collection was another line that I was very excited to work with. The colors are right up my alley plus the diff. dot designs got me all jumpin for joy.

Here's what I made....
Dates to remember minibook

I recycled this old baby board book into this...


the "party" theme of the line got me inspired to make something that I can store cards in and write down important dates all through out the year.

Here's more close up pics...

I added monthly tabs for ease. The brown border is a gaffer tape from another company. I decided to use it in this project cause I wanted to reinforce that part of the book. I wanted the book to be strong.




an inside look to one of the pages. I made the monthly calendar in my word document (very easy) printed it off then adhered it over the papers. I also created a pocket so I can stick some greeting cards in it.


and the back side of the book.

so for more inspirations continue on to Nancy's blog.

Happy blog hoppin!

Till next time,
Grace

Monday, July 27, 2009

Vintage boy share

Hi loyal blog readers and welcome to some newbies in my blog. You're probably here cause you're "hopping" along with GCD Studios in our new line reveal party. Again welcome and feel free to roam around. "Mi Casa is Su casa". *smile*

For my share today I made two layouts with the Vintage Boy line. One thing (among other things) that I really like about GCD studios papers is that there's a lot of texture on them. Yes they have the fun designs to them but every collection also have embossed, glittered and foiled papers. This totally adds to the fun of it all.

King for a day

because the line was geared to a more masculine tone it was the best excuse for me to make a page about my hubby. This one was all about Father's day of last year. We definitely tried to treat him as a King, even if it's just for a day (just kidding!)


I love that each collection have a sheet of die cuts and labels to play with. Adding these little gems of a detail makes this page even more fun to make for me.


because my background paper was full of design already, I went a little less on the layering. The journaling blocks and glitter letters included in the collection made it easy for me to finish this in a snap.

Family


Each pattern paper has a distressed back side. It was definitely hard for me to choose which one I was going to use for this page.


I tucked in my journaling block inside my picture.


the embossed star was cut from one of the pattern papers in the pack. As you can see, you can use a whole sheet of the paper or cut out the embossed part and use them as fun embellishments.


the diamond paper behind the word f was also cut out from a bolder designed paper. I used a chipboard letter (from my stash) for the f. I adhered it onto one of the papers from the collection with the distressed paper showing up, trimmed and distressed the edges.

So hope you enjoyed my Vintage boy share. To continue with the party please "hop" on over Lynn's blog.

See you guys tomorrow,
Grace

Friday, July 24, 2009

See my kids here.....

I don't want you to think I'm braggin (ok maybe just a little bit!) but I have a couple of layouts that are published in the month of August. I know it's just July but I saw the magazine issues in the newstand now and I know my Aunt and Mom buys the issues I have stuff in *smile*

Creating Keepsakes August issue



this layout is part of Becky Higgins sketch article


and I got my Scrapbook Etc August/September issue in the mail the other day and saw this page in Leah Fung's On Assignment column....


Plus I made this project in June for GCD studios during our Wedding week at the blog


and I was contacted by ModPodgerocks blog and asked if they could feature the project in their blog. It was posted last Tuesday.


more info about the project can be seen here.


so there you have it. Thank you for letting me share and have a great weekend.

Till next time,
Grace

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A sort of recap....

Gosh dang it! This month is flying by so fast. I can't believe it's already Wednesday and I don't think I've accomplished much yet. Anyways, we've been having a lot of fun lately. We finished off last week with another birthday celebration with Marcus' special day falling on Friday then this week we've gone to the free movies (yesterday) and then to the library today. There's no stopping our fun train now! Here's some recaps of Marcus' birthday...

Since we've been celebrating (and spending money) pretty much all week long, on Friday it was all about having fun without spending anything so we started the day with a trip to the park. We we're initially planning on going to a park that we've gone too before but while driving and passing by the Cerritos Regional park, we couldn't help but stop in and check it out. None of us (me and the kids) have ever been there and so that day was a great day to try new things.

It was a nice park. Very big and had a big lake/pond in the middle. There were lots of places for shade and they had two playgrounds. These photos were from one of the those playgrounds.


After the park we headed to Baskin Robbins. I signed up my family for the birthday club where they email you a coupon which entitles you to a free scoop of ice cream on your birthday. Since both me and Marcus had a bday that week, we were able to redeem two scoops of ice cream. I just gave mine to Maddie.



And then that night, I took the night off from work so we (including Mitch) can swim at Grandma Tolman's house. They were very kind to treat us to pizza and we brought some leftover cake (from my birthday cake) to share and then opened his gifts.



I love the photo above cause it shows how Maddie is sharing the enthusiasm and excitement of Marcus' birthday with him. Very cute! While swimming we decided to take off Marcus floating vest and see if he can swim on his own and guess what....... my boy CAN swim on his own!!!! We were very proud of him dog paddling his way around the pool.

Before I close this post, I wanted to share that I tried out a new theater yesterday for the free movie. I found out that the Krikorian theater in Buena Park mall also offers free movies. They only show it during Tuesdays but with two show times- 10 am and 12 noon. Check out the listings here. We watched Space Chimps yesterday and it was soooo funny! We loved it.

One thing I have to say about these free movies though is that they are "first come first serve" and because of it's popularity, you might wanna plan to be at the theater no later than 40 minutes before the show time. It gets really crowded but if you're there early you won't have any problem finding a seat.

So there you have it. Stay cool!


Till next time,
Grace

Thursday, July 16, 2009

My love for American Crafts

There's so many scrapbook products and manufacturers out there that I enjoy trying out but I have to say that my "comfort" products always come from American Crafts. They're designs are very easy for me to use and the innovative products that they present are always right up my alley. Do I dare mention all the "thickers" stickers I have????

Here's a sampling of my favorite American Crafts projects....

Happy Birthday card featuring Metropolis paper, element ribbon, everyday embellishments and trademark rubbons


featuring Play paper, element ribbon and tons of thicker numbers and letters.


Hello card featuring trademark rubon. *this was published in PaperCrafts Card Creation Vol. 6 issue*


Sweet baby card with Everyday paper.


a layout featuring papers from the Travel line, element ribbon, thicker letters, rubon frame from Trademarks and embellishments from the Everday line.


Bliss layout using paper from Ala Carte line, element ribbon and letter Thickers.


Date night layout with different AC papers, thickers, felt embellishments and rubons. *this layout won an AC Studio challenge*


The Joys of Motherhood featuring papers from the Metropolish line, embellishments and thicker stickers.


Memories featuring papers from the Christmas line


B.O.M Achievement layout with AC papers and felt thicker letters.


So here's my little "ode" to American Crafts.

Thank you for looking and Till next time,
Grace