if i make one, do i have to make more?

happy friday everyone!

i'm back to share a post with you that i've been teasing about all week. it's something that i actually made a while ago, but no one in the virtual world has seen... YET! but first, i have a card or two, or five for you :D

first up is a quick little set i made at the Impress Stamp Night i mentioned in THIS POST. it was so much fun trying out new stamps, new ink colors, and just plain getting a lot of stamping done. before i went, i looked at some blogs and catalogs for inspiration... i just wanted to get some ideas flowing. one thing i decided was i wanted to make some single layer cards.

each one uses the same stamp in a different ink color along with a different sentiment. they're so pretty all lined up together, aren't they?

and here i have a card like the one i made HERE with a few variations. i had a coworker request a few cards she wanted to buy, and she really loved this one. i used Basic Grey's 6x6 Lemonade papers for the background, and then the 'baby' is a DeNami Design stamp. i also did the ribbon in a double bow kind of how Paulina does hers sometimes. love this fun baby card... what a cute way to welcome a new little one, dontcha' think?

okay, one last thing before we move on to the 'reveal' ...hehe :D

for those of you that missed yesterday's post, i would love for you to check out my card HERE that i made for the SteamBoyz event being hosted by Velvet over HERE. if you're into steampunk at all, or have a hankering for YA books based in a Victorian era with the addition of special gadgets and lots of action, OR if you have any sons/ boys/ a husband in your life that like to read, i highly suggest checking it out.

plust, there's prizes! and jiminy snaps... that's an awesome button :D

so some of you saw the sneak peak i posted the other day. at the end of April (wow, that sounds like a long time ago) i went with a friend to a scrapbook retreat in Seattle. it was amazing. i actually finished a full scrapbook album, and i want to share it with you.

i went to Brazil in the summer of 2008 with my sister Cecelia, who was studying Portuguese at the time. we were able to go to 4 different cities for about 2-3 days each, starting out in Rio de Janeiro. we lost a little bit of time because of traveling (by bus, which was mostly miserable and crazy!) but i LOVED that trip w/ my sister :D

front cover... this album was a Making Memories kit, but i customized it majorly along the way...

you can see the statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) in the background of this photo. it stands over the top of Rio and you can literally see the whole city from there. it's awesome. (btw, most of these pictures i took, unless i'm the only one in them. i love doing the 'stretch your arm out and snap one' while trying to document life!)
here's a better shot of the statue, and me mimicking it, as well as a shot of the city... i took a panoramic series, but it wouldn't have fit in this 8x8 album, so you only get one.
this isn't a flattering picture, but it's scrapbooking, and it's real life. we were riding the tram up to the top of the hill to see Cristo Redentor... it was fun. the quote on this page says 'When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you feel comfortable, it is designed to make its own people comfortable.' that was so true, but the great thing about traveling with a trilingual sister, is that you get a lot more respect from those that live there because you speak their language.
oooh! the title on this page is 'girls from Ipanema'... have you heard of that song? 'the girl from Ipanema'? it's an oldie, but cool. this was me trying out the shredded pork we got at the cafe there. i accidentally put a WHOLE BUNCH of hot oil/ peppers on it, and essentially ruined the meal, minus the french fries we got.

how was i supposed to know you didn't take the little chile peppers out of the little dish where they were marinating and making the oil SUPER hot??? :D
we of course went to the beach next to the cafe, and our background is the city... it's super packed and crowded, but in a nice international way. those are either hotels or apartment buildings behind us. only the super UBER duper rich have actual houses there in the city.
these photos show the beach at Ipanema, and would you look at that sand? it was so freaking amazing... the water wasn't too warm, because it was actually their 'winter.' the journaling mentions how we were glad to not see any 'Brazilian bikinis' while we were there ...woulda meant seeing too much skin and things we didn't want to :D i played in the sand a little, which was really really soft. nothing like the sand in WA. nothing.
we hit up a few museums while we were there, and omgosh. when my sister and i are together, we just have a GOOD time. you can tell from the photo here that we were goofing off a little. just a little side story about that, one of the attendants 'caught' us making silly faces and pointing to things like the paintings and the chandeliers, and he kindly offered to take a picture of the both of us being goofy. we were slightly embarrassed, but figured, 'why the heck not?' i think we made him smile that day. :D
the little vellum envelope holds the journaling about the museum on a little pull out paper from Graphic 45.
okay, so from Rio, Cecelia and i went to Sao Paolo. we liked it here, but it's a HUGE city (like top 5 in the whole world). we went on a walking tour of the place, and saw some neat gov't buildings and a sweet cathedral.
the stained glass was pretty much all over the place. it was HUGE and full of depictions of saints, etc.
here you can read the journaling for the page (hopefully you can read my handwriting!):
THEN, from Sao Paolo, we went to Paraty (pronounced par-a-tchi) which has a part of the town historically preserved by the gov't. we had a relaxing time there in a really nice hostel where we met some awesome people. that's one of the things i love about traveling... you can meet so many people along the way.

our first night there, we ate an early dinner at a restaurant that was listed in Cecelia's guide book as one of the top 100 places to eat in the world. i can't remember the restaurant's name now, but here's Cece looking at her dessert (because of course we went all out), which was kind of like bananas foster but with starfruit too :D
i liked to snap candid photos along the trip, and i caught Cece looking at her guidebook again with the historical buildings in the background. the title of this page is, 'where are we?'
omygoodness. if you've never had paella (REAL paella, pronounced pie-a-uh) then you're MISSING OUT. we went to another nice restaurant called the Kon Tiki which was located on an island. JUST for the restaurant. there was a theme running through our trip. we liked to eat dinner at a normal time, but that was 'early' according to Brazilian standards.

so at the first restaurant in Paraty and the Kon Tiki, we were the ONLY people there. which was nice, but slightly awkward. that meant we had the wait staff hovering around. you can also see the drink that i got > it's a caipirinha, and it's AMAZING. it's actually the national cocktail of Brazil. you should read the article about it. :D
the Kon Tiki had an amazing layout, and the deck was stunning. the whole island would make a perfect place to have a wedding :D
one of the waiters took our picture, and it was a really good time. i almost felt bad for how much energy was put into the whole thing for just 2 people. they even had a guy to ferry guests back and forth to the pier.
so, also while in Paraty, Cecelia and i went on a schooner cruise. it was $20 a person for 5 hours on a yacht. it was awesome... we got to see about 4 different beach/ cove locations, all of them lovely and local.
we also brought along some new friends from the hostel we stayed at. Rachel and John (sister/ brother) were some Australians that we met up with and we instantly connected. maybe it was because we were playing cards and being loud and fun :D

you can see the schooner in the background. the sand at THIS beach was like pumpkin pie filling... it was soooo soft. it was even kind of orangey. weird, huh?
our next stop was Ouro Preto, which in Portuguese means 'Black Gold.' this town is known for the mining that happened around it... from Wikipedia, Ouro Preto "is a city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its outstanding Baroque architecture."

so ALL the buildings in the town are historically protected. you can't change them. or the streets. which means, there were cobblestones all over the place on roads that were at angles close to 45 degrees. well, maybe not that bad, but close.

in this picture you can see me being goofy (or is this 'normal' for me? haha!) with some statues i found... Laurel and Hardy!! who would have thought!?

this town was chock full of architectural and colorful goodness... it was so beautiful just walking around and snapping pictures of some of the cool houses. if i hadn't been careful, i would have used up a whole memory stick for just the buildings. they don't make them like that anymore...

oh, and here we have a happy camper. see that food? i LOVE taking pictures of the food, because it helps you remember the trip a lot better. that, and i'm obsessed with food. in a good way, of course. she had chicken with capers, i think? it was DELICIOUS at any rate.
i made a pocket for the pull out journaling here... three different sections + a picture. read on!
continued...
and continued...
and Simon! finally >>
(hope you could read all that, cause i really don't want to type it out :D hehe, i'm lazy.)

okay, so Ouro Preto was home to about 50 churches. they were different, beautiful, amazing, and all located in various parts of town. after seeing about 4 or 5 of them, though, they started to blur together. but i just LOVE that picture with the light glinting off the windows. i have that one framed in my apartment.
okay, so if you read the journaling a few photos up, you know that Cece and i picked up some friends to tour with along the way. so we went to a mining town nearby and took a little jaunt down a mine shaft with our new friends, Robert and Simon. (Robert on the left, was German, who spoke great English, and Simon spoke English too, but his cadence was somewhat difficult to follow at times...)
funny story for you. the four of us above ended up sharing one room in the hostel we were at, instead of separating the girls/ guys (for a few reasons... one of which > the place was full, and we didn't want to move out). so, i had the bottom bunk below Simon, and we joked that if he snored in the night, i would poke him through the mattress. well, we didn't know that he ACTUALLY *did* snore. LOUDLY. *giggle* it was bad. i don't think my sister got a whole lot of sleep when we shared the room, but oh well, at least we got to tease Simon about it later :D

here's another beautiful church... they were simply gorgeous.

and even though Cecelia doesn't look happy here, we actually were. we went to coffee in Brazil frequently, even though i don't drink. they generally had some amazing fruit drinks to offer, or i would grab their version of hot chocolate, which i did here while i was writing in my travel journal. it was such a good idea to keep one! i highly recommend it if you ever leave the country! :D
okay, so not all the pictures are of ME being silly... here, Cecelia is 'kissing' this fountain statue that is supposed to spray water in the summertime. she couldn't resist, i suppose ;)
and the hostel we stayed in Ouro Preto had the most amazing view. this is it... from the back patio. i mean, SERIOUSLY!??? how awesome. Brazil was breathtaking... all of it.
here's part of the album where you can stuff a few pictures and extra journaling/ memorabilia from the trip.
and what's inside the pocket...
and then the very last page before the back cover (this is actually just the backside of the pocket page). the picture was taken in Paraty, but it's so fun to have as a 'The End' type of thing, don't you agree?
well, i know that was a lot to share, but thanks so much for sticking with me. i really should photograph my scrapbook pages more, and in a more timely manner, but sometimes it can get overwhelming.

i just really hope that because i made ONE of these (for me) i don't have to make another one ;) haha, no... i know i'll be scrapping trips from now until... forever, probably :D

hope you enjoyed. i'm wishing you a fabulous weekend! come back soon, and make sure you leave a comment. i'd love to know which story you enjoyed the most, or which page you liked :) XOXO

Brazil favorites + some craftiness too

oy! it's been a while past when i thought i'd be posting, but here i am! (better late than never is what i tell my students about assignments, and it can apply to blogging, too, eh?)

today i wanted to share some pictures with you that i took when i went to Brazil with my sister, Cecelia, in Summer 2008. yes, it's been a while since the trip, but these pictures are really gorgeous.

both of these buildings are churches that we saw in a mining town that still has the original colonial architecture throughout the whole city--there were probably 50+ chapels/ churches throughout Ouro Preto (which means"black gold" in Portugeuse) and all of them are amazingly beautiful.

this picture below is one of my favorites, and happens to be gracing the background on my computer desktop at the moment. this was the view from the patio of the hostel my sister and i were staying out... i'm telling you--AMAZING stuff!

and yes, yes, i do have some cards for you! these were made using some scraps and a fun new tool i got courtesy of my dear friend Paulina. she knew that i wanted an eyelet setter/ punch for crafting, so for Christmas she got me the Crop-a-dile Big Bite II! :D *big grin*

that girl is so good to me. speaking of good... we had an amazing chat and dinner the other day (at Panera! love!)--the very first day back to work from vacation for both of us. i think it literally may have saved me from breakdown! love you Paulina :D

okay, so back to the cards. i was inspired by Nichole's post on her blog about using scraps. Lord knows i have drawers full of them... so i pulled out all the red, pink, coordinating patterned paper (plus some neutrals) from my pile and cut down TONS of card bases for mini's and A2 size cards. i have a stack to create with now...

but, since the goal was to use up some scraps, i put some pieces through a punch, some got stamped on, distressed, punched again, chopped in little tiny pieces, etc :)

all of these have Valentine's themes... and there are more to come--so bear with me :D

the first card i made combines a few things--DeNami Design sentiment, DoodleFactory birdie image, ribbon from Michael's, pillow heart stickers from MM, some swirl stamps, fabric pins from Wal-mart, and some Bazzill dotted cardstock. the patterned paper is from me & my big ideas i think?
he turned out so cute, right? i normally wouldn't put the big circle right in the middle of the card, but since it was left over from a Cricut cut, i figured i'd try to use it up.

next up i have some DCWV paper from the green stack, a stamped image from Impress, more pillow stickers, Michael's ribbon, lace from Jo-ann's, MM staples in pink, a pink square cut from my Cricut, and some pearls to boot :D i love that tree image--it actually goes with the pattern in the background... kind of an environmental Valentine, right?ooo! on this next one i have some lovely texture! DCWV has some velvet silhoutte sheets in one of their stacks, and i just LOVE it! also, the red/ white polka dot is actually leftover Christmas cardstock paper, there's lots of punching on this one--the scalloped square, and both hearts are punched out. i had a TON of fun making the little kraft embellies with the hearts, buttons, and pearls. sooo fun!

so here's what i did... i got some patterned paper with text on it, punched the little heart, inked up the edges with pink, and stuck some pearls on top. then, i punched the big heart, inked it up, and attached it to the kraft square with a 1/8" punch + red eyelet using my new Big Bite! i also inked the edges of the square and layered a button beneath the square.

totally loving making Valentine's Day cards... they're fun! i even had one approved by my brother Joey--hehe :D

okay, off i go to sleep and school tomorrow... this week will NOT end soon enough :/ we just came back from break and i need another one! what about you? do you feel like you rested up over your vacation time, or were you running around like me?

well, thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

i'm leaving, on a jet plane...

i'm going to Ecuador!

i was just looking through pictures on Flickr, and Ecuador is simply stunning. i'm sure i'll be seeing some of the same beauty, and taking pictures too! (...just not of that quality)

i'll be leaving on Tuesday, August 11th, and i'll be traveling with my youngest brother Joey, and a missions team from my church. we're going to Quito (the capital), and Otavalo to teach some conferences, reach children through Vacation Bible Adventures, and fellowship with the local church bodies down there.

i am so excited! i've been to South America before (last summer, actually--Brazil, with my sister, Cecelia), and i had an absolute blast. i'm looking forward to going again, and actually understanding a little more of the language. i picked up the main ideas in conversation while i was in Brazil (they speak Portugeuse), but i've taken several years of Spanish (although i'm rusty), so i think i'll understand a lot more when i go down this time :D

fortunately our whole trip will not just be missions--we're going to spend one or two days seeing some sights and hiking around. i'm so excited to be ministering with such a great team of people (hey guys--you're awesome!), and also to try something new.

well, wish me luck, i'm off to do laundry so i can pack :D hehe, yes, i know, i should be *finished* packing by now. well, i'm a procrastinator!

hope you have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for looking...

2sketches4you, Kazan's #24

wow, i can't believe how many sketches Kazan and Laura have created over @ 2sketches4you! 24 seems like a long time... and i'm almost even more amazed that i've gotten to participate in so many of them :)

i really like the colors of the paper and this was the first time i'd successfully used the gathered ribbon technique... i think it turned out well, don't you? so excited to see what you think. it was a fabulous sketch, was it not?

today was not my favorite day ever... i reeeaaalllly wanted to sleep in instead of going to school, especially because i had to proctor the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) today for round 1 of a six round routine for the next week or so.

anyway, i got up and got to school, and ended up giving a lecture to my 1st period about having "filters" for their thoughts and their comments--some kids just don't get it. i told them, "don't let other people know EVERYTHING you're thinking... you WANT to sound mature, don't you?!"

anyway, it was fine, not the best, but at least it turned sunny later today. and last night i did have some fun with Joey and my parents... we watched the movie "Get Smart" which i'd seen in theaters when it came out, but it was SOOO much funnier with my whacky family enjoying every stupid corny line and slapstick routines... i love listening to my dad laugh... literally makes me want to smile.

oh, and in other fun news, my sister, Cecelia has started a blog! she's not exactly crafty, unless you count the fact that she's FABULOUS with words. currently she's working on her Masters and Ph.D. in History (specifically of Latin America), and i've had the privilege of tagging along with her on many trips to Latin countries (think Spain, Brazil!) basically, she's hilarious, and normal. you can check out her musings on her blog HERE.

anyway, i'm off to coach a couple of water polo games... praying we WIN tonight! thanks for looking and for all your sweet comments!