Sunday, May 31, 2009

Week 4 - Work A-long project

I had so much fun doing this work along challenge at simple scrapper! I am said to see that it is coming to an end!! Can we do it again, Jennifer?


Now, how I REALLY felt about the project... Besides loving to participate, I did have some challenges!



I am not a journaler (is that a word?) by nature! So having to journal brought me right out of my comfort zone! I guess that is what challenges are for, right? I had the opportunity to journal in different ways... week one was list format... It got my feet wet, I should say! Week two, was longer, and a reflection of how traveling had influenced my life. I chose to write a letter and I think it came out fantastic!!! Then on week 3, I decided to repeat a couple of words over and over again... as a "mantra" of sorts! That worked well with the learn to relax theme... it reminded me of meditation and calming down!! Finally for week 4, I chose to not journal at all, since the template was extremely busy, and my pictures and title told a story on their own!



I had other challenges to talk about! For an instance, I was always tempted to go to another kit for an extra bow here, or a flower there. It was really tough to have to stick only to that kit for all four projects! Specifically because my kit was very specific (travel) and I had little to no elements to work with that were "traditional" elements, as in bows and flowers, tags, etc! It was awesome to see the results, though, and I was impressed to see how resourceful and/or creative I had to become to accomplish what I wanted with what I had to work with!! Case in point, was this week's template. It had flowers scattered everywhere as elements. I know I could have substituted them with other elements... however, the flowers gave the template some softness... which I was really longing for after working for 4 weeks straight with maps, post cards, suit cases, compasses... you get the point! Then I saw this element which had nothing to do with my LO! An antique boot with flowers cascading from the top! The ONLY flowers in the entire kit! You know what I had to do next... I extracted the flowers and voila! The element I was longing for emerged! Bellow is the element from where I extracted the flowers!




The colors on my kit were hard to work with as well... I love the kit, and will definitively use it again... but after my first LO, which according to Jennifer has an Indiana Jone's feel, I was looking forward to go with a lighter color scheme! Well, that was kind of hard to do with my kit! So, for week 3, I decided to blend my picture to the background so I would be able to "lighten" my pallet, and keep it interesting at the same time! I really liked the results!




Now, regarding the final week, which preview you will find below. I went back to the dark colors!! Yeah! I was ready for it! This LO brings me back full circle in many ways! DARE to travel was my overall theme, and I wanted to talk about the wonders of traveling and letting travel control the traveler instead of it being the other way around! Honoring travel was well... Easy! I loved the jewel colors for this LO because of it! Honoring travel deserved strong, almost royal colors! Explore the world! That was my title... Can you think of any title more honoring travel than that? And then the pictures!! I have so many... but I settled for the three for a couple of reasons! The first one on the left, is of my son! I love to travel with kids because they just do what is on their mind! They are not afraid of trying new things, or looking silly! He is a true world explorer! The second picture was taken in Rome (can you tell?). The Romans were great explorers/conquerors and I love how one of the subjects of the picture is pointing straight out, almost as if he was saying: "Hey, you! Come explore the world with us!". The last picture is... (you guessed it!) of my son again!! He is sitting at the cockpit of an airplane! Exploring his surroundings and ready to conquer the world!



Dream, Adventure, Relax and Explore were my four words! and I used them in the order that they appeared (I am not sure if that was mandatory, but it worked out great!). I loved exploring this subject through scrap booking and I am ready to try it again!

Credits: Voyage kit by Malacima. Alpha: Darling Buds of May from Digi-Designs by Nicole. Fonts: Eight Fifteen and A truer blue - from the Internet. The template is Jennifer's at Simple Scrapper!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Week 3 May Work-a-log project

As I mentioned before this challenge is being hosted by Simple Scrapper. It had been lots of fun and challenging to use only one kit for all 4 LOs (this week it was LO number 3). The theme that I chose is Travel and the word for this week is Relax. We were asked to journal our hopes and dreams for the future regarding our subject. Of course I want to go to places I have not been to yet, and meet new people, etc. etc. But most of all, what I would like to do, is to learn to relax a little bit more when we travel. I love to travel and I love to see new places... but the problem is, I am always trying to fit too much into my schedule... and most of the times, by the time the trip is over, I am more tired than when I left. LOL. That's why, my word for the week was perfect for this assignment. LEARN TO RELAX is my hope for future endeavours. For the journaling, I chose to write relax, and related terms... almost like a mantra... to see if I can internalize it and make it become real. I hope you like it!


As mentioned before, the kit used is Voyage by Lilian Cimesa aka Malacima. The stitching is from the kit Smile from Digi-Designs by Nicole.


Monday, May 25, 2009

Two new LOs with Scrap'n Pieces' kits

I have two new LOs for you today. These are made with the kits tha Scrap'n Pieces have available at the Stuff to Scrapp store now. Stay tuned next week for a kit release from them.


This first kit is done with the kit Hot Cocoa. It is a winter themed kit. I really loved the colors and elements in it! Take a look at the kit here...



And this is my LO!



This second one is done with the kit Slam Dunk. It is a basketball themed kit, but as you can see, you can use it for other pages as well... here is the link to it, the preview and my LO. Enjoy!



http://stufftoscrap.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_33&products_id=128


Saturday, May 23, 2009

I have been accepted for another CT!!



This has been a wonderful week!! I have been accepted for another CT! I am now a creative team member for Scrap'n Pieces! I am so excited!! This week I was accepted for the only two CTs that I applied for (the only two that I have ever applied). I am excited because both designers have awesome kits. I can't wait to show you some LOs done with my newest CT roll. That will be probably early next week... stay tuned!




In the mean while, I have two LOs for you that I created for a slow scrap challenge at Simplescrapper. We are into week 3 and I can't wait to see the LOs created this week... Here are the ones done for weeks one and two. My subject is TRAVEL. We had to choose 4 words (one for each week) that would reflect/define our subject. My words were: Dream, Adventure, Relax and Explore ( their initials spell DARE). We are only using one kit for this project for all four weeks. The kit that I chose is named Voyage by Lilian Cimesa aka Malacima. You can find her stuff at www.malacima.blogspot.com
Let me know what you think!
Week 1




Week 2


Friday, May 22, 2009

Quote of the day!

"If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."~Vincent van Gog

Can you come up with a LO inspired by this quote?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I just wanted to add a quick note... Nicole just published a freebie on her blog. It is an add-on to her newest kit SMILE. Go check it out!! The LOs that I posted yesterday were made with her kit. I am in love with its colors!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

My first blog post!


Dear readers,



I decided to take the plunge and start blogging!! I was just accepted for Digi-Designs Nicole's CT! I was a little hesitant about starting a new blog, but decided to experiment with it and see how it goes. I will be posting my LOs here. Be on the look out for some freebie QPs from time to time as Nicole releases new kits. I hope you have fun following this blog!



As part of Nicole's CT, my firs assignmet was to come up with two LOs for her newest kit SMILE. I could not stop smiling when I saw the preview for the kit! I loved the colors and the elements. Here are my first two pages. Please let me know what you think! Here is a preview of the kit:



you can find it here: http://stufftoscrap.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_16&products_id=113

And here are my LOs with this wonderful kit!







I hope you enjoyed my first post. Please come often for more LOs, and freebie announcements.


Maria