back from a fun weekend

Hi everyone, hope your having a wonderful Tuesday. Mine has been slow to start. Everyone slept in today at my house. We were tired from the busy weekend. My Mom came to visit on Saturday with her new fiancee Mark. We spent the whole weekend getting to know Mark and showing off our city. On Sunday we visited the California state museum. I thought that I would share with you some fun pictures that I took at the museum.


This is a photo of my Mom with my son Matt. Isn't she beautiful? She doesn't look like a grandma, which is why my sister and I like to tease her and call out 'Grandma' from across the room whenever we are in a store or public setting.


I just had to take a photo of this old bus that was part of an exhibit.


and here is a shot of my family inside the bus. What can I say? We act crazy every chance we get.


This elephant exhibit was just calling me to take his picture.


I thought the heart shape on the top of this pie was too cute not to take a photo of.

and I saved my favorite photo for last....

At the museum they had a stack of old suitcases and I just couldn't resist those colors and textures.

Thanks for letting me share some of my favorite photos with you, and thanks to my husband for being such a patient guy. Our whole purpose of going to the museum was to see a work water project that his department worked on. I am very proud of my husband and the work he has done as a civil engineer for the state. But, the photographer in me was itching to run around and take shots. Since I started photography as a hobby I find the beauty in everyday items. I guess that's what photographer's do. I told my husband that he is going to have to get me this bumper sticker:



lol. Have a great day, and rest of the week.

It's official...summer break is here

the kids are out of school and the temps are in the 100's. Which means we are spending a lot of time at the pool. Kalee promoted from 6th grade on Monday night.

I am so proud of this girl, she is truly beautiful inside and out.





not sure where the time went. But it sure went by fast. It is hard to believe that she will be starting 7th grade in August.

I have been busy working on projects for GCD studios and I have some sneak peeks to show you.





That's all I can share for now. Can you guess what kind of project it is? I will be back with the full project in July. I am off to take the kids to their grandparents pool today. Enjoy your day!

and now for an exciting announcement...

Brian Fogg (owner of Epiphany Crafts) will be back on HSN this Wednesday with two shows...one at 11:00am and 6:00pm Eastern time. That's 8:00am and 3:00pm for us west coasters. Be sure to tune in as Epiphany Crafts will be offering three new kits!
During their last HSN show appearance they sold out within a few minutes.

I have one project that will be featured during the show. Here is a sneak peek.


Have you ever tried out Epiphany Crafts products before, or wonder how they work? Design Team member Rebecca Price is featuring a tutorial on her blog. Be sure to check it out and don't forget to tune in tomorrow, you wont want to miss this deal!

Not so serious

Hi all! Gina here! I am so excited to share a recent layout that I made for GCD studios. When I first got my Design Team box from GCD studios I was so excited to break it open and try out the chip art pieces and tools. I used them for the very first time on this fun layout with the Homespun Chic collection by Melody Ross.



for this project I used:







To create the stars I used the chip art ornamental frame tool on the chipboard stars.



Then I painted both stars white and then misted one with glimmer mist.


After they dried, I punched a hole through them with a hole punch and then brads (from the Homespun chic collection) to give them some flair.

Here is a closeup of the star

They make really fun embellishments!

pile on the layers summer days

Hello! Here again today to share a technique that is sure to add a playful punch to your layouts.
For the GCD studios newsletter this month, I wanted to create a fun playful layout that mimics my kids imaginative
and creative play at the park.

Summer Days at the park layout

I used the GCD studios Animal Crackers boys line on this layout.

To create the fun fluffy clouds in this layout, I first used a hand punch and punched them out of a 12x12 sheet
of pattern paper.
Then I coated them with a thin layer of glue.


Next, I sprinkled velvet flocking powder (made by Doodlebug design) on top and heated them up with a heat embossing gun.


Here is a closeup of the clouds
I added some foam tape behind two of them (the middle cloud and the cloud on top of the sun).

I really like the look, I think it makes them pop. I also handcut and pieced together the sun. I think it is so cheery and playful.

lots of photos

I was recently asked to define my scrapbooking style. I pondered this for a while and took a look through all the projects that I had created in the past year and decided that my style is to use lots of photos. I like to tell a story using several photos on a page. Sometimes I like to use the same photo (repeated) in a layout, or I like to use lots of different photos from an event. I really love the look of photo strips and use wallet size photos on most of my projects.
For this layout I used the soul food collection by Melody Ross. This is such a fun collection. I really love the colors, especially the bright orange!

This Girl is Brave layout



Here is a closeup of a chipboard piece that I used the chipart tool on.



To create the bird, first I started by stamping him with the small flower chipart tool.


Then I painted a layer of white paint on top of the bird (I purposely made this a thin layer and did not paint inside the stamped image).

Once the bird was dry, I misted him with sand colored glimmer mist.


I really love how the chipboard birds came out. Are you feeling brave? I hope that you get the chance to define your style and maybe try something new, like GCD studios fabulous chipart tools! I just know that you are going to love the ending result!




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