Almost Over

My holiday is almost over, and after Labor Day my schedule is pretty busy.

I'm not really that eager to go back to work, but I'm not dreading it either, so the holiday did me some good. :)

My Mac is still at the Apple Store and I'm still very unhappy about it, but resigned.

At last, Indiana Jones has arrived at our discount theater, so on Tuesday we'll go and watch it for $ 1! I've been waiting for it to arrive all summer! :-)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's my birthday!!

And husband's cooking me a nice meal tonight. :)

I was hoping to get a phone call from the Apple Store saying my computer was repaired and ready to come home, but no.. not even as a gift for my birthday!

I'm really feeling hopeless now. I've been waiting on 3 important things this week (computer repair, exam results and ScrapMatters CT call) and heard nothing from either! I've been trying to be really calm and patient, but after 4 days of useless waiting I feel I'm getting a bit nervous now.

But never mind, it's my birthday today and I want only positive thoughts!

And tomorrow we're spending the day at a museum so I won't have a chance to think about the answers I'm waiting for.

Operation Spruce

After spending yesterday at Letchworth State Park (loved it!!) today we went and bought a baby blue spruce to plant in our garden.

I've wanted this for a couple months now, and we finally went to get it today.

We chose the smallest (and cutest of course) of all the ones for sale

and as soon as we got home, we were very, very glad we did that!! In fact, the people at the nursery put the spruce in our car, but once we got home, we discovered it was awfully heavy!! In fact, my husband and I together could not lift it, and resorted to roll it over the grass to the designated spot.

After digging for almost 2 hours, with me getting really dizzy because of the sun, we finally managed it and achieved this:

We're SO happy with the result!! It was a harder job than we expected, but totally worth it!

Now we're almost ready for Christmas! :)

(In case you were wondering... The 3rd day is now over and my Mac is not ready yet.. And it should have taken "a couple days"...)

Science Center

Today we went to the Science Center + Planetarium. It was fun!!

We spent about 6 hours there, doing all the activities.

I didn't take many pictures, but I think a LO or two could come out of this. :)

There's a Speed Scrap at Scrapmatters tomorrow evening (find info here) but I'll miss it because it's at dinner time for me and tomorrow is our monthiversary (plus, my Mac is still being repaired.. ugh!). Too bad, because I love speed scraps!! There's also an awesome partecipation prize by Ellie Lash.

Mac News

OK, here's the news: we brought my iMac to the repair center today and it should take "a couple days". I hope it doesn't take longer than that, because I already feel unlucky enough that my computer broke during my holiday (=big scrapping time).

So, the plans for the next couple of days is to build some nice memories for me to scrap when my computer comes back home. :-) And if I really can't resist, I'll seize my husband's notebook for a quick scrapping session.

Now we'll decide what to do tomorrow: museum or historic village?

Zoo LOs

Here's the first LO I did yesterday about our visit to the zoo.

Credits:

Everything from So Sweet Mini Kit by Ellie Lash

except:

Flowers from Dream by Ellie Lash

i luv turquoise alpha (recolored) by Andilynn Designs

I did this for the Thursday challenge at Ellie Lash's CT blog (check it out here) and for the Digi Dare # 96 - only I realized too late I missed the deadline for the digi dare. :-) It would have been my first digi dare: I just stumbled upon the website this week,  and I love the idea! Check it out if you haven't already.

And here's the second zoo LO I did today.

Credits:

Tilted Template Challenge template by Britt-ish Designs

Happy 2B {stuck with you} collab kit by Krystal Hartley and Marcie Reckinger

I did it for the Tuesday Template challenge at ScrapMatters.

This week's is hosted by Britt - I just love her style and all of her templates! This one is no exception. :-)

I fell in love with that background paper (by Krystal Hartley: I'm really in love with her style lately!) and couldn't find anything that suited it to go on the photo mat, so I just cut the black&white part of the background paper and built the photo mat out of it.

The sad news of the day is that my Mac started malfunctioning!!!!! :-( It all started this morning when the screen filled with curly horizontal stripes. It has then done it repeatedly over the day, but quite randomly: the second LO I posted here was done after it did it a few times but gave me no problems as I was scrapping. My husband (the house guru) says it's the V-RAM and that it's serious, i.e., we must bring it to be repaired. This is horrible news for me. I have next week off and was planning to spend my holiday doing a fair amount of scrapping... :-(

I'll keep you posted with how my Mac holds up.

The Dark Knight

Yesterday we went to the cinema! My husband had been wanting to go to see The Dark Knight for a long time, so I finally gave in since he deserved a treat too. :-)

I usually am totally opposed to spending $10.50 at a regular theater when you can watch the same movie for $ 2 just a few months later, but this time, since he really wanted to go, and since the movie was at the IMAX, we went.

The movie was good and I must say I LOVE the IMAX!! :-)

Zoo!

Yesterday we went to the zoo! It was fun!

We love to visit zoos but hadn't visited the local zoo yet. So finally we did it!!

The zoo does not have that many animals, but we enjoyed it. 

We especially liked the events such as the feeding of penguins and alligators, and a show about animals' tails.

I already started scrapping some of the pictures we took (even though they're not great, thanks to our point and shoot.. :-( ), but here's some raw pictures to start with before I get my LOs ready.

  

Speed Scrap

Speed scrap last night at ScrapMatters, hosted by Denise!

Here's the instructions:

1. Choose your photo. You can only use one and …and here’s the toughie…you must be in it!!!

2. Choose your papers. You must have at least 2 papers, and one of them must have a pattern.

3. Attach your photo to your page. You must use something metal, and it cannot be a staple.

4. Use something in your layout that is hanging…a clip, a charm, a tag…it must be hanging off something.

5. Create a small cluster of elements. You may put it wherever you want, but you need to attach it in some way. Embellish however else you want.

6. Title your layout. You must use an alpha in at least part of your title, and...wait for it...your title must have a number in it.

7. Date your l

ayout and add journaling…even if it is only a few words.

And here's what I came up with:

Journaling:
With a new haircut, just so happy to spend Christmas with my family

Credits:
Papers: Be Merry kit by Cherie Mask
Tag by Ditters Doodles
Frames and hangs (all recolored): What's Your Hang Up; Vellum Glass Alpha (recolored) by Ellie Lash
Snowflakes (recolored): Whimsical Wonderland by Flergs
Star pin I'm A Dreamer by Britt-ish Designs
Font: FG Bonnie's

I'm happy with this LO. I did some photo editing to improve the picture and it really meant a lot.

Plans for today? Next to new sale at our Chuch, and then, the zoo!!! :-)

I'm done!!

Yaaaayy!!!! My 3-day exam is over!!!!

So I'm finally back to a normal life! For the past 5 weeks I did nothing but study and scrap. :-) My dear husband was such a great support!

And this week he was so sweet, too! Monday after the first day of exams he bought me sushi, without knowing I'd been secretly craving it for a few days!

Then today, after I finished the final exam, he gave me as a gift a Bamboo tablet!!!!!

He's such a dream! And he's letting me speed scrap at ScrapMatters tonight. :-)

Off to dinner!

OK so here's the LO I mentioned earlier.

Credits:

Template by Melanie on Ellie Lash's CT

Hanging clips, glittery dust and paper on bracket mat from I'm A Dreamer by Britt-ish Designs

Balloon (recolored), glitter swirls and journaling strips from New Beginnings by Rasberry Road

Center and horizontal papers (recolored) from Secret Sage by Erica Zane

Other paper (recolored) from Friday Flea Market collaboration kit at ScrapMatters

Twirl Alpha by Shabby Princess

Font: FG Bonnie's

I did this following the color scheme for the Photography Phriday Challenge at SM (we also had to scrap about something new) and also for the template challenge at Ellie Lash's CT blog.

Almost Done

I'm about to start Day 3 of my 3-day exam so I'm almost done!!!

I must admit that I couldn't resist and yesterday night I started working on a new LO. I should be able to give it the final touches later today, then I'll post it. :-)

Speed Scrap Wednesday 8/20

There's a Speed Scrap at Scrapmatters this Wednesday at 9 PM EST. I'm not sure whether I can make it or not, but I hope I can!!

I just love speed scraps! :-)

Online TV Shows

We don't have a TV (and that is a real bummer now that the Olympics are on!!!!! :-( ) but we have lots of fun watching online TV shows.

Our longtime favorite is Dancing with the Stars. We've watched a couple of seasons of the Italian edition and this year we watched the American version for the first time. We were amazed at the level of dancing in the show!!! There's no comparison at all with the Italian version, the dancers were much much better in the US.

Another fun show we watched is I Survived a Japanese Game Show, a really crazy show with crazy games.

But the weirdest of all, and the one we're watching now, is Wipeout. 24 players get down to 1 who wins $50k through an incredible series of hilarious game. A real fun, no-brainer show to watch!

As we wait for another month to go by before Desperate Housewives comes back. :)

I did it!

I sent my application for the CT call at ScrapMatters!

I never applied to a CT before, actually, I never even thought about doing it before, but it would really be an honor to scrap for such a lovely community, so I decided to give it a try!

Here's some info about the call. It's open till next week!

My Scrapping Style

I'm not sure I have found my style yet, and everytime I browse the gallery I see so many talented scrappers and I feel I'll never be as good as them. However, I'm very happy with my improvements over the past few months.

My first LOs were totally flat, but now I can see how important shadows are.

I also recolor things a lot because I found out how much better a page looks if you match the papers' and elements' colors to the colors in your pictures.

Something very important to me is journaling, because I scrap to preserve my memories. This is also a drawback sometimes, because I always tend to put in too many pictures and words to tell the story. But I guess your scrapping style reflects your lifestyle too, since in real life I collect many things and it seems I can never get rid of anything. :)

This is the simplest LO I ever did and I love it.

Credits: Paper by Paislee Press Font: WC Wunderbach

But most of the time, I put in journaling and elements on the page. It really depends on what story  you want to tell.

I'm also an alpha sucker. I simply LOVE alphas and I think they can totally make a page!

Another LO from this week's challenges at ScrapMatters

Here's the LO I did for the Makeover Challenge and for the Scraplift Challenge.

Template by Cindy Schneider

Heart paper: EZ Shrubberies Add On by Erica Zane

Other papers and pins and stars: from I'm A Dreamer by Britt-ish Designs (all recolored)

Yellow ribbon and blue (recolored): Electric Pop by Britt-ish Designs

Red dot ribbon: Mermaid Lagoon Add On by Britt-ish Designs

Fuzzy Felt Alpha (recolored) by Misschifis

Fern Praire Inked Strip by Amy Elkins

Fonts: My Own Topher, FG Bonnie's

I scraplifted Britt's gorgeous LO Happy Birthday Mom & Dad.

LO from this week

Here' a LO I did for this week's challenges at ScrapMatters.
I did this for the Tuesday Template Challenge and for one of the Scrap Olympics challenges hosted by Britt.

Credits:

Template by Sya's Blueprints

Sky Falling by Krystal Hartley

Brown Alpha by Erica Zane (recolored)

Fonts: FG Bonnie's, My Own 

I love this kit by Krystal Hartley. Actually, I love all of her stuff! You can check our her blog (pursuit of scrap happiness) in the list of my favorite blogs here on the right.

Why Do I Scrap?

I started scrapping to create a wedding album, and I fell in love with digital scrapbooking. I can't think of a better way to preserve my memories.

I also love the scrapping community and I've recently discovered the pleasure of sharing my creations. Browsing the gallery of other scrappers is always very inspiring to me.

My favorite place right now is Scrapmatters and its name explains the reason why I like it. The girls there are just so nice.

And so kind, too! In just a week, I received a RAK from Erica Zane and I won a grab bag that Ellie Lash gave away.

Yes, the digi world is a nice place to be.

Busy week!

8/8/08 was not only the opening of the Olympic Games, but also the re-opening of ScrapMatters, which meant a lot of fun challenges and giveaways.

I tried to take part in as many challenges as possible, and did the record (for me) of 9 LOs in one week.

So here's the first LO I scrapped last week:

Credits:

One Fine Day kit by Matahati (partly recolored)

Harvest Spice Alpha by Shabby Princess (recolored)

Brass Round Alpha by Curlywirlytwirlygirlies

Serenity staple by KsharonK

I did this in the first Speed Scrap hosted by Erica Zane (BTW I love her style, check her blog out here) and I'm really pleased for how it turned out. I love those colors.

Finally, I did the Speed Scrap # 20 hosted by Bree on 8/14 and I loved it so much that I had to do a matching page to go with it:

Credits:

Background heart paper (recolored) from EZ Shrubberies Add On by Erica Zane

Ribbons and bows (recolored): New beginnings by Raspberry Road

Glitter Heart: I'm A Dreamer Add On; Glitter Splotch (recolored): Summer Fling; Black Bead Alpha (part recolored); string from I'm A Dreamer: Britt-Ish Designs

Black paper and dotted paper (I used a font on the black paper to make is as it is now) and pin (partly recolored) from Friday Flea Market collaboration kit at ScrapMatters

Gifts and tag from Happy Birthday by Digiscrapbooking.ch

See Clearly Alpha by Misty Cato

I did the left page for the speed scrap and then did the 2nd page for 2 challenges at the same time.

I'll open separate posts for some of the challenges I did this week.