water, lights, and trains

Last weekend, we went to Wet n' Wild for Kammi's 7th birthday.  Bostyn had a blast going down the water slide with her new best friend, Kamryn.

On Sunday, Tate walked the Honolulu Marathon.  He does this every year.  Why?  Because he likes to torture himself.  Since he didn't train this year, I'm just glad that he was able to cross the finish line.  Every time my phone rings during the race, I get so worried that it is the marathon officials telling me to pick up my husband because he fell asleep at the bus stop.  At least he took a nice photo this year.

This weekend was much more enjoyable for all of us.  We finally decorated our tree on Saturday.

We then went on a trolley ride through downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.  It was a really nice night but just super crazy packed.  I think we will try the vintage firetruck or the Cinderella lighted carriage next year.  I think Bostyn will enjoy that more.

Today, we were swamped with a storm front that brought tons of rain all over the island.  We braved it anyways thinking that the mall wouldn't be as crowded.  It wasn't the rain that was the problem at Ala Moana, it was the partial power outage.  I told Tate that it was a good thing that LV and Tiffanys was open so he could pick out my Christmas present.  hahaha, no luck.  Just a train ride for Bostyn and a Nordstroms return for me.  Here is a picture of Bostyn on the train.  She really loves them but never smiles for us.

As for the digi scrapping world, not too much action for me.  I just got this Thanksgiving layout done with some super funny group shots of the kiddies.  I've been busy helping to babysit my little, high maintenance nephews who just invaded my mother's home.  Yup, they are those little boys in black in the layout below.

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Have a great week and a very Merry Christmas to all my family and friends near and far.

Car, Santa, and Trees

So my last post was filled with tons of layouts, today it is filled with only 1 layout but tons of photos.  This layout is a Halloween one.  I'm just trying to finish up 2010 layouts so I can have a photo book ready to print at the year end.

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Tate's car finally broke down.  He had a leak in his fuel injector pump so he really couldn't drive it anywhere.  So here is his new car, a Honda CRV.  He enjoys driving it especially since it has a working a/c system.  He got a really good deal on it since they were clearing out all the 2010 models.

This past weekend, we went to the mall to visit Santa.  Bostyn wasn't thrilled to be sitting on his lap but at least she didn't cry.

Time for a family photo at Kahala Mall and the sweetest photo of Bostyn kissing her daddy.  You bet you'll be seeing this photo on future layouts.

After visiting Santa, we went to Helemano Farms to pick our own Christmas tree.  Last year we got a Norfolk Pine that was more eco friendly since they cut off only the top and the tree continues to live.  However, that was just too big for our tiny house.  This year, we got their Leyland Cypress.  It is a lot smaller and looks and smells more like your traditional Christmas tree.  The tree will die after the season, but at least it was locally grown and FRESH.  Here are some photos of us at the farm.  As you can see, it was very bright and sunny.  I just wish they had a snow blower to add some wintery atmosphere.

Finally, one of Bostyn's favorite books to read are toy catalogs.  She can just sit and flip through the pages.  She enjoys pointing out different things to me.

That's it for tonight.  I'll be back next week with pics of a decorated tree.

Happy Thanksgiving

First of all, I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  Here is a layout that I made using a free template by Liz, of Paislee Press.  Check out her blog for this fabulous freebie.  It showcases how thankful I am of having a delightful daughter who constantly fills me with love and happiness.

Since I've been CT free for two weeks, I've been having digi scrapping withdraws so I had to scrap.  I had so much layouts that I put them all in a collage, so please go to my complete gallery for credits.

Layouts using oscraps goodies.

Now Design House Digital goodies

Anyone going shopping on Black Friday?  My sister and I plan on heading out the door at 4am to get the best deals.

CT Break

I decided to take a break from all my creative teams!  I was so sad for about a week as I felt as if I let go a huge part of my life.  Now, I can really focus on my family and scrapping our memories just for the fun of it.  So last weekend was the huge iDSD day and I was able to get a few layouts done.  I'm glad that I have lots of extra time to work with all the new kits I bought on DSD.

These two were for the mscraps DSD challenges.

White space challenge.  I used a photo of my friend's baby boy, just about a week old.

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Template Challenge, my little Bostyn.

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Last night there was a speed scrap at Design House Digital and totally loved it.  We actually played in their new chat room which worked super great!  Here is my layout.  I really love how this one came together.  When Katherine told us to get out 6 patterned papers, I nearly died.  I don't usually do a lot of patterned papers.  I used this super kit, Our Story, by Karla Dudley.  I love the colors on the white and especially her fabric flower.  Digital "fabric "and "paper" flowers are really trending these days in digi kits.

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Last week, I gave away a freebie template.  I was blown away with the number of downloads and layouts created.  It was my first time giving away a template so I wasn't sure if people were going to like them.  So enjoy these layouts that I found in the galleries.

This was the first one that I spotted in the Oscraps gallery.  The next day, Elina got a Gallery Standout!  Great job Elina!

This layout was posted a few days ago at Design House Digital by Missy.  Don't you just love her little nephew rocker!

Last night, Ari, posted this beauty.

Happy iDSD

For those of my non-digi-scrapbooking friends, iDSD is International Digital Scrapbooking Day.  If you are not in this craft, it is a great time to check out stores and grab a lot of freebies and good deals.

Since, I am a Design House Digital Decorator, I am going to share about this site for today.

I just wanted to let you know that the chats have been cancelled for today.  The techno meanies decided to come out to play today and the chat room shut down on us.  I guess that means only one thing, more time to shop.

Just for fun, I'm still going to offer my template freebie that I made for my chat.  I based it off of a layout I had done earlier using circle cutouts.  I love using it to tuck elements/brushes under and above.  It is just a fun one to work with.

You can download it HERE.  Sorry, I only have it as a psd file.

This is my layout using the DHD blog hop kit (+ stitches from Digi Essentials by Karla Dudley).

As you can see, I moved the photo to the top of the page, so feel free to move things around.  This is the beauty of templates.

I can't wait to see everyone's layouts!!  Happy shopping and iDSD!!

Featured Scrapper

There was a funny thing that happened yesterday . . . all my on-line digi friends were out on a manhunt looking for me.  I came home to find emails and privates messages waiting for me.  Why were they all trying to contact me?  Well, Jen (justjen) selected me as mscraps' featured scrapper for the week.  I was shocked that I was thought of for this feature.  I am totally humbled and honored to have been selected.

What does this mean for you, a whole lot of fun and possible guest CT.  To win this guest CT, all you have to do is lift one of my layouts.  Here are the full details:

WIN A MSCRAPS GUEST CT SPOT FOR NEXT MONTH!!!


Just by lifting one of the Featured Scrapper pages from her Mscraps gallery, you can win a guest CT spot for the whole of the Mscraps designers!!!
Rules:
1. Must use 75% Mscraps CURRENT products. 
2. You must post your page(s) in the Featured Scrapper gallery and post a link in this thread.
3. Like with all "lifts" this lift must have some similar features to the original.
4. You must adv ise in the credits which page you lifted and the Featured Scrapper's name (out of courtesy!)
5. Your lifted page must be from one of the Featured Scrappers Mscraps gallery during the current month.
6. You may lift as many pages from as many Featured Scrappers during that calendar month as you like.
7. Winner(s) will be announced during the first week of the following month.
8. HAVE FUN and GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here is my gallery at mscraps.


Here are two layouts that I did using Jamie's (Three Paper Peonies) Mama Bear kit.

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This layout is for mscraps November Scraplift Challenge.

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Just a side note, did you guys see that Design House Digital has an awesome blog hop for a full kit.  Check out the details here on their blog and have fun collecting your goodies.  I just love all the beautiful papers and unique elements in here.


Here is the kit preview:

and now my layout:

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And this is using Karla Dudley's Our Story kit new in the DHD store.

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Happy Belated Halloween

Happy Belated Halloween!!!  We are now busy trying to tame the candy monster.  Bostyn loved Halloween and trick-or-treating.  Last night, we went to Best Buy and Bostyn insisted on taking her candy bag.  After Best Buy, we went to Dave's for some ice cream and what did Bostyn do?  She told the lady trick-or-treat and then got her ice cream.  So tonight after dinner, she grabbed her candy bag and wanted to go outside.  My guess . . . to beg for more candy.

Anyways, Bostyn was an angel and here are some pictures.

Creations by Tinamarie has a new kit, I'm Not Scared, at her shop at LDD.  It was perfect for a photo of Bostyn at the pumpkin patch.

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Sue Cummings and Elisa of EHStudios did a collab together, Gratitude.  I love the colors in this kit.  Perfect for all your fall photos.

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Sue also worked on a Christmas {2010} kit for her guest spot at Scrapinsider.  Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner?

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I couldn't resist doing this one.  Yes, I've got lots of good blackmail photos for Bostyn.  This is using a few goodies from Karla Funk.

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Just a note, stay tuned for Digital Scrapbooking Day at Design House Digital.  I'll be hosting a chat in their new chat room on Nov. 6th at 2pm (MST) / 10am (Hawaii time).  Please join me for a fun chat and a freebie template by me and a chance to win a $5GC to DHD.  I don't like chatting alone so please stop by.