Our heavy hearts

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to our sweet and beloved Abby.  She is no longer suffering anymore. We miss her so much!  I never knew that a dog can make such an impact in your life.  This was my first dog that I was very close to and our first dog as a family.  My daughter and Abby had such a great relationship. Unconditional love.  I am so glad because of my hobby and my love for photography.. I have a lot of photos that well keep our memory alive.  This is why I scrapbook.  I want to remember.
Here's a little excerpt my husband wrote for our family and friends on FB:

Abby was a rescue dog. The story goes she was found in someone's backyard tied to a pole in a bathtub. Her original name was "Pele", after the Hawaiian goddess of fire. The SFSPCA rescued her, and when she was 3, Abby was adopted by a young couple. She was a city dog who loved being with her new mom and dad, whom they loved and cared for her like Abby was their only child. They were the ones who gave her the name Abby. Although I’m not sure who she was named after, I like to say that she was named after one of my favorite Beatles albums.

In April 2008, we were so blessed that Abby was a part of our lives. As a new addition to our family, we moved Abby out to the suburbs at age 7. From that point on, Abby would never leave our side. We will never forget all the walks/jogs around the neighborhood, the trips we would take to all the different the parks and beaches, the family parties we would bring her to… Abby loved being around family and made friends everywhere she went.

There will never be a better friend like you, Abby. You are a part of us, and we will never forget you. We will miss you.

  She's such an easy going dog.  She didn't even care that I had put these reindeer ears and took a picture of her.

They loved each other so very much.

All she wants is our LOVE.

Always near whenever I scrapped.

Farewell Abby.  We love you very much!!  You were THE BEST DOG EVER!

Love always,

mom, dad and Ella

Happy National Scrapbook Day

On Heidi Swapp's blog we're celebrating it by posting some new layouts as well as sharing some of our favorite projects.  We were asked "WHY DO YOU SCRAPBOOK?"

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone!  It's amazing that in one day or weekend we can all come together whether it be physically or virtually to celebrate what we all LOVE to do.... SCRAP! 

 Why I scrapbook?  Well, I scrap simply because it makes me happy.  I scrapbook because life is short and I want to remember the big moments as well as the little things in our everyday lives.  Funny,  I just watched the other day this 80's movie where he says  " Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, You could miss it."  -Ferris Bueller.  I thought at that moment YES, that is why I scrapbook!  I notice the little details in our lives more.  I believe that the stories is what matters.  I scrapbook because it is my therapy.  I love making pretty things and I need to create everyday.  I scrapbook because I want to remember. I want them, my family to know how much I love them because if I don't then no one else will.

Here's  one of my favorite memory file project I created early in 2012 that celebrated my daughter's 12th birthday.  As the school is coming to an end and that means my daughter will be a high schooler.  Yikes!  This memory file album documented what she was into at the time.  It documents her first concert, favorite tv shows, favorite clothing stores, what size she wore, when she got her iPhone, how she takes pictures and post on Instagram and her first trip ever to Hawaii.  Life surely does move fast but with this album I've frozen time to what it she was like back when she was 12.  I will forever cherish this!  Now stop and look around and scrap your memories. 

Here's just a few favorites of mine.  This one is from CHA Winter 2012 for Heidi Swapp's booth I made using one of those wood frames you get from your local scrapbook stores and created a shadow box type deal in the frame area to house this cute Heidi Swapp flip book of our weekend trips to San Francisco.

 This one is a Memory Box made out of my old cardboard box.  I created this for our first family trip to Hawaii. It holds a No Limits Memory File folder mini.

The top portion I created a pocket for my memorabilia like our ticket stubs and cut out a CD holder from my Cameo to hold a CD full of our photos from our trip.

In the box holds more memorabilia such as menus, maps, coffee sleeves and vials of sand from the beaches we visited.

To the right is a mini album that folds out.

thank you for looking and hope you have a very creative day.

They Say it's your Birthday...

Happy Birthday to one of the most creative, innovative, funny, inspiring women I know...Heidi Swapp!  She's influenced and inspired many creative women including me.  We've HSMediaTeam have hijacked her blog to give her one full week of a birthday surprise by showcasing our card we've created just for her.  Here's my card.  I used this wood frame from Michaels, the starbucks card was perfect for it because it was a birthday one.  Color Magic Big tags and 8x8 polka dot paper from Michaels which I sprayed with Gold Lame and  Georgia Peach. I also included some Silhouette cuts.

 I created this QR code to link to a birthday song from the Beatles.  

 Hope you're enjoying our special week celebrating the very talented MS HEIDI SWAPP.  Don't forget to post or use #heidiswapp or #happybirthdayheidi on Instagram of any of your card creations.  Thanks for coming by.

Reuse, Repurpose & Recycle in an organized way

In Honor of Earth day, Heidi Swapp is having a series of Reuse, repurpose and Recycle posts this week.  So I created this mini drawer organizer using empty toilet paper rolls, campbell soup can, Heidi Swapp product clamshell and an empty 5x7 cardboard box.

I love reusing packaging from scrapbook products into my projects.  I created a mini organizer for my Heidi goodies.  Check out Heidi Swapp's blog for more details.

Here's how I covered the box.  It's sort of how you would wrap a present.  I cut the corners like so and just adhered to the box.

I misted the clothespin with Mustard Color Shine and adhered the digi cut out "love this" to it.  I used the clothespin to group the Color Pop frames together.  I also store my Serendipity instaframes together too.

Here's where I store my Color Magic Butterflies and flowers.  

Hope you get to reuse your packaging and boxes to get organized.