I'm Back! :) New Beginnings & New Challenges

Happy Saturday! :)

Wow, I didn't realize that it's been four years since I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened in the last few years. Change is good! Which is the main reason I'll be posting again. I know most of my followers have followed me through my digital scrapbooking days. Unfortunately, I haven't scrapbooked in a while because the external HD where I kept all my kits and templates to create my products along with a lot of pictures crashed and I haven't been able to recover anything on it. :(  So my posts going forward will just touch on my everyday life - new adventures, new projects and pretty much just anything lol.

With that said, the newest happening in my life is the Biggest Loser competition at work. It starts on Monday and goes for 60 days. I'm going for a 3-peat! I've won the last 2 competitions, but gained all of the weight back and more. Prize money is pretty nice, but I think my biggest motivation this time around is the steep competition and bragging rights of being crowned WINNER once again! I need to go hard for the next 60 days...I'm ready! Bring it on!!!

So I'll be using this blog to journal my progress. You'll be experiencing my blood (methaphorically), sweat and tears with me. I'm usually not a very public person. I don't really care for too much attention, unless I'm being recognized for an achievement. But I think the journey I'll be taking the next 60 days won't be an easy one and I can use all the support and motivation that I can get. Day 1 starts on Monday. See you then! :)

Gift from Chassity - Tag Made With My Kit

I just wanted to show you a tag created by Chassity with the kit I made for the February DAC Color Challenge, which you can still get here. Isn't it awesome?!?! I love it! Thank you so much, Chassity! I wish I could use it as my signature but unfortunately I look nothing like the girl on the tag, LOL, and that would be misrepresentation, haha!

I met Chassity at Scrapkit Design 101 at CafeMom.com. It's a group for people who want to learn how to design digital scrap kits. It's a lot of fun and lots of wonderful ladies. It features tutorials and weekly challenges to help develop designing skills. I know I've learned a lot. :) Anyone who shares a passion for learning and creativity is welcome to join.

Pink Sunrise QP Freebie

Jodi Watson at Throwing Some Scraps Around has a new kit called Pink Sunrise. It's a girly girl kit with flowers, paisleys, butterflies and lots and lots of pink. The kit is on sale for $1.50, which is 50% off the original price, at Digiscrap Station or Michelle's Angels until next Saturday at midnight EST.

Here's the layout I created with the kit. It's a picture of my daughter Halley with her classmate Kiley and a close family friend Lexie on her 8th birthday last year at Boomers Park.

And as a thank you for visiting, I have a freebie QP for you to download. I would love to read your comments. :D

Click preview to download.

New Kit Vintage Spring by Adelina's Designs

Adelina's Designs has another new kit. It's called Vintage Spring and it's gorgeous. It is available in her Scrap-n-Tag shop, with 25% discount for a limited time! The kit contains 47 elements and 17 papers, plus one worn paper. It's perfect for any Spring layout but can also be used with your vintage photos.

Here's the layout I made with the kit. The photo is a view of the San Fernando Valley from the patio of the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills.

Credits: SNT

Here's a little gift for visiting. I hope you like it!

Click on preview to download.

Check out Adelina's blog for more freebies made with this kit. Please leave her some love if you download and let her know I sent you. :D

It's Time by Goth_Kittie & QP Freebie

Here's Goth_Kittie's newest kit, It's Time, now available at Kittie-digishop. It's a versatile kit that can be used for almost any theme. It contains 21 papers and 65 elements.

Here are the layouts I made with this kit. The photos for the first LO were taken at my cousin Ashlee's debut, a Filipino tradition celebrating a young lady's 18th birthday, a lot like the Spanish quincenera. Halley was one of the flower/candle girls. I think she was only 5 years old.

Credits: BTST

The photo on this next layout is of me and Jerman in 1999. I was pregnant with Halley at the time. Wow, I looked so young and Jerman was such a cutie!!! Well, he still is of course, hehe!

Credits: BTST

I created a QP with the first layout. The zip file contains 2 versions -with and without the cutout for the big picture. I hope you like it! Please leave me some love if you do. :D

Click preview to download.

Solitude by TSSA & a QP Freebie

Wow! Jodi at Throwing Some Scraps Around has been really busy. She put out another new kit today...this is the 3rd one this week alone. Her newest kit is called Solitude and it contains 10 papers and 29 elements. The kit has a very peaceful feel to it with its calming color palette. You can get this kit at Digiscrap Station or Michelle's Angels.

And here's the layout I made with the kit. The photos were taken at the wedding Halley participated in last month. She's such a diva and loves to pose for pictures. :D

Credits: DST

I have a gift for you for visiting. I'd love it if you leave me a note. Special thanks to Cyndi Price for allowing me to use her template to create this QP for you. I hope you like it! :)

Click on preview to download.

Simpler Times by TSSA & a QP Freebie

Jodi Watson at Throwing Some Scraps Around has a new kit called Simpler Times. It's a beautiful vintage kit that contains 11 papers and 30 elements. You can get the kit at Do It Digi, Digiscrap Station and Michelle's Angels.

Here's the layout I made with the kit. It's a portrait of my family in 1987 when I was only 13 yrs old. Oops...did I just give away my age? LOL.

Credits: DST

And as a thank you for looking, I made a QP from this layout. I hope you like it. :)

Click on preview to download.

LO Share for Tommy Boy by TSSA

I've been asked by Jodi Watson at Throwing Some Scraps Around to be a guest CT and I gladly accepted on a trial basis. I would have loved to take on a full-time, permanent position on her team but being that I already have 3 CT commitments, it wouldn't have given me enough time to be able to practice my designing skills, participate in forum challenges and create freebies for all of you. She's a very nice and funny lady and was happy to accept my terms for now.

So as my first task as her guest CT, I had the pleasure of playing with her kit, Tommy Boy, which can be found in her store at Do It Digi, Digiscrap Station and Michelle's Angels. The kit contains 11 papers, 27 elements and 3 wordart. With it's blue and green hues and cute little critters, it's perfect for scrapping all the boy pictures you have laying around. It's a very fun kit!!!

Credits: DST

Best Memories by Adelina's Designs & a Freebie

Introducing Adelina's Designs Best Memories kit. This gorgeous kit comes with rich colors, beautiful patterned papers and elegant embellishments to accent any layout. This kit is perfect for those formal dress-up photos as well as vintage portraits. It contains 16 papers and 51 elements...more than enough to create a family vintage photobook. It also comes with a layered envelope template so you can customize your envelope any way you like. You can find this kit in Adelina's store at Digital Arts Cafe or Digidesignresort.

Here's the layout I made with this kit. The photo was taken at a wedding that Halley was a part of last month. She was one of the flower girls...again for the third (and probably last) time. The reason I say this is although she's only going to be 9 yrs old at the end of this month (her bday is March 31st), she's tremendously tall for her age. She's almost 5 ft tall (gets it from her dad who's 6'3"). It's hard to tell from the picture because she was slouching but she was taller than the bride, lol. It was a garden wedding on the patio of The Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills. Very nice place with a nice view.

Credits: DAC

And as a thank you for stopping by to visit I have a gift for you today. I made you this cluster frame freebie. It's the same design I used on my layout above. Hope you like it. :)

Click here to download.

Adelina also has some Best Memories QP freebies on her blog. Click here to go to her blog to download. Please leave her some love if you do and let her know I sent you. :)

I've Been Tagged...Again!

Helen at Ice Princess Scrapz has tagged me with a challenge. Since this is my second time being tagged for this challenge, I won't be passing it on, but I will do the first part of the challenge by posting the 6th photo in the 6th folder of My Pictures folder. It's a good thing I've added some more pictures on my computer so you didn't have to see the same photo twice, lol. Here is what I found.

Lo and behold, it's another basketball picture. Too bad, nothing exciting, lol. If you didn't know, my son plays on a travel team and we've been to lots of games and I, of course like a good cheermom, take lots of pictures. OK, that's it for this post. Come back to check out my LO for Adelina's newest kit and maybe a little freebie. See ya! :D

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! and an Award

I wanted to say a big "THANK YOU!" to all who have downloaded my kits and left comments either here on my blog or in 4Shared. It means so very much to me that my time and talent is being appreciated.

And another "THANK YOU" to Mandy at Mandy Made Digi Bits for giving me the Premio Dardos Award. "The PREMIO DARDOS AWARD" acknowledges the value of every blogger shows in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literacy and personal values everyday. It means a lot to me that she has given me this award because I've always admired her work and think she's a wonderful designer. She also has a bunch of freebies on her blog so be sure to stop by her blog to pick them up. Please leave her some love if you do and let her know I sent you.

Also, "THANK YOU" to Christina at BlueVelvet Dezigns for giving me this award back in February. I didn't get a chance to post it then because I had an incorrect blog address, but I was finally able to find her so here it is now.

The rules are:

1. Accept the award, post it in your blog together with the name of person who granted you the award and his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement. Remember to contact them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

And so, I'm passing this on to the following:

1. Mandy Made Digi Bits (Mandy, you know I had to send this back your way, :))

2. Nydia at Mis Scraps-My Scraps

3. Michelle at Fun With Digi-Scrap!

4. Mari and Vanessa at Bubblegum World

5. Lorri's Scraps

6. Christina at BlueVelvet Dezigns

7. Helen at Ice Princess Scrapz

8. Adelina at Adelina's Scrap and Pics

9. Daniela at JC Design

10. Jodi at Throwing Some Scraps Around

11. Aline at Digiscrap of Goth_Kittie

12. Barbara at Kaylek Keegan Designs

13. Kaccii Scrap

14. Nicole at NBK Scrap

15. ScrappyWeiss Designs

DAC March Color Challenge Freebie Kit

I have another freebie kit for you. This one I made for the Digital Arts Cafe March Color Challenge. Click here to view details about the challenge. I really love the colors that Terry picked out for this month's challenge. They were really easy to work with. I would love to know what you think about this kit, as well as see any layouts made with it. :D Please leave your comments here or in my Chat Box.

Click here to download.

I'm really enjoying designing kits for all of you. I plan on joining more color challenges for other forums this month so be sure to check back with me occasionally. I bought a whole bunch of CU products from Royanna's store at Divine Digital during her Buy-My-Store Sale and I can't wait to try them out. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to unzipping them just yet so I wasn't able to use any of her products for this kit. Well, it's getting really late (or should I say really early in the morning, hehe) and I haven't been able to stop yawning, LOL! I'll be back soon with another freebie. Have a great weekend! ;P

New Freebie Kit Going Dotty

I have another freebie kit for you. :D This posting is late...but better late than never. I made this kit for the DSO February Color Challenge. I wasn't thrilled as to how it turned out and that's why I'm only posting it now. But I figured that I already put some time and effort into it so I might as well post it and maybe someone can make use of it. Enjoy!

Click here to download.

Soul Child Part 1 Freebie Collab Kit at Kittie-digishop

The Kittie-digishop designers have released a new mega collab kit called Soul Child. It contains 31 papers & 91 elements and is free until March 11th. After that, you will have to buy it in the store.

Click here to go to the store to download.

And here are the layouts I created with the kit.

Credits: DST

Credits: DST

New Releases by Adelina's Designs and a Freebie

Adelina's Designs has new CU products at Digidesignresort and they are currently 30% off for a limited time. Check them out in the store and take advantage of the introductory price.

Click here to go to the store to download.

CU Products by Goth_Kittie and a Freebie

Goth_Kittie has a few new CU products at Kittie-digishop and she also has a freebie for you. Check them out in the shop!

Click here to go to the store to download.

What An Awesome Deal! It's a Steal!

If you're looking to purchase some CU products to help you design a kit, Royanna Fritschmann at Divine Digital has a great sale right now. You can buy her entire store (including CU items) for only $29 or if you're looking to get only a couple of things, all her items are only $1 each. I got over $800 worth of CU products for only $29. I think I need to add that I am NOT a member of her CT. This was such a great deal that I thought I'd share it with all of you. The sale ends Monday, 3/2/09 at Midnight PST. Have fun shopping!

Here's the link to her store: http://divinedigital.com/boutique/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=37

DAC February Color Challenge LO by Laura

My dear friend Laura was gracious enough to share the LO she made with the kit I created for the DAC February Color Challenge. You can get the kit here. Thanks so much, Laura, for the beautiful page!!! :D

Big Sale on Goth_Kittie Products

Goth_Kittie is having a HUGE sale ~ 50% off on ALL products ~ at Kittie-digishop from February 23 to February 25. Click here to visit her store.

DAC February Color Challenge Freebie Kit

Woohoo! I'm thrilled to share with you another freebie kit. I created this kit for the Digital Arts Cafe February Color Challenge. I really enjoyed making it and it turned out a lot bigger than I anticipated it to be. It's suppose to be a mini kit but I just couldn't help myself, lol. I love the color combination Mel chose for this month. I could have designed a Valentine kit but I figured you could use something more versatile. I hope you like it as much as I do, and I would love to see your layouts. :D Thanks for looking!

Click here to download.

I realized after I uploaded the files to 4Shared that they were pretty big. Please let me know if you need me to split the files for easier download.