Hi all, all ok here, Matty is sick again but started taking antibiotics and is on the mend, after being sick last week it was no surprised he got an ear infection. I had a busy couple of days with Alex's birthday, cleaning the house, being at Matty's school trying to break the air guitar ensemble world record, and other normal mommy duties including having a nap with my sick boy yesterday afternoon. My night scrap time has also been taken by Fei, my night elf hunter at World of Warcraft, so I havent been making much. Mom is coming to Australia to spend our birthdays, Christmas and New Years with us, so it is possible I will have a "holiday" of sorts unless she encourages me to create more instead :)

Enough about me though, I wanted to show you the new Fancy Pants Release:

Aren't they gorgeous? You can see some pages using these two collections on the Fancy Pants blog, including this page by me using the Frosted collection by Michelle Coleman:

and here is a little close up:

Expect more pages with these collections in the future :)

xoxo 

Hi everyone, here I am with another hybrid feature :) When I posted the envelope album last week I surfed a bit through the Scrapartist forums and realised my post with the step by step tin album is not easily accessible anymore AND all the images are broken (don't get me started about flickr again), so I decided to post it here :)

Round tins, square tins, any kind. You can buy them from your favourite scrapbooking store or recycle one from home. Chips tin, mint tins, tea tins, they are everywhere (I would avoid the sardine ones though LOL) Here is the step by step:

1.As mentioned above, buy any kind of tin from your nearest Scrapbook store or you can recycle one (I used an empty mint tin). Scratch the tin using sanding paper so the acrylic paint will adhere to it.

2.Paint with acrylic paint and let it dry. Use something to seal the paint. I used the glitter mod podge Set it aside to dry.

3.Create the pages side by side digitally, including backing papers. The size will depend on what tin you have, measure it with a ruler and make your pages a little smaller to fit inside your tin. Mine fit in one A4 sheet. Print the pages and cut them:

4.Score them with a scoring tool or a non pointy knife

5. Cut the back papers individually (this is optional, you don't even need backing papers) Another optional: round the corners of your accordion album and of your backing paper.

6. Embellish your pages. You can use buttons and ribbons. You can also staple things or sew/stitch on your pages with no fear because you have the backing paper to cover the back of your project. AFTER you finish embellishing, add the backing paper to the back of your pages:

7. Now you just have to embellish the top or side of your tin, again, this depends on what kind of tin you use. It is nice to embellish around the round tins, this is hard with the square ones that are too low. You can also create a cover digitally and add buttons and ribbons to it, like I did here:

Digital credits:
Urban letters Alpha by Lili (retired)
Pop Paperset by Nancie Rowe Janitz
Font is SquarePegROB

Physical materials:
Ribbons from Love Elsie Jack+Abbie Collection
Buttons by Doodlebug (various packs)
Paint by Kaisercraft
Glitter Mod Podge.

I have posted another hybrid tin here, and I have made this specific project into to a template available here.  Hope you like this step by step :)

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It is Friday night here and I spent the day with Matty at home, he was supposed to be sick but didn't look sick to me hehehe poor thing was sleepy though, so I guess it was good we didn't send him to school. He gave us a big scare yesterday when I went to pick him up and me and his teacher had to look for him for 10 minutes. We were freaked out! Turns out he was sleeping under the "tent" at the kindy room. He was supposed to be in the reading room. Anyway, it was a big scare and something I hope never happens again.

Yesterday I took photos of my friend's 3 week old bub. I am in awe, she is soooo cute!!! Promise to get some photos up as soon as I show them to the happy momma.

xoxo

I know most of my readers are in the US and in the middle of summer, but it is Winter here, COLD winter. My last month's photos? are Autumn photos. I am going to save some of them for later, but here are some of my favourites this month:

Lucas loooves the moon, he is always looking for it.

Just after we got back from our trip to Brazil I noticed that Autumn was at its peak and I was going to miss out. So I grabbed Mateus one day after school and let him play with the leaves while I photographed to my heart's content (I swear the trees look like they were on fire... the photos don't do Autumn justice in here!!).

awww my sun flare (and my cheeky boys LOL)!

check Mateus' fingers on this one LOL isn't he too young for that?

Now some home shots (since we have been at home so often with this weather!).

Lucas has been VERY attached to Mac, they are together non stop. Mac has become an inside dog since we came back from Brazil. It is too cold outside and I don't to keep her outside if she is allowed to come in all the time. If she is coming in so she should stay in so she is clean! She has been VERY good up until now, she is very clever and rarely has an "accident" inside but she started to get interested in the kids toys now that it has been a while and she is started to get bored with her own toys. She chewed on a couple already. It is good to teach the kids not to leave their toys in the floor though...

(ugh, look at the carpet next to Lucas, meals area + carpet + children = not a good combo)

My boys at home sick and just so tired:

and lastly, the state of the living room that week we spent home:

that was like a minute after I had organized everything and tried to settle the boys down with a movie... it does get worse than that if you put toys in the equation, but that is supposed to be the TV room which is clean and organized at all times (quite different from the family room). 

Talking about being home sick... we are sick again... just me and Lucas this time, but still, it sucks a bit. Hoping to get out of that cycle... I want to go see the snow. I have a feeling the kids will LOVE it.

Sorry for the long and image heavy post, it just built up and up and I still have loads more photos I wanted to share. I did a photoshoot last week that I REALLY want to share, it was with a friend who is pregnant, and I like the results of this first attempt at a maternity shot. But I wanted to share my photos before so, next time :)

*** Edit to add: from the sun flare photo down, all photos edited with Jinky Art's Sweet Photoshop Actions. The first 4 photos just had a little boost of light, shade and color in Lightroom.

On the same theme as Sunday's post, you must have noticed I like to be creative with titles. I am featured on the Miss Fancy Pants blog with a fun technique to create the title on this layout:

Nope, I am not sharing it here, you have to go have a look there at the Fancy Pants blog :)

I hope you enjoy trying this out :) Happy scrapping!

As I mentioned before, I am overwhelmed with the number of photos of my trip; but there is one highlight that will sure make it to this blog: meeting Isabella for the first time. Here are the photos of our first lunch together, the first time the boys got to hold her (and for some reason they were very eager to):

well, at first she didn't like it, but she ended up settling :) and I just adore that tiny baby cry! so cute!!!

aww, she is such a good baby, and I admit I was super happy she slept in my arms!

and off course, we took the chance to get a family shot in:

mmm, this is just day one :) more photos to come! Now is super late and I should have been in bed a while ago!!!

xoxo

Hello :) Hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day! Mine was nice and quiet (well, as quiet as the kids allowed), just the way I like it. Woke up to handmade presents from the kids and the Twilight DVD from hubby (movie I haven't seen yet of the book I also haven't read). Took photos (had photos taken, see below) then brunch at the local shoppes and shopping for a new handbag and boots. Then back home and everyone did exactly what they wanted. Matty played Batman Lego on the Playstation, Lucas watched a new Mickey Mouse DVD, Alex went to take a nap and I... was scrapping and editing photos :) Ended the day with a little TV we watched the finale of So you think you can Dance Australia that was recorded a couple of weeks ago. I was happy I still didn't know the winner and even happier that it was Tahlia, I think she did great and I can't wait to see her performance at the US Finale of So you think you can Dance.

Yesterday I thought I was going to buy myself a new lens or camera for Mother's day, but found out the prices went up so much the money we had saved was not enough (it was a major bummer). Even Alex was disappointed, now he had to think of something else to give me LOL. But, if camera gear is not available, the next best thing he could do was take photos and so he did.  Even though I put on a ton of weight over my vacation time and had my hair back, I still think this will be one of my all time favourite photos of me and the boys:

Thanks Alex!

(the sunflare was a complete fluke, we had no idea the sun was entering the lenses and we didn't plan for it. Some people would toss something like this but I absolutely love the feel of this photo)

xoxo

Todays is my sister´s birthday. Yes, my brother and sister have their birthdays really close :)

Happy birthday sweetie, you grow more beautiful each day! 

and here are two more photos of their birthday party, with my mom:

and with my dad:

mom and dad are divorced and even though they are good friends we ended up getting photos at different times :P

yep, family is complicated :) and important :)

see you guys soon!

not so little anymore :)

happy birthday sweetie! I hope you had a great time in Australia with me :)

xoxo

nah, I didn't really plan to have a sale on April fools' day, at LDD we have a 1 dollar sale EVERY Wednesday, so the only thing special about this Wednesday is... it is MY turn :)

Since I was talking about it in this post last week, today only, Fancy Flower Album for 1 dollar.

mmm I have news for April, I will be missing in action for most of the month, but I have an AWESOME giveaway coming up... but let's talk about that next week :) Suffice to say, April will be awesome :) What are your plans for April?

Before I go I wanted to share something kinda funny, a glimpse into the future?

Lucas in 2009:

Lucas in 2029:

LOL not really, April Fools' Day :)

This is my brother making fun of the whole scene I had with Lucas. I showed him the photo and was talking about how much I love it but have a hard time scrapping it and he said something like "wow, I like that, let's get one of me too" and I jumped into the opportunity, grabbed him by the hand and we walked up to the playground where I took the first photo. When we got there it was colder, later in the day (7PM as opposed to 6PM) and we had everyone waiting on us for dinner so I didn't really get what I wanted "photographically" speaking, but it is priceless isn't it? :)

EDIT TO ADD: TOOOOOOT

My album "Where is home?"  has been picked to be featured at the next Scrapbooking Trends Magazine Mini Album Ideas Book :) I am removing it from a couple of places I have posted the album. To celebrate let's add the Hybrid Magic no. 20 - House Album to the sale today - just 1 dollar. And nope, this is no April Fools' joke :) wohooo

No hybrid feature for you this week! I have photos to share :)

Final countdown of photos in March - over 2000. I am a big failure when it comes to resolutions LOL I wanted to start taking less photos, but as soon as I see an opportunity I snap away. Plus, my brain is wired that way nowadays that everywhere I look I imagine how that place would be like as a photo backdrop. Does it have the right light? interesting colours? bla bla bla I need intervention :) The other factor in all this is that my brother is here and, well, I can ask HIM to take photos of ME. It has worked well in my favour and he is not complain hahaha I get good shots of him too.

Anyway, all that to say I have loads of photos to share and can't possibly scrap them all so let's flood this blog with images of last weekend when we went to Sydney spend some time with my bestest friend Melissa :

me and my boys

My *not so little anymore* brother:

I just LOVE this photo of Melissa and Mateus, so I had to get one of the two of us too:

Talking about Mel, I have this "family shot" I took of them: Indy, Alex, Mel and Jack (they are so pretty!!!)

Mateus loved riding Jack :)

and by the end of the day I was chasing flare again LOL

That was just the first day, and there are MANY more photos love... maybe they will end up in a little album just for this day :)

xoxo