when i turned 40...

...last 12/26/2011, that is....
i never got a chance to post these of my lil bday party at falls terrace restaurant in olympia, wa.
celebrated it with my family of course.
i plan on scrapping the 1st one on a layout soon.

while i took the photo, there was a loud-mouth gal talking away on the left-side.
luckily, she's not in the pic and she & her friends weren't there the whole time we were there.
whew!

the house white zinfandel....divinely, smooth, yumm-o...

me, my hubby & our cutie daughter, selene....

my sis jo and bro-in-law, rey...

us & my mom & dad...

the nice view of tumwater falls from where we were sitting...
we had a nice corner...

oh yumm-o...
shrimp cocktail...

their bread was warm and so good...

what i had...
a grilled chicken salad w/ walnuts, berries, blue cheese and a raspberry vinaigertte (sp?)...

my nephew's, rj, burger...

took all the doilies under our water glasses...heehee...

shared a bread pudding dessert w/ my mom...

3 girlz

well it's time to share a layout i did last week.
this one was "a just in case i make it to the 2nd round" one.
of course as you already know, i didn't quite make it.
but that's ok.
i'm just real happy i got to scrap this page of me and my 2 girlz.
we actually have 3 girlz, but the oldest lives in idaho.

anyway here it is...

and some close-ups...

i used the cocoa daisy kit, tea & cupcakes.
(add'l supplies: jesse james & co buttons, stickles, martha stewart and ek success punches, sharpie pen)
i so love the amy tan pp (gray/white stripes).
this kit also had some sassafras!
yey-yah!
trimmed out some pattern from a studio calico paper in the kit.
i actually miscalculated a bit...
do you see the strips of the simple stories paper behind the studio calico paper & photo?
well, i did a weaving technique of the strips...
and duh..
it got all covered up.
but i still love how this lo turned out.
i've been been to scrap a pic of the 3 us for awhile now.
and now it's done.
final touches:  doodling, glitter glue.

hope you like what i did!
thanks for coming by!

whew...my nerves are at ease now

well all day yesterday i was pretty anxious.
happily anxious that is.
as you know my layout made it to the 1st round on Practical Scrappers.
although i did not make the second round, i'm glad i made it to the 1st.
oh well.
moving on.

for us 1st rounders they had us prepare a 2nd layout just in case we make it to the 2nd.
i'm gonna just give you a quick sneaky peeky of mine for now.
i'll share it next week.
so...
you have to come back.
lol.

here's a peeky:

today is saturday.
my to-do list for today:

• mop the floors
• do the furminator on Sierra
• walk Sierra
• maybe do some dusting (one of my not-so fave chorez)
• spend time with the girlz
• talk or skype/google cam with my hubby
• plan out the menu for next week
• grocery shopping
• order more pix on snapfish (they've got a deal til 1/25, 99 prints for 99 cents)
• check my finances online
• we'll see what else, since i may get distracted

have a great saturday!

xoxo to all who voted for me!

i want you to VOTE...for me!

okay...!!!!
it's up!
go to Practical Scrappers to vote for my layout!!!!
my layout is the 8th one in Group 8.
click here to vote ------- > VOTE for Jennifer!


not to repeat myself..
but here's the layout, just in case...

thank you so much to all who have already voted and who will be voting.
your support is much appreciated!
wish me luck to make it to the 2nd round.

have a great weekend!

tomorrow...vote!

i found out that i will be in "Group 8" for the layout contest on Practical Scrappers!!!
tomorrow morning!!!!

come back tomorrow and i will give ya the proper link up to vote for me!

pretty please????

1st round up

o mi!
i made it!
made it to the 1st round!
the 1st round at Practical Scrappers.
to make it to the 2nd round, all you scrappy divas need to VOTE!!!!
please VOTE FOR ME!!!!
each day until this friday, they will be showcasing all 1st round finalists by groups...
then you can vote for who should make it to the 2nd round.
so far they are into group 4 and i guess mine will be showing up soon!
so VOTE FOR ME HERE!!!!!
oh pretty please!
i will love you foreva!
mwah!

oh...btw, here's what i submitted...
and you can find the details here as well...

i will let you all know as soon as i can when mine is up for voting.
so stay tuned!
and ya'll come back ya hear!?!?!

{ 9 months }

a quick post...
she's crying her lungs out right now.
she turned 9 months this past monday....
she's a babbler:  da-da-da, ma-ma-ma, bob-bob-bob, nan-nan-nan...
are some of the words she talks out loud.
a lil dance swagga too.
swaying her shoulders side to side along with her cute baby body as she's plotted on her feet holding to furniture.
i think she's got mama'z swagga.
lol.
claps and dances to black eyed peas (and others of course).
claps to:
"say say my playmate, 
come out and play with me.
to be my jolly friend,
climb up my apple tree.
slide down my rainbow,
into my cellar door.
and we'll be jolly friends, 
forever more, more,
shut the door!"
(well that's what i remember when i was middle-schooler back in clark air base, PI)

bwaaaaahhhhh!!!!
she's calling for me!

have a great fun weekend!

bwaaaaaahhhh!!!!
bwaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

the taylor dayne song

before we head back to cali this afternoon...

here's the 3rd layout that i promised to share with you.
i really love this one.
not only b/c it was fun to do...
but b/c it's about me & my hubby...
and about a song that i've always loved but never used for anyone until he came along in my life...
"i'll always love you" sung by taylor dayne.
do you remember her?

i wrote the title and part of the lyrics as the title of my layout.
and the lyrics = my journaling (around half of the layout).

here it is...

love the balzer designs template behind my title.
just used a sharpie and traced away.
the letter stickers, of course, i doodled away on.
those teal letter stickers by glitz designs are to smoove @5S (excuse my talk)!
love, love amy tangerine's stuff on my layout too!

i've also got to share this video since i used the song...
dedicated to my hubby...
and to all who love this song as much as i do...



i'll always love you babez, for the rest of my days.

xoxo,
j

these peepz are my lovez

yey-yah!
got some scrapping done!
i did 3 in one day!
wow!
that's a record for me!
but you know what?
i'm gonna share 2 of them for now.
the other one later.

i used the cocoa daisy november 2011 kit "bed & breakfast for all 3.

1st one up is of my lil baby boo, maiya, tha "poser"

i just love the amy tangerine line from american crafts.
i'm so happy they got some of her style into their style.
finally!
she is one of my fave scrapperz!

cut out the 'frames' from one of her papers & adhered all over the place.
overlapped the black letter stickers and doodled on them to give 'em my style.
and for the final touch, i doodled borders on the cardstock.
i tend to doodle things out since i don't own a sewing machine.
(if i did, then i'd be sewing like crazy on my layouts!)

the photos are of my daughter, maiya, at the park spending time with her cousins during the summer 2011.
she's so beautiful and growing so fast!

and the 2nd layout...
my hubby and my stepdaughter, when we were all at universal studios for her birthday...

tore pieces out of the green pp to expose more of the background pp.
cut out patterns from a cosmo cricket pp.
used a doily that i swooped up from the falls terrace restaurant in olympia we had eaten at for my 40th birthday.
i don't usually really dig doilies very much, but this was an exception and i think it went well matting the photo.
and the final touch for this one:  doodling of course!
doodled on & around the letter stickers and all around the layout.
can you tell i love to doodle?
heehee.

i'll have to mail these out to cali as i don't want to squeeze these into my suitcase.
afterall, i packed for 3!
tomorrow, mailing it out!

one and a half days til we fly back home!
i don't want to..
but then again i want to.
i'll miss my family
but i do miss my hubby and our doggie, sierra.

home is where the heart is.
i'm glad i have 2.

my favez in 2-0-1-1

to end the year...
here are my favez...

b/c of the green & one of my fave photos...

b/c i love everything about this one...

b/c of the fun colors & design & one of my other fave photos...

b/c of the stamped background...

b/c hambly is one of my favez & this is my 1st layout of our selene...

b/c of the design & it's our 1st family portrait layout...

b/c it's not very often i do one of myself & love the colors & design...

b/c of the old skewl photo & this was a fun one to do...

b/c it's on canvas & i love this photo of my hubby & our selene...

and some fave cards of the year...

all b/c of the colors, use of my fave embellie, circles...

hoping in 2012 i'll scrap more.
this past year didn't do so much b/c of baby and other family life happenings.
maybe this coming year i'll join a design team if i can.
i'll be better at posting my work on my galleries too.
and maybe i'll send out my work to publications.
we'll see how next year goes, scrappy-wise.

i know for 2012 i will be:

• organizing my scrap room better
• scrapping more
• learn how to use photoshop
• going to some scrap event
• practice my excel skillz using my new book i go from xmas
• keeping in touch more with my really good friends
• most importantly, spending even more time with family

there's more, but i can't think of 'em at this moment.

here's to the past year and the new one coming!

happy new year 2012!