Enjoying The Simple Abundance

NEW BLOG!

2011-03-04T13:02:00.006Z

you can find us here: http://thelatinmrspeel.wordpress.com/

(please copy and paste in your browser, I couldn't fibd the way to make the link visible , one of the reasons am leaving blogger is that WP is easier to edit)

Moving On...

2011-03-01T14:42:00.004Z

Hey
I havent written for months, I know, and having abandoned that, amongst other things, is one of my latest itchs...so I will try keep some reciord as I used to. For many reasons, main being that my life now revolves around digital scrapbooking, I'm moving the blog to my other one here (as I could never access my WordPress for some strange reason) The blog is the one I used to blog in Portuguese, but as my brain is getting totally mushed lately, and I haven't even been able to write in English, and most *my people* now speak English...well, here is where you will find us from now on:

Scrappin La Vida Loca

hope to see you there ;)

The Brave Girls Club.... (and some great news!)

2010-09-28T04:58:00.007+01:00

...is this amazing website (well, it's a lit more than a website, but) that my friend Rebecca, originally from Scrapblog, set me one day whilst in the middle of the cancer fight.
I could spend hours explaining you what the Brave Girls Club is, but I will say only that you subscribe (it's free) and they will send you every day some thoughts, thoughts that, in my case, from day one seemed taylor made.
But I wont say much, just go check it yourself...the only thing I can say is that we are gonna save, and save, and save a bit more, but will get to go to the mothers & daughters camp. Oh my...all the way to Idaho! yup. So worth it.

It's 5am in London which just got cold, like in a click of fingers someone decided it was time,not to get those autumnally afternoons, but to dive into winter. I was going to sleep and then realised it wont be easy, I'm like super excited...why?

All the events of the past few weeks are difficult to write down at once, but one of the good things that happened, which in the beginning I thought not to be so good, was one of my favourite designers, Isabel Mendez (Crisdam Designs) asking me to make a page for her CT, then extending to be a permanent CT member and, shortly after that, offering me to help her by being her CT lead...which, as much as I wanted to help, scared me a bit...I mean...would I be able to do something like this? I'm not all that good with techie stuff, I m slow, I get confused at certain times of the day because of my medication....and then my Windows in Parallels crashed...I was more than ready to give up.

But, as it goes, life has something planned and in store for us many times...and this one it came in the form of the marvellous Trista, whom you may know better as Scrappyt. She wouldn't let me. So I couldn't give up. She came in to share the lead after I suggested she was a much better person than me to fill the position, but she wouldn't let me, she said she would do it, but with me.
We have now the final team and the guest until March. We have been sending invites and I'm sure I can hear some of this girls laughter and the good vibes...it wasn't an easy selection, with so many people applying who are more than gifted, pure talent...
but we finally got to the final names :)I was amazingly pleased to see that both Isabel and Trista think in a way very similar to mine, and, let me tell you...this team will ROCK it!

I think (as do lots of others) that Isabel's creations are amazing.
And I think she deserve a place right on top.
I'm glad, happy, excited-insert many other positive adjectivs here- to be be part of this beautiful team of wonderful women.

I promise to go visit blogs soon...
Stay tuned for more news, freebies and sales ...and maybe a thought or two :)

here is my last pages with Isabel's awesome kits...(click in the kit's name to go shopping)
with What a Pear

with Booand Boo's Alphas

with Sew Izzy

with Expecting

Between tiredness and dissapointments....

2010-09-23T09:38:00.007+01:00

..are the girls who make me happy.
I haven't been all that well.Lots of stress plus some decision making that almost tore me apart.Not gonna go into it because it affect my condition heavily, and I just came out of hospital after the whole right side of my body got paralysed and ...well.
But there are some girlies out there who keep me smiling.They are the Gotta Pixel groupies. As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm working on new look, new blog energy and need to decide where to stay or where to go.

credits: top part of main background paper is from Tweenie 4, freebie collab a while ago @ Digital Crea, shape cut in the back with the yellow rays paper from Connie Prince's a Pocket Full of Sunshine, Clouds Julie Marie Day Dreamer(both here at GP) & Dunia's Mixed Emotions (DigiScrappersBrasil), trees from Loloden 's Have a Good Day and Chouk77's PopCity (again Digital Crea)
the road (bottom part of background), suitcases and road sign (I write the words) are from OnTheRoad, Holliewood Studios @ Deviant Scrap
arrow and bird also Holliewood Studios, Got your number kit,letters E & R from her random alpha,
Play tag and the bottom what a strange world I made with pieces of Oddly Odds and Ends, Crowabout @ Deviant Scraps
number 52 with Magazine Alpha, Boutique Cute Dolls @ DigiScrappersBrasil.
Bpdy & Head from TumbleFish's Studios Twinkle Toes kit.
Most peeps know my scrapping home is Gotta Pixel, and I wanted to thank the girls who look after me every day, who encourage my art (even if you are reading and are one who think scrapbooking isn't an art, trust me, Sir/Ma'am, it well bloody IS!). Few of these girls have a blog, few others don't, so I will link their galleries here, in case you would like to go see what they do. I need to have time to do these things, and I will do very soon.
There are big time changes going on in my life, both because of my condition is deteriorating and because my daughter has reached an age in which she is shaping out her personality, which still has a lot I like, but a few issues I don't. Struggle, struggle.
Story of my life.
Anyway.
I wanted to show something I made which is scrap photos of my little self, and finally use the stuff I bought a while ago at Deviant Scraps, mainly from Tumble Fish Studios (the reason I went into Deviant'sScraps and now I see she isn't there anymore?) Holliewood Studios and Crowabout, and the other page a collab from GeekChick and LaurenGreer, a store I'm not normally able to afford either but what the heck, one can forget about the financial break down of the world and spend a bit once in a while. (said peeps being generous means sometimes you have some coupons to aid in this!)
So, that was it.
I have to add that, the more I look at what's in my head, the more I want to try spare time and energy to attend Marit's courses,and the more I think about the Brave Girls Club retreat, especially taken it that Sarita was over the moon when I showed her the Mother and Daughter's camp, the more I think of giving up little bits and pieces and asking my family to collaborate (read send money) for us to go. But I'll keep you posted, in case you wanna know, that is.
Wonderfully Weird, collab GeekChic & Lauren Grier

News Update! and why I LOVE DSA2 by Serif

2010-09-21T11:49:00.007+01:00

Star of a new season today..what are you starting? We are entering autumn here, but if I was *home* (the places where I grew up, as home is now pretty much here in London!) I would be starting spring...well, both beautiful season changes to have your camera ready and get out...so, no worries there.
I know I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog, and most definitely not good at keeping up with my friends :(
I need a whole refurbishment but, as many of you know, I had some major computer crashes...so now I am trying to get organised and tidy up the *house*, so, expect some new look,new interesting competitions and freebies coming up, stayed tuned.

Before anything I feel I should thank a North American gentleman from the Serif Software forums, because without him nothing would have been possible. As many of you know, I'm not keen on PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements, though I have PSE in my Mac, I find it great for photo treatment, for re sizing and stuff of the sort, but for my scrapping and designing? Well, that will be Digital Scrapbook Artist 2 by Serif, the very best program there is.

This amazing piece of software comes handy for under £30 (which means just under US$ 50, me thinks) which is slightly cheaper than PSE and...well...far, far easier to use.
DSA2 has a CutOut Studio which is an amazing tool that will allow you to extract just about anything from a photo with such presition is even scary....and a very good photo editing tool with all the filters my PSE6 has.
You struggle with shadows? well.. suffer no more, because DSA2 will give you the most professional looking shadows by just a twick of the mouse.
I could go on and on, but just look at my pages from October 2009 onwards and you will know.
Serif people are so proud and sure of the product they have created that they even give you a simpler, compact trial version for free. Of course full version will give you an assortment of tools you wont have in the compact, but I know the people I have shown this program to are totally amazed and needed no more than 5 minutes in the compact to go running to get the full version....is that good.
There is also a website called Daisy Trail where you can post your creations without needing to resize, but, though the people over there are marvellous and I was welcomed wonderfully, I am loyal to my scrapping home at Gotta Pixel and have, am afraid, little time at the moment for much else than there and my other CT commitments...

Now, DSA is a program designed to work on PC's (Windows) and I'm on iMac...so I have had my fair share of suffering to get it to work properly, and this is where the Serif Software Forums come in, and with it my saviour, this gentleman who posts there as webmasternapa, and to whom I owe the peace of mind of being able to run DSA to the best of the program's ability.
He has spent time making me a document (idiot proof too, taking into account my little knowledge of technicalities LOL) to re install my Parallels (the program which allows me to have a virtual PC in my Mac) and Windows, and then he also invested a lot of time with me online to make all work to precision... so, thanks so much, Brian, you give me back the trust in humanity :)

But I have to say that the kindness of these people doesn't limit to this one gentleman.
In the 11 months I have been going up and down trying to get the program to work well, I have received so much help from other users at this Serif Forums, I thought they were Serif employees...well, they are not.
These guys are simply people who love the software they use and love to share their knowledge with others and help..which is a rare thing these days....and if you think that, with me, they need to put up with complete technical ignorance...well, they are saints! LOL
There are a few whom i should name because it is because of them I am happily scrapping away, they are a wonderful girl who goes as mjh, and two gentleman Alfred & Peter.
There is someone who needs a very special mention and she is the one you will absolutely LOVE if you buy this program...because she will show you with her videos how to make things you have never thought possible...
her name is Melinda, she is in YouTube as lovemyzombie and once you have DSA2, she will become your most amazing companion and her voice will guide you through her mouse expertingly moving through the DSA tools in her videos.
Remember: you can do just about ANYTHING with this program.

I see I have gone from an update into a review...but without DSA I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now. I had to make some adjustments in the teams I was in and stay with what I know I will be able to manage...
If you know me, you know I am not keen on people who are in gazillion CTs , no matter how great you are...no matter how beautiful your pages are...you will neglect the community side of things.
And to me, if you have no time for the other women who make possible that you would be in the CTs...well...your page become cold and have no more appeal to me.
As much as a great CT page made me go mad with a kit I never thought could be of any use for me and I didn't stop until I bought it (full price!), this other kind of CT member can put me of buying from a designer too.
So, I m just keeping to the very things I am able to deal with without neglecting my community participation.
I am guest for Captivated Visions & Connie Prince, both super designers, favourites of mine, for September, and I'm staying with SweetDigiScraps by Liz and Mye De Leon (another couple of amazingly creative women whom I'm devoted to) and I have now a huge responsibility as Isabel Mendez (Crisdam Designs) asked me to take the lead of her CT.

I know a lot of people out there are thinking I am inexperient to take on this role,but I believe there is nothing in this life that cannot be achieved if you have passion, love, dedication...all things I'm proud to say I have regarding Isabel and her designs.
But yes,in a way or another some of these people maybe rigt, that's why I called my friend Trista (whom you may know better as scrappyt)ha wonderful Texan girl, an artist who scraps from the heart like I do and we are helping Isabel with new look, new team, same marvellous designs that captured my love when I first came to Gotta Pixel and I'm sure you will love too.

We have a CT call at the moment, the deadline for applications is the 24th, so, if you had not seen the call before and would like to apply, you still have three days. The new team will be announced on the 30th :)
I will be refurbishing my blog too, as I had to move my personal blog to Word Press as the site where I blogged (Vox.com) is closing down , still unsure what I will do with that....but my craft work will remain here and I will very soon give it a fresh look and update info :)
So, for the latest news on freebies go to my previous post, and you can visit Isabel's blog, and, of course, the Gotta Pixel Store for goodies!!! Today is Pixel Tuesday at GP, be sure to go get yourself some treats!!!

Here is the CT Call instructions and there is also a post I made HERE @ Gotta Pixel, explaining a bit better who are we looking for. We have already received amazing applications and are very, very excited!!!
See you soon and, HappyTuesday!!!!

Creative Sweeties Blog Train!(and freebies galore!)

2010-09-17T21:35:00.024+01:00

Hello hellooo, hope you are starting the weekend happily. First, let me show you what I did with SweetDigiScraps newest release,Miss Merry Sunshine,this will be available in a few hours (time differences) at the Gotta Pixel store. I also used the Happy Stickers by SweetDigiScraps by Danyale

So, here we are....
Maybe you come from another stop, maybe you just stumbled upon this blog, so, let me tell you a bit about us:

We are the Creative Team for one of the most amazing designers of the whole digi scrapping world, Liz Hutchison,who runs SweetDigiScraps by Liz and Gotta Pixel, which is my scrapping home.
Our CT is full of talented girls, starting by our lead who also makes some of the most amazing Word Arts and extras (like clusters, borders, some amazing work) which you will find in Liz's store but as SweetDigiScraps by Danyale.
Then comes the Sweeties.
These women are people I admire and love, extremely talented girls, and we have some marvellous guests at the moment too, so we all have teamed up to give you a little (big!) present with this Blog Train...
If you are coming from another stop, you have seen how amazing these girls are, so grab my bit and carry on, we made them with love for you to enjoy.
If you just arrived here, go to the previous stops as well as the following ones, you wont regret it :)

My bit of the train is a cluster frame I made with Liz' kit Precious.
The LO I made with the kit was (is) very special to me because I made it for my friend Lu in Brazil, who just had her baby girl Valentina (we call her Nina) as a present as I couldn't be there for the arrival.Here is the LO I did with the kit:

The kit is great for all those precious little ones,but it's fun, fresh colors make it not only great for girls of all ages,with beautiful flowers and flourishes to help accent your memories, but also the colors are so wonderfully great for any other themes, as it is not a totally pink kit, can be used for boys too, nature or 365 Project are also some of the themes I have scrapped using it.
Created at 300 dpi and 12 inch print quality (as are all other Liz' and Gotta Pixel Products) it'll help you make some of the most amazing pages...I know it did with me :)
Here is the kit preview, click HERE to go to the store
Precious, SweetDigiScraps by Liz,

Precious Word Art & extras, SweetDigiScraps by Danyale click HERE to go to the store

and finally, here is my freebie for you

you can download it HERE
the link may come up with and advert, which has a link underneath, just click there and it will download from Media Fire :)
Here are the stops for this wonderful Blog Train:
The Sweeties:
Liz: http://www.sweetdigiscraps.blogspot.com/
Team Blog: http://creativesweeties.blogspot.com/
Danyale http://bygonesscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Lei: http://leidee-q.blogspot.com
Kerri: http://www.kayjaysdays.blogspot.com
Jan: http://intensemagicscraps.blogspot.com/
Sheila: http://www.scrappingmyjourney.blogspot.com
Colie: http://www.coliescorner.blogspot.com
Cynthia: thelatinmrspeel.blogspot.com You Are HERE!!!!!
Mary: http://texaschicstyle.blogspot.com/
Dana: http://www.scrappydoosordonts.blogspot.com
Trista: http://www.busybee-hive.blogspot.com/
Simona: http://lightmistress.blogspot.com/
LaShawn: http://the3cbears.blogspot.com
Carolyn: http://carolynscommotions.blogspot.com
Barb: http://digi-dallies.blogspot.com
Rachel: http://iwishiwasthatcreative.blogspot.com
and, if you make something, we would be delighted to see it over at SDS's gallery at Gotta Pixel...if you are not one of us...what are you waiting for to join us?
see you there!
(and soon back here with some really, really more great news (and freebies!)

Would you like some freebies?

2010-09-17T15:51:00.011+01:00

...I thought so....well...
keep an eye, stay tune, come back tomorrow for a freebie of mine and lots more at the Blog Train from andCreative Sweeties Team the Wonderfully Sweet Guests.
SweetDigiScraps by Liz's girls (myself included) got to work for some freebie galore which you will be able to enjoy tomorrow (18/09/2010)
I have seen what these girls have in store...and, trust me, you wont want to miss it!!!
I ll give you a sample by showing you some of the LOs I made with kits created by Liz that were used to make the freebies...so, come back tomorrow to jump in the wagon!!!!
Secret Crush, SweetDigiScraps by Liz

Precious, SweetDigiScraps by Liz

Silbling Love, SweetDigiScraps by Liz

Thrifty, SweetDigiScraps by Liz

Get Your Eyes Checked, SweetDigiScraps by Liz

see you tomorrow then!
:)

A whole new world?

2010-09-02T03:59:00.014+01:00

well....not quiet.
that's just a cool song from Aladin
in our case, you me, the two houses down neighbour, is always pretty much the same one, but changes are allowed and I think it's time for some huge ones in my little world.
I wish I had the discipline to keep up with stuff in order to keep some people I love a bit more informed, but that's somehow not happening and at this point in life I just don't want to force anything....

I had an episode last week, in which I found yet another lump this time in the other breast, ending yesterday without much stress from my part and almost none by my consultant, who just came at me with the needle,aspirated and went: there you go!
so, it wasn't anything, just a cyst, something which apparently I have many.
Of all this I am left with a very, very bad head cold, the reason I m awake at 4 am and doing something I have not done for a LONG time, like writing here...

So...along the lines of wrecking my brain trying to work out why life is so bleeming unfair, I work out that I need some serious changes, as the physichal ailments keep taking hold of my body, I need to have less responsabilities in order to enjoy them more,but you will work out everything that's going on as it happens, because very little of what happens in my life is planned..

For the time being, I am super proud, happy, delighted and over the moon not only to have been selected to do a guest spot this month for Captivated Visions and invited to Connie Prince for the same position, but also somehow, like a magic spell I see myself having a blast @ MyeDeLeon's team, a wonderful Philipinne girl who has waht it takes to make my heart tick, but also @ the Team of one of my all times favorites designers, Isabel Mendez.

The pages flow when one is in love with the designers, so that is not problem whatsoever to me, but on the other hand, the writing lines evade me and that's the majaor reason why I haven't updated stuff here....
There are times in which words are better left unsaid.

I hugely thank everyone who has been messaging me and apologyse for not returning your concern...these are fast paced, weird times for me, where I am the very first one suprised to the fact that I'm more and more withdrawing from public events or even phone calls....but I guess this is what age and illnesses would do to most....

Here are some of my last pages for the Teams, and I really, really hope I will be able to keep up with this responsably...in which case...I'll see you soon! :)

SweetDigiScraps by Liz's Secret Crush

Me,Myself & I, again by the woenderful hand of Liz @ SweetDigiScraps

and again SweetDigiScraps, same kit as above but with the added marvel of the Extras by Danyale

Connie Prince's You are a Hoot, coming soon at her stores

Happy Snapper by Captivated Visions, also coming soon at her stores

Expecting, by Isabel Mendez, Crisdam Designs

Mye De Leon, AttaBoy

SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren, The Artist in Me, available now at the Digital Design Den

these last two are made with Fairyhood by Lilian C Designs, aka Malacima, for whom I am delighted to be able to scrap at any time... :)

well....not quiet.
that's just a cool song from Aladin
in our case, you me, the two houses down neighbour, is always pretty much the same one, but changes are allowed and I think it's time for some huge ones in my little world.
I wish I had the discipline to keep up with stuff in order to keep some people I love a bit more informed, but that's somehow not happening and at this point in life I just don't want to force anything....

I had an episode last week, in which I found yet another lump this time in the other breast, ending yesterday without much stress from my part and almost none by my consultant, who just came at me with the needle,aspirated and went: there you go!
so, it wasn't anything, just a cyst, something which apparently I have many.
Of all this I am left with a very, very bad head cold, the reason I m awake at 4 am and doing something I have not done for a LONG time, like writing here...

So...along the lines of wrecking my brain trying to work out why life is so bleeming unfair, I work out that I need some serious changes, as the physichal ailments keep taking hold of my body, I need to have less responsabilities in order to enjoy them more,but you will work out everything that's going on as it happens, because very little of what happens in my life is planned..

For the time being, I am super proud, happy, delighted and over the moon not only to have been selected to do a guest spot this month for Captivated Visions and invited to Connie Prince for the same position, but also somehow, like a magic spell I see myself having a blast @ MyeDeLeon's team, a wonderful Philipinne girl who has waht it takes to make my heart tick, but also @ the Team of one of my all times favorites designers, Isabel Mendez.

The pages flow when one is in love with the designers, so that is not problem whatsoever to me, but on the other hand, the writing lines evade me and that's the majaor reason why I haven't updated stuff here....
There are times in which words are better left unsaid.

I hugely thank everyone who has been messaging me and apologyse for not returning your concern...these are fast paced, weird times for me, where I am the very first one suprised to the fact that I'm more and more withdrawing from public events or even phone calls....but I guess this is what age and illnesses would do to most....

Here are some of my last pages for the Teams, and I really, really hope I will be able to keep up with this responsably...in which case...I'll see you soon! :)

Something about my passion for photography

2010-07-14T08:32:00.005+01:00

I'm shutter happy, always have been.
Maybe because I couldn't walk up to the age of 5 (in case youjust stumble upon this and don't know me, I was born with a double hip dislocation and doctors insisted I wouldn't be able to walk, but my parents were the loving and stubborn kind: I had 9 operations up to the age of 8, and started walking aged 5, never stopped until the British NHS decided to give me a hip replacement in 2003, followed by other 4 operations which failed in fixing what they did in the first) but my passion for all things artsy, being that the visual or the performing arts started very, very early.
BUt we are talking pre-digital times (VERY pre digital!)
And thinking about photography as a career was something one couldn't do, unless money was flowing, which, though we were middle class, in my case was not really an option.
If you think about the money we spent in those days just to develop films...well...
But I got given a camera by one of my dad's brothers, who also gave me my first guitar, and taking photos was as important as breathing...though I lost LOTS of photos through my gipsy life, careless *friends* and my own irresponsibility, I still got the joy of my mum keeping some treasures.
Though my daughter was born before digital cameras were something one would have at hand, we documented her life pretty well, which took me into digi scrapping and where I am now...
I was so, so excited when I saw Liz's new kit...it was like made to measure...so don't be surprised if lots of pages start coming up with this kit...is just one of the most amazing kits I have seen in my years in digi-land.
Someone suggested I could start an *all about me* book with my LOs, and I may do just that.
Have a look at the Gotta Pixel gallery to see what the rest of the Sweeties have created, and have a look at Liz's store there too...she has always fascinated me with her kits (she is probably the one I should thank for me being where I am, as it was through a freebie of hers I arrived in the forums) because the material is so versatile that you can create amazing variety of styles...here is a quick peak at what the Sweeties have made.

you can get this kit HERE, there is also some AWESOME word art by just as awesome Danyale HERE, and a cool alpha HERE.

I'll be back soon!

The Sweetest thing.....

2010-07-10T17:29:00.006+01:00

...just happened to me this week.
Look at this:

this I made with the latest release by SweetDigiScraps by Liz, Set Adrift, available to buy now @ Gotta Pixel's store, just click HERE to buy
and then there is these

made with Get Your Eyes Checked, also by SweetDigiScraps by Liz, you can click HERE to get to the store again.

so yes, I have to confess I thought for a bit before answering this CT call, after all, the women already in this team are like the Da Vincis or Michelangelos of the scrap world to me... I was over the moon when I got the mail, which incidentally, I almost deleted, as it started like those *I'm gonna turn you down, sorry* email, kinda: *we have received so many wonderful galleries, we were overwhelmed* thing, so I had to read twice to be sure that the rest of the line was *and are pleased to tel, you yours was on the top ones, so we would like to extend the invite to join the team* .
I'm more than pleased.
So, it's celebrating time at the Taylor Girls household, Sarita won the competition of the local Big Dance event with the Dreams family (her after school dance group) even though they only heard it was a competition 15 minutes before performing, so we are both in celebration mood...

I also have the Alpha in the Victoria & Albert Museum LO to give away if you buy the kit, so, if you do buy it, message me @ Gotta Pixel and I will get it to you in no time :)
Now I promise to give some attention to all of your blogs, especially you Marit!!!!! tomorrow for sure :)
Huggzzzz!

Discovering America

2010-07-05T14:43:00.004+01:00

Hey guys..long time no see...
I don't seem to have much time to update my blog unless is to show you my CT work....well, lets say these are not the easiest of times, with my daughter growing into a young lady (14 years old, going on 24!) and despite the friendship and love....well, I was a teenager once (probably a lot more of a headache to my parents than she is to me) so I know I need to take one day at the time...only sometimes one does not have much energy to write things down....thank God for scrapping.

So, Karen has a new (wonderful!) kit available, and the kit touches one subject I always like making a point at: the American thing....because I am an American too, right?
I maybe from the South, but American nevertheless :)
So, here are the pages I made with it, some more coming up.
The kit is available now @ DigitalDesignDen and @ DigiScrapsDriveIn
There are super saving with the bundle & biggie bundle in both stores.
Be sure to go to her blog, not only to see the rest of the CT work (amazing!!!!!!!!!!) but also to get your freebie :)

I have some other good news, so I maybe posting soon, thanks for popping in and apologies for not having much time to go see your blogs, the ones of you who have teenagers I m sure will understand, but will catch up soon, thanks for your visit!

Outside my Window

2010-06-21T14:34:00.004+01:00

Hi guys...
I know I have been a bit lost in the daily dramas of life (which you will only know if you are or have been mom or dad to a teenager) and have not had much time to visit blogs or email people, not even visit you @ Facebook pages....:(
It seems like I'm permanently trying to catch up, as I am also late with this post....but better late than never, right?
Let me show you what I have done with the newest kit from SnickerdoodleDesigns....

this is such a wonderful kit, with elements and papers so amazing I had to find some amazing, especial photos for it...
so here is my aunt Sarita (shortening for Sara in Spanish) after whom I have named my daughter.
She was one of my mum's sisters, sadly died long time ago, in her late 50s...but she left me one of the best legacies anyone can inherit: the passion for traveling.

In this next LO is my cousin Lily, who has been present in my mum's life since way before she met my dad. She was brides maid at their wedding, and is still helping hugely

Here is where you can find this amazing kit:
@ Digital Design Den
or @ DigiScrapsDriveIn
you can also find it (budles et all!) @ AhhScraps

there is a bundle and a bigie bundle, all worth good savings, the kit is amazing, hope you enjoy it :)
don't forget to keep an eye on Karen's Blog for freebies and remember that if you sign up for her newsletter, you will get some freebies too!

as I said,I'm having some *real life* (is the net life not real then? LOL) problems apart from my health conditions, so I wont promise anything but I will most degfinitely try visiting your blogs and pages.
Huggzzz to you all and until the next one !

All is Smooth & we are Sailing!!!!!!!

2010-06-03T16:37:00.006+01:00

Hello wonderful people...
I have lots to tell, countless LOs to post, but as Karen's new kit was just released today, I'm gonna leave the rest for later, here is what I made for our CT:

kit ca be found HERE at DigiScrapsDriveIn
and also HERE at DigitalDesignDen

The freebies will be posted in Karen's blog, SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren tonight, so be sure you will check tomorrow!
My health isn't getting any better, but I'm on the case, in case you are wondering why I haven't been around your blogs or write emails or..well, you know....
Thanks so much for looking, leave us a little Love here if you are passing by, is always nice to see it written down, apart from the hit count :)

Letting the Sunshine In

2010-05-25T00:35:00.014+01:00

Credits: Connie Prince's A Pocket Full Of Sunshine, stiches under the dotted paper also from Connie Prince's Backyard Adventure,bottom yellow tag from Simply Scraps' Take it Back, all @ Gotta Pixel.
I wanted to write. Like I used to. Nothing much, just making a record of our lives, and I had this project, I was gonna print it all, again, nothing much, just a home printer and cheap paper, but it would be a tangible reminder of what it was, and probably would paint in my daughter's face the same smiles all the stuff my mum has kept painted in mine.
Then things got in the way.
Like my health, for starters.
My energy levels aren't high enough, then I found scrapping and that kinda simplifies the way....
But for the past 3 or 4 weeks I have been really, really wanting to document what is going on...only for one reason or another it gets put aside....

But today something happened that, though it wont respect the chronological line up at least gets me going...

I also want to write about my latest experiences in the (various) scrapbooking communities I am part of, or visit or buy stuff,something that I rather do in a separate post as my feelings are very passionate and don't want to mix things:
Where my feelings regarding our last few weeks as a family with my daughter are something beautiful and uplifting... my feelings towards what the scrapbooking communities are turning into are, to say the least, of disappointment.

OK, so..we have been to the West End theaters.
First we got free tickets to see the newest David Essex's musical, All The Fun in The Fair,through the Mousetrap Foundation, a charity that helps getting children up to 16 years old into theatre, but that also deserves it's own post, promise to write that soon, the Mousetrap team certainly deserves it.

Then we saw Hair @ the Gielgud Theatre, to which we got less than half price tickets as we are lucky (in an ironic sort of way, as I get them through my being registered disabled) to get this kind of deal from most West End theaters.
Now this was a huge thing for both of us.
Hair was the first musical I was on stage,and my daughter grew up listening to the songs in all three languages, Spanish, Portuguese, English, so when I saw that Hair was coming over from Broadway, I started saving money straight away.
On Friday, 30th of April, we saw it from the first row of the dress circle, which was quiet a nice seating as the theatre isn't that big...and that was it. The love affaire started for Sarita with the same passionate strength that hit me on that night of 1971 when my parents (after a LOT of begging from my part, I was only 13) took me to see it.

The whole Broadway cast is absolutely fabulous, words are not enough to describe the Hair experience.
Each and every one of these actors are a hurricane of energy, talent and emotion, and, funnily enough, though there are not many hippies left in this society of ours, the subject of war will always remain the same (unfortunately)
I need to point out to a couple of facts:
One is that we did not (both times we saw it) saw Sasha Allen perform.
I'm not completely sure but I think the girl we saw opening the show with Aquarius & singing the White Boys songs is Phyre Hawkins, and we were extremely pleased to have had the luck of seeing her perform.
We saw Sasha Allen in YouTube, and, despite her being really good, we LOVED this other girl's performance.

Now...onto the reason that brought me back to the theatre every night until I was on stage in the 70s and has awaken in my daughter the same passion...
Hair's George Berger is, undeniable, the most charming character of the whole play, and this time Berger is played by (oh drool, droll and treble drool) Will Swenson.
The man is so talented, gifted, such a singer, dancer & actor that you can't help falling in love with him. The fact that he is the most sensual, sexy, gorgeously looking guy i have seen in the past 15 years helps...
So, before the play was even nearing the interval, my daughter leans and whispers in my ear:
*mum, we NEED to come back: front row*
and I, of course, said yes.
Why?
Because front row gives you the complete Will Swenson experience.
The whole time the cast mingles around with the audience, but Berger/Swenson's opening monologue sees him interacting with the front row people...and this involves very, very close contact....who am I to deny my daughter such pleasure?

One of my best friends in life, a friendship that dates from those 70s was coming to spend a week in London with us after lecturing in a couple of conferences in Europe,so we thought we wait and take her too...so on tuesday the 18th of May we had another mind blowing evening on the AA row @ The Gielgud...this time very special to Sarita.
She got hugged (proper squeeze hug, as she describes it) kissed and then hugged a bit more.
Marta got to hold Will's trousers (which he takes of right from the start LOL) and we all enjoyed the talents of the whole cast apart from the beautiful view.

Credits:again, Connie Prince's Backyard Adventure plus elements from the INSD blog train, meaning there is something from: Scatcy Carlson,SpinkyDinkyScraps,CreationsbyRachael,Lorie M,CaptivatedVisions,Litabells,Kristmess and LindsayJane. All these wonderful designers can be found @ Gotta Pixel

I find it difficult to stop talking about this, could stay here all night telling you about each and every one of these actors, all wonderful, but as time presses I ll mention, of course, Gavin Creel, more than fabulous as Claude, Kacie Sheik as Jeannie (the pregnant girl who sings Air), Caissie Levy as a gorgeous Sheila with a voice to remember,Luther Creek (I think he is the only Brit at the moment)in a most wonderful Woof,Allison Case in the sweetest, most beautiful interpretation of Crissy,Darius NIchols amazing Hud,Andrew Kober 's voice on Margaret Mead and Claude's father,Kaitlin KIyan in the black boys trio but also taking over with her paradisiac vice on the Hare Krishna chorus (to the point that I didn't rest until I found where that voice was coming from the first time we saw them), but all of them are fantastic.

After the last song and curtain call, the audience is invited up on stage which turns into the most marvelous party ever...I was taken by emotion on seeing and feeling how the producers have kept the feeling of the original Hair that marked my teens and stayed with me with passion.
After that I did something I have never, ever done as audience: we went to wait for them at the stage door, as sarita wanted them to sign the program.
On this I also have to comment how great they all were (or most of them) ...lots of photos of that too :)

Of course I had to start scrapping the photos...and this gave me another huge emotion...
Not only were the pages I made featured in the Galleries Stand Outs @ Gotta Pixel,but this morning when I opened the Gotta Pixel newsletter I had the (beautiful!!!) surprise to see my Will Swenson's page chosen as Layout of the Day....
Thanks so much to Stacy & all the Gotta Pixel team.
People who know me know I don't scrap for others, I m just making a record of our lives, but having people as talented as the women who are part of the Gotta Pixel site choosing something I made...well, is a nice feeling, one that I wanted to share with you all, as Gotta Pixel has become a bit of a home for me, some of the designers I love the most at the moment have stores there....but that's another story.
If you would like to go leave some love, the LOs are here:
Hair 1
Hair 2
Hair 3
you can also have a look at the store, most of the designers are amazing,and they have regular sales, every tuesday is U$1 (which to us is like 75 pence...an amazing price for what you get!) and the Gotta Grab it that is amazing because is all designers creating from a palette...meaning one can buy kits for a dollar each, then scrap with all, and the combination is perfect)
The forums are also a nice place, full of gorgeous people but need a bit of an injection if movement (or maybe is because I don't do the challenge thing?) so it would be nice to see you around...

So, if you are still there (i know I talk a lot!) will upload some photos for your delight :)
Promise to come write again asap...there is a LOT i would like to talk about! :)
Thanks for popping in and, Michelle, if you are reading, I left you my email address after that comment you left me here, or leave me your email here so I can give you the password for the mini kit :)
Huggzz to all!

Credits: Captivated Visions' These Days, alpha from Between the Headlines (also from Captivated Visions),string with the bow again from Connie Prince's A pocket Full Of Sunshine.

The Merrier, the Better.....

2010-05-10T17:50:00.008+01:00

...don't you think?
well, apparently they call May the Merry Month....and to me it couldn't be better than the arrival of summer, warm weather and...well,even if one lives in England the prospect is there :)
And for this month Karen has such beautiful kit, great deal in $$$ too...here is my CT work for a bit of inspiration, but the kit is so complete, you wanna go to her blog and see not only what the rest of the CT girls have done, but also the kit preview and then head of to the stores to buy....great deal indeed ...because as if the kit wasn't full of wonderful stuff, she is giving away an alpha (apart from the included in the kit) and a QP...trust me, not a deal to be missed...
To get there just click HERE

From Russia to Brazil.....

2010-04-27T11:39:00.006+01:00

...everybody is scrapping.So am I:

Credits: kit Free Day by Malacima Designs

I haven't been having a particularly good time health wise,but gotta take things one day at the time, right?
I have been keeping busy though, as the scrapping in probably the best therapy, and luckily 2 of my favorite designers are having stores worth having a look.
One of them, Lilian, aka Malacima,is someone I have had the honor to do some CT work for, and one of the most original designers around.
You can access her store by clicking HERE, and here is HER BLOG.

Credits: kit Mother,my big Love by Giane Designs

And from Brazil and very, very much on sale comes Giane No Mundo do Scrapbook (Giane in the World of Scrapbook).
She had a break for a while but is back to creating with all her might.
You can check her stores HERE and also HERE , and for those of you who can read Portuguese here is HER BLOG
I will be updating soon, because honestly my general health state at the moment is not the best, and the energy required to write refuses to come together.
but taking one day at the time...I ll get there :)

Thank You for the Love (a freebie in appreciation)

2010-04-17T15:11:00.007+01:00

Hi guys, girls....

I am lucky, I think.
Most of the people I am surrounded by at the moment are the most talented, inspirational, loving people in the world.
And this *in the world* isn't a mere grammatical construction, nope, is totally, tangibly literal.
Some in the US of A (I'm reluctant to call it America, sorry guys, but *we* are Americans too, the vast America has the North, South (were *we* belong) and Central, though most of that Central are moving slowly upwards,there are millions of them still there, right? LOL).
Some of them in the land of Oz (read Australia) and these are increasingly getting a deep imprint in my heart, and some in Europe, with my most favorite at the mo being in the Netherlands (that IS Europe, right? LOL I'm getting old and my cultural memory is being smashed by the political changes!)
In blogging scenes, I have to mention these women because they are worth reading, watching and listening:

Peggy, whom I had the pleasure,honor and delight of meeting in person and who, regardless of the distance, always finds a way to make herself present and supportive with a beautiful wake up call on my phone. She also has the MOST AMAZING music playing in her blog....

Annemarie and here I'm at loss for words...if I ever have found a synonimous for bravery, strength, capacity, talent and multitasking...well that's Annemarie. She also has some amazing music playing, and I'm hoping to be able to go meet these two girls in Norway in a near future (I'm working on it girls!)

The Netherlands girl is Marit (though her blog presents her name in lower case, I think she deserves upper cases, in shinning lights too). This girl I found through Annemarie, who sent me a link to her blog and I got hooked ever since. I m even gonna get my daughter to do one of Marit's courses in summer... yes, she is a master and finds the strength and wonders of passing her knowledge on, with very accessible prices, ones that even I can contemplate in spending!)

there is another USA girl whom I discovered lately and my heart was full of joy, not only because she is so generous with her (amazing!!!!) talent as to sharing her kits for free, but also because her blog is what it says on the tin: Every Day Mom's Ideas.... and her ideas are not only doable, but in budget and brilliant...plus her way of communicating is one I love....and her kits are original, something I have been getting more and more disappointed with in the more popular, profit gaining designers (but that would a whole new post, right?)

There are a lot more I could be naming, linking and...well, there is only a certain amount of time and I need to get on with life, but I have to mention the Brazilian girls or I wouldn't be making justice...I have made a post for them and that was what inspired this post...
Through a new, net acquired friend by one of those impulses that makes you click on someone just because you liked the comment they left in someone else's blog, I came across this wonderful woman, who also has this other recipe blog. Yes, I know, both her blogs are in Portuguese, but her Layouts are universal so, if you like them, go leave her some love, she speaks English :)

She introduced me to her scrapping communities which have in turn brought the most beautiful love into my life. But again, this would all be in Portuguese and they have an entire blog of mine for them, so, lets get to the last point....

I have no intention of becoming a designer at the moment. If I had any at some point, starting to do CT work for some of them plus my incursions on paying for kits (even if only in the 1 dollar/Euro sales) and looking into their rules and...well, lets say I'm a bit disappointed and don't think it's worth my stress.
In looking into their rules, combined with the amazing, wonderful program I use (I'm scared of scrapping with PSE, have I said that before? LOL), the Digital Scrapbook Artist by Serif (which deserves a whole review, I know) I started finding my way to create my own stuff for my own books.
Not much, nothing totally fancy, but I finally put together a mini kit.

After all the support I received from some of the girls of a freebie group I belong to through my breast cancer adventure, I gave the mini kit away to them, post it in the group.
Then when I went to check the amount of downloads and compared to the amount of *thank Yous* I got....well...this wasn't a case in which they would have to (like here, I m afraid) do a word recognition or register or anything costly of their time....it involved only clicking *reply* and typing *thanks*.
So I passworded the thing.

Maybe not worth the bother to some.
Well up to *some*.
If you are not the *some* kind, and just happened to stumble across this blog and like what you see in the preview, just leave a comment, tell me you want this, I'll pass on the password :)
If you are a Facebook buddie, I'll be posting the password there.
If you are a friend of mine but are not in Facebook, email me, I ll get the password out to you.

Here are the previews:

now, this lower case was my very first try, I have no idea how designers make their alphas, but as I haven't connected my tablet to the Mac yet, I draw these with the mouse...so...well LOL

So, if you like what you see, and you have the password, this is where you get it:

Click here to download the ALPHA

Click here to download the PAPERS

Click here to download the FRAMES

And now I have *talked* enough, I'm gonna go back to our intensive movie watching program with my child (who isn't much of a child no more, but hey, she still enjoys her time with mum, gotta take advantage of that!)
I recommend LOVE FILM to anyone in the UK (if you are a friend of mine in *real life* I have 2 cards that will give you two months for free) we pay £9.50 per month, no late fees, they are quick in getting films back to you (2 days maximum) which means if we want, we watch more than 4 films a month, and there are a lot of films one can watch online as part of the subscription....great deal :)
(gonna get them to pay me for the advert LOL)
Ok, enjoy, I'm gonna go enjoy my saturday!
:)

Some things are designed to make you happy....

2010-04-10T05:57:00.008+01:00

...like achieving things like these, let me show you and then I tell you the story :)

Remember how lucky I was feeling and how happy when I met, just before Christmas Karen from SnikerdoodleDesigns and she invited me to be part of her CT?
Well, I am now (and in one way or another again, I have Karen to thank) creating for 7hump3rs Designs too.
Long story, but these people are like a lil ray of sunshine in the grey skies (hopefully not for long) of London...
These first couple of LOs I made with her new kit, coming soon, so keep an eye on her store @ DigiScrapsDriveIn, as the kits is totally cute!!! have a look at these now and I tell you a bit more....

These two I made with the All Sass kit, and as I was posting a description when in the DSDO galleries I realized I was in fact posting about how I made the LO...sooo.... if you are new to digital scrapping and would like some guidance, a bit of ideas or just some technical questions, for these you can see it explained at the galleries HERE, but if interested I can start posting the tutorials here.

These two were done with a kit called Cute Little You, and funnily enough, Sarita and I had our eyes set for this kit, as all her nicknames online have to do with Dinosaurs and she wanted an avatar or two...that's why these are slightly different, are these just the cutest dinos or what?

So, in other words: I am creating away, happy and surrounded by the most beautiful people (not surprisingly the girl from 7hump3rs are Australians!) and, as a plus, I got the call from the secretary of that private doctor I went to see after all that hospital/breast cancer fiasco, she gave me an appointment for next week, meaning he is keeping his word...
Now the only thing is left (well, for the time being at least!) is get Sarita to finish with her bedroom so we can paint...summer is almost there, after all,and they say is gonna be hot... I would like that to happen, very, very much.

On the other hand, there is something that is saddening my happiness, and I am gonna ask now here for all of your prayers/good vibes/thoughts, spiritual strength for the people of the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, who are suffering from severe flooding that has taken, at the last count last night, 184 lives....and it isn't only the disadvantaged who are suffering..lots of people who live hill side are at risk, with many having lost everything..
Thank you so much, and see you soon!

Puppy Love!!!!

2010-04-08T15:24:00.004+01:00

is the new kit, wonderful kit from SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren
these are my take on this great kit,which is very complete and also has a great alpha...
there is also a freebie Quick Page, just visit the blog by cliking in the highlighted link to get it..!
I tried to use the alpha in this next LO, but my program started behaving a bit weirdly...
The kids here are my cousin's daughter's children, aren't they just the cutest!!!????

and this is Lua, *daughter* to my friends Dilma & Lars, who own the place where we have stayed in North East Brazil the past trips, you can have a look at their place by clicking in the highlighted link...place is called Pousada Mundo Verde.
Pousada means small hotel,though this has nothing of *small*, it is, indeed, the most amazing *Green World*

aren't they cute?
yeah, I know, I just said that again!
things are relatively calm around here,,,so not only had I have time do to my CT *homework* for Snickerdoodle, but also found a couple of amazing places, will be back soon to share with you!

Waiting for Spring...

2010-04-05T20:24:00.007+01:00

..literally, as the weather isn't collaborating here in London.
That is also the title of SnickerDoodleDesignsByKaren's last kit, a gorgeous one, and there is a freebie QP in her blog, if you would like to have it, just click in her link, visit her blog.
Here are a couple of pages I made with it...

I have followed Karen to the DigiScrapsDrive store & forums, a great place to be if you like freebies, challenges, talent and great company,so, maybe I'll see you there?

You can find Waiting for Spring HERE and the word art HERE , or you can save some money by getting the BUNDLE

There is a SnickerDoodleDesignsByKaren's gallery @ the DigiScrapsDriveIn, so, if you are looking for more inspiration, there are some ladies there that can provide some really good one (inspiration!)

See you there!

The British Music Experience @ O2

2010-03-31T21:35:00.023+01:00

kit Pink Elegance- Creations by Rachel @ Gotta Pixel
another book for our library...
we got free tickets to the itisj Music Experience @ at O2 Arena through the Mousetrap Foundation and, once again these wonderful people provided an amazing outing. The last time was Peter Pan Royal Gala Premier @ Kensignton Gardens which provided an opportunity to dress up and a marvelous performance, together with a sighting ( very close indeed) of the Royal Family and (to Sarita's excitement) lots of celebrities (including some from across the pond.
That outing was registered in Scrapblog.com, and you can have a look at the slide show of the scraps HERE

This time it provided one of our favorite means of transport, the speedy boats in the Thames.
We took a cab with my Disabled Taxi Card which has saved us in so many outings as I got to a point now in which public transport is a no no 99,9% of the time...
The taxi took us to the Waterloo Pier where we bought discount boat tickets (again, with the Disabilty discount) and, of course, we were shutter happy...so here is my account of the whole thing...

kit On The Way
by Loloden @ Digital Crea Fr

paper from Coline's dream, also by Loloden
alpha freebie by a wonderful designer I just discovered (and she is Brazilian!), Jaqueline Bampi, Dharamsala Designs
I made the frames.

here again, kit On The Way
by Loloden @ Digital Crea Fr

elements & alpha a mixture of two kits, Lucky Star & Lucky Charm by Bella Gipsy @ Gotta Pixel
paper from the freebie kit Travel Miss Honey Designs
the crowns & Union Jack are from a freebie I got long time ago, the designer is MMDC (couldn't find any more info) the kit is called My English May.

same paper here by Miss Honey
journalings tags and brown stiches came in the Mega Grab Bag Project 365 by Captivated Visions @ Gotta Pixel
paper & English themed embies are, again, from that freebie from MMDC

kit Kids Spirit by Choukette @ Digital Crea

kit I used here is called Grunge Attitude, but is not at the store at the moment. I bought it for 1.50 Euros on the *retiring soon category a while ago... by Celine Designs @ Digital Crea Fr
dymo letters are a freebie from this wonderful lady I discovered through the Yahoo Group Digital Scrapbook Freebie (as most of my freebies lately! , Gunhild Storeide

background paper from Brume de Lune by Dilo @ Digital Crea Fr
other paper cuts & most elements from Pop City by Chouk77 @ Digital Crea Fra
all brown stiches I made myself.
alpha from You've got mail from Pouyou also @ Digital Crea Fr

kit Between the Headlines by Captivated Visions @ Gotta Pixel , this girl is one of the very few British designers around, she is beautifully nice , active in the forums and very talented, of course!

kit Agatha by Isabel Mendez also @ Gotta Pixel
another very nice designer who takes her time to look at your work and praise it...love this kit, I bought elements, papers and add on...great value on their sales, which they have regularly.
the alpha I made in my program, Digital Scrapbook Arist 2 by Serif, which is like a step before PhotoShop Elements...and I'm SO in love with it, I should write a reveiw really....
if you like the Alpha, I made that, the lower case & numbers and a mini kit with metal frames and music sheet papers, write a comment here and let me know you want it and I ll give you the link to the freebie download!

background papers by Chouk77 from a freebie that has as many as 6 or 7 kits from many designers @ Digital Crea Fr,background text by Choukette, the alpha is also from DCF, kit Angels Of Love from Droopette but she is no longer there, I followed her to the new store though, wll be showing shortly.
the rest is all a mixture of different kits but all from DCF, and honestly, these elements are CU sold in there, so they end up in all the kits, impossible to tell who originated them, because, though they do credit the designers'designers....they just mention their names, not who made what....and I better stop here or it wont be nice LOL
photo maks are courtsey of the most beautiful inside and out girl in the net, CraftyScraps' Michelle, or Wolvsie35 if you know her from ScrapbookMax

background paper again, You've got mail from Pouyou, the frayed grey fabric and dymo alphas by Gunhild Storeide, branches from Digital Crea's freebies.
The doodled frame with the Special Day text I made with one of the program's brushes but, I have to admit, copied it from Kawouette's Day by Day (also Digital Crea Fr)

Mega Grab Bag Project 365
by Captivated Visions & Jessica Edwards @ Gotta Pixel

same as above,(Project 365) only the alpha & numbers are from another kit, Happy Being me
also by Captivated Visions

I recently discovered DigiScrapsDrive In,which has some forums I LOVE and some very talented people , some of the elements are from their freebie daily download, the bird & word art are from a freebie from Ange (designer @ Digital Crea) the background paper is from Love is all we need , SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren, the one and only!!!! (next post is all dedicated to her :)

everything apart from the lace and white doodle page frame are from Captivated Visions Project 365

alpha City Girl by Bella gipsy @ Gotta Pixel
I made the background stiches, the red frames are from a kit called Little Things but couldn't find the designers name and I'm too tired to look in the dowload folder...same with the big frame, may come back tomorrow to edit...

Ok, so, in this responsable trying to credit all designers, I'm exhausted... easier to scrap than to blog it..... just hope you got the idea of the outing :)
I 'll be back soon!

The Identity Exhibition

2010-03-27T22:19:00.011Z

Hey again...
I have been trying to get to normal (or as normal as I can ever be..LOL) so I wanted to share with you the two outings we had in the middle of all that chaos that were the past 4 weeks.
Thing is, you see, I really thought in the middle of this that I had some not so much advanced stage of breast cancer, so I really wasn't looking when I scrapped these, I didn't think I would be making publish posts, so it will be a bit difficult to credit people, but will try as I go...

To get to the outing: this was the Identity exhibition at the Wellcome Collection, free to all, amazing 8 rooms with everything to do with our identity, like DNA invention, twins,and a few rooms dedicated to sexuality as it is Gay,Lesbian,Bisexual & Transgender History month here in the UK.
We took Nadia, one of Sarita's best friends, as she wants to be a doctor.
I called in advance (they were AMAZING!) and booked a parking space and a wheelchair.

This LO was made with a template I got from a freebie of Sweet Digiscraps by Liz (one of GottaPixel's owners, I learned when trying to know where I got it to link here...) only I changed everything around ...I'm a disaster scrapping with PSE, so I just took the PNGs into my DSA and resulted in this:

The girls needed the toilettes, so I waited in the corredor and took some photos until they came excited wanting to show me this (according to them) amazing hand drying device...
(these two LOs, I m sure came from Bella Gipsy @ Gotta Pixel)

It's a shame, but understandable, we couldn't take photos in the exhibition rooms, but we (of course!) ended up in the shop.
These are some captures from our stroll in this marvelous place.
This LO I know for sure was done with (again) Bella Gipsy's Lucky Star & Lucky Charm kits, from her store at GottaPixel.
The Dymo Alphas are from Gunhill Storeide (love her! see bellow)

this next LO is from a wonderful freebie called Sweetness of Blue I got from K Designs, through the wonderful Digital Scrapbook Freebies Yahoo Group (should post about that too, really!)

Next is Cardamome (one of my favorite) Pretty Little Things kit,from her store at Digital Crea France.

next, the paper is from a long time ago freebie called Denim Daisies, from MMD, the alpha from Pouyou's You've Got Mail @ Digital Crea.

this is Sarita reaching out in the shelves in the shop, I thought I make something different (though I'm not the best on fantasy stuff) as I got this kit, Entre Des Mondes, by Petitsouris @ Digital Crea

and here was where I got fascinated with the moleskin books but ended buying the one which is now my doodling diary..( you can read about it this in my previous post

the place was about to close when we were in the shop, so we went to a chinese restaurant and dinner and tons of fun...here is Sarita with the serynge/pens I bought them...
here the kit is Sheeps and Dreams, from Choubinnette @ Digital Crea, not sure but think the Alpha is from Gotta Pixel.

here is Nadia, who is a bit camera shy :)

we had fun!

finally this is something I made because I love this photo of Sarita I took in the shop. The title and journaling are a song, called Imaculada (immaculate), sung by Elba Ramalho, a song I used to sing to Sarita when I was pregnant and still didn't know it would be a she..., still, she turned out to be SO that song!
The paper is from Gunhill Storeide, another fabulous find from the women of the Yahoo Group, I will come give the links soon, she is AMAZING!

So, this is it until tomorrow.
I put together another little book with the other outing we had, which will be posting tomorrow.
I'm really eager to get to my CT work now I'm feeling better, you cannot imagine how amazing Karen's new kit is, and I also want to share about DigiScrapsDriveIn...but that ll have to be in another post..., thanks for popping in!

Returning to pen & paper....

2010-03-18T15:35:00.013Z

Credit to Connie Prince's BeeHappy @ Gotta Pixel
...is what I have been doing, these past three weeks of anxiety and uncertainty.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, you can find out by clicking here to read my previous post.
But better let the images speak:

We bought this before all the hospital thing, when we went to the Identity exhibition at the Wellcome Collection.
I don't normally buy things in shops like this, but it seemed reasonably priced(£12) and it was the last of its kind in the shelves. Not only I thought the book had my name written on it, but I had just read a post from my friend Annemarie about Moleskin books and also found (again, thanks to Annemarie, the wonder woman) Marit's blog about Zentangling.
Having *Zentagled* (posh, modern way to refer to *doodle*?) since 1970, I could not resist to have a go now, this seemed the perfect book for it.

I wanted to be away from the computer, blogging about this issue somehow did not seem right, so in between writings I started to let my mind go and these are some of the things I enjoyed making:

I used BeeYond Happy by Cherie Shields @ GottaPixel

Credit to Creations by Rachael, also @ Gotta Pixel, kit Love My Boys.

bits & pieces from Digital Crea France's designers, Pouyou,Choubinette,Moi, Chriscrap
these and the next couple of pages are photos taken with flash,I'm experimenting to see the best way to create elements for scrapbooking from this kind of stuff.

I put the paper together (background) the bits are from Mary's Mixes and string and staples from Digital Crea freebies.
Alpha by Connie Prince @ GottaPixel.

background paper and alpha from LoveMyBoys, CreationsByRachael @ Gotta Pixel.
The rest is Isabel Mendez's Aghata kit, also @ Gotta Pixel

As you can see, Sarita loved this thing so much she added her collaboration
Faery from Chriscrap's Far Away,frayed fabric from Droopette's around the World, heart, string of clouds and bow from Choubinette's Still Loving you, all @ Digital Crea.
Dymo alpha from Gunhill Storeide.
So, there, this is what I have been up to.
I know I can't be compared to Marit not in a million years,but not only has helped me relaxing and at the same time creating, but also has given me another thing we share a passion with my daughter...and that is a wonderful experience.
So, as the text in the first image says, I have found more than one good side to all the stress and anxiety they put me through the past few weeks, and showed me once again that the ones who are there for us are always there...they aren't many, but sure are first quality, amazing friends.

Thanks to all of you who came over to comment in my previous post, I have felt beautifully your presence over this whole thing,and its great to see that people are willing to make an effort to leave a comment here too :)

Hyppocrates would be proud.....

2010-03-16T22:40:00.004Z

...of all people who work at the private Hospital of St John & St Elizabeth, especially Dr Wilson, the consultant for the Breast Unit.
(well, that taken that it was Hyppocrates who wrote the oath, but I'm sure you know what I mean)
Someone else who makes proud medicine as a profession, especially taken that she is an NHS GP, is my own General Practitioner, Dr Sarah Morgan.

Making a long story short as my headache is one of those hammering ones:

When I went to the Royal Free to get the results of my biopsies, they made me wait for almost two hours only to be vague and go round in circles to tell me they wanted me to come back (again) this week as they STILL had not received the images of the mammogram I had last month.
I left in anger, swearing and banging doors.
Before I took enough Zopiclone to guarantee 24 hours sleep, I made an appointment with the private Breast Unit at St John's & St Elizabeth, which was today.

Yesterday my GP called me with the not so very good news that the Royal Free, though the biopsies came back clear were vague about not being sure if the tissue they took was actually from the problematic area, and that they were considering "removing that problematic area of the left breast completely*...

HA.

Well, at least, I thought, it is removable and not some stage 4 of something left unattended (by them) from 2006....still a surgical procedure and, giving the Royal Free's reputation, I was not enthusiastic.
My Gp mentioned St J & St E had actually contacted her, I said worse coming to the worse, I would probably choose to have surgery at UCH, but that was also a tricky option: there was were they failed with my *straight forward hip replacement* and the 3 following surgical procedures in which they try to fix it...
No point on stressing, I thought.
Lets go see what the power of money can do, right?
Right
Wonderfully right.

This guy saw me today.
Gobsmacked to the fact that they (the Royal Free) had not explained the results of my core biopsies, had a good look at me (well, my breasts, of course) and when I repeated what my GP told me to tell him, about the others contemplating the slicing of my breast, he says: *Oh...you don't wanna do that*.
He said he will be seeing me at the Whittington (an NHS hospital where he has a clinic, meaning I wont have to pay) in probably 4 to 6 weeks, but that he will still talk to the people who did the initial mammogram, give me a call. but that he sees clearly that these problematic area are calcification deposits, and that this is what they showed in the core biopsies under the microscope.
He says chances of cancer cells being inside this calcifications are remote, but all the same he will be getting me to have another mammogram in 6 months time, just in case.

So, there.
There are still people who practice medicine ethically, people who think of the whole picture apart from the pure scientific outcome.

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive, especially Peggy , my friends Cristina (another Brazilian in London, whom we have kept a beautiful friendship alive for 20 years) & Franceska, a most wonderful soul I had the blessing of coming across sometime in 2005 and has already seen me through some other difficult times, my carer Lizzie, and of course, my daughter, my beautiful, amazing, mature, intelligent, out of this world child.
These are people who have been giving me more than amazing support in *real life*. There are, of course, all of you online who have given me beautiful words and encouragement through the optical wire, and it would take me the whole night to name you....but you know how much I value your presence.

Lets just get a huge smile in our faces and the next post will be full of scraps, as I can feel my hands itching to get on doing something :) See you soon....

Status Update....

2010-03-06T11:29:00.004Z

I have to admit I am in no mood to write, but I have proved to myself many times that this helps.
And also to keep you up to date with events...but will be brief.(well, I can but try!)

When I went back to hospital on thursday, they STILL didn't have the results of my mammogram done at the health centre.
Something the surgeon who examined me found may have alerted them, so they decided to risk the budget and repeat the mammogram, but only on the left side.
Then they ultrasound me.....or should I say *knitted my left breast like some pizza dough*?
anyway...
After some 20 minutes of this skquessh and squash, he tells me (not ask me) he will do a *couple* of biopsies.

He assured me this procedure is almost painless, that the anesthesia would probably hurt more than the actual procedure.
How would you know, I say.
He starts trying to explain to which my reaction,through a curtain of tears and hiccuping,was, in my best authority accent
*you are not a girl and have no boobies*
(I swear I could see a faint forming of a smile there)
*well yes, you are probably right ion that one*

He was right on the painless.
Even when he warned me as to: * this maybe a bit more painful, ok?* it wasn't, really.
Not to the levels of pain I am used to 24/7, but maybe (and only maybe) the high dose of Tramadol Hydrochloride I permanently have in my body helped.
He did warn me about the anesthesia wearing of in 4 hours and to brace myself then.
Right.
He also warned about the bruising and swelling, but instructed to leave the bandaging (which resembles the akenatom's) until tomorrow.

Results next thursday.
All good will actions most welcome.
Have a great weekend.

1001 reasons why I dislike the British NHS

2010-03-02T15:25:00.002Z

I'm angry,to express it in a moderately sensible word.
Very angry.
In rage, actually.

Some of you who know me know already, I had an appointment this morning to do a follow up of a follow up of something that is not clear to me even now, to do with my breasts.
In 2005 I had cyst removed of my left breast. It was nothing, they just drained it there and then, and I had the company of a marvelous girl at the time, a girl impossible to describe, unless you see her art and what she can do
She had gone through the same before, so not only she kept me calm and free of worries in the weeks until that appointment, but also gave me a laugh and the hyper reassuring gift of her company on the date.
I had a check up 6 months later, then a year, then I forgot everything about it.
This was 5 years ago, right?

Well...if I was in South America, I would have been seen every 2 years for a mammogram as (though people tend to think we are the jungle and called us *undeveloped*) this is routine for every woman after 40. Same for smear tests. Two years.
And it is not because one has to pay. National Health Services in both Argentina & Brazil are free. One may have to wait a bit to be seen on a routine check up, but they are even getting better at that...

Anyway....just before Christmas, I had been having some sharp pain in the lower left side of my breast, so I made an appointment to see my GP (whom, I should add, has saved my life on the aftermath of the failed hip replacement...I would not have survived if this woman didn't take it up to make sure I was properly looked after).
She said it was muscular and it had to do with my using crutches.
Fine.

Three weeks ago I got a letter for an appointment at a local Health Centre, for a mammogram.
I got organized and attended.
I was told, as it is normal procedure,that I would get the results on the post.
This was on a wednesday, 3 weeks ago.
On the following saturday, I got a letter communicating that they wanted to see me for further testing, only this was not to happen at the health centre or my local hospital, but the St Bartholomew's Hospital in the city.
I was so shaken up I did not realized it was to St Barth's, but one of Sarita's friends was coming to stay for a sleepover, and her mum (who is a wonderful friend too) saw the letter and called my attention to this...and the fact that is in a very, very difficult place to get when you have mobility impairments of the one kind I have....

I set up to get this changed to my local hospital, the Royal Free, which was the place I had my cyst taken out in 2005....reasonable and easy enough...wouldn't it be?
Well...one would think so, if the NHS worked on something called LOGIC.
It isn't.
It wasn't.

First it took me an hour and 22 minutes (of me paying the bill) to try make the lady in the appointment line at St Barth's understand my reasons to want to change it..... Little Britain's *Computer says nooooo* lady came to mind.

Then I tried to speak to my GP.
(for all this I had to wait a weekend of uncertainty, which anyone who has gone through any kind of health matter would know, is the worse part of all. Then I had to wait for 48 hs without my doctor getting back to me.
Finally I got to speak to one duty doctor, he seemed to be listening and I thought he was, as I got a letter for an appointment at my local hospital 48 hs later.
That was last week, for an appointment this morning.
I said he *seemed* to be listening because today, this morning, I realized he wasn't.
Neither was the lady whom I spoke at St, Barth's bothered with what I could be going through.....

...as today they did...NOTHING.
Zilt, Zero, Nada, Rien de Rien , nadinha de nada...
oh wait...no...
they did do something:
They upset me.
BIg time.

The results of the mammogram I had in the health centre three weeks ago weren't there.
And the consultant who saw me (with a very limp hand shake, I have to add, which makes me distrust people big way) almost spelled the fact that, unless I lied and said I actually had felt something in my breasts they could not see me today.

So I said yes, I have felt something in my breasts...he came back into his own steps (he was actually leaving the room...arrrghhhhhhh!!!!) and agreed to have a look.
He did, noted something in the diagram
They sent me to the mammogram.
Only the radiographer ( a gorgeous aussie girl, but to me she looked like the devil incarnate) wouldn't do it, because I had another one only 2 weeks ago.

They wanted me to wait another two weeks , *until we get the results of the mammogram from St Barth's*
Two weeks?
Another two weeks?
(wasn't that Arnie's line, what was is, Total Recall?)
That got me of on one....

In these times of digitalized everything...two weeks to get an email with the digitalized results?
Two weeks to get something from one computer in some not so distant part of town into another?
this brought back thought of Kafka, but then again, my whole life is some Kafkian joke since 2003.

But hey...if you know me, you know I would not have it, right?
I shouted.
Yup.
To my poor daughter's embarrassment (but also lesson as to how to get things done) I shouted.
I threw all my health advocacy skills (which I had employed in the five years in which I was one for the Health department to which this very hospital belongs) through the window and shouted.

They got their counceler to try calm me down....but instead I got her to get me seen on thursday.
So, there.
I have another...what? almost 48 hours of uncertainty.
And I'm utterly pissed off.

To take my mind out of Chile's earthquake....

2010-03-01T15:44:00.007Z

Fisherman of Dreams kit by Choubinette
I bought it a couple of days ago on the 1Euro sale, unfortunately I just saw it's gone back to the 3.90 Euros price.

The Enchanted World, freebie they had going on until yesterday, in lots of parts, by Ptitesouris,StarlightDesigns,Marta Designs, Dydige, Genedes, Choukette & Chouk77. This is mainly Chouck77 but some elements from the others.
All of them @ Digital Crea France

I got busy with these.
Not only it is scary the fact that the world is vertiginously going into natural disasters mode, that this thought of my not seeing the end of the world doesn't seem so real now, the fear for the state of affairs my child is inheriting....but also my brother lives in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, which is the very end of the south of America, and not so far from Chile...

700 deaths last time I looked (early this morning)
If we put it together with Haiti, Middle East devastation and...well, all other sad situations we have come to,live with lately...every little ache & pain of mine, every worry I can have for anything, anything at all feels dwarfed.
:(

Birthday Week3: a bit more scrapping

2010-02-27T16:19:00.013Z

Ok, so, here are the last LOs for Sarita's birthday week, which was a great one...
14 (fourteen!) years old....wow is all I can say.
I have been trying to get some inspiration with templates, this first LO I made with PNGs of a freebie template from Sweet Digiscraps by Liz , whom, I have just realized in googling her (I found her through DigiFree) she is a designer at GottaPixel...
I did not follow her template though, this is me moving pieces around...(mainly because I only downloaded the PNGs...I'm not very good at understanding how to make the psd work in my program, and I'm hopeless at scrapping in PSE :(
I love this though...and the photos are great, even if I go into a bit of an ego trip here...

the 4 following ones are with Moi's kit Happy Birthday, she is one of my very favorite designers @ Digital Crea France, from whom I keep coming back again and again to buy kits.
Good thing is that DC has often their 1 Euro sales...
The photo cuts were done with shapes by Michelle McCoy or Wolvsie35 for those know know her from ScrapbookMax, I stuck them through my stencils in DSA and got the masks...
Michelle has always the most beautiful freebies and a wonderful forum with lots of challenges for the ones who like to enter, CraftyScraps, Michelle site & forums is scrapping heaven, be sure you pop in, she is an amazing lady too...

Next comes Chriscrap, another of my very favorite designers, same thing: have bought probably all her kits up till now!
this one was done with Dreams or Reality kit of hers

Big Big Love by Chriscrap

Crazy Day, Chriscrap. I couldn't find the link to this one, shame...love it

A Day, a Story kit by Choubinette (on sale now for 1 Euro @ Digital Crea Fr)
Glow by Chouk77 from the freebie kit Enchanted World which is available now , same store.

Birthday Bliss by JulieMarieDesigns,
Alpha by Pouyou, Bohemian Girl kit.
Stiches I made with one of the embroidery DSA brushes.

and this is it for today...
We went out yesterday afternoon to the Wellcome Collection to see the Identity exhibition, so I will post on that when I have recovered my energies.
Have a great weekend!

Birthday Week 2: some scrapping

2010-02-25T13:30:00.017Z

I'm having a weird week. apart from some health issues,I haven't been very inspired,but I'm determined to finish scrapping Sarita's birthday week's photos,so I thought I post some so it doesn't come all in one go...there are a lot in this post as it goes..I'm almost finished with it though, using the latest MOI's & Chriscrap kits, beautiful :)
This one is MartaDesign's kit Happy New Year plus bits of Chriscrap & Dilo, all @ Digital Crea France

I love this one...I used Marta Designs part of the freebie Enchanted World @Digital Crea. The photo I took with flash whilst Sarita was asleep, then worked it in DSA's photolab

this photo came out too blurred, so I put a filter to rescue...it would have been a great pic.
The fame is from Cardamome, the flowers & foliage & paper from various kits from DigitalCrea, and the side doodles are from marvelous Rosemarie @ Pixel Scrapbooking, I'm quiet sure the download would still be active, her freebies are amazing.

for this one I used another kit I bought on the dollar sale @ GottaPixel, this time from Captivated Visions called Happy Being Me. Love this kit, but unfortunately I only bought the elements pack, would love to get my hands in the papers, but gonna have to be on a sale. The alpha is from a kit from JulieMarieDesigns called A Mother's Love.

these two were made with stuff from Gotta Pixel too.
The first one is from Simply Scraps, called Sweetly Sinful I love that cluster frame, but I used it in a different way and added more stuff to the cluster...amazing kit, this one, there is not even a quarter of all in this page, and I payed a dollar!
The next one is from JulieMarieDesigns @ GottaPixel,but I couldn't find the link. I buy only at the dollar sales, so it is possible that the kit isn't for sale, though both DC &GP will take them out for a while and then put them back full price,but I'm always watching for sales...

I recently joined a group called Digital Scrapbooking Freebies,is a Yahoo group that Melinda, Lovemyzombie @ Serif/DaisyTrail/YouTube recommended. For those who use DSA, Melinda has tutorials in YT that are wonderful, easy to follow and will get you creating in no time...
This group though, the first 3/4 days I thought I was wasting my time. The way it works one gets the emails with the links to freebies and a preview, in theory easier than Digifree, but I really didn't like anything at first. I have so much stuff alreeady that downloading things that are not my style is a waste of time...but then I found Scraps by Jessica
The link provided in the group was for something I didn't fancy, but I caught a glimpse of a cute felt monkey, and then downloaded all her felts, including this kit which is called Spring into Happiness...beautiful.

I bought this kit, Wise Owl, by RedJu @ Digital Crea, because it has the plastic clouds...then I found myself lacking inspiration...
the letters I made with DSA, I can see myself never buying or downloading an alpha again, but then again, there are designers who make amazing stuff, which I have no idea how to...here is a link to the kits preview, but I couldn't find it in DC, I bought it for a Euro, so probably it was taken out of sale...
http://redjuscrap.blogspot.com/2009/09/digital-crea-birthday-sale-1-euro-kit.html

this one was a frustrated attempt to use more brushes...but the program was misbehaving so I gave up...the stiches came up nicely though LOL

with these I'm gonna try print at home, but will come back, probably later, with the last, which, of course, are always the best! :)

Birthday Week: 1.Re-learning my French.

2010-02-22T02:41:00.013Z

My daughter, Sarita, was 14 last friday.
Amazing, don't really know where time went,but wherever it went, it turned my baby into a fine young lady.
I can complain much about her being untidy, or throwing her shoes, bag, coat and general accessories like a trail in her walking into the house, but she really makes me proud in what matters.
It was the half term holiday, so we have celebrations every day, starting by her best friend Lauren's visit from last weekend.
She was our next door neighbor, but had to move away outside London after her mum died in 2007,so this was an amazing surprise to Sarita.
As a birthday present I gave her an Ice Skating course for the 5 days of the holiday. She used to do classes at the Sobell Centre, but we had to stop as they change payment method, and it was impossible for me to get the money of the whole term together up front, and I didn't like the woman who owns the group much.
Sarita had mentioned to me that she would like to go back to study* before her skates did not fit her anymore* , so I found out about this other place.
She was happy and I was too as I did not have to drive her this time, so the week started pretty eventful.
I tried to keep as shutter happy as I could all week.
As I'm spending a lot of time in bed, in an effort to save health an energy for the things that matter: think cooking and keeping our lives moderately organized, this is not always an easy task, but I've got some good shots,which will speak loudly than I can about the fun we had.

In the mean time, I was confronted with the need to re learn my French via Yahoo's Babel Fish (as my French teacher from my secondary school maybe a bit difficult to contact!)....why?
Ok, let me explain:
If I had to choose one store, and one store only to carry on scrapping the rest of my life, I wouldn't doubt a minute, my answer would be Digital Crea France.
Not only do they create in my most loved styles, but also they make it possible for people like me (read skint-peniless-broke) to be able to shop often with very regular sales of full kits for 1 Euro, and their permanent collection of products categorized Retiring Soon, all kits are 1.50 Euros. They also have the best freebies,constantly.

But lately I have been experiencing problems in the downloads, and I know I am not alone on this as a few other women I know had the same, which told me it wasn't my Mac.
I wont explain the whole thing, suffice to say that in some kits, as many as 5 or 6 elements did not come through.
As I said, long story, but I at certain point started making note of the exact name of the files which did not come through and mail Digital Crea's Service to Client.
I got very promptly an email from Amelie, DC's creator, with a gift of 1 Euro to spend in the store. Nice of her, but at the time I wanted was the files which did not come through. Still, I didn't say anything else, after all, the store is amazing, right?

But after another couple of times and an experience in which wonderful Karen from SnickerdoodleDEsignsByKaren ended up sending me two files from her St Paddy's kit which had the same problem, by email, I thought I could ask Digital Crea to do the same...

What followed was also a long story, one in which I had to refresh my French but, re-reading what I had written...ermmm, I cringed, decided then to ask another of my favorite people in the scrap world for help.
Rosemarie Pixel, as she is known in CyberSpace, is in French Canada, none better than her to use the correct language and reflect the intention my message had.
(Thanks so much Rosemarie! you are the best!)
My message then went out in beautiful, proper French.
But I was then faced with a reply email...and what would you know..there is an online translator for which one doesn't even need to download software (the Google Translator is free, but needs the download), Gotta love these Yahoo guys...

Anyway, to make the story short: some of my favorite designers just went up a notch in my charts, plus they have gained a loyal client for life.
All of them were great, sent me the missing elements and one of them even had pity on me and answered me in English! LOL
So, here is my account of monday, first day of Sarita's birthday week, scrapped with the latest kits I bought from these marvelous girls, Moi, Chriscraps & Dilo.
They all have kits in the retiring soon for 1.50 Euros per full kit, Digital Crea just had a 1 Euro sale this week gone, but if you keep an eye you ll get marvelous freebies(they have a wonderful one at the moment!) every 3 days average, plus the sales are very frequent.

Chriscrap - kit So Funky

Chriscrap- kit Respire

again, Chriscrap, I used stuff from Croque Ta Vie and Crazy Day

here the designer is MOI, the kit GoGoGo this is a kit I never get tired of using!

again, designer MOI, kit GoGoGo

another amazing kit by MOI: My Black & White Paradise

in this one for the background & papers I used a kit I got free through Digifree almost 2 years ago from Peppermint Creative, a store I don't like buying because they are expensive even at Scrapblog.com, but the marvelous WordArt is by Karen

for this LO I used Dilo's Love Me, which I couldn't wait to buy, love her, love and love her a bit more!

again, same kit, Dilo's Love Me

Well, hope all this info is helpful, I ll be coming back with more photos (LOs', of course!) from last week.
Have a great week!

Copyright or Copy, All Right?...

2010-02-18T08:31:00.007Z

I know I haven't been around much, not even doing a lot of scrapping, so I apologyse, but my health has not been the best this past week and I have been wrestling with new kind of pain (or extreme discomfort, as the UK's welfare reviewists like to call it), which makes it impossible to do any kind of anything.

This post today was inspired by a wonderful lady I came across whilst browsing someone else's Scrapblogs and the decided to follow her WordPress blog.
Her name is Leslie Sigal Javorek, but some of you may have come across her as IconDoIt, as she gives out freebies which make beautiful embellishments for scrapping.
This morning one of the first things I got in my inbox was her post about the Copyright thing and this is an issue which has been in my mind a lot lately.
I suggest you read her post, to understand better what I'm talking about (she is a delight to read too).
In there she talks about how Copyrights can be restricting creativity, how many wonderful pieces have spanned of other authors,and particularly of Don Quixote de la Mancha, Miguel d Cervantes' great work.
This touched me especially because my father would quote Cervantes a lot in educating us. She also posted this video by Nina Paley, one of the artist at the Question Copyright.org , the site yo go to get more knowledgeable about the subject.

I have mixed feelings on this copyright thing, having been victim of stolen ID which I may have never know if it wasn't for a few friends of mine up north (in the UK) who talked to someone online who was using my photos as herself....poor girl did not know how much I traveled around...but there is also the thing I'm most passionate about, regarding music.
I was a performer for 33 years and have seen so much of it, is scary.
Not even going into the depths of piracy or plagiarism, I m constantly having to show my daughter original versions of songs by Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kan or other less acknowledge (and sometimes less talented) are putting out there without not even a simple mention of the artist...
In the Uk we had a few years ago a bunch of kids going around with Eternal Flame *by Atomic Kitten* did these kids ever knew about Siouxie and the Bangles? me thinks not,unfortunately.
I went to my daughter;s school to teach the kids how "As" was written by Stevie Wonder and NOT by Mary J.Blige, and so on.

And then we come to the part that maybe more familiar to the scrapping community, and this is why this subject is such a difficult one for me
I love digital scrapbooking.it has become a pain relief therapy and a creative outlet .
I don't get much around the net, but enough to be able to say that very, very few people read the TOU, and of those who do, very few really acknowledge the artist... even the designers themselves: I am amazed as how many times I got the same cluster frame in different designers kits, which I thought was the marvelous creation of one person but it isn't. And try figure out who first created it?
Well, their designers themselves only acknowledge the name of the people they bought things from in a very, very small print, and don't really say who made what.....
I know some people may think scrapbooking a minor art....if an art at all, but this is what I know about these days,and what makes me reluctant to have an opinion in which I can passionate about in the Copyright thing...

I'm going to leave this in here, as my mind doesn't go very far in the mornings, but there is something I have been thinking a lot about and is related to this issue too, which is the attitude of the designers and how much can this influence the way you (one) respects their work, and I really, really want to elaborate about it.

And as I cannot finish this post without a LO, here is something I made with one of my most loved freebie girl: Rosemarie Pixel, of Pixel Scrapbooking. This template plus kit was given as a freebie by Rosemarie a couple of weeks ago, as she is following the 365 Project. I only changed color I think, in a couple of elements and added something *derivating* of her elements :)
This was our last outing, to a dear Brazilian friend of mine's house. She is married to a marvelous Finnish International (like he likes to describe himself) and that day made a Feijoada, our typical Brazilian dish of rice and stewed black beans.
Have a great day!

For the next one I used a kit from one of my newest finds, Julie Marie Designs, a kit she started as a freebie, then made a full kit which I HAD to go back to buy,luckily it was on one of those sale days, plus a coupon she wonderfully sent me for 30% discount after I bought from her on a U$1 dollar sale at GottaPixel.

The very best Harlot's Sauce ever made....

2010-02-14T13:32:00.003Z

...isn't actually any version of the Italian pasta sauce that became famous and is enjoyed these days all over the world.
That one, the "Salsa Putanesca", is a tomato sauce invented by harlots(prostitutes, in case you are,like me, a non native English speaker) in Naples, Italy, many years ago. The sauce had to be quick to fix – between clients (wink) – and economical. Nonetheless, those women made something delicious out of a limited choice of ingredients. That one, the pasta sauce, is delicious, but, I insist, isn't the best.

The best just happens to be a book, one written by an amazing woman, Patricia Volonakis Davis.

Now, let me explain in case you don't know me: I don't buy books. There are so many public libraries in London which will loan books for free, that in these days of financial struggling I find superfluous expenses have to be cut straight down.
But don't get me wrong,I do not find reading superfluous, God knows the battle I fight every day trying to get my teenage daughter to read, but unless the books are on sale or in charity shops, I can't afford them, so I make intense use of the libraries, suits me fine.
But when I started reading Patricia's blog in my days of blogging in Vox, I felt I HAD to buy this book when it was published.
Everything else she had written I had enjoyed so much, it had moved my emotions to such beautiful place, that it would be a shame to have to wait for ever until the book was available either on sale in shops or in Charity ones...mainly because she is in the US, but there was the urge to read this...so I bought it.
It was available in Amazon at a very affordable price too, it was so worth it that I have since bought many more copies, the last couple I gave away to dear friends in Christmas.

Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece is a non fiction book, it tells us about her battle as a woman, wife and mother in such amazing way I think every woman in the planet should read it.
At first I thought I may not identify that much with the book, with her being in a different country, her story being so different to mine, but as soon as I started reading I not only couldn't put this book down, but also saw myself portrayed in so many situations, I realized she has written this book speaking to each and every woman in the planet, trying to send a message.
The best of it? she gets it across.
Not only that, but you will also travel to Greece in such style, savor the delights and experience something I cannot describe: for that you will have to read it.
And it isn't only interesting for women. Men will also love this book, even if, llike Carmen's husband they will discover how great they are...
If you are interested in reviews, there are lots of published ones if you just click HERE which will tell you better than I could.

I did write a review though, which was the reason that prompted this post today, but I couldn't find it.
I'm not sure why, but I have search the 38 Amazon reviews of the book and I'm quiet sure mine isn't there. Oh well, you wont loose much,as so many others have reviewed it so well, but let me get to the point of today's post...

When the book was first published (it has recently been published again with a new cover art, which I loved, pictured above)
Patricia held a Facebook competition at her Fan Page: writing a review of the book could win you dinner for two at an Italian or Greek restaurant
I had loved the book, so I did.
Funny thing was, I never in a million years thought I would win.
I'm not the kind of people who get lucky in competitions like this, but I did write the review because in my heart I thought every one should read this book....
And then one day I was looking for one of the PodCasts in Harlot's Sauce Radio and happened to find the video Patricia made to announce the competition winner...and would you believe it?
It was me.

Because we are some miles and waters away, we got a U$100 dollars Visa gift card, of course we would honor the spirit and go for dinner, it only took us a (errrmm little?) while to get it done, but finally we did.
I cook pasta quiet nicely,growing up in South America, Argentina & Brazil both with huge Italian colonies and traditions, I find it a bit of a waste to go out to eat something we enjoy so much cooking at home.
So Greek it would be.
There are many Greek restaurants in Camden, but this is our shopping neighborhood, we wanted to make it a different night out, so I looked into the Charlotte St restaurants, famous for the quality and not so dear in the price.
There is these days so much info about restaurants and so many reviews, that I got dizzy after reading 21 reviews of different restaurants in areas that would be suitable, but every time I typed Charlotte St the main link was Andreas.

Last thursday was Sarita's school progress review, parents evening after the previous week we had the GCSE's choices, so I thought we would have something to celebrate too.
I'm glad to say that we had a lot more to celebrate than I ever thought: 4 commendations, an A Star in Spanish, being that she is well ahead of the class, the teacher had explained me last year, whilst everyone does one type of work, Sarita is about 2 years ahead of everyone, and her teacher has so much confidence in her that she will get her to do the exam (GCSE) but not take the course....a hell of a compliment, especially if you know that we do not speak Spanish at home, but Portuguese.
Yes, I know,similar.
Similar, but not same.
The grammars are different, there are lots of words and phrase constructions which would not make sense in Spanish if translated from Portuguese...so, a huge compliment to my child's intelligence. (yup, I'm a very proud mum!)

Also many of the other teachers, like History and Geography, want her to go for her subjects in GCSEs.
Again, I'm told this is a great compliment to Sarita's intelligence and power of achievement.
Her grades were wonderful in general...if only I could get her to get A stars in household chores, listening to mum or just not leave her boots, jacket and clothes like a trail all over the house...
but hey, if my mother survived my teenage years, I will surely come out well from hers.

Getting back to the point: Andreas, in Charlotte St. Nice place (we got (again, thanks to Sarita's sharp eye and determination) a place to park at the door, rare thing in the West End, service was nice, everyone had a smile and the manager even had a laugh at my tries to make Sarita eat Octopus (she eats Sushi, crabs, mussels but has some problems with the 8 legged ones).
The food was Ok, not all that, I have to say,but maybe is that we did not know well what to order (the restaurant was full when we arrived) I thought I would know as the Greek eat very similar to my parents Syrian delicacies, even the names are the same in many dishes, but the Octopus was a bit over grilled, dry; Sarita's meat undercooked even though I had made a point about her being just 13 and wanting it well done...
But never mind.
We enjoyed the night out very much, we will probably wait to eat Greek food again until we get to the Us and can go directed by the wise hand of Patricia herself , I'm sure she will be able to recommend a good place.

If you are still unsure about reading the book, go have a look at Harlot's Sauce Radio, there is enough there to get you hooked :)

As for our weekend, we had another outing on friday evening to Sarita's ex violin teacher's graduation play at The Poor School.
The play was wonderful (songs of old musicals) the cast was amazing but it ended up wrecking my poor body to such point that I haven't moved from the bed since friday night, and I am still attached to the tens unit :(
I will be fine though.

Here are some LO's I made with the photos of Thursday evening (low lights, blurred pics)
The first two LO's of Patricia & the book are entirely with a kit called Black & White Paradise, by one my fav Digital Crea designers, Moi.
The kit is on sale now @ Digital Crea Fr

The other LOs have elements and backgrounds from Choukette's several kits, and some frames and word tags by Kaowette's Day After Day kit.

A magical, fairy like feeling...

2010-02-07T08:56:00.006Z

...has never appealed to me when scrapbooking.
But after I saw this kit that Karen made, I just couldn't help myself....
This is what I made with it:

This came to confirm my deep believe that, no matter how angry you are, diving into some mindless(well not so much mindless as focusing your mind in color and composition...) scrapping will always make you feel better.
I wasn't feeling all that well the other night, I guess the so dreaded teenage time, the adolescence period I know I have to get my daughter through is staring at me with those ugly green eyes....and threatening to wreck my beautiful mum/daughter relationship I have been so proud to construct all these almost 14 years (12 days to go...)

It all dissipated yesterday when we went to Cristina, whom I have been friends with for almost 20 years here in London, and we all had a great laugh, lots of wonderful food (feijoada completa!!!) drinks (just one caipirinha for me as I was driving) and dessert (caramel pudding) in harmony.

more than likely I'll be making something with the photos, but later...

Don't forget that Karen made some gorgeous word art for Katie's St Patrick's Day kit, you can find my LOs in my previous post , and in her blog Karen has a quick page made with Katie's kit as a freebie, plus the alpha for garbs when you sign up to her newsletter.
To get all freebies you can go HERE get all download links and update what's new around there...
Both kits are well worth having, as they (I think) can make amazing LOs for St Patrick's day but have amazing elements and backgrounds which will go along many photos all year around.
I know Karen was having some problems with a couple of elements which did not download for me at the beginning, but that has been sorted.
I had this problem with some kits from DigitalCrea Fr, and thought it was my computer but it obviously isn't...as many others are having problems like this...will try get to the bottom of what s causing it, but if you had some elements not downloading from zip files, I would love to hear from you, see if we can sort out what's going on :)
Hope you are all having a weekend as beautiful as mine!
:)

This St Patrick thing.....

2010-02-05T07:18:00.010Z

...is something that, until a couple of years,only meant to me something about people going to the pubs in London to drink themselves legless on Guinness. It was only mentioned very lightly that had something to do with the Irish by my ex husband, who would complain about foreigners to me, the foreignest of the foreigners..but lets leave it there, shall we?
There is a reason why ex husbands are exes, and, after all, I enjoyed 10 of our 12 years together very much.

When I came into the scrapping world, was never drawn to make a St Paddy's LO, if you look at my Scrapblogs you'll find none, but when Katie & Karen showed me what they have done for the holiday, Katie the kit, Karen with her marvelous word art...I couldn't resist, so here are a couple of pages I made with it.
Don't forget to scroll to the end of the page to get your Love You freebie, day7, whilst you are there, I show you some pages I made with that kit in the end of this post, but lets have a look at St Paddy's and what this means. First, my pages. The kit is called Lucky and I'm hoping some of the Irish luck will come our way!

Click HERE to buy the kit, remember EVERYTHING at Katie's store is U$1.50, and, though I like my LOs lately to be on the simple side, the kit has LOTS & lots of marvelous stuff.

there is also the Freebie Love You, day 7 for grabs there, here is something I made with her Love You kit and Karen's (SnickerdoodleDesingsByKaren word at:

Last but not least...I decided to go in search of knowledge to get the real meaning of St Patrick's, which I (more or less) found HERE
I'll surely be back with more, as there is Karen's kit coming up and I have seen the preview already and awwwwwwww, irresistible!
Stayed tune for that and an update on why I came to the conclusion that parents and their offspring should be separated during said offspring teenage years....
Have a great weekend!

Is not for nothing....

2010-02-03T21:30:00.003Z

...that they call her Rosemarie Pixel.
She jokes as to have been downloaded instead of born...and I can vouch for that.
This girl is not only a great source of knowledge, but also one of these wonderful people within the scrapbooking world who give, teach, and even spare time to listen to us, furthermore, sort out our technological problems.

She was as good as to taking time of her busy schedule ( a mum of 3 boys!!! a wife, a designer, amongst other daily tasks) to make my blogs backgrounds possible, so, Thank you, Rosemarie. You are a star.
You can go have a look at her site, Pixel Scrapbooking, to collect some freebies that are available for all there, or even sign up for her newsletter and get access to even more freebies to which only friends have permissions.
Here is a page I made with one of the kits he gave us a while ago

and now I'm going to go sleep (at 21:40, that s a new one for me!) as my eyes are closing and tomorrow is GCSE's options day for my daughter,,,,

Frustration...

2010-02-01T20:58:00.004Z

...seems to be following me once again.
Alright, alright, I know I'm tired, I have had no sleep at all in the past 30 something hours, but the events of today have more to do with technology (and my inability to deal with it at times) than sleep deprivation.

First, I wanted to shout to the world about this program I have been using, the DigitalScrapbookArtist by Serif but, just as I was getting the know how of it, they come up with an upgrade. I had this feeling like, I'm not ready for going further, but these very, very nice people at the Serif Forums convinced me, so I did.
What the program can do is awesome.
If only it didn't froze or crash every couple of hours with no pattern, sense or apparent reason.
I know, I know. New programs, need erasing and polishing a bit. OK, no probs, I have the old version (which to me is no oldie, really, just bought it what? a month ago?)

The root of all my distress is in trying to produce a background for this blog and, yes, I finally got it together: my Portuguese Blog. Though if I wasn't posting enough in this or my other English one, where on earth am I gonna find inspiration, time, and brain to do it, none knows.....
I was happy to produce a blog banner, then went to seek help with the One and Only, the so good at multitasking and wonderful friend that is Mommy Victory, though you may know her better as McMGrad89

Up to then everything was great,(I'm sure you noticed I changed the background to one of the cutest that the cutest has to offer) but I got tempted to attempt my own...sure thing sounded easy.

Photobucket does not like me.
Or is the the CutestBlog On The Block?
I don't think so. I reckon is just plain technology alert and sleep deprivation do not go well together.

I tried and tried.
Never mind, now my eyes are sleepy and my child need to get to bed (plus I should be translating this to Portuguese, but will have to wait...
Here is what I produced as background

the banner is up in the blog, you can get there by clicking HERE
I'm contemplating the possibility of spending a few days away from the computer and other electrical devices, if such is possible. Right now, I'm gonna go sleep!

That's why the lady is a ....Bug!

2010-01-30T20:19:00.009Z

Or a bird, depending in which country you are reading.
But also you need to know your Frank (Sinatra) or Aretha (Franklin) to know what I'm talking about.
Thing is, I just want to show you these I made with the new Digital Scrapbooking Artist by Serif, an upgrade to the program that promises to be just what one needs..it works wonderful so far, but, as with any new versions of these kind of programs, it crashes a bit, so I took a rest and wanted to share these with the world.

I told you before about the opening of JustSoScrappyToo the store two of my favorite designer ladies teamed up to make a success..well, you can get this kit over there for the amazing price of U$1.50 (like every other kit in the store, there is nothing priced over U$1.50) and lots, lots and lots more freebies.
In UK terms this means a mere £1.
If you consider that these days a minimum bus ticket in the capital is over that amount....so worth it, isn't it?

This photos are from the week just gone,Sarita & Melissa git together for a sleepover as they had a special dressing up day in school, and I took Sarita for her so much awaited hair cut. I wanted to finish this book with a page showing you my daughter's love for the hairs straighteners,but the DSA2 froze before I could finish it.
I may still post it later as this program is really good at recovering unsaved work,but couldn't wait to show you these.

I have also been writing a bit more (slowly and taking care of not feeling under pressure) and I have written a review of Smilebox & Scrapblog for those who are on the search of the perfect scrapping tool, and will be writing about ScrapbookMax & Digital Scrapbooking Artist 1 & 2 versions soon.
The first two reviews were done for Rosemarie of PixelScrapbooking , if you don't yet know the site, she has the cutest freebies and posts very often, as well as amazing tutorials. I will be writing about Pixel Scrapbooking soon, but meanwhile you can read the reviews here
and here

If you subscribe to her newsletter, you wont even need to o anything but click on the links in her emailed newsletter to get the freebies, otherwise you will be loosing on some, as some of the downloads are for friends who subscribe and are passworded.
Subscribe and you'll get the password every time.

And to finish talking about freebies, you may have noticed I included another link today. This site is by Liliana, aka Malacima, called Just For Fun. well, not only she has fun in style, but also shares ALL her amazing creativity with us, her kits are amazing.
I made a page with her My Birthday Gift kit, she invited me to make a page with her latest freebie, A Secret Garden.
You can find both my page and the freebie kit here and bookmark her or come back here and click in her link at the right hand side in my blog.

So, with the JustSoScrappyToo , PixelScrapbooking and JustForFun we have stuff to scrap to our hearts content.
Have a great weekend!

Valentines sale(kits under £1!!), discount coupons & freebies

2010-01-27T02:59:00.005Z

Well, it seems I spoke a bit too soon when I said my sleeping patterns were getting better: all sleep I got in the past 48 hours is just a couple...and when I thought tiredness would win..well, I know a lot of you out there know what I'm talking about.

Remember the Love is All We Need kit form Karen @ SnickerddodleDesigns(byHer!), well, I fell in love so much with it, that I got on making cards for my friends...here is some of what I made..

Like it? want some? well, you can just go get a lot of material made by these two extremely talented girls, Karen,of SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren author of the kit used above and most of my latest creations, and Katie, of JustSoScrappy are having a sale to celebrate the opening of their new store: JustSoScrappyToo

Following Katie (JustSoScrappy's) line of prices, everything in the store is U$1.50, plus so many freebies you will have to make time to download. There are brag books , tags kits...and, just because they are soooooo nice, they are giving you guys even more discount....(if you are in the UK...this means well under a quid!!!) So, I would say go shopping!!!!
The girls have generated a *Get to Know Me* coupon, which will give you a further 25% in your total shopping...an unmissable bargain, me thinks!
Here are the coupon's codes (which you will be entering before total checkout
For SnickerDoodleDesignsByKaren: SDD_25
For JustSoScrappy: JSS25
Note that these are to use at JustSoScrappyToo
Just enter the coupon before your final checkout...and don't forget to grab the freebies , amazing stuff!!!!
Now, I'm seriously gonna try sleep...

Lets talk about nice people (and Scrapbooking software!)

2010-01-25T08:09:00.005Z

Good morning/afternoon/evening....

My sleep patterns are getting better, despite my body not wanting to answer to my brain commands, but I have been in a good mood overall, so many nice people making their way into my life.
There are so many givers in the net world, even if we only talk about the scrapbooking "scene" (I could be hours writing about the amount of gifted people who share their music with the world for free, and many other forms of art...)

Starting by the one who brings us the givers as a package, Maria from Digifree, which recently has changed names to CraftCrave.
I have to admit I don't much like the new name, even my daughter made a comment as to the old name making more sense, but the essence remains the same:through this site one can have a blast reading the many blogs found by the searching engine, and get freebies to scrapbook for a year without having to spend a penny....thing is, if you are anything like me, you will feel a bit *guilty* of only downloading freebies, start picking your favorite designers and, when they become affordable, buy some kits.

When buying, I end up most of the time at Digital Crea France . They have very often (once a month at least) sales with full kits for as little as 1 Euro or 1.50, and they are my preferred style, but lest go back to the point (yeah, I know, blame the prescription meds!)

Amongst the many people who create and always give freebies, is the most wonderful Rosemarie (or RosemariePixel, as you may know her) who runs Pixel Scrapbooking
I think I came across her through Digifree, as one does, and the freebies were so cute and so many, I ended up signing up for the newsletters, which allows you into more freebies than if only searching through Digifree (or any of the other search engines, I know there is Lori and some others, but up to date, my chosen one is ...ok, ok, I have to correct myself: CraftCrave (it's gonna take time to get used to this, though!)
But she offers not only freebies but so much more, the first time I went to the site I spent quiet a long time reading, she also has such a beautiful family you can get lost into her creations, a great source of inspiration too.
The tutorials are amazing, and I have clicked in many of the adverts, there is interesting stuff I didn't even know existed.

I have been saying for a while that I wanted to post something about these people, these women who so kindly put their talent out there for everyone to enjoy, and particularly wanted to do this for Rosemarie, so I thought: what better than share my latest experiences with software?
As my concentration levels still are clouded by medication or pain levels (or severe discomfort, as the British NHS would prefer it to be described!) I wasn't sure I would complete the task properly, so it took a while, but I got started... :)

So here is where you can find my thoughts and experiences with the few programs I use & bought, starting by the not so creativity inclined Smilebox and followed by the (at least for me) winner of all prizes, Scrapblog
Just click on the highlighted names to go to the reviews, leave a comment there, come to talk to me here...but above all, sign up for Rosemarie's freebies, everything is amazingly beautiful or teaches you a lot...even if you were just born in a non computerized era (like me!), girls like RosemariePixel (who apparently was *download* instead of just purely born LOL) will help you master the digital arts in a very, very easy to understand way.

Here is a LO I made last night with a mix of elements from different kits, but where the star is PixelScrapbooking moon, which you can get for free (together with some more of different colors) when signing up for the newsletter and having access to all previous freebies.
Stay tuned for the following reviews of ScrapbookMax V 2.0 & DigitalScrapbookingArtist by Serif (used to make this LO)

LOve is All We Need!!!

2010-01-22T22:57:00.007Z

I have always said that.
Over & over again, love will heal, bring back a smile to your face, make days more beautiful and, at times, bearable.
And I'm talking here about all kind of love, not just the Valentine one which is now in the air...
We even contemplated the possibility of becoming a foster family at some point last year, it did not happen because of burocracy & ridiculous laws, which end up depriving children of it (love)...but that will be the subject of a much longer post.

Love is All We Need is the new Valentine kit by SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren , on sale now at the ScrapProfessor store, with discount.
Though I haven't had a good experience with the site (I had huge problems to post LOs, contacted the owner 3 or 4 days agio and I am STILL waiting for a reply) the kit is well worth it. Yes, I know, the store does not price kits the way we like it....they are no Digital Crea and certainly have not the heart of PixelScrapbooking or Cajoline (who give us everything for free), but is discounted at U$4, and if you look at the contents, it's worth the money.
Karen has includeed 3 (three!!!) Alphas, all with upper, lower cases & numbers & simbols....apart from the most delightful elements & papers...so much that I have not included in these LO's not even a quarter of what the kit brings....

So, here is what I have done with it as soon as I could (meaning when Sarita gave up to tiredness and called me to put her to bed....at 20:00hs!!! wow, that's a record!):

There will be more coming, there is also another LO I ve made earlier today with the Word Art & kit from the previous post, will come back with time to show you that because is HR image and now I need to finish some chores...yes, I stil have a life, and quiet a full one, outside this computer...can you believe that?
LOL
Ihave edited this because I got to make two more LOs.
One is because there are a lot of people who (like me) don't have and are not even thinking on the Valentine coupley love, but have another subject of their attention to love...so, why not show it? and pet's scraps are always the same so...I thought this would make a different thing...after all, Love Is Really All We Need!, no matter where or whom it comes from if it is in harmony with our hearts.
The second one is to show you that, even if you are a fan of quick pages, this kit has everything: the other LO is purely a background and a cluster frame from the kit, only thing I did was stick my photos & write a bit of text...gotta love that frame!!!
OK, now I'm really, REALLY of! LOL

More Valentines & a freebie

2010-01-21T04:23:00.009Z

So, here are my other Valentines,one of them with some dear friends of mine, to find a bit more inspiration.
These LOs were made with ScrapbookMax V 2.0, which I like a lot but I'm afraid it looses points when compared to what the DSA can do, especially if you are on Parallels (on iMac) like me. Still like working with it, the screen is bigger, no need to scroll up n down as much as I do with DSA...their prices are way too high when it comes to kits though..so I stick my loyalties to these other ladies...you will see JustSoScrappy has everything at U$1.50, which come sto a mere £1 to us...go check them out after looking at these :)
The kit & WordArt, by Katie Castillo & Karen Schulz respectively, you can find by clicking in the links in the right hand side or just by cliking here and here
Remember that, if you sign up for Karen's newsletter, you will get a freebie Cookie Alpha, just scroll to the bottom of the post to go get it!
Leave us a comment and tell us what you think, what you would like to see.

and here is the Cookie Apha preview, you will get this if you sign up to Karen's newsletter...

Click HERE to get it!

Early Valentine

2010-01-20T09:24:00.007Z

Well, mainly because I can but, really? because I just got the most amazing kit from Katie Castillo together with SnickerdoodleDesigns WordArt, the most amazing pink thing you can imagine, and couldn't wait to make something with it.

So here is the result, these done in DSA by Serif

is a bit weird to make Valentine cards when you have no Valentine (or no intention to have one for the time being LOL)
but as you can see, Karen (of SnickerdoodleDesigns) has created a beautiful word art for a daughter, one feels she is creating directly for us! Cpuldn't wait to make something with this kit, I also made some LOs with ScrapbookMax, but as my sleeping patterns have been a bit mixed and we have had visitors non stop, I'll be posting those later.

My general health is still a constant fight, but then again, when has life not been one (fight) to us?
I haven't been much motivated to write but I can feel some updating coming...
For now, just head of to the girl's blogs and get your freebies, they are well worth it!

Fly Me to the Moon....

2010-01-19T04:00:00.003Z

..is the new kit by SnickerdoodleDesignsByKaren. the WordArt is to die for, will post links to the other stores in a bit, for now here are my LO's
got a couple more which I ll be posting later...

For the LOve of SCRAPBLOG

2010-01-13T08:55:00.002Z

I'm not gonna stop long (got Sarita a bit poorly) but just wanted to share this with you guys...

I will as promised review all the other programs/designers, but we chose our winner, so here it is something we made together with Sarita:

Thanks for all the attention given everywhere!
Huggzzz

Let me introduce you....

2010-01-10T10:28:00.004Z

..an amazing, hugely talented lady called Karen Schulz.
You may know her from her previous blog and her store at GottaPixel.com, as MyOwnFont by Karen, yes, she is that wonderful lady who designed the most amazing word art you have ever seen, not just pure words, but lots of art surrounding it. In case you still don't recognize her, I am posting here some of what I have done with her brilliant work.

So wonderfully gifted is this lady, that she got me to do what I had been reluctant (and very successful in NOT doing it) to do: buy from Gotta Pixel. It was seeing her baking kit, A Pinch of This, a Dash of That, and falling so much in love with it I couldn't wait to start what I had been threatening to do for almost a year: my recipe book for Sarita, my daughter.
I also bought another couple of kits, and one from Bella Gypsy also on the cooking theme, nice (and cheap as they were on a sale) but not even starting to compare to Karen's kit.
A day or so after I bought these kits, I got a couple of mails, one from BellaGypsy and one from Karen, thanking me for the purchase and, in Karen's case, inviting me to visit her new blog.
Though I thought at the time this was an automated response, I found that to be a nice touch, and put the emails aide instead of deleting them, with intentions to answer and saying so.

So magically lead is crazy world of ours, or maybe just God watching for me guided my hands and thoughts like it happens often with me, that I answered to Bella Gypsy the week after but, for some strange reason, I left Karen's email unanswered.

Then the end of the year was near and I wanted to clean my inbox, so I did, and for (again, maybe not so) strange reason I also made a comment about my reluctancy towards GottaPixel, giving her a bit of *customer feedback*... I think I did this because I felt that someone who created pieces of art such as hers (people may think scrapbooking is a *minor* art, if an art at all, but I do know well, this is no child game) deserved all my honesty and, to my surprise, here came her reply almost on the spot.

We started a beautiful communication (well, if you know me, you know I talked her to death LOL) I showed her what I had done with her kits, and after a couple of days of chatting and exchanging histories, thoughts and info...well, I know this will sound taki and ..well... you know, but this is true: it felt like we had been chatting for an eternity, that I knew this woman for ages.

But (as I have had very little sleep and still have visitors from abroad at home) you don't want me to talk you to death too.
What may interest you is that she invited me to work in her Creative Team, which means you (because I know you luff us!!!!) will be going to visit her blog and, of course, her space at her new store and watching out for more news.

I will bring her blinkie in as soon as my mind can do more than try to spell reasonably and put thoughts together , but for the time being, here at your right hand are the links to her amazing blog and the store.

The names to remember are Snickerdoodle Designs by Karen and TheScrapProfessor, but promise to come with more detailed info and show you my work with her marvelous creations.
I know already there are a lot of you who will be fascinated by her Cookies & Tea kit, I have created a few pages with it and had the time of my life.....so, there, what are you waiting for?

Promise to come update my life events soon, but with the snow fall in London adding to my already recluse status, not much to report (well, I have just given you some wonderful news, haven't I?)
:)
Oh, almost forgot, with all the excitement: I have published my Sarita's 6th year scrapblog after many stressful adventures and hair pulling episodes, so I'll probably be coming to talk about that at certain point too.
Energy levels are low right now so I'll say goodbye for now (another sleepless night behind me, and tomorrow sarita NEEDS to go to school!) with a big smile and a huge hugg to all for 2010.

The start of something new....

2010-01-05T20:19:00.002Z

should always be a wonderful thing, though not always happens that way, it has not been too bad for me this last year.
If I discard physical pain from my checking list, most was good.
Some difficulties are part of life, and I have learned to make them less difficult by applying the laws of the Simple Abundance.
I bought the book, which I didn't know existed, but still have not had time to read it.
Well, in total honesty, I do have the time, just choose to do other things like, yes, guessed it: scrapping.
(I'm reading a Reginald Hill Dazliel & Pascoe book, but that is taking me a while too, my library fines are such that I cannot renew online anymore LOL)
I assume this: scrapping is an addiction.
But hey: better than alcohol or drugs, right?

[back after a brief interval in which we ate, looked at the blanket of snow outside, I gathered my pictures for Sarita's 6th year Scrapblog and took photos of the photos, looked for the very few photo CDs we have of that time(no digital, remember?) and ate a bit more]

So, my year in a few words?
Not bad, I have to say.
Like I said, forgetting the physical pain, no much complaints, after all, we travelled, we bought a new computer, a new camera, and had some very nice people staying over...
But my year can be mainly described by my scrapping, this is most definitely what I have chosen to do and, if you take into account that I can do it from my bed, is a great, very effective pain relief which keeps me on minimum dosage of opiates, being a creative thing I'm embracing and happily assuming my addiction.

As Scrapblog.com started to get a bit unaffordable, I ended up buying two new programs, ScrapbookMax and Digital Scrapbooking Artist from Serif.
Both good programs,though the Serif one has its trouble when importing too many files or trying to make digikits...
I have reviewed SBM in Creative Spirits (and am not sure but I think I did here too) and the Serif DSA review will be up shortly.
But would like to point out to the closing of The French Frog digital store, the sale is amazing with kits from 1.38 Euros to 2.10 for full, amazing kits, many of them with alphas, plus freebies.
Thing is, The French Frog is Digital Crea France, so we wont be missing the designers, but the sale is amazing and is stuff which is going to retire from Digital Crea....

Someone who deserves a mention is Rosemarie from Pixel Scrapbooking. This young mum of three boys has a passion only matched by mine for scrapbooking, only she is a LOT more wise in technology,and you will be delighted to know that she gives free stuff every day, no sale at all, at least I haven't seen anything for sale at her page. She also gives tutorials and general tips in scrapbooking digitally.

Another mention should go to Michelle of Crafty Scraps (aka Wolvsie35 for ScrapbookMax users)
This is a very gifted lady who also is always giving away the most amazing kits, but I have spoken about her here before.

There are so many people who offer freebies or very cheap kits, it would be impossible to mention each and every one, but I will try make the post I promised sometime.

I have made amazing so many friends through the scrapping, most of them very far away on the other side of the pond, but the net makes them be closer than some of our *real life* friends.

I have some news which I would like to write down with time and now I'm starting a new year book for Sarita, will leave it for tomorrow so I can concentrate in relating the facts properly.

To each and every one of the people who have been with us one way or another through 2009, thanks so much,your presence always brightened our days.

Almost there....

2009-12-23T12:56:00.002Z

and still not quiet.
The year is gone.
I know it will be a next couple of very quiet days, at least here in the UK everything closes down for the holiday...and, though in one way I m feeling great and more than acomplished, on the other hand, there is a girl coming visit from Norway and the place is not ready to receive visitors...
I know everyone says it doesn't matter, but in the very core, it matters to me.
And here is where I feel my limitations, my disability.
On top of things this morning, don't know exactly why, maybe because I was distracted thinking I need to call my cousins in Argentina, I took 2 Tramadols too many.
I was sick for a bit, feeling better now, but still not wanting to get out of bed.
I feel that guilt of dirty, untidy house and the need for a shower, still I have no energy to get up.
What I want is to get rid of the guilt.
I know if I saw someone posting the same thing I would say sod the world, no guilt.
It isnt quiet the same with one's own life.
I'm just waiting for some photos to download.
I should probably be saying Merry Xmas and all that, but honestly, it doesn't feel like that now.
May come back later, probably, yup.

The enjoyment of being Grateful....

2009-12-12T16:12:00.003Z

...can be something to be grateful too.
I have learned in these past few years how many little things one seldom looks into are things to be grateful for, and though I know I am a bit lazy for writing lately, I am more than urged to Thank some (quiet a few actually) people for making my days (our days) brighter, happier, more enjoyable.

First of all, I should get on discovering when people post comments in this blog, as sometimes I only see them if I am looking for them...I promise I will also find out how to receive notifications on when my friends update their blogs....I want to be in yours as much as you are in mine (life , that is!)

Then I feel I should be naming some of the people who make the scrapbooking easier, being the ones who give their amazing talent away in form of freebies, the ones who share their pages with us (not necessarily designers I'm talking about here, but scrappers, ladies and gents who are so inspiring to me) or the ones (stores) who have regular sales @ Euros1, Euros1.50, U$1 or U$2... these are stores I keep coming back and making some important purchases. It make me feel better about taking their freebies, and it makes my scrapping so much beautiful....
I know that, if one has the time and patience, it is possible to scrap your life away without paying a penny, so I have to stop for a minute to Thank profusely Maria, the lady who runs Digifree.
Though my goal isn't taking everything for free (I have bought two programs also in the past couple of months!) it is great to have pages and pages of freebies to choose from, so Thanks Maria for the unique and amazing Digifree, and the designers who give so much amazing stuff away.

Now, there are some sites (often the blog trains) who make it a bit more complicated for people like YoursTrully (over 50, not born with a keyboard in my lap!)to get the goods....some of these sites even annoy me at times...but I have found just a couple of days ago something amazing in one of those (most annoying) sites...
I found a sale of U$1 kits from BelaGipsyDesigns in GottaPixel, another kit by MissErin and another kit called Pinch of This Dash of that, bought them and...guess what? I got a thank you email from each of the designers!
Even if this was an automated response, is a nice touch, and in checking the blogs I discover even more freebies....
Two of the kits are baking/cooking related, so you will be getting some recipes from us.

I cannot start thinking on names to Thank, so I will later make a list and make an official Christmas Thank You card to all these people, but one designer I very recently came across I need to mention right now....
This is a lady called KimB
I did not know she was a designer. I just kept seeing these more than amazing, inspiring pages popping in from time to time in ScrapbookMax and left comments accordingly....only to my surprise find in my inbox there a more than beautiful thank you note, with words so beautiful that made me feel like there is a point on communicating your feelings after all (one gets a bit on a downer side living in the Great Britain Empire, where people communicate better with their animals than their peers)

Not only did she write this beautiful words, but also left me a freebie of hers, with which I made some beautiful Christmas Cards, I ll see to post here if I have time left, but you may have seen them in my FB or even at ScrapbookMax.
This lady has pretty much the style I would love to achieve (imprinting my own signature, of course) so, if you like what I make, have a look at her site by clicking here , you'll be in for a treat.

As I said (many many times by now LOL) I am not terribly inspired to write, but I am producing a lot of pages on scrapping.

I finish today (phewwww!!!!) my Trancoso/Brasil album. If you aren't in my FB and want to have a peak, is here , though in ScrapbookMax the resolution doesn't show all that, is possible to see what I am aiming for.

I have also made (LOoooootS!!!) Christmas cards in both programs and also in Scrapblog, which is where my next step will happen as I am determined to carry on with Sarita's year books, and she finished the play she was in on Thursday, so lots of photos from there need scrapping too..

I will, I promise, come back with a list of these great people who make our time scrapping a wonderful one. check blogs and try being a bit more consistent with everything...but only to think about it I remember I need to empty my shed, sarita 's bedroom and.....oh well, you don't really wanna know.
Like Peggy well said: Life isn't always fair, you can get a splinter even sliding down the rainbow....
but splinters are not about to stop this girl who has taken more than one strong blow from falling of said rainbows....so...see you soon!

It is the dawning of .....

2009-12-07T08:49:00.006Z

...the age of Aquarius?
nah, I was singing that when I was 14.
Now, something it's dowaning in my life.
Most great things, still with some fight (but of course!!!!!) but developments are in place.
I haven't been all that well to write, but will most definitely try to make an effort soon.

There are so many people I would love to write about but at this very moment I'm finishing a few projects.

I'm also making a resolution to keep up with a few people's blogs (yes, YOU! lol)
so, surely *see* you soon.

Now, last but not least, there is my review of the Serif Digital Scrapbooking Artist & DaisyTrail (their website) coming up, probably tomorrow because today...yes, you guessed right. I haven't slept.

What I can do right now is post some layouts so you can see what this *little* program can do...
(no child's play, I have to add...)

so here it goes:

The web is full of Happy Scrappers....

2009-11-25T12:20:00.010Z

..maybe the proximity of Xmas, maybe the wonderful feeling of sharing is still there, always, one just need to go in the right direction.

Well, though I haven't been all that well to write too much (and time is short with my humongous Brazil album in the making!), I felt I needed to share these with you, maybe one troubled soul (as much as mine was) will get the same energy, faith and general mood cheer with the amazing stuff I have been (all night) downloading.

First of all, I would like to introduce you (if you have not come across her before, which, if you are an avid scrapper, you may have) to a wonderful, caring,giving, extremely beautiful inside and out and full of talent mum, hard worker, scrapper, designer....

Her name is Michelle and she is the driving force of CraftyScraps

This girl has a gift and she shares it... in her forums you will find at this very moment over 120 Quick Pages for free and, if you, like me, are not big fan of having it done for you, still she has many, many amazing kits, all free, apart from a few kits she sells atthe ScrapbookMax Store .

She even explains us why she gives all these wonderful stuff for free...so you can get to know her a bit more.

So, go pop into the forum, have a chat, no even registration is needed, you will come out feeling invigorated and with a *box* full of scrapping goods...some amazing felt stickers on the Xmas theme are particularly beautiful, there is a full Piano Keys Alpha (so clever, I had though about making something like that but did not occur to me how to) One of the kits that fit the most my scrapping style is the Misty Wire, with which I made the last layout in this page.

There is so much in her site, I'm thinking maybe I should give you time to enjoy it all to the fullest before I go on to the rest of my finds.....but, as I'm here and not sure when the writing fairy will come back with some energy dust....

We all know Digifree, right?

One would have thought it a matter of go and grab, but it isn't always so.

I am not very keen on the blog trains, though I know the kits, alphas, general collaboration stuff is awesome...I hardly have time lately to finish my albums (or I am not in good health, which would mean not in good mood, which will mean no scrapping...oh well, you know me LOL) so I tend to ignore the complicated process and go for the straight forward downloads.

I always, always comment, thank them, and mention Digifree.

If you have a minute or 10, GrowingPainsScrapped has a full kit, papers, elements and 2 (two!) complete (and beautiful!) alphas.

You only need to get to their site by clicking here and make sure you scroll to the very beginning of her giving out the kit...which is called My GirlFriends.

Beautiful. You wont regret having spent the time.

With Xmas & New Year (and Thanks Giving for the other side of the pond, I almost forgot!) I was a bit worried about getting carried away with the sales and no money...

No need to worry.

There is so much stuff for free around, I doubt I would have the time to download it all!

For those of you with less time to sort through and specific needs or just fancying giving yourselves a present... my favorite site for buying has unbelievable sales:

Full kits for 1 Euro each, 30% and 40% discount on Commercial Use stuff and some freebies too.

I got to Digital Creations France through Digifree at first, but as I registered to download a freebie kit (or 10!!!) they started sending me emails with sales, I discovered designer paradise, only in an affordable level.

Every month they have at least 30 kits for a Euro (this would translate onto something like U$1.49) and they also have created another sister site, The French Frog, with most designers in both, but some variations... great stuff, affordable and lots of freebies too.

I have also made my cards @ Scrapblog, but to talk about this we need a lot more time (and energy which is almost running out here...) , so I will leave it for the next time.

Here are some layouts I made with my friend/neighbor's daughters photos last night, all kits come from the sites mentioned above, just ask me if you would like to know which one is which in the main (as I mix a bit sometimes)

Promise to come in the near future and make justice to each designer with a post each, layouts and all explained...today is just not the day...

Film Strips by SBMax (I made the circular one) top film strip (pinkyish)and stars from Petitsouris FunkyWinter, elements & word art by SummerDriggs (and SBM text editor)
Chriscraps Amazing Birthday + an old background
very old elements from some kits gotten over a year ago, various designers

GrowingPainsScrapped MyGirlFriends Kit, alpha from S Robinsons Halloween and, bellow, Misty Wire kit from Crafty Scraps, word art by Summer Driggs....the kit has a LOT more...

..maybe the proximity of Xmas, maybe the wonderful feeling of sharing is still there, always, one just need to go in the right direction.

Her name is Michelle and she is the driving force of CraftyScraps

She even explains us why she gives all these wonderful stuff for free...so you can get to know her a bit more.

So, go pop into the forum, have a chat, no even registration is needed, you will come out feeling envigorated and with a *box* full of scrapping goods...some amaizng felt stickers on the Xmas theme are particularly beautiful, there is a full Piano Keys Alpha (so clever, I had though about making something like that but did not occurr to me how to) One of the kits that fit the most my scrapping style is the Misty Wire, with which I made the layout above.

We all know Digifree, right?

One would have thought it a matter of go and grab, but it isn't always so.

I am not very keen on the blog trains, though I know the kits, alphas, general colaboration stuff is awesome...I hardly have time lately to finish my albums (or I am not in good health, which would mean not in good mood, which will mean no scrapping...oh well, you know me LOL) so I tend to ignore the compliacted process and go for the straight forward downloads.

I always, always comment, thank them, and mention Digifree.

If you have a minute or 10, GrowingPainsScrapped has a full kit, papers, elements and 2 (two!) complete (and beautiful!) alphas.

You only need to get to their site by clicking here and make sure you scroll to the very beginning of her giving out the kit...which is called My GirlFriends.

Beautiful. You wont regret having spent the time.

With Xmas & New Year (and Thanks Giving for the other side of the pond, I almost forgot!) I was a biot worried about getting carried away with the aales and no money...

No need to worry.

There is so much stuff for free around, I doubt I would have the time to download it all!

For those of you with less time to sort through and especific needs or just fancying giving yourselves a present... my favorite site for buying has unbelievable sales:

Full kits for 1 Euro each, 30% and 40% discount on Comercial Use stuff and some freebies too.

I have also made my cards @ Scrapblog, but to talk about this we need a lot more time (and energy which is almost running out here...) , so I will leave it for the next time.

Promise to come in the near future and make justice to each designer with a post each, layouts and all explained...today is just not the day...

Glad to have found....

2009-11-18T10:12:00.002Z

..so many creative, nice,helpful people around lately, but there is one lady I reckon deserves a special mention...

Not only does she answer every question I have and has opened my eyes and called my attention to, for example, the world of fonts amongst many others, but she also shares her creative talent with us all:

so, if you click here you will be able to download her wonderful kits

Her name is Mary and she goes as mh51 in ScrapbookMax, she is also (rare to find, in this across the pond dominated world) in the UK, which makes me feel a special bond...

Her kits are absolutely wonderful, as are her layouts.

Go have a look and you will be as pleased as I am...I promise!

Here is a card I made with one of her wonderful kits:

A time to be Grateful...

2009-11-14T06:51:00.002Z

This isn't a new thing for me, or even something to feel sympathetic with my North American friends in this time a year...

I have been doing the Simple Abundance for a while now, but today I thought (as I was just browsing DigiFree) I should thank all the designers who kindly share their art with us, which is allowing me to make the wonderful albums and books I'm making.

I'm not feeling all that well physically today, and Sarita has a friend sleeping over, so I will post names and links tomorrow...just didn't want to let my thought get lost...

Creating Paradise

2009-11-09T09:00:00.004Z

So... after another sleepless night (if you know me you will know this is not as bad as it sounds) I decided to share my delight with my new toy.

Everyone knows how much I love Scrapblog.com, and how much happiness and benefits I got from the site, not only the program but also the community, one couldn't hope for a better site...but lately it has been changing towards the financial side and, after much thought and seeking advice, I decided to buy a program.

I had seen the advert for ScrapbookMax when first investigating DigiFree, the price converted in British Pounds was more than convenient but, why buy at that stage, when @ SCrapblog everything (or most) was free and I was enjoying it so much....

There was also the fact that ScrapbookMax was designed for Windows and we were already working towards our iMac, so I forgot all about it.

I then embarqued in the project of scrapping Sarita's year books and (at her request) print them.

In this I found the first difficulty with Scrapblog, as they don't ship to the UK.

Not only that but there is no possibility of ordering more than one book and paying one delivery: I had to pay postage and package within the US per book (I printed 3) and then (this I will eternally grateful for) I payed Rebecca, who is part of the team and a marvelous person, the international postage.

Have to admit though: I took the opportunity that they had at the time 25% discount on printing keepsake books, so, all in all, it worked out approximately £50 each book, which, if you shop around, will realize it isn't expensive, especially taking into account that each book had 70 pages or over....

All brilliant up to here.

I was buying credits from time to time but, as it works out cheaper to buy the U$25 at the time, this was a bit of a risky situation...and as the time went, more and more stuff had prices,less and less was free.

Then one day I got an email (presumably I registered at the time of checking out the advert) from ScrapbookMax , announcing their latest version, the 2.0, and the discount, a modicum U$47 something....

I write back (not expecting a reply at all) suggesting they create a version for Macs...

Very soon after I got a reply, explaining how I could work the program on Parallels, the program form Apple designed to allow Windows in the Macs.

Lets cut the story short: I bought it.

There are some reviews of it here:

http://creativespirits.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=3k0gnjw4vlyho

but since writing them, I have come a long way.

It wasn't easy at first, I even went through the painful task of recovering my PC from Trojan Horses and Spyware attacks in order to work SBM in it, because the Parallels was crashing my Mac, but once I got the grip of the program (with a huge helpful hand from the SBM members and team) the making of my pages has turned into creative paradise.

There is one plus with ScrapbookMax that makes everything worth wile: the prints at home are excellent, as we retain our high resolution photos.

In a minor scale, the use of all the freebies and stuff bought in stores is usable with no fuss, no going through Photobucket and wasting time downloading. I say in a minor scale because (we need to be fair here) at the moment in Scrapblog the getting files from Photobucket is faster than it was...still: with SBM I get them drag and drop from my computer.

ScrapbookMax isn't Scrapblog.

I said and will keep my word: Scrapblog is the best program on the net.

Is fast, has a number of amazing features that make composing easy and creativity flows...but our wallets get drained as fast, and SBM does not have this problem.

The program is mine.

A few of my Scrapblog sisters have followed me to ScrapbookMax, that makes it even nicer, and plus the SBM ladies (and gents!) are a nice bunch too.

My thing with Scrapbooking is not a superficial pastime, it has a goal,is a task.

I create projects with the photos we take, I am still in the middle of producing Sarita's books and I will do the rest in Scrapblog.

But ScrapbookMax has allowed me to make my own cards, and now I'm making our Brazil album...and will be able to print and put together in those fabulous albums I got for free from Freecycle...huge leather bound albums which fit two A4s per page...

Can't wait to finish !

So, there you go, this is what I have been up to.

Wont post everything here as I have done lots, but if you are interested, there are two albums and a few loose pages here:

http://www.scrapbookmax.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/15060

Now I'm gonna go think out the next step: to sleep or not to sleep?

that is one hell of a question right now! (09.33 am)

Late again....

2009-10-28T04:05:00.005Z

...and another sleepless night.

I reckon is not that bad as Sarita is on holidays,but nevertheless...

I need to update this, I guess...

My new toy: ScrapbookMax V2.0

I bought the program as I was getting fed up of having to pay U$25 every time I wanted stickers in Scrapblog. The program is great, I ll review a bit more when non sleepless, but I'm runing it on Parallels in my Mac, which causes the Mac to crash.

So I cleaned our old PC, run some scans, and apparently is working well.

The plus of ScrapbookMax is that one doesnt need to be online.

Problem is: the email with the program is not showing in my yahoo web based mail, so I haven't been able to download it yet, wrote to the SBM lady but she hasn't answered (over 24hs since I wrote)... I wonder...is it that they only communicate when you are about to buy?

anyway, I ll find my way.

These are my two first pages of the Brazil trip, done on SBM. I printed the first page in an All in One HP 2575 series, running out of ink, and still it came out beautiful....

So, the program prints quiet nicely too...I'm dying to use it again, but will wait till tomorrow.

Now, I ll try some sleep...

Facing a new phase.....

2009-05-12T17:01:00.003+01:00

..isn't easy.

So much that I have been avoiding writing.

Writing about what happens means pretty much acknowledging and therefore solving.

I have never been one to run away from things, but when the events are such as the current in our lives, stuff which I cannot change, I wasn't sure I wanted to write about it.

My daughter, you see, my precious little baby whom I nursed on the breast for almost 3 years, that little princess who liked dressing up dollies and learn to sing in the bath tub with Maria Elena Walsh, Sound of Music and Annie.... that same one who still cannot go to sleep unless I'm there to do the *tickles* (this means stroking the side of her back in a particular way), this same girl is entering the grown up world.

This a world not so different of mine when I was 13, but faster and meaner, if those are words to suit.

(I never know, in English, you ll excuse this foreigner, but at least I try)

I don't buy the crap of the *understand your teenager* books, or the *how teenagers think* (which by the way I couldn't get pass the 15th page, and have intended to write to Jellyellie to give the kid a piece of my mind, but hey...)

There is nothing to be understood about teenagers.

The teens are a time of change, revelry, even if you have nothing to rebel against.

Time to define stuff, to make desicions on your own, to start forming your own world....which may change drastically or not in the future, but, in my honest and humble opinion, the only thing one can do about out teenage children is try to remember how it was for us.

In doing so I have been able to keep my relationship with Sarita a nice one, even though her aspiration at this time is to *fit* with a group of kids who's life consist in going every saturday to the Heath to get drunk and smoke cigarettes.

My coming into knowledge of these all, as in verbally speaking, happened when she brought a friend to spend the weekend with us. They come back not wanting dinner, and when I pass the living room and have one look at this girl, I did not need to ask, but I (ay ay, it hurt) of course, did:

"What's the matter with her? did she drink?"

""mae, everybody drunk!!!!"

"What do you mean everybody? did YOU drink?"

"maaaaaaeee, EVERYBODY drunk!!!"

so I kinda smiled, asked her what did she drink, and went over again the subject of alcoholic fathers and genetics and her father's family and having a life and not wanting to end up, well, you know the drift.

I (again) suggested that, if she HAD to drink, as to not to appear like a wimp with the kids she is trying to fit in, to ALWAYS have her own can or bottle, to just get a sip and drop it on the side..... which (thank God for that!) she confessed to have done.

I also kept (and keep still) saying (on and on and on and on, poor kid must NOT like the sound of my voice by now) that these boys are not the ones who will be having the life she dreams of, one with sports cars and a carrier and a house with a garden and children who will be loved by both parents and whole families.....

I know she isn't into drinking or smoking as in a daily thing, I know she is driven to these by what they call *peer pressure* but, though I know she does listen to me and takes things in, I cannot avoid being a bit worried.

I try, as I said, to put myself in her shoes, to listen to what she tells me without negative criticism,I know I am lucky that she talks to me, and I remember how every time my mum forbid me to befriend this or that one girl or boy, I would go to the end of the world to make the best of friendship with said this or that girl or boy.... whom, invariably, were at least 5 or 6 years older than me, not forgetting Mariana who was 16 years my senior.....

I may be wrong, but I reckon if I know who she is with, where she is and what she is doing, I have more chances of protecting her than if I just ignore or forbid stuff which then she will be doing regardless....

My solution to all these comes in the form of keeping her busy, if she is studying, doing after school & weekend courses, she has the chance of meeting people who have ambitions in life other than getting drunk every weekend, right?

well, that's gonna have to wait... why?

because of the one evil instrument which makes the world go round: money.

we are traveling to see the family this summer (which I'm dreading as I'm not well), so stiff will only happen when we come back. It will though.

I'm not happy with the school in general right now though.

No uniform could mean individuality in the best of ways, but when your child wakes up two and a half to 3 hours earlier to get ready,and this getting ready is more alike an American Next Top Model parade than going to school.....

This morning I cringed when I saw what she was wearing....and the make up.... you know what school said to me when I called to ask (to Sarita's insistence that every teacher saw them with make up and even the HeadMistress and none ever complained) :

"well....you see...is not NOT allowed...."

"what do mean by that?"

"it isn't written anywhere that they cannot wear make up...."

so WRITE IT then!

I'm not sure they learn that much these days either, to be honest...

but hey, worse is written now, I had to make a record of this, though I have dread the writing the words in black and white, I know is important for both of us that I do.

There is still the fact that we watch TV together, we do computer stuff together, she shows me every site she goes, tells me about every boy (or girl) she talks to.... and we ve been to see Hannah Montana's movie (yeah, call me childish, but I fricking loved it)

There is the issue of my health which I should be writing too.... suffice to say that I'm in and out of hospital again, and this week some big testing is in store....I may bring up some energy and will power to write about that too.

What I have been doing?

making books of memories for the future,by Sarita's request, we are printing them, and also all these have brought a new skill I didn't know I had, and something I maybe pursuing when we come back....

Here are the books:

I hope this works.... otherwise, you know where to go to view them :)

Whose hunger are we saving?

2009-02-23T17:28:00.000Z

you know I'm not one to go around politically speeching or trying to save the world. I leave that to some of you guys around here who are way more skilled than I am to do so.
But this came through my inbox, from someone I love and admire.
It says the text is attributed to Mentor Muniz Neto, director of creation and partner of Bullet, one of the biggest publicity agencies in Brazil.
It may be, maybe not and maybe you have seen it before. If so, please remember I was translating from the Portuguese language and that English is not my native one.
I just thought it was valid.
Even if it's for my daughter to read in the future and have some reflect of what was going on at this time, which is the only reason I blog.
Thanks :)

"I'm gonna play a slide show for you,

are you ready?
Nothing new though, surely you have seen these images before,
so much that you may even be familiar with them.
It starts with those starving children in Africa,
those with their bones coming through their skin,
those with flies in their eyes.
And the images keep rolling.
Exodus of entire populations.
Starving people.
Poor people.
People with no future.
For decades we've been watching these images,
in the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic, photographic competitions.
Some of these images have even become art objects, admired in books published by famous, well known photographers.
They are images of misery that can move the soul.
They are images that have created starting points for government's campaigns.
They have created world organizations.
They have created institutions.
They have created social movements.
The misery of the world, be that in Uganda or in Ceará, in Índia or in Bogotá touches the soul.
Year after year, we've been discussing what to do.
Year after year of pressure we' ve trying to find the way to move the infinite number of leaders who have passed through governments of the most powerful nations in the planet.
It was said that 40 billions U$ dollars would be needed to solve the problem of hunger in the planet.
To solve it, capicce?
Extinguish it. Terminate it.
There would be no more skinny children with no future, not one in a single forgotten corner of the planet.
I don't know how they achieved this estimate.
But lets say they are wrong. Lets say we need twice as much.
Or even three times as much, yes, lets say trice.
With 120 billions our world would be a much fairer place.
There was no manifestation, public movement, political or philosophical speech, nor photo which moved a soul.
There has been no documentary, world organization, lobby or pressure which could solve it.
But in one week those same leaders, those same powerful nations which failed to be moved by the disaster and unfairness of hunger, those same have open their wallets and safes to give 2.2 trillions U$ dollars (700 bi in the USA, 1.5 tri in Europe) to save the hunger of those who already sleep with a full belly. Banks and investors.

Like someone said, what a shame that this text is only in blogs and not in the mass media,that one that knows how to slap and hide....
If you want, forward this...if you don't..... never mind, anyway...
"Our dinner is granted..."

Down memory lane.....

2009-02-16T01:54:00.003Z

... with the music of today.

So now we have the iMac, iTunes at hand, but LimeWire is the blessing for the less fortunate on the financial side (that would be us), so, not having gotten around to get the PC, our dear dinossaur, going to retrieve my old collection, I set out to get some new (old) songs.
But when I got into our LimeWire library I saw that Sarita downloaded a few songs, I decided to give a bit of attention.

She still makes a point to be home in time to watch the Cheetah Girls movie and new episodes of the Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, but I can see her wondering into a different period of her life.... and, providing it is not Britney, I try to learn as much as what she likes to be able to share and encourage her to sing and keep performance a part of her days, though we, not surprisingly, have no more money to pay for the classes.
( I've just got my energy bills for the quarter, which total the amount of £297 Sterling Pounds... there goes Sarita's birthday's sushi dinner, I'm afraid)

And I found a couple of jewels.
One was Beyonce (why the Brit presentors call her BeyonceYYY, is beyond my comprehension of the eastendernest of the Shakespearean language, and makes me puke, but that is a minor detail) , which did not surprise me as I had watched (to Sarita's insistence, the E channel's life of the girl, and hey, a girl with determination, with intelligence, supportive parents and a drop of luck that came in the right time, a voice to kill for and.... well.... have you seen her and Shakira performing together?
my idea of heaven.
(well, one can't help but lust...)
So Beyonce singing *If I was a boy*
[I almost got all happy thinking she was changing teams, but hey, chances of her ever noticing us are slim, so, never mind...;)]
The other one was Jennifer Hudson singing Spotlight.
So I go into YouTube....
this was at, what...18:30h?
I'm still here, with Sarita coming and sitting in my bed to share a kebab and what she called *quality time with my mummy*, as she has been spending time with Syan because if this party on monday... (that will be something to talk about on tuesday...right now, I wish I had a double barrel shotgun to keep all the boys and whatever influences she can find when she goes out with her friends..., but as that is not very civilized or makes any sense, and your children are not your children and all that.... lets leave it as that and go back to YouTube, safer subject)

Not only is Beyonce amazing on all aspects of If I was a boy, but I found this video of her paying tribute to Tina Turner and singing dancing and fiercing Proud Mary... hwich by the way I have been trying to embed here for the past 20 minutes and, no matter what I do, this thing here wont paste the code I copied from YouTube, but, make an effort go watch it, it's well worth it, the user is Karavias, because you'll find a number of videos of Beyonce WITH Tina, that's not what I'm talking about... also, if you are familiar with my Vox, is there.

So,as much as I'm always complaining about the young *artists* performing (and recording) old stuff without notifying the younger ones as to who authors the songs, I'm amazed when things are done properly, and, to crown it all, I kept going back and back in time with the click of the mouse and I was not lying in my bed with the computer no more, but tripping my head of and listening to a mixture of Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Air Supply (yeah, don't ask) in a big cassette player and eating grapes half by half at my parents place...
You gotta love YouTube.

There is also the video of Jennifer Hudson doing Spotlight, look for the official one, another jewel, certainly (another code which wont paste here!)

it makes me feel like standing up and dancing a bit too...
(which I actually can't as Sarita has fallen asleep fully clothed in my bed .... three more days of her 12 years of life...
I'm enjoying all the attention and at the same time praying to keep it in the best way....)

And, to go, I just thought I share with you something which came into my mailbox tonight and made me laugh, though I presume you computer-wise people have seen it in every other language...this came to me in Portuguese, from a Brazilian, so I'll try to translate it without loosing the humor.....

A Jew is walking in the desert and finds a Coca Cola bottle... picks it up and.. surprise...a genie comes out of it!

-"Hello, I'm the 1 wish Genie, at your service. I can grant you a wish, an only wish, what would you like?"-

"Oh, I want peace in the MIddle East... look at this map, I want all these countries to live in peace, in harmony. Yes, that's my wish"

"But, my friend, come down to reality, get your feet on the ground.... I'm a genie, and a good one as it goes but.....man, these countries have been at war for the past 5000 years!!!!!!! nah, I'm not all that good, ask for something else, man"

"OK, I have never found and ideal woman...so I would like one that has a sense of humor, likes to have sex a lot, likes cooking, cleaning the house,is not jealous, is loyal and wont cheat,likes football, enjoys a beer or three,is gorgeous, hot, young, affectionate and it's not addicted to credit cards."

The Genie takes a deep, deep breath and says:

-"Give us that shit of that map again!"-

and this is the last of my photo scraps I m making to print....

and now I really need to go (to listen to Air Supply and Peter Cetera...yeah, I know, but hey, I'm 50 now, I can do as I please, I'm officially old!)

Nothing happens by chance....

2009-02-12T09:21:00.003Z

.. coincidence is not a word I use much.

I'm convinced, saw this through my many years alive in this planet, that everything, each and every little thing, all has a reason, and the energy in which our lives flows is like a chain of events. Everything fits, it's just we sometimes don't look deep enough, but lets get on with the actual events.

Sarita had a parents evening last night
I was pleased to receive, not only a letter through the post, but also a phone call from the head of year, letting me know that they had provided a room for me, so I wouldn't have to move about and queue to talk to each teacher.
It may have to do with the fact that, for the last progress review day, in which I was having a horrible pain wise day, had to climb 2 floors of stairs on my crutches, and complaint (to say loudly would be an understatement) to all who wanted to hear (and the ones who did not too) also about the zillions of parents coming in by car, when they live just around the corner, to hell with being green, is it?
Anyway,
complaining works.
In this country though, you have to be wise as to the actual way of complaining.
In some cases the shouting and moaning in an almost bullying way fits, in others you wont get not even a second look and, in my very case, they would stay with the *bloody foreigners* idea for (at least) a week.

The whole thing couldn't have been better.
Not only I sat there listening to all these brilliant (the ones I know Sarita adores) and not so brilliant (the ones she hardly mentions and when she does is to say that *she can't teach, poor soul*) but nice teachers telling me how great, amazing, gifted, talented and well behaved my child is, but also how all these is My Doing. YaY Me!!!!
(well, we wouldn't want some false modesty, would we?)

Then we had this talk about net, the kids and net use, safety, what to do, what not to do, you know the drift.
In this I was also left with the feeling of blessing with my (by now I should call her Super) child, my beautiful daughter.
Apparently every other parent in the room has problems getting the kid off the computer, and they have no clue what the kids actually do in their machines.
I was so, so, so proud to be able to speak up to answer that nope, we do not have a game console at home and comment on the fact that, every site Sarita joins or every person she speaks or any new things she finds, she makes a point of sharing with me.
Also as a solution for getting the kids away from the computer the Task Force lady suggested that parents need to find something other than machines for the kids to do.... and here, again, my pride could almost be seen , so bright it was, when I spoke up to answer that Sarita does not even logs on every day, when she logs on is never for more than a couple of hours, half of which we are together (mainly dressing up dollies) and to present a numbered list of my child's outside school activities.....

Yes.
A brilliant evening, only to crown the earlier events....
Had another sleepless night a couple of days ago, only this one was not to do with medication or pain or insomnia, but with my internet connection falling constantly precisely when I had to finish a college essay.
Stressed and almost angered, I spoke to my providers, who are now called Virgin Media but something tells me the only thing they have of Virgin is the name. I doubt that Branson would run an enterprise so badly organized.

Anyway: first phone call, nice guy, but when I'm getting there, my (bloody!) cordless phone runs out of battery.
Familiar with this *problem* I go get the lounge's phone and call again.
This time the guy wasn't so nice, and did not have the patience to wait for my PC (the other computer to which the modem is attached to) to start, he wanted to finish the call and kept telling me they do not offer advice for Mac users and that the problem was my Mac and....... I'm not gonna relate all, but lets say I put the phone down elegantly, and promising him I would contact customer services with his name.
When my PC was up and running, I called again.
And the first guy picks up... great.
He helped me sorting it by changing the router's channel, but suggesting that, would this happen again, to connect an ethernet cable to the back of the Mac.... he assured me it would work, and offered more advice even:
"do not go to PC World, go to your local shop, it'll be cheaper"
to what I said I wont do neither, but post it on ...yes... Freecycle.
and that's what I did, though I thought it was a long shot, as I needed 15 meters.
Here I was to amaze myself once again: within an hour of my posting, two people answered.
Then a third.
This third was a lady,the only one who knew she had 15 m or more (the others weren't sure about the length) but she also offered to drop it of. MY oh My. God bless Freecycle.

But the chain of events does not finish here.
She comes.
She is rheumatoid arthritis sufferer.
She has 4 children, and, within the conversation, with all the naturally I never attribute to the Brits, she tells me:
"I'm gay, I'm very happy now in a lesbian relationship"
and then she tells me she is an artist, and she has co-founded a group of women artists, and, well...
nothing could be better at this time in my life.

I could have chosen any of the 5 people (two others wrote after her too) to get the ethernet from.
I even started writing back to the first, and, for some reason, that little voice in my head told me to save it in the drafts and wait, someone may be on the sure of having more than 12 meters, someone would be even nearer than his location....
Anyway
My net is beautifully working with the (almost 20 meters!) of ethernet attached to the back of the Mac.
I spent another night awake, only this one has been one of total pleasure, almost pain free.
I finished my college essay.
I produced even more Scrapblogs.
I dealt with everything I had to deal online. I woke Sarita up with a coffee (she loves it when this happens, as usually is her waking me up), we had breakfast, chat about the teachers, about the geography they are studying, she got ready, I decided to be good and keep a record of all this.
I wonder if I can get a company to print my Vox...
I thought I could sit and print page by page,then I realized I started in 2006.... wow, time runs when you are having fun

Thanks to everyone who have mailed me or messaged me to sympathize with my pain: your words, even the tiniest one, is a bit more of a pain killer.
Now I should get some sleep, as we want to go to the National Portrait Gallery later, and I cannot be spaced out for that. I'll try.

Now, to all who tagged me in Facebook or in Vox and I did not face the challenge, I apology-se. Also my apology for not being able to keep up with everyone's blogs, it's just that I start going through,get on to comment, sleeps starts to kill me or there is life calling.....
but here I answered to the Random Things tagging thing, so, if still interested, is here.
if you are REALLY interested, open it in full screen, or you wont be able to read.
The following SBs are stuff I made for Sarita and I, we are gonna have some books printed, and, in some cases I was so glad I kept the blog in Vox, as I was able to retrieve the posts to copy into the collage....
Ok, so, if you are still there, enjoy!
If you aren't, it doesn't matter, I know I talk too much!!!!
;)

hahahahahaha I just realized I had posted the 20 things already...oh well!!!!

there are a few more, but you know what to do, only go to my SB page.
To my famiily
Los quiero muchismo,
Adoro vcs
Saudades!

Another sleepless night....

2009-02-10T20:19:00.004Z

...oh well, maybe not totally sleepless but lacking enough for my eyes to be closing heavily now, 20.20 hs.
And this time the cause was a kind of anger, a bit of an impotence feeling.
My internet kept falling of line last night (well, this morning) so, like a good girl that I am and having learned the basics along the years, I restarted the computer.
First time, it did it, only to last just under 20 minutes, second time lasted 10 minutes, third time I unplugged everything, waited then turne it all back on: no net this time.
I gave up at 4am after loosing 4 pages of work.

I'm now literally, truthfully falling asleep sitting don, have to admit I came here on the hope that it would keep me awake, but I'm failing..
Waking up at 6.45 to see Sarita of to school, I tried again after she left... it lasted probably 15 minutes and nothing else on reboot.
So I called my ISP...long story short:
we changed the channel and it worked, but the (lots) bite in the middle was upsetting.
I always wondered why people who detest people work in Customer `service.
Now I'm gonna go to sleep.
I was tagged by Lucy (AlohaBailey) on Sb, and was very reluctant at first, I had been tagged in Facebook by zillions of friends, and we all know Facebook is an uncomprehensible jungle to me, with all the poking and request which I will never, ever get myself sorted to understand...but on a second thought, this girl is nice, quiet adventurous and I thought it could be fun....
So I did it...

now I'm gonna try to drag my child from the TV and go to sleep: a total record, going to bed at 9pm!!!
the letters move in front of my eyes, thank Goodness for spell checking!!!!

The emotional thing and BDD...

2009-02-09T03:07:00.007Z

...are just a couple of things I could write about right now.
Emotional, me, yup. I always put it down to the being latin thing, which only means we show more than the rest of the world, but then you get the online world....
there is now way of not getting emotional with such shows of affection, especially when affection come from people one admires, people one feels protective of, people one feels have known all one's life....
So I have been shedding a tear or two.

I got a phone call this morning, from one of the very (very) few people I actually allow to wake me up, my friend Peggy, who is just a few hours ahead of us...9 hours, to be more precise, in Australia.
Terrible thing, the fires, the destruction, the deaths....
And what enrages me the most is that the elites and governments do little to fix years, centuries of man kind wrecking the planet..... we had the floods in Brazil a couple of years ago, hills melting under the rain and bringing down with them the houses, the cars, the people...
last summer was Greece... but I have no spirit to get into a world saving rambling right now, lets get back to the point:
I met Peggy over @ Scrapblog.com, a bit over a year ago, she mentioned she was coming over in summer, we exchanged mails, then phone numbers and, before you know it, this little hurricane of energy, intelligence and beauty in all senses is nestling in your heart. She inspires me and heals me, and is because of her that I gathered all my energy today and had another productive one.(almost finished, at 3.26 am)

And as a string of events that all led down to the emotional path, Sarita had to come back from school this week because her leg was hurting. Today they went ice skating, I know she didn't fall, but she asked me to write a note to the PE teacher because she had back pain, she couldn't bend over and was walking funny. I write the note, because I'm 90% sure she isn't lying, but I wish I was more suspicious that she was lying...
then I wouldn't be worried about the Multiple Sclerosis thing. (her father is a sufferer, I've been told that science knows little about the genetic possibilities, and that she is too young to get her through the testing)
Maybe she is just gonna get her period and then all these aches and pains will go.
Please God, do not let me down, I trust you.

And in this emotional predisposition, I decide to read my mail before sleeping.... (ha ha, as if!!!!, of course, that was at 10pm)
I scan through the freecycle emails, nothing really worth for us tonight, answer a couple of people, forward some funny stuff, forward some not so funny political stuff to the Brazilian crew and, last but not least, I start going through the (always pouring) SB notifications. And then I start the tearful thing.

I know it may seem silly for some, but I know some of you out there understand:
all these people, beautiful, talented people, inspirational people, funny people, lovable people, all these people bringing me all these beautiful words....I try to say thank you...
how do you get people miles and miles away from you to understand the dimension, the magnitude of their words, their presence in your everyday life?
I'm not sure I got that much a mastering of the English language, but I'm sure these women understand what I'm saying.
There is a guy too, this guy who is a bit of a me male version, Belge, married to an English woman, living in Spain...and he runs a radio channel....

I'm not full of goodness and sweetness as many may think though.
There are a couple of kids who really, really annoy me at SB (though I'm quiet sure it s the same kid in a different identity, there CANNOT exist 2 of such annoying little girls)

Something else caught my attention (and I really, really hope she isn't a sufferer because I have seen the condition and...but let me tell you) a SB posted by Gwendoline Kay, about Bipolar Disorder. Extremely informative, well designed, greatly done.
And then reminded me of my friends who are sufferers, and some other people who used to be friends but aren't, because of BPD.... also reminded me of the zillions of cases I saw working for Camden NHS Health Trust.
I was an interpreter, then I was a Health Advocate.
Then I started ..err mm.... (was gonna say hating but I'm trying to teach Sarita that *hate* is too big a word, so) disliking the youth of this country even more.
I do not deny the existence of conditions like BPD or ME, (and many other abbreviations), I have seen the reality of the conditions, but in this century, in this automated, *nanny state* lie of a world we live in, the amount of young (and not so young) people who uses conditions as such to give a posh name to laziness and get a place in full government welfare....
*puke*

I know what I have, I got to the conclusion:
I, MesDammes et Monsieurs, I have BDD, the BiDOLLAR Disorder.
That is, in fact, simple: when the dollar is high, when I have the currency (oh well, it can be any really, but we all know the dollar rules the world...) when my pockets, wallet, bank account, card and tins of savings are full, I am in the euphoria of happiness, life is grand.
But then (and wouldn't you?) when the coffers are running low, I feel depressed and wanna sleep for days......
(joke, joke here...as this does not agree with my Simple Abundance way of life, but I just thought it funny and also, one cannot deny it: makes sense)
OK then: I've done it, Peggy.
I came, I overcame my inertia and writer's block (though you couldn't really call this ramblings of mine a master piece of any kind) and I'm here, just because you lit my day this morning and because you reminded me that I can.

For you, the ones who are at SB, the ones who do know me, from wherever, for you I would love to have a word which describes the kind of love I feel, the kind of gratefulness inside my heart that makes me overcome every aching bone in my body to come and tell you so.
One day, perhaps, I will find the right words.

so much to say...

2009-01-26T01:59:00.002Z

..and so little energy to write.
so much to do and so litle help to execute.
but despite the ugly feeling of this bad (bad!) cold which has restrained me to bed, and the frustration of computer issues earlier on ( I failed miserably on trying to upload an image to change the header here), my mood is not bad at all.
My cloud's silver linning is made of pure silk and tonight I will sleep with hope.
Tomorrow words will come.

the Digital marvel....

2009-01-19T02:01:00.002Z

..another thing which does not cease to amaze me.
Lifted Sarita's punishment as she was invited to a birthday in an ice rink... thought it would be too bad if I did not let her go, she has not been ice skating since WinterWonderland, which was January 08....
and that gave me time to sit in my bed, with the computer....
now, it is not secret that I have made many friends online, met them in real life, some of them, great friends indeed.
at this present time I am having a lot of help in the discovery of new stuff, and today was the PNG files day...
It's now 02.05am in London, so I wont go into it that much, but here is something I made earlier....

I have physio tomorrow and need to get to the bank and, you know, that daily stuff that keep us alive...but my intention is to make some changes in here (thanks to my amazing good friends Roban & Annemarie!) as I'm planning to move here permanently... (there is a long story attach to this too, but maybe another time...)
I would like to print my Vox blog though....
has anyone tried printing whole blogs at home?
or any idea of companies ho would do such a thing?
(preferably UK printing....)

How do they do it?

2009-01-15T01:40:00.005Z

The net is something that never cease to amaze me.
Of course, I was born in times of black n' white TV, vinyl records and very corded phones.
Though I only started dealing with computers around 1997, when Sarita was a year old and smoking in international flights was not allowed anymore, so her dad decided not to bother to travel each year with us to the simple excue that a 14 hours flight no smoking could kill him....yeah, well, lets not talk about him right now.

So, back to computers and amazement: I do pretty well, some stuff taught by vey good friends, some learned by being curious and trial and error, in the beginning it was mainly to be connected with friends and family in all ends of the world... then the net became a place where I started to make friends...many of them who would later become *real life* friends, and very good ones.

I had a time in which I was very active in some chat rooms, I even got to be part of the crew who run the londonfetishscene.com (yeah, I know, not everyone's cup o' tea but that's another story all together) I kept learning.
When I got fed up with the kinky people I decided to take a break from the net, though it wasn't the net people whom I was fed up with, really, more like the real flesh and blood ones, but, again, story for another time.

When I took to turn the computer on again after a whole year of only answering mail, it had to do with my first digital camera, a Kodak Easy Share, 4 megapixel camera that we got for free when we bought 1500 prints @ Kodak in the high st.
My friend Wokka was my carer at the time, and he was (well, I suppose still is) a great amateur photographer.
So with him I learned the tricks that got me very interested and started my first photoblog at Fotothing.com.

Fotothing was a very, very nice place to be for a while, started by a British guy small, with clear and very functional design, the general vibe was great, and I was getting amazing photographers, amateurs and profesionals likewise, being really nice and helpful. So everything was sweet and I kept learning.
But, as with ebery good thing in life, it had to come to an end....and this happened at the time when Fotothing was bought by some big people with lots of money and there were so many people by then, the vibe wasn't the same.
At that time Wokka went to Flickr, so I followed.
And all that time I kept looking for a place to start a blog, a diary online with the sole purpose to make a record for Sarita to have in the future, as I treasure the stuff my mum kept...I lost lots of pictures and stuff in general from my late teens, 20s and even my 30s, a bit due to my gipsy life, a bit due to the madness in which I lived then.....

But coming back to my intended point: the net never cease to amaze me.
In this particular case I'm more thinking about the multitude of people, women that work, manage a family and a home and still keep up with their blogs, their scrapbooking, their photos, and some of them even more than two social websites.
So I ask them:

How on earth do you do it?

I have more than enough time in my hands.
Yes, I know, my health is not 100% but still, some days I turn the computer on and the sole fact of answering mail properly takes me an hour, then if I want to do a Scrapblog that will take over an hour, same with my blog and that is not thinking of the days in which I have 200 photos to download....and I like working them in Photoshop...

How do you do it?
I have no idea.
And I have to say, most of these women are women to whom I take my hat off, great mothers, great profesionals, so we are not talking about your average woman on benefits here in the UK. Nope.

Anyway, this whole thought has been in my mind for ages, just sometimes it's less present, sometimes more. Like this week.
I have tried to get the thoughts in my mind in order to update my blog, with so many things happening regarding Sarita's edication mainly, some really good stufff I have read and some movies we watched and ...now I'm thinking: does anyone in the US know if they are killing Derek in Grey's Anathomy?
Series 5 is starting next week on thursday here and by the adverts, it looks like he is dying...?
Oh, please let that NOT be....?
They have already killed Warrik (Gary Douran, the man of my wet dreams) in CSI..... (that's another thing I don't know why, oh why) I was so happy with the idea of Derek and Meredith with lots of offspring, in a candlewall house.....the producers better not kill the guy.

So, I was thinking on updating, then I get tangled in commenting in SB, making Scrapblogs (which are quiet good, even if it's myself praising myself) and then when I'm finished, not only is like 5am but all my thoughts and energy have deserted me...
One of the things that I would love to do more often would be the reading of my friend's blogs, I have learned lots and had a huge amount of emotions which had helped me through this past couple of years...
I will get around to write about our lives, I know that, but if any of you, wonder women out there could/would please (pretty please?) help us, tell us how do you do it.... I may be a happy bunny.

here is my fav SB from the last few...

Exhaustion......

2008-12-20T01:32:00.004Z

...may be a small word to describe the way I feel right now.

I was out from 9:30 am until after 19:00 hs.
Most of those hours (with due stops at the shops and banks and what have you) driving.
Most of that driving I had Betty's twins (3 years old and full of beans) in the back seat.
And, of course, Betty herself in the passenger seat.
I'm not sure who I need more energy for: the twins or the mum, but anyway.
My physiotherapist wont be so happy, as she insist I should not do stuff this way, but reality is a bitch of a life, and it was either today or never.
I did buy Sarita some Xmas pressies (which I will not write here as she will, of course, find her way to read)
I also managed to get my saved money for a Xmas present for ME.
Yup.

One thing strikes in London streets though: The complete, absolute absence of the festivity feeling.....
what a shame......
Maybe because *he* is in Rio giving it all to the poor Cariocas who ll have to confront a difficult one?
They say, after all, That God is Brazilian :)

Picture taken by Yours Trully,
this is the Statue of Christ The Redeemer, top of the Corcovado Mountain, Floresta da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSgvvbCQq9c

(not sure if it ll work) How do I post a YouTube video here??????? helpppppppppp ppppplease!!!!!

Enjoy, my beautiful, beautiful Rio....

I'll be back, though maybe not so soon.
Merry [ insert-the-name-of-your-festivity-here]
to you all :)

Defining Happiness.....

2008-12-03T04:50:00.003Z

...is something I have been constantly doing in the past couple of years.
I know I have come a long way in the 5 years since I went into an operating theatre with the (alleged) promise of a maximum 4 month recovery time and the going back to full time work, get my mobility back and then things turning souer....
I know I became a not very nice person at certain point, but I also know I was clear enough in thought to, at the very worse point of all, reach out for proffessional help.
But if I am to be totally honest, to myself and others, it was not the proffesional help alone which helped the most, as a matter of fact I can say today that it has been a simple sum of people, places, events and self critisism that got me to where I am right now, perhaps not the best of general state of mind and body, but a long, long way from the abism in which I fell after january 2003.

And it isn't because is the end of the year that I am getting these thoughts together (though one does to do so, with new year's resolutions that tend to collapse on the way), but because of something someone said today, on hearing me give Sarita a full lecture in why I would not buy her a Nintendo DS for Christmas.
And this someone, who has a daughter a year older than my child, said to me:
*Is like you are explaining to her what happiness is, like assesing that every moment can be a present if you know how to look at them...*
Well, yes.
There was also the message I got from a very dear online friend of mine, Musicjan from Scrapblog who is also a friend in Facebook now and who takes the time to come and read my posts in here...
After my DIY post, she commented on how beautiful my relationship with my daughter is, and how we should treasure something like this. *I m not saying this because of me and my daughter, she said, but because of the knowledge of so many others who do not enjoy this treasure we have*
And yes to this too.
I do know, I am 100% aware that I am lucky to be able to share, enjoy and work together my daughter.
I also keep making a point of this to her, and how lucky we are in many aspects of life.
I am, like most parents in this frantic world of ours, against a huge competitor in society.
I have been able to resist the video game thing for now...what? 5, 6 years?
And still, this year I can't, for some reason, sake a bit of a guilty feeling about stubornly saying no.
It isn't like she doesnt play games, she does. Most of her time online is spent either in messenger or some game site (though I have to admit that, to my relief, she plays dressing up dolls...)

Anyway, is already almost 4 am in London and here I am again, loosing the thread of my thoughts and what I intended to say is probably lost in the first few sentences.....
Never mind.
We have been in doors all weekend, Sarita has not been at school as she is ill with a bad cold, sore throat and what I suspect could be a chest infection, in this mean winter that does not invite to open windows....let alone get outside.

But, in discovering the good side of things, this time we came up with something great.

If you are the type of person who respects copy rights a lot, enjoys giving lots of money to the wring people (name them the enterteinment industry) stop reading now or forever hold your silence.

We watched some great movies online: no downloading,no paying, quiet good quality....which saves me the money for the energy bills I will have for this winter, taking that our place is colder now, after a council refurbishment of the buildings and the (alleged) double glazed windows, than we were before, with those good'ol' wooden made in the 50s...

So: Because I said so
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
and Wall E
saved us quiet a lot, plus the delightful August Rush, a film I did not know exist until another one of my beautiful Scrapblog friends, Roban, posted this:

Roban's August Rush
now, with this film, I had an intense online search, and unless I was to download the full movie, I could not find a way to watch it... I decided against the download, after talks with another one of these people who seem to be strategically placed in my path by some benevolent force, who had been giving me not only help with my beloved iMac, but also some serious and valuable lessons, my friend White Roses from Vox.

I was going to buy it, after all, one can avoid buying it for £15 these days as Amazon has copies for a fiver (£5) , but then another luminous idea came to me: if I was able to place requests for the Wicked and Son of a Witch books...if they had PS: I Love you in DVD just a few weeks after it came out in the shops.... (and we stupidilly paid £3.95 to Virgin to watch it on cable on demand before seeing it there) why not the local Library?
Ahhh the advantages of a mechanical world: I logged in with my library card, typed the words and Presto!
Today we went out for a brief (if still very, very cold) shopping trip and picking up one of the twins at the nursery (the other one is, yup, with a cold) and as we got the letter notifiying us the DVD was ready to collect, we enjoyed it in our flat screen TV. (and, yes, yes, I cried.)

So, back to this happiness thing: I am now convinced (and almost convinced Sarita, though I'm not sure how much of her asssurance is just to shut me up, with her being an almost teenager and all) that this Happiness thing is not something to achieve in the end of the road, but some of the moments, events, experiences that make that road.
We only need the ability to see them, therefore enjoy them to the fullest.

And I can even say I am looking forward to this Christmas, so, yes, I have come a long way, even if only thinking from last year to this one.....
I proposed to Sarita that, in lieu of the Nintendo Ds (the offer she wants is £114.99), we put together Xmas and her birthday's (in febrary) presents, and have a week somewhere in Europe, as she so much wants to go to Greece or Turkey....
Am I wrong on this one?
I know most of you guys are high tech and see no harm in surrounding your kids with all kind of virtual toys....and I don't think you are wrong, no, it is just that I see her loosing interest in lots of things she would enjoy, turning into another one of the herd....and I so, so much value and prioratize individuals....
I have had some chats with her lately which should turn into another post, about how she feels weird because most of her friends know what they want to do in college and she, at this point, doesn't....
Anyway, (again!) I'm loosing the plot.

I'm still reading about Ken's (Russell) phallic deliriums in film, (material for another entire chapter), so, if anyone knows if The Devils is available online, let me know, please :) The Birtish TV had this week a program about the 60's called Sex, Drugs and Rick and Roll, and the advert was that, if you remember the 60s, you weren't really there....and this being so true, I'm sure, especially now that I speak English, the film will have a whole new meaning for me....

I promise also all my neighbors and friends that I will make some time to catch up with your blogs and Scrapblogs...as you, all the beautiful people of my online world, are one of the big time key elements in my having a much better time in life.
I think of many of you very often, see you in characters on TV, books and films....you all have made my world a much better one.

All I want for Christmas is.....

2008-11-25T08:07:00.000Z

...a new body. A healthy one. A functional one.

Mine is giving me a very, very hard time these past few days.
I know, I'm borderline delirium, not to worry, to dream is free, innit?
But seriously: I try to apply the Simple Abundance thing, the half full glass thing, the cloud and silver lining thing.
I try to think of people who are far, far worth than me, which, at times, works, like all of the above.

As a matter of fact, if I look back in time, one of the biggest life lessons my dad gave us was that:
*Life is a staircase: there will always be people a few steps up from where you are: look at them as an inspiration, an incentive for your goals, instead of feelings of jealousy or envy. There will always be people a few steps down from where you are: look at them as a reminder of how far you have come, a reminder that you still can, and how lucky you are to be able to keep on climbing. Then carry one your battles.

To this and other similar words of encouragement, including my mum telling us, when we complained about some food or another, how many children in Biafra had nothing to eat....
we would reply something like : Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos
which translates more or less into, something bad happening to a lot of people, consolation for the dumb...
(it does not sound as good in English, but I'm sure you guys have something that adapts)
then we (my brother and I) moved on, learned that my parents are actually not the pain in the butt we thought they were, but actually very, very wise people, who not only gave us a good education with a (very) good measure of discipline, but also full of beautiful (if at times a bit asphyxiating) love.

So: I know they were (are) right, so the though at this very moment would have to be:
* At least I'm not full time in a wheelchair, at least I have a (half mashed but) functional brain, at least I am in a country that supports me, keeps me with a (very!) comfortable life....*
and the list could carry on, I know I have a lot of *at leasts*....
but now, today, this very morning after I have spent most of the night awake with excruciating pain in every particle of my being, all these turns into philosophical fezzes..

I don't want to hurt.
I don't want to be far away from my family and most of my life time (or event recently made, as you are all spread around the globe) friends.
I don't want to have to struggle with the concept of another Christmas reminding me of how a loving, caring, intelligent, marvelous man can turn into the most harmful person in my daughter's life, thanks to the abuse of alcohol (and other substances, lets be honest here).
I don't want to think how horribly selfish some people are (name them my ex in laws)
I don't want to have to be reminded that there are a few people in this world who do not love my child. (name as above)

I know most of the world is worrying about keeping their jobs, their houses and even their fridges with some food on.
I know here in the UK there are people who are struggling to pay their energy bills (I'm one of them but then again, I have just made some big time purchases so I should not be moaning on this one)
I know the ozone layer has a big hole.
I know most of the world (unlike little me) does not recycle.
I know, believe you me, that there are far extreme cases than mine.

I need not be reminded.

But after a night like I've just gone through, I reckon I'm allowed to be (just a little bit) selfish.
Which if you think about it from my perspective, is not all that selfish, as my almost only reason for not wanting all these is to be there for my child, to be able to give her a good, happy life. But hey, think whatever you want to think.
I'm not looking for sympathy here, I'm just trying to get all these down into words, because I know it always feels better after,then I can move on, get on with my day.

And guess what: I already feel better, thinking about that, a few weeks ago, after a night as dreadful as this last one, I couldn't have written this, because I would not be able to sit at our PC long enough to wait for it to start, much less think and put something that would make sense into words...

anger management...

2008-11-22T06:33:00.000Z

...when I can't get the computer to do wat I want it to do.
why is technology something so simple at times, so ennerving at others?
note to selfsuccesfully saved the Scrapblog button + the slide show
now I can't find the customize button no more?

enjoying iMac....

2008-11-22T05:33:00.000Z

...with a passion.
only I wish the day had another 24 hours, and that my body could take a bit more action.
something else that makes me happy is that I'm able to read some of the most amazing girls from Scrapblog here.
It is so late now that my brain does not want to work propery, but ...
tomorrow (or later?)
:)

Books to read....

2008-11-10T02:25:00.000Z

...I have most of my time in London got from library.

That is until I found Vox.com, started blogging there, an adopted Londoner in the midst of an ocean of North Americans.....and in here you ll have to excuse me, but as I am a South American, I can not, with all the love I have for you guys and your country (whihc Sarita keep telling me is the right one to be...), call you simply *Americans*.

But anyway, back to the point: I met these amazing people and, after reading page after page of a few of them, I realized they were publishing a book.

So I, who have had this policy of not spending money in something you can get for free, got online and bought them. Two of them.

And that's the reason I'm here right now.

These two people, in different coasts of the USA, one a woman, the other a man, different as different can be, yet, so alike in the point of bringing some beautiful emotions to your heart and mind, these two have conquer my heart with their books.

So I thought I tell you, who are my Friends from other areas of my computer, still in the same country as these two.... it would be a shame if you missed these books.

So, here they are:

Harlot's Sauce , by Patricia Volonakis Davis ;

and Snapshots from St. Arbucks, by R.G. Ryan.

I'm sure you ll find reviews around, and they all are great.

I need to get on with my college work right now as tomorrow I have a class, but I couldn't go without posting this....

Hope you get them and enjoy them as much as I did :)