the one about Christmas

The beautiful people over at OUAS asked their followers what we did on Christmas Day.
 This is what I did. In the morning, after a sleepless night, (no, there was no kissing of Santa Claus under the mistletoe!) I got out of bed, and somehow got my normally semi-naked two-year-old into 'church clothes', and went to mass to celebrate the birth of my friend and confidant Jesus Christ. My little boy has questions about everything... He wanted to know why the prettily decorated plastic bells hanging from the church ceiling were not saying 'ding dong', and why the uncle (the priest) was hiding (he was sitting while the Readings were being read), and what did he give me to eat (communion), "What Mama, WHAT?" I have to confess, it was a most entertaining service! I'm sure Jesus thought so too, if for no other reason, than just to see my poor husband's consternation... After mass, we headed back home, to our fake tree (more indigenous trees are coconut trees in my part of the world), with its heap of presents. We ate breakfast, Adam drank milk first. With him its a 'mind' thing. I used to say 'comfort' thing, but I can't understand why he needs so much 'comfort'. Later, my mother and my brother and his family came over for lunch. My mother-in-law lives with us part of the time, so we were almost all there. My sister-in-law and her family came by after lunch. So, after more presents were exchanged, we all sat down to a home cooked meal.
Laughter, kids, good food and people I love to share it with! These are special moments indeed!
Here is the layout I made.

 These are some details.

The journalling is handwritten on a loose tag secured to the top of the page. The red tinsel ribbon is held down with eyelets. I used the Lost and Found Christmas Collection.
Thank you Nadia and all! Christmas was even better for having to share it with you! 

MME challenge

Hi! This is what I came up with for the current MME challenge. Everything on the page is MME, with a little help from Tim Holtz.
The pictures are of Adam just before he turned one. He was sitting in this bucket of water in the sunshine, looking like his bucket of joy was filled to capacity!

I just love this collection! My l/o is made mostly from scrap leftover from another project, but I love the colours and the prints so much, I just had to use it one more time.
Here's a close-up of the details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Special to Me

I've rekindled an old love! Prima.... I am of the opinion that a layout must have more than paper. Buttons, ribbon, lace, metal... the list goes on... and flowers... Whenever I've needed a flower, I've needed Prima. And now there's so much more! Trinkets and resins! Papers and tiles! And bling! Oh My God... its beyond amazing! But I live halfway across the globe, in India, and its so difficult to get my hands on product, so I have to pace myself.
I made this for Prima BAP Nov. I hope you like it. It's my first Prima l/o.

I love this picture of my husband and son. Let's just say it's Special to me!
Here are some close-ups of the details.

Oops! Sorry I forgot to rotate them! But you get the idea, no?
Ok. Thanks for stopping by. I'd really appreciate any advice on how to improve my flower-work, or anything else you might think needs improvement! 

OUAS

The wonderfully talented folk at OUAS have asked us to create a l/o describing what is so special about being a woman. I think having a baby is as special as it gets. I have a very special bond with my little son. I'm the centre of his expanding universe, and I love it! He is truly my heart walking about on two sturdy little legs, absorbing, learning and assimilating every waking minute of every day. His journey, while to some maybe mundane, to me is fascinating. And worth every change I've made to my life.
Here's how I interpreted the sketch.

 I used Graphic 45 papers. The Domestic Goddess line. I'm as far from a domestic goddess as one can get! Most days I'm a screaming mess, trying to cram too much into too few hours! But I'm nothing if not fanciful. And I fancy being a domestic goddess! And I absolutely adore G45.
These are a couple of close-ups of the details and my journalling.

That's it! Thanks for having a look!

MME blog challenge 29

Hey people! Thanks for stopping by. I made this l/o for the MME blog challenge 29. I have been in a creative slump for sometime now, so this was really a challenge for me. Lucky for me that the challenge was to follow the sketch using 'brown', and brown is one of my favorite colors.
This picture was taken after I'd made a chocolate cake. I thought it was pretty awesome that there was a little someone to lick the bowl and go, "Mmmmm"!

  Ciao!

Sketchy Thursday 9.22

I completed this layout in an hour and a quarter. I had to if I wanted to take part in this challenge. It had to be really simple, and I co-ordinated papers and embellishments from MME.

The pictures are of Adam when I shaved his little head. Everyone had told me that if I did shave his head, he'd get this really nice thick head of hair. And even though it made no sense to me, and went against every scientific thought in my head, I did it. The 'mother' in me overruled all logical argument. I was going to give the old wives tales the benefit of the doubt. I wasn't losing anything, and maybe, just maybe, my baby would have hair! Well, he has hair. Just as God intended. It's as fine and silky as gossamer.... And when he swims, you can see his scalp... So that's how Adam came to lose his hair, and I came back to my unwavering faith in science!
Thanks for looking!

Once Upon a Sketch 9.15

The Sept. 15 challenge at OUAS required you to journal on the photo. I chose to use rub ons. I love rub ons. I think they add so much extra pizzaz to a picture, that I frequently use them on my layouts. My favorite company MME used to make them a lot, but don't anymore. I wish they still did...
The photo is of my husband and my son playing in the rain. My husband is rather serious, and more concerned with the realities of life, like Adam falling ill, or getting hurt, and I have to push him out in the rain where he can be caught up in the enthusiasm of an energetic two-year-old. The journalling says, "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." This is so my philosophy of life, that is was perfect for this layout.

Everything is from MME, except the Prima trinkets. The birdcage hangs from a 7 Gypsies chain. The flowers, trim & burlap are from my stash. And for me, no l/o is complete without some Tim Holtz Distress Ink.
Here are some close-ups.

That's it! Thanks for looking!