Nazareth and Caesarea

I can't believe we leave for the Philippines in less than 2 months!! I'm starting to really stress out and become anxious. We'll be gone for 5 weeks...ack!! Never in my life have I been gone from home for so long. Even when we were younger going to the PI we would be gone for 4 weeks max!! Thank goodness for the internet! At least I could still use email and pay bills..LOL.



This brings me to my next project...I really want to get the Holy Land pictures scrapped already. I do a few, then stop, then do a few...then stop! It funny, when I first started scrapping them, I used practically every picture. Now I'm throwing out more and more! And the pages are not as detailed...it's all about getting it done! LOL...

I'm not too fond of this layout at all. I think the pictures are not that great (indoors) and it just didn't motivate me. We (magpoc family) didn't get off the bus for this town. We were so tired and I wanted the kids to rest a while, it was a bit of a walk to get to the church. Here is Nazareth. The town where Jesus grew up!

The final stop for the day was Caesarea. It was once a thriving port on the edge of the Mediterranean. Here is our big group! I can't find Jordan in the picture though :(

Since I couldn't find Jordan in the last picture, I highlighted him in this picture...LOL. So glad he went for it...what a great photo op! This layout was made for a challenge from Scrapping Spot. Shawn, who hosts Nuts About Sketches, created this cool sketch. I can't find it on her blog, but it's posted at The Scrapping Spot. I changed it up a bit and used a bunch of scraps!!

Okay, that's it for now!! I made a card this past weekend, but gave it away before I had a chance to scan it...dang, I liked it, too! LOL. I also have another layout to scan....time, oh dear sweet time, where art thou??

Take care everyone!

Mount Carmel

I've gone back to scrap more Holy Land pictures. I think I have about 4 more days to go....YES!! It's so wonderful to relive these memories. It's so sweet to see the kids even just 2 years ago how small they were. I still can't believe we managed to take an 8, 4, and 1 year old half way across the world to 4 different countries for a very busy 15 days!! And to think this summer we will be taking a 10, 6, 3 year old to the Philippines for 5 weeks!! Wow, I'm getting so much anxiety just typing that out. It will be fun...but a little bit stressful at times I'm sure! I'm so thankful that we will once again be in a big group and I can't wait to see all our relative back in the PI. The last time I went back was 1994 and Heintje...1989!

Anyway, here are a few layouts from Mount Carmel. This layout was part of The Scrapping Spot's Scrap Your Stash challenge. It's a challenge I hosted using 20+ brads. We arrived a bit early for the gates to open, so we just sat around and rested a few mintues. I so much love this photo of Jasmin and Heintje. Very rarely will she let him hold her anymore..LOL. I plan to enlarge this and stick it in a frame or canvas. It's so beautiful!

We all gathered on the roof where we could see the vast land God promised the people of Israel. While on the roof, we heard and saw fighter planes! It was kinda scary, esp. for the kids. This is another challenge layout, using 5+ ribbons.

Finally, the kids hanging out while Kuya Greg led us all in prayer. Jordan had his own little prayer group going on..LOL. OMG, look how tiny Joey was :( Gosh, these past few years just went by tooooo fast :(

Next stop will be Caesarea....thank so much for passing by!!

Happy 2009 New Year everyone!!

Man, I've totally neglected the poor blog. I wanted to show you our Christmas card this year, but it's at home and I'm at work. I know I won't get to it when I get home, so...it will just have to be posted when I remember, even when it's in the middle of June or something..LOL! Sorry!

Anyway, I have lots and lots of layouts to share with you. I've gotten some mojo back, I've been a scrapping MACHINE! and I love it! I've been totally trying to use up lots of stuff I've had sitting around. Packages of embellies that have been partially used, alpha stickers, even scraps of PP. I use a whole sheet as a background, then I dig into my scrap bin for anything else. And the best part...I haven't scrap shopped in a long long time!! Heintje, did you read that...I haven't scrapped shopped :) ** but that doesn't rule out my Walgreens addiction! **

Now..on to the layouts! You can click on the images to make them larger :)

It's been a while since I've worked on the Holy Land trip. I was really hoping to have them all done in 2008..oh well..hopefully this year. I'm caught up with the Sea of Galilee, next I'll be working on our Baptism in the Jordan River.



From a continuation from this post, I have 1 extra Mount of Beautitudes layout. Hee-hee..one of the bottom photos is Kuya Greg using Kuya as an example how he will perform the baptism on the Jordan River. I think Kuya was a little surprised at the "dip"..LOL!

Now, here are a bunch of layouts on the Sea of Galilee. We went to the Yigal Allon Museum which housed an ancient boat similar to one Jesus would have sailed on.

The Sea of Galilee is really a peaceful place to be. There was one point when a bunch of birds were resting on the water. As we sailed by, they all flew away together. It was such a beautiful sight. You can really feel the presence of Jesus around us.

The sailor guides put up a Filipino flag, it was really cool! They also played songs and our group danced traditional Jewish dances. I regret not participating, it would have been fun!

Before or after (I can't remember now), Kuya Greg gave his daily sermons, Jordan told the story about the Zacchaus and the Sycamore Tree. I breifly mentioned it in this post when I showed the layout with the Sycamore Tree. GREAT job, Jordan!! I'm so proud of you for not only knowing the story, but remembering and being able to share with us. They say you fully don't understand something unless you can explain it to others. And we were so blessed that he shared the story with all of us!!

Heintje and I being all cheesy...just like Titanic..LOL! Dorks!

Finally, here is our super cute sailor dude. The sweater he was wearing was perfect! We should have put on Kuya's hat. He would have really looked like a lil' sailor dude. He was just having the best time. Looking at the birds, the water, running around all over the boat, and eating Ate Helen's crackers..imported straight from the Philippines!

Hope you enjoyed the first post of the year. I have a bunch more layouts to share in the next few days. I don't want to overload you, so.....that's all for now folks! Thanks for passing by!

BAS Anniversary Crop, Mount of Beatitudes

FINALLY!! Yes, I finally scanned these layouts from the Bay Area Scrappers Anniversary Crop!! It's only a few months behind..haha. And I never did do the journaling I was meaning to do...I was caught up in stuff..LOL!

After leaving the Dead Sea, we headed off to Tiberias. We stayed at a really nice hotel, Gai Beach Hotel. We weren't supposed to, but plans changed...for the better at least :) I love this picture of Jasmin on the bus. Images like this is how we spent our time on the road. Hours on the bus, driving around from city to city. At least we were able to walk around and not strapped in with a seat belt. I was so proud of the kids. The early morning wake up calls, their not so usual breakfasts, and being up and ready by 7am was not easy. But they did it..they did it for 15 days!! At least we were able to bring along hard boiled eggs..haha!! But they would only eat the white part..haha! Check out the Sea of Galilee in the bottom picture...positively beautiful!!

First stop of the day was Mount of Beatitudes. Here is where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount and shared the Beatitudes. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" Matthew 5: 3-11.

I have a couple more layouts from the crop, but I still need to scan them..LOL!

WT Scrapvivor #7 and Petra, Jordan

Haha!! FINALLY!! This is the last challenge of Scrapvivor you will see. I officially ended at #7 although I did a couple layouts for #8 and #9. This challenge was to use ribbon. Easy peasy, but I just ran out of time. I think this was during my birthday weekend...and well, I had other priorities..LOL!! THANKS soo much, Annette for hosting a wonderful challenge. I got so many layouts and cards DONE! I think I got in total about 40 cards and 80 layouts...in about 25 days! It sure put a dent in my STASH and helped me bust out the Holy Land Trip!!! YIPPEEE!!

Now, I haven't scrapped in so long. Most of the layouts you've been seeing are OLD stuff that I've been slacking on posting. Like these layouts were since June..haha! Hopefully I'll get back to scrapping soon. I am sooo in withdrawals! Take care everyone and thanks for visiting :)

Set of cards :)


Beware, the layouts are not fabulous and there are really no techniques or cool things about them. But they are DONE! Not only was I able to get the memories documented in the books, but I was able to relive our special trip as I remembered the good times (and BAD..haha)

Here is the group photo we took in front of the Treasury.

Sorry, the photos are horrible. I got them directly out of the camera and printed at Snapfish. I really don't like their quality, it's darker than I want, but when printing 1500 photos, I was not picky anymore..haha!

This page is pretty cool. It's interactive and able to hold a few more pictures than would normally fit. I didn't want to crop any of those top 4 photos, so I staggared them ON the page protector and taped the edges. So you can FLIP through the photos!! I also had Jordan journal on this page how he felt about the experience.

This page was from the next day. We passed the Israeli border easily with no problems so we were ahead of schedule. Our guide decided to take a little detour and show us the Sycamore tree where Zacchaus climbed and watched Jesus. This was extra exciting for Jordan since he just learned about him in school! And for him to actually visit the tree...WOW!! Later during the trip, he gave a sermon. It was so cute!! He told the whole story, we were so proud of him!!

Homegrown Summer Survival

Finally...LOL! Here are the last of my layouts/projects I created using the Homegrown Summer Survival kit :) Can you believe, there are still a TON left over!!

First up is Jordan! This kid can read a book in minutes. I seriously think he is totally skimming the book, but he does know what is going on. I quiz him on random things and he actually knows what I'm talking about! Whiz Kid!! So, funny thing about this layout. It started out with just the map patterned paper (Heidi Swapp) as the background. Then my artistic baby (Joey) came in the room and played around with the paper trimmer. Mind you, this kid is 20 months...LOL! And he chopped off a good chunk of the bottom right corner. I had to think fast. The deadline was approaching and I didn't have time to come up with another layout. So I cut off the other 3 corners...LOL! If you look at the actual layout, you can see where he cuts right through the title, even severed a few letters..LOL! Silly Joey Boy!!

This layout was made as a result of the 20 month old baby trimmer artist (does that even make sense??) You can see the corners that were cut from the layout above. Also a few strips of scraps..LOL! This picture was taken on my birthday :)

A really simple layout of our day at Qumran. I added the Kaiser Craft rhinestones to the black dots for dimension.

Finally, here are 2 journals I created for a board member on Homegrown. She works at a center for children and they use these journals to give them hope. I am very honored to have a chance to help out in any way :)

Thanks so much! Next post will be the last of the Willow Traders Scrapvivor. Yes, the very same one from June...LOL! What a slacker!

WT Scrapvivor #6 and Petra, Jordan

You guys think I'm a scrapper fanatic..LOL!!, but remember, these are OLD layouts...since June. Just haven't had a chance to upload them. On the contrary, I hardly scrap now. The days of daily scrapping has come to an end, hopefully it's just a phase. I'm lucky to get a layout a week, let alone a day! But life has it's priorities. Unfortunately, scrapping isn't at the top anymore. Anyway, I still want to get these layouts on here, esp because there are some from the Holy Land trip. Yes, I'm chugging along with those..haha!!

Willow Traders challenge #6 was to use quote, definitions, etc. It was a great way to use up some of those old school Making Memories definitions I had laying around. I also created a bunch of layouts for my Mom's album. Those are the 8 1/2 x 11 layouts. And some layouts were double dipped with other challenges...LOL! THANKS so much for peeking :)

Let's start off with a set of cards. I used printed cards from Die Cuts with a View and just simply embellished them with Making Memories definitions and other goodies.

This photo was taken last March when we went to So Cal for Jazmin's baptism. After the festivities we hung out at Hollywood City Walk. This is for Mom's album.

More layouts for Mom, I'm sure she wants a photo of her favorite daughter, too, not just the grandkids...haha!

Here are a couple of non-trip layouts. The first one with Jasmin was taken when we went to the Disney Princess on Ice in March with my Forever Friend, Kim and her daughter Isabelle. They both dressed like Princesses...and both were Sleeping Beauty! Great princess minds think alike!This layout was also used as a challenge for Homegrown Scrapbooks Summer Stash Buster.

And here is our silly boy Joey!! He loves to feed himself and it gets ALL OVER! I guess only a mother would love a face like that..haha! But that doesn't mean I have to kiss him! This was based on a sketch challenge at Homegrown Scrapbooks by Audrey Tan.

Now here are some layouts from the Petra leg of our Holy Land trip. Man, that place was amazing!! Heintje and I took a carriage ride since we had the kidlets with us. From the entrance to the Treasury, it was about 2 miles. I wasn't sure the kids would make it and Heintje and I DID NOT want to end up carrying them...LOL! As we went through the narrow passage, our driver told us to close our eyes. Then the horse slowly galloped through the opening. It was so dramatic and beautiful! What a feeling to be right there, right in front of one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

It was also cousin's and Mikee's 7th anniversary! Congrats to you two!!!

And some lovey dovey pictures of Heintje and I. Jasmin took the photo where I was sitting on Heintje. She kept calling me a baby since I was sitting on his lap! haha!

Finally, our ride to Amman, Jordan. I don't have photos, but when we arrived at the Hotel, there was a wedding going on. It was really neat to see an actual wedding celebration in another county and see it's rituals. They whole party came to the Hotel complete with the band playing. We thought it was a parade, but the music was getting louder. Then we went downstairs to see so many people. The bride and groom went up their room and the crowd dwindled. Congrats to the happy couple!! We had a great room at the Arena Space Hotel. There was a front room, like a living room, then the bedroom. Jordan thought it was especially cool because we were in JORDAN and to him it was the BEST hotel of our trip! What a silly!

Finally, I'll end with a sketch. This was for a challenge I hosted at ScrappersXchange. This layout is also going to my Mom's album.

Thanks so much for taking a peek!! I only have a couple more challenges from Willow Traders's Scrapvivor. I guess that means I better scan the layouts I created during the Bay Area Scrapper's Anniversary crop. And I better get other layouts going...haha! Time...where can get more?