Monday, January 31

Who's doing 30 Days of Blogging?

I had fun reading a few of the posts so far, and some of you know these ladies in your forums, so I thought I would post their blogs + names so you could check them out, leave them comments and follow the ones that strike your fancy. The usernames are their ScrapMatters names - in case they have different names at different shops.

As of today, here is the list of everyone who has signed up. Keep in mind that some of the ladies have not posted yet, but most are catching up by doing multiple posts. I've started with me, so you don't need to click on it, cuz you're already here- otherwise, they are in no particular order.

http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com/ - Linda: Scrapporreia
http://www.thetypativescrapper.blogspot.com/ - Jenn: JK703
http://www.tanyatumbles.com/ - Tanya: Tanyariley
http://www.cinna-angelcookie.blogspot.com/ - cinna
http://franscraps.blogspot.com/ Fran: fran98765
http://rockourlives.blogspot.com/ Lynette: Lynette_rock
http://scrappingchelcreations.wordpress.com/ Chel
http://lifewiththeberkans.blogspot.com/ Sandra: Sberkan
http://grahamlikethecracker.net/ Jen: Graham like the Cracker
http://isingidreamiloveanyway.blogspot.com/ Shari
http://morelovemorejoy.blogspot.com/ emileem
http://scrappymelly.blogspot.com/ Melanie: Scrapmelly
http://digiinspirations.com/blog/ Day
http://haynayn2010.blogspot.com/ Heather: haynay
http://ofnofixedaddresscards.blogspot.com/ Ami
http://www.wimpychompers.com/ Christina: WimpyChompers
http://www.sassydigiscrapper.com/Tammy: TammyBean

Day 6 - my favorite thing


This was an easy post for me. Here is a 2-fer, my favorite thing photo is:
My little munchkin and Sleep!
Boy do I love sleep. I have such a hard time falling asleep, that I envy people who sleep well, sleep anywhere, sleep soundly... you name it.
And I love my little guy.
How cute is this photo of my little Superman??? (yeah, I'm a little biased - lol lol )

Guest spots coming up!

The new year is here and some of my guest spots are coming up. Once I get the OK, I will let you guys in on some of the great designers I'll be guesting with. I'm really excited and have been waiting patiently to work with some of these groups!

I'll probably know for sure by next week, so come back and find out and follow along on some of the fun projects coming up in 2011!

Day 5 - My Favorite Recipe (a Step by Step guide)

Being Chinese it seems obvious that Dumplings would be my favorite. But dumplings come in many cultures from pierogies of Western Europe, to Raviolis and Tortellini from the Italians, and so much more. And I love them all. Out of all of those, though, my favorite CHINESE DUMPLINGS - pretty much anything wrapped in a thin pasta wrapper is great to me. Add dipping sauce... ooh yeah. Love me some dumplings.




So you won't be surprised that I have, yet another, blog - for food: Savorings (over at wordpress). My goal was to test out recipes, post my trials and suggestions on how to make them better and toss in some step-by-step instructions on how I did my own recipes. It just so happens that I have a how-to on MY dumplings.



I tried to copy and paste the entire post here... but it wasn't working, so, please go here (and feel free to leave a comment! I love comments! lol) for a Step-by-Step instructions, including how to wrap the dumplings.



Enjoy - I know I did... tonight, as a matter of fact!

Sunday, January 30

Day 4 - my parents

Parents are such an important part of our lives. Not only did they bring us to this earth, they shape who we are, how we think and the things we do. Even if they aren't around, their absence shapes us. That's why I didn't want to fold Parents into a multi-post.

My parents were immigrants from Hong Kong. I've spent the last few years piecing together stories of their lives, but from what I know now, my mom grew up in essentially Communist China, the daughter of a wealthy (?) shipping magnate. At some point in her youth, there was some war (WW2?- details are sketching and I still need to piece together dates with events) and the Japanese invaded and took my grandfather's ships and most of his belongings in Hong Kong. He left behind his 3 sons and daughter. Because of how it was, once the war ended, he could only collect 2 of his children and my mother stayed behind.

My mother was one of the few women to go to University back then, I believe there were only 2 colleges. She was lucky to get that far in schooling because by the equivalent of our 6th grade, the children got tested and she was very good in gymnastics so she was allowed to continue schooling. Going to school saved her from tedious, menial duties for the communal living that they were all a part of.

By 21, she had moved to Hong Kong and met my father at a factory that they both worked at. He was 17 years older than her, and I assume, to a young girl, rather worldly. Tho, from the stories on his side, I imagine he was a bit of a 'bad boy'. Showing me that the apples don't fall far from the trees. (guilty on the bad boy magnet here).

When Daddy was young, he was kidnapped by a gypsy. I don't know if gypsies are the same there as their stories tell here. I don't know what they wanted with him, either but I hear he was a beautiful child. Maybe they wanted to sell him.?? Boys were a commodity back then, even in 'progressive' Hong Kong. My aunt found him and brought him home. He was wild, having lost his mother as a baby. He started smoking at 6 or 9 years old. (yuck and ewww).

By the time I was born, he made shoes. Literally. He cut our leather, stitched and nailed shoes. How weird is that? Today, you just assume machines make the shoes. lol
1966-Leaving-for-AmericaSpread

When I was about 1 1/2, he left for America and landed in Myrtle Beach, SC. Which is where he settled and eventually sent for the rest of us. This is where my mom and dad raised us.

They worked all the time and I remember many nights of starting our 'family time' at 11 pm. No matter how hard they worked, they always made time for us.

Daddy-Grand-Strand


I love that this challenge focus on parents. I know I never give mine enough credit for raising me and giving me the confidence, guidance, support and love to be the person I am today.

Days 2 and 3

Here comes the combo.



Day 2: Meaning of Your Blog Name

I didn't know anything about scrapping when I created this blog and I did it to mark my journey and as a way to show all my favorite pages in one place. I had another name for it originally, but I don't even remember what that was.


Then I learned about CTing and Challenges and all these other fun things about scrapping that aren't really about scrapbooking but more about the community and promotions, so I thought I should actually come up with a name since I'd be helping designers promote their wares (not that I had anyone who read it at the time, mind you).


I figured that my screen name was different enough, so I chose to use it. Simple. And (from a marketing point of view) all my 'properties' have the same brand (like Galleries, forums, twitter, FB- should I choose to do a 'fan' page and my blog).


Scrapporreia = Scrapbooking + Correia



Day 3- Your First Love

I've had a serious boyfriend since college (Not the same one - but a string of serious boyfriends). And I don't really think I was ever in love with them. I was a little wild so maybe I was just into having fun. I even lived with an amazing guy for 5 years - which broke my heart to break up with but it was time, I had to - but I don't think I really loved him either. So ... I think it wasn't until my early 30s when I fell in love with a man named Mike. He's not the Mike I married, though. :) But from him, I learned about love and how it can touch and melt the heart. And from him, I learned that I could really open my heart. Which allowed me to be there when I met my husband. :)

Saturday, January 29

Day 1 Introduce, pic and 15 facts

Rolling up my sleeves... here I go.

DAY 1
They are on to day 5, but I'm jumping in anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up, but I can picture that there may be a few days where I'll be doubling up. :)

My IRL name is Linda and I'm a working mom of one little boy, and wife to a really patient, understanding, loving husband. I work in the city with a horrendous commute but I have a job that is interesting, pays the bills and keeps me from going bonkers.

Here is a recent pic from Dec. Someone recently said in one of the galleries that I have a lot of pictures of the snow. Well, it needs to quit snowing up here! lol



15 Interesting Things About Me
"Interesting", huh? Well, I'll try to be interesting.

1) I told my husband (after dating for about 2 months) that he should meet someone else if he wanted to have kids because it wasn't something I was interested in. He responded by saying, "I'd rather be with you with no kids than have children with someone else." (go ahead, "awwwww").

Years later, he has no recollection of saying that which means he was either drunk when he said it or he's too daft to milk the moment - which could have given him many free passes out of the dog house! lol

2) and this is interesteing only because of #1 - I had a son. lol

3) I believe in the possibility of almost anything, including ghosts. I know my last apt was filled with them and my current home has none. But I feel like I got a visit from one yesterday. (this all bears more explanation, but sounds much kookier if I don't give one. lol)

4) I've dated at least 4 men with the same name: Mike.

5) (while this isn't about ME, I find it fascinating so I'm including it) My sister has never read a packaged food label. Every. (really????)

6) I thought I could sing. Until I played the Wii Glee last week and was grossly disappointed by my lack of singing ability. (Which I told my husband, and he laughed and laughed). I can't sing.

7) The superpower I'd love to have is to instantaeously travel anywhere - along with all the stuff I wanna carry.

8) The superpower I would never want is the ability to read minds.

9) Before last week, I have never had a friend pass away. Doesn't sound like much, but apparently, by 45, you should know at least one if not several friends who have passed. Lucky me to have avoided that all these years. (hmmm... or maybe that's a commentary onBold how many friends I have??)

10) I've traveled to Europe 3 times for free.

11) I am not so strategic at games but I'm really a good guesser. Apparently I've passed that trait down to my son.

12) I've dated 2 men (try to follow this line, it may be clear as a puddle of mud) who's mothers' maiden name was the same as their married name.

13) I'm superstitious as anything, and whenever I have to do a list, I cringe at the 13th of anything! If I owe you $13, I'll give you $15.

14) I'm such a messy - well, mess, that my company hired an organizer to help me. She spent like 3 weeks just cleaning my office. (I can't believe I just typed that for the world!)

15) I graduated the top 5% of my class and I can't spell weird. or wierd. I know the "i after e rule". I can't ever remember if this is some odd exception or its not an exception. So I just generally avoid typing it.

Thats scratches the surface of me for day 1. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)


30 days of Blogging

Over at ScrapMatters, Heather of HayNay designs started a thread to challenge all of us to keep our blogs a-goin'. It sounded fun and interesting so I thought I'd join along.

To keep me honest, here is the challenge below.

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3-Your first love
Day 4-Your parents
Day 5-Your favorite recipes
Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7-Favorite movies
Day 8-A place you've traveled to
Day 9-A picture of your friends
Day 10-Something you're afraid of
Day 11-Favorite TV shows
Day 12-What you believe
Day 13-Goals
Day 14-A picture you love
Day 15-Bible verse
Day 16-Dream house
Day 17-Something you're looking forward to
Day 18-Something you regret
Day 19-Something you miss
Day 20-Nicknames
Day 21-Picture of yourself
Day 22-What's in your makeup bag
Day 23-Favorite vacation
Day 24-Something you've learned
Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26-Picture of your family
Day 27-Pets
Day 28-Something that stresses you out
Day 29-3 Wishes
Day 30-a picture

Mscraps' Birthday Bash Busy-ness

Lots going on at MScraps for their Birthday Bash.

I tossed in some layouts for the challenges, and thought I'd show them off. They also show off iScrap's latest mini-kit LOVED

Here is a preview of her kit
:

This first one is The Bride (which would be me)

The Bride

Credits:
Template: Mscraps Birthday Bash Template by Queen of Hearts
Loved Mini-kit by iScrap

font: Walkway

This one is i {heart} you

i {heart} you

Credits:
Template: Mscraps Birthday Bash Template by Queen of Hearts
Loved Mini-kit by iScrap

font: Walkway
Scriptina

maybe one day I'll do a casual wedding album. Who knows?



Thursday, January 27

Free Word Strip - in honor of Bonnie

I like to keep this blog light but sometimes life just settles in to your life and your heart. This past week (for those who didn't read it earlier) I let a little piece of my heart go when a dear friend passed away. In her honor, I wanted to give away a word strip that was inspired by her zest for life and friendship. That way, you, dear surfers, get a little back from me for following my journey and hopefully, my friend Bonnie touches even more people than she did IRL.

So, here is a combo, folks. My thank you for reading my blog and my thank you to Bonnie for enriching my life.

I hope you enjoy the Bonnie Wordstrip freebie. Download by clicking here or on the image below.

(I wanted to produce a layout as a sample but I was getting so emotional as I was even opening the psd, so I asked my friend to do one, but she got caught up in her own life - and a wake as well - so she was unable to complete it. If one gets done, I will still post it so you guys can see how this can be used.)

Included are: full psd file - with each word as text (font: Walkway), png, psd of the type rasterized in layers in case you don't have the font, and a preview.
There are no TOU, but please do not use commercially or sell this product, if you do use this, please credit this blog scrapporreia.blogspot or Scrapporreia where possible. Thank you for downloading. And if you like this, please post a comment!

Crazy Sandwich Cookies

Tomorrow I am going to a memorial for my dear friend's passing and after, we've been invited back to her new apt to celebrate her life. We are all bringing something so I chose to bring some of her favorite foods - things she'd ask me to find in Jersey for her like a certain pate and lobster spread.


I also thought I'd make some cookies, but how to tie it into my theme? Well, my friend was nothing if not fun-loving. She loved a good laugh and it could be at anyone's expense, even her own. She was also my boss and when we moved to the new office, she put my office in between these two girls (who we both adore) but they had some idiosynchracies. So I playfully yelled at her one day, "I can't believe you put me in the middle of a Crazy Sandwich!" (meaning I'm between Crazy and Crazier). The term stuck. She'd say, I'll meet you down by the Crazy Sandwich or we'd call the girls the Crazy Twins.


So, I made a Sandwich cookie - fits rights? Its basically a homemade Oreo type of cookie with a carmel or mint flavored filling. I colored the filling in bright colors because my friend loved color. In fact she could match a color from memory.I made them heart shaped because she still holds a bit of my heart (along with many, many, others). The cookies came out really cute so I'm sharing them.


Bonnie's Crazy Sandwich Cookies



Just finished these - "Bon"ana Whoopie Pie cookies.
Bonnie loved banana desserts. Every year I got her a banana cream pie or banana pudding for her birthday so again, in her honor, I thought I'd tackle something similar. If she were attending, I know she would love these. Cheers, Bonnie.

Wait, scratch that, I just tried one and I KNOW she'd love these. YUM. 
click on the image for a link to the recipe


Hybrid Guesting for Krisi's Kreations

Hi all,

Its February... the month of cold frost, winter winds and of course snow blizzards. What better time to start tackling something new or expanding an area that you've been lightly dabbling in? For me, that area is the world of Hybrid.

I have been dipping my proverbial toe in the waters and - who knew - the water's been fine. I've had a lot of fun seeing my stuff in 3D. I mean I'm new to all of this so even seeing it on screen is a treat, but to touch, move and view all around a project is really ... neat!

This month I am guesting for this awesome designer: Krisi of Krisi's Kreations (no 'h', no 't', no 'y' - even her name is kinda fun!). I'm a little nervous (I don't want to let her down) and a good deal excited. Join me on this virtual tour of Hybrid-land!

I was about to post a card I made with her template then realized that the designer I made it for wasn't releasing her kit for ...3 more weeks!! yikes.  So, instead, I'll show you some things from her store.

Krisi's Kreations is selling at Scrapmatters and she is guesting this month at MScraps as well. Here is a link to her shop there.

This is a CU handwritting font. Fun and most importantly, legible.


This little gem has a hidden treasure -- an all occasion card with, surprise!, a gift card holder inside! LOVE this.

I have made one of these myself, but, of course, Krisi's is far more professional and the dimensions are all sized for accuracy. I may actually use this template not for a gift card but to put a couple of cookies in to celebrate Chinese New Years at my son's Pre-K.  (Ok, so don't hold me to that. he's got 2 classrooms with like 30 kids + teachers, so I may make like oh... one. We'll see) Uber cute, huh?


Wednesday, January 26

Come Celebrate MScraps' First Year

MARK THESE DATES:
Friday Jan 28 until Monday Jan 31
HUGE MSCRAPS 1ST BIRTHDAY BASH

For times and events, go to the forum. For those of us in the USA, be aware that they are not in any of our same time zones so look carefully. You don't want to miss your favorite chats. These ladies are a nutty bunch! (and I won't call anyone out by name lol).

fun! fun! fun!

Here (time adjusted from their forum) is the current list of events. Enjoy!

Friday 28th January 2011: 8 PM EST - (Friday) Start Blogtrain---> blogtrain time {posts} may vary because of the different timezones we're all in :-)

MScraps Birthday Bash activities
Saturday January 29th & 30th, 2011

Saturday 29th January 2011:

4 AM EST - PROGRESSIVE PAGE
6 AM EST - SCRAP LIFT CHAIN
8 AM EST - SCRAPLIFT CHALLENGE
10 AM EST - TEMPLATE CHALLENGE #1
12 Noon PM EST - NON PHOTO LAYOUT CHALLENGE
2 PM EST - WHITE SPACE CHALLENGE
4 PM EST - WORD SCRABBLE - MSCRAPS STYLE
6 PM EST - SPEED SCRAP CHALLENGE #1


Sunday 30th January 2011:
8 PM EST - GUESS WHAT KIT
10 PM EST - BIRTHDAY CARD TO MSCRAPS CHALLENGE
12 AM Midnight EST - TOPSY TURVY TEMPLATE CHALLENGE
2AM EST - FINISH ME OFF CHALLENGE
4 AM EST - AVATAR CHALLENGE6 AM EST -
10 QUESTIONS8 PM EST - SCAVENGER HUNT
10 PM EST - INSPIRATION SCRAP CHALLENGE
12PM Noon EST - TEMPLATE CHALLENGE #2
2 PM EST - SPEED SCRAP CHALLENGE #2
4 PM EST - SCRAP BINGO GAME
6 PM EST - SIGGY CHALLENGE

Down due to snow... :(

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I don't have the word art freebie to release. The snow caused me to be on Mommy duty (and substitute Mommy duty) rather than finish what I had to. I will try to finish it tonight and release tomorrow.

Gracias for your patience!

Monday, January 24

Finally, finally

After MONTHS of suffering with double posts on every page of this blog. It was so annoying to scroll through my images then to see, well, "ooh, there... its all loading AGAIN".

 I was finally able to find a thread that told me how to get rid of it. Whoo hoo! Gotta love Google!

:)

Sunday, January 23

A big Thank You

This is a huge Thank You for all of you who have subscribed to my blog. My goal is to start making more regular posts and to give it a little value back to you guys and those that find it along the way in their online travels.

Keep an eye out for Wednesday night (EST) when I will be releasing a FREE word art/template.
I'm still not sure what to call it, but I have a fellow scrapper making a layout using it and I'll tap into her to see if she has an idea of what to call it.

Be sure to come back on Wed, Jan 26 and grab your freebie.

Saturday, January 22

Profoundly Sad Day

Today has been such a sad day. I got a call that my boss, friend, confidante, and so much more - passed away last night.

'Sad' does not even begin to describe what I am feeling. The sense of loss, the sense of disbelief, the sense of dread, the immense sense of missing her so much. She is everywhere I look, I see memories connected to her all over my house, in the grocery store, everywhere.

Its not that she hasn't been sick for the past 6 months. She had terminal lung cancer. But she had such a positive, upbeat attitude that she made us believe that she could fight it. And suddenly, she's gone.

Since I've known her the longest, and through several bosses and a smattering of co-workers, I have had the sad, sad responsibility of calling many people who only know her and me these days. Each call makes me relive my sadness and escalates it a notch. Tomorrow is another round of calls.

It'll be fine. It is what it is. Deep breaths. I can do it. All the same, it will be a difficult week ahead as everyone starts to find out, discuss it, deal with it and need comforting because of it.

RIP my dear, special friend. You live on in the things you taught me, in the laughs you gave me, in the love you shared with me.

Thank you for indulging my somberness. This is so overwhelming that I can think of little else.

Mscraps January collab...

I created a few projects with the January collab from Mscraps, Live Love Learn Grow


but I haven't posted them because I'm still not done. So, WTHeck.... I thought I'd post them here to remind me to

a) finish them
b) do something with them. lol

Here is the first of them... I wanted to create a fully integrated Blog site with backgrounds and separaters, blinkies - the whole nine yards. I even took a Jessica Sprague class. But I still can't figure out what the heck I am doing. So... here is the blog template design I made. who knows if I will ever do anything with it. lol


There was a LO I created but I couldn't find a pic I wanted to use with it. But I still need to convert it to a jpg so that will have to be edited in tomorrow.


Tuesday, January 11

New Kit: Simply Kelly Designs


I had to bow out of her CT due to some work committments but I still like to see what she has going on. Add ImageHer Talk to Me kit looks adorable for scrapping those pages between friends, the precocious things your kids say, and just everyday life. This kit is available at Owl Tree Studios (a monthly membership site).
I also saw a note that she released a project 365 Template, too. Find out more of what's going on with her on her blog: Simply Kelly designs.

Monday, January 10

Where the heart is by Sherry Ferguson

After a pretty crazy month for Sherry Ferguson, 2011 brings the relaunch of Gotta Pixel's site and a new kit from Sherry: Where the Heart is. It coordinates with the site's new colors as do many of the new kits from the designers in the shop. This is a great opportunity to grab a variety of styles in all the same colors and create an album with a lot of possibilities.

Here is a preview of the kit:

and here is my LO using this kit + a mask from Lauraskathi's Watercolors

sferg_wheretheheartis_LO-co

Monday, January 3

Free Photoshop Print Safety Action

Tis the season to print your photobooks, isn't it?

I recently received a free 8 x 8 book from
Shutterfly and that prompted me to create an action to convert all of my layouts over to be printed.

What is an Action?
It is a photohop add-on that allows you to automatically perform tasks that you do over and over again. The files have the .atn suffix and can be 'loaded' into your photoshop
actions palette.

Why do I need to do that?
For some reason, even though we create our LOs in the proper proportion, there is about a 10% drop off on the outer edges of the page. Weird, huh? What you want to do is collect all the layers of your project except for the backgrounds and scoot them down (ctrl/cmd T) so that they fall within this 'safe' area (ergo the 'safety').

To save you the time and guesswork of determining where to move your LO elements, I've created an action that automatically drops in a guide 10% into your canvas.

Click
here to download. And enjoy!

Sunday, January 2

The Final Blizzard

Happy New Year, everyone!
Wow, 2010 went out with a bang here in the Northeast. We were snowed in the day after Christmas and were forced to spend all this together time. I LOVED it. :) Tyler got lots on Nana and Pop-Pop time. He loves being with them.

(On a side note, I did manage to get in an hours worth of post Christmas shopping before the snow fell too hard and got some GORgeous ribbons. Love me some ribbons, folks.)



Here is my first LO of 2011. "The First Taste of the Final Blizzard"


The-First-Taste


I created it because I loved the kit I'd just bought and for an Mscraps Ad challenge. I liked the kit so much, I made a companion page. So much went on this stay-cation that I'm sure I'll be making lots of pages from the photos.


"The last Blast of Winter"

The-Last-Blast-of-Winter-2010_RHP


I used Heather T's Boy Oh Boy kit from MScraps. Gosh, I love this kit. Of course, I do have a boy. ;) I'm not on her CT or anything, but I love it so much that I just have to show you the kit cuz you're gonna love it, too. Actually, I've recently discovered Heather T and she does some fantastic stuff, be sure to check out her Blog, too.


Scrapbook Pages

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