all the great news and a freebie too

Woohoo! It feels great to be back!

First of all, please let me say I'm soooooo grateful for all your well wishes, blessings, and prayers. The support from my family, close friends, my scrapping friends...designers, fellow CTMs, people I met through forums, galleries, and the blog, YOU ARE ALL AWESOME! I can't thank you enough!

Let me give you an update quickly on my cancer scare. The biopsy results came back already and, lucky me! Those mysterious lumps were not of a dangerous kind so I wouldn't need any more treatments since we already have removed them. Of course there's always a chance of recurrance so I'd need regular check-ups but that's totally fine with me. It's much better than the alternatives, don't you think? *wink*

Sorry for late blog update too! This should be up since yesterday but Neill was down with stomach flu and threw up the total of 9 times last night. I was up all night with him and still had to drive my hubby to the airport to fly back to Lebanon this morning. Not a great day for me at all, urgghh!!

Anyway, Neill is rehydrated and fine now so everything is cool. And all the layouts I want to show you today come with a bit of good news in itself. There's a freebie for you at the end of the post as well! Ready for it?

(As usual, the previews are linked to products, and the layout pictures are linked to its gallery pages! So feel free to click on them anytime!)

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The first one I actually finished before the whole cancer scare started. I use Dúnia's template from Scrap Easy Templates 6 with the stuff from Digital Scrap Cafe's January Pick N' Mix for it.

This set of templates will be the last product in store before Dúnia takes her short break to take care of the precious twin girls - Eduarda and Rafaela - due to be born on February 4th! You are more than welcome to drop by her blog and wish her the best for the twins' safe delivery! I'm sure they are going to be such cute babies, both just as beautiful as their mom! :)

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This one I used the Trash the Dress kit, a gorgeous and creative collaboration between Alamama's Pressed Petals Designs and Man in the Moon Designs. I think it's just the kit for my sister's photos on her perfect wedding day. She's a kind of girls who takes everything SOOOOO seriously. So I decided to have a little fun with her page. It's called Scrappin' Accident, take a look and you'd know why. :D



Normally when I post layouts in my blog I would link the pictures to their pages in my DST gallery for people to see bigger version of them. That's because I think it's the place where most scrappers have an account so you would be able to leave comments on my layouts if you want to. But not this time.

The Scrappin' Accident page up there is linked to its ScrapMatters page because that's where it was named Layout of the Week!!! Woohoo!!!! The honor was announced in this thread and immediately became the best news for me during the difficult week! Thank you so much ladies!

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Now the last bits of good news , to be followed by a freebie!

Is it a coincidence that a lot of people choose this time of year to be their new beginnings? Maybe, or maybe not, but that is what happening now. My first foreign scrapping friend Lisa (Aprilisa Designs) is now officially selling her fabulous products at Digital Scrap Cafe. While iNg (i•scrap) has also started selling at MScraps. Both are super talented scrappers and designers so I hope you would give their blogs and stores a visit. You won't be disappointed 'coz they both have a huge sales going and are giving away awesome freebies right now too!

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Another one who's starting anew is my long lost sister, or so it seems. LOL!!! It's Rachelle (Rachness Designs or Doodelle - the lady with many talents and interests herself!) She is now selling EXCLUSIVELY at Mscraps as well. I had a privilege of playing with her cute new products before they hit the store and I can't wait to show you now!!!

So here I am presenting you Rachness's 2 Hug is 2 Love kit, along with the Brushed pack 1 (CU), that I used to create this page called Huggable.




To wrap it up quickly, if you want Huggable here as QP, you can have it!! Go to 4shared to download or just click on the image below to grab the quickpage!


Don't forget to stop by Rach's blog as well to see her other cute products and enjoy the fabulous freebie that she's giving away to celebrate the new store!

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That's all for today, folks! See you again on Feb 3rd. coz that's the day Digital Scrap Cafe is celebrating its 1st birthday!!! There will be BIG sales, promotions, great challenges with great prizes (Wacom tablet, anyone?), and also a lot more fun activities! I also have a very nice set of something to share with you as another freebie here then. So mark your calendar and do come back! :)

TTFN!

50 percent

This would be just a short and not-so-sweet post.

I have a lot of new layouts that I haven't shown here. I probably should also be talking about new products by designers I'm CT for, new interesting challenges, and exciting sales going on in store. But I am not going to. I'm so sorry, I simply don't have time for that today.

I do have a layout I need to show you though.


*Please do click on the image for bigger view.*

Credits:
All papers and elements from kit Chic Pampille by Lilipreneau

I took this picture of myself yesterday, the day I found out that there is a little more than 50% chance that the mysterious lumps in my breast would be cancerous.

There are no words to describe it. I'll just let the light and shadow and colors and patterns in the layout speak for me then.

This might be the last page in a while for me. I have to be admitted in a hospital for a little operation tomorrow (Sunday) night. I'm still not so sure when I'll be able to get back to scrapping. Shouldn't be more than a few days, though. (I hope!) :)

Wish me luck! See ya later!

Hop on DSC's Blog Train for freebies!

Hi there!

Many visitors must have come from Momma Trish's blog, and I happily welcome you all. I hope you are enjoying yourself on the Digital Scrap Cafe's Blog Train!

Finally it's here! Come chugging along with us to the blogs of DSC's designers and CT members for fabulous freebies - quickpages, wordarts, clusters, etc. - made from DSC's January Pick N' Mix sets of products! Are you ready?


I made a set of word art with help of Designs by Sonja's beautiful masks and Elker W.'s super cute flowers and butterfly. And here's what my Speak Softly Word Art set looks like!


You may click on the image to download and enjoy my word art!!! Don't forget to leave some comments here and at all the stops where you pick up the blog train freebies too please. :)

Want to see the word art in use? I made a layout using one in the set here. The papers are from Designs by Anita's Black - Grey paper pack which she's generously giving away during the AMC Challenge at DSC!


(Please click on image for bigger view)


The next and last stop of the train will be at the Digital Scrap Cafe blog itself, where 2 fabulous gifts from Grace (fun2educate) and Åsa are waiting for you.

If you didn't start from the train's first stop or want to make sure that you have visited all the stops along our line, you can find all the links at the DSC blog as well.

Please be patient and do check back if you found that some of the blogs haven't been updated yet. We are an international community with people in many different time zones after all! :)

Choo! Choo!

I need to blog more often!

That's right. I need to blog more often. I can't believe how fast time can fly. No..actually I can, as much as I can believe how slow I can be.

It's kinda funny huh? You were enjoying the holidays and the celebration. You set up some nice resolutions for yourself in the new year. There're new activities, new challenges, and new opportunities everywhere you turn, and you were so caught up with them. Next thing you know, not one but TWO weeks of the new year have almost passed!!!! And you can't help yourself asking, What the heck have I been doing?????

Well, I can tell you about those hecks that I've been doing. LOL! I've been scrapping a lot, and outside of scrapping, there were some translating and editing work for me to do as well. My ever-busy son Neill was also participating in sports days at school so I spent more time at school waiting for him to finish practise. He was not running or in a sports team this time, he was a leader of the cheering team. ("Not a CHEERLEADER, Mama! That's for girls!!")

Anyway, in short (as if I can do short...hehehe) I forgot to show you a whole lot of layouts I got done during these past two weeks. And I'd better show you those before the 15th! Because that's the day I have to update the blog again to welcome the Digital Scrap Cafe's January Blog Train!!! AMAZING FREEBIES COMING!! CHOO! CHOO! It's gonna be the first time I'm a part of a blog train so please make sure your harddisk has enough space for more fab freebies! LOL!

So, I'll try to keep the talking to the minimum and take you straight to the layouts made with fabulous kits and templates now!! Ready??

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Remember, all images are clickable for bigger view and the previews will take you to the product page. :)

I'll start with this gorgeous card templates by Alamama's Pressed Petals Designs. It's called simply Thank You Cards. I scrapped a card that means a lot to us personally. It's to say thanks for my brother-in-law and his family who own and run a small but fabulous guesthouse/boutique hotel called Casa Caballero in Portsmanburg, South Africa. We had a chance to stay there a few nights and had a wonderful time there. I'll definitely blog about and show you the pictures of the hotel some day.

Credits:
All by Alamama's Pressed Patals Designs
- Thank You Cards template set and Boy Meets Girl mini kit

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These two page actually got done last year. LOL! Using the HUGE collab kit Chrismas Grab Bag from Digital Scrap Cafe, featuring the whole store's designers!!! It's my intention to make the pages as different from the other as possible and show that the kit is not just for Christmas but also good for everyday scrapping! I think I pulled it off. :)

Credits:
Callab kit Christmas Grab Bag by Digital Scrap Cafe
Template by lovingsue

Credits:
Collab kit Christmas Grab Bag by Digital Scrap Cafe
Template from Templage Pack 2 (modified) from Double Dutch Design
Quote chosen by Reece's Pieces

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Next is a layout made from a templae and kit by Catia Cunha who's enjoying the Designer's Spotlight at DSC. All her products (CU included!) are still on sale for as much as 80% off!



Credits:
All from Catia Cunha - Layout Template 001 (modified) and kit My Little Boy in Bundle 3

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I've been wanting to scrap with baby pictures of Neill and finally I got a chance. These are from when he was 7 months old. He was so cute and pink and soft (still is actually.) We could have made a fortune if we charged $1 everytime somebody want to squish his cheeks! LOL!

I used Double Dutch Designs new kit My Boy for this. It's also a scraplift of Daughter by Morgana, which is the subject of DSC's latest scraplift challenge hosted by Momma Trish! If you also want to lift Morgana's fabulous layout, hurry up! You have until Jan. 18th to finish your page.



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Whewwww! Last layout of today, finally. But it's also the first layout in Project 52 at DSC that I commit to this year. We call it A Year in the Life (AYITL). I chose this picture of Neill to represent his first week of 2010! Please do click on image to see big picture and read the journaling, so you can appreciate Neill's little negotiating skill! :)


This one is made with AYITL January Template by Pure Creativity Designs and a combination of mini kits by DSC designers, the January Pick 'N Mix, which right now is on sale for only $1 each!


Don't forget to come back here on Jan.15 for the DSC January Blog Train! Some of the DSC designers and CT members are putting together fun freebies (QPs, clutters, wordarts, etc.) from the Jan. Pick 'N Mix for our train. It's gonna be fun!!

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Just a short note before the wrap. I just want to say, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! for all of you who partcipated in my first Template Challenge at DSC. A lot of beautiful layouts were made out of that template. I also notice that the Digital-Crea forum picked up the template and used it for their challenge as well. That's such a big honor for someone who has only been scrapping seriously for less than half a year like me.

This post is way, way too long now. Okay. Bye! See ya again on the 15th!

Hosting Template Challenge at DSC!

Happy New Year!! For this first post of 2010, I have a gift for you.

Normally if it's a freebie post, I would definitly mention other stuff first, show you some LOs, then some great sales or interesting challenges worth checking out, and only when there's nothing else to talk about, the freebie.

The reason why I save the freebie for last is not because it's "the best" as the saying goes. (I prefer to think that I'm a whole lot more than the freebies I give. LOL!) But because many visitors tend to (understandably) just grab the freebie and leave without reading or looking at anything else, not to mention leaving comments. I (along with a whole lot of designers who give away stuff) just try to keep you on the blog a little longer, that's all.

Not this time though. This time I'll go straight to the point and announce that I'm the proud hostess of Digital Scrap Cafe's latest Template Challenge! I'm so excited! My first hosting a challenge ever! I made a FREE template especially for this challenge. It's designed with New Year's Resolutions in mind, but really you can use it for anything.

Please click on the image for details of the challenge and for the download link. Apart from the free template, everybody who participates in the challenge will also get digibytes that can be accumulated toward store gift certificate, and there's a $3 GC prize for the challenge winner too!

Here's what I made with the template. My New Year's Resolutions!

(Please click on image for bigger view)

Credits:
All papers and elements from Joy the Clown kit by Keley Domingues Designs
Template by Pom's Breathing Room for Digital Scrap Cafe's Template Challenge (Jan. 1-8)
Photographs: 1, 2 - mine; 3, 4, 5 - stock images from sxc.hu

And here's the great fun kit Joy the Clown that I made the layout with!


What are you waiting for?? Come play with me people!

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I have another layout for another CT to show you! This is actually the first layout that I created in 2010, and I really like it a lot. Making this page brought back the memory of that day and that event. It's a page that I'm sure Neill will love to see again and again many years from now.

I made the page using one of the template from A Week's Worth template set by Alamama's Pressed Petals Designs, with everything else from I'm Bored kit by Pressed Petals as well. Both were really perfect for this page! I love how versatile this template is. It's great for Project365 and other family moments with series of pictures!

Now, I'll just let the page and the journaling speak for itself. Please do click on the image for bigger view, comments are very welcome too!


Journaling reads:
December 5, 2009
Neill participated in an inter-school sports tournament as a track athlete. He was runner no.7 in grade one 8x50M. relay race. It was really hot that day and the whole team also had to endurethe long opening ceremony in the sun before starting the race, but he didn't complain. He was just so excited, so were his teammates.

Finally they called, Neill warmed up, put his game face on, and waited patiently in his spot. By the time the 6th runner arrived, Neill's team was already 2 metres behind 3 other teams. Even so, he grabbed the baton perfectly and simply took off like the wind.

He was able to gain back some distance before handing off the baton to the last runner. Too bad that wasn't enough. In the end the team finished 4th. He was noticeably crushed.

Later he asked Mama what kind of medals they would give to 4th place finishers. Mama told him, it's the kind of medals that you can only see with your heart. He loved the answer and would repeat it to everybody who wants to know. 4th place isn't that bad after all.

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Let's end with some great news! Great sales and challenges!

Catia Cunha is the Designer in the Spotlight at Digital Scrap Cafe. Everything in her store is now only $1 each and if you spend $10 there you get $10 more FREE! She's also hosting a challenge at DSC forum where eveyone gets $1 coupon just to participate and the winner gets as much as $20 !


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DSC is also introducing a new project called "A Day in the Life". You are encouraged to use at least one photograph and scrap one layout a week (as opposed to one each day which many people -- me included -- feel hard to keep up) for the whole year! What a great way to document your life with your family, huh?

To motivate you even more, DSC will provide a FREE template each month to make it easier for you. Here's the first ADITL template, click on it to read the challenge details too!


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Enjoy all the freebies and I hope you do come to join me at the Template Challenge! TTFN!