Christmas shopping....... and some freebies.

it is almost christmas and of course time for shopping. i'm getting in the familiar panic mode not of "gift buying" but of "what do i buy for....".
our family consists of of various age groups so i make a list and add gift ideas besides each name hoping to find an ideal gift for that person & today with the internet at hand i  manage to skip some of the driving around town, the mall crowds & long lines at the stores - having them ready and all wrapped-up by mid-december or sooner, when my husband travels to el salvador taking most of the gifts with him, it's what makes it stressful.
i only have 2 more gifts to buy but i'm clueless of what to get - which means more time in the computer tonight!

i've learned that men have an easier time buying gifts. i bet my husband would go to the mall, spend a couple of hours there (or less) and get a gift for everyone on the list without torturing himself to buy those "perfect' gifts. we women, on the other hand,  want our gifts to be meaningful & tend to browse around looking at a bunch of choices here and there - men go straight for the kill!  maybe i should let him do the shopping next year while i focus on the joy, cheer and festive part of the season!

i'm glad i'm almost done so i can focus on getting all of our winter clothes & ski gear together. once in taos i can relax and enjoy the rest of december with no rush & no set routine.

ok.... enough of my thoughts on christmas shopping and back to business.
i've manage to work on a couple of freebies that i want to post here just in case i don't have enough time next week. hope you like them.

Template #3 (.psd file)

download here

download here

i have not had time to do much digi-scrapping lately and have only managed a few pages.

this first layout i did for sue cummings - december challenge "a letter to santa" which made me journal for a change. the other two layouts are also using her products. you can check her store here

good luck with your christmas shopping, stay safe and i'll be back with more freebies and hopefully more layouts to show you by next week.

Thanksgiving day is gone and Christmas is almost here....again

hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving day, and much to be thankful for, whether you celebrate this holiday or not.

i'm thankful i got to spend time with my sister and her family in orlando, that we had a safe trip with relatively little traffic, that the kids got to spend time together & that i didn't have to do the cooking! lol!!

of course the food is not the primary reason to celebrate thanksgiving but i thought i mention that the turkey was fabulous as always but the day- after- thanksgiving turkey sandwiches are always the best. white bread, a moist mix of white and dark meat, a bit of lettuce ( watercress will be better), slice of tomato and slathered with the special salvadoran style turkey sauce. ahhh!!

for recipe go here

some photos from the thanksgiving holiday:

arturo preparing the turkey

judith & me sharing some coffee 

right before dinner

at the cat in the hat store- islands of adventure

max, lourdes, javier & gustavo being silly.. again!

having fun & getting wet!

a thanksgiving layout - credits here

so, thanksgiving has come and gone and christmas is almost here! the christmas tree is up ( a fake one by the way) and for the very first time i think i decorated it all by myself since hubby was busy on the computer (no, not helping to shop for christmas presents but working... i guess) and my teenager had also more important things to do (homework, he said?!) the tree is not as fancy, as big and/or as fabulous as it used to be a few years ago when i was living in el salvador but i guess coordinated bows, ornaments and a real tree do not make it special - the important thing is that every little ornament was carefully chosen & placed with love - even if it was only me doing it!! i have to say i was very please with it when it was done & they were very happy and though it was pretty fabulous anyway!

i wish i could say that i'm done with my christmas shopping, that the presents are all wrapped up & that i have a plan of attack for the rest of the gift buying but i'm afraid i am still in need of some ideas..... i really wanted to go to the mall today but the prospect of walking around with no particular ideas of what to buy did not appeal to me at all. i should go tomorrow though  because the idea of encountering the frenzied consuming masses during the weekend is already filling me with dread just to think about it!

and wait!!! before i finish here i want to mention that sue has some awesome christmas products. a new holiday daily digital download kit and lots of freebies for all her newsletter subscribers. details at her blog or at her store at o'scraps.

click on the image to go to her blog for details

some of my latest layouts - click on images for full list of credits.

snowy day moment

days to remember

winter days

constantly reinvent yourself

hope everyone is having a great start of the holiday season... for me.....christmas vacation can not get here fast enough!

Some more pixel freebies

i have no clue what happens to my time. i just wish i could post more often but life seems to be going at warp speed and with the holidays approaching & a million things to do i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.
we are going to spend the thanksgiving holiday with my sister up at orlando and i'm not going to be back until sunday but i wanted to leave you with a couple of new freebies to play with. 

download here

download here

i also want to let you know of the "black friday" sale at o'scraps. check nina's store for amazing savings!

shop here

thanks so much for visiting , your comments and lovely e-mails. they keep making my day! be back soon with some more goodies so keep checking - i'll manage to steal a few hours here and there to make some nice art for a set of christmas

freebies. 

For you who celebrate i wish you a happy and meaningful thanksgiving day.....  but whether you celebrate or not it is always a great time to gather around the dinner table and be thankful for friends, family and health among so many other things. so, thanks again and i'll "see" you here soon.

Template freebie

I promised to have for you  a new freebie this week and here it is. this time is a template and you can download it here! or by clicking on the image.

here's my page using the template and sue cummings products.

click image for credits

and take a look at this fabulous page my friend helen created with the template. isn't it great?

click image for credits

More pages & new products

this will be a quick post, i just did not want the week to finish without mentioning nina's new just elements kit "sisters".  i've been working on a second album for my sister with pictures from when we were little girls so this kit came just in time! i just love doing these pages and realizing that even though time really does fly, memories stay with us forever!

take a look at the kit, some pages i've already created with it & don't forget to click on the images to go the store and/or see list of full credits.

Some other pages from this week:

i'll be back next week with another freebie i'm still working on. happy sunday!

November already?

it's november! and when and how did it get here so soon? time to enjoy & relish the crisp breeze, to enjoy sitting outdoors, to keep windows open & let the fresh air in, to take long walks along the beach...... ok, ok, this is miami and it's still pretty hot (86f) but i'm allowed to dream, am i?


october was a blur. lots of things to do, birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries (including my own), designer spotlights and halloween that came and went in a flash. 
november got here way too fast and that means starting my to-do lists (christmas presents, things to take for skiing trip... etc, etc..), finalizing plans for our winter vacation and trying to get a bit into that holiday spirit.


Anyway, enough rambling and on to the digi-scrapping world. 


my quick pages with sue cummings products are already at o'scraps. grab them now since they are not going to be available after dec 1st! (click on the pages to go to o'scraps)

sue has also another special offer for november: order at least one of her products and get this mini-kit free!!

and you have to take a look at this gorgeous "read and relax" kit from nina. 14 papers and lots of embellies for only $2.00!!!!!  isn't that an awesome deal!?

i've already created 4 pages with this kit and i'm sure will use it some more. check out my pages and don't forget to click on the images for complete list of credits!

...and i just had to use one of my diana gabaldon books here. have you read her books? they are amazing!!! my favorite series so far!

for this last page i'm posting the original underexposed photo i took of my pile of books. it will give you an idea of what difference a bit of photoshop elements does!! 

much, much better here, right?

nina has a beautiful new template in the store too! i've always loved her templates because they are simple,modern & so versatile.  take a look:

and my 2 pages with it:

here are some of my other pages created in the past 2 weeks: 

it's getting harder making layouts about my teenage boy - not only regarding design but mostly because only on very sporadic moments i can miraculously get him to stay put for a minute & don't mind me taking a couple of shots! so i really love this page!

i just love this grungy texture by roben marie. she has a gorgeous blog which i visit often for inspiration here.

... and my last one to show you that once in while i venture out of my box and try something new! since i love vintage images and mixed media art so much i was inspired to create this page for a challenge at o'scraps about a blog that inspired me. you can check "the altered page" blog here and will see why it is an inspiration to me.

this ended up being a very long post - so enough for today! have a great weekend everyone and happy digi-scrapping!!

QP's and more...

this has been a busy week and i know it is only thursday! but i have been having lots of fun working with all the freebies of sue's spotlight and her new kit.

my layout "10 things i'm thankful for today" is a free QP at sue's blog. you can download yours at her blog here. it is a limited time offer..... and will expire soon ! hurry and get yours today!

here are four other pages i created with her products which will soon be quick pages at O'Scraps!!
for complete list of credits click on the pages!

... and how about some more freebies? i've also worked on 2 new grungy masks this week which i want to share with you. i would love to see how you use them - leave me a link so i can take a peek at your work & don't forget to add me to your credits! enjoy!

download here

download here

here's a page using grungy mask # 5:

have a great weekend everybody and happy digi-scrapping!