Ticos for a Week

For our one year anniversary my husband and I headed to the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We stayed In Playa Flamingo which is on the west coast and surrounded by some of the world's most beautiful beaches.

Playa Flamingo

We stayed at the Flamingo Marina Resort thanks to a generous gift from my wonderful adopted grandparents. The weather was extremely humid and it rained at least once a day. For the most part we lounged around and just enjoyed some downtime.

After two days of relaxing, we got brave and took the city bus to the small town of Brasilito. Here we ate some AMAZING food at a soda (a small restaurant serving typical Costa Rican food) and make the trek to Playa Conchal. This beach can only be reached by walking through Brasilito. Luckily, we found a little tour guide to help us out...

Walking from Brasilito to Playa Conchal with our tour guide

Playa Conchal was as stunning as we had heard it was. The beach is made from millions of small white shells. The beach is protected by different environmental laws and therefore remains fairly untouched.

So many shells!

Playa Conchal

A few days later we became even more adventurous and did our one big tour of the trip-ziplining. Costa Rica is considered the birth place of ziplining so of course we had to give it a try. We had awesome tour guides (thanks EcoTrans!) who took us to The Congo Trail Canopy Tour in the small town of Artola. It was SO MUCH FUN! I wasn't sure how I was going to do considering my fear of heights but our guides were very patient and helpful that I felt totally safe. We even saw some howler monkeys hanging around!

Ziplining at the Congo Trail Canopy Tour

We spent the rest of the week exploring Playa Flamingo and eating lots of great food. We ate at all of the sodas in our area and tried new things. It was all delicious!

El Estero Azul, Playa Flamingo

Despite the 42 bug bites we had between the two of us (yes, we counted!) it was such an amazing trip and we can't wait to go back!

Off to daydream and relive it all over again...

XOXO,

Pages From the Heart Reveal: Give Thanks Journal

My second project for this month's assignment for the Pages Design Team was a Blessings or Thanks Journal. The assignment was holiday party favors or decor and my supplies included the beautiful "Summer's End" collection by Fancy Pants Designs.

I made this journal by covering a composition book I had. I got to use Viva Pearl Pens for the first time. That stuff is fabulous!

You can see more pictures and read about how I made this over on the Pages blog. I am hard at work on next month's projects in between recovering from some major tryptophan overdose!

XOXO,

Technically Inclined...or Challenged?

My husband is addicted to his phone. Like as in I have had to confiscate it a time or two at the dinner table. Most of the time it is work-related so I have learned to accept it. And, of course, scrap it.

I won the Robotz collection by Best Creation a few months ago and it worked perfectly for a technology layout. My husband's co-workers like taking these "paparazzi" pictures of each other and these two in particular are some of my favorites. They remind me of the hard work he does and how much he has accomplished. I am so proud of him!

Journaling: "Whether in a busy airport or in the tunnel before a big game, your phone is your #1 companion!"

The first picture is of Ben at the Colorado airport on his way to the Olympic trials. In the second picture he is in the tunnel waiting to go onto the field for a WPS game (that's Marta in the background who is considered to be one of the world's best soccer players to have ever played).

I am entering this in ScrapFIT's Workout #56: Technically Inclined. In case you haven't figured it out, my husband is the "inclined" and I am the "challenged." :)

XOXO,

November Monthy Challenge over at Pages From the Heart!

Pages From the Heart is having a new monthly challenge!

Since it's November and so close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was thinking of a good color combo that could be for both Holidays and so our November Challenge is a Color Challenge!  Please create a project - any project - that has maroon, green and gold in it!  Take a look at what our Design Team created with this color combo!
 

Here is the sample that I created using maroon, green, and gold:

I created this layout using a sketch from one of my sketch books. I used paper from the We R Memory Keepers Peppermint Twist Collection. This paper has a lot of evergreen and maroon in it so I added highlights of bronze with ribbon, eyelets, and a brad. I used my round 14 Epiphany punch to add some small ornaments and cut the large ornaments with my Cricut. I finished the layout with some journaling strips and I also just happened to have some evergreen letter stickers! The title perfectly describes my friends and I. We make a point to go to Disneyland together at least a few times a year and this particular trip last winter was to celebrate my friend's birthday. There's nothing like Christmas at the Magic Kingdom!

Supplies:

We R Memory Keepers – Peppermint Twist Collection

Assorted Cardstock

Epiphany Crafts Round 14 Punch and Epoxies

Letter Stickers

Bronze Brads and Eyelets

Ribbon

Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge (Ornaments)

Mickey Font Cricut Cartridge (Title)

You can see more samples by the other fabulous team members and directions on how to enter the challenge on the Pages blog. There is a goody bag for the winner of this challenge!

XOXO,

Disney Fun

I am busy, busy, busy these days! In addition to teaching scrapbook classes and creating for my Design Team assignments, I've also begun substituting for my local school district!

There's a lot of coffee in my future.

I have a new class coming up this Sunday at Scrapbook Buddies in Temple City!

Please call (626) 286-2846 to sign up. You will need your basic tool kit. I would also be happy to assemble one for you for an extra fee. 

XOXO,

So "Thankful" for my First Reveal!

I had my first reveal today over at Pages From the Heart! Our assignment this month was to create projects for the upcoming holidays. The paper I was assigned for my projects was from Fancy Pants Designs' Summer's End Collection. I was in love as soon as I had it in my hands.

Paper topiary's were featured in a recent issue of Scrapbooks Etc. so I decided to go for it!

This is just a small teaser picture. You can see the whole thing and read about how I created this on the Page's blog. You can also see the real thing by going into the store which is located in Monrovia.

Thanks for reading!

XOXO,