Happy Halloween!!!

Credits:
Card template by Di Hickman
Papers, ribbons, beads, wordart, alpha by Atomic Cupcake, "Haunted" kit
Cat & pumpkin by Lolo

Step 1: Kite flying

Well, I needed something to brighten this yucky day and this scrapbook page definitely did it. Tropical Storm Noel is still making his/her presence felt. It has been rainy all day again today and we are so tired of being couped up inside!!

I decided that I needed to scrap some photos of a week ago when we were actually getting beach time and I was learning to kite-surf.

I recently joined Ruby Rynne's creative team and I had to use her "Tropical Cocktail" kit to scrap some pages of our time down here in Dominican. Click here to visit her blog and click here to visit her store.



Credits for Step 1: Kite Flying
Stitched template by Eva Kipler
All papers & embellishments by Ruby Rynne's "Tropical cocktail" kit available at http://brazilianblend.net/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=251&zenid=96782809abc1da870ab3b73277aca748
Font: Lucinda handwriting & Showcard gothic
Photos by Matt & Kim

Journaling Reads:
My second day flying the 1 meter trainer kite on Bozo beach.
Oct. 24, 2007

Just Beachy...

Tropical Storm Noel is still affecting our weather. Last night, the winds and rain picked up and the rain continues today. We did have a break in the rain for about 2 hours this afternoon and even saw about 5 minutes of weak sunshine. We took advantage of the break and walked into Cabarete for lunch and a quick look around the shops. As we started our walk home, we noticed the dark clouds closing back in around us. We came to the gates of our complex and it started raining so we barely made it back in.

So far, we have been really lucky and not too affected other than rain, rain, & more rain. We've lost power some (but thats not unusual) but the generators are working. Our water from the tap is brown and yucky - good thing we don't use it for drinking or cooking. We're being careful and using bleach when washing dishes.

Here is the latest image from the National Hurricane Center:

Here is a picture that I took off our balcony late this afternoon as the storm clouds rolled back in...

Well, I can guarantee that the following pictures are not from today!!! These are actually some pictures we took of each other about 3 weeks after we got here. I actually did this as part of a template challenge. It was really tough for me because I've never done a layout with stars before. Its tough to make photos fit into them. After a lot of resizing and rotating, here is the result:

Credits for Just Beachy:
Template by Amy Watson for Happyscrapz' October template challenge {http://happyscrapz.forumup.com/viewtopic.php?t=399&mforum=happyscrapz}
Papers, flowers, viewfinder & ribbons by Amy Watson's "Summer Fun" Kit {http://digibydesign.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=355}
Hanging star by Schmooangel (http://www.creativescraptreasures.com}
Fonts: Gill sans ultra bold & Lithos Pro
Photos by Matt & Angela

Journaling reads:
Cabarete, Dominican Republic
09-18-07

Tropical Storm Noel...

Well, its an official tropical storm now. The low pressure system was declared a tropical depression yesterday and was named a tropical storm today. It is located off the southern shore of the island and the last official storm track said that it was "Meandering" generally to the North-Northwest which will take it to the west of us. Its winds are at 60 mph around the center.

Today has been really gray but calm here. We have had our normal trade winds, not the gusty winds that we've had the past couple of days. The rain has also held off and its only sprinkled a few times today.

Here are a couple of maps that will give you a bit more info on where we are. This first map shows you where we are in relation to the US. As you follow the map directly south of Florida to the island of Cuba and then travel almost due east to the next large island, you will find the island of Hispanola. This island is shared by Haiti on the western third and Dominican Republic on the eastern two-thirds.
Here is a more detailed map of DR. We are in cabarete on the north shore (see red box almost directly below the R in Republic.

Here is the latest map of where the storm is located and its estimated track... We've been keeping track of it on NOAA's site {http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml}

Stormy Seas...

Well, the weather hasn't improved much at all. Probably worsened. We have a nasty low pressure system just to the south of us and our weather has been extremely windy and rainy. All day long, we have had thunderstorms rapidly moving through with heavy winds and rain.

The ocean is still really turbulent with huge waves. As I was watching Matt kite-board today, I could only see his whole body only about half the time. The other times, all I could see was a head bobbing with huge waves all around.

We went to a friends beach birthday party last night. The night was incredible as the winds were high with sporadic thunderstorms & lightening. Overall a fantastically stormy night which had us running for the cover of the porch several times. As we watched the storm, we were treated to a fantastic show of Bobo kite-boarding (at about 1:00 in the morning). He is an incredible kite-boarder and with the lightening in the background and the huge light illuminating the water, it was fantastic. We watched as his jumps carried him 40 to 50 feet through the air. Here is a link to a video put out by his sponsor, EH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0df8w7bQW_g

Here is a scrapbook page I did today to capture the feeling of the stormy weather... You can see the nasty dark clouds as they close in around Cabarete.

[Click to enlarge photo]

Credits for Stormy Seas:
Based on a sketch by Chris Greiser {http://sketchmeifyoucan.blogspot.com/}
Papers & embellishments by Majula's "Day of the Rain" freebie kit {http://freebiesandsbcrapsbymajula.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html}
Font: Bauhaus 93
Photos by Angela

Journal reads:
October 27, 2007
We woke to stormy skies again today. All day we have had squall after squall roll through. Matt went out to kite this afternoon and I got some great pictures of the turbulent water & approaching storm. As I was watching him, he would disappear between the waves as the swell was so big. I got some pictures of 18+ foot waves breaking on the reef.

Knosses Palace - June 22, 2007

I recently was lucky enough to become a creative team member for Kara Jones at KJoi Studios. She is a fantastic designer and I just had to use her kit "Coral Flower" to scrap some more photos of our trip this summer.

Here is a preview of the fabulous kit, available here:



All of Kara's designs can be seen here: http://kjoistudios.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1

These two layouts are from the couple of days that we spent in the Heraklion (the capital city of Crete) Greece. For those up on their mythology "The place of the myth of the Labrinth, an elaborate mazelike structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalius to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero, Thesus."

Credits for Knossos Palace:
All papers, ribbons, button, flowers, staples, tape & tags by Kara Jones' "Coral Flower" kit at KJoi Studios {http://kjoistudios.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19}
Double page template by Chris Greiser {http://sketchmeifyoucan.blogspot.com/}
Photos by Angela & Matt
Font: Kristen ITC & Goudy Stout (for title)

Journaling Reads:
The place of the myth of the Labrinth, an elaborate mazelike structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalius to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero, Thesus.

Its maheem....

Well, we woke up late today (about 9 which never happens) and were messaged by a friend immediately to go check out the beach. We peaked outside and it was incredibly windy and grey. We quickly went down to the beach and were amazed at the howling wind and the huge waves. The ocean was more turbulent than we have ever seen it. It has stormed on and off all day and more is expected for tomorrow as a possible tropical depression is forming over us.

Of course, we had to run back to the house to get Matt's kite (Yep, No way in H... was I taking lessons today). I took this picture of him going out this afternoon and the waves had calmed down from this morning. If you look at the picture, you can see that he is knee deep in the frothy water and the wave breaking behind him is over his head. Overall the swell was about 12 foot today - HUGE!!! You can also see the huge waves breaking on the reef and we estimate they were about 18 foot out there (look at the white waves just under the sky about 1/3 of the way in the photo).

Frame by Princesslala

Colorado National Monument

Donna sent me another great kit to work with called Desert Flower. It has a fantastic southwestern theme to it and I've finally found the perfect kit to scrap some photos that I have of our trip in May of 2006 out to Colorado National Monument near Fruita, Colorado. Keep an eye on her blog http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com and watch for the kit to come on sale.

Here is a link to learn a bit more about this beautiful place. http://www.nps.gov/colm/ These pictures were taken from the monument canyon trail.

Credits for Colorado National Monument:
Template by Jill D-Zines for rakscraps October template challenge
{http://www.rakscraps.com/forums/showthread.php?p=232264#post232264}
Papers, frames, tags, ribbons by Chiggerlane Design's "Dessert Flowers" kit {http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com}
Font: Matejo for the digibydesign October font challenge
{http://digibydesign.com/mall/index.php?topic=390.0}
Photos by Matt & Angela

I'm flying!!!!

OK, well, maybe not me, but the kite is anyway!!! We had a really light wind today ahead of the storms so we took advantage of it to let me fly the 9 meter inflatable kite on the beach. I crashed it twice (not too hard) and landed it once gently. I relaunched it with Matt's help twice and decided I was done with the third crash. Here are a couple of photos that Matt took (I have no idea who created the frames).

We had a very pretty morning, but as we were finishing with my kite lesson the dark clouds rolled in. We quickly packed everything up to keep the kites dry (and less sandy) and hurried back home. Here is a quick picture I took of the approaching storm over the ocean.
We went for a walk down to kite beach and then into town for pizza dinner at LAX.

On a different note, I got my first accepted bid at elance.com for part time work. Its a neat site that lets you bid various projects that are available. This is one that I had bid almost a week ago and I go the acceptance tonight. Tomorrow its off to work for me!! Its a quick project and cheap so it will be fun to have some work!! Matt is teaching tomorrow. Its the first time he will have two students.

I have to share this picture that my sister sent me today of a tornado near to their home in Missouri about a week ago. They have been plagued the past couple of years with really nasty storms. The morning of these storms, we were watching CNN here in Dominican and they were predicting tornadoes for the area that my family lives in. The morning after the storms, I did a quick internet search for tornadoes in their county because I heard on CNN that there had been some nasty storms. The internet search turned up a tornado very near their old home so I was frantically trying to call her and was very relieved when she told me that the storm had passed about a mile south of them (still too close for comfort).

I lived!!!!!

Well, I lived!!!! Matt took me on the drag today. A drag consists of flying the big inflatible kite with a harness (i.e. you and the kite are attached to each other). Matt "drove" the kite while I held on to his harness. The waves were quite large and I decided that I needed to be a bit more comfortable in the waves before I flew the kite myself (remember how big they are, not to mention how powerful).

A friend, Kim, took the first picture of us as we were getting ready to go into the water for the drag. You can see the harnesses on both of us with large metal hooks on the front that attach to the kite. We took the big 14 meter North kite out with a light wind and it pulled us both through the water pretty easily.

Matt took the other couple of photos while I was flying the trainer kite for some more kite practice. Its amazing how small it is (Its a 1 meter kite) compared with the inflatible kites (remember that Matt's is a 14 meter).

I don't know who created these frames as I can't find the author anywhere. If anyone knows, leave me a comment.

Matt's Photo contests

As many of you know, Matt has been participating in photo contests over at Worth1000. I wanted to bring you up to date on all of his wonderful photos. He has done quite well there and I wanted to share the contests and the results with you.

This was his first submission for the "Weather" contest that won 2nd place out of 64 entries. This was taken in October of 2006 while Ted & Beth were visiting us in Colorado. We were in Colorado National Monument (near Fruita, Colorado) just as it was finishing raining and we were treated to this beautiful double rainbow. Not bad for his first entry, huh?

Well, the next contest didn't go quite as well. It helps to totally read the directions before submitting. The contest was to capture a flag, but not to take a picture of an actual flag. Well, to read it entirely, you had to make the flag as the picture could not be of anything manufactured. So this photo of a Dominican kid on a kiteboard that resembles the Dominican Republic flag was disqualified. Still a pretty good pic though!!!

The next contest was to capture "Orange" with a photo. This photo of the Temple of Apollo on Naxos Island, Greece came in 8th of 86 entries. This photo was taken in June of this year.

The next contest was to capture a "Dramatic Cat". While we were waiting out the snow in Grimentz, Switzerland during the Haute Route hike last year, Matt snapped this cutie. He came in 24th of 56 entries.

He had three entries in the next contest to show the "Rule of thirds". This contest is still open for voting so the results are not in yet but after each photo, I'll tell you where he is as of this blog post.

#1 Submission

This is taken from our hotel in Cairo, Eqypt of the Nile river at the end of August. It is currently 23 of 81 entries.

#2 Submission

This photo is of Auschwitz concentration camp near Krakow Poland. We visited there last year while touring eastern Europe. It is currently #3 of 81 entires.

#3 Submission

This photo is of Hampton Court (former home of Henry VIII of England) taken during our July visit to London. It is currently 30 of 81 entries.

The next contest that he entered is for Black & White patterns. He has 3 entries for this contest as well. The contest hasn't closed yet, but I'll keep you informed of his status.

Submission #1 - Tigger

This pattern is from a tiger that he photographed during our April visit to the wild life sanctuary near our home in Denver.

Submission #2 - Greek Amphitheater

This photo was taken of the Ancient Delphi site in Greece last summer. It was a fantastic amphitheater that is still in use today.

Submission #3 - Suckers Everywhere

This is a closeup of octupus tentacles taken last summer in the Greek Island of Naxos.

This is his last photo submission for a contest to age a photo. I think he did a fantastic job of aging this photo (see original photo below). This was taken during our Haute Route hike last year. This was a really rainy day as we hiked from Trient to Champex, Switzerland.


Here is the original photo:

Thats all for now, I'll keep you updated on how each contest comes out and any new contests.

If cowboys ruled...

As I was checking out Matt's photos in his photo contests over at Worth 1000, I came across a Photoshop contest entitled "If cowboys ruled". Here is the link to check out all the entries in the contest, but I just had to share my favorite one!!!

Talk about pimping a ride - COWBOY STYLE!!!

Please click here to see the credits as this is not from Matt or I

Matt's Shadow...

Sorry, no picture weather report today or any other pictures, but it was a nice day. We had our Spanish lesson this morning and it went well. We have a week to study for our test!!!

Matt taught for a couple of hours this afternoon so we had wind. He's done teaching until Friday so we get to go hang out on the beach for the next couple of days (Hope for wind!!). We are hoping for enough wind for Matt to take me on a "drag" tomorrow to see how I do in the water with the kite.

Overall a pretty good day. The air conditioner is still working fairly well and we had lights all night so nothing eventful with the apartment!!! YEAH!!!

I finished a cute layout today for Ted. This is a picture of Charlie, the dog that they had while Matt was growing up. When I asked Ted to describe her, he commented "Matt's shadow".

Credits for Charlene:
Based on a sketch by Micha for October Sketch Challenge at KJoiStudios {http://kjoistudios.com/messages/index.php/topic,760.0.html}
All papers, flowers, & buttonsby Majula Designs' "Good Morning Sunshine" kit available for free at http://kjoistudios.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=153
Arrow template by Kristi Reever's "Funky & Fresh Edges" kit
Font: Olde English from Happy Scrapz's October Font Challenge {http://happyscrapz.forumup.com/viewtopic.php?t=400&mforum=happyscrapz}
Photo by Ted

Journaling Reads:
Intelligent, Pleases, Trainable, Loving, Companion - Charlene 1970


Here is a preview of the Free Kit

The rain has returned...

And the weather report for today... NO KITES, Rain about every hour and then some sun, then more rain... This is taken from our balcony (no way was I braving the torrential rains to go down to the beach...)
Today has been a bit interesting. Matt ran some errands this morning and went to the bakery and the store while I cleaned house. We swore that each time he went to the moto it started raining cats & dogs. He finally got the errands done as he was coming back from work. He didn't get to teach today so he had just a quick ride down to the shop to chat with his student. I managed to get this quick shot of him "commuting" to work today (yep, one of the few sunny times).

Frame by Val Gouvie

As we were watching rain and TV this afternoon, Matt kept asking me if I smelled anything. Well, the lights were blinking on and off (not an uncommon occurrence down here) but we noticed it was only our overhead lights and not the TV or computers. Well, he did smell something and it was coming from the fuse box. Sure enough, we had a breaker burn out. Well, the normal electrician is gone until Wednesday so we were given the option to wait until then to have our lights back on. Needless to say, not too thrilled. It did get fixed so we're not sitting here in the dark.

Check out the new scrapbook pages in the two posts below.

Cutest pumpkin in the patch...

I had to giggle last night when I opened my emails from Ted and I found the cutest pictures of Joey in his Halloween costume made by Teddi.

Of course, I had to make a scrapbook page out of it for Ted so here it is...

I used Donna's Spooky kit again for this layout and it made such a cute page. Be sure to check out her cute designs at http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com.

{Click on image to enlarge}

Credits for Cutest pumpkin in the patch:
Layout by Angela using Photoshop CS3 {http://amshetzer.blogspot.com}
Template by Monica's blueprint challenge at gottapixel {http://www.gottapixel.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17847}
All papers and embellishments by Chiggerlane Designs' Spooky kit {http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com}
Font: Goudy Stout & Chiller
Photos by Ted
It is also posted on gottapixel.net here {http://www.gottapixel.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/74820/ppuser/7694}

New photos of the little one...

Sis and I have finally figured out how to get photos back and forth so I can have some updated ones of little one.

I did this cute scrapbook page today with the help of Donna's fantastic kit "Spooky" available on her blog {http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com}. I knew that I had to use the kit when the colors were so perfect with her outfit and of course the pumpkin.

I absolutely love the pumpkin head picture on the top, I could not stop giggling when I saw it!!!

Credits for Sweetness:
Layout by Angela {http://amshetzer.blogspot.com}
Template by Michaele Burkhart for October sketch challenge at Deco-pages {http://board.deco-pages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2605}
All papers and embellishments by Chiggerlane Designs' Spooky kit {http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com}
Quote by Judith Olney for Quote challenge with Shelly #42 at RAKscraps
{http://www.rakscraps.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15514}
Font: Chiller
Photos by Laura

Its official...

Well, its official, we are Dominican residents until January 27 instead of November 30. Well at least thats when our flight leaves. We've started looking around for another place to stay as our unit is rented out for Dec & Jan (not too mention that we are not all that happy with our landlord).

Today's weather report...
Few kites, light wind and mostly sunny skies - Although it is raining as I post this at 11 at night.

Well, Matt has taken on his most difficult student ever... ME!!!

I flew the trainer kite again today on the beach and did much better than last time. I only managed to crash it once!!! This is my second time with the trainer kite and it made a lot more sense this time. He is planning on taking me on a "drag" through the water within the next couple of days and if that goes well, I'll fly the inflatable (i.e. regular kite) on the beach before taking it into the water. We're taking it very slowly and making sure that I am comfortable with each step before we go onto the next one. I don't have any pictures of me flying the kite (we see who takes pictures of who!!) but we'll get some soon.

Hasta manana...

Up Up & Away...

I think I mentioned that I was lucky to join the creative team of Chiggerlane Designs and Donna was wonderful enough to share her wonderful kits with me.

On her blog now, there is a full free kit, Something Fishy, that is so wonderful. I had to take advantage of it to show Matt off on one of his jump sequences. Here is a link to her wonderful blog where you can pick up the kit and take a look at her wonderful other kits. http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com/

Credits for Up, Up & Away:
Based on a template by Tracy Drane for October sketch challenge at makeitscrappy.com {http://www.makeitscrappy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=851}
Papers & embellishments (including bows, fibers, flowers, frames, arrows & tags by Chiggerlane Designs' "Something Fishy" kit {http://chiggerlanedesigns.blogspot.com}
Font: showcard gothic
Photos by Angela

Journaling reads:
Here Matt is practicing his jumping skills. He is getting great height but there are still some great splashes on the landings.
October 18, 2007
Cabarete, Dominican Republic

The heat is on...

Well, today was busy for one of us and very frustrating for both of us!!

Matt left the apartment at about 1 to go kite for a couple of hours before he had to teach his young student. He finished in time to get to lesson to find that his student has left... Another student found her in a nearby pool and got her back over to the school for her lesson. Teaching is a bit tougher when you have to go "find" your students for a lesson and drag them out of a pool into an ocean.

Meanwhile, Angela is sitting in the apartment for "un momento" (one moment) for the air conditioning repair guy(s) to reappear. Well, after being promised that he would appear at 12, he finally showed up at 12:30 and disappeared for "un momento". Well, at 2:10, I was highly irritated and called our landlord. The call didn't go through (not sure if skype hung up on me or if she did) and another repair guy showed up about 10 minutes later. After another "un momento" it was finally about 2:45 before the first one showed up again to turn the air conditioner back on and to promise to return "un momento". Well, its 10:30 at night and apparently "un momento" has not come yet. Long story short, its bearable in here but with the air conditioner set on 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees farenheit) so I don't think its completely fixed yet. More yelling to do tomorrow!!

We did salvage the day by having a great two for one dinner at LAX with a couple of drinks. It is so beautiful and relaxing to eat on the beach under the stars and lights.

I came back to great news. I've been accepted to Donna's creative team. Here is a link to her blog. She has some wonderful designs so look for some great new scrapbook within the next couple of days!!! I can't wait!!!

Sorry, no pictures today as the camera didn't leave the apartment!!!

Life is good...

The weather report for today... clear with a few scattered high clouds, winds averaging around 15 knots, & kites...

We had our "clase de espanol" this morning and it went well. We headed out to the beach in the afternoon after waiting for the air conditioner repair man. He needed a part so we agreed to meet him back at the apartment at 5:00. Well, we cut our beach time short and went back to the apartment to wait for the guy. After an hour and 45 minutes we called the landlord and she had no clue (as usual) and promised to let us know when to expect him. As of now, still no call and of course, no air conditioning. Its tough to be nice when you're hot & sticky so I wouldn't want to be her tomorrow.

I shared my spot on the beach with this little guy:

I finally got a picture of the entire kite. This is Jay launching Kim's 7 meter kite. As you can see, it is huge. Jay is probably around 6 foot tall and you can see that he doesn't even reach to the mid-point of the kite. Keep in mind, this is about half the size of Matt's big kite.

I think this picture about says it all... Life is Good!!!

Credits: All frames from scrapbook-bytes's July 2004 element team "Tropical" kit & all photos by Angela

Dope on a Rope

Here is the weather report for today...

Yep, it was a beautiful day with wind. YEAH!!! Matt was scheduled to teach a lesson today so we went down to the beach early today so he could get some kiting in before he taught. He zipped around and worked on some new tricks (and of course some new crashes!!). I made a layout to show one of his new tricks, a spin. Its a jump with a complete 360 turn before landing, or as Matt calls it "Dope on a Rope". You can see the progression of the "spin" by looking at the photos below in a clockwise direction {and of course, I had to include the ending splash}.

Credits for Spinning:
Based on a template by Alice Naylor {http://www.okblues-designs.com/blog}
All papers and elements by Digital Divas Designs, April Mega Kit, Raging Sea
{http://www.digitaldivasdesigns.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=88}
Photos by Angela

His student didn't show up again for her lesson and needless to say, he was a bit irritated. He went tonight to talk with the Coral Institute's English class and had an audience of 12 with ages ranging from 8 to 40+. The class had terrific English and he really enjoyed himself.

Overall, a very quiet night and not to mention a warm one as our air conditioning has stopped working again and of course it will be fixed "manana".

Look at the size of these things...

I've been trying to get a good picture of a kite when its not flying to give you an idea of how big they are and how much power is in them. Our friend, Jay, got to be the guinea pig today and I still could not get the entire kite in the picture. This picture is of Jay launching Kim's 7 meter kite. It is quite a small kite (keep in mind that Matt sails a 10 & 14 meter mostly) and I only got a little over 3/4 of it in the photo. I'll keep trying to get a good photo to show you the true size of the larger kites.


As you might have guessed, it was windy today so we played at the beach for a bit. My heel is still really bothering me so I've kept to my chair (other than to launch & land Matt). I took a few photos today and got some good ones of Jay & Kim and Matt. Nothing spectacular, but not too bad for a light wind day.

We had our Spanish lesson this morning and we are learning lots of new vocabulary. Note to self, must find more time to study!! We are going back to the school tomorrow evening to speak to the children of the school that are learning English. It should be interesting to speak to them.

I think thats about it tonight!!!

Tropical Breezes And Blowing Palm Trees

We had a beautiful day here today!!! We woke up (about 6:40 am this morning, thank you Mateo Pablo) to beautiful blue skies and wind!! Well, the wind was light in the morning, but continued to build all day. We headed out to the beach at noon and Matt went out on his 14 meter kite. His first sail was a "downwinder" and he ended up walking back on the beach. He sat with me for a bit before we relaunched him and he had a great ride. After a rest, he pumped up the 10 meter kite and went back out for another sail. Needless to say, he's a bit tired tonight.

I recently was accepted to join the creative team of Lucy Chesna and I submitted my first layout based on her sketch (see below).

I found a great wedding photo from the reception that I had not used. I liked the photo both in color and in black and white so I decided to make it both. I created a mask to keep the red in Matt's tie, vest & flower and to keep the red in my jewelry and left everything else to be black & white. I could not find one kit that I really liked, so I used a whole lot of different kits to get the look that I wanted.

(click to enlarge)

Credits for Blissfully Wedded:
Based on a sketch by Lucy Chesna (http://mysketchworld.blogspot.com)
Papers by Atomic Cupcake (www.atomiccupcake.com) (Casanova, Fries with that, Emma kits)
Alphabet by Atomic Cupcake (Casanova kit)
Hearts by Atomic Cupcake (Casanova kit)
Silver bead chain by Atomic cupcake (Necessities kit)
Love slide by Atomic Cupcake (Gingerbread kit)
Photography by Jason Smith (recolored by Angela)

Scrappin Away...

Matt is teaching today as we have a bit of wind so I'm taking advantage of the quiet time to get some scrapbooking done. I've completed a couple of pages while participating in some challenges.

Here is the first one that I did of our time here in Dominican. This one was created for an ad challenge at designer digitals.

This is the image that the challenge is based on:

And this is the layout that I created based on it. The background photo is of the point that separates us from Kite beach. Its always a beautiful site to see all the kites just off the point. I retouched the image by giving it an overall blue/black & white tint and then created a mask to let the actual colors of the kites come through.

{click on image to enlarge}

Credits for Cabarete:
Based on a template by Katie Pertiet for designerdigitals.com 10-07 ad challenge
Papers by Lynn Grieveson
Palm trees & flowers by Atomic Cupcake's "Paradise Bay" kit
Photos by Angela

This is the second page that I finished today as part of our wedding scrapbook. I'm still working on the reception and there are so many good photos that I'm having trouble getting them all into the album. This page was created based on a challenge at godigitalscrapbooking.

Here is the original template designed by Andrea:

These are all photos taken by our photographer, Jason Smith and I've retouched them to get the right mood for the layout. In the largest picture, I added a deep blur to the background to make us stand out even more. I have no idea what I was giggling at!!!

{click on image to enlarge}

Credits for First Dance:
Template by Andrea Gold's Sketch challenge @ godigitalscrapbooking.com
http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3253
Papers & ribbons by Andrea Gold's Making Music Kit
Word art by Cottagearts.net's Wedding Kit
Photography by Jason Smith (retouched by Angela)