New Winter layout

As many of you know, we are normally in Canada skiing at this time of the year. Well, of course, we are a bit further south (and a whole lot warmer) enjoying the sunshine. I'm still trying to get caught up on all my scrapbook pages (no, I don't think I'll be caught up by the time we leave here :-( but I'll be closer).

I love this photo that Matt took and when I went shopping today for some of Kara's new stuff, I found the perfect compliment to it. I found a whole bunch of stuff and just had to show it off. I just love how the clouds are hanging in the valley far below us and I thought turning it into a black & white photo with a touch of sepia tinting made the layout blend so well together.





Credits for Mistaya:
Template #2 by Kara Jones
Hip 2 B Square paper pack by Kara Jones

Icy Glitter frame ups by Kara Jones

Pearls by Me to match paper colors
Special thanks to atomiccupcake.com for use of glitter action for title
Fonts: Icicle Country 2 & Pupcat
Snowflake custom shapes & amg-glitter style
Photo by Matt (Recolored by Angela)

New snorkeling photos!!

I wanted to share a couple of new layouts that I did using Gina's Fishy Tales Mini kit. I had so much fun with the water theme on this kit and matching our snorkeling pictures with it. We have been so happy with our little underwater camera and we take it everywhere down here. Its a great thing to have to capture little snapshots.

Credits for Snorkeling with Banana Fish:
Based on a template by Chris Greiser
FISHY TALES kit by Gina Arzaga at NDISB
Photos by Angela
Font: DymoFontInvers (special thanks to AtomicCupcake.com for Frosted Glass Action used in making title)

Credits for Sosua Snorkel:
Based on a Template by Patti Hutchinson
FISHY TALES MINI KIT by Gina Arzaga
Special thanks to AtomicCupcake.com for use of her actions in creating stiches, Scribbled outline & Stencil title
Fonts: Earwig Factory, Action is & Castellar
Photos by Matt & Angela

Kite Video!!

We had strong winds today so Matt took his 10 meter kite out for several rides today. I took our little pentax camera that does video to see how it would do. I caught several good rides and wave attacks.

Here is a link to one of the videos (Did I mention that we are trying to get our our website {http://www.shetzers.com/} ready to launch?) This is of Matt playing in the surf today and a great jump (& crash) at the end of the video.

Here is a picture of me on Christmas Day just as I stalled my kite yesterday (see how slack the lines look) just before the big YANK!!


Enjoy!!!

Hope you had a fantastic holiday!!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a very quiet couple of days (well as quiet as you can get with Dominican music blaring all around).

On Christmas Eve, we started out with a fantastic couple of hour walk down the beach from Cabarete to Encuentro. Then we headed over to our friend's home in the evening. As many of you know we don't have a car down here so we had to decide how to get to our friends home on the other side of town. We had wine, champagne, mashed potatoes, stuffing, ice cream, chocolate & a large toy golf club set to take with us so we needed two backpacks to carry it all in.

Well we decided to take a moto concho. For those of you not familiar with a moto concho, it consists of a Dominican on a motorcycle (who may or may not have an actual license) and you just hop on the back and off you go (and I do mean OFF you go). As soon as we approach the entrance to our apartments, we are constantly whistled at and harrassed by the moto conchos. We shook our heads yes and they arrived in seconds. Well, I climbed on first and then Matt climbed on behind me (keep in mind with two backpacks and a plastic set of golf clubs for Luna) on a one person moto.

The little town that we live in has had its roads completely torn up as they have laid sewer pipe so it was quite a bumpy ride through town and to make it worse, we could not see the bumps coming. So after hearing Matt say Owww many times (did I mention he was sitting on the luggage rack), we finally arrived at our friends community. We were very glad to make it to their house without having a backpack full of garlic mashed potatoes.

Well, Christmas day was a bit quieter with no wild moto rides just a wild kite ride. The wind was decent so we hauled our kites (yep, even mine) down to the beach to kite for a bit. Matt helped me launch my kite and I flew it on the beach for a bit. The wind was really gusty so my kite kept stalling (yep, gotta figure out how to make it stop that). Basically, it would be flying just fine, then get hit by a gust of wind to be followed by a huge gap of wind. Well, that means it falls out of the sky - NOT A GOOD THING... Well, one time, I didn't recover well at all and Matt and I both went flying. He was holding onto the back of my harnass and digging in his feet while I bounced multiple times before we both ended up in a pile on the sand. No injuries, but I learned my lesson and got much better at recovering the kite when it stalled. One wild ride was enough!!

So maybe it wasn't so quiet but it was very good. We missed all our friends and family but managed to talk to our family on Christmas. And I still managed to watch my favorite Christmas movie, Christmas Story, on TBS multiple times.

And let there be light...

You know... There are just some things that we Americans take for granted... Most of you know that we struggle with power here in the DR and that the country regularly practices rolling blackouts because it can not afford to pay its fuel bill to Venezula.

I would bet a lot of money that we'll never see this promise from our power companies in our newspapers...

Edesur: There will be light
The power distribution companies are promising to do their bit for a bright Christmas. Edesur has announced that it will provide its customers with uninterrupted power service during the Christmas holiday. The continuous power service will begin on 24 December at 5pm, lasting until 6am 25 December. Edesur will provide the same service from 31 December through 1 January 2008.
www.dr1.com

Sandy Hook Lighthouse

I wanted to share my latest layout from our trip to New York for Thanksgiving. This layout is of some pictures Matt took of the Sandy Hook lighthouse on the Jersey coast. We could see the lighthouse from Annie's balcony so we wanted to get closer to investigate. It was closed so we didn't get to do a tour, but we enjoyed the beautiful tour around the hook with Annie.

I used Gina's Early Autumn papers for this layout and I made a set of embellishments that you can pick up for free (see post below).




















Credits for Sandy Hook:
Papers from Gina Arzaga's EARLY AUTUMN kit
Coordinating Elements by Me
Font: Accent Dot Writer
Photos by Matt

New Freebie Element Pack

Hop over to the Cre8vGirlz CT Blog for a new freebie today!!

Beach Time

The weather here today was beautiful although our quiet little beach is gone... We are starting to see the influx of tourists (yeah, like we don't fit into that category) for the holidays. The beach is busy and there are lots of new kite-boarding students so its "heads up" on the beach for crashing kites!!

We had a bit of wind so Matt took advantage of it to sail his 14 meter kite first and then he came back in to take his 10 meter out. He demoed a couple of boards today as well (why do I think these are going to be expensive demos????).

I wanted to share a new layout that I did today using another of Gina's kits called Springy Sprinkles!! It is such a cute kit and I love all of the wonderful flowered papers!!




Credits for Beach Time:
Template by Andrea Gold
Papers and elements by Gina Arzaga's SPRINGY SPRINKLES Kit at NDISB



Photos by Matt & Angela
Font: Duality

Thanksgiving 2007

I wanted to share a new layout that I did using one of Gina's fabulous kits!!

These are some pictures that I took during Thanksgiving. Annie did such a wonderful job of decorating, we didn't want to mess it all up (however the smell of the food soon made us change our minds). We did manage to snap a few pictures before the feast began.





Credits for Thanksgiving 2007:
Zoom Template by Tracy Drane
Early Autumn paper pack by Gina Arzaga


DoodleyArt: Watercolored Elements - Autumn I by Gina Arzaga


Fonts: Earwig Factory & Giddyup Std
Photos by Matt & Angela

Downhome Christmas - Free Kit

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

I think the scrap-booking community has been so blessed by so many designers who give freely not only during this season but all year. This is just a very small way to say thank you to everyone who has designed and freely given their talent to all of us. I think there are lots of us who would not know what digi-scrapping is without the wonderful generosity of our designers. I just wanted to take a moment and say Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

I hope you enjoy my second kit!!

Downhome Christmas consists of 11 themed papers and 22 elements for your Christmas or Victorian scrapping. Scrap your memories with this craft inspired kit with lots of chipboard and paper elements. You will find 3 solid chipboard papers, 3 solid folded textured papers, and 5 printed papers (quilted, stars, stripes, trees & old time print). Elements include a cardboard Alphabet and numbers, an embroidered bell, 3 brads, 3 pearls, 2 frames, 3 printed twill ribbons, 1 holly stamp, 1 tree, 1 Merry Christmas wordart and 6 stars (3 chipboard and 3 sparkily).

Special thanks to AtomicCupcake.com and Photoshopbrushes.com for use of their actions and brushes in the making of this kit. The colors for this kit were inspired by Sherwin Williams online website.

Click on the image to go to download.

Sunny days have returned!!

Just a quick note to let you know how we are faring down here after the Tropical Storm. We are so glad to see our wonderful clear blue skies return. We really haven't had clear sunny days since October before Tropical Storm Noel moved through.

The last couple of days have been beautiful and almost chilly. Yeah I know, compared to most of you and your ice/snow storms its HOT, but for here it actually is a bit chilly. You really want the sun to be out otherwise you are a bit chilly on the beach in your bathing suit (Yeah, now I know that I am just rubbing it in). If its any consolation, we are going to FREEZE when we go home.

The winds have been rather light, but Matt has managed to kite the last three days. I'm hoping the wind comes up soon so I can get some more good pictures to share. Today, the wind was rather light so he took out a friends surf board with his kite (sorry I missed that).

We've started to collect a journal of our thoughts on living down here. I thought I'd share a few of them with you every now and then...

• I can't remember the last time I wore shoes out to dinner.
• Did you know that one individually wrapped Halls cough drop is equal to one Dominican Peso (their currency) and that they are frequently given as change when the grocery store does not have pesos?
• Did you know that the afore mentioned Halls cough drop comes in a Watermelon flavor (boy was that a surprise when red wasn't cherry)?
• Did you know that it is possible to live for months without an oven and a microwave? Possible but definitely not convenient.
• We can't remember the last time we woke up to an alarm clock.
  

I think thats all we have for now.

Happy Holidays!!!
A & M

A Huge Thank You!!

Wow, I can't believe how many times Tropical Flavors has been downloaded. Over 200 times at last count and a huge number of wonderful comments. Thank you to everyone who has downloaded, I hope you enjoy working with it!! You are all so encouraging, that I have to keep on creating!!! I'd love to see how you use the kit so leave me a link in the comments.

I am just about finished with my second kit called "Downhome Christmas". Its a mixture of crafty textures such as chipboard, cardboard and fabrics for a downhome feel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making it. Here is a sneak peak of its color scheme (thank you to Sherwin Williams website for this idea).

My First Freebie Kit!!

As many of you know, I've been scrapping for quite a while. Well, I've decided to take the plunge and design a few kits. I'm still getting the hang of it and it takes forever, but I finished my first one!! I am so excited.

The colors come from the December Color Challenge at DSO. I thought they were just perfect for a great tropical theme so thats what I went with.

The kit contains 8 papers, a couple of ribbons, several brads & gems and a neat alphabet. Its my first kit and I hope you can use!! Just click on the image below to be taken to the download. I'd like to thank Atomic Cupcake and photoshopbrushes.com for the use of their actions and brushes in creating this kit.



Here is a layout that I did with it to test it out!!!


Credits for Sosua:
TROPICAL FLAVORS kit by ME!!!
Template by Traci Drane for Make it Scrappy template challenge
Font: Papyrus
Photos by Angela

Tropical Storm Olga Pictures

These are pictures from Tuesday during the storm and from this mornings walk around all the damage.

If you get this via a feed or email, be sure to come to the blog to view the slideshow. Click here.

Here is a link to the picasa album so you can view the pictures in a larger size.

And the cleanup begins...

Just a quick note to let you know that the worst of Tropical Storm Olga has left Cabarete. I think we'll have some lingering rain but at about 5 am this morning, everything went completely silent. So quiet in fact that it woke me up!! Pretty weird after listening to howling wind & rain for 12 hours non stop.

We think our strongest gusts here were about 45 mph yesterday evening but the wind data has some huge holes in it because everything went down. We lost internet last night and it only came up a few minutes ago.

We ventured out this morning to look at the storm damage and Matt has been busy repairing everything from his crash yesterday (yes, it was quite bad). So far, the damage appears to be very minor here with the exception of the total annihilation of Marabu restaurant (Click Here for some photos of the inside of the restaurant on my Birthday and Click Here for some BEFORE pictures & more info). I'll post some pictures from today soon.

The beach is pretty dirty and there are huge drifts of sand everywhere. Our little pathway down to the beach is just covered with sand and all the plants along it are pretty storm damaged. Lots of the thatched roofs here are pretty torn up and several palm trees have seen better days. We haven't been into town yet to see what the damage is there, but we were in town the night that the storm came in and everyone was really putting things away in preparation for the storm so hopefully the damage is not too bad. We live across from the hardware store and once they managed to repair their font awning (to be able to open their doors), they opened for business and have had a steady stream of customers all morning.

I'll post some pictures this morning out to Picasa and post some more here as soon as our internet connection is stable.

Tropical Storm Olga Intensifies...

Just a quick update on how we are weathering the storm. We are seeing intermittent heavy rains and lots of wind. The winds have been gusting up to 45 mph, and the rain is going sideways. This is by far worse than Tropical Storm Noel back in October. The latest update (about an hour prior to this posting) the winds had gone to a maximum of 60+ mph and the center is located only about 30 miles to the south of us (the storm reaches over 200 miles wide) and we are in the path of the strongest part of the storm. They are expecting up to 10 inches of rain in the next 24 hours (good thing we are on the second floor), and the storm should be leaving Hispaniola by then.

WRITTEN 12/11/07 - 8:45PM

As I write this our internet connection is down so I’m composing an email that I hope will go up some time tonight. We have been up and down with electric all night (remember we have a generator), and it looks like the whole town is mostly without power.

We just took a walk down to the beach to check things out and were met along the way with huge palm leaves down and a coconut (glad we weren’t around when they fell). It seemed pretty windy here at the apartment, but as we neared the beach it was HOWLING!! And I do mean HOWLING!!! It was blowing so hard that we couldn’t walk more than about 20 steps before we had to turn around and seek shelter. The blowing sand and driving rain (and it wasn’t raining hard at all) were stinging our exposed skin. The waves are HUGE!! We watched huge waves crash ashore one after another. We think the waves are about 25 + feet crashing on the beach. Needless to say, there will be some damage from this storm.

We are all safe and dry in our apartment. We have the back door & window cracked and a window in the front cracked and the wind is cranking through. As a matter of fact, I tried to shut the bathroom door and it would not stay shut. Matt had to hold it shut with both hands in order for it to stay shut against the wind. We’ve had to move all the furniture off the balcony inside (Yes, Matt got really wet) because it was blowing around and we were afraid it would become flying shrapnel.

Matt did manage to go kiting this afternoon. The water wasn’t all that crowded, as only about 5 folks opted to sail. He used Angela’s small kite (8m), and did one huge jump (his biggest ever) followed by a crash (his biggest ever), and then crashing the kite in the water (his biggest ever) followed by Angela digging it out of the surf with the howling winds. It was an on-shore breeze, so he was quickly back on the land.

We’ll keep you updated as power and internet allow!!

Take Care,

Angela & Matt

Tropical Storm Olga

Well, Round 2 is here.

Just a quick note to give you a bit of an update on Tropical Storm Olga. We are currently under a tropical storm warning here along the north coast of DR. (At least we aren't covered under inches of ice!!!)

So far, we are just seeing rain bands and wind bands and Matt is trying to figure out when he can go kite-board so I'm sure I'll have some pictures later on today. The seas are rough, but so far, not as rough as when Tropical Storm Noel came through. We do expect the weather to worsen a bit today and tonight but overall we're just hanging out watching it (inside when its pouring rain and on the beach when its clear).

Here is a link that will give you all the public advisories and the latest info. We did well with power and internet during Noel so hopefully we'll have the same luck again. I'll try to update the blog as much as possible during the storm.

Summer Lily

And the last one for tonight... I just finished my November Challenge for Gina's CT based on a Name Game Challenge that we played (Click HERE to see my results).

Our challenge was to pick one of our names and make a scrap page out of it. I decided to scrap my Spy Name/Bond Girl Name of SUMMER LILY. Well, I'm not very good at scrapping pictures of myself so I decided to use one that showed I was READY FOR THE ACTION!!!

My wonderful husband snapped this shot of me while I was trying on my snorkel mask to make sure it fit OK for a snorkeling trip (I promise that I do not wear this thing around the house all the time!!!). At first I thought it was great blackmail material so I decided to beat him to it and show it off!!



Created for the Name Game Challenge at the Cre8v Girls CT Blog

Credits for Summer Lily:
SPRINGY SRINKLES kit by Gina Arzaga

Template by Katy Larson & Sonya Johnston (Kissed Studio)
Font: Vivaldi & Orator Std
Photo by Matt

Pretty in Pink

Wow, I'm getting lots done today!!! Of course its been on and off rainy here. It has cleared a bit from this morning and Matt is off trying to finish up with his last student so I have lots of time to scrap!!

I finished another layout of the little one today. These are some photos that Laura took of her in mid October. Isn't she adorable. I used a kit from Chigger Lane Designs called Dancing Darlin. It is so adorable with all pink and black...

Be sure to check out Donna's (aka Chigger Lane Designs) BLOG here for information on how you can purchase a membership to get this great kit and more.

Credits for Pretty in Pink:

Dancing Darlin kit by Chigger Lane Designs

Template #72 by Andrea Gold

Font: Harrington

Photos by Laura

Baby its cold outside!!

Well you know this layout isn't current!! :-)

Here is another page that I did of last years trip to Mistaya. These were taken the morning before we were to heli out of the lodge. It has snowed so much (hence why we were stuck for an extra day in). These are actually photos of one of the outhouses (& Matt), boy someone would be in for a very rude awakening if that snow toppled off the roof!!

I used Donna's Christmas Memories kit to make this page. I can't even tell you how much I love these snow covered trees in this kit, they are fantastic.

Credits for Baby its cold outside:
CHRISTMAS MEMORIES kit by Chigger Lane Designs
Kit available HERE
Template #35 by Amy W Designs
Fonts: WinterNight DB & Bradley Hand ITC
Photos by Angela

Mistaya - Jan 2, 2007

Donna sent me this wonderful kit called Christmas Memories. I had to use it to scrap some photos of our New Years trip last year to Mistaya in British Columbia, Canada. We got snowed in an extra day and a friend, Amanda, took these photos as Matt and I were coming in from skiing. Yep, all those white dots are huge snowflakes. The papers in this kit are so fantastic - I love the snow covered trees!!!

Check out the Chigger Lane Designs blog here where she has some great memberships available for all of her wonderful kits.

Credits for Mistaya 2006-2007:
Template by Crystal {MNICAIAS}
Christmas Memories Kit by Chigger Lane Designs


Snow overlay by Kay M. Northrup (RAK scraps Jan-07 kit)
Photos by Amanda
Fonts: Letter Gothic Std & Aquiline Two

Lazy days....

Well its been a couple of lazy days since I last posted. There has been very little wind and well, the native are getting restless.

Yesterday we watched as friends tried to combine a sea kayak and a kite... lets just say that it was pretty funny to watch them get rolled around and to think I got to catch it all on film. HE HE!!!

Matt started teaching his last student a couple days ago but the wind hasn't been cooperating.

We've been trying to get out of the house and make a trip to the beach each day and Matt has had control of the camera. Its been beautiful and much cooler than when we first got here. I think the highs have only been in the low to mid 80's and the humidity is really low so its great weather. Our blue skies have returned, now we just need the wind.

Here's a picture that Matt took of me reading on the beach today...

Thanks to SaraAmarie for the grungy frame that I recolored.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

When Ruby asked if there was anything she could do for me, I asked for a kit that I could use to scrap our wedding photos. Never in a million years would I have thought out this wonderful kit. I absolutely love this kit!! The background paper that I used on these two layouts is filled with calla lilies... How perfect is that????

Jason caught the two little ones entranced with all the little lights that decorated the room. I love seeing their little faces and hands peaking around all the lights!!!






Credits for Twinkle, Twinkle:
True Heart by Ruby Rynne @ Brazilian Blend
Based on a You are a star template by Amy Fenner
Photos by Jason Smith Photography

Be sure to check out this kit and all of Ruby's other fabulous designs HERE!!!

Firecracker 50

Kara has a new kit out called Bad Boy and it is fantastic!!! I love the papers and the elements that she designed for this kit. It was perfect to scrap some photos of the mountain bike race that Matt did just a couple of days before our wedding.

These pictures were taken as Jayme, Andy and I were at the finish line of the race and Matt was finishing up his leg of the Firecracker 50 race on the 4th of July in Breckenridge. As soon as Matt was across the line, Andy headed out to complete his loop on the course.

Credits for Firecracker 50:

Based on Dec '07 template by Di Hickman

"Bad Boy" Kit by Kara Jones @ KJoiStudios

Fonts: Tekton Pro & Mesquite Std

Photos by Angela

Journaling Reads:

Just 4 days before the wedding, Matt had a mountain bike race in Breckenridge. I was nervous of a crash and told him to be careful and not hurt his face. As you can see his adorable face was not hurt, just a bit dirty as he crossed the finish line.