Catching up...

Boy have I been a terrible blogger since getting home. I promise to get better!!!

As I'm sure you've guessed, we are settling back into "normal life" (whatever that may be). I'm working like crazy and Matt has been busy working on the house. We decided that we are so tired of carpet in our bathrooms (yes, I know YUCK!!), so he is working on installing slate tiles in them. He has our guest bathroom all ready for the tiles to be installed, just waiting on picking up the tile and the saw. It will look wonderful when he is all done. I'll share before & after pictures when we are done with it. Then its on to the master bathroom where we plan a bit more extensive remodeling. We want to take out this huge garden tub and install a jetted tub and of course the new slate flooring. Needless to say, that one will take a bit longer.

I'm so enjoying being back home to my "paper" scrapbooking and I haven't done a digital layout since I got home. I forgot how much I enjoyed working with all the paper & embellishments. Of course, Matt loved not hearing me "bang" and scare him to death so we still have the rule that I have to warn him before "banging".

This is a layout that I did of one of my favorite pictures from the wedding. For those of you there, you will remember a very WET misty night. We had just finished having some pictures taken outside and were walking back in. It took both of us to hold up my dress out of the wet mucky ground. Needless to say, Jason did a great job of capturing this moment of us giggling like crazy as we attempted to keep the white dress out of the mud.



Credits:
Jason Smith Photography
DCWV Papers
Misc Embellishments (ribbon, flowers, ribbon slide, brads)

Father of the Groom

Boy, am I on a roll or what... 3 wedding layouts in one night!!! I might actually get that wedding album done before we leave here after all!!

I wanted to share these great pages of Ted making the toast at the wedding. The expressions on our faces were just to great not to capture and Jason did a fantastic job at that!!

{Be sure to click to enlarge to see the detail}

Credits for Father of the Groom - 2 page layout:

"Here comes the bride" kit by Wenchd Grafix @ DSO

Red paper by Wenchd Grafix's "Art Class" kit @ DSO

Red & White floral sticker by Wenchd Grafix's "Happy Anniversary" kit @ DSO

Scalloped template by Scrapkut

Fonts: Pristina & PDRPT for DSO Font Challenge

Inspired by template by Chris Greiser

Photos by Jason Smith Photography

First Dance - Page 2

I wanted to share the newest scrapbook page from our wedding album. Jason caught this picture during our first dance - I thought it captured the moment and the beauty of Meadows perfectly.

Credits for First Dance - Page 2:
Making Music kit by Andrea Gold {http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_dnld_info&products_id=507&zenid=c58c523b2a97b499a462416485475687}
First Dance wordart by cottagearts.net's wedding kit
Template 09B by Andrea Gold {http://scrapandrea.blogspot.com/}
Photo by Jason Smith Photography

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)

Cool new video!!!

Ok, I am trying out this video blogger for the first time, lets see how it works!! Matt did this animation of him jumping today. It is fantastic!!! Click on the arrow to make it play.

The weather here today was nice in the morning. We went for a run (well, walk/run for me) this morning and a quick swim in the ocean afterwards to cool off. About 3:30 this afternoon, the nasty dark clouds rolled in and here came the rains!!! Needless to say, no kiting today.

I took advantage of the day to complete a couple of wedding page scrapbook pages and to complete a challenge at gottapixel. Just for the record, I am glad these two pages are done. I actually started them before we left in June and completely gutted them and started over so many times.

Here are the two pages together:

Credits for Reception Dinner:

Template by Jill DZines for gottapixel.net template challenge
All papers and embellishments by Traci Sims (simply classic, firewater, & silly willy kits)
Font: Trajan Pro
Photos by Jason Smith Photography

Journaling reads:
Catering by Lifestyles Catering
Chopped Salad with Red & Green Cabbage, Jicama, Apples, Bleu Cheese Crumbles, Romaine, Crispy Fried Onions tossed with Fresh Basil Vinaigrette, BaconRoasted Garlic Mashed PotatoesGrilled
Summer Vegetables Lightly Grilled with Olive Oil and Herbs
Sirloin Medallions served with Mushrooms in Marsala Wine Sauce
Penne Ala Fresco Oven Roasted Tomatoes Slowly Cooked with Whole Garlic, Kalamata Olives, Red Peppers,and Chili Flakes.

Here is page one in more detail.

Here is page two in more detail.

He He He... I snuck another one in...

Well, I definitely have to go pack now... But I couldn't resist doing another page of the wedding. This is a two page layout based on a sketch by Susanne Powell.

These are some photos taken by Jason Smith as we were being seated for the reception dinner and getting our plates filled from the buffet.

{click on image to enlarge}

Credits:
Based on sketch 24 by Suzanne Powell
Papers by Debbie Bradley (Emily's valentine kit)
Fonts: Love letters

Yeah... I found time to scrap....

This is probably the last scrapbook page you will see from me until we hit the Caribbean. I wanted to upload a new wedding layout that I did this week. This is the 11th page of the reception and the 38th page overall. You can see the entire album at Picasa here.

I will give you a hint that there will be another one of Matt and Granger that will be published on Di Hickman's Blog on the fifteenth, so check it out on Friday. I can't quite share it with you yet, but it is a great template that she designed and very different for me.

These photos were taken during the reception by Jason Smith and Katie Novak. We are very thankful for them for helping us to preserve our memories. I found the quote and thought that it matched the photo perfectly.

[Click to enlarge]
Full Credits Here

I finished another wedding layout... I'm finally on the reception... But just the beginning as you can see. Jason caught this moment of me looking at the ring on Matt's finger.

Credits:
Photo: Jason Smith Photography
Template: Di Hickman
ScrapKit: Beloved by Angie Briggs

New Wedding Layout....

I finished another wedding layout this evening... Yes, I Know, I'll never get done at this rate...


Credits:
Photos: Jason Smith Photography
Paper: Whitewashed wedding by Teri Walsh & Simply Love by ??
Template: RGiallongo - TDCSketch Challenge
Embellishments: Ribbons, Beans & WordArt by Various (none made by me)