Forever & Ever

They did it! Kim and Eric got married last week =) I'm so so happy for both of my friends. 

The lovely couple met in high school but were only friends then. They stayed friends through and after college. And nearly as long as I've known Kim, I've also known Eric. He's such a great guy. I love how much history they have together. And also too, how much history my circle of friends has with him. Eric may have been Kim's friend first, but it didn't take very long for him to just be another of the group.

I'm not gonna lie it was a bit scary when they first started dating. I loved them both so much as individuals and didn't want either to get hurt. Thankfully, all my worries were unfounded. Because here they are today, married!

I made this fairly simple page with the help of a Bright Ideas prompt. The prompt was to go big, with either your title or your photo. I opted to do both!

This is the first time I've ever edited a photo like this. But boy, was it so easy to do thanks to the help of this quick video.

I die cut the title using my Silhouette and backed it with some watercolored cardstock. It was so quick and simple, but completely high impact.

And after all of the months of planning, the wedding has come and gone.

To Kim & Eric! May they have a lifetime of happiness together.

cheers & besos,

Gondola

Happy Friday yall! It couldn't come fast enough for me, even with the Monday holiday. 

I've been running myself ragged these last few....well this entire year actually. I feel like I haven't really had a minute to breathe! Which is why I'm sick. Of course. 

Itchy throat, wheezy cough, headache. Blah. It's been the story of my life these last few months.

So I'm taking a day to rest, nap, sleep. Oh and blog. But just this one quick post!

Sharing some Italy pages, made using Bright Idea prompts. This is a total departure from my usual style and I'm still not very sure I like it. But it's made, so I'll slip it into my scrapbook.

I used the Map challenge sketch for this double page spread and tried to keep it as simple as possible.

I journaled directly onto my photo, placed the title there and added just a bit of embellishment.

Then I used washi as a border for my print. I wanted to give it a bit more weight, so I added that fabulous red shipping tag behind to balance it out. The color is so perfect, no?! 

I also channeled my inner Matt Wilson for the "subtitle". We weren't exactly in Rome but still in Italy!

cheers & besos,

Saturday in Edinburgh

Come back mojo, come back! 

I think I'm too tired to function properly right now. I haven't really had a chance to just relax this month. More than a day to just sit around, do nothing, read, nap. I think once I do that, it'll come back to me.

But I've been trying! I mad a quick simple page using a few of the Bright Ideas prompts. I love these things by the way. I just wish I had time & energy to play some more!

A few weeks back, I spent a lovely Saturday wandering around Edinburgh, Scotland. I loved walking the ancient streets and spent most of my day exploring.

This was my second visit to Scotland and it definitely went better than my first. For starters I didn't slip in a business meeting in front of a brand new contact. Nor was I too ill to get on a train. This time I got to see more than the inside of my hotel!

Which btw, if you're ever visiting Edinburgh and are looking for a good place to stay, I'd totally recommend Grassmarket Hotel. It's centrally located and very modern and cool. I enjoyed it. It's also steps around the corner from an awesome little coffee/sandwich/juice place, Hula. Which, I've just learned, was voted the best cafe in Edinburgh this year!

Once you've slept in a bed for a sleepy head (Grassmarket Hotel tag line), had a bevie at Hula and now fancy a walk. The Castle is right behind you, not even 6 minutes away on foot. 

As far as castles go, this one is more of a fortress. Not at all romantic and still a working military facility. But it was a nice thing to go and see and I'm glad I did it. 

Hands down, best value for money, is a City of the Dead nighttime ghost tour. Seriously, so creepy! They take you down into the underground tunnels, where the poorest of Edinburgh's poor lived up until the 1900's. They also take you in a graveyard, directly into one of the tombs! I was dully freaked out. 

But not only do they tell you about the history of the city and also creepy stories about how people died and such. What really makes it scary is when they share all of the encounters people taking the tour have had! 

Not even kidding, if you make it to Edinburgh, I completely recommend you take the tour. So worth it, so fun!

For this page, I used a really old sheet of House of Three (I think Pink Paislee) patterned paper for the background. Love the gray polka on white.

The Bright Ideas class came with some fun Silhouette cuts so I cut out a map of Scotland and used it as a mask. It didn't look complete until I outlined it with a thicker black pen.

Then to finish the page, I stamped with a few Kelly Purkey stamps, dropped some mist splatters and hand wrote my journaling. Viola!

Ok loves, it might be 8:00pm but I'm beat. Off to bed I go!

cheers & besos,

VDay 2013

Hope you have a day filled with love...and candy!

Train in Spain

Hi hi hi!!! I'm back from my work trip. Although, I don't think I actually shared I was leaving for a work trip. Sorry about that. You know how it is right before you leave, 10 zillion things to do and not enough time to do them all in.

But I'm back and blogging and sharing a new page.

I made this page which is based off yet another Shimelle sketch. I loved the look of the quadrants! I used 3 photos instead of 2 and different travel themed papers to balance them out. I also shrunk down the design just a bit and tilted it off kilter. I've decided that if all else fails for me, tile the design! It's my "thing". =)

Oh man, there's so much to say about the photos and this page. I'm not even sure where to start!

Ok.
I had a lot to say about these photos. So much that I couldn't fit all of my journaling on the page and still make it look nice. So I printed bits of it out on strips and the whole story on a shipping tag hidden behind the top paper block. It'll be easy to pull it out once it's in the page protector.

Journaling Reads:

I will tell you, that in my decade+ of traveling across the world, this night remains my most memorable travel experience to date. Let's just say, Jessica & I were total angels who earned some serious goodwill that night. Oh the joys of youth. Even when I'm old and gray, I'll always remember that crazy night...

One of these idiots wayward souls proceeded to get himself kicked off the train, in the middle of the night, in a foreign country! He didn't speak the language and there was a good possibility he would have woken up the next morning in either the hospital or the local jail. We couldn't let it happen. So with about 10 mins of fore thought, not knowing if we'd make it to Barcelona or manage to meet up with our friends when we did, we jumped off the train with him. 

Between my abilities at speaking Spanish and Jessica's abilities at understanding Spanish, we were able to keep him out of the local institutions and somehow magic-ed our way onto the next train! 

In the end it all worked out, but let me tell you, at some points we weren't sure that it would. So thankful that Jess was willing to jump off that train with me. And still, even 7 years later, just the littlest bit pissed at Matt.

I started with one title, then switched to another and just decided to include them all and cross the ones I didn't use out. I thought it was a fun twist for a title. Especially since this whole page is about a misadventure.

I have to admit, I feel a bit like Alice's rabbit. So much to do, so little time right now! But please check back, I have a lot to share about my trip, which I tried as hard as I could do document via instagram. Working to put a mini book together on that. Also, Saturday's post is about a day in Edinburgh! And there might be a wee li'l RAK to go with it.

cheers & besos,