It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ....

I can't believe is December again!! and in just 22 days it will be Christmas :)  I have started my home decorations and I want to handmade everything this year, all the tree ornaments, all the house decorations .... I hope I can finish on time :)

I made this digital cards to send to our friends and family. Easy to send over email or print and send over regular mail :) Well, I made a ton but this ones are my favorite so far.

Paper by The Queen of Quir,  photo by Chad G., font by Amy Grendel, Snow Flurries by Paislee Press

Papers by Crystal Wilkerson, template by Paislee Press

Autumn

This is my favorite season of the year, well this and Spring with its cherry blossom trees. Time has flied since my last post but I haven't forgot about the designer's reviews I promised before.
Here's a pic that my lovely partner took the other day. I love fall.

Digital elements from Paislee Press, Tia Bennett and Cinzia Designs.

Watching you grow

I can't believe you'll be 3 next week. Time flies. The terrible 2's are almost gone (yay!) and the pre-school years are coming soon =)

I can't wait to explore the world with you at this different stage of your life. I love you.

(I made this layout using a Paislee Press  plate and Word Art from Jody McNally )

All clean ... and now?

Ok so you have cleaned your computer, organized all your pictures into folders, now what?
Well now you can print your favorite ones, make calendars, books, or even better, you can make digital layouts!! you have never done one? no problem! I just found this incredible designer, photographer and blogger called Liz , she makes the most beautiful minimalistic designs, and she makes something  called quick pages. Better yet, she has a full tutorial on how to use them and she has a few freebies on Oscraps.com
I made this quick page using one of her beautiful designs. All I had to do was drag and drop. And now it's ready to print!

I made a compilation of tips that I found online and some of my own tips on: how to keep your files organized on your computer.

And remember: Organization is the key to your success.

1. Don't store everything on your desktop. This is a big mistake that a lot of people make. Many people don't even actually know that there are alternative places to save their files, or they are worried they won't be able to find the files again when they need them. You can have a special folder for all your pictures inside your computer or you can get an external hard drive, which also serves as a backup in case your computer gets toasted.

2. Begin to save documents in your "My Documents" folder. This is a place is meant, obviously, for you to save your documents in. Using your "My Documents" will free up space on your desktop, and it will also allow your computer to run faster as it is really not meant to save all those files on your desktop.

3. Create sub-folders in your "My Documents" folder. I have a folder only for pictures and inside I have subfolders for each year. Inside each year I have 12 folders; one for each month. That way every time I take digital pictures and I want to transfer them to my computer I go directly to the month they belong and dump them all there. When I have time I can go through them and pick the ones I like the most but for the meantime they are all organized in specific folders, that way I don’t have to be looking for, lets say, a Christmas picture somewhere in a place with hundreds of other stuff. I know I will find it in the year and month I want.

4. Practice saving some test documents into your newly created folders. After saving some test documents, attempt to close out of them and then locate your folder again, and open the documents back up. That way you get familiar with the way this works and you’ll know where everything is.

5. Now begin to implement your changes and transfer any files already saved in various places into your folders. You will probably be surprised at how much more organized you will be.

6. If you have extra time, go though your pictures (one month at a time) and delete all the bad ones, for example out of focus ones, moved ones, terrible ones, black ones etc. Now that we have the digital technology we can snap up to 200 pictures in a few minutes (if you don’t believe look at my camera when my son uses it) so it is important to get rid of all the bad ones and make space for the good ones. Also while you are going through your pictures you can make another sub folder inside each month and call it “The best of …” for example, and pick your favorite photos of each month and put them in that folder. You’ll be amazed that suddenly 456 pictures turn to be 15 best ones. Now it’s easier to take them to print, make digital scrapbooks or resize them and send them over email.

HAPPY CLEANING!!

Inspiration ...

It's been a while since I last posted. Many things have happened since then. The big one was the unexpected move. We moved to a different house and to a different city, and although we are still close to downtown, it feels we are in a different world.
I guess since we moved in January I've been trying to find my inspiration. It feels like it got stuck (and lost) in one of the moving boxes, and also this weather is not helping at all. Although it seems like spring might finally come soon =) (yay!)
But when I saw that Jessica Sprague  had a Creative Team Search I knew I had to get back to work.
I love her store and her designers and it would be an honor if I could be part of their team ... (fingers crossed).
But back to the subject of inspiration, lately I've been thinking a lot about what inspires me ... well, this little person is my number one inspiration

what or who inspires you?

December already ??

I can't believe is December ... where did the year go?? and we are at almost 3 weeks 'till Christmas. This year has been crazy. Lots of things happening, good and not so good. Anyway, I'm so ready for this year to end and start a new one, all fresh and with lots of energy, hopefully in a new nice place (we are in the middle of house hunting and it hasn't gone all that good)

Anyway, I made this little Christmas card with Crystal's new December Kit . As soon as I got it I had to use it. I will be sending this as my Xmas cards to friends and family :) I love making my own cards, really don't like buying Hallmark ones, there's something so special about hand made.

Happy Monday and have a great start of the month!

J.