Re-post

"It's hard to wait around for something that you know might never happen, but it's even harder to give up when you know it's everything you want."
Candice posted this on her FB a quote Marah had posted on her FB.

The things I find on FB.

I tell you. Today was a hard day. Actually, just tonight was hard because I had some a-ha moments and I really don't know how to handle them.

I know that I need to be alone. To find my way to independence and be ok with being by myself. I just haven't decided if I believe this or not.

Unity Stamps Supports!!

OMG... My lovely friend Angela is just amazing. She is the owner of Unity Stamp Company and she and Melody Ross, another lovely friend have created a set for Scrapbook Royalty.... (insert tear rolling down face)

There are two you can buy...

This beauty:

or this beauty:


Each set is $24 and we will be selling them on the Scrapbook Royalty website! If you want to buy one now, you can just email me elena@scrapbookroyalty.org and I will send you an invoice...
Im so excited! This is a such an amazing gesture on Melody and Angela's parts and I am so grateful to have these wonderful women as friends!

Desert Scrappers

So my friend Laura hosts retreats in Palm Desert. It has been going on for years and I finally made it to my first one! I have to say, that she did an amazing job. You know there are always glitches and things that go wrong behind the scenes but I was impressed.

I find the most awesome stuff...

I find the most awesome stuff on Facebook... Just reading people's posts, I only get to about 5 a day but I try to read what is at the top of my que... Today I found this on Gina K.'s status:

Every experience God gives us, every person He puts into our lives, is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see. ♥

This is soooo amazingly true! And i am not a particularly religious person. Well, I dont talk about God, but I do have faith and I just love that this was on her status. I just love it...

Now the best part about it, is that I am not even sure how I know Gina. Or if we have met or if she just friended me because we have lots of mutual friends? or if i met her at an event or what!??!? But I know I like her because she is a crafter and a stamper and we have 176 mutual friends. And how can she not be awesome if we have all that in common?!?

Amazing how people are brought into your life for some reason, and make a difference somehow. Sometimes without even trying or without ever knowing they did. Although she will know because I am going to post a message to her :)

OK, for some creativity...

I was part of a "steampunk hairclip swap" and Here are the goodies I got!

From Miss Vicky little clocks with words and glass pebbles

Jennifer Tsang just bought a ton of stuff and went to town! very fun!

From Erin Bassett. I just love that she used all that Tim Holtz goodness!

These are mine... I used tulle, 3 different black silk flowers, a treble clef paper clip, old buttons and a little gold heart cause I just love these girls!

Carly Breslin, Vicky's Daughter used rust colored flowers and some brass locks and keys. yum. she has made me beautiful clothes, check out her stuff.

Julie Haymaker Thompson is the first person I ever heard of Steampunk from and she inspired me for this swap. I loved her hair clips when they arrived and I love her! Even though we have never met in person, she has become and online friend and has left me many kind comments on my blog. Especially when i was going through such a hard time. I am so glad to be able to call her a friend!

This was such a fun swap and at the girls suggestion, We decided to make an extra one each for a little fundraiser for SBR. So please go to the Scrapbook Royalty Website and make a donation

1 ticket for $2
3 tickets for $5
20 tickets for $20

you can win one of each of these handmade beauties!

Thanks so much for your support!

What day is it?

oh boy. i thought it was the 16th or 17th and its the 21st!! what tha?!?!?

My lovely friend Angela posted this on her fb....

"....happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true." - Leon J. Suenes -

So the price I am paying is not knowing what day it is... among other things :)

i did it anyway

I needed to think and am just tired of unpacking! So after a grueling day on the phone with stupid tech support and customer service with Cox and then tech support with Host Gator, I just needed some thinking time. And I think best when I am crafting.

So even though I don't have any room on my table which is buried behind those boxes you see,

I turned over and empty bin and just "DID IT ANYWAY!!"

Melody and Kathy will be so proud :)

And that makes me a Happy People!

moving is so much work! and I love Idaho peeps!

there are a few empty boxes!!

Thank goodness for amazing friends and family! My place is coming together. Despite the fact that there are still sooooo many boxes to unpack. I can't thank Sandy and her husband Bob enough for helping me install the cabinets in my office and my brother, Uncle Mike, Albert, Jimmy, Brooke, Manny, Raul, Ignacio, Barbie, Jesse, my aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpa, Bonnie, Jessekins they all helped me move in either by hauling stuff or helping me buy furniture etc!

I can't believe how lucky I am!

And of course, the most amazing person is my mom who made this all happen. I can't believe how much she loves me.

In Idaho today with Melody Ross and got surprised by a bunch of Brave Girls for lunch. It was so cool! And then the amazing little Jocelyn made Bearette a new Brave Girls Dress! seriously needed it! Bearettes dress was rags!







it was so cool to see jocelyn and all the wonderful brave girls!

MELODY MADE ME A BACON AND TOMATO GRILLED CHEESE SANDWHICH FOR DINNER! IT WAS SOOOOO YUMMY ! AND THEN SHE FED ME BACON FLAVORED ALMONDS!! YUM YUM!











how cute is bearettes new dress! i want one to match!












they all had little girls! it was sooo darn cute... well there was one little boy, sheryl brought her grands on and he played DS the whole time :) this little princess made me laugh. she was just scooping up noodles with her hands putting them on the spoon then shoving the whole thing in her mouth! now that is what I call good eats!









my brave sista Maria. she has turned into quite the jewelry goddess!















here is jocelyn putting the final touches on bearette's dress. cute buttons and an adorable crocheted flower!











i loved visiting with these amazing women. it was such an awesome surprise and all because of a few little facebook posts! still think you're too good for facebook? you are missing out! You know who you are!


will post photos of my new place very soon!

Come and get it!!!

Im a new homeowner!! It's my first time and I feel great!

Wow, I really didn't know when this day would ever come. It has been a month since we started the escrow process and I am finally moving in. I am about 70% moved. that means 100% unpacked but it is official. I have waaaay too much stuff. So I am going to diligently go through boxes this week, and hopefully next week will start taking visitors to pick through and take away whatever they can.

I know so many of you want my stuff. I have already had a few calls saying "I get first crack at it!" Trust me, its gooooood stuff! And some crap too :)

And believe it or not, I need stuff! Crazy huh? I need things like a cool paper towel holder

trash cans for the 3 pottys

barstools


patio furniture



a bacon grease screen

a cheese grater

A garden hoseAn iron and ironing boardSooooo.... Want some of my stuff? Come and get it and leave me a donation to help me get the stuff I actually need!

art

I love finished projects! If I sit down to do something it has to be finished or I know it wont get finished later. I never finish the unfinished projects! Lame I know...

So here are

OMG!! I know what my story is!!

I have a story! I didnt think I did. but I know what it is now!!

pretend it my picture and my name :)

People always ask me why I started Scrapbook Royalty and I say "because it is what I know how to do and I can do it well" But the real reason I stared Scrapbook Royalty, and I mean what it is today, not just a group of women having fun Scrapbooking and raising money for charity, the real reason I started SBR is because I needed to fill the gaping hole left in my life and in my heart from not being able to be a mother. I can't believe it took me so long to get this out of my mouth. Dang Brave Girls Camp!! Making me Grow!!


My whole life what I have dreamed of is having a husband and family with cute mixed babies... everyone knew I was going to end up with a non-asian husband. Heck I wanted to get surgury on my eyes to make them big and round all my teen years!

i pulled this picture off my other blog...

ok, so back to my story...Mine is not a fairy tale... not a traditional one anyway...

i have not read this book but it has peaked my curiosity

But that is what i had dreamed of... that was all i wanted and i spent my life falling in"love" over and over again, looking for the boy that wanted to marry me and make my dreams come true. Then I found one that looked really good. My mom had even checked his credit since she did his home loan ;) but the truth is, he was a good man who wanted to take care of me and would never cheat on me or leave me. So he got me and for a couple of years I figured we wouldn't try for a baby yet so I started Scrapbook Royalty and did a couple of events that first year. I loved that I had this awesome company to sink my heart and passion into. That I was good at it was a bonus and that I got to meet so many amazing people changed my life.

When we started the baby journey I thought, "easy, go off the pill and you get pregnant" But really, i had gone off the pill long before and didnt even think about the fact that I didnt get pregnant. I just thought we were careful with the dates and that i knew my body so well. What a surprise when we didnt get pregnant and then when we COULDN'T get pregnant. And then not knowing why. Why was this happening? My body and soul were rejecting him. the fates were not going to give in, I was not going to have a family with this man. Every month i would get my period and it would send me into a deep depression, It would be another knife stabbing me in my heart. the only thing that would keep me going is my non-profit and the sense of worthiness that i felt there. The community that needed me and that I needed right back.



And so I threw myself into Scrapbook Royalty and it saved me. It gave me purpose, it became my child that I nurtured and watched grow. It made me happy and I knew that if I left the planet that day, that moment, I would be leaving something beautiful on this planet. Scrapbook Royalty saved me.

Really needing to re-think this...

Life changing experiences...

What am I doing? I have spread myself so thin... nothing is getting enough of my attention and my commitment to the things I really want to do is wavering... I am not sure what it is but I know that I need to get my head straight. As of right now, I am still really struggling to get my life in order. I find myself spinning my wheels and I feel very off balance...

even my shadow is unbalanced

I know that moving to my new place, hopefully this week, getting my things out of storage, and getting rid of tons of stuff is really going to help. It is a blur the stuff in storage. I dont even know what I packed, what I took, didnt take, what i need. Its all a blur. That first 3 months of the divorce process really really really are lost to me.

So, being at Brave Girls Camp was really helpful in so many ways.

laughing with beautiful brave girl Brittany

I discovered some things about myself I didn't realize before. I have always thought of myself as an open book, as someone that does not have a problem saying almost anything in front of people and who does not hide myself from the world. Well, that is turning out to not be 100% true. I am totally able to write on this blog and on my "live worth living blog" but when it comes to talking out loud- believe it or not, I am not that good at it. I can talk in front of a crowd of women at an event. I can tell people what to do all day long but talking about myself to a group... well, that is a challenge to me. and I learned this about my self at Brave Girls Camp. Every time it came to me to speak, I immediately reverted to my comfortable Founder of Scrapbook Royalty persona and just talked about my non-profit. And basically "promoted it" but what I really wanted to share, what I would have loved to let out into the universe was my story, my pain, my grief, and my experience.

this is what it looks like when brave girls share

It was not until the last day of the camp, and literally, the last minute of the whole thing that I was finally able to say something real. I took out my computer and read my blog post from September of last year about "it". Oh boy was that hard!!!

Art I created at Brave Girls Camp

I thought it would be easy, i could share with these wonderful women whom I had come to love and adore, and i would be reading it so i would not have to worry about tripping over my words or sounding stupid. But holy crow! it was so hard. Reading the words and speaking the words out loud are profoundly different! It was hard to speak because I was crying so much. I have not cried like that in months. I turned to Melody who was sitting next to me and said," I have yet to bawl at Brave Girls Camp" and here I was, heart and soul exposed, but feeling better that I finally got to share my story. Like I said, it was the last minute of the camp, literally, so I didn'tt get much feedback but one of the people who talked to me about it was Grandma Myrna Jean.

Grandma Myrna Jean

She and I have bonded in such a loving way through these two camps. I just love her. She is the
epitome of a loving person whom you could just curl up with and feel so safe and loved. She thanked me for sharing my story, she said she didn't know what I had been through and was happy to have that information and that she loved me. It just made me happy to know that people who care about me got a chance to see the real me. Not hiding behind Scrapbook Royalty and "doing good" but the real me with tears on my face and all exposed.

Brave Girls Bus

On the bus ride down the mountain back to the airport, I spoke with Maureen, Rhonda, and Angela about SBR and where to go from here. Rachel and Sally were there giving feedback as well. it was so great. and they really opened my eyes to some things. The main thing is that I don't have a story... Sad isn't it. But so true! Scrapbook Royalty is not as successful as it can be because i don't have a story to tell that moves people. it is not enough to want to help creative people give. it needs to be for a reason. So i am going to come up with my story. I am going to share how Scrapbook Royalty saved me and how it has helped so many people. I am going to walk towards the "heart" and get to the soul of what is driving me and find a way to convey that to people in a way that motivates them to move and help...

Group photo fun on the dock

I will never forget the amazing women I met at this brave girls camp. They opened their hearts and they made me feel like I could fly. thank you ladies for all your love and support. I love you all!

I'm in Escrow!!!

I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world. I was blessed to be born to a mother whose love knows no bounds. She can't help but constantly be my hero and always make my life everything she hoped it would be. I fall down, she picks me up. I fall down again, and again and she is always there. She is not my friend, she is my mom and that is exactly how I like it. I have so many friends. I have so many shoulders to cry on. What I need is a mother and she is the best one I could ever have dreamed of having.

So...she bought a condo for me to live in!! We are in Escrow and I am hoping to be moving in in a couple of weeks. It is in San Marcos across the freeway from the college I graduated from. I can't believe how lucky I am. I absolutely love it!

So life is progressing exactly as it should, each day gets better and better and the blessings just don't stop coming.

I have to catch up on some work then I have a wonderful cousin to write about so stay tuned!

A New Scrapbook Club!

I am starting another Cool Scrapbook Club in Poway at Cool Scrapbook Stuff! Its going to be so fun. They just opened a "Crop Spot" a few stores down and it has plenty of room for a fun monthly gathering! Cool Scrapbook Stuff has an amazingly huge selection of products and I am very excited to be working with Gena on this fun project!

Pink Pineapple Scrapbook Club has been such a success and it is time to open another branch! I will still be hosting the Pink Pineapple Scrapbook Club on the 1st Thursday of the month and although we are using the same book, the kits and make and takes will be different!


The fun begins May 19th and we will meet the 3rd Weds of each month after that!


We will be using the book Delight in the Details by Lisa M. Pace for Inspiration.


Here is how it works:

* It's based on a 3 month cycle
* We will meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month 6:30-8:30pm
* The book is optional and you can purchase it that night with your discount. Its our inspiration for crafting for that cycle
* Each meeting you will get a kit based on something from the book and you can take it home and create something with it. The following month you will bring your project for everyone to ooh! and ahh! over.
* We will also do a fun make and take
* We will chat about all the fun things going on in the crafting world
* There will be special guest speakers every cycle
* A special free crop just for Cool Scrapbook Club members!
* Discount on purchases made that night

The fee is $65 for a 3 month cycle or you can pay monthly $24 a month, (this will automatically charged to your credit card and you must have a card on file to use this option.) If you have to miss a meeting, no worries, your kit will be waiting for you at the store so you can join in the fun the next month!


Its social, fun, and inspiring! Meet other crafters that are as addicted as you are!

I hope you can join me!