Disney Bday and now in Taiwan

I'm here in Taiwan. This is my beautiful friend Belle's home. She is so generous and bought me a plane ticket to visit for my birthday. My mom couldn't be outdone so she matched the plane ticket in spending money :) Im such a lucky Happy People!!

So I am here, buying Christmas presents, Pink Pineapple Scrapbook Club kit goodies, and of course anything that I can justify buying! I thought it was going to rain every day and be a bit cold. Boy was I wrong! warm and sunny! So my first purchase was a bathing suit since I totally didnt think to bring one! Belle has fun stuff planned for almost every day. We are going to travel around the island and stay at amazing hotels and eat yummy food. today we had afternoon tea at a Wedgewood Tea house. Loved it!












What a fun Disney Bday I had! As always, a parade in my honor :) And then dinner at House of Blues with family and friends. Whenever Eric and I get a chance, we take a "traditional pose" photo. It annoys the heck out of our mom and reminds us that we are loving brother and sister!

Get it together girl!! Life is sooo good!

Spark the Event in a photo booth making crazy faces! it was so fun!

What the heck! I think I am going to get my blog posts going again and then WHAM! THE PRINCESS GETS TOOO BUSY! So here I am, weeks later wishing I had more time. But I have to say, I am such a Happy People again! I had an awesome time in Hansville, WA with my friend from grade school, Jimmy. We hiked and I got to just be in the middle of really cold really beautiful nature and I got to see 3 bald eagles and and and! It was just fantastic. Really the best part of Washington was having really good talks with someone that has known me since I was a little kid and realizing that happiness is a choice. It exists all the time, it is always there, Pain is there too, but it's a choice. I used to always make the choice to be happy and then with the divorce, there were moments I thought I might never be happy again, but I was wrong.

I AM TOTALLY MAKING THE CHOICE TO BE A HAPPY PEOPLE!

So now tomorrow is my 38th- YEP! 38th bday. I am feeling great. I see a bright future and I can't believe what an adventure my life is and has always been. 38 years and I wouldn't change a thing!

I have been a busy traveling princess so here are some pics from recent moments in my life...

Spark! the event in Utah. went with Sally, made tons of new friends and got to spend time with some I already knew. Raised $4500 for Susan G. Komen and loved every minute of it!

20 year San Dieguito High School Reunion- I can't believe I was totally not going to go!

Get it together girl!! Life is sooo good!

Spark! the event in Utah. went with Sally, made tons of new friends and got to spend time with some I already knew. Raised $4500 for Susan G. Komen and loved every minute of it!































20 year San Dieguito High School Reunion- I can't believe I was totally not going to go!




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I got my craft on this weekend!

I have not had many opportunities to craft in the past couple of months and it was so great this weekend to have that opportunity! A few months ago I joined a swap with some amazing artists and I am very late getting mine done. But I did!

The swap is with Christine Penaflor, Jenny Doh, Kim Caldwell, Katie Watson and Cheryl Waters. The task was to create a heart with one letter from the word CREATE. So Christine die cut hearts and letters for all of us and we each chose our color palette and then let the creating begin! The theme was Vintage Shabby Chic.

I am very happy with the way mine came out. I might still add a few more vintage pieces to them but here are some sneak peeks of what I came up with. Will post the finished projects when we get them all swapped.

this one is for Kim
this one is for Cheryl

Here is my heart for Christine

and for Katie
this one is mine. I reworked a tag I made with inspiration from Cheryl!
this one is for Jenny

More press opps!

Im so honored to be one of the people featured in this month's issue of CHA Portfolio!

they interviewed me a few months ago so I had forgotten about it. What a nice surprise! the first three pages feature other charitable crafters but i have a couple of quotes on the 3rd and 4th page and i am featured on the 4th page of the article. I love that SBR just keeps growing. This helps us so much with our second Guiness World Record attempt for the World's Largest Crop which wil be on January 23rd, 2010. For deets: http://www.scrapbookroyalty.org/events.html

and to sign up: http://www.craftsupershow.com/eweb/dynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=WKSHPEvents

Hoping for 1000 croppers! going to be so cool!

Lost my blog groove

So I'm ready to start back on my blog. I miss it so much!!

So how is "it"?

"it" is a divorce in the works. The filing is done, my whole life is packed in boxes in storage or scattered all over my little brother's house. (he has 3 bedrooms, I get 2) :)

"it" is for all the right reasons. I know now that I am going to be ok and that Jean-Claude and I will be better people for having been married to each other and I will always wish him happiness and peace.

"it" is still a long road ahead. I have to figure out where to live (can't take 2 of my lil' brother's rooms forever) I have to figure out how to pay myself, and I have to come to terms with the fact that in order to keep Scrapbook Royalty alive, I have to earn a living through it. This is the yuckiest "it" of all!

So, "it" is moving forward at it's own pace and I am at peace to live in the moment and I try to remember to live each day to it's fullest.

I am a happy people especially drinking my sugar free rockstar!

my new motto:

This is not about then, this is just about now.

for more "it" references visit this post... but it's a sad "it"...

It's time!

Life needs to get a move on.... There are boxes and boxes piled up in the garage of this place I call home. I don't know how to take that final step out the door and never come back but I am being forced to. Who is forcing me? i am not totally sure but I think it's just life. I'm just about ready though. Saturday is D-Day. I have family and friends coming over to help me move the stuff into a storage unit that i rented today. I hate putting my stuff in there. Storage is where stuff goes to die. I hope mine makes it...

I can't wait till next week when I am with all my crafting supplies and able to create again. I miss it!



This part of my adventure has come with some perks. I met two really awesome people while i was in SF visiting Shelley and wearing her costumes...

Deano and Karima made my first visit to the world of Burning Man so much fun. I am almost convinced that i need to go. It's so much more than I ever thought it was and I am almost convinced that it is an experience that i need to have at least once in this lifetime!

Thank you Smell and Renee for your hospitality in your beautiful SF home. And thank you Karima and Deano for an unforgettable night. I had a great time and it was a perfect distraction!

Garage Sale help me please!!

It's finally starting to get ugly around here. I have to move like yesterday and I want to sell as much stuff as possible since I will be staying at my brother's house temporarily.

Please please come to my Garage Sale

6428 Peinado Way
San Diego, CA 92121

Saturday & Sunday 10/17-10/18
7 am till ???

Please pass this on to anyone you know that lives in my area.

very much appreciate all the love and support for my wonderful family and friends.

Its been sooooooo hard. I am still sooooo overwhelmed and every time I feel better, I get punched back into reality.

Crazy long time! crazy full life!!

I have been wanting to post but just didn't know what to say. My life is finally turning around and I know that I have a bright positive amazing future ahead of me and I look forward to it. Its been a heck of a ride so far and i dont want the rollercoaster to stop.

So i drove up to San Francisco by myself! yes! all by myself! I think the furthest I have driven alone before is Disneyland! It was an amazing adventure full of phone chatting and face book. I can't help it! im a social fairy! I actually planned this trip with every intention of it closing the guilt bubble for me.

Here is what that is all about...

When I met Jean-Claude I had already laid my plans for moving to Taiwan. I was going to go there study Mandarin, learn about my culture and teach English. I had no intention of moving back stateside again for a long time if ever.... One of the last things i wanted to do before I left Cali was to drive up the 1 with my top down in my little miata. So I planned my trip, was going to stop in Monterrey to see Neddy B and my name sake Sydney Elena, and then head to SF to see other friends. I was all set when Jean offered to go with me and then he wanted to drive. I said he could come if we went in my car. top down in the Miata. he some how talked me into going in the Landcruiser and my trip was just not going to happen. So now I am in SF, I am visiting my wonderful friend Smell, (shelley :) and I will be leaving on Weds to drive down the 1 and take that trip and come full circle from where I was in 2001 when I met my husband. I seriously can't wait. I want to drive fast along the cliffs with the water below and a big sharp drop and THE TOP DOWN! I know that this is what I need to be able to take that last step. To be able to walk out the door and know that the house I have lived in for the last 7 years is no longer my home. It's hard but I can do it! I know I can!

Last night I went to "decompression" is a burning man 1 month reunion in SF. If you know what the Burning Man Project is you know that other than the social aspect of it, it is so not me. But Smell dressed me up as "lady luck" and off i went. Karima my new lovely friend was my guide and partner in crime for the night. I will leave the rest to your imagination but it was tons of fun and i got my sparkle back!

Sparkle gone... i want it back

Yesterday I had a really nice distraction with a get together of some of the SBR volunteers. During dinner my friend Georgia told me to look at her and when I did she said, "Yup, your sparkle is gone" Wow. What do you say to that. Everyone tried to joke it off and offer me glitter and I said, " i need to get it back" or something like that. But it stuck with me. My sparkle is gone and I really need to get it back. I know Georgia was not saying it to be mean, it was just poignant. She is very wise.

I know the first step is to move out. It's just hard. Every time I try to pack a box I just get paralyzed with emotion and fear. What is waiting for me out there in that big scary reality we call life?

So I am trying to leave, but for some reason I keep looking back.
I hope when I finally do grow a pair and just make it happen that my sparkle will indeed return.

Tragic Ballerina the story continues...

A few weeks ago when I started this very sad journey...

I posted a photo of myself of facebook with my tutu on and my head down crying. I got a lot of worried responses but the best one was Teri's "you look so tragic Elena, I hope you are ok" I had just told my husband I was leaving him and cried for about 24 hours straight and the next morning I was meeting Jennifer T. and Anita to go to D23 Expo. I had no idea if I could do it or not but I knew I needed to. I needed to keep moving and keep busy or I felt like I would die. So I was trying on my tutu and tears were streaming down my face and I just thought I needed to capture the moment. So in my dimly lit living room with a tripod and a timer I took this photo:


I know some people will think it's strange but honestly I am so happy I took this picture so that I could make this nostalgia board this weeked at Miss Vicky's. Thank you Vicky for opening your home and your "collection" to me and for being such a loving caring generous friend.

this vintage ballet slipper was just waiting to be turned into art

A mini tutu with black wings reminds me that angles are watching over me even in the darkest of times.

Carly dyed the ballet slipper toe for me and I sprayed it with tattered angels turqoise blue, and added black glass glitter to make it sparkle.

"time heals all wounds" I know it will heal mine. below these words is a photo from a magazine of little ballerinas, a nod back to my innocence and a look toward the future child I can only dream of right now.


the Tragic Ballerina under glass smudged and stamped with the word "Remember" I know I will never forget the way I felt that night. I want to remember and draw strength from it as I look back on this very hard journey.


A beautiful purple vintage rose with a teardrop. Thank you Jan for this idea. "How Bad Was It?" it was horrible and still is. I live for the distractions that get me through the day.


A skull with turquoise blue tattered angel eyes, reminds me to live each day to the fullest because it goes fast and it is a gift.
A stained broken heart waiting to be whole again.

and finally in the bottom corner a little "hope" because that is what I have.

It was extremely cathartic making this piece. I know I will never forget this time in my life and I will learn so much and grow so much from this experience and the 2 best wisest things my father ever said to me were "Love is unconditional" and "Life is to experience so live it to the fullest" and I try to live by the latter every single day.

Disney and Birthdays do make me feel better

Yesterday was Sheila's Bday and i had the honor of going with her to Disneyland. We had a nice day just strolling around, going on a few rides, chatting about this and that, (sbr of course) and having lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Who can't be a happy people lunching with Princesses...

Happy Birthday Sheila. I know she is going to be celebrating all week.