❤

i had the major pleasure of watching gnomeo and juliet over this past weekend. wow. love.that.movie. so, so stinkin cuteeeeeee!!! i want a million garden gnomes and two lawn flamingos. my favorite part was that when we walked into the theatre some of our favorite friends were sitting right smack dab in the middle,,, so we got to crash their family outting and go to dinner all together afterwards. perfect. so right after the movie, i had to take a picture of the sign for the movie, i sooo have a major crush on that movie,, cant wait for the gnome phenomenon to take off,, ive only been waiting for years!!! tap~tap~tap my inner elbow,,, so anyway, since im in love with the movie, it totally makes a spot into my project 52{ish}. how could it not??

geeeeezzzz,, sick of that etsy post or what?!?! i know i am,,, well, yes, ive been busy,, but the good part is that in just a few short weeks,,, youll know why,, and exactly what weve been up too,,,,, another rad thing,,, mama got a new laptop!!! yep, yep, yep,,, so stoked!! i got a mac, so *hopefully* those computer problems i have like every other week,, out the door. lets hope. so, have you checked out the newest {and last for the rest of the year} pink ninja prompt?? this month was my pick or the ninja star action and i went with a great and close friend of mine,,, miss gloria. go figure she shoots it outta the park,,, she went with an elsie inspired prompt. rad. love. stoked. perfect. who, in their right mind doesnt *love elsie* so yeah, i love this one and our design team killed this it. everybodys rocked!!! its actually funny, because ive been working with a graphic design chicky up in la as of late and she doesnt know me more than the emails we exchange. for some reason, she started calling me *ally*cakes*. funny. i dont know if she is at all familiar with *the elsiecake*, but i found that entertaining non the less,,, hence the name of my layout,,, *ally*cakes*. dont worry, although i look like a total elsie rip off in this layout,,, im not going down that path. elsie does the very best at being elsie, i could never compete,,, {geezzzz i sound like a freaking weird-o},,, {and im trying not to go off on what i often see on the web about people imitating her and very obviously coping her ideas and trying to pass them off as their own,,, and to make money from these projects to boot},,, okay, okay, okay, ally,,,, ally,,, alllllllllyyyyyy,, focus. focus. im just a big fan of giving credit where credit is due. period. love ya, mean it. please tell me you hear me and you agree!!! okay, go play with the ninjas,,, its the last chance before the end of the year,,, oh ~ which reminds me, once our design team call closes {the 21st i believe}, we wll be shutting down the ninja blog {making it private} till january,,, gotta give it a little make over,,, annnnnddddd {geez,,, talk about making up for lost posting time huh??} if youre interested in a sponsor spot for the pink ninja ~ email us, we can give you all the nitty gritty,,, thepinkninjas {at} aol {dot} com. its such a great way to promote your business. and im talking about sponsoring a spot on the blog,,, not a prompt. okay. :-) alright, im out,,, love ya!!! heres *ally*cakes*

love, ally

i never shared my day late, dollar short layout for the pink ninjas costumes prompt,,, here is *halloween 2008*,,,
love, ally

i wanted to wait,,, i wanted to wait,,, i *wanted* to wait,,, to spill the beans,,, but i couldnt wait any longer,,, yesterday was the due date for my atc swap im hosting {hint, hint},,, and now im ready to share mine,,, im still waiting on a few,,, in the mail and a few from the store, but for now here are mine,,, i have in my hot little ~ well, actually sadly, kinda big hands, but you know,,, danielles and carries and they freaking rock!!! which by the way ~ im now opening up to another atc swap ~ this baby was so much fun ~ so i gotta do it again!!!! email me xoxoallyserrato@aol.com or leave me a blog comment and lemme know if youre in. im taking {again} the first 12 peps!!!! gonna be another fun one!!!! anyway, here are mine, and if youre playing along this time around, please lemme know if yours are on their wayyyyyyy!! :-D cant barely stand the wait!!!! i had to go with something specific to represent meeeee!!! i think i might have nailed it,,,,this one is for this girly,,,, {xoxo}

i love em ~ do you??? be honest,,,, :-D

~xoxo~

here is a layout i created for the design team at pink pineapple,,, *spinnin* sorry, it was kinda hard to photograph because of the transparency,,, i used hambly transparency {two of em}, tim holts alcohol ink, two different bella blvd papers, a bit of pink paislee and my current staple ~ glitter paper ~ it makes any layout look amazing!!! thanks for stopping by!!
~xoxo~

even though i havent mentioned it in a while,,, i still work on my scrapbook journal. often. my recipe is simple, which makes putting a layout together fun and painless.

the recipe is this,,,

*a photo i took of myself

*words

*{those} words written in american craft thickers

*layout on hambly transparency

*hambly papers in an easy format

*hambly rub on {s}

sticking to the recipe makes it kinda all *go* together with out *really going* together. i love it. here are a few *older* layouts, but i havent shared them yet,,, soooooo,,,,
hambly has a certain charm to it. no matter the color or the theme, it all blends together beautifully.
~xoxo~

i have been cranking out layouts like nobodies business. its so rad!!! this is one that i finished as of late and i love it!!! there was a project that i worked on and it was to scrap about something out of the *norm* for us scrappers. a tattoo,,, or something,,, i cant remember the other suggestions. anyway, i had to go ahead and take this opportunity to scrap *my mother of the year tattoo*!! ha, im sure if you know me, you know exactly what tattoo im speaking of,,,, anyway, here is the layout., loves it!!!! ahhh,,, the silly things we do before we are mamas,,, even though i still have no regrets,,,, :-D
~xoxo~

alright, so i know i had mentioned that i wanted to take my new elsie purchases with me on my trip to chicago, but i knew they werent going to be here in time?? well, between you and i, i kinda really, really, really, really thought that they would be here by today,,,,, they werent. i was so set on picturing myself carrying this bag on the air plane that contains one of the journals that i had purchased from her. bummer.

i have been working on my scrapbook journal. i loves it!!! i like the way its looking, but im trying not to *stress* over the way the pages look. my goal is *words* (or better yet emotions) and photos. all i want each page to contain is hambly, hambly, hambly, thickers and hambly rub ons. i just completed this one, kinda thinking about the trip i have coming up. i have never left my children, and gone someplace without them and or ricardo. should be interesting, i know im going to miss them.

notice the layout is pretty much just like the other one i posted?!?! its okay, i like it. im sure you will see it again. clean. simple. hambly. and another layout for my scrapbook journal. this photo also features my ever so trusty, amazing iphone. im in heaven!!! i love it!!!
this layout lays over the back side of the layout below, the music notes fit just perfect. like i said, the journal is moving right along. i wont ~ however be posting all of the layouts. im sure youll understand why,,,, ;-).

well, i will be back sunday night. peace out!!!!
dont mind my fresh from yoga look ~ oh and my new tattoo (???) its from a vending machine. not real, but it sure is pretty. maybe ill get one in chicago!!!
~miss me~

if i knew what was good for me ~ i would be cleaning my house ~ and not updating my blog. who really likes to do whats good for them?? just a really quick post,,,,
ever after now has a *few* of these kits in stock. take a day, and document every tid bit of it. 6:37 ~ coffee, 7:14 ~ breakfast etc,,,,, its a fun little project.

next. alright, so you got me ~ i am a bit over the top for the creations elsie comes up with. i cant help it. i just adore her child like love and look on life. here is painting of hers that i got about a month ago. still dont have the perfect spot for it. but i will. im really, really starting to think more and more about this thursday ~ when i head off the chicago. i wish my journal that i ordered {also from elsie} would be here on time, but i doubt it. i guess it hasnt even shipped yet,,,, bummer dude. speaking of journals, im thinking that i need to keep one. i have been thinking that, and since she came out with these, i knew it was time. i am very inspired as of late to pay more attention to myself and my feelings. sometimes *we* get so wrapped up in life, we forget to stop and think about what really matters. maybe daniels spill into the fireplace might have had something to do with these thoughts. who knows. maybe ill have more to say later...
but since my elsie journal isnt here yet, i thought i would start right away on a scrapbooking journal. because we all know mama loves taking pictures of herself, i might as well use those in a scrapbook, journal format. here is a layout i threw together really, really, really fast this morning. maybe you remember this same picture. i had it in my blog a little bit ago {cant find the link},,,,,
i love it. clean. simple. hambly. alright, i have taken up waaaay too much of my own time!!!~peace~

keeping right up with my promise,,, here are a few pictures from the polka dot whimsy crop at pink pineapple. let me tell you, missy michelle hill knows how to throw a party!!! you might (or might not) know this about me. I DONT ATTEND CROPS!!! i dont. im not going to throw out my laundry list of reasons why, i just dont like them. that was the old me. by the end of the night, i was begging michelle to throw a quarterly anniversary party crop. oh yeah, p.s. you had me at vodka!!! oh and, before i forget, maybe youre wondering why i decided to attend this crop (??) i was invited by missy pj, and since she lives so far away and was going to be in my neck of the woods, i had to accept!! thanks girly for the invite!!! i was able to spend some fun time with my girly lauren. so there, enough of the intros,,,,,

i dont have any pictures of me scraping, this was a treat. i thought that i wanted to *play*. you know, no classes, just fun times scrapbooking. i cant remember the last time i did a 12X12 layout, and i knew i would need a little push. carrie is on the design team at pink and also is a teacher. an amazing teacher. i have to admit, she has got talent that i envy like crazy!!! so since i needed a little push in the 12X12 direction, i copied her sassafrass layout that is up in the store. the one with the white back ground (that im holding up above) is copied from her. that black back ground layout (down below) was what i came up with to put side by side in the album. and then i got the hambly layout done. yep, there for who knows how many hours and i got four layouts done. oh well, it was fun!!!
cheers ladies!!!
and here is my work,,, kinda fun. im trying to take my scrapbooking in a different direction. more towards *clusters* and *stuff*.

*open roads* title i owe completely to lauren. i suck at titles!!

alright, im out!!!

~hugs~