a few cards

To make the flower, punch 8 scallop circles out of double sided cardstock. Secure with a brad and scrunch away until you get your desired look. Easy peasy.

All of these card were made using the March Kit. Each one is on the simple side and easy to make. I am totally into butterflies right now . . . something about spring being in the air! Hope you are having a great day!

heritage designer's challenge week 11

We're in week 11 of the heritage challenge I am hosting at Green Tangerines. Only one more week to go!  I have numerous keepsakes just waiting for a home on one of my pages. What’s a girl to do with old birth certificates, love letters, telegrams and ticket stubs? Document them of course!

I love reading my grandmother’s old telegrams that my grandfather sent to her before they were married. They were short and sweet, but you can still feel the love that radiated through them. I created a pocket with this tag to hold the telegrams.

This week, grab something that isn’t a picture and scrapbook it! If your keepsake isn’t flat enough to put in an album, take a picture of it and write about it.

1. Telegrams: Was there a special message conveyed to a loved one? A death announced? A baby born?
2. Letters: What did people write to their loved ones about?
3. Birth, Marriage or Death Certificate: Write the story of that particular person.
4. Ticket stubs: What did people do for entertainment? Did they travel? What were the costs involved? 

These are just a few questions to get you started. Happy documenting!

happy birthday faith!

It was my little girls 5th birthday yesterday. I can't believe she is five already . . . I know that EVERYONE says that about their kids, it's nothing new.

We have a few traditions . . . Tim always takes the day off of work for each child's birthday, we decorate their door with a few small gifts and we all go out for breakfast together. Yesterday we went out to Mimi's for breakfast . . . with a coupon of course! We fed the whole family for $11. Score.

Last Saturday we had the NEMO party that Faith wanted to have. When she turned four, she said she wanted to have a Nemo party when she turned five--she didn't forget. She has never seen the movie, Finding Nemo, but she has seen plenty of Nemo in the stores. She is really into fishing . . . we got Faith her very own fishing pole for her birthday . . . she was so excited! Back to the party . . . All of the outdoor games I had planned . . . cancelled . . . rain.

We always take a picture in front of this birthday sign which I made in MOPS almost 7 years ago! The red balloon fell off in storage this year and my husband kindly hot glued it back on. I didn't notice till I uploaded the photo that he glued it on no where near the "string" it is supposed to be on--ha! My mom made this Nemo dress just for the party. I love the "ocean" look she created with the silky blue top layer. Faith was SO excited to wear this!

Blue ocean punch and blue Jello with gummy fish were a treat for the kids. The jelly beans were for guessing . . . whoever got closest to the number got to take the jar home. Not one kid guessed over 100 jellybeans . . . there were 156. Guess we need to work on estimating . . .

They had to drop a clothespin into the fish bucket below. And of course they won a fish!

Each child got to go fishing for a prize over the banister. They couldn't see the adult below hooking on all the prizes. The kids loved using a real pole!

Tim scored this jump house at a garage sale for $15 a few years back. It has been a lifesaver during really rainy weeks. It was perfect for the party!

I love to make my kids cakes, but Wal-mart wanted to make it this year.

The party-goers. Such great kids.

Happy Friday everyone!

february recap

Are you a Project 12 gal? If you haven't joined in on the fun, go and check it out! I followed most of the sketches last year. I'm using different sketches this year, but still loving the concept of capturing all the highlights of each month.

If you are local, this month-in-review kit is on sale at Green Tangerines. Enjoy your Wednesday!

heritage designer's challenge week 10

If this is your first time joining me, I am hosting a 12-week Designer's Challenge through Green Tangerines Scrapbook Store. We are on week 10--almost to the finish line! Participants pick up a product each week and are challenged to use it with any of their supplies on hand and answer a few of the questions that I provide. If you aren't local, you can still play along and use the questions that I will post below!

This is my grandfather (who died before I was born) and his senior year picture. I had pictures of a report card (totally fun to see!), his diploma, the high school where he attended and a graduation announcement. And to think he was married just two years later and had my mom a year after that! So young!

Here are some questions to get you pondering your school days . . .

1. Tell me about the school you went to. What was your favorite class in school? What was your least favorite? What kind of grades did you get in school? Did you enjoy school? Did you have a favorite teacher?
2. Were you a part of any sports or clubs in school? Did you ever play any instruments? What kind of music did you listen to?
3. Tell me about some of your closest classmates. Do you still keep in contact with any of your classmates? What did you and your friends do outside of school?
4. Where there any fads during the time you went to school?
5. What schools did you attend? Did you go to college?
6. How did you get to school?

If you want ideas for more heritage pages (with questions), you can click on the heritage link under the labels section of my blog. You can also go here to my flicker gallery (also on the side bar of my blog). 

Have a great Tuesday!


p.s. It's not too late to join in on the Ella giveaway in yesterday's post!

ella blog hop and a giveaway!

Have you seen the latest eBook Scrapbooking the Everyday? It is full of 34 fresh new ways to celebrate your everyday life. Today, along with my Ella Friends, we are hosting a blog hop! What's in it for you? Read on and you'll find out!

Have you ever taken pictures throughout one whole day? I am always curious to know what a typical day was like for my mom with my brother and I underfoot. Was she as tired as I am? Did she have time to take a shower, exercise, read? On this day, I documented what I did during a typical day. My everyday schedule has already changed since I did this layout--looks like I need to do another one! 

I put this layout together before Seth had come along. It wasn't photos taken all in one day, rather photos that highlighted this particular phase of my life. I simply highlighted things that were important to me or things that are a part of my everyday life--like messes--those aren't important to me, I'd rather do without them, but they are a part of this phase in my life! This sketch is courtesy my friend, Kristen.

Have you ever put together a photo-less layout? Gasp! This was my first! I made this one a little over three years ago. I wanted to record my thoughts on how being diagnosed with Crohn's disease had helped me to slow my life down a bit--forced me, rather. I wanted to focus on something positive about my not-so-fun circumstance.

I made this layout when Seth was six weeks old. I wanted to document what was going on in my kids lives at this particular moment and tell them what I loved about them. It's just a simple snapshot in time.

All of the Ella Friends get to giveaway a copy of this fabulous eBook! That's 12 chances to win! Leave me a comment on this post and I will choose a winner Wednesday evening--around 9pm PST. 

For 11 more chances to win, hop on to Donna Jannuzzi next! 

To check out the other Ella Friends that are participating in the blog hop, go here.

best of friends

Have you seen this new line from Jillibean Soup? It is one of my faves for sure! The yellow is one of their staples and the blue patterned paper is from an older line--but all the fun embellishments and blue letter stickers are new! This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls taken last Spring and these papers were perfect for it.

I especially love this saying. Totally describes my girls relationship--they really are best friends.

The Green Tangerines April Kit will be out before you know it and I chose a ton of Jillibean Soup for this kit! Perfect for Spring! We start SNEAK WEEK over on the Green Tangerines Kit Club blog on Monday!

Have a great day!

heritage designer's challenge week 9

We're in the homestretch--4 weeks left to go with the heritage challenge! This week I asked everyone to document an event in history. This could be a recent event or an event from 100 years ago that played a role in a relative's life. I chose to document the Great Blizzard of 1949. My grandparents and great-grandparents took pictures during this time.

Sorry for the crummy scan . . . my scanner is having issues. I made a "warning" label to look like a sign you might see on the road. 

Over 100 people died during this blizzard and over 1 million livestock were lost. It was a tragic story in history and my grandparents and great-grandparents lived to tell about it. I can't imagine being stranded in my home for six weeks! It was fun to hear my mom's take on the event as well--she was conceived during this LONG winter!

Here are some questions to get you started:

1.     Was there a tornado that came through your town? Was there an earthquake that shook you up? (or any natural disaster)

2.     Do you remember rationing supplies during a World War?

3.     Did someone you love go off to war?

4.     Did something you saw personally or on the news impact the way you think about our world?

5.     How did an event (big or small) impact your family?

Have a great day!

snow fun

It's raining here in "sunny" California. On days like these I just want to curl up in bed with a book and stay under the covers all day. I wonder if that's what those of you in the Midwest feel like when it snows day after day . . . not too practical at this stage in my life. We don't have to deal with the snow, and when we want to have a "snow day," we just travel 45 minutes up the road!

I punched the snowflakes and then used the negative images from some of them to make a different snowflake. This layout was made using the March Green Tangerines kit. 

Every once in awhile I miss living in a snow state--though Minnesota was a bit extreme. I think Colorado might be nice. I do not miss driving in the snow. Would love to see my kids build an igloo in our backyard! Those were fun memories for me! If you live in the snow, do you enjoy it, or do you wish you lived somewhere else?

Happy Monday!

our favorite place

Some more March kit goodness to share!

There's nothing like Christmas at the beach! It wasn't THAT warm out, but our girls still wore their swimsuits and jumped in the water. Crazy kids! Hope you are having a good day!

heritage designer's challenge week 8

This week the topic was food. If you are just joining me, feel free to check out the heritage challenge I am hosting at  Green Tangerines. I documented my grandmother's work as a hospital chef--it was a job she took to support herself after her husband (my grandfather I never met) was killed. She had this job for almost 20 years--an important part of her story.

This is a less-than-pefect photo of my grandmother (she looks surprised!), but it's the only one I have of her working in the hospital kitchen. Don't be afraid to use photos that aren't the best--it's the story that you are documenting! This was a huge part of my grandmother's life and I wanted to capture it--good picture or not!

Here are a few questions to get you started on the topic of food:

1. Do you have a favorite dish that your grandmother or mother used to always make?
2. Describe a typical family dinner. Who did most of the cooking?
3. Do you have a special recipe that has been passed down that you make frequently or on special occasions?
4. What food was served at a holiday meal? What were your favorites?
5. Do you love or dislike to cook? Who taught you to cook?
6. Do you have any special memories surrounding food?
7. What was your grandmother’s or mother’s kitchen like?

Have a great Tuesday!

march green tangerines kit

The March kits are shipping . . . go here to see the goods! Here is something I made with it . . .

This layout has pictures from a recent family outing. I love the colors of this kit--so great for outdoor stuff! Happy Monday!

it's friday!

I'm so glad the weekend is here! It hasn't been a bad week, it's actually been a great one, but I always enjoy when my husband is home and we can do family activities. The girls have a "cowgirl" birthday party they are going to tomorrow and they are SO excited! Tim and I have a date night scheduled for Sunday and I am SO excited! I thought I'd leave you with a layout on a certain topic that my girls are SO excited about these days . . . SILLY BANDZ!!!!!!! Are your kids as crazy about these things as mine?

Getting these silly bandz to stay on my layout was no easy task. I tried four different adhesives before I finally sewed them on with clear thread.

I think they will enjoy looking back at this fad they were into. Do you remember the friendship bracelets we wove out of embroidery floss or the pins with beads that we wore on our tennis shoes? I remember how important these silly little things were to me at the time!

Have a great weekend!

and the winner is . . .

Congrats! And since I know who you are, I will email you the code right now!

I'll have a double page layout for you tomorrow . . . think kid fads . . .

heritage designer's challenge week 7 and a GIVEAWAY!

This week on the Green Tangerines blog we are focusing on sibling relationships. I chose to document my grandmother and her three siblings. She was a "surprise" 14 years after her third sibling, so she didn't grow up having them as playmates. She shared her memories with my mom for this layout:

The first picture on the left is from 1913. I am still amazed when I look at photos that old! And I am so happy to have a few. My grandmother is the baby in the far right picture--her oldest sibling, Helen, is taking care of her. Just a note on my pictures--I scan them all and have them reprinted. Most of the originals are in pretty bad shape--I love being able to remove a few of the scratches in PSE. I kept the color the same as the original pictures for this particular layout because I loved the warm feeling.

1. How many siblings did you have and what were their names and birth dates?
2. Do you have a favorite memory with one or more of your siblings?
3. Did you confide in your siblings?
4. Did you get into mischief together that your parents never discovered?
5. What is your relationship like today?

Do you need a jumpstart on getting those photos and stories from the past scrapped? I get to give away one copy of this awesome eBook!

There are some great "non-traditional" heritage ideas in this book! And you don't have to be scrapbooking photos from years and years ago. Last week is the PAST, right? You can check out more of the details on this book here. Feeling lucky today? Leave me a comment on this post and I will pick a winner on Thursday evening--sometime after my kids go to bed! Good luck!