Next Installment

More calendar pages for my 2016 calendar (see previous post for more detail). Still working with the Felicity Jane kits, they are so awesome. I love that many of the papers from different kits will work together, they often have a black and white added in. The first page is from the Just Sayin' kit (sold out now). I couldn't resist using the small dot for the background although I've had to try to find substitute papers for my girls since there is only one in a kit. I added a few puffy stickers from Close to My Heart, Thickers from American Crafts, and a simple rub on (she is). Loved the acrylic heart in this kit and the tissue confetti. Keep in mind that normally I would add a lot more to these pages but need to keep the reproduction down to 30 minutes - no more. It's a challenge to make them cute while still keeping them super SIMPLE.

I loved the way the Thickers added a sparkle to the page.

At the bottom are two small washi tape strips with the glittered puffy bow (CTMH).

Below is a closeup of that cute acrylic heart. I love the colors Jeana chose for this kit they all compliment one another perfectly.

The next page installment is a simple classic "L" layout, this one is on plain white cardstock with just a touch of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine to keep the background from being too boring. The fun acrylic letters in this kit really helped it pop. Added a few Coral Reef Sequins and Smoothie bakers twine from Close to My Heart. The rest of the stuff is from Felicity Jane (sigh - I love her designs).

Also love her stamps they are so usable, not so stylized that they will only work with some things yet not at all boring, notice the cute "a day to" stamp - love it! Here's a close up of those fun letters.

This was mostly made with the "Best Day" kit - also sold out - guess you can see why.  Because I work full time as a scrapbook artist sometimes I'm not very motivated to scrapbook at home, but these kits really get me excited - they rock!

    So it's been an incredibly long time since I posted on this blog. Too much to do and too little time! But I promised myself that I would at least post next years (2016) calendar pages as I finished them. For those of you who might be interested - I create 12 scrapbook pages each year trying to capture memories of each family member. These pages are re-produced during the Christmas holidays with my daughters and daughter-in-law. So there are a few restrictions - the pages must be able to be re-produced in 30 minutes or less!! We only have about 6 hours to get it all done. Obviously I precut all the main pieces for them. It's so much fun! We laugh and talk and of course make more great memories. The dads and grandpa take all the kids out bowling or sledding then out for lunch. It's a tradition that we've been doing for ten or more years. By posting these early my girls get a sample of the colors and start thinking about what pictures they want to use.
    So here goes...The page above is of my youngest grand- daughter, whose favorite thing in the whole world is swinging at the park. I used Felicity Jane's "What I'm Doing Now" kit - which had the perfect combination of bright spring colors. This will be the March calendar page. I loved the wonderful gold glitter "happy" and cute black star sequins. This page is super simple and very fast.

    The second page finished is for the month of June. A picture of my oldest daughter and her husband on their 10th anniversary cruise. I've used Felicity Jane's (I'm a subscriber)"You and Me" kit. The colors were so perfect for this photo. I haven't journaled on this page yet so technically it's not quite done. Oh well... again this is another fast page - easy peasy to put together but not at all boring (I do the machine stitching for the girls).  I loved that large chevron arrow (a cut out) and the cute globe in the upper left hand corner (it's a stamp.) This page should actually take them less than 30 minutes to put together. Although this was a love themed kit I found it very easy to adapt for a beach photo. Stay tuned for more installments coming soon.
PS - Sorry for the bad photos I was shooting with my IPhone in a dark room!

Summer Reunion at Disneyland

I am not so great at posting on this blog except when I've been with family for a get together. This summer my entire family met at disneyland for a family vacation. Although is was hot and hectic we had a great time. Here we have from left to right -Rachel (Matt's wife) Duane, Tara holding Anna, Madison in front of Tara, Tara's husband Dan, Tessa in front of Dan, Matt holding Shaya, Brenna under Matt's arm, Kyle, Kevin, Mara in front of Kevin, Anjuli and me.

The kids had such a great time and there was no doubt that the Disney characters were 

some of their favorites. Mara and Maddie pose with Mickey. 

Five of my six grandaughters with Mulan - Mara, Maddie Brenna Tessa, and Shaya. 

 The little girls loved "Tink"  Posing - Brenna, Tink, Maddie, Shaya.

Trading pins was a "big deal" the object being to get the most unique and greatest variety. 

Tessa shows off a few of her favorite pins. Awesome!

Mara shows off her pin band to Maddie and endoctrinates her on how to get in the 

action for the first time with a new "pin band".

It's fun to be with Anjuli who we don't see as often as we would like. 

Here she poses with Tara for a fun "sisters" pic.

Our sweet little Anna (Tara's baby) was pretty blase about most of Disneyland

she played alot with Grandma and Papa while her Mom and Dad hit the rides with Madison.

Our second day at the park Tara "fake dyed" the girls hair in pink streaks. They

loved it and thought it was all great fun. Here are my "punk" grandaughters.

My faves were the world of color... 

 The cars ride....

and snapping photos of the grandkids when they didn't know...

Above 1. Anna just takes it all in, 2. Maddie stops for a quiet drink, and 

3. Brenna chills at the water pad to beat the heat.

We loved our week together and were sad wave goodbye to one another. The colors and sounds of Disneyland are always bright and cheerful we hated to see it come to and end.

American Girls

Each year my granddaughters look forward to our annual American Girl Doll Party held a day or two after Christmas. This year our theme was "Let it Snow"(very appropriate this year). The girls get dressed up and walk in single file on a "runway" with their dolls, who are dressed in old clothes. At the table is a special gift for each girl...

new doll clothes that I've made for them.

They can hardly wait to open them to see what this years outfit will be. They immediately dress their dolls and request photos be taken (before anything gets dirty!) 

Mara and Julie

 Tessa and Rebecca

Maddie and Lanie

Brenna and Kit                          

Shaya and her dolly - she will get a real American Girl next year when she is five.

This year in honor of our theme the girls made snowman pizzas.They rolled out their own dough and topped it with their favorite ingredients. They loved it.

One for them and one for their dolls.

The finished snowmen are a little tough from overworked dough, but each girl thought it was perfect!

 I don't know who has more fun at this party - me or my granddaughters. This year each doll got a pair of "Uggs", leggins, a hoodie, and a cute shirt that matched each girls. Then we made snowflake necklaces for each girl and a miniature version for each doll. They were adorable.  Julie, below, shows off her new clothes.  

Soldier Hollow

New Years Eve day found my family all on the slopes of SoHo (Soldiers Hollow) for 2 hours of fun on the tubing runs. It was hands down the best tubing we've had this year! So AWESOME! This pix is the view of the lodge as I was going up the rope tow and although it 

looks warm and sunny it was 2° and fridgid.

Shaya, my 4 yr old granddaughter, cried all the way up the hill and could only be talked  into make the run once!

Despite the cold weather we were all dressed warm and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Parents often doubled with the kids to add "weight" to get the tubes running faster.

Matt and Shaya

Tessa and Tara

Dan and Maddie

We will definately make this a yearly trip as everyone had a good time even grandpa, who sat in the lodge with baby Annalise and Shaya.

One Amazing Christmas

My grandaughters love our annual snowman contest. Every year at Christmastime (providing there is enough snow) we get all the kids together for a snowman building contest. It is serious business. Here are Maddie, Mara, and Tessa in the backyard preparing for a snowy contest! We had two winners this year.  Cute snowman (above) won most adorable. His eyes were cherry tomatoes, he had a carrot nose and chocolate chip mouth.  The headless snowman below - won most creative.

The blood was actually strawberry koolaid and the arms were re-inforced with wood. Pretty ingenious even it it was rather gruesome.

Disneyland Mini Album

A few years ago I made this mini album at work (CTMH). It was a great project for me because I was able to use photos of my own family. Since this week is Thanksgiving I've been thinking alot of things I'm grateful for. My husband, children, and grandchildren are right at the top of that list. This mini captured the fun and love that we have together as a family. 

Six of my grandchildren (see the seventh below in previous post), my pride and joy.

My grandaughters couldn't wait to see the princesses so we went to Ariels Grotto for breakfast and they had a chance to see them up close and personal. 

Loved those Cricut cut doilies from the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge, and when you flipped the acrylic page over there was a completly different page hiding behind.

My oldest son is a great fan of "Nightmare Before Christmas" so a picture with Jack was mandatory. Filmstrips are a great way to get more photos on the page.

These cute stamp sets helped capture the magic and the fun we were having. Inserting a smaller page between larger ones added lots of interest to the overall album.

Thanksgiving - what I'm grateful for...

This is our newest granddaughter little Annabug (Annalise). She will be four months old on the 11th of December. What a cutie pie she is. We are so very grateful that she has come to our family. Grandchildren are such a blessing, I now have 7 and I love each one of them very much.