Easter on Main Street, USA

I've been in a real Disney/Easter mood lately. ;)

I knew when I got these Jillibean Soup papers which pics I would use. Love those pretty little umbrellas!

Last year we took a break from celebrating in the usual family Easter tradition & went to Disney. The weather was beautiful & we got a chance to relax & enjoy the day.

In the Magic Kingdom Mr & Mrs Easter Bunny were on hand for pics. And scattered around Main Street were these ladies we thought were park characters. We found out the ladies were called "The Azalea Girls" from Alabama. They come to Disney every year at Easter & greet people. Each lady made their own dress & each dress is different from the next. The details are just beautiful!

While I had the LO all started on my desk I wasn't positive how exactly I was going to use the umbrella paper until I saw this post on the Jillibean Soup blog. Love the idea--wish it were mine! ;)

Hope everyone is in the Bunny Spirit!!

Princesses x3

Can you tell what I'm in the mood for?

You might say WARM weather...


You might say SPRING break...


But you should say......


DISNEY!!!

Had printed this pic out awhile ago with the intentions of scrapping it for "me", but never got around to it. Then as I started pulling papers I realized I was scrapping it more for the girls, so I printed another 2 copies--one for each of us. (I think of it as using more of my stash this way)

Made this one for Marissa's album.....
This one for Gianna's album.....
And used the scraps of those two LO's for MY album! With that I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing since we really are getting ready for another trip to Disney. But you never know what I might post! ;)

14

Today my niece Destiny, turns 14!! I can not believe how fast the years have gone!

She recently told me that she selected her classes for HIGH SCHOOL next year....can you say SHOCK?!! She has been talking about high school since the start of eighth grade!

You know what'll happen next? BOYS!! If they haven't already & I don't wanna know! ;)

I just want her to be happy & enjoy her childhood--don't grow up too fast!!

HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY DESTINY!!

Tiny Dancer

I've been on a roll with "purple" lately. It's my favorite color & lately seems to be on my LO's (here & here). Just don't mind the "so-so" pics--trust me it's better IRL!

My little Gianna...she just loves to perform! She is such a girly-girl & loves all the frilly outfits they dress up in. She loves to dance & has rhythm too! (she gets that from me!!) This pic is from her 1st day back for her 2nd year of dance in pre-school.



I am thrilled to say everything (except the Slice for the journal spot & stamp) I used on this LO is super OLD stuff that's been sitting in my stash for a LONG LONG time!! Feels so good to use it & not throw it out! I've been feeling the urge to purge!

Dress Up

I've had this pic of Marissa lying around forever! Look how tiny she is!! I just had to scrap it!

Of course is took me forever to pick the papers I wanted to use. I have so many "themed" papers that I used to buy & now I try to use them but I don't feel inspired by them anymore. Instead of forcing myself to use something that I wouldn't like in the end I went in a different direction, still using older papers but not themed. I can sense a big purge coming soon!! :0

I seem to keep using this design for single pic LO's but it makes it easy for me & I am all about getting things done & in the album! The whole "using older stash"? BONUS!! The little crown on her head is an embellie that Marissa wanted placed there...yes she sometimes has an opinion on my LO's! ;)
When I went to put this into Marissa's album I found another copy that I had scrapped way back when I was first scrapping & need to tear apart the page! YEESH! It's awful!! It needs an Extreme Layout Makeover!! ;)

Organization: Ribbons

Remember my ribbons??

Then I decided to do this with them. I can not tell you how many hours I spent wrapping all the ribbons! I would tackle a pile during homework time, or while watching my favorite TV shows, any spare time I had! I used to have my ribbons separated in a few ways but wasn't happy with it at all!

Now all my ribbons are together by color! Found the drawers at Target (sorry can't find a link) & they are under my desk which isn't my favorite spot but it works.




I labeled the drawers simply, using my scallop circle punch. I have a couple of drawers that have more than one color, or theme but have them separeted in a way that makes sense to me.I can see using the ribbons so much better now since I can see what I have easier & get to them better. Makes me happy!!

Shake It!

I guess you can say that lately my LO's have been influenced by my screen saver on my computer. I come across older pics that inspire me so I pull them up & print them out right away to scrap. Another thing that I've been doing lately is more singe pic LO's. I never used to do that. I always thought it was a waste of space & did multi-pic LO's only, but over the years I have come to love both.

I absolutely LOVE this pic of Gianna! She is my outgoing child. She knows she wants to be in the spotlight & SHINE!

We were at MGM Studios in Disney getting ready for the High School Musical show/parade when a photographer asked if she wanted to play with the pom poms. She didn't hesitate one bit! She grabbed them & shook her stuff! I used some older Deja Views product on this since the pinks & reds went together with the pic. I based the LO on this one of Laura's. Seriously, anytime I want to scrap fast I just go through her blog & look for something that has the size pic I need & go for it. Her talent is endless!

Priceless Friends

This pic is from my 35 birthday last year of me (in purple) with my sisters & friends. I have it in a frame on my desk & decided to print another copy & scrap it. At the time I printed it I had seen this LO of Laura's & decided to put my tremendous amount of ribbons to use.

Just a little FYI, my mess of ribbons are all neat & tidy now. I'm done wrapping them & they are all in one spot. I'll be sharing that post soon!!

May the Luck of the Irish be with You!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Ribbon Butterflies

Saw the idea to use up left over ribbons on Nichol's blog awhile ago & thought it was genious!! I knew I had to try it in the attempt to use more ribbons on my LO's.

This is my attempt at making butterflies....Not bad but I had to hand cut some of it out. Think the ric rac was too thick for this.
I think if I kept to thin ribbons & not the ric rac it would have been better. I also think it would have cut better if I took the foam out of my dies first. Need to play around with this some more. Love the idea!

The Greatest Show on Earth

It should've been called the "Wettest Show on Earth". It was raining going into the circus, not a drizzle but it wasn't crazy. The forcast was calling for heavy winds & strong rain but we were there & the "show must go on"!! ;0

We've been going to the circus for the last 3 years & each show has been better than the last! Joe got us amazing seats...and except for the guy practically sitting in my lap we had a great time! (I had to fight the urge to say something...grrrr!) Any-whoo!! Like I said great seats & a great show!

Marissa got a charge out of this clown's outfit, but Gianna wouldn't give him the time of day!

This is my favorite part---the TIGERS!! They are so beautiful!!Another surprise Joe had for us was VIP seats which at one point they brought us out to center of the ring to watch. SO COOL!! It's such a different perspective too! This pic is from inside the ring.

This couple were AWESOME!! They were BUILT like you couldn't believe & so graceful!!Yes that's the man being held up by the lady...she really supports his career! LOL!! I had to say it!!

The elephants are another favorite of mine.....

I'm not going to post every pic but if you ever get a chance to see a Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey show GO!!

After the show, as we were leaving, we got a peek of outside....it was NUTS!! The winds were blowing the rain horizontal! And the rain was coming down HARD!! We buttoned up, grabbed the girls by the hand & went as fast as we could! You could barely catch your breath the wind was that strong but we made our way through & got to the car...soaked but we made it!!

We made it home but the storm continued through the night & by morning slowed down some then it picked up again later on. Yeah it was another cruddy day. We had no water damage but a tree in our neighbor's yard came down by the roots, luckily it didn't hit their house. The town called & cancelled school for Monday. The highway was closed & there was flooding in areas around us but it missed where we live. It's been a wild weekend!

Done Now...

Thinking it's about time I took down my Christmas cards....I'm finally over it!

I kept these up with the intentions of making them into an album (like these) before packing them up...just never got around to it. I'm now ready to take them down & let them sit in my "to-do" pile!

Just a little note...ONLY the Christmas CARDS are still up...the other decorations are long gone. Just sayin'....

Eclipse

Something to drool over...can not wait!!!

Thank You Cards

Since my sister's did so much for my birthday I was inspired to create these Thank You cards....and actually mail them out!! LOL!!

I had these sitting on my desk half done for days before I got the mojo flowing. I had the scraps laying around from this LO & finally put them to use.

Got my trusty Cuttlebug "swiss dots" embossing folder for the background, cut out the stip of pattern paper & then cut the tag using my Slice. I used a Hero Arts stamp for the "thank you" & heat embossed it with Zing! embossing powder.


This is more or less the same as above but I used MM alpha stickers.

When my sister Marie got her card, she was showing it to my nephew Tyler & he asked her if she was going to send ME a thank you card for HER thank you card....LOL!! I think now she owes me a card! ;)

What a Birthday!!

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes!! I think this was my best birthday yet!!

Friday afternoon the girls' school had a "Vocabulary Parade". Which was cute to watch, (read about it here).

Friday night, we went out to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, which was really nice...and the food is really good too! Afterwards we went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D on opening night. The girls (especially Gianna) LOVED it!! It was a good movie but I didn't think the 3D was worth the extra $$, but that's my opinion. I say save your $$ & watch it in 2D or whatever they call the non 3D movies! LOL!!

Then we went home & I got a yummy cannoli cupcake & presents. Joe spoiled me with a CrAzY amount of Slice design cards (OMG!) & gift cards for Michael's from the girls (they owe me pop dots!! LOL!!) I can't wait to play!!

Then on Saturday, my sister Marie, cooked us dinner at her house, with all my favorite foods! Let's just say it was a night of "potatoes"! LOL!! It started out as a joke between us naming all sorts of potato dishes she could make, but when we got to her house she really stuck to the theme!! LOL!

She made homemade potato skins, potato soup (thanks Deneen!!), candied sweet potatoes & her delicious "boredom chicken" (best described by Chicken Marsala, but it's not). I was so full, it wasn't even funny, but I was happy, it was that good!! YUMMM!!

My honey & me.....
Later when I could breathe again (sorta) we had CAKE & opened presents.

Remember the story about my sister, conning me to smear ice cream on my glasses for a $1 & she never paid up? Well there's gotta be a cold, cold place somewhere because it froze over!!Together with a friend of hers they came up with this method of "payment"! LOL!!!
Then her & her family got me this photo/jewelry frame that was on my wish list (thanks to my attentive sister Chet!) And in case you're wondering, it's pretty full already! ;)

I can not thank my family enough for everything they all did! This was a relaxing & fun birthday...now if I can only teach Gianna how to pronounce 36 correctly & not "46"..........

Vocabulary Parade

This week at the girls' school was "Dr Suess week", everyday was something different. Crazy hat day, mismatched sock day, wear your favorite color day, etc. On Friday they had the "Vocabulary Parade". They had to pick a word, & make a "sandwich board" describing it.

You know who did a lot of the work here right? ANYWHOO!!

The girls sorta got into it. We did the boards together (one kid at a time for my sanity's sake!) I got my craft on & used my Cricut for the letters & then embossed them with my Cuttlebug & yes the girls even helped with that! ;)

Marissa's word was "Monochromatic" & we went with the color yellow since she had both a yellow top & bottom she could wear on parade day. I cut yellow cardstock into 5x5 blocks & we glued yellow flowers, yellow buttons, yellow ribbons, yellow stickers, yellow glitter glue & embossed the last block with the cuttlebug & stuck yellow gems randomly to it. Yep my hobby came in handy!!

Here she is walking the parade, proudly displaying her board. Sadly I didn't take pics of either girls' board beforehand....what can I say?? I'm getting old! LOL!!It might be hard to see but on the back along the side "monochromatic" is spelled out then swiss dotted & pop dotted for dimension. LOTS of pop dots were used on these boards!!
Gianna chose "Rainbow", because well, she's in Kindergarten!! LOL!! Her poster was simpler, because she gets bored with things fast. I cut out half circles out of foam "paper" (?? not sure what it's called), then she glued them on top of one of another in order. Simple. The letters were pop dotted & Swiss dotted for pop.

She had her poster on backward...the definition should have been in back.... Here's the stinker when she thought I had stopped taking pics...because everytime she walked past me she'd hide her face...like I said STINKER! ;)

Now the whole time we were making these boards I kept thinking it was wrong to have to do all this work but not grade the kids (call me crazy). After the parade, there was an annoucement to send the kids that were voted "best poster" in their class to the library for their prize.

Wait, WHAT?? I didn't know that part!

After school Marissa comes up to me telling me she WON for her class! The kids in her class voted for her (you couldn't vote for yourself). She was so excited! So was I! She got a "green eggs & ham" notepad & bragging rights. Gianna didn't score for her class but is currently plotting for next years parade! LOL!!

Whooooose Birthday??

It's MINE!!!

But that's not why I'm posting this! (of course not!) ;)

Had these scraps laying around & decide to make a birthday card since I'm in "birthday" mode. ***wink wink***

I've got this Owl die cut recently & have been wanting to use it. Of course it's so cute I want to use it all the time!! I think I'm developing a "thing" for owls!



Looking at this as I post I realize I shouldn't have the " 's" on there & will change it before I send it out. DUH!! (slapping my forehead) Whadda want from me I'm getting OLD!! LOL!!

In the Backyard....

One day when everyone was out, I was washing some dishes in the kitchen, looking out the window I spotted something odd. I was sure my eyes were messed up so I went to the window to get a closer look.

Something was watching me!!!

See that spot in the middle of the trees? Taken from inside the kitchen window....

I couldn't believe it---there was an OWL in my backyard!!! I went outside to get a better look. He went from small & puffy to defensive looking. So weird!! By the time I went back inside & looked again he flew away. My brother-in-law Danny, looked him up & said he's a "Screech Owl".

I named him Hooter. Marissa named him "Hedwig". (she's been reading "Harry Potter") Joe calles him "Sandwich". (just to bust her chops! LOL!!)

Then about a week later, Joe & I were sitting at the kitchen table talking after dinner when I spotted my feathery friend again! He was in a different tree this time & it was twilight out so the pics aren't as good as the first time. Taken through the window....
Again I went outside for a better look.....the whole time I was worried he'd fly at me with that long beak of his!

I love how he changes from small & puffy to this. The color is so pretty too an orangy shade.

Since seeing this guy I can truly appreciate all the "owl" scrap products that have been around. I keep checking the trees to see if he comes back. Wonder if there's a nest nearby.

Or maybe....he's sending me messages from Harry!! LOL!!!

35 @ 35

I have been wanting to do this LO for awhile now. Had the 35 things about me written out. Just never got around to it--what else is new?

Since this is my birthday week (FRIDAY the 5th in case you want to celebrate with me ***wink wink***) I figured I'd make sure & get the LO done before I had to change it to 36 @36! LOL!!


Since there was a lot of journaling & I only wanted to make it a 1 page LO I went with some hidden journaling a `la Laura Vegas. And if you really must know 35 things about me I posted my 35 things below. Of course now that the LO is all done I'm thinking of so many other things I could've listed!

1. I drink coffee entirely way too much, but it makes me happy.
2. I'm a night owl.
3. I have an odd assortment of things I collect. (tote bags, coffee mugs, etc)
4. I spend a lot of time on my computer. (reading blogs, Facebook).
5. I have a serious sweet tooth, especially after dinner.
6. I love the color purple.
7. I have a crazy amount of pink clothes.
8. One alcoholic beverage makes me sleepy.
9. I need to include exercise in my daily routine.
10. I make list of things to do but often pass on the more time consuming ones.
11. I don't like housework.
12. I like to do laundry but not putting it away.
13. I have a hard time making decisions.
14. I'm always looking for the "perfect" purse.
15. I would love to live somewhere warm.
16. I need to be more of a postive person.
17. Scrapbooking relaxes me.
18. I keep Blistex in every room of the house & my car.
19. I prefer listening to music than watching TV.
20. I multi-task at every opportunity.
21. I am hardly ever without my camera.
22. I procrastinate too much.
23. Want to learn Photoshop, but need someone to explain it to me.
24. A dream of mine is to have a Wedding renewal at Disney.
25. I have a blog.
26. I love fresh strawberries, but not things strawberry flavored like ice cream.
27. I've only been to 5 concerts in my life.
28. I can exist on 5 hours of sleep, but prefer more.
29. I tend to overpack for vacation everytime.
30. Feel burnt out by Feb. or March of the school year.
31. My family means more than anything to me.
32. When I get angry I clean.
33. My favorite number is 5. (born 3/5, married 6/5)
34. I don't like talking on the phone a lot but sometimes feel forgotten when people don't call.
35. I am pretty shy/quiet when first meeting people but once I'm comfortable I can be pretty outgoing.