May 365 2013

One of the shortest months for me is May! Seems like it just started then I blinked and now it's over. 

The month has been a busy one! Looking forward to some lazy summer days!! 

Life Around Here

Life around here has been a little nuts. Joe has had trouble breathing and after continual dr appts. telling him he had an upper respiratory infections he saw a different dr. That dr almost immediately sent him for a CT scan. The results came back that he had polyps blocking the entire right side of his nose and most of his left side. 

Crazy!!! 

He went to an ENT and after more visits he finally had his surgery yesterday. The dr found a huge mass but took care of it. 

Happy that it was an outpatient procedure and he came home the same day. He's feeling better now and can already feel the difference. The girls and I can already hear the difference in his breathing and sleeping. It's going to be even better once he gets the final ok from the dr. 

This has been such long journey for him and I'm so happy he's starting to take care of himself. I need him to stick around for a long, long time!! 

Three Layouts Three Ways

I had some pictures laying around that I had printed for my Project Life album only to realize I had printed too many.  I didn't want to toss them so I finally decided to scrap them.  The design came to mind when I came across this patterned paper from Amy Tangerine...I could see the layout clearly.  Of course I realized that I had to make one for both Marissa and Gianna's albums so I printed off a few more pictures and got to work.  Somehow I still ended up with some duplicates that made me realize I could do an extra layout for our "family/everything else" album.

This is the first one I did for the family album.  I like to think the wood paper represents the boardwalk and the kraft paper is the sand. 

I got to dig through my stash and found some cute nautical seahorse buttons.  I guess hoarding supplies pays off!!  Also used some sequins I had bought a huge pack of at Michael's in the kids craft section.

Marissa's layout was next.  Kept everything very similar.  Adding a couple extra pictures, and mixing up the embellies and the alphas.

Last but not least was Gianna's layout.  Again I used pictures focused on her and the design stayed the same.  Made use of that jar of sequins on all the layouts! 

Forgot about these fabulous alphas from Jillibean Soup and love how they look! 

These layouts were created one after another and in record time.  Just love that!  The best part is using the odd bits of things that have been sitting in my stash! 

Birthday Weekend Re-Cap

Marissa's birthday weekend was fun-filled for a twelve year old.  Friday night I blew up balloons to fill her room with so she would wake up to a surprise.  It took awhile and a close call when she woke up as I was bringing them in (stinker!), but I managed to keep it from her. 

She said she knew to expect something but not a clue to what it would be....and she popped two getting out of bed!!

She got to open her presents in the morning and seemed happy with her goodies.  She requested all sorts of things ranging from giftcards to an alarm clock docking station for her iphone to Monster High dolls.  I knew not to get her clothes but I bent the rule a little and found some cute sandals for her...'cept they were the wrong size. (SO hard to shop for her size wise!).

(Photo edited with "A Beautiful Mess" app)

In the afternoon, we picked up a few of her friends and took them to Monster Mini Golf for some fun.  She didn't want a "party", but just wanted to "hang out" with her friends.  They had fun and after played the games in the game room. 

Gianna even got to bring a friend "her age" to keep her company, which she was thrilled about.

Afterwards we took them all out to eat.  Marissa chose "Chili's, and the girls all enjoyed themselves.  Little did Marissa know I asked the waitress to sing to her when her dessert came out!!  This was her face when she realized what was going on!  She was alternately smiling and giving us looks.  Too funny!

Of course we had to get some pictures with our favorite twelve year old once we got back home!  I think she had a great time!

Sunday, we invited family over for dinner.  While the weather didn't cooperate with our grilling menu, everyone had a full belly and a slice of cake. 

The look on her face says it all.  I am so proud of her and love her to infinity!!

She is Twelve

This girl has been experiencing independence and enjoying it...though she still looks for me. 

This girl has struggled adjusting to the amount of homework in middle school but has maintained great grades! 

This girl doesn't like to "follow" the "in" thing but marches to her own beat. 

This girl loves to read books and has even started reading teeny bopper type of magazines.

This girl wants a dog so badly. 

This girl loves to swim but isn't an outdoor type of girl. 

This girl is so smart and has advance math again for school next year. 

This girl loves watching NCIS as much as Joe and I do.

This girl is starting to spend time alone in her room like a teenager. 

This girl loves listening to music, unless I'm doing the singing. 

This girl has a model figure but isn't completely interested in shopping for clothes.

 This girl loves to talk my ear off.  She knows she can tell me anything and trusts me with her secrets.  And she has my heart.

This girl is TWELVE today.

Happy 12th Birthday Marissa!  

You make us so very proud!!  Love you always!!

Project Life 2013 Week EIGHTEEN

Week 18 was a pretty un-eventful week. 

When most pics aren't of "us" and just "things" I get a little bummed.  Yes these things are part of our lives BUT I want to have more of US in the album.  I keep trying to explain this to the girls as they run away when they see me taking their pics. 

I tried having the pics in the larger pockets and have the journaling in the small pockets somewhat.  Tried mixing it up that way.

I had a few pics I wanted to include for Friday so I just added them to the small pockets and kept the background color the same to have continutity.

I feel like I just dialed this week in.  My mojo was nowhere to be found, but as I always say "It's done and in the book!" 

Music To My Ears

This week Marissa preformed with her choir not once but twice.  On Wednesday night, the choir put on a show along with the band at the school.  They did a great job! 

On Friday, the entire Choir group as well as the Band got up at the butt crack of dawn to go to a competition in Pennsylvania.  There they received "Superior" and the band got "Excellent".  After the competition they all went to Dorney Park and had a great time!

It killed me not being on the trip with her.  Fortunately I knew the chaperone and felt a tiny bit better. I also spent the day tracking her with the "Find Friends" app.  Marissa didn't want me there originally, when I offered to drive there on my own.  She had strict rules to call and text me often and she made me feel better with all the calls.  When she came home, not only was she tired but she admitted that if she goes next year, she wants me to go too.  Oh my heart!! I love that she wants me there!  I am so proud of her and glad that she had a good time on her trip. 

You Make Life Grand

I had planned on blogging this layout the other day, but never got around to it. Then I realized I could save it for "National Scrapbooking Day" today!! Yes, I realize that I didn't actually scrap this ON NSD, but whatever works, right??

I LOVE this pic of the girls at The Grand Floridian. I decided it needed to be scrapped and printed it. Since I tend to pull colors from the pic to scrap with I decided on red, blue and green. Not the perfect flow for me but I gave it a shot. I struggled a lot with the red. I have a hard time finding the perfect red, green too for that matter.

I had an idea, cut my papers, stitched then together and drew a blank.

I lost my mojo. Gone.

So now I had a background that was stitched and looked good but didn't work with my pic. Frustrating.

I still had some of the papers left so I played around until I made this.

Of course, the title gave me problems too, since that's the way this layout is going. I wanted to cut the title with my Silhouette but I couldn't make it work to match the image in head.

I think the layout gave me problems because I had high expectations. I wanted the layout to make the pic stand out. Oh well.

This is my favorite part of the layout....

Hope to get some scrapping time in today...kind hard since I'm the only one around here that celebrates it! ;)

Project Life 2013 Week SEVENTEEN

It's May!  I think May really means Spring to me.  The weather isn't as crazy as April, it's generally nicer and you can really enjoy it.  Bonus: It's Marissa's birthday month!

I blew through week 17!  I had a lot of pics I wanted to add but decided against inserts and just did flip pockets.  Looking at the spread, I feel like it's all over the place. It's not my favorite, but I'm ok with it.  My mojo wasn't going full blast, but not every week is going to be amazing, right?

I thought I was going to love my title pocket, but maybe I overdid it with the grass.  I definitely love playing with the Amy Tangerine stitch kits!  So fun!  You get the creative boost that works perfectly with scrapping.  The bottom two pockets are flip pages but I didn't do much with them so I didn't bother taking pics of the insides.

The top and middle parts of this page focused on Friday's afternoon outside.  The girls played while I enjoyed the flowering tree in our front yard.

On this page the top right pocket is another flip page.

Like I said, I flew through this week but I'm good with it.  Looking forward to more outdoor fun with the warmer weather!  And can't forget planning Marissa's 12th birthday!!  Can't believe my baby is getting so big!  She amazes me on a daily basis.  Just love her!

April 365 2013

This month seems never ending.  Not in a bad way, but I am looking forward to warmer weather.  April had some beautiful days but not enough for me. 

The next couple months will be busy ones for us, ,but we're looking forward to them.  Bring on the warm weather!!

I had planned on sharing last week's Project Life pages but lost my internet for the afternoon....go figure....

Project Life 2013 Week Sixteen

Another quick week done and in the book! Cant believe how fast the weeks have been going! I was heavily inspired by Amanda Rose on Instagram on my Boston pocket. I got a pic off the Internet to use...

This week was made quick..even with the inserts! I decided to not do any detailed pockets in the insert and BOOM! It was done! For the insert I had a leftover piece that I had trimmed off a pocket page and just used some washi tape to seal it up. Not letting my supplies go to waste!

Now I'm ready to finish up last week!

Project Life 2013 Week FIFTEEN

Hard to believe I've done 15 weeks of this project and stayed caught up with it (mostly).  This week was squeezed into one page.  It also came together super fast.  Had it done in record time! 

Can't decided if I like single page spreads better or two pages better.  I guess I just like mixing it up so the project doesn't get stale.  I definitely like the creative boost it gives me!

We had some Spring like days, but they didn't seem to last very long.  Starting to believe we're not going to have much of a Spring and it'll go right into Summer....  Over the craziness of the weather around here lately!  I think Mother Nature is pissed off!!

Project Life 2013 Week FOURTEEN

Week 14 brings us to our Spring Break week.  We didn't do anything this year, but I tried entertaining the girls the best I could. 

Movies, sleepovers, mani/pedis, shopping, pretty much sums up how we spent the week.  I don't think the girls are complaining! 

Funny how some weeks I can squeeze it all on one side and others I need the double spread BUT don't have a ton for the second page so I use a lot of filler cards. 

Once again, the colors look so much better IRL....I'll have to try to take my pics outside....it's a thought.

Project Life 2013 Week THIRTEEN

Taking the time to stop creating and take pics makes me put it off when I'm on a creative roll.  That's my only excuse for not sharing these sooner.  Or you can call me a slacker.  Whatever works!

Once again I've got some less than stellar iPhone pics....One day I will find the perfect pic taking spot.  One day.

Week 13 was all about Easter.  I've got two inserts that go with this but I went super easy lazy and it's mostly just pics with hardly any details. 

I have to say I had fun printing some 4x6 pics....Maybe I'll ease into that once in awhile with just some journaling cards....I like changing things up with this.

The "Insta Gram" pocket drove me nuts.  I had it made one way that drove me nuts and looked terrible besides, so I tore it apart and re-did it.  Somehow I forgot it had to fit in a small double spot so when I had to cut apart the circle I was kicking myself!

Switched up the pocket sizes on this since I had a lot of Egg dyeing pics to include...actually the inserts I didn't take pics of are from Easter...oh well I guess I didn't share the "entire" week.  Just call me a rebel.

Love is Grand

While organizing some pictures on my computer the other day, I came across these two from our last trip to Disney World.  Yes, it's been a year since our last trip there.  Yes, I'm having withdrawals.

I decided to print them out.  I had scrapped a similar picture already but that doesn't bother me.  I've been trying to use up the Studio Calico kits I have, so I pulled them out first trying to find papers that would work with these pics.  I found some papers I liked in the "Style Guide" kit and got to work.  I had the title in my head as a nod to our hotel, the "Grand Floridian".  I designed the title with my Cameo, and before I knew it had a plan.  A simple plan, but it works for me.

I'm not a fan of my handwriting and I usually do computer printed journaling, but lately I've just written it out.  I always procrastinate with computer journaling, knowing if I'm at the computer, I'll start doing other things instead of the actual journaling.  Crazy, I know!