Project 365 Weeks 27-29

Wow, its been quite since I've blogged. We were on vacation for 5 days...some illness around here, just all around busy. Anyway I have 3 weeks of pics to share. In a few days I'm going to share an album I've been working on and this past weeks 365...I'm having some computer issues here.

Week 27: (these pics aren't labeled)

Sunday: My in-laws were in town from San Diego and we went to our favorite restaurant, Macaroni Grill. Both of my in-laws are really good at drawing so here you can see my FIL sketching away with crayons.

Monday: Took the kids out for some school supplies. We hit Walgreens and Target. You can see Kendall picking out her folders and then both kids in the fun cart at Target. We rarely take them shopping with us...in this case it was me taking them.

Tuesday: Aydan at the park

Wednesday: Aydan's favorite breakfast treat. Donuts.

Thursday: My albums all lined in a row.

Friday: Daddy took the kids to the zoo.

Saturday: Ozan and me at the restaurant where we first met. This was taken with my cell and it didn't come out so well.

Week 28:

Sunday: Went to see Ice Age in 3D...doesn't Aydan look hilarious in those huge glasses???

Monday: This cool park by my in-laws house. Instead of mulch, it has this spongy surface...so cool.

Tuesday: My husband is an incredible cook. Here he made fajitas...I think I have a pic of these on the grill from a few weeks ago. Different day, same dish.

Wednesday: Kendall's t-ball celebration picnic.

Thursday: Long story. The kids saw an ad on Noggin to make a homemade Backyardigans hopscotch. Every Single Day they would bug me to make it, so I finally gave in. You print out iron ons and iron each section to a sheet.

Friday: My Mother in Law with Aydan at dinner.

Saturday: Found these pics of my husband on his cell phone...I don't know if he didn't realize he was taking pics or maybe he was taking a profile pic for FB.

Week 29:

Sunday: Van and the kids packed up to leave for our yearly vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. Its a tourist town with tons of water and amusement parks...pretty much the most popular local getaway for people around here.
Monday: A big water slide that the 4 of us went on.
Tuesday: The kids at the water park.
Wednesday: This is a very huge slide, it must be about 3-4 stories tall. Its tubed until the last part and you go down head first on a mat. My husband and the kids went down. I stayed at the bottom for pics.
Thursday: Aydan was very good this year...he wasn't afraid of any slide.
Friday: Kendalls mouth again...this girl has so many loose teeth, gaps, teeth growing. Its all crazy in there. You should see her eat an ear of corn! LOL. She kinda gnaws it with the side of her mouth, so cute!
Saturday: At the park again!

This month is going to be so busy...Aydan turns 4, kendall starts 1st grade at a new school, soccer begins, my students come back, new student orientation. Whew...I'm tired just thinking about it all!

Projects, 365, & An Announcement to Make

I've been working on replacing all my old post bound albums to 3 ringed ones. I finally finished today...they look so much nicer on my bookshelf in my family room. I also stamped these tags to identify them. I was going to put a date but some of them are out of order. For now, I'm just keeping them order by age. I scrap in 3 major categories, "Kendall", "Aydan", and "Family". I also have my wedding album ("W"). I did run out of tags so for now, I still have about 4 more to finish up. And the binder clips are mixed up...I want them all silver but I ran out of those too. Will need to hit Michaels tomorrow...

They are up high for now until the kids get older.
This is an 8.5x11 MM chipboard album that I altered this week. I needed a place to put my kids team pics from their sports and activities. I should have taken a pic of the inside. Basically you open it from bottom and the top of the binder has my kids indiviual pic and the bottom will be the team pic. I don't think I'll add anything else to the inside like scrapbooking supplies. But the pics are mounted on black paper. I got this idea on altering a chipboard album from Nichol Magourik. You can see her album HERE. I also did this earlier last year...you can see that HERE.
Supplies Used:

Red Paint: Making Memories

Glitter Paint: Lil Davis

Crackle Paint: Ranger

Chipboard Letters and Stars: Joanns

OK, I'm so psyched that I'm halfway through the 365. I'm pretty caught up but I need to print the last 2 weeks.
Week 25

Sunday: Father's Day

Monday: Aydan at the park...no I did not plan on matching his outfit to the playground. LOL

Tuesday: I was shopping for a new and larger purse. What did I get? The same size but a fun one. Actually this is my favorite brand of purse. Kathy VanZeeland. She's so fun!

Wednesday: Kendall's last day of t-ball.

Thursday: Kendall's bulletin in room. I use this to hang my favorite artwork.

Friday: This is my make-up stool in my bathroom. My previous one, which I loved, broke, so I had to get a new one. Its comfy!

Saturday: Me and a bunch of my co-workers at a co-workers wedding. We were taking pics like crazy and Ozan was totally teasing us!

Week 26

Sunday: Some fun stuff I got at the store. I scored my favorite thickers at HL, which were 1/2 off. Got this funky frame, some mini AC Albums, some Jenni Bowlin, and some mini collanders to put in my scraproom.

Monday: Instead of popsicles, we feed our kids fruit bars. Its usually their nighttime treat in the summer.

Tuesday: Love my Green Tea Frappucino...my third favorite drink at Starbucks.

Wednesday: Kendall playing frisbee between our house with our neighbor.

Thursday: Finally switched Kendall to a booster chair. Yes, I was still using a 5 point carseat until now. She's 43 lbs...doesn't quite go over the 40 weight minimum for a booster chair.

Friday: Went to a fest in a nearby town.

Saturday: Fourth of July. Yes, it rained all day long...using this pic I took at Disneyland last year (we were there during the 4th of July last year).

And these are a couple of loose ones I'm using to fil up 2 days in June that I missed. I think my kids will enjoy these "modern" things years from now that will be so outta date to them. LOL.

This is typical me, on the laptop, usually in facebook in my comfy clothes after work.
And my new cell. I love it. I've had an old one for so long and I finally got a nice one. The keyboard slides out and its a touch screen as well. So much fun!

Oh, I almost forgot my big announcement. Ready?? I'm retiring from the 365 on December 27th. LOL. I love it but next year I'll do a page per month instead.

Thanks for looking!

Weeks 23 and 24

OK, I've been bad but I'm finally getting my 365 pics back in order for the past 3 week. I've been taking pics but didn't organize nor edit them. I'm not sure if I have the days on these pics correctly but I do have them in my album already. There are some empty days here, that's because I'm missing it or I didn't want to post the pic. I'm behind for this past week but I'll share those later. I even had to go out and buy more journaling pens...I've used them up.

(click on the pics to see them larger)

Week 23

Sunday: We live very close to this small airport, like 2 blocks from us, and every year they have a plane show. There is a museum there and we always go and see the planes on display. They even have parachuters coming out of the planes. I've never seen that in person...its amazing how fast they fall.

Monday: Another day in the sprinkler but the kids had on their goggles...its so cute!

Wednesday: A small photo-shoot I did of the family for my scrapbook page.

Friday: Daddy got the kids these Razor scooters. If you look close you'll see Aydan's wearing Kendall's pink knee pads. LOL.

Saturday: One of my first 365 pics in late December was Kendall's missing teeth. They are just starting to grow in now. And now there is a 3rd loose one.

Week 24

Sunday: The kids were hanging out in our neighbors yard in their sprinkler.

Tuesday (marked "friday" oops): My kids Aunt, whom they are crazy about, came to visit.

Wednesday: Our garden is under way.

Thursday: My seniors graduation pics.

Friday: We had a terrible storm with strong winds that took down a ton of trees in our area. this is our only tree and we lost it to the storm. We planted it 8 years ago and now its gone :(

Saturday: Our trip to Millenium Park. Already posted the LO on this one.

OK, thanks for looking!

A few LO's

So I don't have any 365 photos yet...I have them but haven't organized them or edited them yet. I've been busy and tired, just haven't had the mojo for it. But I did have some serious cravings to get some scrapping done. LOL.

This is my sister Chrissy, who is 3 years younger than me. She is a graphic artist and gets to spend her days designing for an agency that mostly deals with food packaging. She puts out the cutest pics on her facebook page and when I saw this pic I asked her to please email it to me. We have been close our whole lives and we get along SO well. We rarely fought ever. We are so much alike in many aspects but then have some opposite traits as well. One time we even showed up to an event wearing the same sweater. LOL.

Anyway, just a tribute to my awesome sister. I tried to make this page fun and glamorous, just like she is.

This page is 6x12...wanted to do something different. And lately I've just been pulling out papers and using them instead of searching for them. I keep a folder for just my new papers and one for my specialty papers, such as the KI clear paper here. And I added some Quickutz metal paper (comes in a 4"x12" size) and used a 12" scalloped diecut and then ran it through my Cuttlebug. Also added some Stickles over the transparent flowers before adhering the Creative Cafe felt butterflies on. I love those butterflies.

And this is a 2 page LO...a lift of Laura's, you can see it here. I loved the way she layered the pics on. After spending and hour picking them out, I realized that I got mixed up. I was supposed to make 3, 2x3's and 2, 3x2's...but I got it mixed up so I used the extra pic and the top. KWIM? We were here at Millenium Park in downtown Chicago on Saturday. The last time we were here was 3 years ago...and that's what my first blog post was about here (warning, its BORING). For the last 3 years I kept saying that we were going to go back but never did. So I finally just picked a date and we went. We only live about 30 miles away but we act like its in another state or something...I guess toting two small kids in the van downtown can be intimidating. The park is new, like 8 years or so, and its a place to see free concerts (but parking is $25, so not totally free, LOL) and to enjoy and city and its architecture. Everyone comes there with a picnic, some chairs and its peaceful. Some even have wine and cheese...its a very nice crowd. You can enjoy a free classical concert under the stars while enjoying a nice dinner. I can't tell you how much that relaxed me. And its right on Lake Michigan so it doesn't get too hot. I really needed that night. We want to go again real soon...

Used the Quickutz metal sheets again and this paper is from the Making Memories "I Do" line. Funny, I used wedding paper for this but the silver, white, and black colors of the paper really coordinate with the theme of the park. And I just picked up some more of the AC Puffy Chit Chat Thickers...OMG, these are my fav!!

If anyone has questions about the products, let me know. I'll add them at a later time. Hope you all enjoyed your Father's Day.

I'll post again in a few days with my 365 ...

A Quick LO to share

Last night I saw Laura's blog here and realized that I haven't done a family LO yet and I felt bad yet inspired to do one right away. Getting pics of the entire family is nearly impossible so I used her idea of lining up individual photos. I love how it came out. I used my profile pic and shot some of everyone else this morning in our backyard. I had out hairbrushes, a squirt bottle for Aydan's hair...which is always a mess. I quickly uploaded them to picasa and printed them into 2x3 photos, using 2, 4x6 photo paper. It was about 75 degrees today but the sun was hot...the kids spent most of the afternoon in the sprinkler and now they are nice and tired for an early bedtime :)

So anyway, my husband couldn't stop telling me how much my pic looks so much different then them. He tells me to "just brush your hair and I'll take a pic". Um, no. I don't have makeup on today and it would take about 60 pics to get a decent one...plus he doesn't zoom in nor knows the way to get a good portrait. I mean he literally wouldn't stop talking about how much my pic looked different than theirs...and that I need to change it! I'm not changing it! I don't care! LOL!

Laura's LO was based on this sketch challenge...so cute! I gotta check out the future challenges.

I used a Stampin Up brass stencil on some kraft cardstock...which took about an hour but I'm really happy how it came out. When I first started scrapbooking, dry embossing and punches were my favorite things...plus those items are so versitile and last forever.

The stencil has small dotted circles around the big circles...you can emboss those too but they don't come out very well so I just used a poker through those.

The patterned paper below the pics is Carolyn Gavin for K and Co. and its so cute. I picked up the 4x6 mat pack at Michaels today and also the border trims, which are so adorable. I also got the prima crystals in the clearance section.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies Used:

Die Cut Patterned Paper: Making Memories (Giggle Kids)

Patterned Paper and Borders: K and Co

Cardstock: Hobby Lobby

Puffy Letters: American Crafts

Vintage Tag: Making Memories

Brass Stencil and Marker: Stampin Up

Crystals: Prima

Week 22: Project 365

Nothing too exciting this week...just the usual. T-Ball is ending in 2 weeks, can't believe its ending soon. I gotta add that yesterday one of our neighbor's houses (about 12 houses down) was in a fire and it looks like it was destroyed. There were no injuries, thank God. Its really sad to see that. Our homeowner's association emailed us today to tell us that everyone was OK and that they are taking donations.

Anyway, on with the 365...

Sunday: Ozan grilling fajitas and corn. He makes lots of grilled veggies, which is my favorite part.

Monday: Using a picture of my students i took 2 weeks ago...makes a great filler pic!

Tuesday: I added some flowers (oh heck, forgot the name) in front of my azalia bush. I actually purchased too many for the front of our house, so I just put them here.

Wednesday: Aydan enjoying his watermelon.

Thursday: T-Ball

Friday: Aydan tired on the couch...ready for bed. Why does he always have a messy face in his pics. I seriously need to wipe his face more!

Saturday: I made some homemade pretzels-Aydan helped but kept playing with the flour. The pretzels were a faux Auntie Anne's recipe and they tasted just like them. Yum!

Worked on this last night and today. I wanted to capture Kendall's itty bitty freckles. Just imagine this without the upper right corner rub on...I'm in the process of removing it now. Its driving me crazy. This LO is actually inspired by the cover of Creating Keepsake Magazine...its such a pretty cover, I couldn't resist. I did a magazine cover lift here from Simply Scrapbooks.

Oh, see the "s"? That's an 8. I have gone through almost 2 packages of those adorable puffy thickers and I was so bummed when I didn't have an "s". Its not the cutest but I wasn't going to give up using those thickers. And my plan was to say "just a sprinkle of freckles" not "speckle". I even had all the correct rub on letters cut out but I still managed to mess up. Its fine. I added some stitching using string through the corduory flowers and I finally used some of my flair that I've been hoarding.

Everything here is American Crafts except:

Leaf Punch: Martha Stewart, Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug, Glitter Frill: Doodlebug

And lastly a birthday card I made for my friend Laura Vegas, who's b-day is Friday. Happy Birthday girl!

Supplies Used on the Card:

Cardstock: Stampin Up

Patterned Paper: Scenic Route & Doodlebug

Stamps & Gems: Hero Arts

Chipboard Letters: American Crafts

Mini Letter Stickers: Making Memories

Ink: Colorbox

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Week 21: Project 365 and a lot of LO and cards

I'm a little behind in blogging but I haven't had much time because I've actually been doing a ton of scrapbooking lately and also working on the 365 album.

A lot of these projects are lifts...just because I see the page and I think how perfect it would be to use for my pics. Well this one was one from the June CK Mag by Heidi Sonboul. She had glittery chipboard fruit and I had this huge jar of these chipboard glittery bugs...I never thought I'd use that many. Thought it was a perfect way to use some of those bugs up. Its like a bug sneeze. Kendall loves to play with bugs...ugh! In this picture she's holding a grasshopper by its wings. She still loves them!

This LO uses a lot of the products from the Giggle Kids line from Making Memories. I used the Slice to make the labels to hold the title. I love the colors. I didn't take close ups but they have these epoxy stickers with birds and butterflies. I did this LO because Kendall has these eyes that change colors and sometimes they look green, or hazel, and sometimes gray.


I made these 4 cards for my students who are graduating in 4 weeks. They measure 4"x4". I love different sizes of cards. I used some embossing on the blue portion and the sentiment is a rub on put on a punch from Stampin Up. I love these star stamps from Fontwerks...use them all the time.


And I got an early start to some Father's Day Cards. Lifted this one from Lisa Carroll. It was pretty easy to make and now I am caught up with my cards...for now! I'm not going to list my supplies here but if you have a question about them, just ask!

Now for week 21! Almost halfway there!

Sunday: Kendall and Aydan hanging in the yard...yep, they are wearing jackets but the day before it was 88 degrees. Go figure.

Monday: Went to a Memorial Day parade in my husband's hometown. Its a good old fashioned one. No politics...just bands and boy scout troops. We love it!

Tuesday: The first time I've ever had to pack a lunch for Kendall's school. They went on a field trip Wednesday. You may have to click it to see it closer but I stamped her name on it. When I first started SBing my neighbor had this custom name stamp made for me.

Wednesday: Didn't post a pic because I just have the printed one from kendall's school. They went on a field trip to a tree museum not too far from here.

Thursday: This boy is super dirty. His face, his clothes. He does not mind having a dirty face at all.

Friday: Kendall's Kindergarten graduation picnic...right now that LO is sitting on my desk, half worked on.

Saturday: Daddy playing the Memory Game with the kiddies.

Week 20: Project 365 and some cards

Well, we had a good week...lots of things to do and lots of pics to take. Definately easier when its warm outside! Did a collage again..

Sunday: Had dinner on the patio outside.

Monday: Aydan playing with his chalk

Tuesday: Went out to dinner. I was cracking up at the way Kendall was eating her pasta. Her Daddy was correcting her but I told him to let her continue. Made for a perfect pic.

Wednesday: Aydan enjoying an ice cream.

Thursday: T-Ball

Friday: Fun in our sprinkler. Got this from Pottery Barn a few years back. Today I saw it on sale for less than $30 with free shipping. My kids love this thing.

Saturday: Had the family over for a BBQ and celebrated my sister's b-day.

There's an extra picture here that I'm going to use for a day last week. We have a nest of bunnies in our back yard. OMG, they are so cute. I've never seen a nest of bunnies before. The kids are facinated with it and totally understand not to touch it. They are each about 3" long. My husband was jokingly asking the neighbor if we could borrow their daschung...they are great hunters. No way, we're keeping these! Click on the picture to see it bigger.

And I made 6 of these cards for my kids teachers. Totally lifted Jennifer McGuire's card. I embossed some office tags and rubbed an ink pad that had a trio of colors on it (pink, orange, and yellow). Added some flowers, buttons, and jute. I got a huge tub of Prima flowers for free last month at Archivers! I will be spending the rest of my life using those up!

And a wedding card I made for a friend who is getting married in late June. Used the Making Memories "I Do" collection and the Slice for the hearts. I used silver embossing powder with a love script stamp on the heart.

Supplies Used:

Teacher's Thank You:

Cardstock and Word Window Punch: Stampin Up

Stamps: Hero Arts (flourish) and Stampin Up (sentiment)

Corner Rounder Punch: Fiskar's

Ink: Tsukineko

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Flowers: Prima

Buttons: Autumn Leaves

Jute and Office Tags

Wedding Card:

Patterned Paper, Die Cut Paper, Die Cut Machine, Jump Ring: Making Memories

Cardstock: Bazzill

Stamps: PSX (script) and Stampin Up (mini heart)

UTEE Embossing Powder: Ranger

Ink: Versamark and Tsukineko (silver)

Ribbon (leftover from my wedding favors) and Tag

Ticket Corner Punch: Stampin Up

Week 19: Project 365 and a card share

Wow, 7 more weeks and I'm halfway through my year project! This week was a very tough week. On Tuesday I found out through the press that the hospital that employees me was going to be laying off almost 450 people. There are about 5000 employees at my workplace. Well it started Wednesday morning and couple of my friends were let go. So sad...and depressing. I really feel for everyone who is effected by this economy.
And Kendall was sick too. She's fine now but she had those symptoms of that terrible flu that's going around(which is terrifying!). Her Dr said that there is a bug going around...she had a low grade fever for a bit so all is well.
Anyway, here are my weeks pics and this time i did a collage in Picasa again. I love, love this program...super easy! You can click on the picture to see it larger. Kinda small here...

Sunday: Mother's Day. Tried taking some pics with the kids. Tried being the key word here. Amazing how a little cropping and some b/w can change it up!

Monday: Aydan is crazy about bubbles!

Tuesday: Ozan and I have been redoing the mulch areas and working on the lawn. The kids had just had their bath before bed but wanted to watch Daddy work outside.

Wednesday: I found Kendall pushing Aydan on the swing. So cute!

Thursday: Don't have a picture yet.

Friday: The kids got into our garden (no plants yet) and were digging for worms. They love doing that!

Saturday: Went out this evening to this really cute river walk by our house...it has covered bridges, gazebos, etc.

Here are some extra pics from tonight:

And I made this card for a very special lady who is retiring next month. She is the program director at the college where my students go to. I've known her for 12 years and she has guided me so much in my career. I can't thank her enough!

I have 2 pics to show...I made this early this week and my card sat here on my table because I was stuck on what to add to it. The second one shows the finished product. I used the same sketch as my published card.

I used a dotted background stamp on the light blue scalloped circle. The background butterflies were stenciled using Heidi Swapp Masks and Glimmer Mist.

Here I added the punched out butterflies, some gems, and a pin.
Products Used:

Cardstock, Background Stamp, Slot Punch, and Ribbon: Stampin Up

Die Cut (scalloped circle): Spellbinders

Stick Pin: Making Memories

Butterfly Punches: Martha Stewart

Gems: Michaels

Rub Ons: American Crafts

Week 18: 365 Project

First of all, Happy Mothers Day to you!!
Well nothing too exciting to share here but I thought I'd try to post my pics a bit different. I have been using Picasa a ton lately and one of the things I love is their collage maker. I've used it before but didn't realize it had a "polaroid" feature on it as well. And I discovered that I can save my image in photobucket as a large picture to use for blogger as well. Cool beans! It appears a bit smaller than I thought but you can click on it to see it larger.

Quick Summary Here:
Sunday: Daddy reading to the kids before bed.
Monday: Came home to a stack of packages and mags...all for me. YaY!
Tuesday: Kendall made this for Mother's Day...a pretty potted flower and a cute decorated bag!
Wednesday: Mmmm...White Castle for dinner.
Thursday: Kendall wrote this cute note for us. It says, "Dear famle, I want to go to the pol owtside. Love Kendall". Too cute! She is pretty much asking us all the time to go swimming.
Friday: My favorite pizza in the whole wide world. Deep dish from Lou Malnati's. Deep dish butter crust...they use sliced mozzarella cheese and chunky tomatoes. Yum!
Saturday: This is totally Aydan...putting stickers on his body!

So do you like this format?