River Fun and Scrapbook Challenge

We spent the fourth of July weekend at the river enjoying the water. The weather was perfect, 118 degrees. The kids had a ton of fun and we even got to enjoy a cruise down the river. We spent Friday cruising through the Topock Gorge. It is such a beautiful area. We made our way to Havasu Lake and the London Bridge.



We enjoyed relaxing while Stevie drove. The kids tubed and played in the water. So much fun was had by all. My family has been going to the river for many, many years. As well,so has Stevie's family, yet we never spent the time together. This weekend was a rarity.



Back home after a week at the river gave me time to recoup, which means time to scrap. I knew I wanted to scrapbook my river pictures but I wasn't sure what i wanted to do quite yet. Then Jim solved my dilemma. While at the river, my niece Samantha turned 14 years old. She had a birthday brunch upon her return home from the river. With short notice of the party, I got a crazy idea to a make her a scrapbook of our river trip. I needed a bit of inspiration so I perused several of my favorite blogs and found a challenge on My Pink Stamper. This helped me coordinate my color scheme.



Hahaha! I had less than 48 hours and besides working on the scrapbook, I had a test to study for. I know, call me crazy. As I quickly planned I realized I didn't have an album so I opted for a paper bag album. Yeah, still not a great idea because I didn't have brown paper bags. Thank goodness for 24 hour supermarkets. I headed to the market and asked for paper bags. They were a bit bigger than lunch bag size, but perfect for what I wanted to do.



Unfortunately, I didn't get it done on time because I ran out of adhesive. I did get the album done and Jim delivered it to his brother. My niece called me later that evening and was so excited about her scrapbook. She loved it. And, I loved that she loved it.



I used a total of 9 paper bags. This gave me over 54 places for pictures and journalling. Each page has multiple pockets and interactive pages. A lot of work, but so fun. I tried to keep the embellishments simple since I was using bold colors.



Recipe:

Cardstock from Stampin' Up! - pink passion, tempting torquiose, pumpkin pie, old olive, basic black, white, creamy caramel, and chocolate chip.

Pattern paper from Stamapin' Up! - summer days scrapbook kit

Bind It All

Cricut cartridges - Everyday Paper Dolls, H2O, Summer Vacation, and Plantin

Cricut Design studio to weld letters.

Inks, brad, glitter, crystal lacquer, and chalk from Stampin' Up!

Sticker letters and die cuts from my scrap drawer.

Rub on words from Making Memories

Punches - flower (su!), sun and paint splat from Nankok Industries











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Something Fun

It's been miserable couple of days with being sick. Every time I thought I was feeling better I would start to work around the house only to end up back in bed more miserable then before. Today I actually did feel a bit better. The body aches went away but I made sure not to over do it. Around early evening I decided to head out to the scrap house to do some scrapbooking. I wanted something fun and something to hang in the house for Valentines.

On Christmas Eve I had my sister take a few pics of my family and I. I don't usually get to be in pictures because I'm usually behind the camera. I was thrilled to actually get one of my hubby and I. That too is a rarity.

After working on my Grannie's scrapbook I had so many scraps of the SU! Bella paper. Plus, I wasn't ready to put it away. Goodness I love that paper. I decided to keep playing with it...oh my!

I first did one of my hubby and I.







Then I decided to do another. This time of my daughter Val, her fiancé Adam, and my grandson Nathaniel.








But, I couldn't stop there. I figured it would be nice to have a family one. None of the pics were great, someone was always looking at Nathaniel or walking out of the pic. But I found one that would do. This is what I came up with.







I tried to keep them simple. Each one is 8x8. If you notice they are the same layout just turned one way or the other. I found a card sketch that I liked very much and decided to use it as a layout design. After playing around with how to display them in the house I chose to make them one unit as oppose to three individual units. This is what I ended up with.







I love it so much. I was eager to hang it in the entryway in the house. I ended up being out in the scrap house for 6 hours. Thank goodness my hubby made dinner. Thanks babe. It also snowed while I was busy scrapping. Being out in my scrap house and being a little creative sure helped to lift my spirits and even made me feel like I'm on the mend.

I just might have to post this over at stampinroyalty.blogspot.com for the Stamppin' Royalty Challenge 52.

Supplies:
SU! Cardstock- riding hood red, pirouette pink
SU! Ink- riding hood red, pirouette pink
SU! Pattern paper- Bella
Accessories- circle punch, scallop punch, ribbon, tulle, rhinestones, flowers, and valentine decorations/picks from Michael's.

Next, I think I'll work on altering a few frames. Gotta love them $3 frames from Walmart!

The sketch I used is from iheart2stamp.com. It is the Sketch For You To Try (SFYTT) for January.

Thanks for visiting!

XOXO, Marlo

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from my iPad

Mojo Monday Challenge 171

Another website I visit daily is Mojo Monday, www.mojomonday.bloodspot.com. I have never participated in their challenges, I just visit to Oooooo and Aaaaaa over the wonderful designs all the talented ladies have created. This week I decided to give the challenge a try.




I also needed a birthday card for my Grandma, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity.

At the last minute I decided to make my Grandma a scrapbook. Very last minute, as I only had two days to complete. I decided to use one of my cherished and well loved paper packs from Stampin' Up!, Bella. With all the scraps lying around I decided to use the same papers for the card. I have to say I'm extremely pleased with the results.




Card recipe:
Cardstock- Stampin' Up!, riding hood red, pink pirouette, and kiwi kiss (retired).
Pattern paper- Stampin' Up!, Bella (retired)
Ink- Stampin' Up!, old olive, kiwi kiss (retired), riding hood red, and pink pirouette.
Stamps- Su! Bella Blossoms, CTMH Celebration Bouquet and You Are Beautiful
Accessories- Cricut Sweet Treats, tulle, dazzling diamond glitter (SU!), rhinestones, and slot punch (SU!).




Today, I gave Grandma her card. She loved it! Now I think I need to make another just to keep in my collection.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping! Tomorrow I'll post oils of the scrapbook pages I made for Grannie.
XOXO,
Marlo


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Happy 79th Birthday Grandma Mercy!

Today is a special day...Grandma celebrates her 79th birthday. We are so blessed to be able to celebrate another year of her life. God has truly blessed her with good health and has taken care of her financially.




I'm a very lucky girl to have wonderful Grandma. I have so many fond memories of our times together. As a little girl my favorite place to be was with her. One of my most memorable times with her was when I was about 5 years old. We went to McMan's Furniture store to make a payment. We were parked on the side along the street when I heard a man call out, "Mercy!" This man happen to be her old high school boyfriend, Cando (said with a Spanish accent). She hadn't seen him in over 20 years. Grandma had just divorced Honey, my grandpa. Needless to say, Grandma and Cando started dating. This was a turning point for our family.

Shortly after, Grandma Mercy got very sick and ended up in the hospital. This was sometime in the early 70's. I remember sitting in this tiny waiting room watching all the adults crying and upset. From what I understand, they were there to basically say their 'goodbyes'. The doctors did not give Grandma much time, only hours. Cando was a Christian who believed in the power of prayer, and he believed that God could heal my Grandma. He had all the people from his church praying for her. Pastor Sam Gamboa, from the Good Shepherd Bible Church, prayed over my Grandma.

That was over 35 years ago! God not only answered our prayers, but He healed my Grandma. To this day she has been in good health with only having a common cold every now and then. Our family hasn't been the same since. Because of Grandma and Cando, our family has been serving God ever since. Oh, and Cando became my Grandpa, whom I loved so very much.

I have so many other wonderful memories, but this one is part of our family legacy, four generations later.


I love my Grannie so much...
Thank you Jesus for the most wonderful, loving, beautiful Grandma a girl could ever ask for.

Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you so very much.




XOXO,
Marlo
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Sketch challenge

One of my favorite blogs to visit daily is Stampin' Roayalty, www.stampinroyalty.bloodspot.com. I have a bad habit of checking this blog two to three times daily. But it's one of those that has some beautiful cards and links to other amazing designers. Check them out, I'm sure you'll be hooked as well.

I've not participated in any of the challenges but I thought since I was on Christmas break I might as well enjoy myself and do what I love...stamping' and scrappin'.

This is challenge #51 and a very cool sketch. I can also picture a wonderful layout using this sketch.




The card base is Stampin' Up! Cardstock in Bashful Blue. The pattern paper came from a Best Occasion (Walmart) page kit titled Family. I used the polka dot embossing folder and the Cuttlebug. I lightly sanded the embossed image. The hearts are punched out. I embellished with baby blue 3" tulle and a rhinestone. Super simple. Took me about 15 minutes to put together.

I think I'm going to try a layout next.

Happy Stampin' and Scrappin'!
XOXO,
Marlo

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Christmas 2010

Take 12. Let's try this again. It is very annoying when this blogging thing does not work.

Life over the last year has been very busy and hectic. New teaching position and district, kid's activities, training upon training for work, Jim's new job, graduating with my master's degree and then enrolling for my clear credential and Autism certification, and then everyday life. Wow! There have been many things I've neglected in the last 12 months. I tried to get in some time to scrap and stamp, at least once a month if nothing more.

The one thing I wanted most was to make my Christmas cards and actually send them out. Well, I made some and managed to get them mailed out on the 23rd of December. I needed at least 100 cards but made only 30. They were not what I wanted, but I thought these would be quick and easy since I had very little time to get them mailed. They were easy, but they were not quick; hence, only 30 cards.

Here is a peek at my 2010 Christmas card.


The supplies:
All card stock, silver cording, and dazzling diamond glitter by Stampin' Up!
Patter paper by DCWV, part of a paper pack.
Ribbon and tulle from Fabric Barn.
Iridescent shimmer mist by Stewart Superior.
Foam tape, rhinestones, and chipboard from my over flowing stash, source unknown.

Tools used:
CuttleBug and Sizzix ornament dies.

I first began by spraying all the card bases with shimmer mist. This was done both inside and outside of card. While those dried, I ran the chipboard and pattern paper through the die cutting machine. I glued the pattern paper to the chipboard and then embellished the ornament. I adhered the cording and the ornament to a solid color card stock mat. This was then glued to base of card. I added the tulle or ribbon and the rhinestone. It was very simple, but time consuming since I had to wait on things to dry.

Thanks for looking...I will be back later in the week with others goodies to share.

Happy Monday!!
XOXO,
Marlo


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Whoa! I need to update.

Life has been busy and FaceBook has taken over my free time.

Kids are well and school is very much underway. Things are going well.

We took Nathaniel to Disneyland for the very first time. He was a bit under the weather so didn't enjoy it as much as we expected him to. He did crack a smile a few times but he made sure not to over do it.

We hadn't been to Disneyland in over two years. It was decorated with Halloween stuff which was really cute. I love this pic of the whole family. We had a nice time. We are good for another 2 years.