As promised, some pictures of the whole darn crew.

These are all of my parents grandsons.

It is hard to believe that Travis was just 4 years old when I first met him and Kenny.

Time flies when you aren't paying attention!

Mark and Travis, two peas in a pod... but more trouble! LOL!

Take care

It is hard to put into words what we did this afternoon. A sheer slice of hell probably describes it best. Take six boys, YES one, two, three, four, five, six BOYS to get a portrait taken. God Bless Amy, our photographer at Sear's portrait studio, she has patience like I have never seen before. We took so many group shots that it filled up the space she had on the memory. She had to delete the really terrible ones before we could continue the shoot.

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We had a one o'clock appointment and we did not leave there until after 3 o'clock. Thankfully we were her only appointment and she had no walk-ins. Next time I volunteer for this, someone slip a little something in my morning coffee.

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That being said, tomorrow the shots should be up on the website to share and I will post a few. In the middle of all that chaos we did get some pretty nice shots of the boys. I don't get portraits done that often and my men run screaming or put their hands over their faces when i get my camera out. Not the best scenario for the scrapbooker in me.

Take Care!

Are you all anxiously waiting to see what great new stuff comes out at this years CHA Show? I know I am! Most of the gal's blogs that I read are at the show and I keep checking to see if they have left any sneak peeks the past few days. Nothing... Nada... Zip!

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Nothing much else to post about... went to see Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End with Travis today. We like to go to the Westwood Plaza Theatre and Cafe. Matinees are a great bargain at $3-- we did the lunch matinee which includes the movie, sandwich platter, popcorn and a soda for $11. It was a good thing we ordered lunch too, that movie was almost 3 hours long! It was a good one though, I will have to see it more than once to get all the things that happen.

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Current project is not scrapbook related. I am designing bouquets for a friend's wedding. Fuchsia and orange colors, Hawaiian theme.

Swirly Q's This is a new toy that I haven't had a chance to mess with yet. It stinks to be a grown up somedays when all you want to do is stay home and play, but you have to go to work! LOL!

Wish I could dedicate the time I spend at good old Wally world to something more pleasant, like scrapping and stamping!

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The template is called Swirly Q's and is from The Crafter's Workshop. Thanks to my BS#1, who picked it up for me from Grove's Office Supply in Huntingdon, PA.

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I have heard that these are really nice to trace with a Versamark Pen and then heat emboss with metallic powder. So, here I sit wishing I didn't have to go to work in the morning.

Take care, have a scrappy good week!

I have been a bad blogger! Sorry BS #1 and BS #2...

Blame it on nice summer weather, blame it on a terrible work schedule at my real job, general laziness or busy-ness in my life... just not so bloggy lately. I really haven't had any new projects going on as of later either, so that contributes as well!

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Been trying a new system for organizing my ribbons and buttons and clear unmounted stamps that are not CTMH brand. I think that I don't use them as much as I could because I don't see them when they are in boxes and baskets, sooooo I got some pint canning jars and sorted out the buttons by color. (Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue-ish, Dark Blues, Purples, Tans/Creams/Browns, White/Clear, & Black.) The jars were pretty inexpensive, less than $7 for a case of 12. I actually have some of them half full, didn't even realize how many buttons I have! I am thinking about storing some of my other lumpy embellies in jars as well.

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Ribbons are in jars now too, one gallon plastic ones made by Rubbermaid from the housewares dept at your friendly Wal-mart store ($2.61 each.) I need to get some more of them, so don't run out and buy them all up! I cleared my big ribbon basket out into the jars and put some theme ribbons in drawers with other like things. I feel much better about how the ribbon is now!

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The clear stamp storage is not my own idea. I am storing them in clear CD cases and it is working very well! I even saw a tip somewhere that you can use the outside of the case as the "block" for stamping! Love the practicality of that idea!

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Take care ladies! Hopefully I am a better blogger this week!

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By the way... I get the super wife award today! Went to Pittsburgh to the Fire and EMS Expo with my DH and DSS. Not quite my bag, but it was a good family day. We had lunch at Primanti Brothers in the Strip District, YUMMMMMM! Roast beef and cheese is my favorite. Travis had his first big old Sammich and he finished it all! We also visited Monroeville Fire and Rescue EMS Station 4, where one of our friends is on staff. We got to tour the firehouse and see all of their newer and fancier apparatus. Nothing funnier than watching a bunch of grown men act like little kids climbing in and out and off of the trucks and sliding down the pole!

Bright 60's Scrapbook Page

Another page from my CMC's last crop. This one with some really cute and bright stickers and paper choices. They would even be cute for a young girl page. The orange paper is an older one of CM, it is actually an orange with tiny white polka dots on it. The cardstock is called raspberry. I used the new petals punch on this page too. It punches out little petals and it also does fancy corners. My CMC sold completely out of her first order that evening. I am sorry it didn't photograph better. I have been having some issues with my camera the past week or so, not so sure what is going on, but is has been a really great little camera for over 5 years now. I do look at new cameras off and on, but don't consider really researching to buy, since I really don't NEED a new one. There is a little part of me that would love to splurge and get a great new camera, but I have become attached to my trusty old Kodak. (Plus I just got really good at using all of the features and would have to learn a new camera, not feeling so motivated to do that!)

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Idlewild was fun on Friday, not overly crowded, hot but not miserably so. The kids had a pretty good day and it was nice to have them spend time with cousins that they don't see very often. The pirate ship over in the soak zone is really neat.

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Take care!

Been Kinda Card-y Lately!

I have been working on lots of cards lately. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my corner rounder scallop punch and it has been getting lots of use.

Let me tell you that it took me all day today to recover from the picnic yesterday! Slept in, didn't get out of my jammies all day! Dear Lord, the food we ate... 100 pieces of my Dad's Chicken BBQ, 25 pounds of Uncle Lumps BBQ Ribs, burgers, hotdogs, baked beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad, augratin potatoes, grilled summer veggies, keilbasa, spicy sweet and sour smokies, pizza casserole, spinach dip, buffalo chicken dip, beef cheese ball, and then there were the desserts...Frozen Oreo dessert, jello cake, cupcakes, rice krispie treats, cream puff cake, banana cream pie, Oreo whip, cheesecake..... Can you tell why I needed the whole day to recover????

Pray for nice weather for us tomorrow, we are going to Idlewild! NO RAIN!!!

Take care!

Happy Independence Day!

(My Aunt Lin's favorite holiday--the weather is nice, you cook outside, no gifts to buy and you throw away your dishes! LOL! I must say that I have to agree with most of that!)

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We will be celebrating today with our big family picnic. All the family that you don't get to see nearly often enough. Enough food to feed a small army. Little cousins playing, riding bikes around the block and swimming. A little crafty activity in the afternoon. Guys throwing horse shoes, everybody playing volleyball. Catching up on what is going on with each other, visiting, laughing and of course eating! We cap the day off with some fireworks after dark.

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I am going to take a couple of all American classics to the picnic. Knorr Spinach Dip and Rice Krispie treats with red, white and blue star sprinkles. I usually like to try something new for the picnic, but nothing new really caught my eye this summer. These two are tried and true hits with the family. I like to put double the water chestnuts in the spinach dip because I like the crunch.

This is one of the pages I made for my CMC's crop last Friday. We were celebrating the decades with goodies from the 40's and 60's. All papers and stickers are CM. The Quote stamp is the SM Star Spangled Banner(M4459) and is from Stampington & Company and it says copyright 1996, so I am not sure that it is still available. It is one of my favorite stamps. All of those delicate little star frames were cut using the Cuttlebug nested star die. I was so pleased with how this page turned out and the ladies at the crop just loved it too. It was so cool to hear them talk about the photos they were planning to use on the page... husbands in their uniforms, old army pictures of Dads from years ago, July 4th pictures that haven't even been taken yet.

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My hope for you, my friends, is that today while you are celebrating the 4th of July, you take a moment to appreciate what this day means to our nations history. It was the day we declared our freedom from the rule of another nation. We stood united and free. It is my hope that we do not take that freedom for granted. That freedom was hard fought and earned so very long ago and I think that we care less and less for it everyday. I challenge you and me to be thankful for our freedom and this great nation. Vote, thank a soldier, write your senator or representative about something important to you, be involved in local government. Pass the stories on to the next generation. FLY YOUR AMERICAN FLAG PROUDLY!

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Thanks for letting me up on my soapbox once again, these important days just bring it out of me.

Some links for your FOURTH OF JULY enjoyment

Declaration of Independence

Independence Day on the Net

Fourth of July Celebrations Database

Have a wonderful Independence Day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

My Cute New Bag!

It is really a mini-tote, but I am using it for a purse. Too CUTE! The surprise part is that it is from Creative Memories! Free gift with purchase of their Little Boy or Little Girl album kit bundle.

Sorry about not being so bloggy this past week. It was such a busy crazy week! I worked daylight all week, which was quite the challenge for me who usually works later in the day and gets to sleep in. The alarm clock is lucky it survived a week of 6:30 AM wake up calls. From work it was straight to Vacation Bible School for 3 hours, where I am the crafty lady. We had a pretty good week there. Our theme was a Fiesta! We made shakers to use when the kids were singing, painted flower pots and planted seeds in them, made bird feeders from 1 liter bottles and wooden spoons, and of course a VBS tradition--photo magnets for on the refrigerator. We had about 20 kids, which is pretty good for our little church.

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So, I have all these pics saved for blog posts and I promise to do much better this week!

Take care!