Speed Scrap

What is a Speed Scrap? When a group of online digital scrapbookers gather online at the same time for one hour and are given 7 instructions (one every 10 minutes) by one instructor.

What were the rules today? (these were mostly taken from a speed scrap by Barb on my cafe mom group)

1.Chose 3 Pictures. Make all three of them the same size. Put them in a row, either Horizontally or Vertically.

2.Chose a solid colored piece of paper and use it as your background for your page. Send it all of the way to the back.

3.Chose an embellishment like a photo frame, a bracket, or even use another piece of paper to place behind all three pictures.

4.Find a glittery or shiny embellishment. Use as many of them as you want to embellish your page .

5.Find flowers , leaves, bows or buttons to put on your page. You must use at least three of them

6.Use Alphas to create a title for your page

7.Journal your page with at least three sentences. Don't forget to add your date. Feel free to create a journal box using a tag or a journal box.

What happens after a Speed Scrap? The participants email the hostess/instructor their pages and everyone gets to see them. Here are everyone's layouts. Some are still coming in. So check back periodically for for more pages and Don't forget to check back at the end of the day for the winner. The winner will get 5 12x12 individual pages printed through HM. The winner will be randomly drawn from a hat and you will get one entry for every page you submit. Good luck!

Here are the entries:

1. My own design #1. I created this last night and it is what inspired today's rules. All of the artwork used in this page is from andiLyn Designs-Sunkissed Porch and a few other collections by her.

2. My 2nd Page I made in just a few minutes today to demonstrate how to use HM studio. Most of the artwork on this page is from Ellie Lash Studios and a few wonderful things from Heritage Makers Premiere Collection of Artwork by Scrapgirls.


3. Jennifer Gray. All of this is from HM premiere artwork. She plans to frame this 12x12 and put it on her wall so she chose not to put a journaling block. This will look great on her wall.


4. These two pages are from Bonnie Covel. All HM premiere artwork. I love this fun colored kit backed up with the brown background. It really makes the colors pop off of the page the way they should. (her name will get entered twice because of her two entries. She really speed scrapped)


5. This is by Amber. These are very cute pictures of a real life Power Ranger Zach. Zach is really a real life hero in the fact that he is fighting the battle against cancer. He got this costume while staying in New York where he spends most of his time going between the hospital and the Ronald MacDonald House. Thank heaven for heroes like Zach.



6. This next one is from Karen Adams. I love the warn papers and the bling she found for her page. It makes you want to be a part of their traditions. Click Here to be taken to a view of her family's holiday tradition

7. This is from Carrie Rodriguez. She three wonderful pages. I love the one of her son in his dress blues. So appropriate on Veterans Day and also with it being the Marine Corps Birthday yesterday. Oh-rah! She will be entered three times for the three pages she made
First Page Here

Second Page Here

Third Page Here
8. This next one is by Kim Hubert. She featured a wonderful page with a photo of nature....You don't have to wait for the fog to pass to know that this page is beautiful. Click here to check out the scenery.

9. Kelly Robinson made a wonderful tribute to her man. I love it. I think so many times we focus on our children and we leave out our spouse. What a great tribute page. Check it out here

10. More pages to come. I am waiting for two more submissions. Check back later.

Thank you so much ladies for participating today and for being so patient with me as I stumbled through the audio technical difficulties. I am hosting another one next Tuesday night the 18th at 9pm EST. So if you would like to join us just click here to register.

Happy Birthday Marines

Birthday Cake Scott made in November 2005

(Boot Camp 1999)

November 10, 1775 is the birth date of the United States Marine Corps. So I want to wish every Marine out there Happy Birthday. I remember 8 years ago when I attended my first Marine Corps Ball. I had known that the ball existed prior to that, after all I was raised in a Yuma, Az close to a base. I knew several people that attended the ball every year, but I never understood the history behind the ball until I attended one in the year 2000. Scott and I were engaged. He wanted to take me to the ball. He was a young Lance Corporal (E-3). I was just excited to go and get to dress up and get to see him in his uniform. When we got to the ball everyone started wishing each other happy birthday. When I first heard someone tell Scott happy birthday I was very puzzled. For a split second I felt bad that I did not know his birthday. "I thought, how could I be marrying a man when I don't even know when his birthday is." But then Scott told the other Marine happy birthday. And I soon caught on. The ball is a birthday party to celebrate the Marine Corps. I even started a tradition of getting him a birthday present every year to give to him when we went to a ball. But I have fallen out of the tradition and really need to get back into it. If you ever have a chance to attend a ball you should go. Marines are allowed to bring guest, so if you know a Marine that attends a ball you should ask them if you can go as their guest. The last ball Scott and I attended was three years ago. I have missed it so much. I want to make it a goal to go next year. It is always hard for us to go because Scott is usually busy making a cake for the Commandant's Ball. I am going to make him take me next year.

I had to run to the store really really late Saturday and I saw a young Marine and his date at the store. They must have just come from a ball. I wished him happy birthday and gave him a sturdy Oo-rah as I walked by. I even got a little teary eyed as I did it and when he wished me happy birthday back. So if you run into a Marine, in or out of uniform today. Wish them happy birthday. The Marine Corps has so much pride. I love it!!!!! I love my husband for the service he gives our country. So I may not have bought my husband a birthday present this year, but hopefully he will read this post and know I love him

Happy Birthday....OO-RAH!! Semper-fi!

Semper Fidelis is Latin for "Always faithful." Best known to Americans as the motto of the United States Marine Corps (often "Semper Fi" (IPA: sɛm pər ˈfаɪ) for short)

cook school 1999-can you find Scott? Front row 2nd one from the right.

Marine Corps Ball November 2000

I am so proud to be married to a Marine-December 2000

Cake Scott made in November 2002

The day Scott left for Kuwait/Iraq in Feb 2003. The war had not even started and did not even have a name yet. The picture below is his him saying good bye to Maelee at age 11 months...not walking and not talking.

Scott and a donkey and his gun in Iraq

Scott's Homecoming September 2003. Came home to a 19 month old walking and talking daughter and a very happy wife that was so glad to have her husband home safe.

This was the last picture we had taken at a ball. We have only been to one other since this picture was taken but we do not have any pictures from that evening.

Scott working his dream job...Enlisted Aide to The Generals. Above he is pictured with General Haggee in 2005 with a cake he helped to make for the Commandant's Ball. Below is Scott at his re-enlistment for his third and current enlistment. He was re-enlisted by General Peter Pace in April 2006. Scott will hit his 10 year mark in the Marine Corps this April. Time goes by so fast.

Winner

I have a winner for both my giveaways from October. Bobbie is the winner of both. First I did a drawing for a free poster credit to anyone that posted a comment. I got three comments. I put all three names in a hat and Scott drew a name. So if you have any complaints, take it up with him. Thank you for commenting on the post. I love all of you family historians that take the time to journal and cherish your family heritage. So keep coming back for more give aways. And don't be too shy to comment!!!

Bobbie was the only one that replied to the Favorite Halloween costume post so she automatically wins a free postcard credit. It pays to play!!! just ask Bobbie!

My Lens

I have a lens that I love. It is a Canon 50mm 1.4. I love it. It was a gift from a dear friend of mine, Maranda. I cherish the lens, but about 6 weeks ago it stopped working in auto focus mode. At first I thought my entire camera was broken. Then I figured out it was just the lens, but without the lens the camera might as well be broken. Then I figured out that it would work in manual focus but not auto focus. I have tried getting comfortable working in Manual Focus mode but this is really hard when you are trying to take pictures of kids on the go. Forget focus!!! I was getting comfortable shooting in manual focus, if I was taking pictures of leaves and stuff. Forget the kids. My friend Maranda did some research and come to find out that it is a common flaw in those lens. They will stop working for no reason out of the blue, but then it also starts working out of the blue. I have periodically checked it to see if it started working again, and it never would. So I drove down to Ritz and was about to just buy a different lens. I did not have the $$ at the time to replace the 1.4 so I was just going to get the 1.8. I had my camera with me and was sitting in my car in front of Ritz and checked it one more time and Wow....it started working. What a blessing. We all know where these blessings come from. So my camera lens works again and I celebrated by taking some pics of Delana...in tu tu's of coarse.

Happy Birthday Andrew

I had been planning to blog this for the last month but the day went and passed and I did not do what I planned......better late than never. I want to wish my nephew Andrew Happy 18th Bday. He turned 18 on November 4th. He even got to vote. What a memorable way to celebrate your 18th birthday. Here he is with his voting sticker and some of his baby pics.

Some of my favorite memories about Andrew........
He had the fattest little cheeks and I would wonder how it was possible for him to smile. It seemed like smiling was an impossible task with those fat cheeks, but he had the biggest smile. He still has the best smile.

Another favorite memory.....
He was always hungry. There were two things he would say that I still say when I am hungry now because of him. He said one time "I am having a starving." and "I am hunky (hungry)"

He also has the ability to fall asleep anywhere.

I love you Andrew!!!! My first of many nephews.

Halloween 08

Maelee changed her mind every other day for the last two months about what she was going to be. First she wanted to be a vampire. Have any of you heard the best soundtrack ever...JUNO? There is a vampire song in there that both of my girls love!!! So that is what Maelee was going to be. Then she changed her mind to a Devil Witch. She said she was still going to wear vangs, so technically she was going to be a Devil Witch Vampire. Then she did not like the tu tu part of her costume that Grandma had made for her. So I took her shopping for other witch costumes then Delana could wear the other one and I could be a witch too. Every time we went shopping her idea for costumes changed. We left several stores with her kicking and screaming that she wanted to be Hannah Montana. I am sorry, I am a terrible mother, but I just could not stomach paying $40 for a plastic outfit. I told her that if she wanted to be Hannah then we could find her something from home. She already had the wig. That was not good enough. So we would leave fighting. Then she had her mind made up two days before Halloween to be little mermaid. We have a costume already that I bought at a clearance sale after Halloween several years ago. I was happy she had made up her mind. Then the day before Halloween and the day of she had changed again to be a hula girl. We had the stuff for the too. I did not care, as long as we were not paying $40 for a Hannah costume. Then she went shopping one hour before we were supposed to leave the house Halloween night with her father because like her, he had not made up his mind about what he wanted to be. She came home from being with him with a set of pom poms from the $ store. I asked if she had decided to be a cheerleader now. She said no but that she had changed her mind back to the little mermaid, this was just 20 minutes before walking out the door!!!! She had just bought the pom poms for play. She went to the basement to get her little mermaid costume. Remember that this whole time her big argument about being the witch is that she did not want to wear a tu tu of any kind. She has had it with the tu tus and is done with them. So she comes up from the basement (now just 10 minutes before we have to be out the door) and says "I am going to be a cheerleader. I am going to wear the red and white tu tu." So in the end she was something that she never planned on being and she wore a dreaded tu tu. The funniest thing was that all night long she kept telling all of her friends "I was supposed to be what Delana is but there is no way that I was going to put a tu tu on." It was like she was telling her friends that she was way too cool and mature for a tu tu, all the while forgetting that she actually had a tu tu on. That girl is so funny.

Scott decided to be a cowboy. He wanted batman but they sold out the week before Halloween. Delana and I went as ourselves, two little witches. Delana was a way cuter witch. We had a great evening at Trunk or Treat. and then we headed down to our friends home who throw the most awesome Halloween party every year. They are the best party host and hostess. They always go all out. They even had a really scary haunted house set up in the basement. We had a ton of fun.

We Have Arrived!

I am always posting about my wonderful job as a personal publishing consultant with Heritage Makers. Some may not have heard of the company before and some may have and might think of us as a little direct sales in home business for moms. We might be viewed as just another digital scrapbooking company that may pass like a phase. Well, Heritage Makers is not going any where. We have just hit our stride. We were featured in "O" Magazine. The issue arrived in homes yesterday and we are on page 94. She put us on her list of favorite things of all time. Not just her list of hot items for the month, but her list of things of all time. How cool is that? So cool! She chose to feature our lovely 12x12 book. The listing price in her article is $4 per page. I can get it for you cheaper. Never pay full price! And I love being a consultant because I just got one of those big books for free this month. $0 per page for me!!!!! We have officially arrived. I just wanted to share my news.

See Page 94 Here