Family Reunion Projects

So, the real reason I haven't been around blogging, or even stamping for that matter, is that I have spent 2019 planning for and prepping a family reunion. And since it was this weekend, I can finally show off my projects!
This side of the family is scattered, currently we have people in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and Hawaii, but we've had people all over the country, and many in other countries at different times. We've held a reunion in 1981, 1993, 1995 and 2009, so it was time. It was also in honor of what would be my grandmother's 100th birthday if she was still around. My parents coordinated the entire thing, so I was in charge of "entertainment".

Obviously, after all that time and distance, we were going to need a get-to-know-you activity. Most of us are introverts and are likely to sit quietly talking to one person, and it's likely that one person is going to be a parent or sibling they live with instead of another relative. I really wanted people to mingle, haha, so I came up with a variation of an ice breaker game that would guarantee we found out something new about each other. You're probably familiar with the game I've played many times on the first day of a new class, where you have to find someone with nail polish on or someone born the same month as you or someone who went to Disneyland over the summer...? That same idea, but customized so that you would find THESE relatives. I asked each person who MIGHT come to send me 3-5 facts about themselves. Initially I thought I'd pick the most unique fact, but then I decided to use as much as possible so that not only would we learn more about each other, but we were also more likely to discover something randomly in common with each other, and therefore be more inclined to have a conversation with someone "new". My son actually made the grid for me, and typed in the facts. It covered both sides of the paper, plus a few bonus questions. Also, we only included those ages 4 and up.
When it came time to play, I said it was totally fine to add names of the people you knew for sure- spouses, children, siblings, whatever, but that the point was to get everyone talking to each other. I didn't know how it would actually go, but it was so much fun to see that yes- almost everyone got up and talked to each other trying to fill in their sheet and actually get to know each other. I had a time limit of 30 minutes, which ended up perfect for one person, haha. Only one person filled the whole sheet AND got it right. I gave out a prize (candy bar) for that, and for completing one whole side, and I also got a lot of comments that it wasn't enough time, which was fine with me! It ended up a hit and highlight of the day, and I am glad of that.

Since we were focused on my grandmother, and on ancestors, we wanted to give people a chance to get to know the people they come from. I created a BINGO game for that. Our family is a little bit complicated, due to my grandmother being widowed twice, so I used three lines of genealogy for the BINGO boards. I also included my uncle and cousin that have passed away- otherwise they would have attended the reunion. Then instead of a traditional BINGO game, where, for example, I would have called out "B-1", I created some fact cards about each of these ancestors. I used their picture, their name, their birth and death years, and a few facts I could find or come up with on each of them. I created it all in my loved-but-long-retired MDS. Each BINGO board took almost an hour to create, so I stopped at 15. Not to mention the time it took researching all the facts...on 27 ancestors!
This was kind of geared more to the children, so I bought a bunch of small party favors as prizes, pencils, slinkys, jolly ranchers, stampers and even a few toy cars. This didn't get played a whole lot, but, I laminated it all and will keep it for Thanksgivings and future family gatherings when we need something to do, hahaha!

Finally, I continued my photo project, where we've been scanning in all the pictures that belonged to my grandmother (or of previous family events) and adding captions. Names, dates, locations, any other details we could come up with. Over the last year, I have gotten 758 photos scanned and captioned for my dad's family. 166 of them last week alone! They look like this now:

And then, in addition to all that, I found items to display, again with a focus on my grandmother. Everything on this table is her work- the toys, the pillow, the bags, she wrote the story in the magazine, and behind that is a little binder including letters and postcards she sent me, a few times she re-wrote songs for things she needed, and the last page was some tidbit memories from my dad and I. The front binder is pictures that were completed, that my aunt already had on scrapbook pages for people to thumb thru. And two quilts she made me below. As the day went on, my brother, my mom and my cousin added some quilts and a Raggedy Andy doll- all the boys got Andy, all the girls got Ann.

And this was a display of pictures of my grandmother and her husbands and their parents and families. My aunt added a picture later, but I didn't take pictures of these tables as the day went on... 

Anyway, THAT is where my brain has been for a while now.
It ended up going better than I expected and we had a wonderful turn out. We only missed 8 people! It was a fun day and we got such great feedback too. I think every person learned more than they expected (haha!) and everyone definitely got to know one another better and that was the whole point!

But maybe I'll get some stamping done soon and get back to my regular classes.... that would be fun too! hahaha!!

A girly birthday!

Since this is my crafting blog, haha, I'm posting all the crafting here. My daughter wanted a nail polish birthday party, so with the help of Pinterest (hahaha) here's what we came up with!

The invitations are suuuper simple- she had dreamed up a fancy tri-fold card with bits and pieces and I just did not have time, much less the interest in putting so much time into something that would likely be tossed next week! So this is what I came up with instead! I used retired card stock, printed the invite out onto the card stock, printed the details onto regular printer paper and attached that to the back. I stamped the nail polish image and hand wrote the 9.

On our Pinterest search, we found these cute treats. We didn't dip the marshmallows in icing, we just bought colored marshmallows! (pink- strawberry, and brown- chocolate/vanilla swirled) I used my fingers to split them open a little, and stuck the tootsie roll right in the top! We let the girls snack on these while waiting their turns

 

This was the first game we played- it was called Spin The Bottle, and they took turns spinning the spinner, and using the color of nail polish the spinner pointed to! They could pick any finger to paint. It was funny that out of 12 choices (one of these 13 shown didn't work) they still got lots of doubles!

 

Here was the cake! She doesn't like cake, so I made two 9x13 pans of brownies, and stacked them on top of each other. Then I cut it into the shape of a bottle of nail polish! She chose this bright blue frosting (from the store), and I had to do the top white because I got a little carried away with my crumb layer.... and she loved it. It was actually really tasty too!

And the final craftiness...we talked about making hair things, and I saw the idea to paint bobby pins with nail polish- perfect! So we bought some plain black clippies and bobby pins and gave each girl 3 clippies and 6 bobby pins. Here are the ones my daughter made- minus the really cool looking glittery clippy she wore to school today.....

So! There are some not-so-much-stamping ideas, but still some fun craftiness!

Birthday for a Boy

ONE of the crazy things keeping me off the computer lately is that my son’s birthday was this week. Talk about limited supplies...I tried to take the supplies I would need camping with us but I forgot some important things. Like adhesive...! I had to use scotch tape!

Anyway, I made this card for him from us…

Supplies: Stamps: Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel, Little Trucks (retired) Ink: Basic Gray, Red Ink cartridge Paper: Real Red, Yoyo Yellow & White card stock Accessories: Bold Brights markers, Real Red grosgrain ribbon

I made this card for my parents to give him (Mom has been out of town=no time to stamp)

Supplies: Stamps: Choo Choo, Right on Track wheel, Little Layers Plus (retired) Ink: Basic Gray, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Yoyo Yellow, Creamy Caramel Marker, Chocolate Chip Marker, Tempting Turquoise Marker, Yoyo Yellow Marker

And this is what my daughter did for him!

Supplies:

Stamps: Sock Monkey Ink: Bold Brights Markers Paper: White card stock

My kids love holidays because they get to stamp cards for other people. And they are so proud of their work! LOL! But here's a shot of the birthday boy!

A snow day...

Of course the kids start off a Saturday morning by playing hard and loud with a bouncy ball, laughing their heads off, at 645 this morning. Ugh. The wind was howling and blowing leaves so hard I thought it was rain. It never did rain but it sure snowed! We got at least 4-6 inches, and it came down from about 10 AM til 630 tonight! This was our first significant snow storm all season, which is just CRAZY!

So, while my husband got our daughter to take a long, much-needed nap after such an early morning, I got to entertain our son! Good thing we like crafts! LOL!

He needs to have a gift for a gift-exchange at school and I suggested these candy cane ornaments. He took it a step further- he realized that Daddy and I have one and he has one (I bought the supplies for a church activity when he was a baby), so he also made one for his sister and had me make one for Daddy's own. *wink*

We also got in plenty of reading minutes, watched a lot of Christmas specials and even made the first batch of neighbor goodies! It was a crazy day and a long day, but I think a good day. Merry Christmas!

Thankful Thursdays

I have a lot to be thankful for this week! (it's been a really long week!)

I am thankful that even tho my husband's job can be a pain, he was able to take Monday off.

I am thankful that my son has confidence in all of his creations. :) Here is his entry for the PTA Reflections Contest. (And yes, I have an issue with the fact that the kids are REQUIRED to participate.)

I am thankful that my daughter is a good little nurse to her mama.

I am thankful that one friend brought dinner and one friend brought dessert, just because. (Yes, yes, you're both good cooks!)

I am thankful that yoga is twice a week so I can work off the aches and pains from earlier! LOL!

Sundays!

Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have a husband who is a great cook and loves to cook?! Well, I AM! I was telling him about our nephew's family trying a new meal every Sunday and he was all over that plan! (we're hoping it helps expand our children's eating interests.) So last Sunday was something new for the kids and mommy - corned beef & cabbage, with carrots and mashed potatoes! Check it out:

Personally, not a cabbage fan. So it was fiiiine with me that I was allergic to it, even tho it was slightly cooked. The carrots and potatoes were great, and the corned beef wasn't bad. It was actually good, but something I got tired of quickly. It was like juicy jerky. Very salty, but not in a bad way. The kids liked the meat and the potatoes...hee hee. Cabbage was nobody's favorite, even tho Burt does like cooked cabbage. All in all, I think we could have it again, just not this month. *wink*
Enjoy your Sunday!

What my kids think...

Most recently I saw this on RaeAnne's blog, but I know I saw it other places when I first started blogging. Anyway, her's was very funny and I wanted to try it too....Haha!

(ETA: This was VERY FUNNY! I wish you could hear my children's voices, the things that are so matter-of-fact and things that they're being silly about...You should totally try this!)

1. What is something mom always says to you?

S: About Princesses H: (yelling his name)

2. What makes mom happy?

S: Saying sorry, and doing new stuffses

H: When S and me are nice to each other

3. What makes mom sad?

S: No children be rude

H: When we're not nice to each other

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

S: Funny!

H: By tickling us!

5. What was your mom like as a child?

S: Why? Um, brown.

H: "Hmm, that's a tough one.... a little kid!"

6. How old is your mom?

S: sixteen

H: Um, 28?

7. How tall is your mom?

S: eight (this response cracks me up...kids just pick a number! LOL!)

H: Whoa, I gotta measure you or something! Well, I'll say, 100 inches!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

S: coloring

H: STAMP! - that was easy!

9. What does your mom do when you are not around?

S:"don’t do that ever again"

H: Watch S

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

S: For a computer

H: Stampin' Up! workshops!

11. What is your mom really good at?

S:write (she acted out writing)

H: Lots of stuff!

12. What is your mom not so good at?

S: being angry (score for me! HAHA!)

H: Not so good at drawing animals.

13. What does your mom do for her job?

S: Stamps!

H: Oh, that's easy, stamp!

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?

S: Blue? I can’t remember! (She over heard me asking H and said "I said pink and blue! But I can't say the words because I am too little!")

H: Ooo that's a tough one....Green beans!

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

S: when we're so happy!

H: When she lets me do things I've been waiting and waiting to do.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

S: The scarecrow. (she thought costume, rather than cartoon)

H: One of the ladies on Tom & Jerry. (I think I'm offended!)

17. What do you and your mom do together?

S: be happy and ride on the horsies in the circle (merry-go-round), and go up and down…what is that? (a ferris wheel)

H: Play games, have fun, go to the zoo....

18. How are you and your mom the same?

S: we both wear dresses

H: We're both people!

19. How are you and your mom different?

S: I don’t know, I can’t remember.

H: You're a girl and I'm a boy.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

S: give hugs and kisses!

H: Because she cares for me.

Saturday Sketches!

If you checked my SCS gallery since Saturday morning you already saw this one. But I had to post it here too because I just love how it turned out! This follows Lauren's Saturday Sketch. Initially I thought I wouldn't do it because of the circle. I don't have any EASY circle cutting system, just that thing by Making Memories and I can't ever figure out how big the circle is going to be. Its just luck of the draw. But the rest of the card looked fairly simple so I thought I'd try it again...

Then, I wanted the focal point to be really great so I could keep the rest of the card basic. I still have this Lovely As A Tree set I'm borrowing from my mom and I thought I could do something fun for autumn with it. So here's today's version of emboss-resist. its on Vanilla card stock, rather than glossy, so I knew it would end up at least a little different. First I stamped the trees in Chocolate Chip ink. Then, (without a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, or any other way of lining it up perfectly, LOL!) I stamped it again with Versamark ink and clear embossed it. Even without a way of lining it up, it turned out ok because it looks like the first frost of the season! Woohoo! Then I sponged over it with More Mustard, Really Rust and Old Olive inks. Very autumnal.

Oh, I also edged the circle in Chocolate Chip ink to make it more defined. I wasn't even going to try to make a larger circle...!

Supplies: Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Fresh Cuts ~ Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark, More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive ~ Paper: Really Rust, Old Olive, Very Vanilla card stocks ~ Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Making Memories cutter

The next Saturday Sketch comes from Jen, and I added in the OCC Saturday challenge, which was to use chipboard. I never have much luck with chipboard! I bought it all excited to use it and my ideas just don't' work out that well. Usually it seems out of place. But here's this attempt! lol! Also, I made the focal point round instead of square, and then the button accent is square instead of round...wonder if that still counts? hee hee!

Here you can see the chipboard layer...

Supplies: Stamps: Bugs & Kisses ~ Ink: Rose Red ~ Paper: Rose Red & Whisper White card stocks ~ Accessories: Fresh Favorite Buttons, Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals (retired), On Board Accents & Elements chipboard (retired), Silver Cord (retired!), Stamping Sponges

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Some of you didn't think yesterday's injury stories were bad enough. So here's another one! *wink*

Last night I thought I'd make some lemon bars because they are yummy and we needed something yummy. So, you bake the crust for 8 mins at 350* and then pour in the lemon filling and put it back in the oven to bake longer. Well, being the "super-genius" that I am (Wile E Coyote, for anyone who didn't watch Saturday Morning Cartoons...) I pulled the pan out using hot pads, set it on the stove, poured in the filling and then picked the pan back up WITHOUT HOT PADS. So yes, I slightly burned all fingertips and my thumbs! OWWW!

Is that good enough for ya?! haha!

Now, you may wonder how I am typing today if that is the case... (I do pre-type many of my posts and I don't think I'll be stamping today...) First of all, I let go pretty quickly. LOL! But also, my mother gave us this great stuff they use a lot at her work:

So in case you wondered, YES it works and YES its worth buying! my thumbs and pointer fingers are still tender, but I'm good! So if you have super-genius's in your house, you better get some! It works for sunburns too.

Another Day

Wanna know what that is a picture of? Books. That needed repaired. There are 22 and one that couldn't be fixed...can't find what used to be its cover. That's right, I just fixed twenty-two books that my children have ripped and torn. Definitely something to go on my resume- Professional Torn-Book Repairman. Some times its just exuberant turning of the page. Sometimes its both of them holding the same book and fighting about who gets to turn the page. Sometimes its a tasty book (instead of ya know, a good book...) Other times books are really just stepping stones as you cross the "water". Why do kids always pretend the carpet is water?? Anyway. That was tonight's task.

My kids actually really love books. Especially our boy- the most destructive. He has always loved books. When he was tiny I would lay on my back holding the book above us and read to him. When our girl was tiny, this was a typical scene....

Isn't that adorable? And those were the days I repaired a stack of books about once a month. I mean really, what is this all about?! Guess I looked bored...... LOL!

In other news, one of S's very favorite movies is Pride & Prejudice. (the Kiera Knightley one) She's always said "Miss Ah-liv-a-lip" instead of Miss Elizabeth, (which cracks me up!) but the other night, she was telling me about "Eee-liz-a-beff". (with concentration and emphasis on each sound) awww! My baby's growin' up!

Nine Years Ago...

...Burt and I looked like this: ...and this!

Cute, huh?! Oh, I definitely think so. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and (aside from a fabulous migraine, blah!) the day was perfect.

When I was maybe 17, while visiting my grandmother, she asked if I had a boyfriend. I said no and funny enough she joked, rather sympathetically, that maybe I could order one out of the Sears catalog. Not many years later (haha!), I was working at Sears and met this 'cute boy' who worked 'upstairs'. And that's what I called him- the cute boy upstairs. He is five years older than I am, and Burt likes to interject here that I asked him out. Hey, if you want to date, you'd better ask! So I did! And he proposed! So here we are today...!

It's been a great nine years and I'm so happy to have spent them with him.

Incase you're worried *wink* I am not typing this up today, I am happily enjoying a day with my husband. Two and half days to be precise. Kids are enjoying time with grandparents and we are off relaxing and eating yummy restaurant food! Hooray!!!

Happy Anniversary Burt!!!!!!

Sketch and a funny

Here is my card for Taylor's Friday Cupcake challenge! I was going for elegant, not plain...I hope I succeeded! The hardest part of this card was pulling out my heat tool for the second time in 6 days! haha! I used the emboss-resist technique on the center image. I inked up the stamp with my Versamark, then embossed with Clear powder, then I sponged on Bravo Burgundy ink. I think it turned out well. I also clear embossed the words for an added touch. Its a little hard to tell in the photo, but the tipped square is Bravo Burgundy card stock and the mat for the image is Chocolate Chip card stock.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Fresh Cuts ~

Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Versamark ~

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip ~

Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Silver Brads, Chocolate Taffeta ribbon, Stamping Sponges

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A little more than a year ago the kids and I went to my cousin's wedding, about the same time my daughter got into the Princess movies. She has been close to obsessed with weddings and getting married ever since. She frequently asks who is married, if I got married to Daddy and if she can get married and tells people that when she's "big like H she's getting married"...which is NOT big enough!

So, the other day while eating lunch, she suddenly announces "Oh no! I didn't get married!!!" H and I look at each other with a smile and I said something about how she isn't old enough yet. She turns to her brother and says "But will you get married with me?" He answers with "No, we can't get married. You have to marry your boyfriend." She heaves a big, dramatic, pouty sigh and says "I don't WANT to marry my boyfriend! I want DADDY to marry me!" I join in with "but he married ME!" She gives a confused look and says "He did?!" .................yes dear, we've covered this a time or two......

My boy!

He is growing up! He's had a birthday this week, and I think that's always a little crazy when your oldest gets older... (altho...are we ever going to out-grow Thomas-themed birthdays? LOL!) This is his first store-bought birthday cake(s), and I think he was a little excited!

So here are his cute birthday invitations. The balloons come from the same sneak peek set as that cupcake I last used. I drew the strings from the balloons and even came up with the corny poem. He was so funny finding the rhymes when we were delivering the invites! Anyway, I used a piece of Tempting Turquoise for the base. The balloons were stamped and cut out of various shades of Bold Brights colors and the invitation part was typed up and printed off and glued to the back! Simple enough...!

Here is his birthday card and you can see more of the new stamp set! Yes, its called Sock Monkey! It comes with all the stamps I used on this card, plus five others! I think its so cute! And since I haven't whined enough about cutting lately, I thought I'd try my hand at paper-piecing!!! Yes folks, I'm nuts! I used the brand new Pacific Point card stock for the card base here, as well as for the balloon and pieces of the hat. The monkey was pieced using Creamy Caramel card stock, stamped with the Canvas stamp in Close to Cocoa ink! Then I colored the rest of him using the Bordering Blue watercolor crayon and Blender Pens. I pieced the cupcake with More Mustard for the liner and Chocolate Chip for the frosting. I added glitter with my 2-Way glue pen to the top of the hat and the flame of the candle. The balloons have Silver Cord strings and are tied together, they're also popped up on Dimensionals and I have a little 'shine' with the White Gel Pen.

I think this is the most work I've ever put into a card, and its for a little boy! Goodness!

Now a story about him growing up...! Monday morning, Sienna was asleep in our bed and Hunter came to wake all three of us up. He told us he'd made something and we all needed to come see. How many times does he make a new train track design or lego village? So it took us a few minutes, but we went down to see. I even took the camera to save myself a trip back up. And THIS is what we saw!!! He made each of us BREAKFAST! No, he's never been "allowed" to pour cereal or milk, (not because I don't let him, but because I just do it...) but he did it! He'd chosen what he thought was each of our favorites and it was ready to go! He even put sugar on the corn flakes and wheaties! We were very impressed (even tho it meant eating very soggy cereal)! He was soooo proud of himself he had that beaming grin on til well after we were done eating. Guess he's growing up!

A funny flashback

So, ya know, I've been cleaning out my office...for like...a month. Actually, probably longer than that. But I really am cleaning it out! Going thru all the boxes and the piles and the heaps and trying to find a new home for every single thing. I am a hoarder. I always believe that in thirty years I will regret having tossed that. Or this. And that is a problem! So in my cleaning, I came across some little gifts Hunter 'made' at church.

This first one absolutely melts my heart. I just want to scoop him up and love him forever! Obviously this was a Christmas gift, the year he was 2. And obviously he didn't do anything to make this other than look adorable for the picture. hee hee! But this is a little treasure that will NOT be thrown away. It needs a home...in a scrapbook or something!

Then here is a Mother's Day card, also from church. I thought it was so sweet of them to take pics of the kids to make the cards with. Plus it was like my first actual Mother's Day gift so that was also very sweet.

And then you open it......

And the real boy shines thru......

HA HA! Can you believe it?! Can you believe he posed that way for a picture for a present for his mom?! And can you believe his teachers USED IT?! ha ha! That cracks me up, still to this day. Every time I see that I just laugh. Such a sweet gift, from a sweet boy on the front, grinning from ear to ear that he had a CARD to give his mommy....and BAM! Blahhh!!! What?! ha ha! Hope you laughed today!