Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year I've finally made a few seconds to post. Sorry it has taken so long, the preparations for Christmas were a little overwhelming this year during recovery. The good news is...we had a wonderful, blessed Christmas with family and friends. I'm feeling much better but still not 100%. Now I'm putting the finishing touches on packing so we can head to Guatemala for New Year's. I wish you all a very Happy New Year's. Be safe and have fun. And...for all of you asking here is a picture of the "new" me on Christmas Eve.

My Nemesis

Will it be the recliner, my back, or these binding garments. The reasons why...the recliner is the only place I can sit or sleep for at least another week. The very site of it makes me think of starting a huge bonfire! My back because I have to walk hunched over like I'm 90 with severe osteoporosis. The binding garments because it feels and looks like they stuffed 2 lbs. of sausage into a 1 lb. casing. Not the most comfortable thing I've ever worn. I must say this was the first time in my life I wanted to stay longer in the hospital. But, I'm doing well and getting stronger each day. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, I appreciate you all. Hope to see you soon! Donna

Watch out Chicks here I come...

I can't wait until Scrappin' with the Chicks tomorrow! I'm not organized or packed, of course! I can do that when I get there, I'll just throw every thing in the big black bus and worry about the organizing later. It's going to be a great weekend, can't wait to see everyone. Here is a recent pic of my precious grandson!

Meet my "Grandson"

Those of you who know me know it's not really my grandson....it's my nephew's new baby. But, my newphew is like a son to me so it's my grandson. I fully intend to spoil him as though he's my grandson. Jacob Jenri (Henry in spanish) was born yesterday, Oct. 15, at 6:05 pm. He weighs 8 lbs. and is 20 in. long. He is SO sweet and just gorgeous. He and Mom are both doing excellent. She is so sweet and going to be an awesome mother. I'm so happy to have a new member in the family, who could resist...he's so sweet!!

This is Jennifer and Jacob. Can you believe how great she looks less than 24 hrs. after delivery!?!

This is Mynor with his new family, oh, so sweet. I love them so much!

Gift Album

I bought an album kit that included all papers, stickers, die-cuts, and the album. I wanted to make an album for my nephew's fiancee'. She is about to have a baby (it's a boy). I didn't want to make a traditional baby album (that's her job), just something she could quickly put the pics from the hospital, etc. in. I wanted something cute, but quick and easy. This was it!!! All you do is adhere a strip of PP and the photo mat and then embellish as you wish. I added buttons, brads, and ribbon from my stash to complete the LOs. Did the entire album in about 1 1/2 hours. Now if I could just do mine that quickly!

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Donna

New Layouts

I made these LO a while back for Edwin's album about him becoming a citizen. I did a few more but haven't taken pics of them yet. Since this was a very patriotic event and the party was on the 4th of July, I'm doing the album in red, white, & blue.

The right side is a hand-held fan from the party that I took apart and adhered to the page. I then printed the Pledge of Alleigience on vellum and put over the flag fan.

His naturalization certificate clearly states it's not to be copied or reproduced in any way. Yeah whatever, I needed a copy for my scrapbook!

On the right side I punched the large tag with a border punch to give it a little more pizzazz.

I used leftover party invitations as the PP on this page. I also cut one in half and used the inside as part of the journaling for the page.

Hopefully, I'll have many more layouts to post next week. I'm doing the marathon crop at Scrapbook & Co. this weekend. I really need to be productive, I'm way behind. The problem is I like to talk and be social a little too much. I'm determined to get lots done this weekend so don't take it personally if I'm not as social as usual.

Thanks for looking and have a great week! Can't wait for Friday!!!!

Journal

This is a composition book I decorated into a journal for one of Christine's friends. We gave it to her for her birthday along with a couple of cute necklaces. She really liked it. I used Glimmer Mist on the green border (it was ivory colored). I also used GM on the large flower under the red one (it was white). I glued strips of ribbon to the inside of the front and back covers and then tied the strips into a bow.

I will try to post recent layouts tomorrow. I need to take pictures and load them to the computer. I'm too tired tonight, I've been loading pictures to my computer and ordering them online through Walgreens. I had about 500 pictures to go through and order. Guess I better get busy and do some serious cropping.

Decorated Notebooks

Here are three composition notebooks I decorated to give to my three nieces in Guatemala. I think they'll like them. I think they are cute. I did the two green/brown/blue ones for the 16 yr. olds and the pink for the 14 yr. old. I thought they looked a little more "sophisticated" for the older girls. Thanks to my great friend, Christy, for the Sparkle Mod Podge, it made them very glittery! The borders along the left edge were a cream color and I sprayed them with Glimmer Mist to match the colors in my papers. The brown border I sprayed with "coffee bean" but it wasn't dark enough so I then chalked it with dark brown shimmer chalk. Thanks for looking and have a great week. I promise when I get back from the trip and get settled I'll post pics of my recent layouts!!

I'm back

That was a long couple of days....sorry! My laser eye surgery was a breeze. I am now without glasses or contacts and can see better than ever. We've been extremely busy and were on vacation. We had the most amazing time in Niagra Falls, Canada. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. I have managed to do a few things in between all the chaos. I will try to take pics and post in the next couple of days, when all the kiddos are back to school. Hope all have been well. It's good to be back!

This is us getting ready to go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. They take you as close to the Falls as you can get. It was so cool!!!!

This is Christine holding a Loorikeet at the Bird Aviary. I was lucky enough to snap the picture at the exact moment the bird bit her on the neck. She was done with the birds after that.

We went to the Butterfly Conservatory and we were all lucky enough to have butterflies land on us. Christine was gettting a little anxious because it took a while for one to land on her. Thankfully it finally happened (it's on the front of her shirt right above the document holder she's wearing).

This is Adriana with her butterfly. She was the first one to get one on her.

This is a picture of the American Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls taken from our hotel room. The American Falls are to the left. We could hear the roar of the water from our room when we opened the window.

This is a close up of the American Falls.

This is all of us preparing to take a carriage ride through the beautiful gardens that surrounded the Butterfly Conservatory. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

We did lots more stuff but it's too much to post here. You'll have to wait for the scrapbook to be finished.

out of commission for a couple of days

I had laser eye surgery this AM and about to pass out from the abundance of drugs (valium, vicodan, & sleeping pills). Will be back up to speed next week hopefully. Appreciate your prayers for a speedy recovery. Thanks and have a fantastic weekend.

Congrats Party

These are pics from the party I threw for Edwin in honor of him becoming a citizen. It was such a blast. I didn't think we'd have a very good turnout since I did it on July 4th. What a surprise.....we probably had about 75 guests. Edwin and I were so honored that everyone took time out from their holiday plans to come and celebrate with us. It was such a blessing to share such a special moment in our life with so many wonderful friends that are like family to us. I took the drink cups and filled them with candy wrapped in flag wrappers and put a pinwheel and two small flags in it. I used those as table centerpieces. They came out so cute. The tables were covered in either red, white, or blue tablecloths with the pinwheel cups and handheld fans with the flag on them. This is the cake and my cute hubby.

A pic of us with our dear friend Mike.

Edwin & me with our youngest son (really, nephew, but they are more like sons to us), Danilo.

Christine with our oldest son (nephew), Mynor.

Us, together and having a blast.

Christine and Adriana were the welcoming committee. They stood by the door and gave star-shaped necklaces to everyone as they came into the party. They thought that was so cool!

Me and my dear friend, Pauline, and her niece, Mercy.

Our girls with a couple of their friends.

Me and one of my best buds...Christy!

Edwin with a bunch of the guys that work for us.

Edwin with several guests.

The Oath

Here are a few pics from Edwin's Oath Ceremony. It's still a little unbelievable to us. We went today and applied for his new US Passport (we need it right away to travel to Canada at the end of the month). They call out each country and the people from that country stand up. Edwin was the only one from Guatemala (out of 48 people). He's taking the actual Oath in this picture. He's reading it from the back of the handout.

He's saying the Pledge of Allegience for the first time as a US Citizen. It was so awesome! Then he actually received his certificate. He was called first and I wasn't quite prepared with the camera. The lighting was terrible in the room too. Finally, the happy family.