Scrapbook pages

A few people have asked to see what I've been working on lately. Well, I can't say I've done much lately, but I am trying to work on my Florida album from our trip back in March. And NO, I'm not that caught up, just felt like skipping ahead to something that was fresh in my mind!

I have been trying to finish the pictures from this trip for over a month now ... and still have a ways to go ... but here are a few pages to start with.




When Stacey took these photos at Sea World she said "I bet these will be some of our favorite pictures" ... and I agree! I love the way the pages turned out and the way the kids are all mesmerized by watching the Shamu show!
I just wanted to add this last page to make a quick illustration. So many times I hear people say they aren't creative, or can't scrapbook as well as someone else. Well I think that's just crazy talk! This page is SO simple ... it's 4 pictures (not even cropped!) stuck on a piece of patterned paper, with a few small dots stuck on at the end. But it still looks good, right?

There have been times when I have browsed the Scrapbook magazines and thought "wow, I really have to go all out with the embellishments in order to make my pages look THAT good!" I have often thought that mine pages didn't look as great as the ones in the magazines because they weren't as elaborate. You know the ones, the pages that have only ONE picture on them, but a thousand other details all around the picture?? Well guess what ... I have WAY too many pictures and FAR too little time to bother with all of that! Sometimes I do try to fancy the pages up a little. And yes I still love those embellishments. But I am on a mission this year to get caught up ... so you will be seeing LOTS more of my simple pages in the future.

"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." ~~The Nester

Mama's (almost) famous smoothies

I've been bitten by the smoothie bug! Jessica posted a yummy recipe a couple weeks ago on her blog and ever since I've turned into the smoothie queen.

How did they become famous you might ask? Well, my kids are known for calling almost everything I make as "Mama's famous". I've made Mama's famous applesauce - they called it that before they even tasted it!! I make Mama's famous chicken fingers, Mama's famous chimichangas, Mama's famous turkey meatloaf ... etc. It's kind of fun knowing that your kitchen creations have such great names (many times before they've even been tried and enjoyed!)

Anyway, back to the smoothies ... these are the simplest, yummiest, creamiest snack you will find. Actually, I've even made it for breakfast when I'm in a hurry. But lately this has become my mid-afternoon treat / pick-me-up. So if you call my house around 3pm there's a very good chance you'll hear a lot of slurping going on!

There is no right or wrong way to make smoothies. Basically the only thing I avoid is ice cream or sugar - because I'm trying to keep them healthy. But I add fresh or frozen fruit, fat free vanilla yogurt, fat free milk, soy protein powder, and sometimes even some flax seed. Oh, and you HAVE to try it topped off with some fat free Reddi Whip - oh. my. word. it's delish.

H likes to dip her banana in her smoothie :J likes to use an extra long bendy straw:
I like it with LOTS of fat free whip on top!
P.S. Pour them in a fancy glass for the kids and they will be thrilled!!

Do ya think I like to Scrap?

I just realized that I rarely ever post about scrapbooking, even though it is truly one of my passions in life. And no I don't have any fancy pages to show you today ... rather a small picture of my addiction!

Recently we removed the carpet from our living room, so in the process I had to move the bookshelf, and everything on it. I stacked all my scrapbooks in my room and realized that all together they were almost as tall as me!
Next on my addiction tour is this awesome little find, straight outta the 70's! I'm sure many of our Moms had one of these when we were growing up! It's an olive green, plastic, double decker lazy susan. wow that was a mouthful! I found it at the Goodwill for under 2 bucks and I think all my little embellishments just look adorable on it! don't you?
And finally, just to show that although I love memories and preserving them I refuse to be called a pack rat -- here is a stack of 3 years worth of scrapbook magazines -- that I just got rid of! For some odd reason I always thought I should keep them, just in case I ever needed a new idea. But I finally got smart and decided to pass them on to some friends. (I did however tear out a few pages that I thought I'd like to use in the future.)


Speaking of scrapbooking, I think I'll do some tonight! It's rainy and cold, Bob is at work, the girls would love to watch a movie tonight - it's perfect!! See ya later!