Grateful....

...for another really good Cohen/Gilman Thanksgiving : )

Lynne and Rob - during our Wednesday prepping!

Basting is the key!

Lar always brings Lynne beautiful flowers for the holiday table.

Note for next year....MORE PHOTOS, PLEASE!

Pretty Maids all in a Row

Love you girls! xoxo

Happy Father's Day

My dear friend Cynthia posted a photo of her and her dad on her blog the other day...and it immediately reminded me of the photo above. (Note the same paneling and same harvest gold "dad chair" recliner.) I love Cynthia's style and her ability to work her most nostalgic memories and treasured photos into her writing, journaling, scrapbooking and memory keeping...and have it feel so fresh and new and interesting. And yes, Miss Cynthia, I am long overdue for some SCRAPPIES and you so inspired me to get crackin' on some layouts!

But first - the photo above (haven't done this scrapbook page yet....but the ideas are perking!) The photo is from the 70's, of course. It is my dad (the day he came home from the hospital, hence the heavy beard and moustache - he was usually clean shaven.) Perched on his knee is my baby sister, Niki. I took this photo as part of the one roll of film I shot to earn my photography badge in Girl Scouts. It is the only photo I ever took of my dad (he died in April of 1975 - not long after this photo was taken.) The only other photos I have from that roll are of our cherry tree in the front yard. I have no memory of the other photos....sisters...any ideas? Wonder what became of them....(see how important memory keeping is!)

The things that I see in this photo:

• Our dad always had a pen in his pocket (appears his glasses are in there too!)...he always wore a watch and his wedding band...and Niki was his favorite! (hee)


• That yellow and red book in the magazine rack on the right is from the circus...not sure what year was the last time our dad took us, but I remember looking at that book over and over again. My dad loved the circus.


• The flowers in the bottles on the divider wall were my creations...I used empty vanilla extract bottles and any other little glass vessel I could salvage (upcycle!) to hold these flowers. It was a craft kit I got for Christmas - I think they were called "Dip It" --you formed a wire petal or leaf and dipped it into the goo...it then hardened into a transparent film. {This site is the closest thing I could find for it. Mine looked NOTHING like those! I only had red and green "goo" - but my kit came with red-tipped yellow stamens and green floral tape, too! I remember it was VERY smelly. Probably toxic! eek!}


• I had forgotten the kitchen wallpaper design (harvest gold and orange and avocado green--oh yeah.) I still love cafe curtains (tho' I don't have them in my house).

And so...inspired to keep jotting down my memories and cobbling together minutes (hours!) to create scrapbook and journal pages. Cynthia and Sandy, I promise to upload my pages to SISTV!

In the meantime, here is one I just did early, early this morning....Little Miss's hands at play. Love that she is a LEFTIE! xo (sorry the scan is so crappy)

C is for Coffee, Cookies and CRAFTING!

Ohh...had a blast last night with my BFF AIMEE at the Creative Inkling class! (AIMEE--SERIOUSLY - why do we not take fabulous pictures of ourselves when we are together?!? sheesh. ) The crop was at the House of Coffee coffee Shop in Peddler's Village - the project was a minibook made of cardboard coffee cup sleeves....how clever is that? And the embossing powder was COFFEE SCENTED! oh for cute!

And oh my stinkin' HECK the new Bind-it-All is PINK and I finally have one after coveting it for oh-forEVER! (NIKI AND EMILY - GET YOURSELVES OUT HERE TO CRAFT WITH ME! It is fabulous!)

{Loved the color of that chalkboard in the coffee shop...forgot to ask Dave the Barista if he knew what brand that paint is....would love to do a wall in the kitchen....hmmmm....}

For my sister*....

...because she loves SPRING and her garden and digging in the dirt and being outside in the sun.

Come on SPRING...GET HERE ALREADY! (It was 40 degrees this morning. Wha? We have the FIREPLACE GOING TONIGHT. Seriously.)

This was inspired by the oh-so-inspiring Donna Downey, she herself. I want to make one in every color.

(*Shhhhh! Don't tell! I don't think she reads my blog daily and this isn't in the mail to her yet!)

So behind! First things first!

OK... I owe my lovely niece MIKAYLA a birthday SHOUT OUT (She turned 14 on the 16th!) So HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mikayla! This one's for you and your birthday party peeps!

{Hi girls! Leave a comment here and you will get a special treat from Aunt Susie!} xoxo

Birthday Princess!

Tribute Wall for Miss Mikayla...14 years in photos. (Great idea, Jackie! xo)

{How much do I love this photo? xo}

BFF & Lady-in-Waiting, Olivia

BFF& Lady-in-Waiting, Curran!

BFFS & Ladies-in-Waiting Lucy and Catherine B!

BFF & Lady-in-Waiting, Candace!

Oh I could go for a big slice of this cake right now! Was as yummy as it was pretty!

Flowers for the birthday girl from her Aunt Carol!


Prince David (Mikayla's brother) & his pal Davis served as Waiters for the evening!

Proud Parents & their Princess!

{Oh...and of course every Royal Family needs a Court Jester, right? You are fun, David!}

Happy (Belated!) Birthday Lyndee!

Happy, Happy Birthday Lyndee....Love you tons....

P.S. Still lovin' WORDLE.NET for custom greetings! Be sure you have time to PLAY...it's ADDICTIVE! "Create Custom Word Clouds" - brills. xo

Too tired for words...

...I am just going to put my feet up for a few minutes and hope I get a second wind ('cause Michael's is open until 10 tonight and I really need to get silver glitter. and more felt. seriously.)

Oh my...only 4 more sleeps 'til Santa! NO WAY SHUT UP.

In the meantime....enjoy these Christmas Cookie Baking Day photos! Fun with Mikayla, Jackie and David!

hohoho!

xoxox

PS Mikayla - we didn't get enough pretty pretty princess pictures of our finished products! xoxo Gotta set up that photo shoot! hee

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Our annual Jack-o-lantern carving evening! Extra fun that the Phillies won! WooHoo!

Favorite Photo Friday {#12}

If I were a house, I'd want to be a fancy Painted Lady. Who knew purple looked so good on me? Hee. This was taken in Orbsonia, PA, at a farmer's market/gift shop my sisters, mom, and dear friend Helen have frequented through the years on our "halfway visits" (midway between Philly and Pgh). Love the new paint job!

Favorite (Photo) Friday {#10}

Who knew Moisha was a reader? Hee. Was at my sis&bro-in-law's a few weekends ago...returned a book and delivered the tee-shirts for their donation to the Dragon Boat Race (thanks, L&L!) -- and set them on the sofa while we worked on the project of the day (Landon's programs for his bar mitzvah.) Turned around at one point and there was Moishie....watching us from his comfy perch. Awwww...Who's a good boy?

Hitchcock Blonde Kit Layout {#3}

Oh I am SO IN LOVE with the STRING OF PEARLS paper. Had a hard time CUTTING INTO IT....but once I did I loved the look of a few strands here and there on this layout.

This photo is my mom and dad, Thanksgiving 1960. They had been married for a year by then, but my oldest sister would not enter the picture until the following December. I don't recall ever seeing this photo until very recently (thanks, Nik!) How gorgeous are those pearls on my mom?

Love her smile in this pic.

They only had 16 married years together before my father died.

What we all wouldn't do for another Thanksgiving with him.

Technicolor Postcards Hitchcock Blonde kit items: Black fibers (from burlap piece); heart cut from red burlap, Hambly transparency screenprint (Gold) and paper (Black Brocade), String of Pearls patterned paper; vintage pearl button and silk flowers; Thickers "Jewelry Box" letters in gold and black.

Pure Sunshine

SERIOUSLY. Does this make your whole face smile or WHAT? Her daycare "teachers" (as her dad calls them...cracks me up. He has called it "school" since she started there at 6 months old. hee.) ANYWAY....they gave Rob this photo when he picked her up last Friday.

I love how she wears her sunglasses but rips hair accessories out! Too stinkin cute.

Cannot wait for her to get here (1:30!). A week between visits is TOO LONG.

Happy Saturday!

(PS PICNIK rocks for those of us who are DIGITALLY CHALLENGED with the photo editing!)

Pretty Maids All in a Row...

...how much you wanna bet my nieces will think I am referring to them as "cleaning ladies" rather than "maidens" -- 'cause you KNOW they won't get the Eagles song reference. Sigh.

But I wanted this for my title - only wish I could have found the dang Cheeseburger in Paradise business card or coaster that I snagged that day.....would have stapled it right onto the page!

Wasn't sure when to stop on this one...I think I went a bit overboard--but we'll see how the girlies like it.

Hugs to the pretty maidens! Thanks for being such pretty pretty princess subjects! xo

The parade of the niece & nephew scrappies continues!

More scrappies to share! Emily is the oldest of my sisters' children....how she can be TWENTY YEARS OLD is beyond me. She is in her second year of college (again--wha? college?) and these photos are from her visit in May over Memorial Day Weekend. Love this girl!

Loving the poloroid frame on Picnik...and the fonts. That is the extent of my 'photoshopping' expertise. I am SO not good at the digi stuff. I like the IDEA of it...but not gonna blow out any more brain cells trying to fight my way through that learning curve!

And so, I will stick to my papers and rub-ons and stamps and Mono-adhesive. Worked on this one all day on and off...was having trouble with my layering and angles - still not happy with all the wonky slanting....but in the end....I thought it wasn't half bad! (The bling is all pink--didn't scan well.)

And so to bed!! Tomorrow is another day, Scarlett!

She Shines : )

OK - working on a series of layouts of my gorgeous and much beloved nieces & nephews!! Here is Miss Mikayla, a few years back. As always, she shines...wish I were as photogenic as this girl! How pretty is this pose with the light hitting her hair? Thanks, Uncle Frank, for this photo! xo

They are COHEEESIVE

Love having nieces in COLLEGE (Em and Jess!) - so proud of them going forth so bravely and (in Jessie's case!) FIERCELY! Love that they are so excited about being away from home and in school, and that they have made friends so easily.

Jessie's first email to me about her roommate was that they felt like they knew each for forever--that they were "coheeesive" -- love the lingo : )

This layout came together quickly with scraps and bits from my craft table and lots of inspiration from the SIStv gals'---lots of bright color and fun - which is how these smiles make me feel!

Love ya, Jess! xox {Photo by Jessie :)}

Now which niece/nephew wants to be next?

Favorite Photo Friday {#5}

What a great sport this guy is! This picture CRACKS.ME.UP. This is Ethan (age 15) - my nephew. Last weekend we were there for a cookout and he was the most gracious host to his much younger cousins. Of course they loved the attention of the BIG KIDS (Ethan and his brother Landon) and while Ethan was video-chatting with his friends (how fab is wireless?)--they snuck up behind him and in stage whispers gave Ethan lines to repeat -- had us all rolling with laughter. "Efan! Say 'these are my hands!'" "Efan! Say 'do you like my headband?'" The best was when Landon taught the little ones how to use a "bendy straw" to make "armpit fart noises" --- that was worthy of at least 45 minutes of fun. "Efan! Say 'oh excuse me! I have to fart'" Oh yeah. Good times : )

Favorite Photo Friday! {#4}

Little Miss loves her rubber duckie. I love that. He goes in the car with her, sits on her highchair tray while she eats, is held in her hands while she watches her Elmo and Baby Prodigy videos. And when she is not here with us, he sits patiently on the edge of the tub and waits for her to return. xo

Miss Mikayla Models "The Mermaid"

How much cuter does this girl look in this apron than I do? She could wear it as a SKIRT!

I am insisting she donn it while we scrapbook her dance pages and our new project - "Mikayla's shopping bag book" - a little something we came up with to pay homage to her love for shopping and put her "shopping bag collection" to good use.

(Mikayla came up with the idea to spell out her name using letters cut from her favorite stores' shopping bags. We will make a scrapper out of her yet!)