Happy Birthday Pop-Pop!!!!

Last week my Father-in-Law celebrated his 60th birthday, so last weekend his loving family threw him a surprise birthday party at the local fire hall. My Brother-in-Law Chris did alot of the work for the party....we just showed up with some cookies, some pasta salad, and 2 super cute kids to throw into the mix. It was such a great night with tons of friends and family there to help celebrate. Of course the girls had a blast playing with their cousins, sneaking cookies from the dessert table, and dancing to the music. I have memories of going to these types of parties when I was a kid and I remember them being SO exciting (but I have no memory of who or what they were for). I just know that I got to stay up VERY late, eat lots of junk food, and run around with my shoes off. So....that's what we let the girls do, too.

Here are a few shots from the evening......








Here are the girls with their Great-Pop-Pop (Ron's Grandfather from his Father's side).




My punk ass Sister-in-Law with 4 of her 5 way-too-adorable-to-NOT-be-on-TV-children:



Thanks for turning 60 Dad (aka Ron, aka Pop-Pop), and giving us a reason to throw a party!!!!

More Christmas crafts.....

I have a few new crafty items to share with you.

The first one is another Christmas mini album that I made by cutting a stocking out of chipboard on my beloved Cricut. I then cut the pictures to the shape of the stocking and embellished a bit. This one is from Christmas 2006 and I *love* looking back at how much the children have grown since then.
















The second project is a simple idea for all those tiny little pictures that come with your childs school photo packet. You know the ones.......much smaller than a wallet and you get an entire page of them. Why do we need 30 of these little suckers?I don't even KNOW 30 people, much less 30 people who would want a teeny-tiny little picture of my child. Anyways, I decided to make an ornament out of one! On the back I wrote her name, age and the year. This project was as simple as adhering glitter on a Maya Road chipboard shape (and sealing the glitter with Glossy Accents so that it doesn't come off onto everything it comes into contact with), adhering the picture to the back, and putting a piece of pretty ribbon on top. Easy-peasy. I also plan on making one for the teacher as a gift topper!



Last but certainly not least, a few handmade hanging decorations (which could also be used as ornaments). To make these I literally raided my leftover chipboard stash and found three small sized rectangular pieces. I glued old sheet music to the front, added Thickers for the words, and embellished with a little ribbon. I then cut 2 holes with my trusty Crop-a-dile and fashioned a hanger out of wire that I pre-wrapped over a pencil to give it the curl. Very simple!





Playtime at the Pole Press Release
You’re invited to our Playtime at the Pole All-Day Christmas Crop as we celebrate Christmas with a full day of fun. This Saturday, December 13, 2008, we’ll be headed to the Pole . . . the North Pole, that is.

We have a full day of activities planned, including plenty of games, challenges, fun and a whole lot of prizes! We’ll be spending the day helping Santa and all his elves prepare for Christmas and we’ll have a great time doing it, too. So make plans to join us this Saturday, December 13, 2008 in the Scrapbook News & Review Forums. It’s going to be a great day!

Thanks again for stopping by.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

And the winner of the RAK is.....

SARAH!

CONGRATS!!!!

Please e-mail me your address at achrupcala@hotmail.com and I will get your RAK out to you as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone for playing and check back soon......there may be more giveaways on the horizon.

:)

Scrapbook News and Review Blog-a-log

Welcome to all the Scrapbook News and Review readers, I hope you are enjoying your 2 weeks of Christmas fun with us. Aren't all of these blog-a-log blog's just great!!!???

I'm so glad you stopped by to check out my little slice of the blog world. I hope you find some inspiration among my pages to either get some supplies out and start scrapping....or at LEAST to head to Walmart and try what could possibly be the greatest invention in the history of the world....... click here to read the Lemishine post.

Oops. Off topic just a bit. Anyways........

For any new (or even old) SNR readers who have never been published....why not check out our current calls on the message board and submit a layout or two!? You never know, it may turn out to be your lucky day!!!! We would also love to see all of your creations in the gallery of the MB....so feel free to post away. We can't get enough of new inspiration. Oh, and don't forget to stop by the all day crop on December 13th. A little birdie told me there will be some FABULOUS giveaways all day (but you didn't hear that from me.)

Today I am going to share a couple of holiday themed projects that I have done with all of you. Check this post out for another recent craft that I made using my *GASP* sewing machine.

The first one is a simple paper cone that I made for a friends birthday (Susan.....if you are reading this right now.....LOOK AWAY!!!) These are as easy as curling a 12 x 12 sheet of paper into a cone shape, gluing the edges together, and embellishing. I love giving them as gifts!






The second one is an acrylic mini album that I made for my family with our memories of Christmas 2007. I purchased this mini album on ebay LONG before the acrylic craze hit the scrapbooking industry, so I have no idea where I got it from. However, there are so many on the market now that you should have no problem finding one just like it! Also, if you have never tried doing an acrylic album....PLEASE DON'T BE AFRAID! I know it is a bit intimidating at first, but you will be fine once you realize that:

a.) All you have to do is cut your pictures or paper the same size on either side of the acrylic piece for a nice clean look or....
b.) If you don't cut them the same size it is cool because you get a sneak peek as to what will be on the other side (I mostly used this technique in the album below) or.....
c.) You can use acrylic paint to hide the fact that you messed up and didn't cut your pics the same size (see the cover below as an example) or.....
c.) That it doesn't have to be perfect.













So, now that I have shared a few projects with you I have decided that it is time for me to do my very first blog giveaway......ever! Please leave me a comment by 5:00PM EST on Saturday, December 6th telling me what holiday crafts you will be/would like to be doing this year and I will pick one winner to receive a holiday themed RAK. Winner will be announced sometime on December 7th. Please make sure you leave an e-mail address where I can reach you if you are the winner......GOOD LUCK and thanks for stopping by.

Happy holidays!

Odds and ends.....

Just a few completely unrelated items to share today:

1. Last weekend was my birthday and Ron was kind enough to suffer through a few hours at a local Antiques Flea Market with me while I browsed the offerings. I had never been there before (they are only open on Sunday's) but I will FOR SURE go back. There was so much great stuff.....and I was lucky enough to come away with this vintage pie plate. Isn't she pretty???




2. I don't sew.

Let me clarify. I don't sew very WELL. I can sew a straight line like nobody's business, but I really don't know how to use my sewing machine. Ron has to change the thread for me if I want a different color. Don't tell him I told you that.

Anyways, I decided I wanted to make a few handmade Christmas gifts this year and the other night got crafty and made these ornaments. Yep.....I sewed them all by myself (after Ron changed the thread to red for me, that is)!!!! I was so impressed with myself and I think they turned out SO CUTE. Apparently so did Steph. After she saw them she asked if we could keep one (as if it was a kitten or a puppy). I think I will let her pick one out to hang on our tree.



3. I have had a 50mm lens for my camera (Nikon D40) for about a year but it doesn't auto focus (I have to do it manually. Blah.) Every time I took pictures with it they came out very blurry because I couldn't get the focus right. I got frustrated with it, put it in a closet, and forgot about it. I took it out today and played with it for a few minutes (all the shots in this post are from that lens) and I figured it out! There is a little light at the bottom that flashes when the subject is in focus. Who knew?

4. Steph had a Thanksgiving feast at school today and came home with a bonnet made out of paper. Here are my little pilgrims trying on the bonnet for me.




5. Here is wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving from the Chrupcala family!!!

Word.

Things I can't stop saying lately:

Oh My Hell.
Hip to the jive (a paper line was just released with that name!!!)
Stop it right now. (Got that one directly from Margie)
Oh snap

Things Jen can't stop saying lately:

The Milla = vanilla
achother = each other
Oak a meal = oatmeal
Happily Family After = happily ever after
aliens = ambulance (As in: we were all in the car yesterday and Jen said "Mommy, the aliens take bad people to jail." Ron and I had to figure that one out. Once we questioned her for a second we realized that she was trying to say ambulance. I love 3, it is such a funny age!)

Speaking of Jen......it was crazy hair day at school the other day. Here is what Ron and I came up with on the fly that morning:

Perspective.

Sometimes you feel as if life is SO unfair to you because they didn't have taco day in the cafeteria when you were totally craving it, or because you had to wait in line for 5 minutes to get some gas, or because your favorite socks got a hole in them which was just too devastating to patch up and you had to throw them away.

Maybe you start to feel sorry for yourself because you have to (*shudder*) study and do homework and go to school when all of your friends don't have to. Or because the only thing you have in the house for dinner that night is some frozen Encore mystery meat or chicken flavored top ramen.

Then life slaps you across the face with some perspective.

I found out today that a few scrapbooking friends of mine met each other when they were each fighting brain cancer. For those of you in the back: I said BRAIN CANCER. Ummmm......I have never had any sort of brain anything, much less cancer. And these two women have had numerous other health issues, but they still continue to be FAB-U-LOUS. Fabulous wives, fabulous mothers, and totally fabulous friends to each other.

I am super inspired by their story today because, well, I was really wanting a taco at lunch and I had to settle for a nasty burger.......and now I feel like a total backside and realized that I needed a bit of perspective to see just how damn good I have it.

Take some time to get a bit of perspective today and think about the things that you have in your life that make it great. I bet when Kate does that, Marisol is at the top of her list (and vica-versa).

Thanks for the perspective ladies (and get well soon Kate!!!!)

:)

Poor bird.

For a long time Jen has tried to convince all of us that she was the one who put all of the birdies in the sky. She will all of a sudden....out of nowhere.....start telling us a story about how she made all the birdies herself, and put them in the sky for us.

Of course we thank her immensely when she tells us this and then she continues on with her story.

Earlier today, the girls found a dead bird in the mulch in the backyard. I have not seen said dead bird, but the girls apparently took a very good look at it before I got home (and Ron had to remind them on more than one occasion to not touch it. Eww.)

After dinner, Jen remembered the poor bird and started telling me about it. Here is what she said.....and I quote:

"Mommy, my baby birdie fell down out of the sky and someone cutted his head off. I need to go find his head cause I love him. He was flapping his wings and he felled down and now he is dead. His head is out there somewhere."

Oh my. Such a description from my 3 YEAR OLD!!!! I didn't know she knew so much about death.

Poor bird. I wonder where his head is.

Bubba's coming + Halloween pics

The girls are very excited.....Uncle Bubba and Tina are coming for a visit this weekend!! They arrive on Thursday and leave very early on Monday, so there will be an entire weekend of EAT THE FACE happening at the Chrupcala house. It's only been a little over 2 months since they moved to Seattle, but in that short time they have been super missed. Can't wait to see you Bubba!!!

Halloween was super fun this year. Jen finally got the whole concept but decided she was done after about an hour of candy collecting. Steph has known for quite some time that she wanted to be a ghost this year, so weeks ago we found her costume at Target. Yes, it was a boy costume, and yes it cost about 10 times more than if I would have just purchased a sheet and cut two eye holes out....but she just HAD to have it. So we got it.....flimsy hood and all.

The Tuesday before Halloween was the safe trick-or-treating night at the local High School, so after Ron left for work the girls and I hopped in the car and went to get ourselves some CANDY! That night happened to be a seriously windy night....the kind of wind that takes your breath away. After our buckets were full we headed to the car and I told Steph to hold on to her hood real tight. We got home, got into the house, and Steph informs me that she lost her hood....it blew away in the wind. After 30 minutes of searching outside in the freezing wind (in complete darkness) I gave up. The hood was nowhere to be found. Steph was very upset and I told her that I would try to make her a new one......but she didn't like that idea too much. She wanted her flimsy boy-hood.

So the next night I spent a good hour or so cutting a new hood out of one of Ron's t-shirts. When she saw it she declared that it was gross and that the shirt smelled (yes, it was a clean shirt.....what kind of mom do you think I am???? Although....now that I think about it....that WOULD have been funny. There's always next year.) When I finished I thought for sure that Steph would hate it, but when she tried it on and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror all I heard her say was "AWESOME".

Mission accomplished.....my good mommy deed for the day was done.

Here are some pics of the kiddos including Steph with the t-shirt hood. And just a note for anyone with a three year old: face paint = not a good idea. By the end of the night Jen had a ring around her mouth where she had licked it all off. Gross.