Finding my roots...

So facebook is pretty cool. I've been able to connect with some old high school friends as well as my current friends. What I didn't realize was that I would find my roots. One day I typed in my fairly uncommon maiden name, Barecchia, wondering if I could find the other Barecchia family that my grandmother and father lost touch with here in America. What I found were relatives I didn't even know I had in Italy. We communicated back and forth trying to figure out if we were related at all. One day I received an email and it said "Do you know this man?" Attached was a photograph. When I opened it I almost fell off my chair. It was an old photo of my father from the 60's, before I was even born and it did not look like Italy at all (It's Washington state). How did they get that photo and did they even know who it was? Maybe I solved some mystery of who was in that photo? Anyway, after weeks of communicating that photo was evidence of our relation. There is so much of my family over there. I'm getting lots of photos of my cousins and the little town my family came from. I'm hoping to make a trip to San Marco Evangalista one day to meet my family and see where we came from. Thank you facebook!

Ah...my cards are finally finished (well, almost)

I started making these in November. The card opens up from the top and the white snow at the bottom is actually a pocket that holds photos of the kids inside. I got this idea from one of my favorite stampers, Jennifer McGuire.

Here's the card inside...

You know you watched too much Seinfeld when...

So I had Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year. I spoke with my sister, Krista, a day or two before and she told me that she was bringing Chocolate cake and black and white cookies to compliment the pies that my sister-in-law was bringing. I thought to myself...great, John loves those cookies. We haven't had them in ages. So when I got off the phone I said to John in excitement "John, guess what? Krista's bringing black and white cookies!" He didn't seem all that excited so I added "I thought you would have been excited about that. You used to love those, right?" and he said "No, I think you're thinking of Jerry Seinfeld". I started to think about it and he was right. We watched SO much Seinfeld in 90's that I think it became part of my reality!

Talking Turkey...

If anyone needs a good recipe for cooking turkey today (or a good laugh) continue reading. Here are some of my son and his classmates turkey recipes and dessert ideas from their publication Talking Turkey with the Y's Owls 2008

Jake: "Stove it for 5 seconds. Put turkey sauce on it with dressing. Put vegetables in it with broccoli for six minutes. Fried pickles for dessert. Put sprinkles - colored ones on the pickles. Um, yeah, a chicken, a chicken with the thing on the top of his head."

Lucy: "Cook it with sauce - I forget. Then we would roast it in the fire for five minutes. Eat it with hot dogs and peanuts. Vanilla ice cream for dessert."

Ryan: "Put it in the oven with water and chocolate milk. Cook it in the toaster for seven minutes. Serve with donuts and some macaroni and cheese."

Ben: "Put gravy on it. The smell of it tastes good. I smell things so I know what they smell like. Broccoli stuffing - yummy! Only me and my mom know the recipe. Cook it for one minute in the oven. I got a brand new kitchen. I like ice cream. It's gonna be the best turkey - yummy."

Connor K: "Use some lemon juice and apple juice and a button. Cook it in the oven, a cold oven. Cook it for 20 minutes. Make some legs of the turkey with chicken, salad and leaves. I like turkey for dessert."

Connor H: "I'll eat the leg of it. Cook it with a pan and roast it. Put ketchup and macaroni and cheese on it. 3 minute it in the microwave. Yea - dessert, nothing.

Brooke: "I don't know the ingredients. I like to eat cake and cupcakes. Well. I like to pick flowers at Thanksgiving, too."

Molly: "You cook it in the oven for 20 minutes. Put ketchup on it. Make the oven super hot. I like to eat Santa cookies with sprinkles and Santa donuts."

Claudia: "Cook it with gloves. I would go outside and play in the leaves. Put the turkey in the oven with a tray. Add sugar and eat the leg. When the turkey is in the oven, Mommy makes a fire. Cook the turkey for 15 hours. I like cookies for Thanksgiving."

Grace: "Cook it with a pot, those things you hold it up with. I have one at my house and a turkey baster. I don't know how hot Mommy cooks it. It takes 9 seconds to cook. Put butter and salt. Me and Mommy did that before. My favorite food to eat on Thanksgiving is macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes with no gravy."

Brady: "I don't know how you make turkeys. I would have a turkey and put on sauce and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. The oven is on 2 degrees, but I don't want the turkey running around in the oven."

James: "Cook it with a knife, and cut it up on pieces. Put ketchup and mustart. Mustard makes my breath smell good. Cook it for two seconds. I like to have grapes."

Nicholas: "Put butter and mayonaisse on it with cheese. Cook it for 20 minutes in the toaster. Eat it with whipped cream and sprinkles. I like cake!"

Simon: "Put some noodles in it and some chicken and some stuffing, that's about it. Cook it on the stove for 50 hours. That's about it, I think!"

Kaelee: "Roast it with salt, butter and cheese. Put it in the oven for 4 minutes. Make broccoli on the top of the oven. Bread, too. I like cake, banilla with chocolate inside for dessert, striper fish and a lobster."

Jeffery: "You would cook it in a pan in the oven for 5 minutes, and then we will put it in a bowl and stir it. Put it on a plate and eat it with a fork. You could find the bones when you ate all the skin. Some tomatoes and salad. Cake!"

Zoe: "I never saw a turkey recipe and Daddy don't have one. Put it in the oven with pepper, salt. I don't know what else. Cook it for 60 minutes in a hot oven. I don't know how long or hot. Make corn and chicken (lots of shoulder shrugs). Chocolate cake for dessert."

John, I yearbooked you, too (don't be mad)

1952
1956

1976

1980

1986

Have you Yearbooked yourself?

This is what I would look like in the different eras...

1952

1960

1966

1968

1974

1984


You can at www.yearbookyourself.com

I feel like a kid...

who just got a new toy! I can't stop playing with my Hero Arts stamps. They are just so much fun. I don't know if anyone else's kids do this, but mine sleep with every new toy for a while. John, aren't you glad I'm not doing that? Roll over onto the corner of one of those wood blocks...ouch. Anyway, here are some of the latest creations with my heros. I actually enter these for a chance to win a Hero Arts gift card. Wouldn't that be great to win, then I can get more of these babies!


three little circle cards


holiday card


gift tag

a candy corn witch and a police officer

We couldn't ask for a better night for Halloween. The weather was so mild and the kids had a blast.

Go Phillies!

This one's for John.

Something about the Fall

Makes me want to paint. I don't know what it is. John thinks I'm nesting for the Winter. I think it's because I know we'll be inside a lot and I want a change of scenery. Well, anyone who knows me knows how much I love paint...everything about it; picking the colors, the smell, the actual painting and the satisfaction of it all when it's finished. I bought new towels for the bathroom ages ago, but wouldn't put them out until the bathroom was painted so I finally went out and bought some paint. I can't tell you what color it is because I make the paint mixer at the stores add different colors until I like it. This was my project for the day. Now if I could only find the soap dispenser and toothbrush holder that I bought when I bought the towels...and I need some artwork.

Reminisce Design Team Search

Reminisce, a scrapbook company, is searching for a new member of their design team. I decided at the end of last week to enter and put together some projects this weekend for my entry. Since I decided to enter last minute, I had to work with what I had (no time to order new product online) which was basically a couple of sheets of patterned paper, but they make terrific punch out journaling spots, rubons, etc.

On this layout I used the fun patterned paper called 3,2,1...Blast Off. This is a hybrid layout. The dotted circles, title and journaling are printed directly onto white cardstock.

This is a card I made with the Snow Globe collection of Christmas paper. This one is the Frosty Frame Up. I cut the marquee shapes out and printed out my photos (highlights of this year) as 1"x1" squares, adhered them to the back and then mounted it on red cardstock. The small center square is the part that opens to reveal the sentiment.






And here's a layout I did with the same Snow Globe collection.

What's your color IQ?

I stumbled upon this cool little quiz. Give it a go and let me know what you get! (comment below)

Take this quiz

Happy Anniversary John!

September 10th, 1994

Fourteen Years...
1 sassy daughter
1 crazy son
3 homes (not all at once)
1 invisible dog
1 not so invisible dog
Lots of life changes
I wouldn't change it for the world!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I can't believe how dorky I look in these photos!

Balloon accident

I'm just so sad that one of the hot air balloons (the blue one with the butterfies) that often flies by our house (remember this post?) went up in flames as it was landing. The seven passengers were seriously injured, but unfortunately, the pilot didn't make it out of the basket and died.
You can read more about it here

Back to School

I can't believe how fast the summer went...crazy. What's even crazier is that my baby girl started 3rd Grade this year. Nicholas is now a "Y's Owl" at the YMCA. Now that will make a great scrapbook page since I'm into Owls now (gotta get that Hero Arts Big Owl stamp!). So he has only one more year until Kindergarten...Ah! I've been going to that Y since Sophie was 3 years old. It's become part of my daily routine. It's really going to be strange next year not going there.


{maddie and sophie}



{nicholas in his new Y's Owl room}

Cards for Heroes

I'm posting this to help get the word out. "Cards for Heroes is exists to support our nation’s armed forces by sending greeting cards on which deployed troops can write home, as well as cards full of gratitude sent to injured heroes recovering in hospitals."

Jennifer McGuire is having a Card Drive to help "Cards for Heroes". I hope she doesn't mind that I copied this part from her blog...

You can either send cards with messages of encouragement for the soldiers... or you can leave them blank for the soldiers to fill out and send to their loved ones at home. We are looking for holiday cards since these will get to the soldiers right before the holiday season. You don't even have to provide envelopes. I have lots.

Pretty cool, huh?

All you have to do is mail them to this address by September 30th:
UPDATE: The date has been extended to October 15th

Jennifer McGuire
Heroes Card Drive
PO Box 428612
Cincinnati, OH 45242

Here's one that I made.

Beach Shots

Oakley's Oakleys

They're not really Oakley shades, but I couldn't resist. Oakley is one "cool dude" don't you think? Well, that's what everyone says when they see him taking walks wearing his shades. I never realized that the sun is bad for dog eyes as well as ours and he actually keeps them on for long walks when it's very sunny.
For those of you who don't know Oakley. We got him 10 years ago, but had to give him away when he was 3 1/2. He was adopted by Debby and Jim who have become very good friends of ours. The kids and I just spent a whole week at the beach with them, including Oakley, Sophie (their black lab) and Margaret the cat.

More on CKC - Valley Forge

{elizabeth dillow and me}



{me with kim kesti}


As promised I have more on CKC - Valley Forge. It was so much fun, I want to do it again, like tomorrow! I took three classes and was a Teaching Assistant for two, well three, but one we did
two times in a row. I have to say that I really liked all the classes.


{second layout from scheming around}


The classes that I was a TA for were great. The first (and second) one was called Scheming Around. It was taught by Elizabeth Dillow, from Simple Scrapbooks and the author of "the scrapbooker's Almanac". The projects in the book are based on days of the year and lesser known holidays, some birthdays and a few more known holidays....very cool! She's so sweet and I got to spend two hours with her! Anyway, the class made three layouts and they were all multi-photo layouts. The first one look amazingly like a sketch I did and posted as a challenge on the SAS board. I'll have to post photos. The second one was really cool. They punched holes in a big circle and then put a contrasting cardstock on the back to show through. Then I got to spend the next hour with Kim Kesti from Papercrafts Magazine. She's great, too. I really lucked out with these, two! Her class was called Crazy for Chipboard which, if you know my scrapbooking, is totally up my alley. I'm a huge chipboard fan. In this class they made three cards with different chipboard techniques; painting, sanding, stamping, covering with paper...I'm probably forgetting some. Oh one was a chipboard file folder card. I loved all the cards and was able to get an extra instruction sheet. I've already re-created two of the three with my own supplies.


{mini-book cover}
The first class I took was Stretch Your Supplies which was based on Jennifer McGuire's book "101 Things you can do with your Scrapbook Supplies". It was taught by Tiffany Tillman. We did a layout and a mini book cover. I thought we were supposed to do a card, too, but maybe I was wrong. It was a fairly fast paced class. I didn't really learn how to stretch my supplies, but the layout and book cover I do really like. I finished the book cover and almost finished the layout.

The next class was also by Tiffany. It was called "One, Two,Three, 4x6". I was hoping to learn some tips on 4x6 layouts, but really didn't. We just made three layouts. Another fast paced class I didn't finish them because I didn't bring the right photos - colors were wrong. Now most people probably finished the layouts, but I'm really anal. when it comes to doing layouts. I take my good 'ol time to line things up.


{felt fusion mini album}

Later on I took a class called Felt Fusion Mini Album. This was really interesting to me because I have a pack of this and never took it out to use it. We made a little accordian book and a card. I was surprised to find out that the adhesive on this product is meant for heavier duty projects instead of lightweight paper and that you're supposed to use glue on it rather than peel the sticky off so you can move it around a little. The self-adhesive doesn't let you pick it up and move it. I also learned that this product is really meant to be cut up (or used as it comes like a border). I did actually learn a lot about the product in this class and I finished both projects there. The classses that I was a TA for were great. The first (and second) one was called Scheming Around. It was taught by Elizabeth Dillow, from Simple Scrapbooks and the author of "the scrapbooker's Almanac". The projects in the book are based on days of the year and lesser known holidays, some birthdays and a few more known holidays....very cool! She's so sweet and I got to spend two hours with her! Anyway, the class made three layouts and they were all multi-photo layouts. The first one look amazingly like a sketch I did and posted as a challenge on the SAS board. I'll have to post photos. The second one was really cool. They punched holes in a big circle and then put a contrasting cardstock on the back to show through. Then I got to spend the next hour with Kim Kesti from Papercrafts Magazine. She's great, too. I really lucked out with these, two! Her class was called Crazy for Chipboard which, if you know my scrapbooking, is totally up my alley. I'm a huge chipboard fan. In this class they made three cards with different chipboard techniques; painting, sanding, stamping, covering with paper...I'm probably forgetting some. Oh one was a chipboard file folder card. I loved all the cards and was able to get an extra instruction sheet. I've already re-created two of the three with my own supplies.



{amy, me and kristin}
Doesn't it look like we're holding up Olympic medals?


Between all of that I walked around the vendor faire a little. I didn't leave myself enough time at the vendor faire. I didn't even see half of it. I did meet up with some of the CKMB gals and got a cute tag that Kristin made for us out of a placemat...she's so creative. So it was a VERY busy day that started with me getting up at 5:30 am. This will explain why I look SO tired in the photos.


{lil-rosi, amy, me}