Winter 1959

 In winter of 1959 we had a huge snowstorm.  Sandra and I went outside to play.  It was so much fun to play in the snow!

I used Carta Bella All Bundled Up Collection kit for the background papers and stickers and Bazzill cardstock for the photo mats.  

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Christmas 1956

 I didn't remember this photo being taken but earlier this year I found it among some older photos.  I was so happy to find this photo of my sister Sandra and I with Santa Claus.  My Mama took us to have this photo taken.  I was thankful the photo had the date!  

I used the Echo Park Paper Company Christmas Cheer Collection kit to complete this heritage layout.  I love Bazzill cardstock to mat photos and journal.  I used the Cricut to write the title on a journaling card from the kit and cut the photo mat.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

 Karina loved playing outside in the snow with Daddy!  This was winter 1978 in the new house.  

I used the Let It Snow Echo Park Paper Collection kit.  I cut the pine trees from Bazzill cardstock using the Cricut Explore Air 2.  I love using the Echo park enamel dots for accents. 

 

What a busy day today was!

Today is a chilly one for September.  My husband cleaned the pool this morning so the children can get in as soon as school is over.  It was dirty from the days of rain we had.  He had to clean the filter too.  I love that pool so much!  The new Hinspergers 14 mil solar cover is so much nicer than any others we have bought.  It keeps the pool a lot warmer!  So, tonight I am grilling hot dogs, rosemary potatoes, Blue Lake green beans, watermelon and s'mores.  Kids in the pool quickly and then Isabella heads to band practice.  Thursday dinner during band season is rough.  In fact Monday, Wednesday or Friday are the worst days for dinner.  We have to eat an early light supper as Isabella and JW leave some days at 4:30.  

Tonight we will watch Heartland.  That program is on Hallmark Movies Now and it is our favorite show!  Isabella has some crazy way to drag two episodes in at once so we don't know!  We can only watch one a night because we started with Season One during corona and there are 13 seasons...we are up to season 10.  They are filming season 14 now but if she keeps watching two a night I will run out of shows to watch!  I told her no more after I caught on last night!  Only one show at a time.  LOL!  BTW-have a look at the Heartland shirts my family's company, Southern Style on Fifth Avenue, made for us!  Love them!  I ordered a long sleeve one too!

  

Home for the Holidays

 Christmas 1982 

Christmas at Gram and Pappy Smith's house was the most fun!  We always ate Christmas dinner after opening our gifts.  They bought the BEST gifts!

I used the Christmas Cheer Echo Park Collection kit for the background paper, stickers, and chipboard.  Bazzill green and white card stock made great mats to accent the photos.  The title is from Miss Kate's Cuttables and I used the Cricut to cut it.  

 

Decorating the Tree at Pappy and Grams

 Daddy, Mama and Karina decorating my parent's home for Christmas! They love Christmas!

The Best Blueberry Muffins

I have to share this recipe for the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten!  I was looking at People Magazine's August 17, 2020 issue.  A food blogger and author of Smitten Kitchen Every Day came up with this recipe after searching for a perfect blueberry muffin.  I have also been searching for a perfect blueberry muffin so I gave these a try.  I will keep this recipe in my favorites file.  The only thing I did not care for was that by the next morning the few that were left over were greasy on the bottom of the paper liner.  If you are not eating them all in one day I would recommend using the paper lined foil wrappers or slide a pretty liner over the greasy paper one.  Also, instead of using turbinado sugar I use the clear chunky sugars that are decorations for baking.  You could even use the colored ones...I almost used purple!  I love the crunchiness of that type of sugar...and so do the children!  You can find the recipe on her website at https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/08/perfect-blueberry-muffins/  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Scrapbooking Spring photos

Today we scrapbooked spring photos.  It is always hard to scrapbook photos that are not the current season or holiday but if you are sending them to be published you have to work ahead with the magazine's schedule.  

It was fun working with my granddaughter here to give her input and advice!  We got three double page layouts done!  That is my goal amount for each day and I am always glad when I get that many finished.  I am not a fast scrapbooker.  I fuss over the photos and want some Photoshop adjustments.  I stress over the papers and the decorative elements.  I know...it would seem that if is this stressful then why do I do it?  I simply and purely love to scrapbook.  I love my finished pages.  I have decided that it is my job to do this now.  It is my passion!  

Here are my latest pages.  

You can find many of my pages on my Facebook page, 1Nana2GirlsScrapbook. 

Also check out 1 Nana & 2 Girls Scrapbook on Pinterest!

You will find more inspiration on Instagram.

Planning for Christmas album and decorations

Today Lauren and I grabbed our Christmas planners for December Daily and filled in the activities for the month.  If I don't do that now I will have too many days with nothing planned to photograph or journal.  We managed to fill in something for each day but I have to say that this December is not going to be exciting.  Corona is messing with all the activities we usually do.  Sigh.  I really need a vacation!  I have been thinking of November around my birthday and back home before Thanksgiving.  But...where is it safe?  And close enough to drive because I am not flying right now.  

But, back to December Daily.  This is a scrapbook activity that I found on Ali Edwards Facebook page.  She does an album documenting activities in December with her family, travel, activities, etc.  I really liked the idea because I had done an album of my Mama and Daddy's Christmases through the years until I was 20.  That is when I got married so I had photos at our home after that (which are only partly scrapbooked).  I am seriously in love with doing this project every year now.  She takes orders right now for supplies for this activity.  You can find her at aliedwards.com.  She also has a Facebook page.  You can view all her past albums on her website for ideas.  

We also went over some ideas for our Christmas trees.  I think we will put up 25 this year.  That is not set in stone yet.  I have to make my Excel tree spreadsheet soon.  We will start to put them up at the end of September.  I start upstairs in the kids rooms and the loft and in October I will move to the Tennessee room and the Disney room.  Then the lights outdoors go up. I have to wait until after Halloween to do the kitchen as it is where all the Halloween treats and decorations are!  I will decorate the kitchen for Christmas before Thanksgiving.  In fact the only room I leave Thanksgiving decor in is the dining room.  It works for me.  I love having my house glowing with Christmas lights and trees for about 8-10 weeks.  I really love Christmas!  My parents always did over the top Christmas decor and they adored Christmas.  It was inevitable that I would too.

I am collecting my ideas for this year and putting them in my folder.  I have a folder that has 10 pockets and is red.  I labeled each section and I put the information from magazines, ads, addresses, lists, food, etc in each section.  It is actually 13 years old!  LOL!  I empty it each January and put back the things I will need the next year.  It is ready then to collect an idea here and there as the year goes by.  I also use 2 binders for planning, a smaller binder with my spreadsheets in it to use when shopping for new decorations, and my Land's End Christmas medium size open top tote bag.  See the photo of all this here.  Is it too early to think of Christmas?  For some it might be.  But, since my entire home is decorated for Christmas and there are nine of us since Mama and Daddy spend their Christmases in Heaven now it is very helpful for me to plan this way.  We miss my parents a lot at the holidays...and every day.  Planning to follow their traditions makes it easier to get through the Christmas season without so much stress.

Debra's Chocolate Gobs

Today I am sharing my recipe for Chocolate Gobs.  I intended to have Pumpkin Gobs with cream cheese filling but there was not a can of pumpkin to be found!  This is my own recipe from many years ago when the children were small.  I am not fond of  buttercream icing for filling.  Instead, mine is a cooked filling.  After the cookies and filling are cool enough to make the sandwiches I fill them.  Then I wrap them individually in waxed paper and store in the refrigerator.  The cooked filling will not hold up if stored at room temperature.  Here is my recipe and some photos of Debra's Gobs!  Enjoy!

Our Family

 Every family has a story to tell, welcome to ours. 

This is us.  Our life.  Our story.  Our home.

Each day holds an opportunity to create beautiful memories.  We share our stories by creating beautiful and meaningful scrapbook albums.  What we love most about scrapbooking is collecting these memories and stories together. 

Nana has scrapbooked since 1996.  Isabella and Caroline have been interested in photography and art since they were toddlers.  Nana gave them art projects to do and through the years they grew into young artists with a passion for scrapbooking. 

Our pages we share here are from three generations collaborating to create scrapbook albums for future generations…because every picture tells a wonderful story.