Happy Thanksgiving!

I have 2 layouts to share with you this morning.  But first, I want to wish all of you, even those that don't celebrate it, a very Happy Thanksgiving.  From the bottom of my heart!  To all of you scrappers out there, I want you to know how thankful I am for your friendship and scrappy support!!!

This week's "Color Me Scrappy" colors are amazing and fun for fall!  And in addition, you need to use Kraft as your background - plain or patterned.

Here is my take:

If you are interested in playing along with color-schemed challenges, head on over to

 Color Me Scrappy 

and check them out!  You will have fun!!!!

I loved the photo I took of Anne at Jacobsburg Park a couple of weeks ago.  We decided to walk in the opposite direction, and came upon some really cool old buildings!

 I made a layout for one of the many (and fun!!) Scrap-Friendzy's "Fall Friendzy" challenges using a recent family photo.  This one was taken at Penn State - it was our first visit to see Katie as a freshman on Parent's Weekend.  

I can't even begin to tell you how happy and blessed I feel to have this wonderful family, and my extended family, too!  I am thankful for my sisters and their families, my mom, my husband's family, my aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews  - them all!!!!

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you so much for your continued friendship and for visiting my blog!

Orange Belt!

Anne got her orange belt at Action Karate this past Thursday.  Her dad and I couldn't have been more proud of and happy for her.

Here are some photos from the belt promotion ceremony:

Here's Mr. Bittner speaking to the class just before the ceremony began:

 The class lining up to demonstrate their blocks:

 Anne leading the class performing their kata:

 Anne's yellow belt was placed on her left side depicting the past . . .

 The entire class with their new belts!!!

And my favorite photo of all . . . Anne looking so proud and happy:

 So, of course, being the scrapbooker that I am, I decided to make a page in honor of Anne's achievement and hard work!    I was surfing the web and came across the
My Creative Sketches site and really liked their sketch for this month:

And here is the page I created using Anne's photo!!

Thank you so much for your visit to my blog.  I appreciate your time and friendship!!!  I hope you had a great weekend  . . . enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

We drove up to Penn State this morning and picked Katie up!  She will be home for a week!  We are all so happy to have her home!!!  So much to be thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

A magical night!

Last evening did not start out good.  We were all so excited to drive to Peddler's Village, not only to see the Christmas lighting ceremony, but to see all of our friends from our travel group again.  (It seems like forever ago since we saw them!)

 . . . but nothing seemed to work out right  . . . we forgot our GPS, we got stuck in a ton of traffic, we made a wrong turn and then had to turn around, we could not find a place to park, we were late and actually missed the lighting! :(
But when we arrived at Peddler's Village,  everything and our moods immediately changed.  It was like we walked into a magical wonderland of lights.  And guess what?  Right after we parked, we saw Santa as he was walking home and he shouted out a loud "Merry Christmas" to us!!!  YAY!!!!  Our moods lightened immediately!

The best part of the evening was getting to see and talk to everyone in our travel group again.  I count my blessings every time we get together with them because we couldn't have met nicer or more caring group of people, ever!

I didn't get the best photos, but the memories and thoughts are there.  Here are some to share:

Peddler's Village was decorated to the nines for their "Grand Illuminations" Festival.  If you want to learn more about Peddler's Village, you can visit their website here!

Here are some of the sights we saw . . .

We thought we would never find our friends because it was PACKED with people! But as Christmas magic would have it, we ran right into them as we were trying to make our way to the coffee shop.

We walked by a toy store, which to me, is the epitome of Christmas.

Here is Anne outside the toy store admiring one of their stuffed giraffes:

The Nativity Scene was beautiful:

As we walked back to the coffee shop to warm up, we passed through the most beautifully lit tunnel!

The coffee shop was warm and inviting, but very crowded!  Here are our kids having a BLAST playing with each other!

And my favorite moment of the night - John and Anne walking arm in arm . . . back to the car.

Awwww - I love them so much!!

There is nothing like a little Christmas cheer!

I am sending a great big thank you to Kim for organizing this impromptu get-together.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing all of our friends and their children!

And thank YOU for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend.  We are driving up to Penn State to pick Katie up tomorrow. . . . she is spending Thanksgiving week with us and we are all so excited!

Two very special challenges to share!

The first challenge I want to share with you is a very special one taking place at 

Scrapping the Music!   

The song for challenge #209 has a great story behind it. The song was submitted directly from the artist himself!!  He found Scrapping The Music by chance and the rest is history!

Here's his story:

Hi Music Scrappers,

My name is Dave Erdmann..I was finishing up my latest cd and needed some "artwork" for the sleeve.  I found a wonderful fiber artist artist named Sharon Wheat  www.sharonwheat.com ...

I was mesmerized by her work and started digging a bit to find more.....Somehow a link called "Scrapping The Music"  popped up and while skimming the site I noticed a series of "challenges"  for the participants....Find some inspiration in music and throw that on a visual image..fascinating....Real people, real emotion and creation for the sake of the artistic process......

I am a songwriter and I am inspired by people that "Try Everyday"....  The inspiration for the attached video was the "saga" of America's most decorated alpine skier Bode Miller.  He has been up & down, criticized, judged....through it all, he has persevered.  He was deemed "washed up" and all but dismissed by his coaches, peers and the US ski federation.. Then last season he crushed the competition on Americas toughest downhill ski course The famed "Birds of Prey" in Colorado. 

Check out the video:

And if you would like to learn more, please go to  Transistor Radio's website here!

Without further ado, here is the layout that I created inspired by this wonderful song:

My journaling reads as follows:  "Anne struggles with reading.  She really does.  But I have to say, she always tried to do her best.  I admire her persistence and drive.  She has improved immensely this year because of her dedication."  The lyrics from this song really inspired me.  Just try everyday!

Thank you, Dave Erdman, for the wonderful inspiration this week!!!!!

And the second layout I would like to share with you is inspired by

 Heather Landry's Sketch #28!

Isn't it awesome?  To find out more about it and Heather, and to see what the rest of the design team came up with for Sketch #28, check out her blog at Miracles Momma Designs here!

My layout:

As most of you know, I have been taking a photography class for the past 8 weeks.  This photo was the "sun flare" lesson!  I took it in our back yard because my models were all busy that week - Katie up at Penn State, and Anne with her karate lessons after school.  She is getting ready to get her belt promotion - her ORANGE belt!  YAY!

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog today.  I really appreciate your visit!
Enjoy your Thursday, everyone!

Nunsense!

We went to see Katie as the Reverend Mother in "Nunsense" this past weekend!   We had an amazing time, enjoying a weekend with just the girls!  And the show - - - it was wonderful!!!!!


Katie tried out for the show, Nunsense, and was ecstatic to land the role of the Reverend Mother, Sister Mary Regina!

My sister, Karen, my daughter, Anne, my mom, Jeanne, and my mother-in-law, Regina, all wanted to see Katie in her first play at Penn State University!  My cousin, Cindy, who is also a PSU grad, met us up at Penn State. And, she was celebrating her birthday!   YAY! Happy Birthday Cindy!

Nunsense was produced by the No Refund Theater at Penn State.  They have free, student produced shows running just about every weekend!  To learn more about it, you can check out their website HERE!

Here are some of the pictures that I took during 

the show - warning  - there are a LOT of them!

This funny slide show was playing before the show started!  

Cute, huh?!

And on to the actual show . . .

 Here is the director introducing "Nunsense:"

The orchestra:

 Opening act:

Zany nuns:

 Sister Leo wants to be the first nun ballerina:

 The Reverend Mother is reviewing their cookbook:

Katie makes a good "Reverend" Mother!!!

The finale:

 The cast a crew after the show:

and here's Katie with Anne afterwards(photo taken by Aunt Karen!):

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Penn State diner the following morning.  The "grilled stickies" tasted amazing!!!!

Katie and Aunt Karen:

 and with mom:

 And some photos taken after we arrived home:  We actually survived the drive!!!  YAY!  And it was a true girls weekend - no guys were there!

 That's our mom - she LOVED seeing Katie in her play!!!!

 and Anne was happy to be home . . .

The last pictures were given to be by my sister.  Thanks, Aunt Karen!!!!

And . . . thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!  Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!!