Layout: Christmas 1983

In 1983 The Longaberger Company made a baby cradle basket. My cousin’s wife, Wendy, fell in love with it and purchased it.  In December, their 2nd daughter was born so she used the cradle for their Christmas picture that year.  Ashley is in the cradle and Allison is looking over her in front of the Christmas tree.
For this layout, I used “Christmas Punch” by Sweet Digi Scraps and a template from Fiddle-Dee-Dee’s Play It Again collection.

Layout: Christmas 1961

When I was young, the adults in the family would put on a short skit at our Christmas gathering.  My grandma Stoll always had our Christmas and always invited her sister’s family and Grandpa’s sister and her family since they were the only close family living in town. We were still a small group, less than 20 people total.

I used a kit from Sweet Digi Scraps called “Mistletoe” to do this layout commemorating the 1961 skit of “The Night Before Christmas”. I used a template from Scrapping With Liz that is available in her “Recyclables 18” collection.

Layout: Memories of Afghan Knitting

Every winter Mom would knit an afghan. She used the same pattern only doing it in different colors.  She would knit a few rows in the evenings after she had finished fixing dinner, cleaning up (of course, I helped with that) and grading papers.  It usually took several months for her to get one done.  Many of them were gifts for people although I still have several of them.  Her first one for us was shades of orange.  Orange was her favorite color and autumn colors were the “in” colors for decorating in those days. She also made one in scarlet and grey for Dad.  She made one in shades of blue for me when I lived at home. Later when I was in an apartment of my own, she made one in shades of brown.  I still have all 4 of these afghans to this day!

I did this layout to document these memories. The afghan in the picture was made in 1972 and was a gift for my cousin, Jack.  In this picture she was finishing the edges and our dog, Patches, was giving her paw of approval.

I used a kit from Sweet Digi Scraps called “These Memories” and a template from Sweet Digi Scraps “Splitsville” collection.

Layout: Stoll Kids

Fierce Beauty by Sweet Digi Scraps and Etc by Danyale available at The DigiChick. Template by Sweet Digi Scraps, Peek A Boo collection.

Layout: Islands of Adventure

Sweet Digi Scraps has re-released 2 of her kits at The DigiChick this week. "Growing Up Boy" and "Growing Up Girl". I used the boy kit for this layout of my cousin's son-in-law and grandson.

I started with one of Scrapping With Liz's "Fun With Chevrons" templates available at Scrap Orchard.

A Special Layout

I've been wanting to make a layout using this picture for quite some time now but struggled with a layout design to use. A SS friend is starting to design templates and asked if anybody would try it out. The minute I saw it, I knew this was the picture I wanted to use. Thanks Tiff for the template!

I used a kit from Sweet Blossom Designs called Vintage Fruit and I really love the way it came together.



Think I'll have it printed up and put it in a frame for Dad and Martha.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Goodbye Uncle John....

You will be missed. The Marker clan reunions will not be the same without you. Who will go in the water in their clothes because it is too hot? Who will be the friend to all?

Rest in peace and know that you are loved.

Happy Anniversary Mae and Tom!

I had the privilege of attending a celebration for a 60th wedding anniversary today. Tom is my Mom's cousin and I've known them all my life. It was a good time.... seeing family I haven't seen for awhile. Also had a chance to catch up with several acquaintances of my parents from years past.

Their daughter did something rather unique. She had guests either bring photos or memories to write about. She had the supplies there for creating scrapbook pages. Some pages had been done prior to the celebration and were already in albums. Such a nice idea. I found a picture earlier this week with the 3 of them in it so I printed it and took it along then made a page right there!

I've been doing digital scrapping for 5 months now and took the liberty of doing my layouts for today already. I'd like to share those layouts. Here's the double page spread.



A close up of the left side:


And a close up of the right side:


Here's hoping there are many more years to come!

My emotions are better....

Talking to Dad last night really helped.

Even though it was only cataract surgery, I was worried about him too. Just being so far away and not able to be there at times like this bothers me. With losing Uncle Bill and going to the visitation Saturday, I was just on overload. Now that I know the surgery went fine, I feel much, much better.

sigh............

Rest in Peace, Uncle Bill.....

A wonderful man passed away yesterday.

A wonderful father, grandfather, uncle and friend.

Anyone who met Bill loved him. He was funny, entertaining, smart, witty, and an all around nice guy.

His first career (that I knew) was as a high school teacher and basketball coach. Know how many of the young men he coached still called him "Coach" 30 years later? Lots of respect there also.

His next career was as a salesman for LaChoy Foods. The people he met and made friends with during that time was also astonishing. He's got friends all over the country and this was long before the internet!

I was lucky enough that he married my mom's sister. Growing up, we spent many wonderful times in Archbold with their family. His 3 children are like siblings to me. Sue and I are only 14 months apart in age so have always been very close. Her kids call me "Aunt" even though I am just a cousin....

12 years ago on Leap Day, my aunt passed away and now her DH joins her. I hope that they are forever together....

To one of the most loyal OSU Buckeye fans I have ever known....





Say hi to Woody!

Love you always!

Look-Alike???

This interesting website was posted on SS. Of course, I had to try it :)



This was my 2nd try. My first try had me as looking like my mom by 7%..... I used different pictures of both Dad & I but the same pic of Mom.

May have to find some pictures of me as a child and my parents as young adults to see what it says....

Cleveland State University Vikings Volleyball

My cousin's daughter, Jordan, is a junior on the CSU volleyball team. She has played all 3 years and has been a starter the past 2 years. Last year I was able to see them play in the league tournament since it was only an hour from me at Wright State.

Earlier this season I was going to go to Toledo to see them play in an invitational unfortunately, I attended a funeral instead on that day. Friday night was my only other opportunity to see her play. They were at Wright State again for a league match.

Of course, my cousin, Sue, and her husband, Ed, were there and it was good to see them. Sue's dad, Uncle Bill, was there as well with his sister, "Aunt Betty" that I've known forever. But I was really surprised to see Becky and Nathan. Becky is actually a cousin to my mom and Sue's mom. We had a super time catching up with each other as well as watching the volleyball.

Needless to say, these 2 teams made it exciting. They went to 5 games with the score of the final game being 16-14. Unfortunately, CSU was on the losing end of that score.

Of course, I took lots of pictures (over 60) and I'm pretty happy with them. Here are several of them. First 2 are Jordan during introductions, she plays libero so is always in a different colored shirt than the rest of the team.... Makes it easier to pick her out!







And, here is an action shot.




I'm so proud of her!