March Scrapbook Layouts

Well, I haven't blogged any layouts in a long time and March is still over.  But, I do still make them on a regular basis, so might as well share :)

{grass baby}
The story of this layout is a long one.  First, this is a photo taken by friend Jennifer McKinney, aka MckMama, last September.  I set Nandini done for some solo pictures and she immediately had this little meltdown.  Jennifer was like, "oh baby, don't worry, we aren't going to force you to be a grass baby forever".  (I'm paraphrasing, but the words grass baby stuck in my head for a long time.) I thought it was so funny and really wanted to include it since most of her pics are posed or smiley.  Why not show a little of the other side too.  Just a few months old, clingy and shy (still is).
The second part of the story is that it took me forever to scrap this photo.  Then I got my lovely March Studio Calico kit Story Hour in the mail and had no new pictures to scrap.  And I was so psyched up to start that I dug through my folder of old enlargements and pulled this one out.  Yay!  It was so much fun to do and the colors really worked I think.  Maybe it was kismet?
The whole approach is pretty basic.  A few sheets of patterned paper and a row of multicolored shipping tags.  I used a very loose rainbow order to arrange them (see? green, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow).  Subtle? Yes, but it takes the guess work out of finding a good color arrangement for me.  I then just added little embellishments here and there to each tag.  Just enough to make them unique, but not too much to distract from the picture.  How cute are those Amy Tangerine fabric yo-yos?  I could use some in every color.
Some of the supplies: green chevron paper, Chap brad, foam green thickers, sequins trim, glitter tape, and konichiwa wooden button.

{Family Portrait}
Another layout done with my (then) new SC Story Hour kit.  It was so much fun having all these new Crate Paper, uh, papers.  This layout is a little flat I think, but it was fun to make.  Basically just new Crate and this perforated Jenni Bowlin stamp paper.
I was going for the mosaic look, because there are so many beautiful mosaics along the river walk.  We have taken a lot of family photos by this mosaic over the years.  There is the perfect ledge facing it making it ideal for self-timer shots. 

{she said mama!}
I was so happy when Nandini first called me mama.  And, for real.  Avinash and Ryan were out so we had a rare moment alone together.  She said it twice and very deliberately.  I tried for a third with the video running but then all she wanted to do was grab the camera.  Oops..

The layout takes it colors from this challenge on Color Me Scrappy.   Aqua, grey, salmon pink and mustard. Aren't the colors so pretty together? I may do another layout with this color scheme.  You had me at yellow and grey.

My layout is mostly new dear lizzy, but I had to add some SC Story Hour stuff, like some more new crate (for the banner under the title), the stamp, this kraft bag and one more darling AmyTangerine fabric yo-yo.  I of course still have one left because I can't bare to have none left ... I may have hoarding issues.  I used ruffled crepe paper to mat my photo (I'll tell you a secret, it is not really stitched, I know, I was disappointed too), layering polaroids and mason jars, a few scattered MME jewels, journaling on an ormolu tag, plus some teal hearts washi, turquoise dotted washi, and gold airmail washi.  (Hi, I'm Niru and I have a washi tape problem.)


Oh yeah, and there was this:

Bluebells

I love March in Houston. First the azaleas, then the rodeo, Nandini's birthday, getting to play Holi outdoors and now bluebells. I was getting worried that we would miss them so we headed out west this weekend.

Stopping over in Austin for cupcakes and carrot cake french toast before driving back to Brenham.

Finally sitting down together.  We tried so hard to make this happen but they finally did it on their own.

Getting showered with flower petals by her big brother.

Isn't this lot behind the JC Penney's wide open field lovely?

There are even more beautiful fields a little bit east of Brenham, Tx on 290. Bring a picnic lunch and your camera and go check it out!

Linked up here.

Project Life - first birthday week!

Another busy week so I did pages instead of my usual one and added an insert for twelve on the 12th. I got a big variety pack of page protectors and decided to mix design A and D pages this week.  The big pack is nice because it gives you the freedom to experiment.  Plus, it is not sold out - so there's that.

I ended up not using only one vertical picture because I didn't like the look of them all together -- too cluttered.  Instead I trimmed down one horizontal pictures and used the other two slots for instagram pictures.  I love that I know longer worry about taking my big, heavy dSLR with me everywhere.  I often end up just as happy or happier with these little instagram photos.

I like the 'mini layout' look of the four rodeo pictures clustered together in the top left.  I used my own art journaling cards, down in chevron here, to matte my photos.  The wood letters are old pink paislee.
The bottom right picture of Nandini is from her party.  I still love these old Girl's Paperie paper flowers (on sale!).  I stamped some fabric trim with a chevron stamp again here.  I also used an Elle's Studio date die cut and pink fabric Thickers.
Nandini is blowing out the candle on her birthday cupcake on the bottom left.  That paper is the inside of a star envelope from a Target stationery set. 

That chipboard star is actually from the OA boarding pass line and not Sasparilla.  I am waiting to get more of that, but we only ended up going to the rodeo once so I may not have much use for it.

I also included a card about some tweets I exchanged with HandmadeRyanGosling.  My Ryan was totally confused by this and I think still is.  It isn't a real conversation with Ryan Gosling honey, don't worry!!  I was so excited when he retweeted my pi day mobile project and wished Nandini a happy birthday.  Now I'm thinking that this may confuse Nandini in the future as well.  Oops. 

I stamped on some dear lizzy vellum for a picture of us playing Holi at Nandini's party.  I wanted a sequins look as well but used little gems because that is all I had.  That and gold airmail striped washi tape. I wanted to caputre the feel of powder being thrown across the sky.  I think it worked out.

My next page (actually the first page).
Technically this happened last week, but I had to include a card about Nandini calling me mama for the first time.  I love these bright and vintage pennant flags.  I always forget to use this doily punch, but it looks so nice in person.
Top left is pi fight.  More target stationery and white shaving cream-esque thickers.  I didn't write much about it because it is kind of self explanatory and I want to do a layout too maybe. I also included a group shot of all the babies.  Everything is a bit out of order this week.

Lucky is a picture from St. Patrick's Day.  Actually all of us were in green, including my brother, but we never got a group shot.  I used this smile paper and an AC gold pen to write on the photo directly.
Nandini got a special present from her Aunt Rachel in the mail.  I admit that I pretty much just took this picture for PL purposes.   Heehee.

How amazing is this MATHS paper for including the date of pi day?  This paper (kesi art) is so nice I had a hard time cutting into it but I'm glad I did. 

I also did an insert for twelve on the 12th.  It is basically just one sheet of Crate patterned paper, some tape (black and white, gold and floral) and lots of thickers.  Pretend that they are stitched on there so they won't fall off in the future, ok? 

Nandini was pretty excited about the album this week and couldn't keep her hands off of it.  Hope you liked it too.

Linked up with The Mom Creative and One Happy Mama for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kit I am using is the Clementine kit.   Thank you so much to everyone in this wonderful community.  I love all the feedback and looking at everything people do each week.  It definitely keeps me motivated.  And, please, link me up to any of your inspiring pages this week as well in the comments!

don't forget

I was reading up on how to host a cupcake sale party, because, you know, I have so many of them.  But, one tip did stay with me: don't forget to plan for the next day.

I have kept that in mind recently and it has served me well.

I bought milk every time I went out to get something for Nandini's birthday party.  As a result I haven't been to the grocery store all week and I am actually using up all those vegetables that usually just linger until I throw them away while ordering take out. 

While Ryan was away I made vegetable soup with barley and zucchini, baked ziti cooked in it's own sauce (with asparagus), and tonight I made ricotta mashed potatoes, scallion peas and carmelized carrots.  I add a bit of haldi to all three meals because it is so healthy I want to include it even when I don't get the time to cook Indian food (or some people call it, food). 

Not that I planned the meals, but getting time and energy to cook was easier when I'm not running to the grocery store with two kids every other day.

I sort of had a plan for what to do while Ryan was out of town.  Of course it rained all day Tuesday so we were pretty much stuck inside all day and couldn't go to Avi's first swimming lesson or the zoo.  Though it did stop for a bit in the evening and we got to visit the playground.  Where Avinash had a ball on the waterslides.

 The next day I treated them and myself to lunch out at Tiny Boxwoods.  They treated me to good behavior (in exchange for cookies).  All in all we were doing pretty well until 7:30 struck.  See, Ryan was due back at 8.  And, I had forgotten to plan for the after.

As a result I was a tantrumy mess when Ryan showed up at 9:15.  Avinash was refusing to eat and Nandini couldn't be fed fast enough.  Oh lord.  I hid in the bathroom and pretty much didn't talk to anyone (nicely) for the rest of the evening.

This morning was gearing up for more of the same when Avinash refused to go in the water at his swim lesson and Nandini wouldn't let me put her down for a minute.  We switched gears and I took them both out to the zoo.  I pushed them around in the stroller and handed them orange sections for two hours.  My reward? They both fell asleep on the way home and napped all afternoon.

I guess I just forgot to plan for the day after.  

Project Life - keep going!

I had a little bit of a struggle this week.  We had just gotten back from vacation and I was in the midst of party planning for Nandini's first birthday party.

I had a lot of different things going on and wasn't sure where to go with it.  I decided to keep it really simple.  I only printed out twenty photos out of thousands from our trip.  I just added a few striking pictures and a little bit of journaling.

Also, it rained all weekend so we stayed indoors and did NOTHING.  Haha, that made my week a little easier to scrap.

We played a little colors in our house on the night of chotti Holi.  The next day was Purim (and Holi) so Avinash dressed up as a dragon for pre-school.  I'm always amazed every year that these two super fun holidays fall on the same day.  The new flags from Elle's studio look so vibrant in person.  These is from the bright and vintage set.

 A bit cut from a breakfast menu and a luggage tag.

I turned the flash on outside and somehow got that picture in the upper left.  I really loved it, so I had to include it.  The badge is Ormolu flair.
I picked up a stationery set from target with those blue and yellow chevron cards.  Why does Target always have the best stuff???  It's like they read my mind. 
I added a few Adventures stickers to the breakfast menu turned card. Avinash cried "I don't want to leave this place" over and over as we waited for the ferry to leave Lanaii. 
A volcano picture from our last night.  I can't get enough of these.  Just some stamps I did at the park ranger station, a crate border sticker and Amy Tangerine daybook tab, I just learned from her on twitter that these are self adhesive.  Ooops, now I know!
The grocery bags at Central Market are very cool right now.  I knew I had to cut some pieces up and add it to the album.  Those kishu oranges really were amazing.  Again, a card from Target with a bit of turquoise spotted washi tape.  

Nothing amazing, but I'm glad I got it done.  I have a page of 4x4 squares that I am filling up with vacation photos and slowly working on a few layouts here and there.  I feel my mojo slipping away again this week, but I have photos already printed out I just need to go pick them up!

Linked up with The Mom Creative and One Happy Mama for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kit I am using is the Clementine kit.   Thank you so much to everyone in this wonderful community.  I love all the feedback and looking at everything people do each week.  It definitely keeps me motivated.  And, please, link me up to any of your inspiring pages this week as well in the comments!

Happy Birthday Nandini!

You are one year old and we are so proud of you.

You truly do provide so much joy in our lives.

Your first birthday party was a huge success today.

Good weather. Lots of good food and fun with good friends.  

Will post more pictures soon.  As soon as I take about five naps or so.

Sometimes I am so amazed by you Nandini.  You started out so tiny and helpless.

 So small and precious. 

Everyone was always telling me that you were hungry. Now you tell me that yourself. 

 I never know and still don't know how to show you how much love that I have for you.  But now you show it to us.  Talking a mile a minute on the phone to your Nani tonight.  Just makes me smile thinking about it. 

You bring books to me that you want to read.  You help me turn the pages, laugh and clap along.

 I miss you when you sleep sometimes and wake you up for a feeding. 

I love those rare moments when you snuggle up next to me, calmly.


I love your growing relationship with Avinash.  All of your new birthday toys hold no interest for you, until you see Avinash playing with it,  like your new set of presidential blocks from Auntie Rachel or the weebles house Avinash bought you himself. 

You do love your new guitar from baby Roshan all on its own because you love anything music. It is hilarious to watch you bop and swing back forth as you dance.

embrace the camera.

Pi fight!

We went to the Children's Museum at 1.59 today for the annual pi fight.  (They used shaving cream on paper plates, I have a feeling we will be doing this again soon if anyone is interested.)

Of course, we did it all to celebrate the first annual celebration of Nandini. 

Happy 1st Birthday little girl!!

Just DON'T even think about tasting her ice cream ok???

embrace the camera.