Last Day/First Day

First Day

Last Day

He starts swimming lessons on Monday and then they will go to Pennsylvania while we go to Aruba for my best friend's wedding.  Then, thinking about summer camp for him and maybe gymnastics for Nandini.  Need to get those legs moving, she still can't walk yet!!

It is getting harder to get a natural smile from him in pictures.  I let Nisha and him use my camera and I think they got better shots than me.

I tried to sit Nandini down for a picture with them too.

And one more under the tree while trying to get a leaf for Nisha. Too bad she already got her own leaf. 

I am not that great with gifts but I found myself inspired by the new Ardent Sparrow doily letters on OSD. 
I paired them up with the polaroid frames from the Brittania Mini kit and word cut outs on my Silhouette.

I took a cue from Smitha Katti's kiddie cards and let Avinash go to town on some kraft paper.  He made lots of tic tac toe boards, which I thought was kind of smart.  While he did that, I created the project file using my .studio software.  I printed out the doily letters on the tags and the polaroids, then ran them through my silhouette to cut out the letters.

The thank you font is a CK freebie this week - flip serif. The doily letters are from Ardent Sparrow and the polaroids are by The Edits.

I layered washi under the polaroid so the die cut letters would show through.  Most of it is from the office supply section of target.  Some is smash tape (love having all the different colors on one roll).  I used baker's twine to attach the little starbucks cards.

  

I put another strip across the back of half the words thank you.  It was a bit sticky through the die cut so I just sprinkled glitter in between for a final touch.
I brought them in when I picked him up from school today and his teachers were so thrilled with them.  His teachers have been so great this year and they will definitely be missed next year!

  All in all it was a pretty fun project, it didn't take that long and we did it together!  Of course if you don't have a silhouette, you could just print the whole thing out directly on tags with just regular printed letters not die cut letters. And, toddlers can invent countless new games with a couple rolls of washi in no time.

Project Life

This was one of those weeks were I just couldn't quite get it quite right.  Most times, I sort of feel like everything finds it's perfect place but this week I didn't.  As usual I spent a while just cropping photos and moving them from one slot to another.  I had a stack of leftover stuff from all my recent kits just sitting next to me.  I don't know if everything really found the perfect spots, but there are a few cards here and there that I really like.  Time to let it go and move on to the next project.
In some ways this week was kind of a blur.  We had a busy weekend, but I don't know what happened during the week.  I didn't bring my camera hardly anywhere and didn't write down any cute Avi quotes or anything.  I was accepted to OSD design team last week and felt a teeny tiny bit overwhelmed by all the new information to take in.  But, still so so excited by it!

 A photo collage of instagrams from our opera night.  Two random shots of pretty produce. One group shot from a birthday party.  And some random shots of the French makeover at Central Market.  The place really did look special.  They even put a beret on the piggy bank!  Avi thought it was a present for him.

 OA sidewalk label sticker (love that double color line, wish I knew how to do that with my silhouette) and Amy Tangerine white thickers.

Page two. I love that dear lizzy triangle banner still.  I misted the yellow paper with white before writing my little story on it.  Felt very artsy for me ;)

 A piece of target stationery and a MME title tag.  Simple, but I love it.  Avinash playing in the clothes racks at Target.  Now that I think about it, this card is very meta. Ha!

 I always want to use more washi tape and it seemed very fitting for Japan's family day event at the new Asian Museum.  I just added an old Sassafrass sticker.  I love how it turned out.  The adjacent photos are matted with a watercolor Avi did there but didn't make into a fan.  I have Nandini's saved and might just punch holes in it to add to the album.  I used black stripe tape, red starburst, blue dots (from an old kit) and turquoise airmail washi. I love these little yellow letter stickers and charmed alphabets for cards.





Linked up with The Mom Creative 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!

Opera Night

Love going to the park with friends lately and having picnics in the grass while catching a show.  The opera put on Barber of Seville in Hermann park the other day. 

I have to say that I was inspired by three different amazing layouts:

Celine Navarro and this week's sketch wednesday

Geralyn Sy's plano circle stamp + craft knife use in Country Fair

Kelly Purkey's circle letter stickers in a circle on this layout.







  I don't normally do well with sketches or following other people's inspiration.  It did take me forever to put together.  One night designing my silhouette file.  Another to cut out all the little bits of scraps.  And one more for finishing touches.  I always loved the look of Geralyn's layout, but was too lazy to do all that cutting with a craft knife.  In the end, I think it took me a lot longer to design the silhouette file (though I also used it to make the sewing guide on the paper). I went through months of old Studio Calico kits to find the best scraps.  I looked through half my buttons and all of my stickers to find the right border strips.  It is totally weird for me not to have any thickers on a layout and I rarely use buttons anymore.  It wasn't for any assignment or design team project.  But I had fun. A lot of fun.  And it just makes me smile.

I used my silhouette to sketch the shapes and do all the cutting, as well as to create the stitching template.  I then went back and hand stitched with embroidery floss.  I used black ink and thought the result was a little harsh, so I softened it with some white and shine mister.  I had used a strip of the paper in the past so I added the fabrip to cover the barcode strip showing on the bottom.  I think it actually added something.

 

And, I hate to see good stitching go to waste, even on the back, so I made this on the other side.  Just love this picture of Nandini clapping along with the music.
Supply List: Lily Bee yellow paper, Mister Huey white and shine, SC Anthology fabrips border, SC wooden alphas, SC wooden cameras, random buttons, MME alpha stickers.

Linking up at Purple Mail Box, come play along!

some day we'll find it

by Robin

I loved this show me series on One Story Down.  I love all things rainbow and when I saw the highlighted project I had to laugh.

On one of my very first layouts I had 'brilliant idea' to use a rainbow color scheme. 

Head on over to the One Story Down blog to see our second baby in a rainbow layout all of her own and lots more rainbow inspiration.

Summer Summer Summertime

I saw this on Ali's blog today and really loved it.  Summer somehow snuck up on me and it might be good to take a minute and think about what we are going to do here.  Though, to be totally accurate it is still spring for another month, but you get the idea.

Avi's school ends next week, which seems crazy to me.  We have daily swim lessons for two weeks at the Y.  And, I am already thinking about which yoga class to take afterwards.  I love this one fiesty Japanese yoga instructor there and may be stalking her this summer.

Nandini is already fourteen months and still not walking.  It may be time for to sign her up for some kind of baby gymnastics class or something.  I know I shouldn't worry, but I can't help it.

Try to keep an eye on all the free events going on around the city this summer.  I already added a bunch of free shows playing at Hermann Miller Theatre and Discovery Green to my calendar.  We went to the opera the other night and had a very relaxing almost entire first act before we had to leave. 

Ryan and I are going Aruba this summer for my best friend's wedding but we decided to leave both kids at home.  I am sure they are going to love all the Nana and Nani attention.

But, what about our just regular days?  I know that I want less TV.  It feels like an addiction whenever we are in the house and not at school or out.  I don't want it to be the default.

I want us to play more, inside and out.  It is so hot here that I can't ignore the inside option I think.  Maybe more puzzles, more books, but I probably need to get some more ideas.  I want us to eat more fruit.  More watermelon.  I want us to spend time on the patio.  Watering the plants.  Collecting huge amounts of basil and peppers.  Nursing all of other sad plants.  Chalk drawing.  Water fights.  Kite flying.  Bubble blowing, Nandini's new favorite thing.  Go to the circus. Play tennis more with Ryan at the Y.  Read more, maybe join a book club.

That is for starters.  Off to look for ideas and inspiration.  Please, feel free to send me your links in the comments.

On the agenda

for today:

Make dinner and finally use up some of my bumper crop of basil.  I definitely did not taste the cooking liquid prior to boiling it.

Shower before said dinner.

Make a card at Treat before midnight (free with code TREATDAD).

Finish the 300 piece puzzle we started last night with Avinash before Nandini destroys it.  She was distracted earlier by a bowl of milk.  Don't know if we will be so fortunate after naptime.

Post my new One Story Down layout for the May Block Party.

I used the print and cut feature on my silhouette with the digital elements.  I opened the elements in my silhouette software, and just used the trace feature (with high pass filter off, and 100% threshold).  I printed with registration marks and used the machine to cut.  Definitely easy and nice and clean, esp with the alphas.

How cute are these two?  I used my silhouette to cut up the photo too.  Go check out this month's block party.  There are lots of great challenges, with prizes just for participating!! 

Also, the summer sale at 2peas has been extended to May 25, awesome!  Use the code SUMMERFUN for 20% off and 85GRMH for free shipping on orders of $50+. 

What's on your agenda right now?

Project Life - Printing out those printables

This week I used a lot of printables. I have been collecting and downloading free files from across the internet for a while. Check out my free printables board on Pinterest for the links I have collected.  I download a lot more than I use.  This is the printable I used this week.  They are intended to be used as greeting cards I think, but I just love the clementine colors.  I printed them on textured cardstock for a different feel and look than my core kit. I also got totally sucked in by Geralyn's digi shoppe and used lots of different cards here.  My favorites are the sayings and geometric sets [no affiliation, I just like them].

Most of the time these files just languish on my hard drive.  A few little things helped me this week.

• Print them out ahead of time.  
• Most printables are formatted to be printed on 8.5x11 paper. If the cards are individual files, I use picasa to make an 8x9 grid collage and they sort of fall into place on their own.  Some files are 2.9x4, so then I use 8x8.7 in. If you don't have PSE or are new to Picasa (it's free!), check out this great tutorial on making collages.
• Print out on textured or dotted cardstock.  I mostly use bright white, but I also like the look of light kraft too.  I just bought a big pack of cardstock from target that is 8.5x11.  It isn't textured however.
• Spend a little time cutting them out.  I like being able to quickly flip through a deck of cards.  Plus, you can fit them in empty slots from your core kit box.
• Print double sided.  You can see how more cards look printed out in person and feel like you are conserving cardstock (yes, I have hoarding tendencies and trying to work through them.  Tell me I'm not the only one?)
•  Personalize them with stamps after printing.  I am much more likely to use something that feels unique.  Here I just stamped Avi's name on one card.  Some of them I have just added a herringbone stamp in a coordinating color or a little phrase here and there.  These new Studio Calico stamps are getting used a lot.

How cute are these free cards??? The top two are my favorites.

 And, on to my pages for the week.

Pretty simple.  A couple random pictures here and there.  I wrote about our trip to the museum and seeing eggs hatch.  I used dear lizzy aqua foam thickers for a soft and pretty title.  We also dressed Nandini up like a princess and Avi painted her face.  Worthy of a glittery N on the card.  The grainy black and white photo is from the 'photobooth' at the children's museum.  I probably have hundreds of these, but this is the first time I found a spot for it in the album.
Of course lots of washi, a fun way to make an airmail card.  Actually, the back of a card I used last week (totally thrifty, right?). I also love my new red hearts washi.
Wednesday morning Avi's school had a mother's breakfast.  The painted tissue box gift included a picture of him making it on the front.  Just what I wanted. Love using wood, like these wood buttons from Prima.  A little thicker and heavier than wood veneers.

 

The quoted card is a printable from Creative Bubble.  The first quote refers to Avinash's daily struggle with Ryan about not drinking the bath water.  I gave him some clean water in a cup while he was in there and he didn't stop talking about the incident all week.  The second quote is one of his three bear's story retellings.  He always loves to figure out which character each one of us in fairy tales.

And, I ended up including an instagram of the target Shops signs.  That card is the clementine free printable, with a martha label sticker and wood veneer bicycle from Studio Calico (and back in stock finally!).

A random picture of me and Nandini at the top.  Elle's studio flag and Amy Tangerine fabric sticker.
Instagram collage next to that.  How awesome is that grey and yellow striped paper?  I got it for 70% off in the dollar spot at Target in a stationery notes pack.  Score! Check it out next time you're there, it probably is not that hot an item with the general public, but I love it. Embossed my SC instagram stamp over it with another wooden prima button.
The bottom row is all from a birthday party this weekend.  Another Creative Bubble card.  I added a wood veneer asterisk to go with the shapes on the card.  Love the clear look of total happiness Nandini has on her face here.  All it takes is one half-opened Starburst apparently.

>>Details is another creative bubble shoppe card. I love those geometric triangles.  Glad that I can use them again and again as many times as I want.  Just enough color and just enough white space to leave room for journaling and washi.  Wrote about our trip to Austin.  At one point we actually toasted to healthy babies, friendship and scrapbooking.  Thinking that quote might deserve a layout of it's own.

Glued on some wood veneer stars as a continuation of the dandelion seeds blowing away in the wind.  These stars are back in stock too.  Probably one of my favorite embellishments of all time.  Debating about how many more packs to buy.  I put a fabric letter A on a martha shipping tag for Avinash (and to balance the N on the facing page....maybe silly since he already had a quote card.)  The paper is new basic grey PB&J line.  Think I'll use the same paper for our Japan Family Day outing yesterday too.  It is really pretty, but very busy, so a little easier to use in small doses like this.  I had one extra instagram of me and Nandini so I just stuck it in between these two pockets.  A little off perhaps...oh well.

This is an awesome.  Take advantage of it if you can.  Apparently Hambly is going out of business, so I want to stock up.  I also got a bunch of these cute little chevron bags.  Use code 85GRMH for free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Also, the sale has been extended through 5/25 now, yay!!

Linked up with The Mom Creative 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!

Peaches, peaches.

 Found some Texas peaches at Central Market this week. 

So pretty.  I almost hesitate to cut them up and make cobbler.

Except I never hesitate to make cobbler.  Tonight we are watching opera in the park, so making it in muffin tins for better picnic portability.
 
And, in a strange turn of events I'm actually cooking dinner as well.  Having a huge bunch of wild ramps doesn't hurt either.

I remember trying wild ramps from the union square farmer's market like ten years ago and loving them.  Every spring I would impatiently anticipate their delicious arrival.  Never found them in Houston.  Until now.  You can imagine how excited I was to finally get some again.  Hence all the picture taking.

Browning the white bits in butter to toss in quinoa pasta with the green tops. 

What is a boy supposed to do while Mom is doing all this cooking.  Glitter, stamps and some leftover tags on the kitchen table did the trick.  The ABC tag is my hands down favorite. Now I just need to vacuum glitter off, like, the whole house.