Monday, June 24, 2013

Project Life: Week 22.

This week: We did a lot more unpacking. We discovered the wildflower center near our neighborhood. And, I took a mini road trip with a friend down to Sea World in the middle of the week.  Such a total blast, especially to do it in on a weekday. Also featured is our go to non-TV related indoor activity, painting up the huge roll of paper from ikea!

First side:  I'm still catching up so it is tough to fill up the weeks when they aren't fresh in my mind.  I use more filler cards but was really happy to find a place/not hoard this KP kit Sunshine card. 

I actually pulled out some washi tape for a change to layer under this photo.  I already like the look of white on kraft and the translucent color makes it even better.

This patterned paper is from Paislee Press, via Studio Calico.  I cut up a different Studio Calico Project Life kit card for the speech bubble.  Gotta remember to include Nandini's constantly expanding vocabulary.  Flair is Ormolu and the calender stamp in Amy Tangerine.

I didn't love the way this photo looked after I printed it so I slipped a Crate Paper photo overlay on top.

Second side:
I made my own little 4x6 pocket insert with this wavey Atlantic patterned paper and a matching orangey grid paper. I really liked this simple stories Urban Traveler sticker and how it fit the whole way across the pocket.  In a rare instance, I actually printed out this photo after I planned this pocket and cropped it to fill the entire width of the pocket to match the sticker.

Paislee press digital flair, tiny attached to the photo.  Not sure there is much more to journal about this other than joy.

Favorite card of the week:  Largely because of the Crate Paper Pier plastic letters, but also because big oak leaves really do make me feel like I'm about to dine at a fairy tea party. 

Let me know if you have any questions. I use a lot of digital products, and created a FREE Printables board on Pinterest to keep track (and, I work really hard to make sure that the pins there are all 'live links' and not spam).  As google reader comes to a slow and painful end, please consider following me on bloglovin' or feedly.  I appreciate all of your support!

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using are the Seafoam kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors, the monthly Studio Calico Project Life kit, and the Kelly Purkey kit.  Phew, that's a lot but I like to mix it up, what can I say?
Be sure to click over and check out the new FYV workshop I'm contributing to this summer and giveaway!

Find Your Voice Blog Hop & Giveaway.

 The Find Your Voice Summer Storytelling Workshop kicked off today and to celebrate we're having a blog hop with lots of giveaways! We're going to have a blast this summer and we really hope you play along! 

This workshop is about finding your storytelling voice. You are an awesome person with amazing stories, so this summer we're going to work together to find the most genuine and authentic way for you to tell those stories. 

This workshop is for everyone! You definitely don't need to be a scrapbooker or paper-crafter to play along. We'll be telling stories through pictures, photographs, social media, prose, and more. The only thing you need is a willingness to become the author of your own story and the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. 


What Find Your Voice Means to Me:

I am so passionate about this course because better telling my story, our story, is why I do all of this in the first place.  I love playing with paint and paper, but a page means so much more to me when I record a real memory, an everyday moment or special milestone, in a way that goes beyond the basic facts.  The story gives my scrapbook meaning and is a way for me to slow down time.  I never want to worry about keeping my children little.  I would rather watch them grow and do my best to record it along the way.

Join us this summer as we work together to find the most genuine and authentic way for you to tell your stories the way you want them to be told. We’ll be telling stories through pictures, photographs, social media, prose, and more. The only thing you need is a willingness to become the author of your own story and the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. 

rukristin papercrafts: rukristin.com/
Emily Dismukes: emilymayhem.blogspot.com
Molly Porter: mollyfrances.typepad.com
Emily Hathcock: www.elephantgrace.com
Lisa Wilkinson: www.createfor7.blogspot.com
Veronica Milan: blog.chictags.com
Michelle Wear:  table-for-five.com
Laura Kate Is Crafty: laurakateiscrafty.blogspot.com
Jen Ritchie: www.jenritchie.com
DeeDee Catron: umwowstudio.com
Megan Anderson: www.thenerdnest.com
Nirupama Kumar: avinashhecker.blogspot.com ------ YOU ARE HERE.
Margrethe Aas Johnsen: http://onelifedocumented.com

Giveaway Time!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


I can't wait to share my projects for this workshop in the coming weeks.  Here are some of my favorite tools for telling our story. You can follow my blog on bloglovin' or feedly, or just find me on pinterest or instagram/twitter @nirupama01.  I appreciate all of your support!


Around here.

We have been busy. 

 Playing outside in the water with Nani, in between her unpacking and helping me.

 Looking for rocks.

 Learning to swim (again).

Putting out flowers.

 Getting scare lessons (like she needs them).

And, just hiding out, enjoying the start of summer and exploring our new city.

With Avinash out of school, I think we go somewhere around the city almost every day.  It has been a lot of fun, but also leaves me  low on energy.  My mom's visit definitely helped and she will be sorely missed by all.  Sometimes I don't realize how much I miss her home cooking and how good having her around makes me feel.

I have lots of new projects in the works.  I hope you will come back over the next few weeks and check them out!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

New JBS projects


I have a new project up on the JBS inspiration blog today.  I love making full die cut backgrounds for pages.  The JBS ones really appeal to me because they are graphic and fresh, and really fun to juxtapose with those classic JBS designs!



When I saw this old red barn, I knew I had to stage a mini-photo shoot for my kids in front of it. I used the red cross cut file and patterned paper to create a fun background. Because I didn't want to lose all of the lovely red of the red cross design I offset the cut from the pattern a little. I used a dictionary album stamp across the middle and some perforated tag paper to frame the photos.  I haven't known what to do with this cute 'boy meets girl' paper for a while, but I like how it looks cut apart.  I'm still debating about if I should color that boy in to make him look darker.  I added a subtitle with red skinny alphas and some flag stickers to each photo just for symmetry. 

I have to say that I am loving being on the JBS team.  Everyone is so nice and Betsy, the digital coordinator, is beyond encouraging.  I am still in awe of the fact that someone so talented likes my work.  So, thank you Betsy and everyone.

I also wanted to share a project I did last week for JBS.  I just had so much fun with it.  The kit I used was Stars and Flags.  See? Totally pertinent because today was flag day and we otherwise didn't celebrate it, as
Avinash kept pointing out to me.



I used the flags to make huge banners and colored them in with watercolors.  Want to hear my secret to watercolors? I  use all those leftover cups of tea scattered about the living room to dip my brush in.  My brushes get clean and I don't have to feel bad about wasting all that water.  I'm weird I know.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Project Life - Week 21

 This week: I flew back home to pick up Avinash and Nandini from my parent's house.  I got some pictures off of my Dad's iPhone from the time they were away.  We used all of Ryan's frequent flyer miles so we got great seats on the way back.  As soon as we got back we headed out again for a road trip to Houston so we didn't miss Avi's dance recital.  Best decision ever.  They crowd went wild when he danced across the stage.  Literally.  I may have cried.  And, of course, another farmer's market trip. 

 First Side: A lot of these pictures have a ton of glare.  It's weird because our new place is kinda dark but I still can't get rid of the glare. 
I used a lot of Basic Grey die cuts, which came with my KP and SC kits, here and there on my pockets. 
These SC alpha stamps are 'shadow' stamped in grey on a SC kit card. Kinda fun for me to play around with some different stamping techniques.
These flashy letter stamps from Mama Elephant are another new favorite.  Been waiting for the marquee/Budmo jig font to be made into a stamp forever.

I adore this picture my Dad took.  Nandini picked it up from the floor (where I work) and said "Nana (mumble mumble) play!"  I was so impressed that she recognized where the picture was from because he is not even in the picture.  I kept the circle theme going with a wood veneer phrase.


Some new Elise stamps for Studio Calico.  I used black archival ink to stamp on white washi tape, which could be a little more opaque for my taste but it does let the photo come through nicely.  Added a little gold arrow too. 

 Second Side: More dance pictures. The 4x6 card is a printable from SC. The bottom left card uses a Paislee Press card and more BG die cuts and these white stickers as a title.  I love to put simple titles on a few of the pockets.

 I trimmed a kit card so the banner would hold the cork stickers.  I tend to be quite literal in my phrasing, but I finally felt the 'kind of a big deal' phrase stamp was appropriate.

 I used little strips of silver washi and an initial to list our 'highlights' from the week.  We saw this amazing sunset on the drive home from Houston and I had to use this Amy Tan rub-on with the reference to it. 

One of my favorite pockets, our farmer's market haul.  I used white stickers (my PL favs) and a wood veneer camera.  I love coloring enamel dots with metallic sharpies to the change the color.

Love this card from KP.  I used my white poster paint sharpie to give the letters a white shadow.

The big moment!  The picture isn't great, but how could it be?  I kept it simple with a HS disco star and some wood veneer letters.  I used a roll of ribbon to line them up in a circle before gluing them down.  I have found that this tombow liquid glue works perfectly for wood veneers, esp the tiny ones like these.  It doesn't clog up like glossy accents.  It has a wide end that is actually the better than the pen tip because you hold the glue and dip the veneer on to the broad tip.  Kind of like squeezing ketchup on to a fry when you are in the car, you hold the fry up to the ketchup packet so the ketchup doesn't go everywhere.  Wait, doesn't everybody do that?

Let me know if you have any questions. I use a lot of digital products, and created a FREE Printables board on Pinterest to keep track (and, I work really hard to make sure that the pins there are all 'live links' and not spam). 
 
I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using are the Seafoam kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors, the monthly Studio Calico Project Life kit, and the Kelly Purkey kit.  Phew, that's a lot but I like to mix it up, what can I say?
 
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. Also, please include a link to your projects below so we can check them out too.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Around the house.

We are still unpacking.  

Still moving boxes around.  
Still putting together Ikea furniture. 

Trying to figure out why we have so much stuff.

I love this challenge from the Nester and I am so game. Also, linking up for the Summer Tour of Homes.

We have already taken out many many garbage bags full of stuff we no longer need.  I want to see if we can take it further.

A pile of toys on top of the Target bookshelf I DIY'd with chalkboard paint.  They are functional toys so I say it is not cheating!

This is all I have on our mantle.  Excited to finally have one, but don't know what to do with it.  Maybe just pictures?  I hate this paint color, but we are renting.



Our kitchen is nothing special.  I do love this hutch we got at Round Top this spring.  I covered the top with my favorite glassware.   The inside holds party stuff and art supplies for the kids. At least that clutter is put away!

 
Our living is also not put together yet.  I have managed to fill this huge expedit with scrapbooking supplies.  I think I could actually use two!  Those globes are also from Round Top and are waiting to be put in Avi's room.  He actually likes looking at them, so they are like functional decor.

Nandini's room.  White toddler bed, white locker shelf and white bookcase.  Not a single box.  I just sit in here when I want my cortisol levels to drop.  Having one room 'done' is an enormous source of comfort.

She probably does need a new rug.  The old one from Ollie's (a bargain basement discount store in PA) circa 2003 just looks so shabby.

Plus, I figure with a good rug who needs a ton of accessories?



1//TARGET   2//ANTHROPOLOGIE
3//LAND OF NOD 4//IKEA

I have seen the Ikea and Anthro rugs in person.  I want something she can grow into, but also be the focus of the room.  Anyone else care to weigh in and help? ;)

Monday, June 3, 2013

Day in the Life: May 2013

I was reading through my post from last month, and I'm happy to say that things are better this month.

Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the day:


I worked on my album over the weekend.  I find it really is easier if I do it right away.  The first thing I did was organize my photos and put them into photo collages.  In case you are wondering 5 of the photos feature Pooh Bear, or a reference to him.

 After I had it all printed out I started working on the album itself.  I have this gorgeous hoard of Hambly screenprints.  
I had major heartache cutting into this one, but after moving crates and crates of unused scrapbooking material this past month, I decided to just go for it.  And, I love the way it turned out.  Just glued Heidi Swapp clear pop letters on top, and a big yummy flair from KP's Project Life kit.


This flair just sums up the current state of my heart.  I am so ready for the sun to shine again.

I added white text to a few photos using the handwritten font called Savu.  I added a little BG tab, also from the KP Project Life kit, to the side of the photos. 

I blew out one of my photos and used it as my journaling page.  I played with a SC triangle stencil and gold paint on top of it.  The stickers are KP (again).

Totally inspired by Garden Girl Wilna to create a banner of these gold stars and gold sequins. I used flat ones from Kelly Purkey too.  I scattered the gold stars across the photo collages to make a subtle connection between the two sides.

I used the same stencil inside, this time with Gold Shine Spray. I think it gave a finished edge to otherwise totally plain cardstock. I layered a few more KP Project Life kit items, slipped a little fabric tape under it and put a wood veneer on top.

I used this stamp (KP Project Life kit, can you sense a theme?) with a layer of dark brown chalk ink on top of brilliance gold ink.  It stamped like a dream. So fun working with the kit here.  Can't wait to break it out for an Project Life spread!  

That was my Day in the Life for May.  Thanks to Ali for the major inspiration! Did anyone else here play along? I know a lot of people just incorporate it into project life, which is really fun too. Would love to see your photos and/or spreads too. 

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