my favorite tea party.

I scrapped this page for this month's Anthologie Collection at One Story Down. One more Disney page down (and a million more to go).

I just loved the 'mood board' for this collection. And, after seeing the collections, it was not hard to get inspired.

After looking through the collections and picking papers to work with I started with a sheet of white cardstock and my trusty water color set from Target by Kid Made Modern.  Such a good buy and a great variety of colors.  I was sort of going for an ombre effect, choosing colors from the collection. 

I made the papers and my photos into a collage digitally and just them apart after printing it out.  One sheet, and no waste.  I like that.  I think I would normally stress about using just a small rectangle of 'real' paper on a traditional layout.

After arranging all my papers I decided I liked the look better with a few left off so the watercolor could show through a bit more.  Sometimes less is more? (Don't hold me to that!)

I stitched down the rectangles. My stitching is pretty messy. Let's just say it was intentional. For the title, I used a journaling card and some mistable thickers (these are similar) which I dabbed them with my leftover watercolor. Waste not, want not. I'm all about going green.

I used a few of my new SC May kit stamps here and there, mostly because I was excited to use them. I stamped a bit on the edges and a map in the middle.  Not necessarily thematic, but I suppose it doesn't matter.  Consider the tea cup is really a ship and we are afloat on it. It could happen.

Here is the whole thing again. I added a few gold glitter stars (mess free glitter is always a plus) and wood veneer pieces to add texture. I used the new Studio Calico Atlantic collection for the wooden anchor and heart circle. Looking at these photos was definitely bittersweet, but I'm glad I scrapped them.



If you want more Disney scrapbooking inspiration, check out my friend Ashli Oliver.  I love her latest page using up some of that darn Disney ephemera.  I have a ton that I just can't part with yet rarely scrap with.

I also created a Pinterest board for Disney inspiration.  I would love to get some more 'modern' Disney scrapbooking inspiration together. Leave your pinterest link or email if you would like to be added to the board!

Submitted for the ink challenge at SSS; watercolor, stamping and distress inked edges  - ink is definitely a theme!

Project Life - Lizard

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My project life post is a little late this week because went to Austin to start house hunting.  Still no luck yet, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.  The market is really tough out there right now.  Anyway, back to PL.

This week: We took a trip to Hill Country with my parents after Nandini's birthday.  My mom wanted to do the beach, but it is still too cold.  We played Holi again at home like three more times.  Avi had the week off of school for Passover, so we also played a lot at home.  So fun to see Avinash and Nandini playing together more and more.

What I used: Most of my cards are from a digital kit at One Story Down by Two More Days.  This kit is really graphic and fun.  I thought it paired well with my bright Holi color pictures. My go to embellishments are still thickers, wood veneers and enamel dots to add texture.

First side: Love that big picture of Nandini covered in color.  

And the photo of Avinash and Nana roasting s'mores.  I added text to it (font: Silverfake) and a make magic Ormolu flapper. Love those little things.

I also added a little digital stamp from Two More Days to our bluebells photo. 

I took a piece of cardstock outside on one of our Holi days and let it get covered in color.  I let it dry and then trimmed it down to fit in a pocket.  Then I wrapped it in clear OA washi tape so the powder wouldn't leak out all over the place.  I found the days of the week washi worked well with my "play Holi everyday" theme.

The black glitter thickers were added on top of the pocket.  I find that foam thickers are very sticky and adhere well to the plastic.

The little heart on the photo is a fabric flapper from BG.

Nandini keeps losing one shoe.  We call her little Cinderella, plus she loves helping me with laundry.  I think I have to make a full page about this as well.  I added a Chic tag Love note triangle to this TMD journaling card.

 I love that picture of Avinash and Nandini in front of the old barn.  As soon as I saw it at the hotel I knew it was perfect mini-photo shoot material.  I cut apart that little banner from some SC printables.  That cute little notebook paper bag is from Whisker. I tiny attached a little die cut and added the date to the photo (my only one of the spread I think).

I used an Amy Tangerine stamp on this journaling card.  How cute is the hand drawn chevron? I am so blown away by it. I added a MS label sticker to the picture of me.  It turned out a bit dark, but I still like it.  I layered an SC sundrifter wood veneer over a BG sticker. 

 Second side: Love that little story about Avinash's nature scavenger hunt at the hotel.  He spotted this lizard all on his own.  I thought the Trend thickers paired well with the photo and black striped card.

Love those Holi pictures where you can the color just scattered in the air.  I stamped white on kraft to make this sticker.  I added a cork arrow from SC and this BG button.  It looks really Indian I think.  

 The A is a coordinating TMD font.  I added it directly to the photo before printing. 

I cut this circle out from another TMD journaling card and stapled it on to the photo.  I could have added it on digitally, but I don't always plan ahead.  I just journaled right around it.

On a side note, in my Etsy shop I am offering free domestic shipping on all orders over $10 to celebrate spring, just type in RAINBOWS at checkout.  If you are international, email me and I can send you a slightly different code (kumar.niru at gmail.com).  Thank you everybody!

 Let me know if you have any questions. Linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using are the Seafoam kit and Clementine kit, with multi-pack page protectors, and grid journaling cards.  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! 

Imagine.

I have been having a lot of fun with Studio Calico's Neverland kit this month.  I have made three pages so far and have not even cut into my favorite papers yet.  This month I swear I am finally going to use Kesi art paper on a real layout, I swear! 

I made this page last week, and I love it.  I used the b-side of an echo park paper.  The front is full of PL style journaling cards, but none of them really spoke to me as much as this cool maze pattern.  Blue is also a fave background color for me. 
I used gesso on the bubbles stencil.  Avinash punched these hearts for me the other day (much to my initial horror!), but turns out I really like them and the bokeh effect they create on the page. 
I added a few wood chevrons, puffy foam stickers and die cut shapes I made.
I misted some fabric thickers in red and added a few different ones for contrast, blue foam, silver glitter and grey chipboard. 
Totally channeling Soaphouse Mama Ashli and tried out some pen doodling here and there.  I continued the doodling and bits and pieces across the page as well as the photos for continuity.  Linking this up for Simon Says Stamp Water challenge. 

 Another Neverland page.  I made a big die cut background for this one.  I cut apart the new Maggie Holmes quote paper and stitched on some favorite lines.  I added layered a few more papers under my photo, anchors and red starburst.  Anchors are a bit weird I admit, but I think they can be used non-thematically.  Like butterflies or birds.  Or with birds?  I think it worked.
This MME pinwheel paper was a lot of fun to cut up and use as embellishments.  The colors in the paper are a bit muted, but it still looked nice.  I just scattered some candy dots and drops of mist around to finish it up.

And last but not least.  My first page for the new One Story Down!  I was so happy when they re-opened their virtual doors.  One of my favorite designers over there is Two More Days.  I used her Welcome to the Weekend kit for this page. 

Pi Day and other projects

I made these two pages for One Story Down while Nandini was away last week.  I guess I really missed her!

The first page uses the Two More Days Nerdy kit.  I decided to cut out the first hundred digits of Pi with the silhouette and put the patterened paper behind it.  She was born on Pi day, so it seemed the perfect collection to use for her.

This page is using some new Peeps&Milo papers.  It is already a new favorite.  I misted the circles on the side and used my craft knife to cut out the circles in the middle.  I did a little stitching as well for texture. 
It is just a random page about missing my baby girl, and how she maybe misses me too.  Though she did get thoroughly spoiled by her Nana and Nani, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I need to start getting ready for her birthday party now.  We will probably play Holi again, but I need to work in the pi (pie) theme somehow. 

DecDaily - magical

I am sharing a design team project I made as part of today's monthly block party at One Story Down. 

I used the awesome collab kit for most of this and a few things from the Retro Claus set.  They are both such fun kits to work with. I used a little gold glitter tape, a Crate gold foil chipboard ornament and a few Ali Edwards stamps as well. 

I added some digital elements to this picture and printed it out at 8x8.  I printed out the papers separately and glued them down in layers on some cardstock.  I actually think I like the look in the album better than as a single piece.  Now I just need to work on a plan for my 12.12.12 pictures.

DecDaily - joy love magic

I love the way this album is coming together.  I just hope I can keep it up for a whole month!

I took this photo with my phone and it was better than any other I took with my SLR.  I wanted to do something special with it. I was very inspired by Jill Sprott's title work on this layout.  I already had put these Midway alphas into my DD box to work with, so I figured why not.
The background is lovely gold foil vellum. I also used an old Hambly rub on, white letter stickers, and a bit of flair. 

 I added some text to the SC printable label.  Font is antrokas, love it (and it's free)!

I also made an insert, using a 5.5x8.5 page protector (MS Avery),  to hold some random photos from November.   The first snowfall of the season happened a few days after Thanksgiving.  The Santa boxes went up pretty early at Macy's.  Plus, two random shots from instagram.  On my way back home Air Force One landed at the airport.  Pretty cool to see the plane, it is huge!  I used my SC kit for the papers.  The large number tags are from roadside designs at One Story Down.  I used the Kelly Purkey stamps holiday set and plain jane alphas.
I also got my regular SC kit today and have to admit that I have no idea what to do with it.  I'm so into this project right now, I have no interest in using it.  Does anyone else feel this way?  I guess I'll just have to wait for some inspiration.

Bubbles!

Bubble blowing is one of those random activities that Avinash and Nandini both love (and helps get them out of that post-nap funk). Nandini only knows a few words, mostly starting with the letter B, and just started saying bubble too. Apparently we are still working through the buh sound. But, each time she says she squeals with great delight. I love it!

 

 I loved that top photo so much, I already scrapped it. I love telling a long, rambling story on a page.

Project Life - Hello Summer

My kids are staying with my parents this week and Ryan is away on business, so I had a lot of time to play.  I thought I would share some more of the process.  I printed out a lot of digi OSD files and created some sil cuts to go along with them on the cameo. 

 I'm not doing anything fancy, so I just make a collage in picasa of a few favorite cards.

 I open the file in my silhouette and draw some rounded 4x3 rectangles around the cards.

You can see a little better if I move it over.  I layer over some digi ribbons and a Saturday tab.

 Here are the cards out of the printer and cameo.

 Love how they pop right out.

I skipped reg marks, so this didn't line up perfectly, but it still looks cool.

I added my own text to this card.   I used this font (it's free, just click for the link):

I start to pull my pictures together.  I have a lot of 4x4 instagrams printed so I use a design C page protector.
I decided I needed to do a full page with these cute days of the week flags from Lauren.
 

 I just open the .png files in my Studio software and move all the files to one page.

I use the trace feature to cut out the outline of the flags.  Of course I hate to waste space on a sheet of cardstock, so I weld a couple squares with the words hello summer to fit in one of my 4x4 squares.  I thought it would be a nice way to mark the first (real) day of summer. The font I used here is (also free):

Fresh from the cameo. Love these colors.  These look good without the cameo too and were designed to layer easily on your digi pages.

 I also printed out this little embellishment and had my machine die cut a one inch circle around it to fit a bubble cap.  Homemade flair :)

I start working on the left side first. Cut up my pictures and find a place for that little flair.



This little picture is perfect to slip under this banner.  Nandini loved playing ball at the park on Saturday night. 

 I want to journal on this card, so I paint some white distress ink over the middle.  Just enough so you can still the cute background pattern around the edges.

I add my only stamp of the week and an elle's studio circle tidbit.

I love these new red flocked thickers, another day of the week flag and some journaling.  I use some little letter stickers to add the date (trying to use up all those numbers!).

I type a little and write a little to fill out a week in the review type card.  Still getting the hang of my new typewriter.  I use the other half of the paperclips from the previous week.

Hmm...don't really like that dark blue accordion sticker.  It is clashing with the bright orange in the middle.  And the neon pink washi is a little too much.

The dark blue is switched out for light blue and red.  And some wood veneers, camera and arrows, find their way on to the page as well.

I shifted the washi tape behind the die cut around a little so less of the neon tape is showing.  Even Heidi Swapp recommends using them sparingly on the back of the package.

This page came together a lot faster.  After looking at it originally, I added paper clips to match the left side.  I trimmed the regular photos down to 3.75x3.75 and backed it with a square of PB&J patterned paper.  I had gotten a whole stack together to choose from, but really liked the unity and simplicity of using the same paper throughout.


I rubbed teal chalk ink around the edges.  I love that little pop of color and use this color a lot.  It is not super crisp for letters, but it is great for backgrounds and edges like this.

 A little summer lovin' cutout added.  This water table drives me a little crazy, because Avinash always gets soaked but it is too hot to worry about now.

I typed my journaling on some martha stewart stickers. Somehow the thing punched out the center of the Os.  Interesting..

My new old typewriter, proudly displayed next to my washi collection.

 

 

 And, here is the scene after I finished everything up.  Oh my.  Note the cute new bowls from Anthro (on sale!) holding my tools and supplies.  I have a bowl for pre-made journaling cards and die cuts too.  Also, the precariously perched coffee in an Elvis mug.  Luckily I am really good at speed cleaning and it only takes me about five minutes to put everything away.


This week I used my silhouette a lot and my stamps barely at all.  Feels easier to do one or the other, not both each week. Having pre-made die cuts handy would also help.  Next time I'll make more at a time.
I'm also trying to journal about more than what is visible in the photo and dig a little deeper.  I'm not sure how far I got, but I think leaving out the obvious details helps. Finally, I am loving my new typewriter.  I just lightly put stickers on a piece of scrap paper and roll them in place.  My husband found a good deal for the typewriter on ebay.  So, even if you don't go thrifting or antiquing you can still get one!


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! I try my best to visit each one, and I'm always happy that I do!