December Daily | Day 4 Elf the Movie

Elf movie night!!! I know him!!! 

Ryan was so sweet to get us tickets to the showing of Elf at the historic theatre in Austin, the Paramount. The kids dressed up. Even though Nandini was hesitant because “she never wins costume contests.”

But she did. 

The whole night was so fun. 

First they had snow, then we did the costume contest. Then they had Elf coraling. And to finish we snuggle while watching the movie. 

I made this journaling card with a few Elf quotes that went along with their Costume Contest Characters. I used the font Bemio Italic. 

I washi taped a starty transparency over this picture of our Santa and Elf. It’s not fully in focus, but I like how they are interacting and in the moment. 

I also made a flip up card under my journaling. Just proof that I was there. And of the amazing Elf paper decorations all over the ceiling. The adorable Snow Day card is from Cocoa Daisy. 

Here is a look at my pages in the album together. 


Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 2 Winter Wonderland

This weekend we went to two tree lightings.  There are so many around town at different hotels.  When I read that the one at the Fairmont included a complimentary bakeshop, I knew we had to go.  Rarely do these things live up to expectations but this one far, far exceeded them.

I enlarged our tree photo to a 3x8 insert.  I folded over some pattern paper to create a pocket on the back. 

I included another enlarged photo on the front of the 3x8 pocket. 

 It opens up to my journaling.  I added a few cork stars, word sticker and a date stamp.

 I added a tiny pocket page to include a lot of pictures again.  Just to make things simple this time.   I like to put them in a checkerboard.  I went through all of my embellishments, old and new to fill in the pockets in between.

Large sequins, flat gold sequins, a rubber charm, and a tag from anthro.  The tassel is from there too. 

Have you ever seen prettier macaroons?

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 1 Capitol Tree Lighting

December is here again. And again I am putting together a daily scrapbook about this month. 

I have done this for years and years.  But I still get stuck.  

Somehow, sitting here looking at an album full of blank page protectors is so hard.  

I did what I always do when I can't move forward.  I looked back.  Yesterday we went to the Austin Capitol Tree Lighting.  And like last year, I had so many photos I wanted to share.  

So I looked at last years pages.  

This image stuck out to me.  I love the strip of pattern with a stitch tag on it.  And the page holding mutliple photos.  

My photos were different this year though.  Not as bright and from different times of day.  I didn't want them to be exactly as I had them last year. 

I also took some inspiration from Pam Baldwin and turned my photos into tags.  

Again I added a bit of pattern to the side, with a sticker rounded to look like a tab and stitched in place.  My machine has red thread in it now and I probably won't change it much this month. 

I still needed a place to journal.  This one picture of Lakshman at the Capitol was too special not to print out.  

I used a red wooden star from the kit and a strip of washi at the bottom. 

I am using the Ali Edward's kit, with elements from Cocoa Daisy, Kelly Purkey and Paislee Press. 

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Week In the Life| Thursday Photos + Wednesday Pages

Are you taking my picture? 

Uh, yep. 

This outfit didn't even last that long.  I had to shower and change mid day because I got so hot. 

First they were arguing about whose toy that was.  It's Lakshman's toy.  No, it's Bappi's toy.  Then they were licking each other with it and Lakshman was giving it kisses back. 

Lakshman is still in his rhino costume.  Everybody loves it and asks him about it.  It is totally short on his arms and legs, but he looks so cute stuffed into it.

No school and no plans means we can visit our favorite nursery, Natural Gardner.  The 80 and 90 degree weather is getting to all the violets I have in my containers and I want something fresh to put in them.  

My friend Farya asked me to be the 'official' photographer for the school MARE program again, so we go to school early to shoot the fishes.  It is fun for Lakshman too because he gets to see the octopus eyes and they show him the beak inside too.  Quick projects like this are the perfect amount of volunteering for me. 

Even though I really don't like Starbucks anymore, I let the kids talk me into an after school snack there.  Plus, I still have tons of rewards left that I need to use up.  While I am ordering Lakshman disappears.  I mildly panic, no one around me reacts at all but I luckily find him in the potty.  More than one crisis averted I guess. 

We race over to piano, four minutes late and reminding me why I need to stick to drive thrus. Lakshman splits Nandini's bagel and Avinash eats his cake pop.  Waiting through these classes really is getting easier.  

The kids and I look for things to harvest in the backyard.  We could only find one plum! We all split it but the skin is terrible! The inside is really tart too.  Lakshman picks some tomatoes and waters his popcorn plant. 

Ryan making dinner.  Some weird lentil dish from Blue Apron.  I have to add haldi and jeera to it.  The kids have roasted broccoli and pasta.  Lakshman only wants to eat the broccoli, but at least it is cooked in some fat this time.

Probably the best part of our day and our week so far.  Avinash is doing homework.  Nandini, Lakshman and I are reading the strawberry book and start acting out the parts.  Lakshman wants to be the bear initially.  Nandini and I take turns being the mouse and strawberry.  Dressing up the strawberry in it's disguise is so hilarious.  Avinash bounds in and joins us.  I love it when he is not too big to play along with our silly games.  We read the book over and over so that everyone can get a turn at each character several times.  Lakshman interjects a new line into the book and insists that the bear wants to eat the strawberry AND the mouse.  This only makes sense of course. Somehow we end the book with Ryan as the bear getting attacked.  Lakshman tells me to slap him, he starts kicking him and he tells Nandini to hit him.  "Not like that! Close your hand, that is called a hit!" "You mean punch?" Ryan is laughing hysterically throughout so I assume he is okay with this? Seems like 

Wednesday Pages |

Mini Art Journaling still going strong!

Thank you for checking out my pages! You can see all my Week in the Life posts here. 

March Scrapbook Projects | 4 Projects and a Layout Process Video

I am always ready for spring time and am totally in love with all the butterflies, flowers and purple in this kit! 

All projects created using the Cocoa Daisy March Silver Lining 12x12 Memory Keeping and Pocket Memory Keeping kits. 

I know that purple gets a bad name in crafting circles and I am not sure why.  The same goes for brown but people change their tune as long as you call it kraft or woodgrain. I find both colors to be lovely and am all for it.  

My daughter's most recent Faerie Tea Party pictures were just perfect for this kit of course.  

I really wanted to create flight trails behind the butterflies.  I used simple machine stitching for it.  I just worked slowly and slightly rotated my paper as I went to make the curves. 

The best part was after making this page she asked to keep it and hung it up in her room.  I guess not every page has to be tucked away in an album! 

This is the video to see how I put this layout together step by step. 

And, how fabulous is this washi tape in this month's confidential kit.  It is like getting a blind bag every month and I love it! I have been biding my time to share this, but I finally can! 

This is a hybrid layout I put together.  Just a lovely little time capsule of the days recently. 

 And finally a few Project Life spreads to share.

Shipping tags + die cuts. I try to add some typed journaling to at least a few photos before printing. 

I stitched all these cut apart flags to make another rainbow card for the spread.  Lakshman spelling words with play-doh is my favorite. 

Adding a little black and white with all this colors helps balance it out for sure.

Thanks again for checking out my projects this month! Go to the Cocoa Daisy page to shop for the full kit and see the rest of the designs.  

You can see all of my Cocoa Daisy Projects here.