Project Life: Home Again

This spread is not exactly chronological.  Spent way too long trying to get everything in order before I gave up and just filled the spread with as many pictures and cards as I could fit. 

I kind of love this picture of my spread.  I was going to crop it, but I like how half a crayon snuck in the picture. No matter how hard I try, I can never pick up every lego and/or crayon off the floor.  The little reminders of our little ones kinda makes me smile (which is especially easy right now since it is naptime).

This week: We were getting back into our routine.  Took N to the doctor to check her weight. Went to the musuem and grocery shopping and regular stuff like that.  I included a lot more Disney photos too because I can and technically our trip ended mid-week.  It does kinda make it seem like we spent two weeks at Disney, which is a fiction I can live with.

Page one: I still struggle with these vertical photo pages a little, especially because I rarely take vertical photos.  I do like to print out instagrams as 4" squares and matte them on patterned paper.  I added a Freckled Fawn speech bubble wood chip to the mickey photo.  Love them!
Nandini's photo is on top of this  yellow dot paper and has a row of repeating Studio Calico stamps.  Got this idea from my friend Viji.

I tucked a dear Lizzy tag behind a photo of Mickey, added some wide neon washi, gold letters and added a lot of journaling on the patterned paper. 

I included some horizontal Clementine cards and a resized Creative Bubble filler card - all printables.  It is so hard to find horizontal project life cards that I find it quicker to just print out my own.  I added paper clips and staples for dimension.  I saved the whole score card, but that was the only bit of it to make it into the album.

Page two: back to the ease of design A pages.  I printed out several paislee press cards for this side.  I half inked another FF wood chip speech bubble with gold ink.  I added some text in Picasa and some with white BG letter stickers.  I think the combination works. I also added a lot of text to pictures using the Trend font (try white block, which is similar and free).  I also included a photo Avi took and instagrammed of himself.  I love how he always includes a caption. 

I stamped with white chalk ink and cut out a circle of kraft to make my own little journaling spot. Our little spoonful of pepper.  She was so shy, but her little brother helped show her where to go in the play. Priceless.

How amaze is this paislee press card? I added black letter stickers and a couple orange enamel dots.  Just love this hint of summer in the middle of January. 

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!

TwoPeas Sale

If you love hot products and a good deal, this post is for you!  Ready for 10 don't-miss collections right now?  Let's start off by looking at a few favorites TwoPeas just put on sale!

1.  Dear Lizzy's 5th & Frolic with American Crafts.  This has to be one of my all time favorite collections ever.  I have used it for girly Nandini pages and even pages about Avinash's birthday.  I use bits in Project Life all the time and plan on using the rest on my Disney pages!

2.  Amy Tangerine's Ready Set Go with American Crafts.  Pie charts, cameras and chevrons - just a handful of the what's-hot-right-now motifs in Amy's line.

3.  Rhonna Farrer's All is Bright with My Mind's Eye.  Vintage and collage collide in this cozy Christmas line.

4.  Hot products like this washi tape, wood veneer, speech bubbles and more here!

5.  The fresh-on-the-shelves My Girl & Boy Crazy collections from My Minds Eye.  Gumball machines, roller skates, robots and sneakers - just a few of the playful motifs you'll find here.

6.  The Collectable collection from My Mind's Eye.  With four different color palette mixes there is something for everyone here.  The die cuts and new washi tapes are very popular.

7.  Scoot by Echo Park A line almost as adorable as the little man in your life.

8. Photo Freedom Volume 1 by Echo Park.  A perfect match for your Project Life album.

9.  True Love by Basic Grey  A great pairing of current trends and Valentines.

10.  3,000+ items that are a little easier on your wallet.

Remember: the TwoPeas January FREE SHIPPING coupon code is: E4RVXU

You can dance on the breeze **JBS digital hybrid**

I am super excited to share my first Jenni Bowlin project. I would say that posting it gave me butterflies, but that would be corny so I won't.

I used a picture from our recent kite festival adventure (photo credit: my husband Ryan Hecker, who totally made me put that on here).  I used a line from Mary Poppins for the title, with a little stitching thrown in for fun.  I used old cotton thread, because I forgot about the kite string we had saved!

 I layered digital papers to matte the photo and added a butterfly (digi!) rub-on on top.  I love love love the classic Jenni Bowlin butterfly and using it digitally couldn't be easier! 

I used a MS glue pen to add little dots of glitter on the patterned paper and scattered around the page.  I love the touch of whimsy it adds and think it helps blend the digi and paper elements together. And there you have it, my first JBS project and I couldn't be happier.  Looking forward to this awesome year!

Project Life - Done is Good, Goodbye 2012!

I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief.  I finally did it! Project Life 2012 is complete and put away in it's albums. I finished up the last of December with three pages covering roughly two weeks.  I ended my album on New Year's Day and may include a few more New Year's Day photos on 2013 cover page (still in progress).

I got the chance to crop with some friends this weekend. Such a fun way to do Project Life (but not very efficient since we chat so much-I wouldn't have it any other way). 

 An old ormolu card in front of a whiskers yellow bag.  Had to tell the story of Avi's wish for a lot of pennies (even if it is already in my December Daily).

I cut down papers from Aspen Frost Basic Grey and Studio Calico wonderland inserts to mount my horizontal photos on.  The gold glitter numbers are a must.

Lots of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day photos, with a random meeting of Santa and snow day thrown in.  The flash cards are from October Afternoon.

Gotta love the wood veneer snowflakes. I love that they add texture without much bulk.  The tag cut is from Crate, I have used this one paper over and over again.

 Instead of saying cheese, Nandini decided to do peek-a-boo while I took her picture before Christmas dinner.  I had no idea what to do with these cute pictures until I say Smita's spread for the week.  Her idea is priceless, thanks Smita!

My last page.  Lots of photos and printed journaling cards from Paislee Press and Creative Bubble. Love them so much.  The die cut polaroid is from my own little shop. 

I cut the label off a journaling card, added a strip of silver glitter tape and stapled on a wood camera for good measure.  These appear on nearly every page, so it is fitting to end with one I think.

I am totally in love with the wood veneer cards.  I tried to emboss on them in white, but it just wouldn't stick over the ink for some reason!  I ended up stamping it with white chalk ink and then going over that with my trusty white poster paint sharpie.  Note to self: just add text before printing next time!

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!

Project Life - Hello World

I was so excited when we got back from Disney World that I had to jump right in with that week.  I still have to go back and finish the end of December and my cover page, but I couldn't wait to scrap these photos.

 I made this first page using primarily new releases from One Story Down.  I think I digi stamped on almost every photo this week.  I used quite a few Kelly Purkey stamps as well. Just love the quality of them.
I made the Disney World card with some digi paper, a regular black circle and the Champagne & Limousines font.  I wanted a good sans serif, but discovered I don't have Helvetica so I just went with what I have. I used wood letters on top of that. Love the way it turned out.

I put a seafoam card, silver star washi and an OA mini album page behind this photo of Nandini.  The stamp is Dear Lizzy.  We bought her a new lovey because  it was just so cute.  She calls it bow-wow now and sleeps with it every night.  Maybe I should go back and journal that?

She does not smile much, but Ryan caught one of her on this ride.  I add the bokeh using PixlR (it's a free photo editor), then added the peeps&milo digi stamps after that.

Avi got to be the Hero of Fantasyland our first day there and pulled the sword out of the stone.  It was total luck and happenstance.  He was a bit nervous about being up there and it shows.  He tried to pull it up later and of course couldn't, so he told Ryan "I don't have any energy today", ha!

I added a few vertical prints and instagrams, printed out as 4in squares, to the second side. I don't take a ton of vertical photos, so square photos are a good way to fill those pockets.

See what I told you about Nandini not smiling?  I used a grey chevron bag to matte this Toy Story photo.  Ryan of course complained that I didn't document his high score on Buzz Lightyear, so I told him he could make his own card if he wanted. 

I don't usually go this simple, but I love how this pocket turned out. The glitter paper is from December Daily and the flair is from SC. 

I added an elephant paperclip to our safari photo (even though a giraffe is in the background).  The wish love card is a gift card holder I got from Aerie.  I love kraft and metallic, so why not?

TwoPeas sent me a 10% off code so I thought I would share it with you.

Coupon code: 250413D298

It applies to all non-phaseout items, good until January 18th.

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!

 

Back to the world of Today.

Just spent the last week at Disney World with my family. The great thing about that place is how at the end all of the hassle and waiting and running around (and tantrums and meltdowns) seem to melt away into a haze of happy memories.

I was a little crazed when we got home, looking at the humongous suitcases to be unpacked, piles of mail to be read and Etsy packages and layouts to be shipped.  But, most of the mail turned out out to be lovely holiday cards. My husband even made a trip to the post office for me.

Nandini was practicing her tantrums with gusto this morning.  Mostly because she could not have num nums for breakfast.  She laid down for her morning nap, but resumed crying and screaming almost the whole way to pick up Avi from school.  At some point on the road I started to feel really zen and just realized how happy and relaxed I was.  Somehow the long break had cleared off the grime of my day to day routine.

I feel that I sometimes focus on the negative too often.

I just want to remember the random, good little things from Today.

I want to remember them playing by themselves and playing together all day. Making treasure maps and cooking in their kitchen.  Even cleaning up a little (when asked).

I want to remember the wonderful fragrant roses I got at the grocery store today (most are fragrance-free in stores).

I want to remember the pile of happy mail awaiting me when I got home.  And, how good it felt to get everything organized and put away after.

I want to remember simple and delicious pea soup dinner at home which even Nandini tried.

I want to remember how much fun it was to look through my Disney pictures and get started on my Project Life right away while everything is still fresh.

I want to remember how grateful I am for everything Ryan does to help me and the kids.

I want to remember Nandini's relaxed laughter and even her incredible determination and stubborness.  I know it will serve her well. 

I want to remember how nice our little life together is.

It was nice to have a break, but I am very excited to start crafting again.  Lots of new things to come!

....and a Happy New Year

We have been so busy our last few days at home.  Meeting up with old friends, spending time with family, making a million trips to the mall and Target to return things/get price adjustments, going on little adventures and enjoying the cold weather while we can.

Highlights include:

 Old friends +hot chocolate = good times.  Always nice when we can force our kids to hang out together and be friends since we already are. 

Dear photograph attempt with my brother.  Not the best in the world, but still cracks me up.  He hasn't changed a bit!

Ringing in the New Years at home after night out together at a, wait for it, Backstreet Boys Concert.  Had a total flashback of the dance routines my friend Sarah used to teach me in high school.  So many memories..

  Visiting Chocolate World in Hershey.  Nandini is the most unenthused Hershey Kiss factory worker ever.  You couldn't even tell she liked it except for the tantrum she threw as we were leaving.

 Sledding on snow mountain and making bowls and bowls of snow ice cream. 

Getting Nandini's ear pierced.  She was such a doll throughout the process.  My mom wanted to make it a ceremony so we said a prayer together before hand.  Nandini knew it was about her and just looked so pleased with herself while we sang.  Then I swaddled her up and she got so calm and relaxed just like when she was an infant.  She didn't even cry after the first one.  (Clearly she did after the second.)  She is so strong. 

And, I have done absolutely nothing crafty in days.  Feels weird but after bedtime I traded family time and board games for craft time, and I'm okay with that.  Even though we may bicker, I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful group of family and friends. 

Happy New Year to you, hope you have a beautiful 2013.