Project Life: Week 25

This week: My mom came to visit. It was so awesome having her spend time here and she helped out a lot with getting the house organized. Plus, we all got spoiled with her cooking. We also went to the Disney store for 'scare lessons' before going to see Monsters U. We don't make it to a lot of movies so it is a big event for us.  Nandini didn't sit through the whole thing as it was anyway.

I used a single sheet of dear Lizzy paper for most of this spread.   The colors just worked with this week's photos and I was amazed with how quickly I could put it all together.

 First page:  I love how she calls herself Gudiya (it means doll), instead of Nandini now. 

I recorded a few other recent quotes on a card. I used a MME 'hello' die cut here as well. Call it a theme for the week!

I clipped an Elle's studio journaling card in half to add journaling to this photo. I like how it follows the lines of the bricks in the photo.

My favorite card of the week. I used a cut apart sheet of painterly solid colors for the base. I love the look of layered stamps and actually did that here. I used my June/July Kelly Purkey kit stamps here. I stamped the sun in yellow (old, JBS ink) and Hello, Summer in archival ink black.  The letter stickers are from her kit too.  I also stamped a chevron pattern behind the photo in brilliance gold ink.

This photo booth was set up at Alamo Draft House. I used a letterbox filter on it (free in Picasa) and used my SC Inked class stamp.  I really love how it turned out (even if it is not perfectly straight).  It almost looks like it is part of the photo.

 Second page: I used a few Studio Calico kit cards on this side as well. I used one of the dear Lizzy filler cards to hold some journaling.  Writing around the edge helped to keep the card a little less cluttered.

Nandini was very excited to be at the movies. She kept saying "Movie? Muppets there?" So cute that she remembers our last movie theatre experience so well.
I used picket fence distress ink on the photo so my stamping would stand out.

I free hand cut some hearts out of one of the dear Lizzy cards and used it as an embellishment. I clipped a die cut card I made to hold my journaling. I really like including a little bit of kraft somewhere on my spreads. I think it helps ground the page.

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using generally are the Studio Calico kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.  

Also, Simon Says Stamp is having a great sale right now, 50% off Becky Higgins Project Life! Use code PLFE5. 7/17-18.

If you are interested in signing up for the Studio Calico scrapbook, card or PROJECT LIFE kit  you can get a free add-on (with free shipping!) RIGHT NOW using the code Jennifer.  (I love this add-on because it has Kesi Art paper and wood veneers).

Put this add-on in your cart with the subscription of your choice and enter the code.  Both kits will ship free to you! I have my June kits already and they are so lovely. These deals don't come that often so I think it is a great opportunity if getting a sub was something you were planning anyway. It will end as soon as the add-on sells out, so don't wait. 

 

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).  Please consider following me on bloglovin' or feedly so you won't miss a post!  I appreciate all of your support.

Project Life: Week 23

 This week: We set up Nandini's new room more. We went to Zilker to play. The main event however was the weekend, and that is fine. We went to see the Sound of Music sing-a-long. Twice.  We made costumes and dressed.  We haven't stopped singing the songs since. Random people at the grocery store get to hear me croon Edelweiss whenever the mood strikes Nandini. Avinash made me sing for his friend at a playdate, oh that wasn't awkward.

 A better look at the whole spread.  I have been overexposing my photos a bit lately because my printer tends to make them look too dark otherwise.  What do you think?

First Page: I used a lot of photos.  I saved quite a few pieces of ephemera from the movie for this spread.  A piece of 'curtain fabric' is stapled to the top journaling card.  I also included a couple random pictures of Nandini.  She randomly calls cereal 'EOP'. I don't question it.
I stamped 'it's my jam' on KP's white washi like she suggested and love the way it turned out.  It doesn't completely cover the photo but the stamp is much easier to read.  Funny thing is, that 'it's my jam' stamp is totally Nandini's jam.  She loves to play with it and stamps her hand and mine.  Luckily it is sturdy enough that I don't mind ;)

 Still love these dear Lizzy foam thickers.  A perfect size for PL and very watermelon-y.

I let the theatre's marquee sign in the photo serve as the title, rather than adding my own with stickers. I cut down this vertical photo to fit across two pockets.  The paper is Paislee Press for Studio Calico and the stickers are OA travel girl. I really like using the black and white here.  I think it sort of offsets the colorful marquee and helps balance out all of the color on the rest of the page.

 Second page: How amazing is it that the theatre handed out all of these 3x4 cards at the movie.  This picture of Maria slipped right in!  I had so many other treasures from the show I just took a picture of them all and included that as well. More MME stickers on a random Avinash photo. A gorgeous letterpress card from the Kelly Purkey Project Life kit.  Must. not. hoard. all. the. beautiful. letterpress.

I cut up the awesome Awesome journaling card from this month's Studio Calico kit.  I also used the letter stickers and heart veneers from there too.

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).  Please consider following me on bloglovin' or feedly so you won't miss a post!  I appreciate all of your support.
 

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using generally are the Studio Calico kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.

Find Your Voice: Who are you?

  

 Find your voice is an awesome 8-week summer workshop that I am contributing too.  It is free and tons of fun to play along.  The community is really growing.  

I went through the prompts and decide to put what I learned into action. Telling the story of who I am right now in words and pictures on a layout.

I needed two pages and lots of space for journaling.  The large question mark card was meant to be held up during the "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" song, but I think it adds a dual meaning here of "Who am I?"

And, because 'who i am' is more of a process than a steady answer, I know I can come back and revisit this topic over and over again.  I think it will lend a good background to my albums going forward.

Also, this page was totally inspired by a window display at Anthropologie. That is all.


Make sure you go and check out the prompts and this weeks projects here.  You can read more about my thoughts on this subject and how I made my project. Then come back and link up your words/projects as well at the blog link-up.

Happy 4th of July!

We had so much fun this holiday spending time together as a family.  Nothing major, just some friends, the park, a picnic basket.

We got to have breakfast with these kids in the morning.  Oh my word was Avinash excited to see Nisha again.  The cutest was watching little Roshan follow Avinash around- he really seems to look up to him as the 'older' boy.  And, no I couldn't get any non blurry pictures of them facing the camera.  This shot pretty much says it all anyway.

In the evening we went to the Long Center park for a picnic and music from the Symphony before the fireworks started.  I think this picnic basket is still one of my favorite gifts from Ryan ever.  I do really miss not being able to walk to the park like in Houston.  Parking (and getting home) was not fun!

We had fun while we were there though.  I made tomato basil and mozzarella hoagies.  Hey, I'm from PA, what do you expect? A baguette? We also had grilled corn with butter and lime and tons of fresh fruit. 

Do you think they liked the watermelon?

This kid was covered in strawberry stains.  I'm telling you, he still tries to play Holi everyday.

Isn't this the sweetest? Love that five seconds every day when they get along.  Of course, she doesn't know what to do with herself when he's away either.  OH the tears while he was at camp this week.

The fireworks lasted 13 minutes.  Just enough time to gulp down our shaved ices. 

And, yes, we were sitting behind a pole because we had no idea which direction the fireworks would be coming from.

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope you have a great weekend too!

Day in the Life: June 2013

 I am playing along with Ali Edward's Day in the Life once again this month.  This was an even more average day than usual because we didn't do anything during the day.  Just stayed home, made soup together and they vegged out while I tried to get caught up on projects.  Luckily, Daddy came in home in time for a trip to the pool. 
I am working on my album now because if I don't get it done now I know that I may never.  Fingers crossed I can get it done tonight. You can see my progress on my Day in the Life mini album here.
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OK, I am back! I sat down and got it all printed out (mental hurdle number one). Then I put it all together in my little mini album, and honestly, I had a blast doing it!

I love to have a see through element as my monthly divider.  I have used a lot of transparencies, but I decided to try something a little different. I found a dear Lizzy die cut card that I loved (and needed to stop hoarding) and sewed it onto a strip of vellum so that it could lay outside of a page protector.  And, then because I can't seem to leave my watercolor set (I have been using a Kid made Modern set from Target) alone I added a bit more pink to the top and then painted some JBS lemon drops paint on the bottom. It turned out kinda like that fabulous washi tape from Studio Calico last month.

Right behind it is a full 4x6 photo of Nandu.  The white letter stickers are from the Studio Calico PL kit.

The left side is photos and the right side is journaling.  I suppose I could switch it up, but I like the 2 inch squares, so each 4x6 collage holds 6 photos.

I stamped a few summer sentiments from the Studio Calico Elise Blaha stamp set.  I'm kind of a stickler about the literal meaning of stamps so I had to wait until June 21st to use most of this set.  My weird OCD side coming out.

There are four total 4x6s glued together back to back.  I make a hinge with washi tape in between the layers so that it is hidden.  Then I can flip open the page to reveal the rest of the days photos.  

One more Elise stamp that looks it was made for this photo.

I used a Paislee Press/Studio Calico stamp set on this side.  I stamped mostly with watercolor so the effect would be subtle.  I tend to use a lot of patterned paper in my projects, but I like that this album is coming out differently and uses other techniques to embellish.  Makes me more creative and helps my pages feel more cohesive without having a pre-assembled kit put together for the whole year.

I continued the Paislee Press theme with this stamp on the inside of my journaling page.  A little bit more of dear Lizzy die cuts and fabric stickers for some low key embellishments.  This mini album is all about simple.  

 I had the back page stamped with a black border too but I decided this spread needed a bit more texture so I dip dyed some ribbon in watercolor and stitched it onto a piece of scrap cardstock.  I glued this to the outside of my page protector because I am serious about that texture. 

Thanks for looking.  I hope you liked this little installment of my Day in the Life mini album.

Project Life: Week 24, JBS Historian kit

This week: We really started to get in the swing of things.  This website of fun free things to do in Austin really helped.  We went to a kid's festival in the park, the free night at the museum and a free showing of Muppets take Manhattan!  So, I guess this spread is kid dominated.  We did have a lovely dinner out at this Mexican restaurant downtown (with the kids of course, we don't know any babysitters here yet) but the only picture is of the children.  Better luck next week on more balance I guess. 
Oh, and this week is entirely made with the new JBS Historian kit for project life.  The kit is packed, I used a ton of cards here and on layouts for layering and still have plenty left over.  So awesome.

First Page: I love the deck of project life cards from Basic Grey.  The explore card totally reminded me of the hills around Austin.  The flair fit perfectly inside the papercrafting kit stamp. 
I have to make a really conscious effort to include more white space in my spreads. I kept the peony photo simple with just a few BG white alpha stickers.  A reference to the fact that Nandini makes me sing 'Edelweiss' fifty times a day now.

I used gesso and the awesome Balzer Designs stencil directly on my photo.  I used my white sharpie poster paint pen to journal.  We spend a lot of time in the car these days, so annoying.

Second page:  College girls from UT wanted to study Avinash and I totally let them, ha!  It was so cute listening to the 'research study' about apples and oranges. 
I love the Basic Grey letters in the JBS kit.  Just the perfect size and they have a serif and sans serif pack in the kit, which is great because I like a more eclectic look rather than each pocket matching. I also love the way the letters look lined up with an element in the photo, as if they are part of the picture for real.
I decided to use this Rome card because I'm sure we aren't visiting anytime soon and I really liked how the picture looked on the slant.  I don't think I've done that in PL before.

I grabbed this screen cap of the muppet movie from Alamo Draft House because I didn't remember to save our tickets or anything.  I added the text myself and quite like how it turned out.

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 generally are the Seafoam kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.  This week I am featuring the JBS Historian kit for July. Thanks for looking!

Jenni Bowlin Guest Designer!

So proud to share that I am the Guest Designer for July over at JBS Mercantile.  I was completely non non-nonplussed when I got the email asking me to take part in their fabulous team for the month.  Honestly, I couldn't believe it.  I am truly honored to be working with this artistic, sincere, and just plain nice group of women!  So grateful to everyone there, thank you!

I got the paper crafting kit,  the mini album kit and the historian kit (for project life).  You can check out my gallery there. Here are a few highlight of what I made with them.

Special thank you to the amazing and talented Lisa for making me my own Mercantile banner.  I will treasure it always :))
Moon&Stars

This was the last layout I did, mostly because I knew what I wanted to do with this paper as soon as I saw it and therefore kept putting it off.  I have had this phases of the moon layout idea in my head for a while and I knew these repeating globes would be the perfect backdrop.  I would have used my silhouette but I wanted the circles to line up with the patterned paper and knew that would be hard to do the new-fashioned way.

So, I got out my trust old circle trimmer, which I happened to find very easily when unpacking boxes (why are the most random things the easiest to find when unpacking??). I made a grid on the back of the white paper and then started cutting out circles and partial circles.  In case you are wondering this paper has 1 5/8 inch circles.  I used my trusty kid made modern watercolor set to paint the moons.

Dumbo Hathi - Hathi is hindi for elephant and is what our daughter calls Dumbo, so cute.  I have millions of  Disney photos and doubt I will ever scrap all of them.  (On the plus side, Walt Disney World likes my photos, what!) 
I used all the kits for this layout.  The stencil is from the papercrafting kit and is painted with more watercolors and a distress ink stamp marker in red. The D on the Basic Grey paper in the paper crafting kit was calling out to be stitched into my title.  I added a little more stitching with some random white circles.

I snipped more tickets from this Basic Grey patterned paper to make a photo mat and added my writing to a carte postale journaling card. 

Thank you so much for letting me share this :)  I will be back tomorrow with the project life pages I made.

And, just another friendly reminder, since google reader is commiting suicide, please consider following me (on bloglovin') as alternative. (Name that movie!)