Day in the Life: July 2013

I am having so much fun with this little project.

I followed along with Ali Edwards pre-set day at the end of the month, though it seems she didn't really do it this month herself.  Not sure about that one.  If I miss the day and do it the next day, it is fine.  I just like the sort of randomness it gives the process versus a day I might select myself which would more likely be a certain type of day.  Turned out this day had plenty of specialness to it anyway.

I used a silhouette cut for the title card, but I did not use the negative so there is no see-through element this month.  I am in love with this design from Kal Barteski (and used it already here.)  I painted the hello with Heidi Swapp gold mist to echo my story page.  The airmail envelope is from an old Jenni Bowlin kit.  I love airmail.

I decided to try some more night shots.  The fact that we randomly had a date night on a Wednesday helped with that.  

 I used another Kal Barteski design as a mask here.  I just placed the die cut on cardstock and dotted gold mist around it with a paintbrush.  I have seen this idea on pinterest, using embroidery on negative space. The effect of the color+texture of the thread give the design it's appeal. I have no where near enough to sew that much, but luckily the Heidi Swapp mist has little bits of gold in it not just ink so it gives the look of some texture at least. 

 The pages open to hold more stuff.  I just attach two photos together a piece of washi tape (use white washi and save yourself some headache) then glue the inside photos on top. Easy and has held up so far.

 The tabs this month are more vintage bits from Jenni Bowlin. The cardstock is simply a 4x12 piece folded in half and slipped into the page protector.

I finally used one of the actual Kal B stamps.  I stitched around each story page for a simple border.  I think it adds a finished look to the mostly bare cardstock. I used a few life.love.paper labels here and on the photos as well.

 I used a few Carta Bella stickers because they really worked with my color scheme.  And yes, getting a second dinner of Vietnamese food at 11pm made me incredibly ill after we got home.  Romance was everything on date night though and Ryan stepped up and cleaned the mess.  Now that is love.






Thoughts on this project so far:

• I still love the see-through title page and will likely return to that next month.
• I could be a little more creative in my photo taking.  I'd like them to be brighter and less cluttered.  (Just like my life in general, ha.)
• A continuing theme of gold is developing which I think helps to keep the album cohesive and seems to work well throughout the different seasons.  Same thing with adding a touch of paint.
• I love keeping it simple, but I also like the little bits of texture and color too.  I think it is important to do this to give the pages a nice finish, otherwise it looks too incomplete.
• I like doing one visual thing (sometimes borrowed from Pinterest) for big impact each month.  It keeps it fresh and keeps it fun for me. 
• I like my story cards a lot more when I really focus on my handwriting instead of letting it get sloppy.  I also make the first word a little decorative.  It is a little detail that makes a big difference in the final look for me.  
• I would also like to try some different story telling.  In the future I would like to include some lists, like books we read or songs we sang throughout the day.  I could keep a running list on my phone to record it. 

linked up with Jessica.

Hello Story.

I started taking this class with Ali Edwards a few weeks ago and am happy to report that I am still keeping up with it.  With a lot of online classes, it is easy to lose steam a couple lessons in.  I have found over the years that Ali Edwards is a great source of inpsiration and someone I go back to over and over again for ideas or just a push forward.  I started one of my favorite projects of the year, my Day in the Life mini book, because of her inspiration to name one.

Here are some of the projects I've completed so far.

I made a timeline of my life.  I really loved doing it and I realized that I have a lot of old stories I want to tell. The old pictures are photos of photos I took while at home a few Christmases ago.  Turns out they did come in handy.   I kept it simple with kraft paper, sequin paper (from Michael's), washi tape and some subtle ledger patterned paper.  The embellishments are from a very old set.

 

 

Apple.  I combined my love of rainbows and recording what my kids say on this layout.  The photo is from this year's Holi.  In case you can't read it, Nandini has always called oranges 'apples' (and used to call all snacks apples), and now refuses to call the color orange anything other than apple.  So cute and so strong ;)
I used my Studio Calico kit for the stamps and leftover patterned paper strips, stitched in place.  I used the bubble mask to mist on white and silver because the strips were looking to disparate and needed something to make them into a cohesive background.  I added some random chipboard pieces and wood veneers here and there too.

Noted: Nirupama.  More pages for my sad little 'this is me' handbook I started months ago.  Finally motivated to go back to it.  I filled out a mad libs about myself.  Then I watercolored over it.  I used mist (mint julep, gold) and the neon blue paint dauber because it can be really hard to get a nice soft teal blue with a regular watercolor set (for me anyway).  I added some dear Lizzy embellishments (I think most people use that cute little fox for their daughter, but I totally used it for me), chipboard letters and strips of SC patterned paper and washi on top.

Hello Journey.  One of my favorite layouts.  I worked on this while at a crop with a friend.  That made it super fun in and of itself.  I cut out the large Hello before even getting my August SC kit.  Just adore this design.  I used the previous month's paper from Kesi Art.  I love this brand, but luckily I had two so I felt free to use it, lol.  I combined circles with some large hand cut triangles to echo the paper and add a little balance. I was actually happy with my cascade of journaling for once.  I wrote about enjoying the journey.  Something I know my mother also valued a lot while we were growing up.

Tell me, what projects have you been working on lately?

Around here.

 I am working on a makeover for this site.  New name, new domain, everything. So many little decisions to be made with no methodology behind them.  Just going with what feels right.
We finally got off the wait list for Avinash's preschool.  Technically it is not even a school, it is a 'child and family laboratory'.  We are super excited about this one.  It seems sort of a given it will be more open minded than our last preschool experience. I had a lot of fun on our adventures around Austin this summer but I am so needing a little more 'me' time when school starts.  Hopefully we can still keep up the friends we made here this summer. Playdates are fun but harder to do on a limited schedule.

Ryan and I actually did go out together this weekend. Double date to the totally 80s sing-a-long at Alamo Drafthouse.  I'm telling you, Austin has the best stuff to do.  We haven't even begun to check out the live music scene.

Ryan was so good and took the kids out so I could get some alone time again today.  I watched a Scandal marathon and worked on Project Life. It was wonderful and left me feeling so refreshed.  I actually had the urge to vacuum and put away laundry tonight. Trust me, it has been a really long while since I did either.
Afterwards we had a little family movie night. We all voted and Pete's Dragon won.  I absolutely love all the old mixed animation/real life Disney movies and I was so happy when I saw this DVD at Target the other day.  I'm just lucky my kids love it too.  Nandini's favorite scene is Pete and Elliot eating apples together.  I love how she can communicate more and more now.  All the excitement took place before the movie, however, when Ryan found a lizard crawling down his leg.  I think the poor little thing was more scared than we were (and possibly suffered a head injury) but it did seem to be still moving when he put it outside.
So, what was the weekend like for you? 

Project Life: 4th of July

This week: I've officially lost track of what week it is.  Maybe next week I'll be mentally present enough to figure it out. I at least know we had a major holiday this week.  We had a picnic in the park and watched the fireworks. Avinash also had camp this week and we had a playdate with his new friend from camp and met up with old friends from Houston for breakfast.  It's always nice when old friends remember you and check in, it is so easy to feel left behind and forgotten after a move.  I think the timing with my miscarriage just made it extra hard.  I know it's awkward to talk about but it would be nice to have people check in on you once in a while.

The full spread.

 The first side: Lots of red white and blue.

 Some white text on a photo (font: neo retro draw).

 Studio Calico '4' card, with a wooden star and black letter stickers on top.

I saved this business card more because I loved the watercolor-y letters than because I liked the food. I added some circles with a sticker (KP kit) and wood veneer to balance all the blockiness. 

More Studio Calico kit cards, stamps and cork letter stickers.  I love how my subtitles in PL can be really basic. I hate coming up with creative layout titles.

Probably my favorite card ever, made for me by Avinash.  (It's a rainbow of course).

 Second side: The little hello die cut from Basic Grey is great.  I usually can't use a whole package of die cuts, but I like almost all of these and there are two of each which alleviates my hoarding problem when it came to use this favorite piece.  The little 'you are here' sticker is from Simple Stories, I also used another one on the picture of Avinash at the bottom

Picnics are my favorite. I had to take a picture of the food. I used a simple SC card then added a wood veneer camera.  To me, they are the perfect little something to add to a spread to give it texture and interest. 

I love this letterpress card from KP.  I paired it simply with a luxe gold star in keeping with the week's theme.

I am linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. The PL kits I am using generally are the Studio Calico kit, Kelly Purkey kit and Midnight kit, with multi-pack page protectors.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all of your support.  Please, leave your links to any PL pages in the comments so we can check them out too.

I'm pretty excited that Two Peas is already getting new CHA collections in stock, I love MME's new Cut&Paste line.  Plus, EVERYTHING is on sale 20% off until 8/11. 

Oh the feelings,

happy ...
about the Happy Closet series by Pink Ronnie.  I know it is much more fashionable (and profitable) to blog about Stitch Fix and the like, but her take on being happy with the closet you have and not being in a rush to buy new clothes really resonated with me on a number of levels.  My closet is still an unorganized mess post-move, but I have found peace with the fact that I never need to step foot in there since all the clothes I'll ever need are in laundry baskets on my bedroom floor.  Perfect.

guilty ...
after getting my first pedicure in over a year at our new 'gym' Lifetime.  I left the kids in childcare only to find that Nandini was missing from the toddler room when I got back.  The teachers were happily watching TV while I looked for her.  I finally found her in the big kids jungle gym crying her eyes out because some kids knocked her over.  Hi, I don't feel guilty at all.  Also, we cancelled our gym membership the next day.  When I spoke to the manager she said, "oh, the parents want us to keep the TV on."

eating...
 this cold sesame noodle recipe from Pioneer woman.  Eating is a feeling right? Don't answer that!  I love the simplicity of her recipe, but I just couldn't do raw garlic and I had no sesame oil, so I toasted sesame seeds and garlic in oil, added the rest of ingredients, using honey instead of white sugar.  I had enough for leftovers but I pretty much ate half a box of pasta in one sitting. 

ps.
Does target sell chalkboard paint?
Yes it does! I saw a smallish jar of black Crayola chalkboard paint in the scrapbooking/craft aisle.  Score one point for Target.  And, you could totally use said paint to re-do a Target/Circo bookshelf like I did. [I have been getting this question a lot, so I thought I would help random googlers out.]

All my T. Rexes are in Texas

They also played patty cake together today while I died of cuteness.

Avi is back in summer camp.  This week is dinosaur themed.

He has already declared his love for a 'beautiful girl' in his class.  He calls her Tyler (not her real name) and told her he is her guard.  Actually, they are both guards.  It gets confusing.  He literally dragged the girl's poor mother by the hand to meet me and made us exchange numbers.

I'm so lucky to have an extrovert for a son who helps me conquer my lingering playground insecurities.  I don't think we would ever have playdates otherwise. 

In preparation for Dinosaur week I suggested to him that he watch Dinosaur Train.  He pretty much has free reign over Netflix for an hour each day, but he did take my suggestion.  He ended up finding this really cute new episode, Dinosaurs A to Z.  They sing a song with, you guessed, dinosaurs from A to Z (as in A- apatosaurus, B - brachiosaurus, etc).  He knew a lot of it but still had some gaps.

Last night after camp he was trying to sing the whole song and I was, of course, no help.  I pulled out my phone and found the Dinosaur A to Z song printable from PBS kids.  We read through the lyrics together once or twice and then he had it down.  The cutest part is how he sings the chorus with such gusto.

We were just about to eat dinner when Ryan got home (I know, aren't we nice? Oops.)  He was stunned with Avi's recall.  I was too, but it was just fun to see his surprise.  Avi and I sang that song together at least five hundred times between dinner and camp today.

Nandini even started to learn the words "A - dinosaurus, A- dinosaurus, E - dinosaurus, choo choo choo!"  I can't even tell which version I like better.

We also volunteered to make the class sign for the week.  Apparently there was a big vote and they decided on the class name "Rainbow Thunder Rock Rex's"  That is so the title of my next scrapbook layout.

I had a huge custom order for a wedding to cut on the cameo, so I decided to cut out the title too.  The machine was already running and it just seemed to make sense.

Here is what we made.  I kind of love it.

ps. Totally did not try to get both kids hold up the banner, only to have the stubborn curly-haired child refuse even after the promise of a num num and then have her throw a tantrum for num nums anyway.  When did she learn to say "no picture"? And yes, I used my fancy Studio Calico watercolors on Rainbow and let them use old Crayola ones on the rest.  I never said that momma has to share. 

pps. I now know all of my dinosaurs from A to Z too.  Apparently you can learn a lot from television. Is there any way to put this information to good use??

Project Life: Week 26

 This week: I am a bit behind in blogging this week.  I sprained (possibly broke but never got it X-rayed) it this weekend and now I have to type one-handed.  Lol.
We spent a lot of time at the park or pool this week.  Ryan was working alot and my mom had gone back so we were left to our own devices.  We had a nice playdate at the museum, but I still miss Houston's Children's Museum.   Avinash made sure that we went out for cupcakes to celebrate his Aunt's birthday.  Good memory.

The full spread.

First Side:  I included a picture Avinash took of Nandini in the car, reading her current favorite book. I used Kelly Purkey letter stickers there. The picture itself isn't that great, so I stuck them over top.  You still get the gist.
The camera card with a picture of Nandini swinging is from my Etsy shop.  I wrote down some thoughts I had in the moment when I instagrammed that pic and just wrote them out on the journaling card here.

 I somehow loved how our dirty garage floor looked here.  I stamped Smile with teal chalk ink (because my photo paper doesn't take embossing that well, though that would have been more vibrant) and scattered a few wooden stars.  When I can't figure out where to journal I just write around the edge.

I used an old Clementine Card here.  Have so many of them. The wooden clouds are from Freckled Fawn, it's okay to be literal, right?  The white JS letter stickers are a PL staple for me. I don't know why, but the kids just loved this cloud and Nandini would wonder where it went for days afterwards.

 I added some yellow with watercolor to a SC card.  I just wanted to add a little more color and it was fun to make this standard kit card more unique.

I let the B-side of that lovely dear Lizzy paper I used last week show through here and there too. 

 Second side: I actually held on to a bit of ephemera and had a business card to include.  I just stapled it to a journaling card with a little 'today' tab.  Some of these pictures are repeated from Day in the Life, but the scale is smaller there so I figure it doesn't hurt to see some of them larger. 

This is a screen cap from a birthday video we sent Ryan's sister.  I just love that Avi blew her a kiss (with a mouthful of cupcake, of course!)  I used a Studio Calico PL card, with another favorite letter sticker - white foam Amy Tangerine.  

Avi was so happy to see this photo of his crayons.  He got out his pack and laid out the same crayons on top of the picture.  I love that this album makes him feel validated.
I added text (script font) before printing and used a die cut I made from another Studio Calico kit paper.

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.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all of your support.  Please, leave your links to any PL pages in the comments so we can check them out too.

I'm pretty excited that Two Peas is already getting new CHA collections in stock.  These are my two favorite new lines so far:

Easy Update: Mosquito-Repelling Potagerie

Playing outside and outdoor entertaining is one of the great joys of spring and summer. Until, of course, the bugs invade. In place of spray and pesticides, try a cluster of mosquito-repelling potted plants. Grouped together near a seating area on your deck or patio, they make a pretty and lush addition to your outdoor landscape while also protecting you and your guests. Check out One Kings Lane's article Easy Update: Mosquito-Repelling Potagerie for more information about how a trio of lush potted plants will have you saying good-bye to bug spray.


We are lucky to have a lush backyard at our new place but I hardly let the kids go out there because they come back with mosquito bites larger than a silver dollar.  Avinash is in the habit of counting his bug bites to keep track.  That is totally something I used to do when I visited India during the summer.  Crazy to think he is getting as many bug bites here as I would there in the actual tropics.  He does have really smelly feet which bugs love. 

I really hate spraying them down with chemicals so I will definitely be trying this, especially since our planters are still empty and it is still not too late to start tomatoes down here!  I wonder if all the neighborhood cats will visit if I plant catnip?

This is as far as we ever get.  Two kids in a tiny bucket. Also, note all the lovely empty planters behind them!

disclosure: affiliate links used.

From Pin to Page: King of Fantasyland.

Hey Guys! I am hoping to make this a new biweekly feature on my blog.  I love looking at all the pretty pretty eye candy on Pinterest for inspiration, but that doesn't always mean it is easy to translate into an actual project. 

I am going to share projects that were inspired from popular pins. It pushes me to try new design trends. And it helps to motivate me to get off of Pinterest for a minute so I can sit down and make something, ha! 


This week I started off with this pin.  (You can click over to see it.  Don't forget to come back after. Of course the original pin I found was to a spam site, but don't worry I found the original designer's site for ya!) The pin shows a 'Summer Fiesta' invitation with three layers of fringe along the bottom.  I love the color blocking and the simplicity.  The skewer of donut holes next to the paper invitation doesn't look half bad either ;)

 I decided to translate this idea for a spread in my Disney mini book which I made as part of the Marcy Penner's Happy Little Moments class at Studio Calico. 

Here is how it turned out:

I folded tissue paper a few layers thick and just cut fringe by hand.  I stitched each color into place directly in my book. 

The pin is of course an invitation and doesn't really have a place for photos or much journaling. I decided to follow the lines of the inspiration and keep the fringe side photo free.  I added some labels and more stitching over my long title. 

 I kept the photo and all of my journaling on the opposite side.  I didn't repeat the fringe anywhere but I kept my embellishments in the same color family.  The green tag is from the luggage service at Walt Disney World.  I saved every single one of those I got.
I think this spread works because it maintains the original graphic feel with the color blocking and simple design.  Working within a smaller size definitely made putting this idea into practice a lot easier. 
You could do the same thing on a full page too of course.  I think I would stitch the fringe onto a separate paper that was less wide and keep everything else on the page within that width, above and oriented to the center.

I posted this spread on 2peas and was amazed to find they had chosen to be the gallery Featured Project.  Thank you for letting my gush about it. Seriously, I have been waiting for this since I first started scrapping. I actually had a page in their 'top ten' once (when they used to have a top ten), but it was like the worst page.  Really, it was awful.  Look through my gallery on their and you'll find it (sink bath).   Please, have a laugh on me - I don't mind.

I hope to make this a regular feature.  If you have any great pinterest-inspired layouts or pinterest boards to check out, please feel free to leave a link in the comments.  If you are interested in doing a guest post for this series, please let me know - I'd be happy to have you!

Lately..

I have been ...

craving cheetos or any other junk food.

eating all the produce I buy at whole foods (or trying to, I live in Austin now and feel like I need to keep up).

drinking topo chico with mint in it, so good.

listening to Heera, my favorite song from the newish SRK movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix with Ryan.  A really funny and quirky new show.

singing songs from the Sound of Music with the kids a hundred times a day. They both have the lyrics memorized which amazes me.

going swimming by myself and with the kids at the gym. I so need to get some energy back.

helping Avinash fill out workbooks. Picked up a ton at the Target Dollar Spot and he loves going through them together.

putting together the little baa and baby duck puzzle with Nandini. I can never say no when she wants to p'ay togedah.

enjoying the little bit of rain we got and the lack of humidity in general this summer.

feeling thankful for my family and being together.