December Daily | Day 7

Taking these photos at night because we were running around all day (and all weekend).  [ETA: Reshoot this morning, much happier with them] I think we are tired in a good way.  I finished up these pages about our Saturday.  We went to the hill country snow day and Capitol Tree Lighting.  The latter was less exciting than I imagined and the former was much more fun than we thought.  It was a bitterly cold day, especially for Texas, which kinda made playing in the 'snow' more fun.  Unlike most of my friends who seem to be blanketed in snow already, we have to find fake snow to play in.

So, instead of including lots of tree lighting pics, or one big photo, I choose some snow favorites for the larger photos.  I printed out the rest of my photos as small 2x2 squares instead.

First side journaling card, from SC.  I stitched on some SC magical transparency speech bubbles and added some lime green enamel dots and stars from SC kits.  Ryan even liked this card, esp after I added this thin red glitter ribbon.

I didn't have any handbook (6x8) page protectors with 2x2 boxes, so I made my own.  I took a divided 4x6 page and stitched in the extra lines (more on this later).  Then I added in my photos and found some fun stuff from my DD stash to fill the remaining squares.  I also broke out my new DD stamps from the KP kit.  The bright flair is hers too.  OA actually makes these 2x2 pocket page protectors in the perfect size, but they didn't hit the Two peas store until after my last order, and I couldn't wait to buy these chunky silver thickers anyway (used here on the word snow). 

The make merry tag is from a free printable set by Ali Edwards.  I added a little red stamping and the date tag.  I will mirror this for day 8. The stamp is from KP, and I used the same set on the photos in black.  I like to use Ranger Archival ink, and have no trouble stamping on photos with it. 

I can't tell you how fun it was filling in a little page like this.  I added a wooden tile, BG Aspen Frost patterned paper (this was my favorite paper from last year's DD kit, so I of course hoarded it and didn't use it...I love how it picks up the purple in the KP badge here), pink paislee stars, and a tree paper clip. 

December Daily | Day 5&6

I included a lot of artwork for today.  We had a fun little outing to the Crayola factory before we left Pa.  I added a little washi tape and letter stickers to the puzzle Avinash made.  After we got home Avinash made this circle for me and I loved it too much not to include it. 

I trimmed a journaling card in half and added a die cut from the SC 25 days class, with a gold foil chipboard number and Atlantic glittered gold star.  Loving little metallic touches right now.

 The thing I really wanted to journal about was this little moment at the end of the day, so I added another journaling card on the next page. Dear Lizzy gold foil letter stickers + OA Silent Night journaling card. The birch tree one is my favorite from the set. 

 Stamp and enamel dots from the SC 25 days class kit.

 

I added a little confetti pocket with planes and stars since the 6th was a travel day.  I just cut and pasted my status from FB as my journaling for the day. 

Journaling reads: "Totally survived flying from Pa to TX with two kids at 30 weeks pregnant. We had snacks, did workbooks, and slept. . The pilot showed Avi the cockpit and the Christmas lights. The stewardess gave them wings. Nobody cried even a little, not even me. There was no twitter war. I'm sure nobody will remember the quiet kids on a plane but I am super proud of myself." 

Today I went back and added a photo to the back of Avinash's artwork.  He even approved of my selection and said it looked nice together.  Nothing like getting the okay from the artist himself ;)

I had more to say about the day, more little moments I wanted to record.  I added text (the font is Autumn, a lovely hand written serif, which is a quirky combination I just love) in white to a photo from our evening excursion.  I just used Picasa to add text and moved the words around to fit the tree using spaces.  I would have right justified all the text but I kept running into the hole punches.  

I printed it as an 8.5x8.5 square, adhered it to the paper and trimmed around it.  I added the magic stamp in silver (rubber stamp from Elise), which was a bit of a risk since I couldn't straighten it as well as a clear stamp.  Then I decided to just stamp it at a slant, problem solved.  I added silver glitter Heidi Swapp stickers from the SC Blue Note kit as well.  I felt these were sturdy enough to last outside a page protector, unlike enamel dots or something. 

December Daily 2013 | Day 4

 I instagrammed this photo in the morning and just recorded a few things Nandini and I said to each other on waking up.  She normally sleeps alone, but at my parent's house she has been changing things up.  I think this may be one of my favorite pages yet, because it is just a sweet everyday moment captured.  I told one story and that is all I need to do. 

I decided to slip the photo into a 3x4 DD overlay from Ali Edwards. I just loved what Neela did with hers and had to get a set of my own. 

This was a little trickier than I first imagined because I don't have access to photoshop here.  I ended up using Silhouette software (I downloaded it onto my Dad's computer a while ago so I wouldn't miss the free shape of the week when I travel, ha!) to modify everything and it worked like a charm!  If you don't have photoshop or just want to see how I did it, I included the steps here.

The only thing I have trouble doing there is adding text to a photo so I did that first in Picasa.

 Then I drew a box and circle to make a mask for the photo.  I just welded the two items together got the shape I was looking for.

 Here is the masked photo.  I'm not even sure I know how to do that in photoshop come to think of it.

 Then I copied it over to the daily 3x4 card.  I resized it to 6x8 because I wanted to make it a full page.  I traced the word december and then put it back in place because I wanted it to sit on top of the photo completely.  I could have used the monochromatic overlay and skipped this step entirely but I just like the multicolor look.
I printed it out on semi-glossy photo paper.  Not my usual matte paper, but it worked out fine, if not just a little grainer than what I get normally. 

Here is the final product.  I cut a strip of patterned paper from the DD kit and added a few Jenni Bowlin gold sequins as well.  The little quote strips are from a recent SC kit. 

Here is the page in the album.  I started on a few Diwali pages for the book which I will share when they are all done.

I am still so loving working on this project every night.  I told one story and that is all I need to do. Somehow that thought just makes me happy.  

December Daily | Days 2&3

 

 

 From this face to sticking his tongue out.   He is five and suddenly self conscious in front of the camera.  Going to have work harder to getting natural shots of him.  I want need his regular joyful face in this album too.

The pictures I used here aren't actually from December 2nd.  It was a Monday, Ryan was flying out back to work and I was coming down with a cold.  I wanted to include these pictures anyway and we trimmed the tree at my parent's house on the last day of November, so I just went for it.

The kraft die cut is made with a Paislee Press digital file.  I cut this journaling card out of this Alison Kreft patterned paper sheet.  I used one of the SC printable labels to add journaling.  Totally would have worked with one of those Martha Stewart/Avery labels too if I had any with me here.
Another Target/Paper Chase wood veneer glued onto the middle just for fun.

 

I just love this tree trunk card (from my SC DD kit).  I cut out the blessings journal card sentiment and stapled it on.  No journaling here on this topic (yet), just a gentle reminder.  The christmas tree card is another SC kit item.
I didn't bring the kit's thin washi with me so I just put some gold airmail washi on a piece of scrap paper and cut a thin strip out for the journaling card.  I may need to do this with more of my washi from now on.

On the third we took the kids out to the mall to give them an outing of some sort and of course ended up at Santa's workshop.  Second only to build-a-bear, it was so sweet to see Avinash chatting with Santa about his list.  Truthfully it is not that long since the boy (and girl) already have more toys than they know what to do with! I stitched a red border around the two letters to Santa and punched holes to fit it into the album.  They are a bit off but I can live with that.  I thought about tracing their writing over in pen so it will last longer.  Still debating about that...

I started with the mall photo and just hated it.  Even though my home printer decided to throw a fit today I printed out the picture from my phone in black&white instead and was much happier with the result.  Even though this Santa had a real beard and everything he just looks creepy to me.  I don't know.

I added a strip of star printed vellum and some OA stickers and SC printables cut to fit the strip. I love the way Ali Edwards does overhanging circles, so I did that too for the date tab.

Again, I didn't have many pictures today so I used this page as a chance to journal a bit more.  Really missing the hustle and bustle of having so much family around but needing to remember to savor this quiet time with just the kids and my parents right now.  (Never thought I would describe the five of us as quiet!)  The top card is an old handbook journaling card set from last year's SC holiday line.  The bottom one is from the 25 days SC class.  I added a strip of ribbon and wood veneer sequins too. 

December Daily 2013 | Day One

I started this page with the idea of telling one story.  I have taken a lot of pictures over the last few days, decorating the tree, visiting family, cooking a big thanksgiving meal, but those will have to wait because I got these gems on December 1st.

I am working on a sort of studied simplicity here.  I cut the JOY divider with my silhouette and used silver ink to add a little shimmer.  I felt the red patterned paper was a little too overwhelming without it.

I did struggle with my handbook pages a little the outside pockets are snugger than the inner ones, so the tree had to be glued to the outside of the pocket.  I got those trees at Target, I keep reaching for my stash of embellishments from Target's Paper Chase and the dollar spot.

Both of these pictures were taken with my iphone.  The blur was unintentional, but I just can't get enough of bokeh so in the album it went.  I love watching these two interact together, but I kept the journaling kind of short.  I hope the fact that I made their relationship it's own story is enough to highlight how special it is to me.

How about you?  How is your holiday crafting going?  Anybody else playing along with DD here?

It's a .... blue one! {Our Walt Disney World Gender Reveal and Maternity Photos}

We went for our 'big' 20 week ultrasound a few days before our Disney trip.  I had the tech put the gender results in an envelope because we weren't sure if we wanted to find out or not.  I put it in my purse and tried not to think about it.

I'm a big believer in the idea that people are people, regardless of gender, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun to find out.  My friend Anandi mentioned that it might help us and more importantly the kids feel more connected, so I pretty much decided to find out.  Still, in all the excitement and rush of Disney world, it sat in my purse untouched.

We were sitting down one day, enjoying a quiet moment and some Dole Whip pineapple ice cream floats when I realized I was ready to open up that envelope.  Ryan said we should wait and plan something special at the park. Since we were already at Disney World, why not?

We talked to guest services and event planning and no one really seemed to understand the concept of a gender reveal, so we decided to set it up ourselves.  We decided against cupcakes and picked balloons instead.  We gave Avinash a crucial role to play in handing over the ultrasound envelope to a balloon seller and bringing back the balloons over to us for the surprise.  He was so nervous about it that Ryan ended up helping him and basically saw the balloons color right away.

We hung out right in front of the castle and asked a Disney photographer to help us.  He used our camera for us.  He even flagged down another photographer for help, so we got a few different angles and everything!  I just love how Disney has a way of making you feel so special.

I held onto Nandini and waited for them to come back and tell me to turn around.  The butterflies were building and suddenly I hear Nandini shout, "A blue one?!"  Ha!  It was such an unexpected and perfect moment, especially from the girl who still calls anything colored orange an apple.  I love that everyone was involved in the surprise and we got special photographs to capture the moment!

We were both so thrilled.  Ryan said he thought it was going to be a girl and was totally shocked when he saw the balloons.  We are both really excited for them to have a little brother.  We obviously love Disney and were happy to be able to have such a special moment there.  If you love Disney too, I have a list of my favorite hidden Disney Photo spots here you may want to check out as well. 

December Daily | Joy

 Just like that December is here!  I was so excited to get started on my December Daily album.  It was one of my favorite projects last year (see all my pages from 2012 here) and I can't wait to try it again.
I'm actually doing a smaller version this year, 6x8 instead of 8x8.

And while I was pretty happy with my photos last year, Ali Edward's post about putting more effort into photos is a good reminder.  I have an iphone 5 now so I will have to really work to get my my big camera out.  The iphone is just so good and so easy!

I will definitely be trying to work on this everyday and play along with Ali Edwards.  It is a great motivator for me.  I started Day in the Life with her this year and while I have kept up with taking photos, making album pages has sort of fallen by the way side lately. 

 Like my front page last year I used a transparency again, this time old Hambly.  I hand stitched the gold thickers on and glued down the ribbon strips. 

I printed out this photo as a full size 8.5x11 print (I print at home, which works out well for me, especially with a daily project like this one, and makes getting enlargements cheaper).  I used a page protector as a guide to cut it down and add the holes to the side.  

 The wood veneers are part of this year's holiday collection from Elle's Studio.

I love this gold dot vellum paper from dear Lizzy.  I did like the overlapping circle look of the Crate Paper version, but I have a hard time getting my hands on that paper so I mimicked the look with some hand cut circles. 

 I used some patterned paper from Crate's 2012 holiday collection.  The wood veneer is a Studio Calico holiday card and will hold some of our holiday intentions.  Still working on that list.

I am going to add a page using a December 1st photo today and also add in Diwali photos/moments as well.  Here is another quick look at my cover.  If you like the design, the free cut file is available here on my blog.