Oh What Fun! | December Daily Day 15

Today was an easygoing day but really nice. Our friend came over for lunch. She watched Nandini for an hour while I took Avi and the bear to Kung fu. It wasn't really a break per say but it made me feel better somehow. And I think it's nice for Nandini to get some one on one time with her. 

I swapped out the green card for this red one because it was just looking too drab. I don't know, but I couldn't stand it. 

 I added a little circle with the woode veneer number pasted on top.  This became a tab to hold while opening the flap. I taped two 3x4 cards together with some fabric airmail tape to make a bifold card. The fabric tape is just a little sturdier than regular washi.

The flap opens up to more journaling. I stamped the three stars from the kit in red, black and green. They would look great layered too. 

The full spread. I added an old vellum speech bubble in the middle of my 'aerial' shot of our living room.  It gives me a nice place to journal and hides the clutter in the middle of the room.

You can view all of my December Daily Pages here.

Thanks for visiting! In my etsy shop, in addition to my washi tape samplers I added a holiday set as well.  This set is cool because it comes with red and gold glitter twine and glitter ribbon.  Check out the Christmas washi tape sampler here.  I really had fun with the colors here, lots of red, green, silver and gold with pops of teal, chalkboard and lime. Every order from now until the end of December also comes with a free gift. Use code WASHI for 10% off any order or code RAINBOWS for free domestic shipping.

Oh What Fun! | December Daily Day 14

Today was kind of laid back and fun. We had brunch and did some errands. We went to the wildflower center very early for the laminations event that night. We were trying to avoid the crowds but it ended up good anyway because it started to rain pretty soon after the event started. 

I love these pink paislee countdown cards. Each one is different, but bold and graphic. The neutral colors make them easy to work in with any photo's color scheme. I cut this card into a half circle and punched holes in it to put directly in the album. I stitched a line down the side, mostly because I had my seeing machine out already. 

I backed the number 14 card with the festive masking tape from the kit. 

I put a paislee press overlay on the photo. It doesn't look this grainy in real life but I couldn't capture it well in the late afternoon light. 

I stitched some lines around my journaling. I feel like the tips of those trees needed something extra too so I added the tiniest enamel dots I had. Love that trust the Magic stamp set from SC. I added a few silver stars around it. 

I knew the second I saw her reach up to grab the bell that she looked amazing.  She's definitely got that twinkle. 

The full spread.  

I ended up with three different size pages. Love how they look all stacked up together like that., especially with the circles playing off each other. Need to add more out of the page protector inserts. 

Oh What Fun! December Daily Days 12 & 13

I was looking through my pictures from the past two days and realized there were lots of little stories I wanted to tell. I decided to combine my Friday and  Saturday pages and tell the stories together. 

I made three 4x6 photo collages of 2x2 photos ( 6 photos each 4x6) and cut them out after printing.  I didn't feel like stitching up a page protector into pockets.  I still wanted the divided page look, so instead of pasting the photos on a piece of cardstock I went with something transparent.  I used a 6x8 transparency, you could also use a sheet of vellum, or even a leftover piece of page protector cut apart.  

I love finding little things to fill in the holes.  Here I added a Freckled Fawn little white gift, just under 2" square and an SC gold star paper clip. 

 I added a couple pieces of old Crate Paper chipboard.  They have had some lovely holiday collections over the years.

I trimmed a little red tag for one square and stapled it in place.

On the opposite side I had to find things that wouldn't overlap the existing embellishments. I wanted to use the SC Waldorf add-on here from last month.  It is very wintery but mostly pink so I thought it would be fun to play with.  I added in this pink Rifle & co. sticker because it matched the color scheme.

Nandini's tutu matched it perfectly as well.  These pink cork stars are older, but fit in with the kit.  The plastic "Decemberrr" diamond is part of the kit.

These soft pink labels are part of the kit as well.  Instead of journaling on my photos (I was worried I wouldn't have enough room with the small photos), I made a little 3x8 insert to hold it.  After I saw this slanty patterned paper, I thought it would be fun to use the Waldorf labels on here and keep them at a slant as well.

 I had to add that little pop of red after all that pink.  I stitched the paper to a piece of a hambly transparency.  I think my tension is off or something.

On the back of the little insert I cut apart the museum brochure and pasted it back together. We love a good scavenger hunt. 

You can see my previous December Daily posts here.

Oh What Fun! | Day 12

Today we finally decorated our big pine tree.  Ryan kept hauling out box after box of ornaments.  I did well at after Christmas clearance shopping at Target last year.  Somehow the branches of our tree are really slippery this year so most of the glass ornaments are not going up right now.  We do have plenty of plastic and felt ones though.  The kids got really excited when I found a bunch of animals for them to hang up.  Nandini was totally in love with the little cinderella ornament we had for her.

I have these old holiday handbook dividers sitting around so I pulled one out for this spread.  I wanted to use my big vintage Jenni Bowlin Stamp Set so I stamped out Avinash's reaction to the tree.  He seems so big to me because he is my oldest, but he still has so much wonder and innocence in his heart.  Love that.  

This is how the front of the insert looks (facing day 11). 

I added a little gold chipboard heart or star from the Ali Edward's kit to each photo.   Trimming is typed out in white using the font Antrokas (I only have the demo - free version because I'm cheap). I choose a simple sans serif font below it for contrast.

I finally used that fabulous confetti from the kit here.  It was probably one of my favorite things about the kit to begin with.  I used the gold chipboard 'happy little trees' stuck on the outside of the page protector.


I dream of painting like Bob Ross one day.

Here is the full happy spread. The kids looked through the photos with me before I printed them out and wrote out their own captions.  Mostly about loving each other.  Those had to stay, obviously.

Here is how that confetti pocket looks from the back.  I used some silver trees from SC Lemon Lush.  They are not exactly the same width but the confetti covers up the raw chipboard backing for the most part. I was going to put the next day in this page but I ended up not liking that.

I put in an extra picture of this cutie bear instead.  I might add some journaling lines here if I get the time.

And, I will leave you with this:

Oh What Fun! | December Daily Day 11

I recorded a bit about one of our family's favorite movies and the songs in it.   We saw a sing along version of Sound of Music in the theatre last summer and sang the songs a lot back then.  We keep hearing "My Favorite Things" being played lately.  Avinash and Nandini gleefully took up singing the songs again.  Nandini and I played some of the songs on the piano at dance class together too.

I used these big silver letters (from Target's dollar spot).  They are shiny and fabulous.  I added a few word strips with the song lyrics on top.

I wanted to tie in the blue from the rest of the spread so I added a little punched circle with a chipboard star and letter sticker in the middle.  I stapled the edges to ground it a little on the photo.

 The page divider is a hambly screen printed transparency.  Still need to find my hole punch. I adhered another circle and put one Freckled Fawn wood veneer number in the center.

Here is how it looks with the page divider folded over on top.

Holiday Home Tour 2014

After Diwali, we decorate again for Christmas. Sometimes it can feel like, why bother putting up all this stuff you just have to clean up in a few weeks anyway.  But, for me it is worth it. I am so grateful that my kids still find so much joy and wonder in this season.

They still believe in magic and Santa. Avinash is six and has already asked me if Santa is real.  I know that his innocence will not last forever.  Nandini of course hangs on his every word like the devoted little sister she is.  If he finds out, I know she won't be far behind.

When we were trimming the tree, Avinash was so enthusiastic about it. He kept saying "Santa is going to love this tree!" or "Look at this reindeer ornament, Santa will love it!"  And, later he told our friend that our tree was right near the fireplace, not the front door or the garage, so that Santa could find it. 

Nandini seems to understand how blessed and loved she is.  She loves to ask, "Does everybody love me?", knowing full well the answer is yes.  She didn't want to ask Santa for anything when she met him, just tell him "I love you." 

They have so much sparkle and I don't want them to lose it.  If I can make our home feel a little more magical and give them a feeling of nostalgia for the holidays, like my parents did with me, then I will be satisfied. 

I love bokeh tree pictures.  I wrote about how to do it yourself here (iphone camera or SLR).

The felted acorn garland from fall is still on the mantle.

I even made my office a little festive.  Twig garland from Anthropologie (and the little feather bottle opener on my scale too).  I'm not quite sure what to do with all my little cubbies anyway so I filled a few spaces with ornaments and pinecones, etc. My little prongs ornament is on top with his own forest of bottle brush trees.

My antique hutch. I made some yarn tassels for my twine caddy.  The ornament garland I've had forever and is from Target.

 

Pomegranate centerpiece for the kitchen.  The silver tray and colander are thrifted.  The leaves are from outside and the fruit was on sale at Whole Foods.  Score. 

 Our little advent chocolate corner.  It never ceases to amaze me how excited they get about little squares of chocolate.  We have been doing this for years and it makes me smile to think of them doing the same thing and still getting so excited so long ago.

 Our entrance way. The Ganesha banner I hung up around Diwali.  I added the elephant stand and cranberry garland.

Even the playroom got a little festive.  Turns out this felt Target Garland fit right in with my playroom shelves.

I hope your holidays are merry&bright!