December Daily | Day 8 Gingerbread Houses

This is another Austin activity that is turning into a yearly tradition for our family.  I love going out to make Gingerbread houses.  They buy all the candy and no icing is dripped all over the floor at home. 

The houses do all break on the way home though.  Can't win them all. 

But, how cute is that gingerbread man? I haven't shown it to Lakshman yet because I am afraid he will appropriate it. 

 I find it really easy to type up journaling on a 4x6 piece of photo paper and then attach it to my photos.  I have lots of templates from years past of December Daily, but skipping them is that much simpler.

I do like to leave a little space around the edges for embellishments.  I added a gold foil number and stamped a sentiment on top.  Love the mix of fonts.

We also saw Santa that day, the sticker is from a different Kelly Purkey kit.

I have a ton of these printed transparencies, and I decided to add one here in between pages. 

I added an extra photo enlargement of me and Nandini.  The patterned paper is from the Kelly Purkey TN kit.  I was never really planning on doing a TN this month, but the other kit I wanted was sold out.  And, I really love these papers and the quality so it was worth it for me.

 The full picture. The stickers are from a SC paislee press kit. 

Someone asked me for a tutorial on making tags, so I put together a little video I had taken a few days ago.  These tags are made out of photos, but you can make them from patterned paper too just as easily. 

This is the hole reinforcer punch that I use, and I love it! 

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with magic and joy! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Days 6&7 Hanukkah Lights and the Yule Ball

Today my stories are about celebrating Hanukkah together and going to a "Yule Ball".  I included an extra vertical photo of the ball, so I used the space on the back to talk about Lakshman playing with our Christmas Tsum Tsum's and his picture.

I used an old diamond transparency, cut in half to be a star of David embellishment for my Hanukkah page.  I don't have any dedicated stuff, so I get to improvise.  Fun! 

I printed out two 4x6 photos and then printed out my journaling and glued it on top.  The circle chipboard just barely fit int he leftover space. 

I added some gold foil letters asa title. 

the facing page is a transparency.  I already have the date recorded so I just used a title from the kit, cut to fit inside the circle. 

The pages together in the album.

The other side of the wood veneer holds the next day's date.  The large white number stickers are also from the main kit.

I cannot tell you what a dream it is to watch Lakshman play with those holiday Tsum Tsums over and over.  When I buy these things, I never can count on them lasting more than one season.  He is so in love with them, I just feel like a really great shopper and mom. Ha! 

I added a few red stars to match the big red star on the next page.  I rounded the outside edges of the 4x6.  

It is one photo with the picture and text printed together.  There is a strip of patterned paper glued in between this and another 4x6 photos, so that I didn't have to punch any holes in my photos.

Rarely, if ever do i get pictures back that I want to preserve. The photobooth here had a real photgrapher, with a real camera and a real photo printer. With great lighting to boot. I had to keep these pictures simple. The letters are on the outside of the page protector. Sometimes you don’t know how long letter glue will last, but foam and foil ones have been pretty good so I took my chances. The star is glued to the outside as well. 

I used a Studio Calico Harry Potter stamp set here o. The 3X4 card. I have gotten so much use out of that set. 

It is one of my all-time favorites. 

My HP pages in the album. 

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 5 Making Spirits Bright

I somehow took on teacher gifts for two classes and the admins.  I have been shopping and organizing and packing cookies and back to the store again.  It's the sort of fun game where you are just never sure if anyone is happy but I felt good at the end.  

I made a pocket 4x6 card and tucked in several tags inside.  I backed the circle 

transparency with a gold foiled circle from a previous years kit.  

I had some photos from Anthropologie I wanted to include. Not from the actual day but I didn’t really take many photos. 

I created a second 4x6 “pocket” card for tags. I used this new hole reinforcer punch. I stitched and added ribbon. It was fun. 

My full spread together in the album. 

This is the punch I used to put the finishing touch on these tags:

American Crafts Hole Reinforcer Punch

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 4 Elf the Movie

Elf movie night!!! I know him!!! 

Ryan was so sweet to get us tickets to the showing of Elf at the historic theatre in Austin, the Paramount. The kids dressed up. Even though Nandini was hesitant because “she never wins costume contests.”

But she did. 

The whole night was so fun. 

First they had snow, then we did the costume contest. Then they had Elf coraling. And to finish we snuggle while watching the movie. 

I made this journaling card with a few Elf quotes that went along with their Costume Contest Characters. I used the font Bemio Italic. 

I washi taped a starty transparency over this picture of our Santa and Elf. It’s not fully in focus, but I like how they are interacting and in the moment. 

I also made a flip up card under my journaling. Just proof that I was there. And of the amazing Elf paper decorations all over the ceiling. The adorable Snow Day card is from Cocoa Daisy. 

Here is a look at my pages in the album together. 


Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 2 Winter Wonderland

This weekend we went to two tree lightings.  There are so many around town at different hotels.  When I read that the one at the Fairmont included a complimentary bakeshop, I knew we had to go.  Rarely do these things live up to expectations but this one far, far exceeded them.

I enlarged our tree photo to a 3x8 insert.  I folded over some pattern paper to create a pocket on the back. 

I included another enlarged photo on the front of the 3x8 pocket. 

 It opens up to my journaling.  I added a few cork stars, word sticker and a date stamp.

 I added a tiny pocket page to include a lot of pictures again.  Just to make things simple this time.   I like to put them in a checkerboard.  I went through all of my embellishments, old and new to fill in the pockets in between.

Large sequins, flat gold sequins, a rubber charm, and a tag from anthro.  The tassel is from there too. 

Have you ever seen prettier macaroons?

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 3 School Artwork

I am doing the third day second, because why not? Sunday was so busy I am not ready to tackle all those photos. 

This day? A pretty regular Monday? I love. I could have done one page with no photo even and been finished. 

I snapped a photo of Lakshman’s school art work today. I used a large gold chipboard letter and scattered some stars affixed with brads. 

The story behind it is even funnier. I hope you can zoom in and read it. 

He is nothing if not an individual. 

Then, I realized this page looks almost exactly like one I did on December 2, 2015 - three years ago! It was one of his crafts from therapy, which he still misses by the way. 

Should I put his foot in the album to compare??!

I added a second page with a picture of Lakshman in his red on red outfit. I basically just took a whole pack of sequins and tucked it in the pocket after taking out the staples. 

A look at my pages in the album. 

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love and special memories! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here

Great Gift Giving Guide for the Kid who has Everything

December Daily | Day 1 Capitol Tree Lighting

December is here again. And again I am putting together a daily scrapbook about this month. 

I have done this for years and years.  But I still get stuck.  

Somehow, sitting here looking at an album full of blank page protectors is so hard.  

I did what I always do when I can't move forward.  I looked back.  Yesterday we went to the Austin Capitol Tree Lighting.  And like last year, I had so many photos I wanted to share.  

So I looked at last years pages.  

This image stuck out to me.  I love the strip of pattern with a stitch tag on it.  And the page holding mutliple photos.  

My photos were different this year though.  Not as bright and from different times of day.  I didn't want them to be exactly as I had them last year. 

I also took some inspiration from Pam Baldwin and turned my photos into tags.  

Again I added a bit of pattern to the side, with a sticker rounded to look like a tab and stitched in place.  My machine has red thread in it now and I probably won't change it much this month. 

I still needed a place to journal.  This one picture of Lakshman at the Capitol was too special not to print out.  

I used a red wooden star from the kit and a strip of washi at the bottom. 

I am using the Ali Edward's kit, with elements from Cocoa Daisy, Kelly Purkey and Paislee Press. 

Thanks for checking out my pages again!

I hope your holidays are filled with love! 

XOXO,
Niru

ps. You can see all of my December Daily posts here