pl 2014: weeks 24, 28 and a bonus insert for 29

Today I'm sharing some of my favorite recent layouts in our family album. All were made from the August Citrus Twist Pocket Life kits, featuring the gorgeous Shimelle paper pad...love!!!

Week 24: World Cup 2014, time outside, projects and a visit with Papou....

Our yard in bloom, well visit, lacrosse, building and a little decorating. The "pretty things" quote is on a glassine bag that hold my journaling about what's been done so far in my scrap room...

Week 28: Never having picked up my dSLR this week, this spread is made entirely of iPhone photos and I used two Design F pages to best accommodate the 3x4's.

Breakfast with dinosaurs, sushi, new sounds and textures, coffee 'me time' and a pool day...

A power outage, art by Jack, man in trees (!!), and frozen custard! I am loving the look of white cards with typewriter journaling and simple embellishements.

Detail on some of my favorites...

Week 29 Insert: Our first time picking blueberries...

Loved this local farm with u-pick berries. The berry crop was incredible!

They even had farm animals for the kids to pet and feed. At home I found a recipe for an incredible Blueberry Cobbler and had to include it for future years...

five minute autumn wreath :: a tutorial

Last week I made a fabulous new wreath for our front door. I saw the design on Pinterest, clicked immediately over to The 36th Avenue blog and read the instructions. Within two days, I had gathered my supplies and the wreath took shape. It turned out even better than I imagined! Sadly, I'm not sharing that project here today. You see, I was all excited to decorate for fall on Tuesday, took out the wreath, hung it on our front door, shut the door...well, no. I couldn't shut. the. door. The wreath is too thick to fit between the storm door and our interior door. Who would have even thought to measure for that? Ahem. So, that lovely wreath now hangs in our kitchen where I see it 100+ times a day. See, not a fail at all!

Today, I looked at our unadorned white door and grumbled. It is September. Autumn decor must be displayed. It's my favorite season. Everything apple and pumpkin and lovely warm colors! So, off to the craft store I went to try again and on the cheap. I saw one ready made wreath I loved but at $50? No, not happening. Armed with a coupon and keeping an eye out for sale signs, I picked up bits here and there, brought them home and got to work. FIVE MINUTES later, I was done and happy. You read that right. 5 minutes.

I made the wreath using very simple supplies from AC Moore, the nearest craft store to our home. Prices will vary at other stores but every big box craft store will have similar supplies on hand right now, likely at a discount. I did not pay full price for one piece of this project:

You will need:

Grapevine wreath // $2.50 (regular $4.99, used 50% Michael's mobile coupon)

Leaf Garland to wrap around // $3 (on sale, regular $5.98)

Berry Picks x 4 // $0.50/ea (on sale, regular $1.00)

Burlap bow // $3.59 ready made in the floral design section (on sale, regular $5.99)

Instructions:

1) Wrap the garland around the wreath, attaching it to the back with wire or pins. Or, since my garland had lops at either end, I just hooked it on a cut piece of the grapevine on the back and started wrapping, then did the same for the ending.

2) Add bow with wire. Mine came with a tan pipe cleaner as a stabilizer so I just twisted that around the wreath. 

3) Add two berry picks to either side of the bow. Just stick them into the dense grapevine.

4) Hang your finished wreath.

Totally do-able in 5 minutes while your infant eats puffs next to you and your toddler runs circles around your feet with a toy truck, yelling, "beeeeeep, beeeeeep!" Oh wait, is that just my house?

reflections on my 30s // on cherry street: reflections

I have had the honor of designing for Sweet Stamp Shop this month using the On Cherry Street kit special release, Reflections. The Reflections kit is geared toward taking your projects deeper, taking a look at yourself or sharing thoughtful words with others. Though the kit works great for card makers and traditional scrappers, I've been using it in my favorite way - pocket pages.

As soon as I has the kit stamp set and cards in my hands, I knew what project I'd finally begin. I'm hovering on the brink of a milestone birthday and have been thinking about how I want to document all of the changes, the new roles I've taken on in the past decade. The best decade. Enter this mini album. I'll be sharing the full album in separate posts here on the blog. Today, I'm focusing on the image in the mirror (top left card from Reflections)...

The kit stamp set has a number of prompts that I know I'll use time and again. Here, I stamped them on a striped patterned paper, journaled and layered that over a Reflections card...

Thank you for taking a peek today! I'll share another page from this album next week, here on my blog. I hope you'll pop by the Sweet Blog through the month as the rest of the team continues to post their kit projects and for everyday stamping inspiration!

Supplies used: On Cherry Street kit: Reflections // Baking Love stamp set (retired): Sweet Stamp Shop // Hedgehog Kiss stamp set: Sweet Stamp Shop // Shimelle patterned paper: American Crafts // Kelly Purkey Alphabet Stickers: Simon Says Stamps // Metallic Glitter Sweet Dots: V's Sweet Ideas // Gold Star: Studio Calico

a little t.l.c...

Last night Amalia slept in her own crib, in her own room. She did great and slept right through the night. The boys, however, did not. Jack was up three times and sneaked into our bed at some point before dawn. George woke up twice. Once to use the bathroom and another for, well, who knows really. They have never been consistently great sleepers but last night was extraordinarily awful. Pass the coffee.

My favorite BB cream and mineral foundation have been no match for the circles under my eyes the past few months. And, as I am rapidly approaching another ::coughmiddleagecough:: birthday, the fine lines wrinkles are making their presence known along with more than a few grey hairs. Super fun stuff. Each time I have more than 1.43 seconds to  look in the mirror, I think, "Really time to do something about this." Then a wrestling match ensues or a baby squawks to be fed and dreams of skin care regimes and hair salon bookings are once again forgotten.

I have three children under school age. My shopping trips with them are timed and orchestrated to the minute with lists by aisle. One misstep can and will result in one or more small person melting down in the checkout lane. Gone are the days of browsing the beauty aisles, reading package labels and fawning over lovely packaging. Mall trips? Ha! Only because our Target is attached to one. And by Target, I mean the diaper and grocery aisles.

When my Influenster TLC Vox Box arrived in June, I was thrilled. Every mom can use a little pampering. I pawed through the contents and my eyes went straight to the sleek little Avon package: Anew Reversalist Express Wrinkle Smoother. It had me at Express. I moved the box up to my bathroom counter and there it sat for awhile. One day when I managed more than a rushed moment for my makeup routine, I slid open the mirrored cover and gave the balm a try on my forehead. And, it worked.

No, really. It worked right away. As in, that moment. My deepening wrinkles were instantly smoothed out to a few fine lines. This is my forehead, right out of the shower with (before) only my BB cream and (after) the balm patted over the lines.

When a product actually works and takes next to zero time? Huge mom win. And, Avon. Who knew?

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for testing purposes. All opinions and commentary are my own.

project life: weeks 22 and 25...

With every first season in our new town, our new home, it's exciting to see what blooms, what new things we can discover and to see the children growing in this space. That is the beauty of Project Life. I'm getting it all documented simply - even in summer! Awesome.

The two weeks I'm sharing today are more recent and both use the fabulous, full of color July Citrus Twist Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits. I'm not completely caught up yet but, am getting there. Of course, having printer ink on hand helps (note to self: order more today)!

Week 22: this week brought a new lawn mower and other yard tools, a damaged car, vists with family and dear friends, ice pops, Jack shananigans and big brother mischief.

Week 25: World Cup, a family zoo trip, a good book, planting flowers and cute kid moments.

How are you documenting your summer? I have a fun little project that I'm working on and will be sharing soon!

oh, we're halfway there: project life update and a blog hop!

2014. you have been amazing, trying, awesome, fulfilling, frustrating and have not failed to surprise. We are at the halfway point this week. How? Moving to a new house, having a baby two weeks later and being home with three children under five years old might have gotten me a little behind in my scrapbooking. It's okay. Really. And blogging, well, you can see how well that's gone since my last post was...when exactly? Today, I'm sharing several weeks in my 2014 album. I am not caught up. Not at all. But, every week day moment that is documented is an accomplishment.

Follow along with me on today's Blog Hop sharing Project Life updates and inspiration...

Here is the entire line up!

 Loving Life's Little Blessings 

Today Kelsey Is 

Earthy Scrap 

Scrapping Wonders 

Lekkiwood 

Scrappy Leigh 

Mrs Crafty Adams 

The Beauty of Creativity

I'm sharing five weeks worth of pages today. The first two are very simple, get them done types with very little embellishing. The others are pages created with my monthly Citrus Twist Kits...

Week Eight: This week, we had lots of at home down time and special visits with family.

Week 10: This week found us settling a bit more into a routine as a family of five. The weather let up enough that we were able to enjoy a bit of fresh air and our little sweetheart started smiling!

I love writing out stories and documenting events but, sometimes a short hand list works just as well! This card from the Kiwi core kit was perfect for summing up this week.

Week 14: Exploring a local park for the first time, Amalia is two months, Gold Card status and G attending his first Home Depot Kids Workshop.

Week 19: Mother's Day, our new yard in bloom, time with friends and family.

Week 20: Creative play, a visit with my mom, my new iPhone arrived, a visit to a local farm and lots and lots of coffee.

I had a LOT of photos I wanted to use this week and really am trying not to use inserts, to conserve space in my albums. This layout is an example of how to get the story told while maximizing those photo slots: 1) my date card is a list of highlights, 2) this filler card (below) has a little punched notch revealing the hidden journaling cards I slipped behind.

Thank you for joining me! I hope you'll continue the Blog Hop and find inspiration for your own Project Life album.

project life: week 15...

The past few weeks have been filled with visitors, home renovations and being outside enjoying the gorgeous spring days in our backyard. With all of that, my blogging has fallen away but, there has been sporadic creative time behind the scenes.

Today, I'm sharing my week 15. My pages have been trending toward a lighter, brighter, simpler approach lately. My Project Life time often happens in 2-5 minute increments now, as I can catch a quiet moment in the day. A natural evolution toward simplicity. This week uses the May Citrus Twist  Pocket life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits, as well as the add-on stamp.

Back to that simplicity? Part of that has meant quick journaling on white backgrounds with a bit of embellishing. I feel very strongly about the personal touch of using my own handwriting on my pages for a personal feel so, I've made sure to add in bits here and there.

This week also shows my concerted effort to get photos of myself and my husband in this album regularly. Since I am a stay at home mom and take photos of the kids all day long, it's easy to have only those three little people represented but, that isn't the whole story! Mommy and Baba need to be there too. Relationships need to be documented with photos. It matters.

Week 14 will be up later this week and, if I can get it photographed, also a throwback to Week 8 that was just recently completed. Hopping all over this year but getting it documented.