Tuesday, January 31, 2012

4/52- Imperfection


Last week's Project 52 prompt was imperfection, and I couldn't help but think of my daughter's incoming teeth. She's 14 months already, and it seems her teeth are taking their time coming in. Not only that, she seems to get them all at the same time (whatever happened to one at a time?). I know they'll eventually all come in, but their pattern of arrival sure has been strange. 

Monday, January 30, 2012

Etsy Greetings Team Valentine's Day Blog Hop!

Today I am participating in the Etsy Greetings Team Valentine's Day Blog Hop! In this blog hop, we are sharing handmade greeting cards from the team, paired with other lovely handmade gift items from Etsy.

The Valentine's card that I chose from my shop is the Scattered Hearts valentine card:
This card is a folded card, measuring 4.25x5.5 inches, and is printed on 100% recycled cardstock, and comes with a 100% recycled kraft envelope.

To pair with this card, I chose this beautiful photograhic art print by CatNPhotography:

The processing on this photo is so soft and pretty, and honestly- is there anything more romantic than the Eiffel Tower? The heart bokeh in the photograph goes perfectly with the hearts on my Scattered Hearts Card.

This would make a great gift for anyone that enjoys photography, home decor, paris, or just plain appreciates "pretty" stuff!

Follow the links below to get even more great Valentine's Day ideas straight from Etsy.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Free Project Life Template

I've had quite a few questions on my Project Life template that I created with the lines dividing the "pockets". I did alter the original Project Life design just a bit- I made the "pockets" smaller by just a smidge to give my page more of a border around the edge. It's more aesthetically pleasing to my eye, plus if I decide to print my layouts in a photobook, I'll need a little extra space for the binding. I also wanted to visually break up the pockets, so I added the dashed lines in between.

If you like my template, I'm offering it free here for my readers. Simply click the picture below to download:


In other news, I've been quite a busy little bee in my Etsy shop this week, and have a bunch of new products that have totally gotten me in the mood for valentine's day....

First up are new photo card designs- which are perfect to send out if you ran out of time at the holidays and never sent Christmas Cards!

click the images to visit the store



And I'm super excited to bring back greeting cards to the shop! These are printed on 100% recycled cardstock, and come with a 100% kraft recycled envelope. 


And my new personal favorite:

I hope you enjoy the free template!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Instagram Tuesday

Kind of a slow week around here, but I still managed to snap a few pics this week:

Lilly showing off her tongue:

A beautiful Arizona Sunset"

Brushing up on my Illustrator skills:

Picture that the Hubs took at the car show this weekend:

Mommy got some new boots:

Monday, January 23, 2012

Project Life | Week Three

Holy cow- another week of Project Life, and I'm still caught up! Thank you DIGITAL Project Life! Each week reaffirms my decision to go digi, and I'm so happy I did.

So here's a peak at our life on the third week of 2012:

Did you notice the use of the new design D? I really wanted to show the Rock N Roll picture in vertical format, so I chose to try a new layout for the right side. To be honest, I don't totally love how it breaks up the uniformity of the spread, but I'm willing to live with it if I have pics that must be in vertical format. I think I'm going to find that my preference throughout the year is going to be good old Design A.

Close up of left side:
On the left side we have the title card, a black and white picture of the girls having lunch (a wonderful every day moment that I got to share with them on Martin Luther King Day), an instagram picture of our pizza and "The Bachelor" night, a quick little filler card I made, an iphone pic that the hubs took at a car show we went to this weekend, a quote from a conversation with Jules, and my favorite of this side- pics of Lilly climbing the stairs. I won't say it's the first time she showed interest in the stairs, but it was definitely the first time she quickly crawled to the landing in the blink of an eye. That meant it was time for the baby gate to go up. I absolutely love, love the expression that I caught on her face when I put the gate up.

The right side:
On the right side we have- a hilarious picture of Jules rocking out with her pink guitar while watching American Idol, a journaling card about our rock star, a journaling card about Jules getting invited to her first "friend from school" birthday party, two pics from the party (it was at a bounce house type place), two pics of Lilly and Jules in the trunk of Grandpa's car at the car show, and a little journaling about our visit with Grandpa Jim at the car show.

So you may all remember a few weeks back when I promised more designs of my project life map?? Well, I was going to do whip them up, when I realized Marcy Penner  beat me to the punch. SO- if you're still on the look out for Project Life Maps in other designs, be sure to stop by Marcy's blog and pick them up in all the designs here.

I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes look at how I map out the week before I get started. I open up the jpegs of my maps, and map everything out (and yes- I even do THIS digitally!), and then I start pulling my pictures and placing everything.


It's still taking me several hours to complete the spread for the week, but a major portion of this time is spent editing photos. It's definitely on my radar screen to start editing more throughout the week so I just have to pop the pictures in when it comes time to do my layout.

How are you feeling with your Project Life? Are things getting easier or more overwhelming?

Supplies used this week:



Linking:


Friday, January 20, 2012

Hoppy 5th Birthday to TLP!

It's a really fun weekend over at TLP! They are celebrating 5 years of digital scrapbooking awesomeness.
.
Enjoy 30% off the ENTIRE STORE, including all of my designs!

If you're on facebook, hop on over and "like" The Lilypad fan page to get this collaboration for FREE!

While you are at The Lilypad, join in on all of the fun and games going on in the forums (there are a TON!), including the Make a Wish Giveaways! Simply comment on each designer's thread your favorite product that you'd love to win, and you may be granted your wish! They will also be granting wishes on facebook all weekend long. Here is a link to my Make A Wish Thread- all  products (except collabs and CU, but I have neither) are eligible for the giveaway.

Happy Birthday TLP! Hope to see you over there this weekend!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Inspiration Thursday

Welcome to a new series I like to call: Inspiration Thursday! Each week on Thursday, I will be sharing with you a little creative inspiration from my creative team, as well as layouts from around the web. If you have been scrapping with my products, please be sure to add them to my flickr group- you never know...you might see your layout featured here on my blog!

First up, a little Project Life inspiration:
From Jude:


From Anna:

Next up is more inspiration for my Candy Cane Lane Papers and Elements:

From Terri:

From Justine:

A few more project to feature with Fresh Start:

From Sarabeth:

From Terri:

From Justine:

And finally, a very cool hybrid album from Justine, using You+Me:

I also spent some time perusing the gallery at TLP today, and found this layout using A Very Vintage Christmas by 1girl1boy:

This one using Fresh Start by Simply-j-studio:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Instagram Tuesday- A Day Late

I FORGOT INSTAGRAM TUESDAY YESTERDAY! Having MLK day off from work totally threw me off. So forgive me, and lets move on. ;-)

This week was not nearly as fun as last week with Disneyland pics, but really it shows our every day life a little better.

 Lilly and me- taken by Juliana (not bad Jules!)

 
My sister and I at my brother's "Nerdy 30" birthday bash (he's an engineer and we thought Nerdy 30 was more fun than a Dirty 30). 

On Sunday Lilly and I were hanging out at the house, and suddenly it got really quiet. I looked up from my computer to find her laying in the middle of the living room floor completely passed out.

The new purse. There's a story behind this one...I originally saw this purse over the summer when we were at Disneyland. I saw it at the Fossil store in Downtown Disney and loved it, but knew that Macy's and Dillards both carry Fossil, and those purses are always on sale. So I decided to wait. I watched it at Macy's, just waiting for the day that it went on sale (and I could be justified in buying yet ANOTHER purse!). Well the joke was on me because this thing sold out quickly- never to return. I was so sad. I checked Macy's, Dillards, the Fossil Store- all were sold out. I checked online and found a few on ebay, but didn't really want to go that route. So I chalked it up to "it was not meant to be" and moved on with my life. Then last weekend I just happened to walk by a clearance table at Macys with 1,000 purses on it, and something caught my eye... there buried beneath a bunch of other purses was this bag that I've wanted for so long. And guess what- it was on sale! 25% off, and then an additional 20% off, and then an additional 15% off when I used my  Macys card. HECK YEAH! Now that is some good shopping karma.

Monday night: Pizza and The Bachelor night.