my unrepeatable miracle.

{My Minds Eye Tres Jolie: Paper, Border Stickers & Die Cuts;
Making Memories Alpha}

this is the layout i did for the MME sketch challenge...

it's super simple but i totally love it. more and more i'm beginning to realize that this is the kind of scrapbooking i love and love to do. i spend so much time trying to over embellish pages (i do really love the way some people can go crazy with them) but i just can't.

i do have to work on journaling more. for abby's book i've been concentrating on just making layouts i love that mostly feature her pictures since i only print them out to scrapbook. i'm not sure if i've said this before but i've been either hand writing or typing letters to abby on the back of each layout. the letter is either about the day/event/subject of the layout or just about her on the day i'm actually making the layout. i find that a lot of the journaling i want to do on my pages is just too personal... i feel like it should be private and isn't important to the beauty of the layout itself if someone wants to look through her books. plus i think it will be so special when she's older and i give her the books for her to be able to read all the notes that are just to her.

i'll be back soon with more!
love.

*oops... forgot to add that the base pp is MME stella & rose!

turntable tuesday: old friends.

hello.
my apologies for the late post, again.
today was a bit of a roller coaster ride for little miss and i... her pediatrician appointment today was kind of tough and that on top of a horrible decision to get fast food for lunch put me into quite the mood. things are all good now... thanks to my amazing little girl, and then music...

i wanted to share my go to albums this week that always can put me right back into a positive state of mind no matter what i'm dealing with. i would have named it my "top 5" but when i took a look at what records are usually sitting next to my record player it turned out to be 7. a few of them i have shared before... like fleet foxes (always lift my spirit) and bridge over troubled water. it's absolutely no surprise to me that simon & garfunkel have two albums on the list. fakin' it, america, and at the zoo are some of my favorite songs ever.

i love wings. joe totally makes fun of the fact that i love wings... but i do. there is something about linda and paul that just make me happy in a way that john and yoko could never do. wings over america is a great live album... i'm still looking to pick up their "best of" with mull of kintyre which is probably my favorite wings song. it's one of the songs i sing to abby at night...

so here is the list of the albums that i am calling my "old friends..." the albums that always have a place right next to my record player and can always lift my mood and remind me that life is good and there is so much to be thankful for....

what a long strange trip it's been: the best of the grateful dead
fleet foxes
jethro tull: songs from the wood (or best of)
simon & garfunkel: bookends & bridge over troubled water
the beatles: abbey road*
wings: wings over america

*i'll be doing a beatles post in the upcoming weeks... we have a lot of beatles!

i lost my light today before i could take good photos of my layouts so far this week but i'll get them all done tomorrow afternoon... in the meantime here's a sneak i took a couple of days ago before my entry for the my minds eye sketch challenge was finished. i was happy for the opportunity to use some cha bits and pieces i picked up YEARS ago... they were from the tres jolie release. i never used them because i knew i wanted them for when i had a baby... the colors and patterns were too precious to just use for myself, or wedding photos, or really anything else...


goodnight + love love love.

a sketch challenge + weekend wip.

hello friday!
it has been a great day so far...
took care of my workout this morning, keeping on my healthy eating...
drinking a ton of water and already feeling so good! (and sore)

during abby's early nap i was able to retake the photos of my layout for the sunday sketch challenge on the studio calico blog. i really love how this one turned out (another two pager? what's going on here?)...


i again used the november 2010 SC kit napa valley. this kit is still available if you want to purchase one for yourself. i did add the base paper in from my stash. it's american crafts: blue skies: so happy together, the solid side. i have SO MUCH of this specific paper. i think i bought 4 or 5 packs of it when i was making abby's announcements and i still have a pack and a half left. (over buy much?)

i still have a ton of the napa valley kit left but the rest of it reads fall to me so i'm going to pack it back up until i am inspired to work with some of last year's fall photos. i really want to break out another one of my SC kits this weekend but i'm holding off. instead i want to switch gears and work on a few different things this weekend...

daily december: ugh. in know, nothing like working on 2010's daily december in march. i only got through the first week in real time last year... but i did continue to print out photos each day so now i want to go through and finish it up.

the "fail" glamour pattern: for the past five months i've been working on a knitting pattern with this...

photo: lion brand.com

i hate this yarn. it's been driving me crazy. i bought 9 skeins of it in topaz in order to knit a shrug pattern from lionbrand.com and the pattern was a total fail. even if i doubled the yarn it was TINY... and using bigger needles looks awful. so now i'm working on a new idea. sad part, this was supposed to be my sister's birthday present. her birthday was in february. i'm the worst sister ever.

so that's mostly what i want to accomplish this weekend... besides grocery shopping, daddy time, and hopefully some outside time. oh, and i have to groom roxy tomorrow morning. she's blowing her coat for spring and is starting to get SMELLY. i hate how all the old hair smells... yuck.

well, i had intended to talk about lent coming up... but little miss has decided i've spent enough time on the computer so i'm off to play and read a few books with her. my thoughts on the upcoming season will have to be saved for another day.

hope everyone has a great weekend!
love.

edit: after posting i realized i forgot a few things on the above layout that weren't in the SC kit. the tiny alphas are making memories and the ones above the stamped title are american crafts. the pennant banner cardstock stickers are sassafras lass indie girl. thanks!

hello march.

abby and i are very excited to see you!
we are looking forward to:

starting classes at the little gym of jc
getting two front teeth (they are just about out!)
turning 9 months!
spring weather + trips to the park
our first big nyc parade
losing weight + getting back in shape (that's me...)
lots of scrapbooking
turning off the heat (for good) + opening the windows
spring cleaning!

maybe even learning to stand up... omg.

really really happy we are headed into spring. it opens up so many more possibilities for little miss & i. it just needs to get a little warmer and then we are spending every single day OUTSIDE. well, close to every single day.

today i looked up from the layout i'm working on...

{little tiny sneak of another two pager. woah.}

and saw little miss doing this...


omg. i have to say that i hadn't actually put her down anywhere near her piano... i usually leave it at one corner of her play area so she can get to it herself when she wants it. and there she is kneeling at it. that's like one push away from STANDING. standing. one her own. without my help. seriously?!? my baby cannot be working on how to stand herself up yet. no no no no. *sigh*

{ok mini mommy-tantrum over}

the increased mobility of my little miss in just the past two weeks completely boggles my mind. i'm so proud and amazed by her every day. not to mention just how independent she is. i can't wait to start classes at the little gym next week. we are going to have a blast and i'm hoping we meet some great babies + mommies to organize some more playdates with!

so, i think that's enough blabbing about my amazing kid for today...

i hope that everyone has a fantastic march & that spring quickly shows it's beautiful face in all of our lives!

love.

sleepy monday.

mondays are always a good nap day but today is an especially sleepy day for little miss. i think it's because it's so overcast and rainy outside... plus she's worn out from our errands and daddy time this weekend.

this week not too much is happening. st. patty's day is coming up so i have a few things to do for that (the 17th is also my daddy's birthday!) i really hope it's nice out for the parade, i'd also like to go to church with abby at st' patrick's cathedral if we can.

i have some layouts i'm working on, it's way too overcast to take photos today but i'll share them soon. here's the page i finished last week. sorry for the ugly photo of it but i'm out of practice taking page shots and i'm certainly not used to taking photos of two pagers. i don't think i've done a two page layout since 2007. i really like it and currently have a thing for yellow. maybe i'm just ready for spring!


this layout was done using the napa valley kit from studio calico. joey got me a subscription to sc for my birthday in november and i really love it! the kits have exactly what i like, new product, not too much frill (i'm so not a frilly shabby scrapbooker), great embellishments + stamps and amazing color combos. this month i bought my first add-on ever and i'm so excited to get it... check out what is headed to my doorstep in march...

main kit: into the woods

add on kit: sunny clearing

if you are interested in getting kits from studio calico you have to act fast! they sell out so quickly... march is all sold out (there is one add on left: wildflower). to sign up for april you can send an email to info@studiocalico.com to set up your subscription.

i think that's about it for right now. i hope everyone has a great week!

love.

omg. she scraps...

hello there.
check it out.
i'm actually scrapbooking...

and it's on it's way to becoming a two pager?

grab your children the end of the world might be coming.

it's been a good day in the house and i'm finding that it's not quite as hard to scrapbook while watching little miss as i thought it would be. i'm actually really happy to be finally getting some of her pictures on paper. unfortunately the photos i just printed for the right side of this page are the last i'm going to be able to print because i'm completely out of photo paper and had no idea. ugh. i'm also now considering getting a new printer because the quality on mine is starting to seriously suffer. but... that's a worry for another day.

i hope everyone is having a great wednesday! only two days to the weekend... oh how i love short weeks.

love.

use it or lose it: love pennant garland.

good morning.
over the past two years i've been doing some major purging of my scrapbooking supplies. i still have so much and there are lots of things i've kept with the intention to use it in 2011 or to pass it on to someone who will.

i probably have 5 years worth of valentine's day/love themed paper and cannot let myself buy any more until i use up my stash... so i made this pennant garland for my little corner!

it's simple, and was pretty quick to make. i was able to do at least one pennant per naptime along with my other mommy duties. i left plain pennants in what is probably my favorite love themed paper that i've ever collected... it's from the sei jolie chocolat line. i love the text layers + it allows me some room to add in photos as our family grows.

some other "oldies" i used are: making memories 'love notes' 8x8 pad, ki memories 'wild thing' & paper + embellishments from their valentine's day holiday collection (must be from 2006-ish??) and grungeboard.

i barely used up any of my valentine's day stash but the little dent i did make to create something sweet and simple for my space makes me very happy!

love.

p.s. turntable tuesday coming up a little later today, little miss and i need to decide what kind of music mood we are in...

catching up: some be-lated love.

happy president's day + happy belated valentine's day.
my apologies for the late wishes of love... we had a beautiful busy week and since joe had today off this weekend was our holiday time to be together. which means i finally have several minutes in a row to catch the blog up.

our valentines day was very quiet. joe was able to be home before abby's bedtime so we had a nice evening together. dinner and our favorite new thing... going to bed. we are such night owls so we are trying to resist the urge to stay up all night during the week, it's hard. we talk a lot.

mid-week i finished up my valentine's day banner. a closer look at it is coming. it's nice to have my new little corner decorated. especially after a week where keeping it clean was a challenge...

little miss spent her week practicing her crawling, helping mommy + daddy do laundry, playing with her new favorite toys (a pixar character set from grandma + grandpa), teething on everything, and generally being a cute goofball.

by thursday spring started teasing us. the sun shone and it was 70 on friday afternoon when we went into the city to see joe. it was nice to be across the hudson, we hadn't been over since just before christmas. so good to see abby enjoy the city in a whole new way... she was awake the whole trip and was smiling at people and looking all over the place. i'm setting us a full city activity schedule the moment the weather warms up for good...

it was so cold again by the weekend but it's been nice having joe home and the extra day today has been perfect. joe changed our tire this weekend, and we did a lot of grocery shopping...

little miss was beginning to get low on a few things so i went a little crazy with the produce. joe was such a trouper and went to several different stores with us to get the organics we needed to stock up on. blueberries, bananas, kiwi, avocado, mango (abby's most favorite), pears, sweet potato, plums, carrots, zucchini, papaya (on joe's insistence although it's not the prettiest papaya i've ever seen), and a gorgeous butternut squash. we bought tofu for her for the first time which will be an adventure for later this week.

today we woke up to snow! ugh. i love snow, and i even had a moment of happiness today when i thought we might be able to get abby into her snowsuit to enjoy what might be the last snow of the year, but it was just a dusting and enough to make everything wet, cold, and gross. so instead we get to enjoy a cozy day inside and hope that today was just winter's last hurrah.

well, i think that catches me up for a week of no blog time. to say i have a lot of pureeing to do this evening is an understatement so i'm off to the kitchen.

happy monday!
love.

daily december: week 1.

again. sorry for the delay!
the blog is still the one area of my life that seriously suffers when we are all feeling under the weather. but i'll write more about that later...

since i'm playing catch up with sharing my daily december journal i decided to share the first "week" of december in two parts... above is through december 4th.

for this book i'm using primarily basic grey "eskimo kisses". i love the colors of this line (especially the pink and green!) other products i'm using:

elle's studio journaling & christmas tags
sassafrass lass numbers chipboard
making memories fa la la
hambly christmas decor rub ons
alphas: scenic route, adornit (carolee's creations), making memories,
& american crafts

i might be missing some things but i'm sure they'll show up on another page and i'll list them then... if you have a question about something just ask!

december 1st is a library pocket for my goals for this holiday season...

sometimes i just hate tab labels - they never seem to stick and stay stuck for me. this one will get a staple before the month is over.

as i'm not usually interested in a bunch of journaling i decided that each week one of my days would be used to sum up the week...

hope you like the journal so far... i absolutely love it and can't wait to share the other half of the week tomorrow!

p.s. i know i'm missing this turntable tuesday, i'm going on a christmas vinyl dig tomorrow in the city and will share my spoils on thursday!

hope everyone is staying warm & cuddly...

love.

the sickness + a layout.

been very sick this week. ok not very, but a head cold sucks when you are 8 months pregnant and can't sleep anyway. and i wish i could be like some preggo chicks and be all motivated during bouts of insomnia but unfortunately i just toss and turn, complain to the dogs, pretend to feel bad when i wake up joe, and mope. very healthy.

so with my time sitting around i decided to finally teach myself to crochet.


i have no idea what this little stripey number is going to be in the end. it was a "pattern" for dish towels (meaning just a striped colorway of single crochet rows)... but i ended up making it too narrow for my liking so i'm just going to keep working the length until i come up with something genius.

i finished this quickie layout this weekend but am just now getting around to sharing it...

i have a million nyc subway maps that i've been obsessed with using and i really liked making the banner out of some of our favorite neighborhoods and the bridges and tunnels we most commonly use.

so. i'm starting to feel better and am looking forward to a beautiful and productive weekend. joey and i will be visiting the not yo momma's craft fair in downtown jersey city on saturday. i'm pretty excited because we didn't get a chance to go last year... hoping to find some good stuff. anyone in the area should come check it out!

today i'm working on:

more crochet.
starting my first amigurami critter.
catching up on weekly gratitude.
kicking this cold 100% naturally.

so time for another cup of tea.

{source}

love.

february sucked.

ok it didn't all suck. but there were things that did and there they are. it actually felt really good to do a really quick page about all the hate i felt for what did/didn't get done in february... and believe me i probably could have made that list longer... but putting it out there in my book felt like i was finally letting it go.

march is almost over but i already feel 100% more positive about our nesting progress and my creative work. i feel like getting up every day and making something, or getting something done... which is a huge sigh of relief compared to last month when i barely wanted to get out of bed during the week.

i'll be back with something more later... just wanted to share this little bugger.

love.

playing with paper again.

it is a gorgeous day outside. the sun is shining... there is a beautiful breeze. time to open up the windows and get crafty. i'm working on finishing a bunch of layouts that have been brewing much too long. unfortunately one of the casualties of february was my big camera. it seems that dropping it several times has made it finally pack up and quit on me. so until i get the NEW canon (it takes HD video!! yay baby videos!!) i'll have to deal with the fuzzies and a lot of trial and error.

love.

getting scrappy, simply.

been a long time since i just wanted to just sit and drown myself in paper and adhesive. but this week with the cold returning in a big way to the east and a general lack of motivation to do anything that requires standing up... and a still broken sewing machine :( all i've wanted to do is fill up my albums with every picture i took in 2008/2009 that i have yet to really touch.

i've also started using a different process to work on pages. i kinda stole it from miss kc. the days of me staring at a single page for hours wondering what it needs, waiting for that stroke of inspiration, is over, for now. i'm trying to work on several pages at once. figure out little bits at a time, see what really wants to go where, and then move on.

i'm also really enjoying staying simple. my favorite part of scrapbooking as always been titles & photos. my journaling often seems so forced to and not really what i love about my scrapbooks. i know i should be telling the story, etc. but i'm a visual person and i feel telling a story is a lot more than just dates and text.

so i'm enjoying scrapbooking again. scrapbooking for me and what i'd like to see in my own albums... and so far so good.

going to do a fun etsy post a bit later. working on my weekly gratitude as well. this month's prompt/inspiration is: soul!

love.

giveaway time (c&t publishing)!

Hey Everyone! Happy Monday!

Today I'm really excited because I'm finally doing my first Blog RAK!

I've been very fortunate over the past 6 months to start working with C&T Publishing, designing product samples for their new releases for CHA, promotion, AND their packaging!

The first project I did for them was a fabulous new 12x12 Board Book. I'll post the whole book in my galleries but here is a peek...



I was so excited to find out that they were going to use this project for their packaging AND I got to see it displayed at CHA! Too cool....

The other project I did for them was with their newly released Flower Petal Pots. These things are so cool! I can't wait until my order of them come in so I can play with them more!



My next projects will be in the next release... but I also wanted to share one of their new products that I got in recently and immediately made for myself! I've been wanting a card file or something to organize my little index card sketches and ideas, and photos. So I made this from their new Indie File Box...





I left it pretty blank so that I can add more to the box as I come across things and make it my own. The paper is Basic Grey Obscure and graph paper from a torn journal of mine. I also used Basic Grey Rub-ons and A Hambly Transparency. The "spray paint" is actually Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I love this stuff and will be posting some more projects I've done with it soon!

So... here's how to win some of the awesome new releases from C&T Publishing!

Just post your name and where you are from AND your favorite new release from CHA Winter 2008. I'd love to know what all you saw that excited and inspired you in case I missed anything! lol...

And you will win...

• Ready-To-Go Blank Board Book: 12x12" Square
• Ready-To-Go Blank Board Box: Shadow Box
• Ready-To-Go Blank Board Book: 6x6" Square
• AND G.C.D Studios Rose Colored Glasses Paper Line

There will also be a few little buttons and ribbons from my stash in there to boot!

Everyone has until Thursday at NOON Eastern to be in the RAK drawing!

Good Luck!