Currently...

Watching: We're catching up with Elementary. After initial resistance (we love Sherlock on the BBC), we've really been enjoying the show. I love Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu has grown on me.

Reading: Still reading Outlander. Hope to finish this week...

Listening: It's been raining for the past three days. I missed the sound of the rain. It's lovely, but probably time for the sunshine to come back.

Making: Finishing up the last of the retreat prep. My last big project before grocery shopping is the retreat notecards. I got all my supplies this past week so now it's time to get them done.

Feeling: Content. Things are going well right now.

Planning: I just booked my plan tickets to Indiana for March-April. Now I need to get moving on planning the twins' birthday party, Sarah's wedding activities, and general stuff.

Loving: Attempting to finish up Arthur's room this week. It's turning out well. I'll have a room tour as part of my OLW wrap for February.

Sunday Haul #5

Lots of goodies this week. I had a small trip to Michaels, a surprise RAK, and lots of Stampin' Up deliveries. First up: Michael's. I went to get sticky strip to finish off the modified notebooks, but you know I can't just buy one thing. Value paper packs were on sale so I grabbed two whites and a kraft. From there I remembered to grab some glue dots (getting low). The purple fabric flowers, dollies, and mason jars were all impulse buys.

On Wednesday I received this great RAK or two PL cards and some fun embellishments. They will be making an appearance in my February PL pages.

I had multiple SU deliveries this week due to workshops and customer orders. I even managed to buy a few things. Okay I bought a ton, but I needed to replenish some of my paper and buy things for upcoming classes and special events.

Sophisticated Serifs Stamp Set
Little Snshine Stamp Set
Vivid Vases Stamp
Personalized Stamp (for business purposes)
E Block (needed for bigger stamps)
Something Borrowed Embellishments (for friend's upcoming wedding)
Wister Wonder Blendibilities
Old Olive Blendibilities
Coastal Cabana Blendibilities
Rich Razzleberry Blendibilities

Sponge Daubers
Paper Snips
Love Who You Are Stamp
Hey There Buds Stamp
Crisp Cantaloupe Twine
Daffodil Delight Blendibilities
Back to Black DSP
Painted Blooms DSP
Something Borrowed DSP

SSINKCC18: Under the Sea

One of my resolutions for the new was to do more card challenges. It's now February 7th and I haven't done a single one. Shame on me! Thankfully our great friend sent a little challenge out to our demo group to participate this week. I came home from class this morning and knocked this card in 15 minutes!

Orange and turquoise (Tangelo Twist and Coastal Cabana) is not my favorite color combo. Mainly because I am not a huge fan of orange. But that's why the challenge is so great. It made me reevaluate my aversion to certain colors. I own them, why don't I use them more often.

After looking at the colors, I immediately grabbed for my Sea Street stamp set. I envisioned something nautical but in non-nautical colors. Although now the orange is reminding me of life vests... Anyway I grabbed the set, but realized that I needed more texture, more layers, but I didn't want to actually add a ton more paper. Enter the Work of Art stamp. The chevron matched almost perfectly with my piece of Fresh Prints DSP (retired). From there I added the starfish, octopus, and greeting. And topped the card off with a few Bermuda Bay sequins taken off the thread. I just may use this color combo again sometime...

Stamps: Sea Street; Work of Art
Inks: Tangelo Twist; Coastal Cabana
Cardstock: Tangelo Twist; Fresh Prints DSP (retired); Whisper White
Accessories: Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim
Tools:

Modified Notebooks

Last Sunday, I held a modified notebooks class at my house. I've held the class once before, but decided it was such a great project that they needed to be featured today.

For my examples, I used a mix of SU and non-SU products. This is a great project to use up scraps and random embellishments. For the big notebooks, I glue on a full sheet of DSP using sticky strip. I then cut around the notebook to get the perfect fit. I add a 1" strip on the binding. Lastly I re-enforce the small strip and cover the rest of the binding with washi tape. From there I embellish.

Bases: Mead Compositions Books (bought one super sale during Back to School); $1 journals from Michael's/Joann's/etc
Paper: SU DSP (mostly retired); Coordinating Recollections Patterned Paper; Kraft paper (cover smaller journals)
Stamps: Hello There (Hostess); Kinda Eclectic
Ink: Night of Navy; Chocolate Chip; Blackberry Bliss; Baked Brown Sugar; Gumball Green (retired)
Embellishments: Mambi alphas; Various washi tape; Recollections fabric flowers; scrap paper; SU Candy Dots
Tools: Ovals Framelits; Starburst Framelits; Floral Frames Framelits; Butterfly Punches; Decorative masks

I love how my class attendees customized their notebooks. They picked their favorite colors and patterned paper. For the small notebooks, they changed up the decorative masks and and butterflies.

For the upcoming mom's retreat, I decided to make modified notebooks for the participants. Each one of the ten notebooks uses different paper combinations and washi tape. My plan is to let each participant chose their notebook and then add an initial sticker. I think my personal favorite is the hot pink and green notebook.

Project Life January 2015 Part 1

Title Page For Volume 1 of 2015, I wanted to create a title page using fun bright colors. I wanted a family photo, but J refuses to get his picture taken. So instead I just put our names. I added the "Home" stamp (and colored it in) and star brad (at our approximate location) to the map card. "You are my whole heart" is an overlay that I placed on top of the fun chevron card. I added a bit of journaling to the "hello" card and some sequins all over the page. Lastly I added the silver glitter numbers as my focal point. I love the brightness of my title card.

January - 1st half

This year I am doing my spreads monthly instead of weekly. This has freed me so much. i don't have to stress about getting the right amount or orientation of pictures for each week. And I can group like photos (e.g. preschool photos throughout the month) if I want to. I have also decided to take my color cues from the Echo Park Through the Year month cards. January's color scheme is blue and gray. I sorted through some of my giant stash of PL cards for gray and blue. And I sorted through my embellishment stash for similarly hued pieces.

Page 1 features Fort Wayne pictures with a bit of journaling about how we started the month in Indiana. I added an overlay to one of the pictures, some alphas, and a few stickers. The weather photo was taken using Instaweather app. Lots of fun!

Page two is the other Fort Wayne pictures. As it was so cold I got to add the little snowman and snowflake stickers. Unfortunately they don't work for the rest of January in California. I added a few random word stickers and a graphic card to complete the page.

Page three heralded our return to California. Some more word stickers and a cute cloud for my fog picture add to the page. I'm trying to add more story journaling instead of just listing where we went. This card highlights our return home and the three playgrounds we explored this month.

Page four rounds out the first half of my January pages. All I added to this page was the mustache sticker (just thought it was too cute!) and a small word sticker on the top left photo. I also journaled about us hosting preschool the first week back. Fun fun!

Supplies:

Echo Park Through the Year
PL Seasons
Random alphas and embellishments

5 on 5

A look at some of the things I'm working on this month...

1. This was my setup for Sunday's Modified Notebooks class. I'm loving that our new dining room has enough space to actually hold classes. I even have room to add our big folding table if I need to.

2. I started my 2015 PL pages. This is the partial title page. I still want to add a nice family picture and some journaling about our upcoming year. I'll post the complete title page and half of the January pages tomorrow.

3. I bought these great Scrabble tiles this week. I've got a few projects ideas floating around on Pinterest. Hopefully you'll see the finished project soon.

4. After initial hesitation, I've decided to complete the OLW February prompt and create a vision board. I had these 8x10 canvases left over from preschool; perfect size for me. While at Target, I grabbed these three magazines to use for the board.

5. Lastly, I'm finishing up the 10 retreat notebooks for later this month. I just need to add the washi tape and starbursts. Complete projects will be featured later this week.

Fun 'n Crafty Blog Hop February 2015

Welcome to the Fun n’ Crafty Blog Hop for February. The blog hop has been on hiatus for the holidays, but we're back this month to share some great cards. February we will be showcasing project ideas with a Love theme.

I took the Love theme very literally and decide to make my own background paper using "Love" from Snuggles and Smooches. I wanted a good Valentine's themed stamp set, but wasn't sold on You Plus Me from the Occasions catalog. But I love Snuggles and Smooches. It is so adorable. I also used the random squiggle to add more dimension to my homemade background paper. Some nice DSP from the Stacked with Love DSP stack, washi tape, and punched out hearts add those little extra touches.

Full product list:

Stamps: Snuggles and Smooches
Inks: Calypso Coral; Real Red; Crisp Cantaloupe; Basic Black
Cardstock: Real Red; Stack with Love DSP; Whisper White
Accessories: Stacked with Love wash tape
Tools: 2 in circle punch; mini heart punch

Complete Blog Hop List:

Pam W. of Stinky Tofu
Jennifer B. of Northwest Stamper
Stacey L. of A Work of Carte
Tobe B. of The Craft Sea
Susan S. of Stampin' By The San Francisco Bay

Sheltering Tree Swap Card

Every month I participate in an individual swap. The products used must be current Stampin' Up projects. We also usually have a theme or design to follow. This month I received this gorgeous Valentine's theme card from Angela. She feature the Sheltering Tree stamp set. I especially love the red glittered hearts.

Occasions Catalog and SAB Swap Cards

For every new catalog, my demo group participates in a big card swap. We each pick one of the new stamp sets and make cards. I get some great examples back every time! Here's some great card made with new Occasions Catalog and Sale-a-Bration Brochure stamp sets.

Sunday Haul #4

A trip to Michael's for adhesive. I ended up grabbing a nice invitation stamp, coffee stamps, Valentine's hearts, ribbon, and washi, and a great "Home" sign.