project life stash builder one

So, since I'm tackling project life from scratch and not using a kit, I have a lot of work to do to build up my stash of page building elements. This is a super quick and easy way to dress up plain labels. I plan on using these to date and caption photos.

  

1. Grab some label sheets.

2. Arrange your labels on a sheet of printer paper.

3. Open your grid file (I saved this one as a PDF - you can download it from here if you'd like)

4. Print as usual. You're done! I threw a sheet of those hole reinforcements on just to see how they'd turn  out. Kind of fun...I'm sure I'll be able to work them in somewhere.

baking for grandpa: January

My dad is impossible to buy for. Not in the traditional way of being hard to please or picky or ungrateful but rather in the opposite way. No matter what you give him, he is happy and thankful. Just never in that WOW-what-a-perfect-gift kind of way that I strive for. Not every gift can be perfect, I know, but just once I want to blow him away with something totally unexpected. (I actually have had an idea for years and years but it's completely out of my price range. Someday though, when I'm independently wealthy, I'll be able to do it :)

Needless to say, Christmas is most difficult for me when it comes to choosing a gift for my dad. And this year, finances as they are, I decided to try a different tack. I gave simply but with intent and the promise of time. A card, some delicious lemon cookies, and the promise that for each of the following 12 months, I would make something for him and hand deliver it to him.

My dad and I live only 45 minutes apart but neither of us are great at keeping in touch on a regular basis (no ill-will or bad feelings...we're just similar in that we're not overly social...at least I'm not) Every time we connect, we both express a desire to talk again soon...on a more regular basis...a "how has it been 2 months since we talked? kind of thing.

My gift to him was a promise that I will make the effort every month to think of him, what he might like, and purposefully visit him, IN PERSON, to catch up on family and work and life in general.

He LOVED it. He gave me the best reaction of any gift recipient of the holiday. Phew.

So, yesterday my assistant and I set out to make grandpa his January treat. Tomorrow we'll deliver it and have a great visit and chances are, he'll demand that we stay for lunch.

This month, we made chocolate pomegranate cookies. They were good (honestly though, I think I'd prefer less chocolate -gasp- and more pomegranate) and easy (seeding the pomegranate - by far the most time consuming step.)

this is how we roll on lazy days at home...striped pants, long sleeve t from halloween and princess socks

when chocolate in involved, craziness ensues

I don't have a fancy schmancy kitchenaid so I had to use my decades old hand mixer. A quick warning (I can't be the only one with a jurassic era mixer) that stirring the dry ingredients into the wet resulted in my motor seizing up a bit at the end (the smell of burning plastic isn't all that appetizing...great when you're trying not to dip into the chocolate chips!) It was a thick and dense batter but the cookies weren't dry - I was worried!

The results were pretty though. Hope he likes them.

new today

In the past, I've never really shared my "work" stuff much on the blog. Since my work stuff has been consuming a lot of my time though (and, since I seem to be posting on more of a regular basis) I thought I'd try to remember to post my new digital kits each Tuesday (that is, each Tuesday that I actually "have" new kits) and maybe give one away as well.

So, my new releases today:

journaling cards - all 3x4"

more journaling cards (and these are FREE)

and a 12x12 template (that could easily be cropped to 8.5x11" if that's your thing)

I'll pick one commenter on Friday that can have their pick of one if this week's releases. Have a great day!

playing with paper

I used to be a scrapbooker. When my boys were babies, I would do a layout almost every night after they were asleep (seriously.) I'm so lucky that something I loved so much led me to Two Peas and BHG and all of the opportunities after. Early on, I had three scrapbooking goals: to be a Garden Girl, to be on the BHG Creative Team and to have an article published. I've been fortunate enough to have accomplished all three goals thanks to the support and encouragement of friends and simply being in the right place at the right time.

One of my earliest GG pages...and a good reminder for me right now.

These days, I am so happy to be a contributing editor for BHG and a digital designer for Two Peas. I love writing, I love designing. I really enjoy digital scrapbooking and have done it exclusively for the past couple of years. Most of my paper supplies are packed up in storage waiting for the day that I finally figure out what to do with all of it (the school can only handle so many donations!)

Lately though, I just haven't had it in me to scrapbook at all. I have been designing though and that's something that comes in fits and spurts - I have to take advantage of the momentum when it finds me. And I've been doing some journaling cards and such that seem to work well with project life. And that has me *thinking* about project life. Which is something I haven't done ever before.

Of course I've admired some of the incredible pl projects that have been shared - Glue, of course, for her ingenious technique, and organization and ideas for filling your pages with memories. And Liz for her amazing aesthetic and ethereal photos that make everyday moments seem like magic. And Kelly for her funkiness and enthusiasm and ability to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can be single and childless and still document an amazingly fulfilling life (oh how I wish I scrapbooked in my single years!) And Cathy, for always keeping it real and honest and being a design goddess. And all of the others that I've seen in passing but never really studied because, you know, I was never going to actually *do* pl.

But I've been craving paper lately...so I indulged myself by making those journals I mentioned in the last post (by the way - congratulations Janneke - you are the winner :) Please email me your address and I'll get them in the mail asap!) and putting together little embellishments for etsy. It's not enough though, I need to scrapbook again. And record actual stories again.

When I look back in my gallery, the layouts I did years and years ago are still, and will probably always be, my favorites. Cardstock. One or two embellishments. And the handcut titles and accents. Oh - I miss the handcutting! I really want to get back to that because I love those simple  stories and designs most of all.

Enter project life. I resisted because like Nicole, I am resistant to all things current and popular. Be it scrapbooking or books or music or TV. I'm stubborn as a mule and though I realize that sometimes, things are popular because they are GOOD, it's a hard habit to break.

I'm going to give it a go though. I'm not saying it here because I plan to share every week or even to hold myself accountable but simply because like scrapbooking, this blog was intended to be a place to record stories and thoughts. And right now, I'm thinking that this project is a good way to satisfy my paper craving and get some stories recorded. Because it will never be 2012 again. And because my kids will never be 9 and 7 and 3 again. And even if I peter out halfway through, halfway is better than nothing.

If you need to find me, I'll be neck deep in playing catch up for the two weeks I'm behind.

quick hand bound mini journals: tutorial

A few weeks go, I shared this instagram of some journals I made for my sister and had a few people ask for a tutorial. Finally, I'm getting around to doing it! These are really easy and though they may look labor intense, they can be done really rather quickly (especially if you do a bunch at a time and have a little assembly line going.)

You really only need a few supplies. Your cover material (I used kraft cardstock...because you can never go wrong with kraft cardstock.) Your inside pages (these have 20 pages so you'd need 10 sheets of paper to cut in half. Recycled or ledger type papers would work great as well!) If you're doing the peek-a-boo cover like I've done, you'll need some type of patterned paper or pages torn from a magazine. For these, I used pages from a yarn catalog. For my sister's set, I used landscape scenes from an Urban Outfitters catalog - they worked fabulously! To bind the journal, a needle and thread or embroidery floss.

First, trim your cover to 5.5 x 8.5" and cut your title from the cover. I made up a set of cover templates for you to download. The file includes the two shown ("now" and " "to•do") as well as twelve months. The placement is random (you can kind of see in the photo of my sister's set) because that's how I like them. If you aren't comfortable with an exacto, these titles are all chunky enough that they could easily be done with fine tipped scissors. You can grab the files HERE.

Now trim your inside pages to the same size as your cover. If you want to get a bit fiddly (totally unnecessary), you can trim them to different sizes so that when the journal is folded, the paper edges don't extend past the edge of the cover. For instance, for these journals, I first cut the 10 sheets in half and then progressively trimmed off a 1/16" sliver from the edges to the following sizes: (2) 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" (2)  8 7/16 x 5 1/2"  (2)  8 3/8 x 5 1/2"  (2)  8 5/16 x 5 1/2"  (2) 8 1/4 x 5 1/2"

Fold everything and collate your cover, patterned insert and pages together.

Now you need to punch holes to bind the pages. I find the center of the pages (10" in the photo) with my ruler and position everything on a foam pad.

Punch the first holes through all of the pages.

Punch four more holes for a total of 5 - each spaced 1" apart from the next.

Thread your needle. I double up the thread before threading the needle so there are a total of four strands.

Using your threaded needle, pass through the top hole (inside or outside of the journal makes no difference and proceed in the pattern shown.

Wrap the needle around the end of the journal and into the first hole, threading in the opposite pattern of the first pass.

To finish, tie off both ends of the thread with a couple of knots and trim off the excess. There is surely a neater way to do this but I like the look of the loose ends and it holds up to regular use well.

Since I did a couple of these journals for the tutorial, I'm happy to send them to one of you :) Just let me know in the comments if you're interested in them and I'll choose someone Friday! Here are the completed journals:

2011:2012

Our New Year's Eve was spent at home with my brother Jeremy, his fiance Kelly, and his son Tyler. The kids were incredibly and surprisingly well behaved...four kids and no intervention required at any point. That alone is a fantastic indicator that 2012 will be a good year. An omen that maybe, the Mayans got it all wrong after all!

We were determined to keep things classy. With boxed wine and processed cheese food. It wasn't easy hiding that giant box in my shopping cart. Gotta say though, that wine wasn't too bad. For $10 for the equivalent of more than 6 bottles, you can't beat the price!

Lots of snacks to keep us fattened up through midnight. This feta dip recipe was FANTASTIC and so incredibly easy. I just paired it with a giant loaf of crusty french bread and pretty much ate the whole platter myself.

The boys went with rum. I know one of them was regretting that decision greatly the next day. And it wasn't Jeremy. Pretty sure it was Sailor Jerry's that really made the difference.

After midnight, we celebrated with some twirling. (Side note, we missed New Year's by a minute. And when we turned on the TV at 12:01 to see the ball drop, we hit the PBS New Year's celebration first. Nothing says party into the new year like PBS!)

There was also some arm wrestling.

And some game play. Apples to Apples which was so fun!

Apparently, the cards you end up winning in Apples to Apples are supposed to describe you. Look at my cards. Don't you feel happy to know such a delightful person?

a very handmade christmas

Every year, I gift handmade items. I love that I have an exceptional network of family and friends that appreciate the effort and thought I put into them. My intentions always far exceed my abilities but this year, circumstances dictated that I produce an inordinate amount of handmade gifts. Almost everyone that we include in our gift giving was the recipient of at least one handmade gift. Thanks to pinterest, I had an infinite supply of ideas. Here is a roundup of what I did this year as well as a link back to the inspiration if there was one.

CLOCKWISE: 1. Ornaments for my adult siblings - I did four sets of these four ornaments (we don't "officially" exchange gifts but I love giving them something small...usually a food item but this year, ornaments) knitted tree pattern 2. Hand cream and sugar scrub for 4 people 3. Handmade journals for my sister (I had a few people ask for a tutorial on these - I'll share one later this week :) 4. Bath salts for my two younger sisters (spaghetti sauce jars with a painted lid and tiny ornament glued to the top.)

CLOCKWISE: 1. Knitted blanket for my dear friend's baby (born last Tuesday!) backed with corduroy...my first time hand sewing fabric to a knitted item - hopefully this will get easier with practice...serious pain in the ass but so worth it! 2. Freezer paper onesie for same baby :) (I saw this quote on an etsy item and LOVED it.) Wish I could link you to it but I've lost the link :( 3. Items inside the fort kit: fort (not shown - I appliqued each of their initials onto the sheets using the same striped fabric as the bags) reinforcements (clothespins,) nourishment (microwave popcorn + cookies,) entertainment (board book,) and shadow puppet maker (flashlight) 4. fort kits for three young nephews - I bought 3 solid flat sheets (in blue, green and orange) and one striped flat sheet. I used the striped sheet to applique initials onto the flat sheets and to make the 3 storage bags.

CLOCKWISE: 1. Rice heating pad for Carlos 2. Pencil rolls for both of my boys and one of my nephews - the tutorial is just for a flat roll with one layer of felt but I did grey felt for the "outside" and cut colored felt, about 1/2" smaller all around, for the inside. I only cut the slits for the pencils on the inside felt and then inserted the pencils and used spray adhesive to secure it to the grey. I prefer this way as there are no slits on the outside of the roll that would catch or snag. 3.Knitted dish clothes and towel for my grandma 4. Knitted chunky scarf for my sister

CLOCKWISE: 1. Hand stenciled coasters for my step-dad. He's a home brewer so I created stencils of the two little men on his home brew beer label to create matching coasters. 2. Our humble little advent calendar (SO wanted to do the Lego version this year for the boys but no bueno) I hand drew a tree out of small paper bags and hung them backwards on the wall. The snowflakes are numbered and each night after dinner, we would flip a bag to "build" the tree. Oh, and of course each bag had hershey kisses for the kids :) 3. Reindeer nose treats for the boys to take to school.

And that was our Christmas this year. A lot of late, late nights but totally worth it.

Next year I start earlier ;)

something funny to ring in the new year

Jake.

Breaking it down at the Pistons game a few nights ago.

Hilarious.

Happy New Year, all!

try it out Tuesday

So, by far, the most active boards on my Pinterest profile are the two that house the recipes that I want to try and those that I have tried and enjoyed. Of course there are a number of other boards that have projects I'd love to get around to "some day," ahem, but a girl's gotta eat.

I'm a tinkerer though so I rarely follow a recipe to the letter. I thought I'd start sharing some of the recipes that I've pinned and made along with the modifications I've employed. And maybe, on occasion, I'll actually have a non-food related Pinterest project (no promises.)

A few months ago, Carlos and I went on a little one night get-away to Ann Arbor. While we were there, we ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Seva. It was delicious and my first taste of Indian (inspired) food. After drooling over recipes all over the internet, I ordered an Indian spices sampler from Amazon (spices are expensive, yo, and Indian food uses a lot of them!) and finally tried my hand at a cheater samosa recipe inspired by the ones I had at Seva. Here's my mash up of this recipe + this recipe + this recipe.


Samosa Puffs & Parsley Chutney

Samosas (makes about 15)
frozen puff pastry (defrosted for about 45 minutes and cut into squares - 9/sheet)
2 C diced potatoes (I use yukon gold but anything would work)
2 diced carrots
1/2 C frozen peas
3 T oil (I use grapeseed or olive)
medium onion, diced
1/2 can diced green chilies
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 T ginger (I use the minced ginger that comes in the tube in the produce section - I'm sure fresh is better!)
1 t coriander seed
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t garam masala
1/2 t red chili powder

1. Boil the potatoes and carrots until fork tender.
2. Heat tho oil and cook onion, diced chilies, garlic, ginger, and coriander seed until onions are tender and slightly browned.
3. Mix lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala and chili powder in a small bowl. Add to the pan once onion is done and stir thoroughly.
4. Add the potatoes, carrots and frozen peas and mix until the vegetables are coated.
5. Lightly spray a muffin tin and gently push the puff pastry into each cup. Spoon filling mixture into pastry and bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes.

Chutney
1 bunch parsley
2 T diced red onion
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 T ginger
more of the diced green chilies remaining from the samosas (I eyed it and probably used about 1/2 of what was left but adjust to your liking)
1 t ground cumin
1/4 C lemon juice
2 T oil
water

Pulse everything but the water in a food processor. Add water a little at a time to reach desired consistency. The chutney in the photo isn't very loose - I actually like it with more liquid but this was what was leftover from dinner last night so it was a bit dryer than how I usually prepare it. Still, completely delicious!

Sketchpad winner!

Thanks to everyone that commented - I hope you'll all take the opportunity to check out Kelly's class! It really is wonderfully inspiring. But there can only be one winner! And according to random.org, that winner is:

Please email me your contact information Anso. And congratulations!

Sketchpad from Kelly Purkey

I was fortunate to be asked by miss Kelly to contribute to her most recent Sketchpad class and she is generously allowing me to share a class giveaway with one of you! Simply leave a comment on this post and I'll announce a winner on Tuesday the 8th. Good luck (I've seen the class and it's amazingly inspiring!)

Sketchpad is a brand-new class from Kelly Purkey, spinning off from her series of successful Sketchbook classes. Sketchpad is a downloadable, self-paced class featuring 12 original sketches, 35 exclusive layouts from Kelly + and her talented contributors, 35 MORE sketches made from those layouts, and 12 amazing cards based on the sketches from the talented, Kristina Werner... all in a full-color 75 page PDF. Visit Kelly's blog for more details on the class and how to purchase.

missing this...

One more from our CA trip. I took this one when we were driving through Pacheco Pass on our way from Fresno to Salinas to visit Carlos' grandma. Isn't it funny how the light looks a bit different depending on where you are? Amazing light here bouncing off the water!

California Adventures

In early August, Carlos and I put on our brave faces and took the kids to California to visit family for 10 days. Only Jake had flown before (ahem, when he was about 18 months old) so needless to say, it was quite the adventure.

It was completely exhausting and wonderfully touching to introduce our kids to so many people that have such great love for them. We squeezed as much quality visiting in as we possibly could have and spent a lot of quality time together in a tiny little rental car bonding. And despite a handful of the usual sibling rivalry situations and some pain in the ass hotel employees, we had a fantastic trip.