my hippie ways

A long time ago, back (mainly) in my late high school and early college years, I was a hippie. I worked in a head shop for a bit (though, to be honest, I was the squarest employee there.) I wore a whole lot of tie dye. I had rainbow colored dancing bears floating across the rear window of my ford escort. I went to grateful dead concerts and had a shoe box full of bootleg tapes (I drew the line at phish though.) My footwear of choice were birks and I watched the wizard of oz set to pink floyd's the wall more than once.

Man, I wish I could find a picture to show you much-younger Erica in all her dirty hippie glory.

And now, almost 20 years (yikes!) later, I'm returning to my hippie roots. I can feel the pull and power of the patchouli. Flowing cotton skirts and bob marley legend. Hackey sack afternoons and reggae fest weekends.

I know some of you are fondly reminiscing with me.

Now though, my hippie-ness has taken a decidedly different turn and manifested itself in more natural, earth-friendly ways. The added bonus (and fairly substantial motivation) is the cost savings.

A few months ago, Carlos and I put together our first batch of homemade laundry detergent. We used this recipe and it sits in a giant glass jar next to our washer. We love it. There is no discernible scent (which we prefer) but it has eliminated that faint iron-y smell that no other brand of store bought detergent has managed to do. And, when the kids and I tried the oft pinned ivory soap experiment, we mixed the powdered results into the detergent jar.

Since February or so, I've been using the oil cleansing method to clean my face. This was a hard one. It's just so counter-intuitive but my face has never been in better shape! My skin is soft but not oily. No flakiness or dry spots. And the fine lines in my forehead aren't as noticeable either. You'll see in the comments a lot of mixed results so don't simply take my word for it but for me, it's been great. I think the blog I linked recommends a 50/50 mixture of olive oil and castor oil but after a bit of experimentation, I've found a 75/25 split works best for me (olive oil predominant in the mix.) And some nights, I just use warm water and a washcloth. Others, I'll do a honey mask or baking soda mask. Weirdly, I'm most compelled to use the oil on my most strenuous days - the link describes the science!

In the past month or so, I've added is this lemon juice toner to the mix. A nice refresher in the morning! I've had mine mixed and stored in the bathroom for a month now with no noticeable changes to it.

I'm tempted to do one of the natural hair care plans I've seen but I'm so obsessed with the smell of my el-cheapo Rosemary Mint Sauve that I haven't bit the bullet. At least I haven't needed to use conditioner since I cut my hair shorter last fall! Perhaps, at some point, I'll give it a try (have you gone with an alternative hair care method? I'd love to hear about it if you have!)

And finally, composting. I haven't done it yet but after reading this book, with so many inventive farming methods, I'm convinced that I need to give it a shot when spring rolls around. I'd love to hear your advice on that as well!

I'm embracing my granola ways. No excuses. No embarrassment!

stash busting

Trying, DESPERATELY, to reduce the amount of stuff I have around here. Now that I'm 95% digital (that is, when I do actually scrapbook) I'm down to a couple of very small cubes to house the remainder of my paper supplies. I've donated a ton of stuff to local friends, family and the kids' schools (seriously, I don't think they want another bit from me) but still have far more than I know what to do with.

This is just a small amount of the total I have to find good homes for but it's a start. These are all packed full of paper and embellishments (some stamps as well.) I'm not going to lie and tell you it's all the latest and greatest but there is a lot of stuff I loved at one time and it's all in great condition. All of the embellishments are new, never used as are the few stamps I have.

I'd love to get $25 for each box (that includes the priority shipping.) I guarantee there is something you will love in each and anything you don't is sure to be appreciated by someone in your life (kids, school or church donations or a great way to share some goodies at your next crop.)

I have no desire to itemize what's in the boxes (and, they are already sealed and ready to be mailed) which is why I'm offering them so inexpensively. If you're interested, just let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. Right now, I have 5 boxes but I'm sure there will be more as I work through more of my storage.

And if no one wants them, at least I can recycle the paper, right?

tutorial: using journaling card jpg files in Word

I wanted to share a quick tutorial about how to use my Olympics jpg files in Word so you can add text before printing. I find Photoshop/Elements to be an easier option but if you don't have photo editing software, this method is totally doable!

(and if you'd prefer the cards as a single page PDF printable, grab it here.)

I know this may look intimidating but just take it step by step and I promise you will do it!

Within Word, click your insert tab and select picture.

Navigate to the cards folder and select the one you'd like to work with.

Under the format tab, click the text wrapping option and select behind text.

Go back to the insert tab and choose text box.

Choose simple text box from the options.

Type your text.

Right click on the text box and choose borders and shading.

Change your fill and line color options to no color.

Highlight your text and format as usual. Now, print!

sharing an olympics freebie

I adore the olympics and I'm so excited to watch them with he kids this year now that they're a bit older and can pay closer attention. I created these 3x4 cards because someday, I will catch up with my project life and will want to document our love!

If you can use them, grab them here :)

baby brother gets married

On Friday, July 13th, my brother got married. I know some of you saw snippets here and there on instagram of some of the festivities but I thought I'd share a few more here. The day after the wedding, I ordered a photo book for them with some of the shots I took so they could have something to look at when they returned from their honeymoon/before they got their professional photos. I just instagrammed my Canon pics so I could do it quickly and make sure they flowed well. The last shot I left in color - it's my favorite but I can't claim it as my sister took that one with her phone. (and for the record, the tiny cutie is my new sister-in-law's nephew and the bigger cutie with the long hair is my nephew, my brother's son, Tyler)

four. boom.

And just like that, my *baby* turned four. Crazy. Wasn't this just yesterday?

But alas, they grow up no matter how much you resist it. Izzy's birthday was the 16th - we just celebrated at home with some gifts in the morning and a cake in the evening (and balloons...lots of balloons.)

Her party was this past Sunday. She requested a robot party and I semi-cobbled one together (it's been a crazy month, ok?) There wee no complaints from her so I'm calling it a success.

The invitations:

I used this robot file (adding the cute little bow) and these papers (which I adore!)

The attire:

I used a small white t-shirt, the same robot file from above to create a freezer paper stencil (REALLY wanted to do an applique but time, that fickle bitch, just got away from me) and this tutorial to style the shirt. The neckline could have been better but I learned my lesson for next time around.

The goodie bags:

I sound like a broken record but I had so many little goodies planned for these bags...these cute little mini chocolate bar robots, tiny customized matchbook nootebooks, etc, etc. Instead, they were filled with bubbles, shiny robot stickers, glow in the dark stars, glow sticks, metallic party streamers, candy and a cupcake for the road. The tags are from these printables. I modified the little starburst element to add their names to each (and girlified the bags for Izzy and my niece) and attached them with metallic pipe cleaners.

The scene:

Please don't judge our yellow grass.

The gifts:

We've officially entered the Barbie phase.

The cake:

Uh, this cake was originally my inspiration but she ended up with eyes on a blue cake. And it was FINE.

Seriously. Can't handle the love I have for this girl.

sharing a template

I had the pleasure of putting together a few projects for BasicGrey as their blog guest designer for July...so fun to play with their digital designs! For the Scraplift This challenge, I created a layout with the shape-of-the-moment, hexagons.

If you click over to the BG blog, you can share a link to your project and possibly win a collection pack of your choice! Want it to be REALLY easy to do a layout based off this one? Download the template I created that coordinates with it ;)

(for some reason, I always pair hexagons with yellow...thinking it must be the honeycomb-bee connection that does it to me! and then I remembered this layout that I did for BHG a few years ago :)

a tiny share

You know, I have like 4 posts started and half-way done but I've had a hard time finishing and sharing them. Not good.

I do have a printable to share with you though...just another simple grid design with generic headers.

They are 3x4" in a single printable PDF. If you'd like it, grab it here!

coming tomorrow

I have these set to release tomorrow as part of our July Pea Soup collaboration.

I'd love to share them with you if you or your spouse is active/retired military! Leave me a comment if that's you and I'll happily send you the files.

new this week

I finally got around to creating some new stuff this week - I'm excited to print some off this weekend to attempt some project life catch up (I'm behind on my weeks and REALLY behind on sharing!)

4x6 Layers - 8 psd designs so you can customize the colors/patterns

Here + There mini - each of the element types (journaling cards, alphas, flair) available individually as well :)

 Can you tell I'm a big, huge fan of kraft?

custom "birthday banner" letters

I've been wanting to create custom banners for awhile now...just one of those ideas that got put on the back burner for far too long. I have so many ways I want to use these (and so many missed opportunities where I wish I would have done this) I figured it was time to just get it done.

I love the idea of being able to mix + match colors and patterns to coordinate with a party theme. These measure about 4" tall so they're big enough to create banners for birthday parties, baby showers or holidays or to do banners for your room or your kids' rooms (names like this or even quotes...thinking "sweet dreams" for over our own bed.)

Shrunk down, they would be great for creating a cake bunting or to wrap around a gift or to use on a card or scrapbook page. I've never *needed* a cutting machine but all the ideas I have swirling around are really making me wish I had one!

I just eyeball where I want the hole punched so I didn't include a hole in the design. You could attach them together with brads or add eyelets (yes, I'm old school like that) to reinforce the holes before stringing on ribbon or twine.

If you'd like to download the png files to use with your Cameo software, I've saved them to share. I created a few "filler" files that can be used to separate words as well. Hopefully, a few of you will be able to put these to use!

(click to download)

this is how I procrastinate

I haven't been designing much lately...it goes in fits and spurts unfortunately. I love putting out something I'm really proud of but it doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like!

I put together this printable a few weeks ago and didn't end up using it for what it was intended for so I figured I'd share it hear rather than re-purpose it. I've already printed this one and slid into a few project life slots.

(click to download a printable PDF)

Today, I tried (hard!) to start designing a new kit but was instead drawn back to this thing so I picked a color scheme I've been saving and put together another printable that focuses on staying positive...something I'm good at most of the time but need to remind myself of once in awhile. Maybe you can use it too.

(click to download)

Have fun! If you find a use for them, I'd love to see your projects.

eating this week

monday: penne w/ sun dried tomato pesto
tuesday: vegan enchiladas w/ avocado cream sauce
wednesday: vegan meatballs w/ this glaze
thursday: spaghetti squash + salad
friday: veggie quesadillas (vegan cheese)
saturday: birthday party (veggie burgers)
sunday: potato and spinach jalfrezi

Winners from previous weeks (thinking I've missed sharing some since I've missed a week or two of menu sharing.) The caramel tofu w/ brown rice and spicy snap peas- a-maz-ing. I mean, there's a buttload of sugar so it should be but seriously so good (so good in fact that we had it again last week.) I added a bit of sriracha as well - just a touch! The baked tostadas w/ vegan feta- again, so good. The feta could use a bit longer in the food processor to smooth it out a little more as well as a touch more salt but SUCH a great replacement! The portland porch lettuce wraps - perfection. We wrapped them in lettuce and then in a whole wheat tortilla as well. Definitely a keeper.

And, I never gave an update on my 75 mile May goal. I did it :) I actually managed 88 miles for the month (all walking...mainly treadmill but as much outdoors as I could manage.)

So, for June, I'm bumping my goal up to 80 and also re-integrating the couch to 5K program. I'm alternating walking days with running with a single rest day each week. So far, I'm right on track and at 28 miles for the month.

For our vegan"ish" May experiment - it went so well! We cheated a teeny tiny bit - we had a night out alone early in the month and a gift certificate burning a hole in our pockets so we had pizza. Only 3 or 4 days into the month and I could feel the difference the next morning after eating cheese the night before. I'm kind of glad for the early month cheat because it made avoiding dairy the rest of the month so much easier!

Oh, and the coffee creamer. That's mostly sugar anyway though, right?

Here's the difference for us between vegetarian and vegetarian + dairy/egg free. We could eat until we were satisfied/full without feeling "heavy" if that makes sense. I was consistently satisfied throughout the month without ever (with the exception of the morning after pizza) having that uncomfortable weight in your stomach.

What an awesome feeling!

We feel healthier and lighter (if not evidenced by the scale, definitely evident in our energy level.)

And guess what - it wasn't that hard. Not at all.

So, we're sticking with it. Again - not incredibly strict where we're checking every label for miniscule amounts of dairy but there is no cheese, no butter, no eggs being brought into the house and incorporated into meals. I'm finding intentionally vegan recipes. I'm modifying vegetarian recipes. We're eating a HUGE variety of meals and loving it. This is sticking and I'm so glad.

One note. I don't ever try to coerce people into eating the same way we do. No one else in our family does and probably a lot of them think we're crazy. I *wish* they would at least take an interest in learning more...by reading some of the books I've read, watching some of the movies I've watched. I love them and want them to be healthy and live long happy lives. I'm convinced that the traditional western diet is far more detrimental to the collective health of the populace than smoking or drinking drugs. In our family, we have blood pressure and cholesterol issues. Diabetes and cancer. Weight and heart concerns. Probably there aren't many families out there that don't encompass most of these issues. I believe that all of these health concerns can potentially be improved by adjusting the diet.

We try to be as unobtrusive as possible. We don't request or expect special accommodations for get togethers (there's always at least fresh veggies, right? and it's just one meal...we won't starve if we don't get the full plate treatment) I fervently hope that at least some of them will come around though. If asked, I try to provide some accessible information for them. After that, it's up to them. I would be more than happy to help menu plan or come up with ideas for transitioning slowly (or just partially.)

I can't stand "I could never do it" though. Of course you could. You just don't want to. Which is fine! Just say you don't want to. Be honest about it. You can give up meat. You just don't want to. You can give up cheese. You just don't want to. You can give up eggs and butter. You just don't want to. You can EVEN give up ice cream. You just don't want to.

Phew. Sorry. That was a long, rambling rant that I wasn't planning. Hey though! Have a great week :)

sharing a simple printable

I had someone on Twitter ask if I knew of a basic sunday:saturday 4x6 journaling card. I'm sure there are a ton of them out there but I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. Since I use the same day format for my album, I figured it would be worth putting something together quickly - I should get a lot of use out of these!

You can download the PDF by clicking here - enjoy!