29 June 2012

I'm going to be an aunt again!

My beautiful sister-in-law is being induced today. We've been waiting for this day, as a family, for a while. Little C will be her first baby, so I'm sure she feels like she's been waiting forever too. We had a baby shower for her almost a month ago, so in honor of my SIL J & Little C, I thought I post a few of the projects I did for her for the baby shower and the gifts I made.

I made this banner for the shower. She sent me a .pdf to print and cut out. but as a paper crafter I had to take it to the next level. I used my Silhouette SD to cut everything. But once it was cut I had to adhere each individual stripe and chevron... luckily the polka dots were the negative so I didn't have to glue those like that.

I also printed out and cut the matching cupcake toppers. Boy was that a job. 

I don't have kids of my own, so I have the HARDEST time shopping for baby gifts, even with a registry. I'm always the crafty one trying to think of something new & interesting to make for the little one. I made this C frame with my Silhouette, some vinyl, and Ikea frame, & some navy tone on tone striped pattern paper. It's a shadow box & I wanted to add a little alligator inside of the frame (thanks Megan, for that idea), since that's the kind of thing she's going for in the nursery, but I couldn't ever find one that wasn't too realistic or small enough.


These are 2 of the onesies I made him. I also made one that said Snips & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails. She loved them. 

So we will be meeting Little C soon. I'm so excited. I guess I'm lucky to have such an amazingly HUGE family (there will be 27 of us in the immediate family this time tomorrow, 2 babies in 2012!!) from Ryan, it's one of the best things he's ever given to me, & since we don't have kids of our own yet, I get to live vicariously through my SILs and ooh & ahh over the new arrivals. Sometimes it's hectic having such a big family, & coming from a 3 person family it gets overwhelming fast, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love the Gordons so much & I'm happy I get to call myself one of them.

28 June 2012

Summer Project Life

So I found that as I was altering the BH Template I had bought for this summer's project life, the rounded corners were becoming weird looking. & in my traditional project life that I am making to document my life from the day I turned 24 to the day I turn 25 I don't do the whole rounded corner thing. So this week I decided to take it upon myself and create my own template with regular square corners, that way I can alter it to make it fit into my style of photos and such for the week without it look wonky and silly.

So now that I've made the template I'm going to go back and drag all of the stuff from my other weeks onto my new templates to that I can make them cohesive, so that when I have the book printed for them at the end of summer they will have an AWESOME book to look back on the summer with. It also makes me want to go back and create a photo book for last summer too. Definitely not journal intensive or anything, because, lets face it. The only details I have left is the summer book I made last summer for myself. But I'm not a BIG journaler in mini books so I doubt there would be enough there to make it into a project of the same magnitude.

So here's the 2 page spread for the first full week of June.


Like I said, I used my own template. I used some Ali Edwards brushes, the Echo Park Sweet Day Digi Kit, & some random fonts. 
I love how this spread came out. It's what I envision Project Life looking like all of the time. 
Thanks for looking & if you have a recommendation for a book printing service I would LOVE to hear about it. I'm looking to have a hardcover bound, 20-30 page book. I've only had experience with Shutterfly, & while I loved the book, the fact that I got a coupon for a free book could have made me biased. I don't want something with a glossy cover though, which is how my Shutterfly book turned out. I want something linen, no photos on the front, maybe just Summer 2012 or something. I'm still trying to work out the details on that. But any suggestions or recommendations would be great!

27 June 2012

Layout Share

Hi everyone. I'm here today to share a layout I made yesterday, along with a process video. I've really been inspired by the song, Monuments & Melodies, if you can't tell already. The words speak to me and definitely feel like some of the words were written for Ryan and I, like the words I used for the title of the layout I'm sharing... "you magnify my better half". He certainly does that. :)

Here's my layout >>>>>

I really enjoyed making this. It felt like it flowed right out of me. I think that's the sign that my mojo is back. wahoo!

Here's my process of the whole thing >>>>>




Thanks for reading and watching! I'll be back tomorrow with more to share! :)

24 June 2012

Minecraft

I can't be the only person out there who's house has fallen prey to the game Minecraft. We've been playing everyday on our Xbox360 both alone, as partners, & as a family. It's so much fun. Sometimes it ends in a fight, lets be honest. Kids, or at least these 2, seem to love to duke it out (on the game) until they die, & the other person takes all of their stuff. Then they cry a little bit and accuse the other of being mean. Then I ask the most important question. Who started this virtual duel, it always seems to be the one who lost all of their stuff & died.
What I do love about this game is how creative the kids get to be & all of the problem solving they have to do during a game. You can build just about ANYTHING from the little blocks of dirt, stone, sand, gravel, & brick. But somethings take multiple components to build or make, & they need several tools to get it, so they have to make those tools with other tools, & the problem solving and interest continues. They enjoy making houses the most, then they turn it off peaceful mode and let the zombies, spiders, and creepers invaded, at which point they either hide in their house and sleep or go on an adventure to kill them. Sounds brutal, but in reality, this game is far from brutal. It reminds me of games from when I was a kid and everything was made of pixelated blocks and basic colors. With the video games that are available today, this game is certainly one I will let them play anytime of the day, especially when its too hot to play outside. :) I think I need to document this in their Summer Life & a scrapbook page or 2. :) With a little thank you to Ryan for introducing it to us, of course.

23 June 2012

Summer Life

So I've been diligently trying to take photos for my Project Life album and just general memory keeping. When I started this journey of a year in photos, I had this idea that I didn't have a very interesting life, well as it seems I had plenty to photograph and say about my life in those first several months. And it's funny because I didn't have ALOT going on then. I was just living the life I had been living for a long time... just me, Ryan, and our cats. Well here we are in Summer 2012. This is my first summer off since I started college. I decided not to take any classes, because to be frank, last year with 2 little girls running around our house while taking classes was a horror story like no other. I don't have a bunch of experience with children. I am an only child. All of my cousins were older than me. I was more easily close to adults than kids my own age. So here I am with a 9 & 10 year old 5/7s of the week. Finding things to keep them busy and sister-fight free, is a job on its own. I've reached the most  hectic, busy, photo-worthy time of my year, and I'm struggling. Days pass where I don't take a single photo of anything that has happened. Anyone out there have the same problems?? It also seems that I tend to favor my iPod over my DSLR. I certainly love the photos from my Nikon more than my iPod, but I guess it's just convenience. But I can't blow up the photos to 4x6 from my iPod, making my Project Life look way more product heavy rather than photo and story based. I transgress. I'm really here to show you how I've been working on my Summer Life, digital Project Life. I do know that if I take on this project again, I will probably be doing it digitally... but then again I do love the book I have filled up so far, so I may change my mind.


So here we go. 


This was my Memorial Day spread. I had a TON of photos from the day. So I went ahead and did a double page spread for the day. I thought I would do this for the major holidays in their book, but turns out they will be gone on the 4th of July & back at home for Labor Day, so I guess it will be only this holiday. hmph. 


Since S & S are here for 5/7s of the week (i.e weekdays only) I decided to make their Summer Life album cover just those days that they are here. So instead of a 7 day span they have a 5 day span. It works out for the best. This was the first full week they were with us, from Monday to Friday. I really enjoyed documenting this week, but I feel like I want to go back & add some more words, maybe a little bit about what they have been eating for lunch, what their schedules look like, their chore chart, what books they are reading. I guess those are things I can fill in the weeks I'm lacking on photos in. :)

So that's what I've gotten finished so far. I'll be back with more updates as I finish the spreads. It's so much easier to share when they are digital, rather than trying to film or photograph the spreads. I'll also be back with a share of some layouts that I've made as I dipped my foot back into the pool of digi scrapping. It's nice to get my mojo going with some templates and products I haven't been able to get in paper. Yay!

22 June 2012

Smash*ed.

I seemed to have misplaced my mojo... do you have it?


That being said, the only thing I've felt creative with is my Smash Books. I'm hoping the bits and pieces coming together in my books will help me find my mojo. Let's pray it does. I honestly think the culprit to stealing my mojo is Project Life, which I've been behind in for the past few weeks. I've got the pictures in most of the pockets, but honestly I haven't been feeling up to doing it. I'm past the half way point... this week will be my week 31st week. I should be in the downhill slope, but I'm feeling like its the uphill drag. I find that even though it's summer & we have way more going on day to day, I'm taking less pictures. But I'm determined to finish this year. I have loved the process. I think if I do it next year I will be doing it digitally. I've been doing a digital version for Stephanie and Sue; I've been enjoying the final product. :) 


So now that I'm FAR OFF TOPIC... I'll get back to my point of why I'm here today. I'm here to share my Smash Book. I have 4 total. I have a red one, it is my book dedicated to the people, places & things I LOVE!! I also have an orange one, which I used for our staycation back in 2010. My mini Smash Book which I used to feature all of the photos of Ryan and I on date nights! & finally a new black one that I haven't even started up yet. yay! :) Today I'm going to share a flip through my RED Smash Book, which is unfinished... I want to be able to add new Favorites as they come along with my past and present favorites that I think will hang around for a while.