Memory Keeping Monday

It's Monday again, and that means new Digital Project Life releases this morning! Oh my gosh there is just so much newness in the shop ... The Sunshine Edition for one. And if that is not enough, there is a whole big release of Seasons & Holidays Theme Packs.

I worked with three of the theme packs this past week.

First up is my Summer Theme layout. This kit is so adorable.

available at DigitalProjectLife.com

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Summer Theme Pack

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Template A 

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Midnight Paper Pack 2

Creashens | Hello Flairs & Hello Elements

The Ardent Sparrow & Valerie Wibbens | Legacy Collab

Ali Edwards | Summer Rocks Handdrawn Brushes

Up next is the Spring Theme Pack:

available at DigitalProjectLife.com

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Spring Theme Pack

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life |  Template Y

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Midnight Paper Pack 2 

One Little Bird | Rise & Shine

Sahlin Studio | Sweet Story (sparkles)

Ali Edwards | Go Outside Handdrawn Brushes

Creashens | Hello Elements

And the last one with Winter Theme Pack:

available at DigitalProjectLife.com

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Winter Theme Pack

 Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Template A

Becky Higgins Digital Project Life | Midnight Paper Pack 2  

Cresheans | Wonderfall (sequins) 

Dani Mogstad | Schooldaze (bow)

Sugarplum | That's Life Label

Remember, all new releases are on sale this week. Happy Shopping!

Friday Fotologue

I think it's more than about time for another edition of Friday Fotologue. It has been far too long.


Friday Fotologue: a peek into my world as seen through my lens. Hope you enjoy.

(credits: Pink Paislee: Caught on Camera (tab, photo frames), Splendid Fiins: wishi washi- skies are grey, and Micheline martin: nature lover -camera) 


These photos are from November and December.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pies, mugs of hot cocoa with minty candy canes, pooches getting scrubbed clean, and the first snow flakes of the season beginning to fall.

A birthday dinner at the Melting Pot, furry buddies snuggling together, a glorious monday with no school but plenty of warmth and sunshine, and homemade mac n cheese. It's the perfect time of year for comfort food. 

Breakfast for dinner, Ginger's first Christmas with us ... love watching her taking it all in, crafting handmade gifts for family, and finally enough snow to go sledding. 

A December wedding ... complete with the cutest wedding guests ever assembled all in a row, cousins dancing, smiles everywhere, and even a father - daughter dance at the end of evening. 

And some Christmas snapshots ... making cookies, eating cookies, preparing a roast chicken, gifts, and warm toasty mugs.

have a great weekend.
-xoxo jenn  

twenty thirteen ... Back to Basics?

So, yesterday I mentioned that I was working on my list of goals for 2013. The Mister and I actually sat down and talked about what we want for our family for this year for a few hours (that hasn't really happened on such a broad scale for quite a while ... we've been sort of on autopilot & tend to focus on bits and pieces as need be).  As we wrapped up our talk, I felt invigorated and excited, but a little nervous too. So much to take on. Can we really do it? All we can do is try, right? And with both of us investing our hearts into it, both of us truly on the same page ... well, that has to make it a little easier.

And then I also felt a little nostalgic.

I know life brings us along a twisty, winding little road of a journey with hills, steeps mountains,
valleys and canons, but when did life get so incredibly busy? I feel like I accomplish less, while my list of "needs to get done" grows more... while I am aggressively being sucked into social media or the lastest email, advertising some sale that cannot be missed.

I affectionately remember a time (about 7 years back), when the kids were in preschool, the weather was near perfect most days, as we lived in California, and things were ... well relaxed.

We did what we wanted, when we wanted. 

School was only a few hours a day, a few days out of the week. We had one of the top ten children’s museums in the country, a small local zoo and amusement park,  literally 5 different community parks to walk to, all within about five minutes form our home.

 

We could even walk into our sweet little town for a frozen yogurt, Starbucks, or margaritas in the evening. Our community centers (like 7 or 8 of them!) offered every class imaginable for kids and we signed up
for a few interesting afternoon courses each season.

The weekends were ours ... to hit Santa Cruz, visit Monterey Aquarium, hike the redwoods, drive along the coast, bike the day away at the most amazing rail trails, explore hidden unpopulated beaches, spend a day in wine country.

Gosh i miss it.

We were always doing something, going somewhere but it wasn't busy. It wasn't stressful. It was fun and relaxing.

We were explorers and we did it together.

We were so active, so fit, so healthy. sigh.

Snapping back to reality ...
I realize that with two middle schoolers ... in all day classes, with piles of homework with honors classes, foreign language and exploratory classes, after school sports, activities, violin practice, school dances, birthday parties and sleepovers ... that twisty, winding road is meant to be very different today due to the life stage that my children are presently in. (Plus the cold weather at least 5 months out of the year, doesn't help!)

But darn it, can’t I get a little of those sweet toddler & preschool years back... or at least a small, teensy taste of that lifestyle back?

I want the family connections, the getting up and moving more together ... a chance to explore again.  I want to enjoy, really enjoy, some small part of each and every day together. And truthfully, most week days feel like a giant, stressful race to the finish line ... to get everything done, be everywhere we need to be, complete with me nagging every step of the way to beat that dreaded clock.


Hurry up, let's go, 5 more minutes, faster. We're gonna be late.


Seriously ... I need to count how many times a day I say these words between the hours of 3pm and 10 pm. It's not pretty!

To answer my own question, "Can’t I get a little taste of that lifestyle back?":   YES!

But I have to make it happen.

With our crammed schedules, it isn't going to be easy, but I do believe it can be done, even Monday through Friday!

 I want that feeling of everyday simple, back to basics, pleasures out of our life ... every day, not just on the weekends. Because, honestly, two days out of seven simply is not enough!

And to finish off the list of goals and wants for 2013 (after talking with the Mister yesterday), I want to:

-Exercise regularly (and lose the 15 lbs or so I gained since moving to NY)

-Make healthy meals, stick to a weekly meal planner, and limit take out to 2x per month

-Waste less Food by buying less but shopping more often if need be

-Stick to a Budget and track spending

-Make time for more meaningful family moments (like baking/cooking together, exercising together, etc)

-Get the kids to unplug more (TV and video games)

-Seriously limit online social media time (such a big time waster, imagine if I could get back all those minutes wasted and put them to good use. don't get me wrong, i like social media, but it really must be limited. that is the key.)

-Tackle something on my Home Project List every week. (even the smallest simplest project counts)

-Spend less time on laptop and more time with a book

-Become as comfortable with Illustrator as I am with Photoshop

-Actually complete the two classes on Surface Pattern Design that I signed up for last year (there are enough hours in the day, I just choose to waste them in frivolous ways... see four lines up, ahem!)

-Design more! (a long time personal goal that i have been neglecting)

-Purge! (basement/closets/storage areas/kitchen and my studio!)


So my WORD(s) for 2013 is Back to Basics. I know it's supposed to be ONE LITTLE WORD, but it's my year and my goals and I can use THREE LITTLE WORDS if I choose.

It's about paying attention to the things that really matter. Simplifying. Finding little pleasures in a rushed and hurried life. Remembering a time when life was relaxed, carefree and striving to bring that back in small, meaningful ways. It's about family connections. It's about home cooking, moving our bodies, and spending time in more gratifying ways. It's about doing the work to reach my own personal goals. It's about leaving out the unnecessary, saying NO to the frivolous.

Back to Basics.


Yeah, I think I like the sound of that.

30 Days Of Gratitude ... November 1 through 7

This year,

- as October turns to November,
- as people all along the East Coast are suffering the aftermath of Sandy,
- as I watch on the news all the lovely, memorable places I frequented, not only as a kid, but continue to frequent as an adult with my own children, lie in ruins
- as I look at the devastation in the shore communities that I lived in year after year, before settling down and getting married, even though the commute into the city was crazy long ... but the beach life made it worth it,

I felt it so necessary to participate in 30 Days of Gratitude.

I have so much to be grateful for. This is just a small glimpse of what I am thankful for ... one week at a time.

Sometimes I wake up and know before feet hit the floor what I am grateful for that day ... other days, it comes to me in small ways, but with big impact, in the later hours of the day.

My 30 Days of Gratitude are things that knock me over ... be it small or large ... powerful and emotional and beautiful things ... or simply little bits and pieces of life that make living grand. Things I want to remember and be mindful of, not just in this month of Gratitude, but always.

I'm doing my 30 days of Gratitude Project Life style. 

 

This week I am Thankful for this:

November 1: I am grateful for my vacuum cleaner today. I normally do not look forward to cleaning, but today ... after Sandy has hit so many, so hard, I am grateful to have a home to clean and electricity to plug that cord into.

November 2: For a kind, generous daughter, who offers to kiss my hand, mostly to make me laugh, when I burn myself while cooking.

November 3: I am grateful for gas today. Due to Hurricane Sandy, many gas stations were not replenished. People from Long Island and south of us were coming north looking for gas, as their stations were either empty, had 4  hour long lines (or more), or had no power to be able to operate the pumps. We had a few stations out of gas and a few police watching over things, but mostly it was easy enough to get our gas tank filled. So Very Thankful. 

November 4: I am grateful to be with my family, finally celebrating my girl's birthday at The Melting Pot, a restaurant that she has been dying to go to for a long, long time. A perfect way to end the weekend.

November 5: I am grateful to have so many creative outlets that make my heart sing. Creating is my passion, and I am constantly learning, trying new things. It is so me! And I am so thankful to be able to do it everyday!

November 6: I am grateful that we are teaching our children, by leading through example, that is important to exercise one's right to vote.

Novemeber 7: One week Sandy, the next, Athena, a Nor'easter ... the North East is certainly taking a beating from Mother Nature. I am grateful to have a safe home and warm hot cocoa for my kids when they come home from school in the snow.

Here are my Project Life pages up close. 

Product Credits: 

Becky Higgins
Project Life Digital Templates
Clementine Extra Papers
Clementine Journal Cards
Clementine Numbers, Days, & Arrows
Cobalt Extra Elements
Cobalt Horizontal Journal Cards
Cobalt Paper

Dani Mogstad 
Birds of a Feather Kit
Pumkin Spice Latte Kit

CZ Designs
Grateful Heart Word Art Freebie

Glitz Girls
French Kiss Paper Kit

Bella Gypsy
Moody Blues Kit

Juliana Kneipp
Love is a Verb Kit
Berry Sweet Add-On Kit
Turquoise Extra Elements

Creashens
Lovely Doily Stamps No.2 
Election Flairs

Ali Edwards 
With Gratitude Brushes


Oh, and one more day to enter the Pretty in Posies Giveaway. Read the details HERE. 

Thank you for stopping by! 
Jenn 
 

Friday Fotologue

During the summer, I am really good at taking a lot of photos. I think it's because we are outside so much & there is always something going on. When school starts up again, the days become much more routine, structured and burdened with homework and places to be. I definitely use my camera less. I do want to try and change that, even if in just small ways. I loved doing the Summer Friday Foto Frenzy series where I shared the little tidbits of our lives from the previous week; and I'd like to continue with that as perhaps a way of inspiring myself to pick up my camera (or iPhone) more regularly during the colder months of the year. So ... as often as I can (shooting for one or two Fridays per month), I bring you a new series ...

Friday Fotologue: a peek into my world as seen through my lens. Hope you enjoy.

(credits: Pink Paislee: Caught on Camera (tab, photo frames), Splendid Fiins: wishi washi- skies are grey, and Micheline martin: nature lover -camera)

Autumn is here and going fast. Enjoying every bit of it that we possibly can before winter weakens our spirit and has us running for the warmth of indoors.

The little dude is growing out of old activities and seeking new adventures that interest him.

Everyday moments ... little tidbits of our life.

Living for the weekends ... this one in particular was spent on the apple farm.

Hope you are enjoying your season where ever you are in the world.

The little girl gets crafty too ... A creative mom learns a valuable lesson about what it really means to raise "creatively-confident" kids.

I am such a control freak about the way things look. I know this about myself. But it hits you a little longer and a little harder, when your kids confess these things to you as well.

Yesterday I took my daughter out to the mall to pick out party favors for her upcoming sleepover birthday party. And on the drive back home we talked about how we were going to package them. (I love packaging! Don't you?) I told her that this year she could do it all by herself, since she was old enough to handle it. (Last year, I'm sure I whipped up some little design bits in Photoshop and had a decent role in planning what they looked like, even if she was the one who assembled it all.) She smiled from ear to ear upon hearing this ... and then she confided in me that a few years back ... while we were making Valentine's for her classmates (I designed these cute little cards and lollipop covers in Photoshop) that I basically took over her project, because everything had to be "just so". She confessed that she felt a little sad that I didn't trust her to make them look pretty enough.

What?!?! Oh my goodness. Sweet girl ... this isn't about you, or anything you do wrong; unfortunately I'm the one with the issues. Ugh.

Yes, I can totally see myself being like this, I mean I know I am. I guess I just didn't think about how my control issues affected my children. How my need to decorate and design and make things pretty might be hindering their creativity. I always thought that growing up with playdoh, fingerpaints and endless art supplies was the dream I never had. That I was doing everything so right. I mean my kids have wet felted. They have their own supply of canvas, acrylics, oil paints & pastels. Oh no, it's not just markers and crayolas in this household. They have tried embroidery darn it!

But at that moment I felt something of a failure. What she remembered was not all those fun, playful and creative moments. She remembered her school Valentine's and how I made that project all mine. Sigh.

So last night, I gave her the treat bags, her pick of my ribbons, stickers and blank tags (no Photoshop designed artwork that I whipped up) and let her have at it. And she lit up with excitement. She lit up with pride. She lit up ... because dear friends, this project was all hers.

And they are pretty. And they are perfect. And they are made with love.

--xoxo jenn

Memory Keeping Monday

Hello. Today I'm sharing some lovely digital scrapbook layouts using some of the hot, new products from the talented designers over at jessicasprague.com.

Dani's Just Stay Little kit immediately made me seek out a photo of my children taken at a local orchard during Pumpkin Picking Season. This photo is so near and dear to me. It was taken over 7 years ago, when my Two were just wee little things. They weren't afraid to kiss, and hug, and show their love for each other. (Note: If you have wee little ones that do this type of mushy, lovey-dove stuff on a regular basis, cherish this moment in time ... it doesn't last forever; at least not in my house). My Two are in middle school now ... and hugging and kissing just does not happen.

Just Stay Little Dani Mogstad
Just Stay Little kit
Splendid Fiins
@ the office supplies 1
Sew Crafty - messy stitches vol 1

TIP:  My son was actually wearing an orange shirt on this beautiful fall day. At the time I thought I was so clever putting my children in autumn hues like golden yellow and orange to match the scenery. Fast forward 7 years, and here I am trying to match this photo, not to an autumn layout, but to a layout that is so much more meaningful; remembering yesterday and the way they were at that very moment in time. Sooooooo ....  to help the color scheme of the page come together, I tweaked it to a red tone to coordinate with the digital kit. Come back to the blog later this week and I'll walk you through how I did that quick shirt color change in Photoshop.

Next up is a scrapbook page using photos that were taken on day trip to a small local zoo that rescues animals when the big zoos do not have a use for them anymore. :( We love to come here to help support these animals as they live out the remainder of their lives. They are all beautiful creatures. This layout is a grid layout, but without the typical square or rectangle as the dominant shape. I like to change things up a bit ... and this is what I ended up with.

Lovely Day
Lori Whitlock
Masking Templates Set 3
Fresh Air Collection

Dani Mogstad
Chasing Rainbows Complete Kit
Softly Falling Complete Kit

Liv.e Designs
Bubbling Over Stamps & Brush Set
{Click-The Elements}

Pink Paislee
Caught On Camera Elements

Other: Anna Aspnes
Stitched by Anna 12 x 12 Borders No. 1

And last up is a digital desktop calendar for 2013 made using Lori Whitlock's 2013 Calendar templates. I just expanded the size a bit and added some customizations. I saved my layout as a PSD file in Photoshop and now I can quickly go in and change my photos on the desktop calendar to match my mood, the seasons or a paticular holiday. Easy Peasy. And I feel so ahead of the game!  

2013 Desktop Calendar
Lori Whitlock
2013 Calendar 8x10 Horizontal
Autumn Afternoon Collection
Happy Day Collection
Fall Masking Set

Echo Park-
Everyday Eclectic Full Collection

Pink Paislee-
Spellbound Element Pack

Frame-Jessica Sprague Template A

That's it for today. Happy Monday!

One Little Slip ... The Story Ends {on a happy note!}

So yesterday was the one year anniversary of my son's fall from a rope swing. That one little slip, left him pretty banged up (you can read last year's story here: http://prettyinposies.blogspot.com/2011/10/one-little-slip.html) ... 3 trips to the OR, 8 weeks of missing school, numerous x-rays & Dr. visits, a CT scan, radial nerve palsy, a dynamic splint, an arm brace, and 5 months of PT/OT ... and we can report that all is well!

I've finished documenting the big moments in this year long journey on this two-page digital layout. It matches the first two-page spread, with some new papers and elements thrown in from Pink Paislee and Dani Mogstad. (The first LO below is the one I did in Oct 2011.)

In the Making Designs:
Foto Template Pack
Gourmet Paper Pack
La Storia Elements Pack

Dani Mogstad:
Pumpkin Spiced Latte Complete Kit
Softly Falling Complete Kit
Take Me Away Complete Kit

Pink Paislee:
Caught On Camera Elements
Caught On Camera Papers

We had our last Dr. visit yesterday. While the Dr. sent us off with a clean bill of health, we presented the Dr. with a framed digital layout showing how far K has come & all the things he can do now, despite his injury.  The Dr. was thrilled was his recovery and pleased to receive this gift. He had his partner come in to take photos, and of course I snapped a few myself! 

Such a great ending! Here is the layout we did for the Dr.

The little "doctor" related elements were created by me, using clip art from the internet. They looked "finished" after popping them into Anna's adorable wood frames.

Anna Aspnes
FotoBlendz Album Template No 5D
ArtPlay Palette Socialize
ArtPlay Storm Solids
KardStock Neutrals No 1
Woodshop Frames No 1

So, yeah ... all is good again!

xoxo jenn

Friday Foto Frenzy summer photo share ... week 7

Getting this up a little late.
Our word of the week was Re-lax.
We tried to stay home as much as possible.
Enjoyed the house, the yard, just being in our space. Needed it.

 The girl making some handmade cards for friend's birthday parties.

 

Spending lots of time chilling watching the Olympics.

Women's soccer has been our absolute favorite to watch.

 Enjoying the Citronella Torches we put up all around the pool area.

 The boy just loves anything having to do with fire.

Since hanging around with the nephew at the race tracks, the boy has his heart set on a dirt bike. (We owe this all to my brother. Thank you D.)

Making waffles for brunch ... 'cause we can wake when we want. ;)

Family movie nights. 

Loving swims at sunset.

Loving swims in the dark.

And loving swims with friends.

Loving pups. We have a pet store near our house that lets you touch and pick up the little loves. We have a bad habit of going in there (a lot) to cuddle the poor things. We fall in love quickly and leave in tears often. 

Loving this ...  fun at soccer practice.

Our summer project this year is planting the slope on the side of the pool. Lots of nice trees, shrubs and grasses going in ...

A little sibling rivalry with a game of volleyball.

Not loving this! Remember that saying "Talk to the hand" ? Well I feel like these days it's "talk to the iphone". I see more of the back of their iphones than I do their faces some days. 

Now that's a face I could look at all day. She's kinda got that "talk to the hand (or ... err... paw)" thing going too.

And loving cool beams of light at sunset.

-xoxo jenn