my mind's eye | design team

Remember when I teased you a while back on Facebook telling you how excited I was about a new creative opportunity?

I'm just thrilled today to finally be able to spill the beans...I've been asked to join the My Mind's Eye Design Team! I'll have the pleasure of not only creating with some really fantastically fun and imaginative paper designs and embellishments, but to work alongside  some very talented ladies. 

FAVORITE MEMORIES OF US

Here are a few recent {favorite} mini book pages using some My Mind's Eye collection papers from the Anniversary mini book I made for Gordon.

LOST AND FOUND 

My contribution each month will be a mini album project to include a tutorial so that you can create right along with me. Today on the MME blog, I'm sharing the mini book you see here. {I'll share the one I made for Isabella soon.}

Using the Lost & Found Market Street 6x6 pad and 2 Market Street Glitter Sticker sheets,  I was able to create 2 mini books for the girls, from just one pad. The great thing about this particular pad is that it had some predominately pink designs as well as a pleasing blue-ish green in the collection. And we all know how Isabella loves pink and Victoria is our "blue" girl.

I trimmed patterned cardstock to make my own shipping tag embellishment. 

The front of each of the mini shipping tags, from my stash, has the date of the photo and the back has the age Victoria is in the photo. 

On the polka dot page, I used my craft knife to fussy cut around the scroll element on the page to have a place to tuck the glitter sticker behind the cut.

Each of these photos were literally on my craft desk and I found them all in the middle of a huge craft room clean-up, purge and organization rampage. Kind of fits, don't you think...Lost & Found paper collection for some photos lost in my mess and now they've found a new home!

inspired by | write.click.scrapbook.

We're all inspired by some thing, some one or some idea.

And I'm no exception. This little mini book is a true DIY project made with goodies you're sure to already have on hand. You'll see some papers and stamps from My Mind's Eye and some epoxy sticker buttons from Creativity Prompt, so I hope you'll be sure to check out the blog today for the rest of my project inspired by my amazingly talented write.click.scrapbook. teammate Paula Gilarde.

summertime

to and from

Take a few shipping tags {found here, here and here}, some grey ink, a stamp, colored pencils, scraps of patterned paper, two girls and what do you get?

Gift tags for Christmas, that's what!

Here's our collection ready and waiting. The enthusiasm level for a Christmas in July craft wasn't very high yesterday. They just did not get the whole CIJ theme and after this handful of tags were done with Mommy's craft project. I'll have the girls write the To and From info in the space above Santa's cheery face, though. Using a light grey ink {kind of} makes the the drawing look as if it might be hand drawn. Knowing me, I'll probably replace the string with some baker's twine from The Twinery.

I just know you have some scraps lying around just begging to cutify a shipping tag. 

52Photos | little

my 52Photos capture

Sitting together discussing our day's activities with one another last night, Gordon said he was glad that the girls and I were doing so many activities together this Summer. We had planned an out-of-town vacation, but kind of forgot that we were going to have a new puppy {Scout} so then cancelled the vacation. We've made an effort to do around town activities that one always visits if they're a tourist, but not necessarily if they are close to home. 

Yesterday we went to the Zoo where Isabella held a tarantula. Eeek. It was HUGE! The goats had a chat with Victoria. The girls obliged me with a photo. And we waited for the pretty bird to stop grooming himself so we could try to get a photo. We also did a little shopping at the nearby outlet mall that included a few new clothing items and tennis shoes to get Isabella ready for school.  Both girls got a casual pair of shoes and Victoria scored with two pairs of house shoes that were 70% off. I'm BIG on them wearing horseshoes, I guess because we have hardwood floors. Lunch and dinner out and a before-dinner milkshake were highlights. And our time together. I had a glimpse into what the years ahead will hold for this Mommy and her two {little}girls. Conversations. Opinions. Shopping. Laughter. Good, good times.

"It's all the little things they'll remember," my sweet husband said. 

DISCLAIMER | Okay, I must admit that Mommy made a quick stop in at the Coach store as well. 50% off and then another 30% on top of that. Two Christmas gifts purchased and one little sumpin' sumpin' for me! 

next week's theme

face

the wrap-up

Can you believe that Christmas is just five months away...as of yesterday?

ideas from the vault

We've been squeaking out our last days of Summer, made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Knoxville last night and finally headed to the Zoo today. The shop has been extra busy {THANK YOU!} which has me on my toes as well. 

Lastly, my Mom has been in the hospital, we're thinking that it's nothing urgent, but she finds out more today from the Cat Scan she had yesterday. The girls did not like seeing their Oma laying in a hospital bed. Not at all. And I didn't either.

To keep the Christmas in July theme going, how about some freebies? I have so many free downloads, some of which you may have missed, so I thought I would let you browse through them in your spare time. Ideas for Christmas, holiday celebrations, back-to-school and more are there. Here are just a few samples you'll find...

holiday thank you card

advent calendar activity ideas

 

treasured ornaments and their stories mini book

page template for year round holiday traditions album

Next up? You guessed it...printable downloads for Christmas packaging!

ahead of schedule

In an attempt to be ahead of schedule when the holidays roll around six months from now, I thought  I would spend this week sharing with you some simple, and quick, ideas that you can do now before the crazy days of November and December arrive. Welcome to Christmas in July!

Oh, believe I know that your days are crazy right now, too, and so are ours. We only have 2 more weeks of Summer Vacation before school begins. Registration day is this Friday, Isabella's birthday is on August 2nd, her party is on the 5th and the first day of school is August 6th. It's all good, though.

+++++

There are 16 items specially priced in the I Love It All Etsy shop, no coupon codes needed, for the weeklong Christmas in July celebration!

First up are notepads covered with double sided patterned cardstock and embellished with baker's twine in the newest shades from The Twinery, Ocean and Strawberry. I adhered my cardstock to the chipboard backing of the notepad with a gluestick and scored two lines so that they would fold over the notepad. Be sure not to glue the cover to the notepad spine, which makes tearing the pages off the notepad difficult. Here's another notepad tutorial I've done for the blog.

We'll gift these to the truly awesome support staff at the girls' school. I have two already made and will be making more today, since I have all my supplies out and I have the time. Victoria was worried that they were Christmas gifts but these did not look Christmas-y to her. Okay, Victoria...let's add them to a bag and see what you think now.

Okay, still not traditional Christmas patterns, but there are green and red in the paper. I just thought it would be fun to show how you can use your everyday papers and make them appear more holiday-ish. Don't you love that green baker's twine. It's the new color, Seaweed.

I used some SRM stickers to embellish basic manila shipping tags leaving room for the girls to add To and From info and sign their own names once we know to whom we'll be gifting the notepads. 

And nothing says Christmas like fudge, right? I used this super simple, easy to follow Peanut Butter Fudge recipe. Yum-o! If you have a fudge recipe you love, please leave me a link in the comments, I'd love to try it out, too!

messy hands

sneak peek | august 2012 gallery

Just a little sneak peek of the layout for the August Gallery at write.click.scrapbook. going live on August 1st. I'm using a little My Mind's Eye, The Twinery, Momenta and a selection of washi tape from my stash.

Stop in again on the first of August when I'll have a full reveal!

52Photos | sky

my 52Photos capture

Hopes. Dreams. Rain. Sun. Lightning. Shadows. Shapes. Shade. Clouds. Blue. Clear. Sky.

Things that I think of when I think of the sky. I like looking at the sky. I like looking out the window at the sky. When I was a teenager, I loved looking out my bedroom window, pushing the sheers aside, and looking up at the sky. I think when I look at the sky. I ponder. And think some more/

The other day, Victoria asked me why I looked out the window when I talked on the phone. I never thought about it, but I do. I usually walk around the house doing little chores while I'm on the phone, and inevitably, I eventually find myself at the front window looking out at the horses in the field, the dogs and cats doing their little walks around the property and up at the sky.

It's also this front window where we peek each morning to see what kind of day it's going to be. We can see at the top of the driveway whether there's sunshine up there. Or maybe clouds. We live on a long driveway, you see, and there are mountains and tall, tall trees on each side of our home, so it takes a while for the sun to reach us and the top of the driveway gives us a hint of what our day will hold for us. 

It's all in the sky, you know?

next week's theme

little

the wrap up

I wonder, are any of you using the 52Photos themes to capture photos of your life?

pinterest | good crafts

When I saw a project using old book pages to make DIY canvases, I pinned it right away. Plus, it uses Mod Podge, which is always messy fun. You can go here for the full tutorial.

Out we went to the patio table to set up under the umbrella before it got way too hot for us. We happened to pick the windiest Summer day to date to work on this project, I'll have you know. We had to use rocks to keep our book pages contained. Not that we don't have plenty of rocks around here. I had already trimmed the {recycled} cereal box strips to sizes so I gathered paper plates, sponge brushes and wax paper. Before we were even 10 minutes into the project, Victoria said that she was hungry so I had to go back in to get snacks and drinks for everyone. Okay, now back to the fun. 

As we were doing this project, you may remember that I often neglect reading the directions, the whole time I was thinking that it would be much better to adhere the torn book page strips to a full sheet of chipboard than to trim the pieces to size first and adhere the book pages to the smaller sizes. Sooooo, don't be like me and NOT follow the directions. The tutorial actually has you adhering the book page strips first and then trimming them to size. So, don't be confused by my photos. 

I'm glad to finally begin creating items I've pinned rather than just be a pin-aholic. Once we decide what else we can do to fancy up our canvases, I'll share that, too.

pinterest | good crafts

I found this fun tie-dye t-shirt craft on the Martha Stewart Show when Nana and I watched the Purple Party show featuring Lilac baker's twine from The Twinery. Talk about an over-the-top birthday party...wowsa! It was so very cool to see a company that I support, and absolutely adore, being used by Martha and the crew. Here are all my projects using The Twinery baker's twine. I'll be getting my shipment of the 4 new colors very soon and can't wait to begin creating fun new projects.

Luckily, I have a rainbow collection of Sharpie markers so just needed to snag the alcohol that Gordon took out to the garage for one of his projects, a dropper I recycled from the bottle of some of my magic wrinkle reducer and some cardboard and cookie sheets. You can go here for the full tutorial.

Yes, that's "just had a swim and haven't taken a bath yet" hair on Victoria and the "I don't feel good today, therefore I don't really want to smile" smile on Isabella. She didn't even go to Nana's house today. That's how not good she felt. Yes, you caught us, those are also jammie bottoms on both of them at 4:30 in the afternoon. 

Hope you have fun with your kidlets making some tie-dye t-shirts, too!

class of '82

I knew that this year was the 30th anniversary of my high school graduation and was somewhat surprised to have not heard anything about a Reunion yet. Guess whaaaaaaaat?

Reunion information arrived in our mailbox on Friday. And that means...Date Nate in Nashvegas on September 1st, Baby! I missed the 10 Year reunion, but Gordon and I made it to the 25 Year Reunion and had a good time.  What an awesome feeling it was to see people who were friends, who you wish you had been friends with and people who you didn't really know all that well even back then. 

In high school, I was close friends with two other girls. One of them, Patty {she's the one that started me down the scrapbooking road several years ago} is still in my life, although we don't chat as often as we used to. She is one of those people that I could call and I know she would be here, no questions asked. She's that kind of friend and I'm lucky that she chose me back in the 8th grade. {Our class was the last one at our high school that went from 8th through 12th grade at the same school.}

Here we are Circa 1987. Sorry, did you spew your coffee on your computer screen? 

Which leads me to this. As Patty and I were standing at the table to vote on award winners for the evening, one of the star football players asked me my name and seemed quite surprised that we had even gone to school together. He had NO idea who I was. None. I think he thought I was a spouse, not a classmate.  From his whole reaction, I could tell that he thought that I was a hottie. Have to tell you that this star football player, Mr. Cool, would in no way turn my head now. He was balding, shorter than I remembered and much shorter than me and also just a bit chubby. In other words, he was no longer Mr. Cool. Not that he wasn't a good guy in general and someone else's Mr. Right. 

Patty and I finished our voting and walked away giggling like high school girls. Some things never change.

EDITED TO ADD | This is my 700th blog post.