GDT Cocoa Daisy January Kits

I am delighted and honored to share that I am  the Guest Designer for Cocoa Daisy's January kits.

I made three layouts and a minibook, and I really could have kept going. The colors on this are just perfect for a fresh new year.

You can tell I loved it, because I used pink. PINK!
The kits this month are so romantic. Inspired by Jane Austin. Yum!

I am working on a tutorial for the minibook I made. It's pretty great.
Don’t forget the full reveal is at 9pm EST tonight (December 28th), we will reveal the full December kit and it’s add ons, the Design Team’s gallery will be open for you to look through and they will have more fun giveaways!
If you are a subscriber your special newsletter and store link to purchase the add ons early will go out at 9pm EST tonight (the 28th).

Project Life: March 2012

Ah March. In which the weather gets a little bit better, and we go on a trip to Portland to visit friends.

Farmer's markets were visited. I bought and wore a delightful summer hat.

I went on walks in parks with my boy. And went to work. A lot. 

Project Life: February 2012

Ah, Februrary got a bit more exciting. For a short month, I got a lot documented!

 There was a romantic picnic, a goodbye dinner with a friend, Ikea shopping, paczi, and...

A photobooth strip, signs of spring on the cherry tree, 2 am at Meander's kitchen....cooking clafoutis and reading lots of books. A card from a sweet friend.

Also, a trip to Shanghai Garden for the hand-shaved barley green noodles, my first attempt to play with a wood-rocker faux-bois tool. Some beer from my Yeti, and some thoughts about work

 Not pictured, but evident, is my newfound love of the Martha Stewart office collection from Staples. Why yes, that is an 8.5x11 divided page protector!

As this year is coming to an end, it's really fun to look back on these pages and see what life was like at the end of last winter. There are some things that are the same, and some that have really changed.

The other thing that is nice about this is I am getting some layout ideas from some of the photos I've sampled here. There are plenty of stories to tell, and this book is really helping me with the details. So fun!

My secret life... project life

Okay, it's time. Time to share my secret on this blog.
For most of 2012 all of my scrappy energy has been devoted to a project life album. But I was keeping it secret, special just for me.

But it's time to bring the album off the shelf, and onto the blog.

My approach is not traditional, but it's working for me. Basically, it's a highlights clip from each month in the year. And I love it to pieces.

For 2012, I'm using this Amy Tangerine album. Next year, I'm thinking to use another Amy Tangerine (brown chevrons) or Dear Lizzy (blue chevron). I've decided all my other scrapbooks will be plain black cloth, except the PL ones. That's one way to keep it fun. :)

So when you open the album, I want to do an 8.5x11 layout (double sided) that will have a 2012 highlights in it. And then that second page, I may or may not do something with.

I just really love that pattern.

I started with a "welcome' 2012 perspective/letter to self. And then I got into January.

Click to embiggen. Or see the details here:

Yup, three "pages" and I'm done for the month. And I'm good with that.

Some months have quite a bit more pages. And some have layouts and other goodies too.

I've got the album completely done through May, and all the photos in through the first part of November.

I've got more photos to share, but I'll share them over the rest of the week. Fun!

Holiday Junque Journal

I've been working out of the same Journal Your Christmas album for the last three years now. I really enjoy it, and it's going to be super fancy when it is done.

But, inspired by this most recent round of Learn Something New Every Day class, and also the fact that I'm doing Project Life AND a separate holiday mini, I decided something a little bit more for play was in order.

I rummaged around through some scraps of other projects, grabbed my cinch and made up a little 4x6 junque book. It's pretty adorable. And I feel absolutely no pressure about making it be pretty or perfect. This is where I am going to get down and dirty with my holiday crafting. If I want to test out a stamp, splooch out some random paint, put in a blurry print, whatever. It will be all good.

But where did all those little scraps come from? Why was I working on something like this in the first place? Well, it's a mystery for now. But, here's a little sneak peek, just for you.

Shhhhh. It's a surprise!

December Daily 2012: Foundation & Planning

I have only ever once before attempted to make a december daily album. And though it's not finished, I'm not going to let that stop me from playing with NEW pretty paper for 2012.

Especially once I saw that lovely SC Handbook album. Oh yes.
It's the two inch binding rings that really sold me. I was going to do something smaller, but with the base of an old book and all patterned paper pages, and then I was going to bind it with my Cinch, but this seemed a bit easier. Plug and play, if you will.

Here's the plan.

• We start with the SC 6x8(ish) album. 
• Each day (plus a few for intro & closure) gets a two page spread, separated by a page protector (I miss you Hambly transparencies!)

• The handbook is painted with one coat of gesso, one coat of white acrylic paint, a wash of martha stewart pearl paint, then spritzed with SC shine, just to dazzle your eyes a little.

• The design will be based off of a variation on a 6x8 grid, with two 4x6 areas as the main base. 
• I plan to print only 4x6 photos.Though I may print smaller, if needed, using my usual photoshop tiny templates. 
• To that end, I've chopped up a variety of cute holiday papers, vellum, handmade specialty papers and some of my few remaining sheets of hambly. I've started out by cutting one 4x12 in strip from every paper. This will leave me with a few sheets to do a 6x8 full pattern later, if I so choose.

• Each page consists of a piece of blank white smooth textured cardstock that measures 7.5 w x 9 h. There is a box printed on front and back of each page. That box is 6 x 8.
• I can't quite bring myself to commit to putting down all the patterns and pages all at once now, but I've got all the pages and page protectors in, and as the papers are mostly already sliced up, it should be a simple matter of glue paper, glue photo, stick some journaling and stickers on there, and get it done.

That's the plan, anyway. Here's a bit where I was practicing with a starbucks red cup. Looks pretty good.

I've got a camera, I've got some papers, stamps, and glue. I think I'm ready.

Bring it on December!

Rekindle the season

The holiday season has officially kicked off at work (aka Starbucks). I love the red cups and tasty beverages of this time of year. Gingerbread lattes are my favorite.

Since the decorations went up in the stores, I decided to put my starbucks christmas ornament tree up as well. It lives in my cube. I was especially excited by the gold cup this year.

This is the wreath I picked up at an "extras" sale a few years back. That year was one of my favorites. Before I picked up an official wreath, I tried to make my own. The store one is much better.

We opened up a new concept store and they gave us a tiny paper mock up to play with. I haven't been to visit yet, but it looks pretty cool.

These are the decorations they have on all the staircase banisters. I love the little red birds.

Can't wait till I can decorate my house! Because I have a house to decorate this year. So excited.