Category Archives: Life in 2014

studio: and the cleanup commences…

Posted in Around Here, Life in 2014 by

I don’t know about you, but summertime around here is slightly less hurried (no school or  after school sports schedules), (supposedly) more time outdoors, longer days, beautiful New England weather and the promise of long days lazing in the warm summer sun at the beach or under a tree with a book.

right

We love summer here in our house and it is less crazy than usual.  I strive for a balance of activity and inactivity with the girls, weeks of camp interspersed with weeks of “nothing”.   As I walked into my studio today…I realized that while I think the girls schedule is more relaxed… Charlie is still working hard, and there is still a household to run, and kids to manage.  Which lead me to this …

20140724-091939-33579584.jpg

yup…the dump it in the studio and close the door so the cat can’t get in.  So this morning, while the girls and their friends are still sleeping in from a late night sleepover…I will attempt to clear the chaos.  2 1/2 weeks until the big trip and I have some sewing to do and memory keeping to catch up on before we leave.

Cursory examination of the war zone has unearthed…  7 items in need of ironing, 1 pr of shorts in need of a button, 1 long finished knitting project in need of blocking, several piles of memorabilia and stuff to go through and organize into our Project Life book (still have to edit and print photos too),  magazines to be relocated, several pieces of luggage to go into the attic, cameras and phones to be downloaded and backed up, garden journal to be updated, supplies to be put away, a giant box of 700+ photos to be put away (note to self…buy more photo albums on amazon) 2 pillow covers to be sewn up and be stuffed with forms (8 seams!  that’s all it is!)  fabric for outfits I want to make before our trip to be found and pre washed in preparation for sewing, and  a table to be cleared

…I think I need a cup of tea and a shower

How’s summer going in your part of the world?  Any giant crazy messes to tackle?

 

Layout – Silly Hats

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Documenting Life, Handmade, Layouts, Life in 2014, Make Stuff, Memory Keeping by

I managed to eek out another layout this week…working in bits of time between dinner prep and soccer pickup and finishing up in the morning after everyone left for school.  I am really fortunate to have a “room of my own” where I can leave a layout or project out on my worktable and let things percolate for awhile… or until my Studio Assistant knocks things onto the ground.

This layout was for a class at BPC called Stashbusters Anonymous and week 1 was layouts to help use up your paper stash.  I’m writing up a post now on de-stashing but wanted to share one of the layouts I did featuring chevrons … 1/2″ strips across the whole page…then I realized that my base paper was 12×13 not 12×12…needless to say there will be some trimming of the left side going on but that’s OK, it will only reinforce the asymmetry of the page.

SillyHats detal SillyHats

And while I will take a formal portrait of the page when it’s all trimmed and adhered to a piece of card stock (the edges are curling up right now) I really kind of like messy slice of life photos that show some studio details too.

Enjoy and here’s to a beautiful spring weekend ahead and a joyous Easter  tomorrow!  What projects are you working on over the weekend?

 

 

layout – 9 Things about 9 Walter

Posted in Documenting Life, Fred, Layouts, Life in 2014, Memory Keeping, Pets by

Yes, I’ve been doing more memory keeping.  I have notebooks full of ideas and stacks of supplies that I am committed to using up!  I was reading Ali Edwards blog last week and she had made a layout detailing the things she loved about her home (instead of always thinking about what could be better….Of which I am completely guilty!!!)  I decided to take her challenge and use a hand drawn grid, write out 5+things about my home and making a layout w no photos… Celebrating what we love about this house was definitely in order (2 1/2 yrs later!)  AND I found the perfect use for this darling October Afternoon paper I have been hoarding for years!  I love how it came out!!

Details… so much fun digging around my stash for goodies to fill up the grid!

 

9 Things detail

Full layout here….I’m still working on my photography skills…bear with me!

9-Things-Both-pages-WEB

And just in case you were wondering….

IMG_5766

Yes, it’s Studio Assistant approved…. He has to sit on everything around here!

 

What projects have you been working on?

 

layout – Winter Share

Posted in Digital Scrapbooking, Documenting Life, Layouts, Life in 2014, Memory Keeping, Pets, Shadow by

Today’s layout is a digi-layout (I’m toggling back and forth between digi and paper lately…have a lot of supplies in each format to work through!)  I’m featuring Little Feet Digital Designs April Freebie  “Earth Day” created for the PixelScrapper blog hop.  This beautiful mini-kit is available FREE from LFDD only through April 31 so get it while it’s hot, and there, and well…free.  Click HERE for the link to LFDD blog.  Of course, me being me I did not scrap with an “Earth Day” theme…I decided to showcase the photo I took when I brought home our December Share  from Co-op, the last one for the season.  Little miss you-know-who of course, has to inspect everything.

2014-12-Winter-Share-WEB

Enjoy and Hop on over to Little Feet Digital Designs and download this freebie kit before it’s all gone!

Have a great Saturday everyone!!

An analog update

Posted in Life in 2014, Writing by

A quick check in on the ever so slight twitch away from digital to analog.  I ordered the clocks, the clocks arrived in good order (thank you Amazon  Prime shipping!) Clocks were set up and the girls were instructed on how to use them (move lever on the side UP to set the alarm and DOWN to turn it off)….

First morning:  Girls not up….

child:   “which way do I move the switch?”  

me thinking:  (obviously, the OPPOSITE way it is now!)

Second morning:  Girls up!  Yay!!  Success!  I do the happy dance down the stairs to make breakfast and pack lunches knowing the morning will be much less crazy since the girls are up on time, have plenty of time to get ready, eat, pack their (incredibly over-burdened and heavy) backpacks, and head out the door.  Worked EXACTLY like I had dreamed!!  

Third morning:  Girls not up…  

me:  “Did you forget to set the alarm?”  

child:  “No, I set it”  

me:   “Did it not go off?”  (uh-oh I’m thinking bad things about the little clocks)

child:  “It went off, I just turned it off and went back to sleep”

And why do I get the sinking feeling we are going to have many more days like the third morning, and less like the second?  *sigh*