Xyron and Kaisercraft Blog Hop

I was BEYOND thrilled to learn that the first Xyron blog hop of 2013 would be with Kaisercraft.  I love all things Aussie and Kaisercraft is no exception!  I was honored to work with Kaisercraft's new Flora Delight Collection and have three projects to share with you.

1.  Bird Song Wall Art.  The first project I made was something completely out of my norm but I wanted to push my boundaries while using the Kaisercraft 3d Wall Art - Bird.  I wanted to create something that was both meaningful and inspired by the bird image, which is why I chose to showcase this Chinese proverb - "A bird does not sing because it has an answer.  It sings because it has a song."

Here is a shot of the wall piece right out of the package, unadorned and unassembled.

Because I planned to cover each wooden piece with patterned paper, I simply painted the edges of each piece with some gesso.  You can use any white paint.

I then traced each wooden piece on the backside of my patterned paper, trimmed it with my scissors, and ran each piece of paper through a Xyron machine (I used both the Xyron 5" Creative Station and Xyron Creatopia) to easily adhere onto the wood.

I then proceeded to further embellish one panel and the bird cutout.  I started by sparingly painting over the patterned paper with the gesso.  I then stamped some musical notes randomly throughout the panel.  

I then sprayed various mists throughout the panel before adhering letter stickers and thickers onto the panel to write out the quote.

I adhered all of the pieces of the wall art together just using some wood glue. 

 

And here are some close ups of the Bird Song Wall Art.

Supplies:  Unfinished Wood Piece (Kaisercraft - 3D Wall Art Bird); Patterned Papers (Kaisercraft); Letter Stickers (October Afternoon, American Crafts); Stamps (Lawn Fawn); Inks and Paint (Ranger, Memento); Adhesives (Xyron Creatopia, Xyron 5" Creative Station, Mod Podge).

2.  Daisy Paper Wreath.  I also created a paper wreath by cutting out paper flowers from the gorgeous Kaisercraft Flora Delight papers. 

Supplies:  Patterned Papers and Die Cuts (Kaisercraft); Brads (Echo Park); Dies (Spellbinders and Silhouette Studio Store); Xyron Creatopia Shapez; Adhesives (Xyron 5" Creative Station, Xyron Mega Runner, DIY Foam Tape).

3.  Quilted Star Card.  And to show how beautifully all the papers come together, here is a quilted star card I made using a fantastic die from W Plus 9.

Supplies:  Card Stock (Neena Paper); Patterned Paper and Rub-Ons (Kaisercraft); Dies (W Plus Nine); Xyron Creatopia Shapez; Adhesive (Xyron 2.5" Sticker Maker).

Be sure to stop by the Xyron Blog and Kaisercraft Blog this whole week for more inspiration!

Simple Scrapper - February Blog Hop

Welcome to the February 2013 Blog Hop with Simple Scrapper.  I just wanted to share with you the layouts I made inspired by the February Templates and Story Starters available through their Premium Membership.

1.  So In Love {a digital layout}

Supplies:  February 2013 Template (Single #1); January 2013 Story Starters; Splendid Fiins: Through the Viewfinder Collection (Patterned Papers, TTVF Frames, Photoshop Action, Camera Embellishment), Flea Market Brads, Evidence Date Stamp, @ the office file folder photo frames (File Folder); Creativity by Crystal: June 2009 Collection - Office Supply Element Pack (Circle Tags); iKari Designs - You Are Awesome (Stitches); Vinnie Pierce Designs: Punch - Elements (Brads); Design by Dani: Fa La La (Banner); Lettering Delights (Fonts).

2.  Tin Yeu {a digital layout}

Supplies:  February Story Starters #4. Simple Scrapper Premium Membership Template (January 2013 #3 Single). Digital Papers and Elements - Carta Bella Traditions.

Would you like to win a one-month trial subscription to Simple Scrapper?  Use this link to enter a giveaway: http://ow.ly/ctrlx.  Entries will be pooled and one winner selected at 11:59pm CST on Wednesday, February 6. You may enter from multiple blogs.

For more inspiration, please be sure to check out the other Design Team member blogs!

Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson)

Jeryn Carlisi

Lisa Corbin-Polak

Ronnie Crowley

Michele Holcomb

Holly Humbert

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

Amy Kingsford

Samantha Landay

Pam Lozano

Aimee Maddern

Lauren Hague Madsen 

Jean Manis

Van Nguyen  <-- b="" is="" me="" this="">

Melissa Priest

Mandy Ross

Sara Case Strickland

As always, thanks for stopping by!

NOTE:  The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping. Each month members receive a new collection of sketch templates and Story Starters, story-focused prompts for pages and projects.

Aloha Friday - Pineapples and Sailboats

What is more Hawaiian than Dole pineapples?!?  Okay, chocolate covered macadamia nuts...um, poi...leis...okay, there are lots of things that are quintessentially Hawaiian.  But come on, you gotta think of Hawaii when you think of Dole.

So as we are finally getting settled and spending our free weekends sight seeing and exploring instead of unpacking and organizing, one of our first stops was to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

1.  Dole Pineapple Plantation.  

Let's face it.  The real reason we visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation was to eat some of that delicious pineapple soft serve ice cream (aka Dole Whip).  This might just give poke a run for its money on my list of awesomeness.  

Here's a photo of Charlotte eating her own serving of Dole Whip.  This girl is serious about her food, just like her Mommy and Daddy.  

We also took the family on a little ride on the Pineapple Express.  It's a short tour around the plantation.  Not necessarily the most amazing tour in the world but Charlotte loves trains and I find it difficult to deny her anything.  :)  Here's a shot of me with the kiddos on board the Pineapple Express.

So the Dole Pineapple Plantation was two weeks ago.  Last week was JAM PACKED with Hawaiian adventures.  

2.  Ono Steaks and Shrimp Wagon.  

We did not intend to eat out that day.  In fact, I made lunches for everyone and we were eating our turkey sandwiches in the car when I spotted the Ono Steaks and Shrimp Wagon in Waimanalo and directed Justin to pull over.  Thank goodness I did!

Justin ordered the fish tacos.  OMG, DELICIOUS!!!  That mango salsa was divine and I must say, it was one of the best fish tacos I have ever had (and that's considering that I grew up right next to Baja California, home of the fish taco)!!

I had the garlic shrimp with macaroni salad.  Also amazingly delicious and do you see all that garlic?!?

Here are the boys at the lunch stop.  What an amazing place for a food truck, right?

3.  Animal Farm.  We saw this random animal farm while driving along the coast.  Benjamin was screaming for milk so it was the perfect time to take a quick stop.

Here is Charlotte feeding some goats.

4.  Hike to Makapu'u Summit.  

The trail to Makapu'u Summit is an awesome trail because it is completely paved (which means that we can push the stroller the entire way up the summit).

Check out some of these views.  Absolutely gorgeous.

5.  Hanauma Bay.  We only stopped by Hanauma Bay for an hour or so and I can't wait until we can come back and spent the entire day here.  This place is just breathtaking!

And here is Benjamin in his stroller hanging out while we look down into the bay.

6.  Sailing in Kaneohe Bay.  Last Sunday we went sailing in Kaneohe Bay to the Sandbar (aka the Sunken Island) with the owners of a boat that Justin races on.

What an amazing afternoon.  Charlotte adored being out on the water and especially loved kayaking with Dad.  They even saw a turtle in the water!

Whew!  Okay, that's it for now.  I can only hope that all of our weekends are this fun.

As always, mahalo for stopping by!

A Reading Journal - A Jenni Bowlin Stuidos Hybrid Project

So there are two purposes to this blog post.  One - I wanted to talk about books.  Specifically, Charlotte's books.  I won't lie and tell you that I'm in a book club or am remotely "well read."  In fact, I think the last book I read was called the Toddler Whisperer.  BUT...I do read A LOT of books with Charlotte.  In fact, they are often my biggest source of crafting inspiration.  Which leads me to purpose number two - upcycling old journals.


Are you like me and hoard, um, I mean collect a ton of notebooks and journals but never seem to finish them?  Well, that's not true.  I do have a number of completed notebooks filled with lots of nonsense.  They're often hard to read through at times.  Like, did I really care that much about Twin Blonde Boy that it consumed four journals full of girl angst?!?!?  However, this particular journal was the victim of my poor stamping skills. 

So, I thought I would attempt to recover it to make Charlotte her very own reading journal (i.e. a place for me to write down all the books we read together, i.e. an attempt to make me feel better about not reading grown up books that don't include photos of chicken and cake.  But not on the same page.  Cause, that's just weird). 

Using some the new Jenni Bowlin Studio ("JBS") Red and Black Extension Kit 4 (available over at Jenni Bowlin Digital Store), I created a book cover in Photoshop.  I also added some wording to one of the Red Labels included in the JBS kit.  Then, using my large format printer (Cannon Pro9000 Mark II), I printed all of my digital elements onto a 12x12 sheet of white American Crafts cardstock.

Next, I trimmed down all of the difference elements with my paper trimmer and adhered them onto the notebook using my Xyron machines (specifically, the Xyron Creatopia for the book cover and the Xyron 2.5" Create-a-Sticker for the inside label).

After I printed out the cover, I noticed that it was too small to actually cover the entire journal.  (Oops!)  However, since I love the look of red and aqua, I decided to keep it that way.  (Whew!)  Here is what the notebook looked like with everything securely adhered on. 

I punched out small hearts from a piece of JBS patterned paper that I also printed onto white cardstock.  After running them through a small Xyron sticker maker, I adhered the strip of stickers onto the back page with some washi tape.  The idea is that she can add a heart sticker to any of her favorite books.

Super easy and super cute!  I love hybrid projects - where computer design and some good Xyron machines merge to make something awesome.

I promise to update y'all on what books we end up loving this year.  I know that the first one will definitely be Go, Dog. Go by P.D. Eastman. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2013 - Week 2

Here is the second week of Project Life 2013.  The photos and stories in this layout relate to the stories in this Aloha Friday post.  I am sticking with the January Card Kit from Splendid Fiins (the same one I used for the Week 1 layout).   

Digital Supplies: Splendid Fiins (January Card Kit, 2013 Calendar Cards, Script Day Stamps).

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Project Life 2013 - Title Page and Week 1

For those who follow my blog, you know that I tried Project Life in 2012 with only minor success.  I started after Thanksgiving 2011 and kept up with it through April.  I tried restarting Project Life around Halloween and still have hopes to finish 2012 at some point.  Regardless, I am moving forward with Project Life in 2013.  So I am proud to officially introduce to you, Project Life 2013.

We are going all digital this time and working primarily with awesome products from Splendid Fiins.  I am on the Creative Team for Splendid Fiins and genuinely ADORE everything that Nisa Fiin creates for her shop.  It's a fantastic mix of quirky and clean.  Just fabulous.

So, using the amazing Project Life products from Splendid Fiins, here are my first pages for 2013.

This is the title page for the album using the January Card Kit from Splendid Fiins. 

The photos of me and Justin with the kids were taken by Melissa O Photography.  Melissa is a good friend and fellow Navy spouse.  If you're in San Diego and looking for a photographer, be sure to look her up!

Here are the pages for Week 1 (also using the same January Card Kit linked above).

I'm so excited about this project and between this and the Aloha Friday posts, I can't wait to share with everyone our Hawaiian adventure!

As always, mahalo for stopping by!

 

Aloha Friday - Settling In

We have finally moved into our new home.  We finally have internet.  We finally are starting to get settled.  There are still boxes to unpack, furniture to buy, and pictures to hang.  But...we are in our home and it feels awesome.

Here is a photo of Charlotte sitting at the front door on moving day.  We literally rolled her out of bed at 6 and drove straight to the leasing office to pick up the house keys.  Thankfully she was almost all smiles that day despite the chaos.

Here is what we saw outside of our front door that morning.  Our very first double rainbow in Hawaii.  I saw a second one later that night on my way to Target.  So cool.

Here is Charlotte sipping some strawberry tea.  The tea set is one I brought back with me from Vietnam back in college.  I remember painstakingly packing that set and making sure it didn't get broken.  Now, it's a toddler tea set.  Go figure.  :)

Here is Charlotte drawing on the lanai with her birthday sidewalk chalk.

Benjamin is around too.  He's usually hanging out in the baby carrier though (which makes photographs a bit more difficult).  He turned four months old almost two weeks ago.  It amazes me how much quicker time seems to fly by with two kids.  I wish it would slow down just a bit sometimes.  And this kid is a chunkster.  At his four month check up, he weighed in at over 12.5 pounds!

We visited Daddy one afternoon while he was on duty.  Charlotte said that she would bring a pink screwdriver to help him fix the ship.

And finally, here is Charlotte with a pink cake we made after school.  We sang happy birthday to the entire family and blew out imaginary candles.  And as Charlotte would say, "That's pink.  That's my favorite."  Silly girl.

As always, mahalo for stopping by!!!!