inspiration board

i put together a couple of inspiration boards over the weekend.
i love inspiration boards.
debee campos is credited for showing me the power of these boards and assortments.
christy tomlinson does a mood board every week.
the creative mint often puts them together.
they are just that, inspiring.
mixes of colors, textures, and mood.
i used some of my favorite things from the march work in progress kit.
this kit has alot of elements that can go in many directions.
this week is the gallery reveal, and i am eager to see what the rest of the dt crew put together.

do you ever put together inspo boards?
i would love to see them.
please link me up if you do!

have a productive monday!
~j

edited to add:  oops...the march main kit and project kit is sold out. but the add on kit is still available!

layered inspiration

Sometimes one needs to simply play with papers and layers for the mere creativity of it.
Sometimes one does not have to work with a deadline. Or to keep up with a memory book.
Sometimes one needs to exercise creativity for the sake of enjoying the art of paper, paint, textures, and what not.

love these book covers by 7gypsies. love the paris motif.

This little book is an exercise in simple creativity. Time to play. Time to think while putting paint on paper. Time to plan while stitching on tags. Time to consider my style while stamping on canvas. Time to dig in my stash and see what comes of it all.
This little book is an exercise in what I love about paper. The layers. The textures. The sewing. The paint. The ink.

Hoping you too have time to enjoy some creativity in your day.
~j

a friendly lift

Hello friends...My friend Alexandra had this lovely take on urban-vintage posted over on her blog the other day. I appreciated the delicate versus grunge take she captured that complimented the photos of her and her beautiful daughter.
I took her basic sketch and came up with a clean and graphic look to display this little mr. taking his bath. how sweet is that?

I love the large pocket and the tags poking out. Perfect for some hidden journaling. Perfect just to play with those tags that I love so much.
If you happen to be inspired by her layout, please link me up. I would enjoy seeing what you did.
Supplies are from February's Work In Progress kit. The die cut at the bottom is the inside of a Starbuck's cozy. And the typed words are from House of 3.

Enjoy your Monday!
~j

weekend project

hello friends...

i am hosting the blog today over at wip . a simple and easy project to showcase your paper projects. hope you get time to go visit.

~j

embrace

embracing this little boy.
someone recently asked me if i just snuggle with him all day.
yep. well...sort of.
life is crazy busy right now. but i take the moments i can to squeeze, kiss, hold, and giggle with this sweet, sweet little person.
i make the moments count.
the first nursing of the day is my favorite time of the day.
it's just he and i.
a quiet house.
no one to interrupt.
very special to me.

i have been a bit absent lately. not only has the teen male child been home all week on winter break (just what is that anyway? back in the day there was NO winter break...but i digress), but my brother-in-laws mother passed away this week. it's been a hard loss. my youngest, 7, adored her. my youngest has so much love in her life to give, that when a loss such as this occurs, her love pours out in great emotion. a lot of holding and talking about eternal things has been happening between her and i. real life issues being dealt with here. and so, my absence. also helping my sister a little here and there with the making of plans for the service. services to celebrate 'grandma cheney' is tomorrow.

also, i'm scheduled to be posting over at work in progress on saturday. hoping that actually happens (grin). oh! and speaking of which...trish put her kits for march up today. go check out the project and add on kit. fun. fun.

till next time...
~j

woodland love

taking some time to think about the girlies for valentines day too. the big male child will be blessed come valentines day, but not with woodland creatures. need to go teen cool for that.
wanted to share what i was whipping up for them using February's work in progress kits.
i tend not to be whimsical with cute forest creatures, but cindy inspired the idea and i thought it would be perfect for my girls who love anything i make for them. my own personal affirmation squad. love!

valentines this and that.

a bit of eye candy to celebrate the season::

valentine heart barretts

teri's place

teri's fun cards

krispy kreme anyone?

valentine confetti

valentine printable

burlap love

tara anderson

another printable

today i am here.
sharing this and that.
hope you'll pop over and visit.

project52

Knowing i would not be able to keep up with a project365 and take a photo a day, the idea of documenting a page a week was very appealing. Not only appealing, but doable. This year's project is housed in an American Crafts d-ring binder, just like the rest of my library of books. The page protectors are from Becky Higgins. They are the Divided Photo Pocket Pages - Design A and Divided Photo Pocket Pages - Design B.
There is not a set rhyme of reason to how this will flow. Some weeks will be more organized, some weeks will be pieces of this and that. Some weeks will have lengthy journaling (my goal), and some weeks I will simply jot a few notes here and there.
Today I have posted what I have of weeks 1-3. Will post more at a later date.

 

cover page with us right now

week 1

week2

half of week3. this ended up to be a double page spread. a good opportunity to celebrate the little mr's monthly milestones.

enjoying this process.
enjoying thinking about the stories intently throughout the week.
and i know i will be enjoying looking back at these precious stories a year from now.

one little word

One little word.
This has become a powerful word for me this year.
And that word is pray.
The one little word I have chosen the past few years have all been the very tense of the word.
Requiring me to act.
To pray is a daily act for me already.
The need to focus on it's power, on it's meaning, on how it changes me became apparent toward the end of the year.
So pray it is.

 I credit extra attention to this word and project to ali edwards. If you follow this blog at all, you know that I am a fan for ali edwards' style, story telling, and her digital goodness. The goodies that are making up part of my one little word album are from her class over at Big Picture classes.
It makes me happy to open this book and see the 5x7 cover page with other pages peeking around from behind it.

Behind the 5x7 cover page is a photo of me!

 Ah! Love this page. I am using Pink Paislee Portfolio Album refill page pack. It's a very fun assortment of sizes of page protectors.
This page was a great exercise in defining my word. Describing what I expect from it. Describing it by way of a quote, and defining it by embellishing little canvases as a creative outlet for this word. I think hearts will become a symbol for me this year. It sort of happened on accident, but as I have been journaling this month the idea of heart and having His heart is making itself more apparent. Butterflies will continue to be an important symbol too. The balance that they represent. The freedom that they represent. Not to mention the beauty they have always represented to me.

Ali made available on her blog this very fun word cloud of all the one little words people posted. I printed it on kraft and have added it to my one little word book. Wordl is a great site for generating 'word clouds' of whatever you want to create. 

Thanks for letting me share this with you. It's an intimate journey, but such a joy that I want many to experience the power that these words of focus can bring in your life.

Enjoy your day and stay warm!

february gallery

welcome february...
it entered like a lion...a very cold. cold. cold first day of february.
the heaters have been blowing all day.
the wind has been beating all day.
perfect day for hot chocolate and baking...makes it worth it all.

and now for some layouts from the gallery at work in progress::

this little photo of her just made me smile. a moment in the snow.

four months and counting. love this! he just gets sweeter everyday.

been holding on to this photo for a while. i was not sure how much to add by way of embellishments as i did not want to take away from it's sweetness. i think, though, the picture holds it's own.