new in shop: mixed paper travel journals

I added a few mixed paper travel journals (very similar to my beach mini album I shared last week) to my shop. 

From the listing: A cute little 4"x6" journal to throw in your bag and document your next trip. Perfect for a road trip, a mini vacation or a long vacation. Journal in it as you travel and see new things. Add photos when you return home. A perfect documentation of your trip!

This journal is chocked full of fun - 22 pages including: gorgeous papers, envelopes, a Hambly Chevron overlay, transparency and much more. A sturdy chipboard back and two binder rings are included. Also included are 5 different washi tape samples, a mini glassine envelope, 4 Martha Stewart labels and 2 paper clips. All you need is adhesive and a pen :)

workspaces: my own.

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing my own workspace :) I have spent quite some time organizing, purging and cleaning and am really enjoying knowing where everything is ;) 

I am incredibly fortunate to have my own work space -- this area is supposed to be for a formal dining area (note the chandelier), but we eat in our kitchen and decided we didn't need an extra eating space :) We have a very open floor plan on our downstairs level, I love that it's open and airy. 

*Disclaimer: My space is definitely not always this clean. When I'm in the middle of a project (putting together journals, creating my own mini albums, etc.), it gets a little crazy. If you follow my Facebook page at all, I've posted a few photos at times when my space is (very) messy ;) I like to have my space clean and tidy (much easier to find stuff), but it quickly becomes the opposite of that when I'm deep in work ;)

So, to start - my desk area and two printers are to the left in the room. I do a lot of blogging, emailing, and shop upkeep at this desk :) I have a lot of my fave books stowed here, as well as a bulletin board and frame and twine board to put pictures and bits and pieces.

I love my actual work area - the large table where I can stand (or sit) and cut paper, put together journals, paper packs, etc.  My dad is an amazing woodworker and custom-made the table and the craft cabinet (and my desk above... and the trashcan in the picture below ;)). I drew up several sketches with measurements, sent them to him, and he created them. I love them. So neat to be working on furniture my dad made :) Right now they are unfinished wood. One day I might paint them. Maybe. :) Go here to see more pictures of the craft cabinet when we first installed it.

On the craft cabinet shelves I keep a bunch of odds and ends - craft punches, cello bags for packaging, washi tape, alpha stickers, envelopes, shipping supplies (return address labels, packing tape, "Please do not bend" stamp). In the cabinet below are storage boxes of paper scraps for scrap paper packs, as well as other materials that I don't use often (batting, contact paper, glue gun, etc).

On the craft table I have a huge cutting mat, and there are a couple little baskets to store materials I use a lot - adhesive, thread, paper clips, stamps and a stamp pad. I also have a container holding pens, pencils, metal rulers, hole punches and my rotary cutter. Above the table I store my minis, more washi tape, buttons and some other odds and ends. I love the huge bulletin board on the adjacent wall. Easy to access to put pictures and other pieces of inspiration. I store my sewing machine underneath the table on a small cabinet. The cabinet holds things such as paint, stamps, colored pencils, etc.

I recently added this fabulous Expedit Bookcase from Ikea and my, oh, my I LOVE it. It's huge and a perfect way to store a lot of different things.

I purchased some 12x12 paper tray holders from AC Moore to store all of my paper - which is organized into how they will be used - mostly to make journals- Autumn, Christmas, Baby and Random. 

I have several containers that hold different things - more shipping supplies (envelopes, cardboard, bubble wrap), more paper scraps, labels, envelopes and other ingredients for art journals. And all of my fabric is over top of the bookcase.

I have several books and found papers that I use for scrap packs, as well as some cookbooks I use in meal planning. I keep a few of my fave magazines (and the current issues) in magazine holders and (try to) limit myself to only keeping what those two holders can hold :)

So there you have it :) My work space where I spend a lot of time in the evenings and during naptime :)

Beach Mini Album: Complete

I finished up my mini album from our beach getaway this past weekend. Complete with a sand confetti window (which I sewed around 3 or 4 times to keep all the sand in ;) So far it's working well!). I didn't really journal in the album while we were there, but rather wrote down thoughts and such and then transferred them in with the pictures once we got home. I was happy to do it this way, it helped it flow really well and I could organize the pages how I wanted them once the pictures were printed.

*I am putting together a few basic albums similar to this one. They will be available in my shop before this Friday.

working on: beach mini

Working on finishing up the beach mini book from this past weekend. Will share pictures later today :)

Food: Dessert Crepes

If you've ever been to France, you've probably had a dessert crepe. Complete with the heavenly chocolate-hazelnut spread, Nutella. My oh my are they amazing. While we were in Nice, France, several years ago, we had a fave place that we would visit (everyday) that made the best dessert crepes. 

We make our own from time to time and while they aren't a real French crepe, to us they are the next best thing :)

Dessert Crepes

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

Toppings:

Nutella, Bananas (sliced), Strawberries (sliced)

Whisk together eggs, milk water, butter and vanilla. Stir together flour and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to egg and milk mixture. Stir/whisk to combine so that there are no lumps. 

Heat a large griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray Pour 1/3 cup batter onto frying pan and tilt around to move batter over surface of pan. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, flip with a spatula, and then cook another minute. Repeat with remaining batter.

To serve: Spread Nutella over warm crepe, add strawberries and bananas. Roll up like a burrito and enjoy! :)

a mini beach getaway with my love

So, so, excited to be heading out of town this afternoon with my love for a weekend beach vacation. I cannot remember the last time my hubby and I were able to go out of town just the two of us - school, work, and sweet Joshua being so little :) Thankful for my gracious parents who wanted to send us on this little vacation before our sweet Hannah is born. And so thankful for my youngest sis and her husband who are spending the weekend with our boys (they are all super excited, it's so cute :)).

I put together this mini real quick to journal and have a momento of our trip. I found so many papers I wanted to put in it... So I know it's a lot of pages for two days, but I'll be filling those pages with pictures (probably mostly pictures of us sitting on the beach ;)) and journaling. 

We are so excited for some time together. We are so ready to get away, just the two of us. And we are so excited about how the boys are excited that they get to spend "a whole weekend" with their aunt and uncle - it's adorable :) Have a fabulous weekend :)

Thank you for the warm response to my post yesterday. I really appreciate the encouraging comments and emails. I was unsure of posting it at first, but really wanted to share some of those things, and am glad I did. Thank you :)

random-ness.

Some random thoughts and updates for today :) It's summertime. And it's hot. And I am hugely pregnant with our sweet girl who will be here in a matter of weeks ;) And I am tired. 

I am trying to tie up loose ends around my home as well as with my shop. And am still working on a few more new journals here and there (because I don't have enough going on ;)). 

On adjusting to a new stage in life: I am trying to adjust to my little one (well, big one) being at kindergarten all day. Every day. He loves it. I love that he loves it. But there are moments when he'll say "I don't want to go everyday, I'm missing doing fun things with you and Joshua. Like playing in the sprinkler." (And, believe me, I want to tell him that I miss him so, so much during the day and that I wish he were still home with me and that I thought this day of him going off to kindergarten would never come. And that he'd be little forever.). I encourage him about how he is growing up into a wonderful young little man and that God loves him so much - and that he will continue to experience new things, discover new things, have accomplishments, make mistakes, have fun times and difficult times. I reassure him (trying not to get all teary) that we will still do fun things in the afternoon. Like playing in the sprinkler. And going to get ice cream as a family. Before dinner. :) And other fun things! 

On recording memories: I am constantly told that the days, months, and years fly by with little ones. And every single day I am made more aware of this. I try to remember and savor each and every moment - the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. I write things down. I try to capture them on my camera. And I remember why I create mini books. And I remember why I want to encourage and inspire others to keep mini books, albums, journals, or some other way of recording memories. There are so many things that happen and change over the days, weeks and years. I know that many memories will slip away as the time passes, but I do love to look back at what I do record. When I do, it is usually something that I had forgotten - a minute detail or a quote from my son. And it is wonderful to recall those things that had slipped out of my mind.

Days speed up as you get older, I am convinced. We love to look back through the mini albums I've made. I capture and record a lot of the good, but I also try to include the difficult (usually through a note tucked in an envelope and sealed with tape). I love to see how God has brought us through a trying time. And even when the plan isn't what I think it should be, He has been faithful to be there and to bring us through it and to grow us :)

Little ones. recording memories. blogging. etsy shop. how do you do it all? I have had friends as well as people from blogland email me asking me how I maintain my shop, my blog, and my home, all while having two little ones and being pregnant with our third. I quickly tell them "My blog is just a glimpse - a place where I post things that inspire me, the fun times in our little family and projects I am working on." (I've also talked briefly about balancing in my FAQ's - #14 and #15). I will say that I do most of my "work" (blog and shop) at night when my babies are in bed asleep. 

So, I spend a lot of my evening hours in my workspace (our babies go to bed at 7pm), while my hubby does work on his computer, or he'll pull over his big chair and read. It's fun to be together and chat and do what we each enjoy but still be together.

I also quickly tell them that at any given time, I may have two loads of laundry sitting by the washer. And two loads by the dryer that need to be put away (why is putting laundry away the hardest part!? Is it just me?! :)). And that the crumbs on the floor seem to multiply every 15 minutes. I think I could vacuum our whole downstairs every couple hours (I don't ;)) and fill up the vacuum canister. Every time ;) 

And sometimes, I just have to let things go, project-wise and blog-wise. I am great at having good intentions, but if you have been a close follower of my blog for awhile, you know that I have projects I've started and shared that kind of evaporate and disappear. Like Project Life. I LOVE the idea behind Project Life. I love it. I love looking at other's takes on it on blogs I visit. So many people have had such great success with it and I am SO excited they have their memories and life recorded that way. I invested a lot of money in the supplies for it. My hopes are to attempt it again next year. It just did not fit for me at this time and I had to let go of it.

And more recently, Card-a-Day. I actually only missed some of these. I just haven't caught up or shared here. Maybe soon? :) (During some of my random brainstorming, I contemplated doing a "mini album a month". But then quickly dismissed that idea to the back of my mind. Seriously. If I couldn't easily maintain a 10-minute card-a-day for 30 days, how would I keep a mini album a month? ;) I still love the idea of it, but can't go there right now ;))

Some shop and blog projects I am currently working on: 

+ I am almost finished re-doing and organizing my workspace. I had hoped to share it this week but it will probably be next week some time ;)

+ I started these minis for my shop several months ago and then completely forgot about them. So I pulled them back out and am working on them again. 

+ I am currently (slowly) working on Baby Journals. Paper has been cut. Envelopes and tags gathered. A couple more pages to add, fabric for swatches to be ordered. I hope to put these in the shop in the next several weeks. SO excited about the paper used in these. It took me finding several small online sources to obtain the papers (October Afternoon) because the line is discontinued (and seriously, not really anywhere to be found). So I think that makes it even more fun :)

+ Autumn and Christmas journals are in the very, very beginning stages. I have a lot of the decorative scrapbook paper (also discontinued lines!), but am working to collect other special papers to include. I am trying to be ahead with these since our little one will be here when I would normally start working on them ;)

Maybe I have too many irons in the fire shop-wise? Maybe not. That's how I roll. I get so excited about so many different things for my shop and like to bring them along all together (I won't talk about how I have ideas for a travel journal dancing around in my head ;)). It takes awhile, but I enjoy it.

So. All of this to say that I love to create. I love the gift of creativity. I love to record memories. I love to put journals together that others will use to record their memories. I love to make journals about my little (growing) family that I love and cherish so much. I love the moments with my hubby and little ones that become memories each day. I love to work at the balance between loving my family well and to have a creative outlet. I love that I have to remind myself that I need not stress over letting go of a project if I just can't do it. I love that I have friends that keep me accountable for keeping my family and home first. And that in the end, if my blog and shop are ever getting in the way of my family, then I need to re-evaluate. Immediately :)