live . craft . learn

little love

it's been a while... i know. i took a much needed vacay from here over the last few weeks to enjoy the last few days of summer with my littles and to regroup and reorganize myself. all things are good and i feel so energized, but that definitely wasn't how i felt when i got home from florida & cha.

i was stressed. i was exhausted. my creativity felt hollow and empty. our schedules were about to chage as maddie started first grade and ben started a 4 day a week preschool program. i started to realize that week after i got home that i just needed to stop. my priorities were a little jacked off center and i wasn't doing anything about it, even though i needed to. i desperately needed to.

so i spent basically all of august figuring things out and screwing my head back on :

1. playing with my littles and going on adventures; the sf zoo, dragraces; playdates and the park.

2. refocus on loving my man. he's amazing and so dedicated to us but honestly things just started to become rote, as i'm sure it does at times for alot of couples. life can become so busy and responsibilities can become so huge. so i started asking myself "what can i do for him". it's a small question but the rewards in our relationship are worth it. not to mention we're laughing again. alot.

2. i started weight watchers {and have lost 10lbs in 4 weeks} because i've had it with being overweight and not making myself enough of a priority.

3. i'm reorganizing kenner road and it is building, excatly itno what i always saw it would be, it's amazing how four mornings of childless work can help with all of that, and getting excited for our first birthday on september 14th helps too!

4. admitting i can't be all things to everyone if i'm nothing first to myself.... oh how this is another huge mountain i'm climbing. but climb it i will & i am.

5. making something everyday. this is being helped along because i'm guest designing on kari's a year of color blog and i created a daily journal tutorial {sneak peek above} for september. it's something small and simple that i can fill with all of my "little loves" on a daily basis as i want to recharge my creative spirit this month.

so here i am. i'm refreshed. i'm rejuvenated and i'm ready for everything.

i missed you.
xo

my favorite nook

this whole post started with a q&a i did over on the elle's studio blog and one of the questions, about where i create, got me thinking about how i don't really share that side of my life here {on this blog}, so i decided to change that today, and hopefully i'll change that more in the future... because i love this little space. it may be little but the memories and dreams created and shared here are what inspire me on a daily basis. this is where i make things with pieces of my heart. where parts of me leave messages about how i live and what i've learned and this desk is the center point of it all.

this is where i create, chat, write posts {like i am right now}, get inspired by favorite blogs and sites and generally do most things crafty. with barely 40" wide of space it's tucked back in a little alcove to the left of our family room fireplace and it's generally piled with projects, pages and alot of vintage odds & bits... this was one of the cleaner days, lol.

i love that i can sit or stand {usually i stand} here, but i also love that although it's a tiny space it is right in the middle of where we live most of our lives, here in the family room. i can hear the littles playing in that backyard through the slider in the kitchen and i can see them digging in the dirt and playing in the water table right through the huge window behind me.

i can sit here and make a page in the evening, after the house is quiet but have the man right behind me sitting on the couch watching a dvr'd show or laughing at jon stewart.

i adore that i am surrounded by pieces of my friends and family that are hanging on the wall; items sent from friends that i can look at everyday, little drawings and notes from maddie and ben and all of the towers of golden mediums that i adore. it may be tiny but it helps me live a full life.

happy saturday!
xo

gdt + a giveaway

i'm the guest designer over at elle's studio this month and i had the best time ever creating for elle, the altered book above uses both the my dear cutouts and the love note circles. she is the sweetest person and the product she sent was wonderful. i have enough tags, cards, stamps and more to last through 40 more projects. you can go here to see the rest of my gallery and bio. i'll be in and out there all month with a tutorial {actually, i'm doing two!} and more.

thanks elle!!

and in celebration of the fun i've had creating lately i'm giving away this altered book i created to one of you. just leave a comment here by sunday at 8pm pst telling me what your favorite book of late {or ever} is and i'll pick a winner on monday.

have a fabulous weekend!
xo

i'm super happy to be the october guest designer over at pink persimmon, an amazing stamp company owned by two amazing women, darcy & judi, that i am lucky to call my friends. make sure you check out the halloween shadowbox and the paper medallion tutorial i created for them using the dutch journaling stamp {my new fav stamp ever} and some vintage ephemera. more pink persimmon goodies to come...

happy wednesday!
xo

celeste ...

the amazing celeste smith is my first guest designer. i was going to wait until tomorrow to show these but after she emailed me saying she had sneak peeks up on her blog i was too excited not to share with you. i'll go into more detail tomorrow and gush about how much i adore her, her style and how happy i am that we have become friends, but seriously. SERIOUSLY!!! do you see those snippets!!?! *swoon*

yea. nuff said!