e: is for elizabeth

ch{all}enge masters holiday blog hop...right now!!

 

Welcome to the first ever Ch{all}enge Masters Holiday Blog Hop!! The Ch{all}enge Masters Blog was your 1st stop and you are now at the 2nd stop of the hop. To be eligible for the Ch{all}enge Masters prize, you must post a comment on EACH blog in the blog hop (Yes, all 22 of them!), as well as commenting on the Challenge Master's blog when you're finished. One winner will be selected at random from all of the eligible entries to receive a $25 gift certificate to an online store of their choice. The winner will be announced by Friday, December 11. You better start hopping! This hop ends at midnight EST on Sunday, December 6.

To add to the excitement, I have my own RAK to give away. All you need to do to win is tell me the best gift you have ever given. Leave your comment on this post by midnight EST on Sunday 12/6 to be entered to win this goody from my shop:

 

It's a super cute red and gold floral fabric mini composition book cover. It's 100% portable and reusable! I'll announce the random winner by noon PST on Monday, December 7.

Before you go, I'd love to share my latest holiday layout with you (sorry for the funky photo):

In this post, I lamented about how difficult it was getting my toddler to pose for our annual holiday card photo. Not fun! The photos do make for a cute layout, though :). All components (except adhesive pearls and vintage buttons) are from Cocoa Daisy's amazing November kit. I'm IN LOVE with the sweet Melissa Frances frame at the bottom right :D

Thanks for hopping with us today! Your next stop is my friend Janet's blog. Have fun!!

xo,

e

december daily::one thru three

Before my weekend completely gets away from me, I wanted to share days one through three of my December Daily album.

December One:

 

This was simply a remnant from a sheet of 3x5 page protectors. I took the photo at the airport, after dropping off my aunt and grandma (we so enjoyed their weeklong visit!). Number: everyjotandtittle, adhesive button: jenni bowlin, letter stickers: adorn it (I think!).  

December Two:

This is a 99% digi entry illustrating my (ahem!) obsession with Glee. I'm not ashamed a single bit :). I originally had something else in place for this day, but felt compelled to change things up as I was watching the last episode before the fall finale (yikes!). Glee bingo card: Katie Pertiet for Designer Digitals, red label: Jenni Bowlin.

December three:

This didn't quite turn out as expected, as I realized that my beloved white Sharpie doesn't not work well on photos I print at home. But, in the spirit of keeping things as stress-free as possible, I'm leaving it alone :). Number: everyjotandtittle.

Talk to me! How are your December Daily albums coming along? Are you any of you struggling with the process? If so, take a deep breath and press on. You'll be glad you did :)   

xo,

e

 

december daily::nuts & bolts (very photo heavy)

I meant to post the "skeleton" of my December Daily album over the weekend, but I got totally distracted by my house guests (thank you Grandma and Auntie!). This is the third year that I've created a December Daily album, and I'm super excited to give it a go once again! I LOVE looking back at all of the memories from years past, especially since our little family changes so much each year. 

In 2007, I was pregnant with Lauryn and wasn't quite sure what I was doing, so the book was super small and simple. Last year my entire holiday theme was pastels, so that's the direction I went in for that album (I also make it bigger, which I really liked).

This year, since bookbinding has become an obsession of mine, I decided to do something a tad bit different:

 

As soon as I spotted this lonely guy at the thrift store, I knew that I wanted to turn him into a December Daily binder. So excited! Here are a few internal shots:

 

 

Phew! If you made it through to the end, thank you! I'm going to wait a few more weeks before completing the rest of my starter pages (my December Daily album always extends until New Years Eve), just in case I find something fun I want to add in later.

I'll be back tomorrow with my completed pages for days 1-3.

Have a great night!

xo,

e           

 
 
 

2009 holiday card photo shoot, take ONE

Well, I was starting to get nervous when mid-November came and I realized that I had NO clue what I was going to do for our annual holiday card. Since Lauryn is still young, I knew I needed to wait until almost the last minute to take the photo; a month or two makes a huge difference in the way toddlers look. And, since many of our friends don't celebrate Christmas, I always try to make the photo, as well as the card itself, as neutral as possible. I thought that the black/white/grey color palette in the master bedroom would make for a nice background:

Umm, yeah. Miss Lauryn was NOT being cooperative. Plus, she was disappearing a little in Sade's shadow. So we tried putting her on the other side of Sade, closer to the window:

Hmmm, not so much. Lauryn simply wasn't interested. Meanwhile, poor Sade had to corral her sister and still be cute. I then figured we may have better luck if the girls sat on the edge of the bed instead:

 {note: the 4th photo does NOT look like this. i just learned that the mosaic maker doesn't handle vertical photos well :) }

Any of those first three would have worked, but each had something (blurriness, etc.) that just didn't work right. Alas, the teen had a "perfect" solution: "how about JUST ME??"

Nice try, but no dice!!

To be continued....

e 

treasures from scraps

I am honored to be a on the design team of a new challenge blog: Treasures from Scraps. The first challenge was posted earlier this month, but I didn't participate due to a death in the family.

The second challenge is to create ornaments/decorations for the upcoming holiday season. Here's a sneaky peek at my project:

 

To see the rest of my project, as well as the fantastic projects by the rest of the design team, click here.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

xo,

e

ch{all}enge masters design team call

fellow scrapbookers-

Ch{all}enge Masters is looking for 2 new group leaders!
1. Go Green Group Leader
2. Altered Group Leader

Group Leader Requirements:
*Post 1 new challenge on assigned date each month along with a project sample to your challenge group.
*Make sure you leave a comment in the gallery on each of your category's submissions.
*Be as active as possible on the forums daily.
*Check the Design Team group daily for posts containing important information or requiring your response.
*If you have stuff going on in your life, you're going on vacation or whatever & you can't be around, contact a member from the site's ADMIN to let us know.
*Since there is no compensation for your design duties, you are eligible to participate in all of our to win the prize each month!!! Please play along as much as you'd like!
To apply, please send a link to your blog and/or main gallery to: challengemasters@gmail.com . Please send a .jpg of 1 {only 1 please!} layout/project that best represents your style along with your full name & email address. Submissions will be accepted until Nov. 27th. Don't forget to let us know which position you would like to fill.

mark your calendars...

...for the Ch(all)enge Masters Jingle Bell Blog Hop!!

 

More details to follow :)

xo,

e

more about me

Woot! I'm the featured design team member over on the Ch{all}enge Masters blog. Find out a little more about me and see which of my layouts is one of my all-time favorites!

And, to all of you gals who are visiting from Ch{all}enge Masters, thanks for stopping by! I love hanging out with all of you everyday...you all are so inspiring!

xo, 

e

10 things:documented

My last post was inspired by this post by Ali. I also loved her follow up, using one of her layered templates, so I dug out my digi supplies and whipped this up:

 

I was also really intrigued by this layout by Cathy Zielske. I love the idea of being able to tell my stories here on the blog, and simply cutting and pasting to turn it into a memorable layout. 

For those of you interested, Designer Digitals is having their quarterly sale here. It's a great way to dabble in a little digi.

xo,

e

10 things:right now

1. I'm literally buried in projects. Between updating my shop (soon, I promise!), completing custom orders, holiday gifts, holiday cards, design team assignments and a few baby gifts, my brain and hands are so busy! I feel blessed, I just I hope I'll be able to breath soon!

2. I need to update my blog banner. Like yesterday.

3. I'm listening to my Sara Bareilles/Jason Mraz station on Pandora. My absolute favorite right now, very soothing and inspiring.

4. I'm hoping to take photos of the girls for our holiday cards tomorrow. I think I've said this almost every day for the past week. Ugh!

5. I still feel like an ass for missing a dear friend's birthday (xoxoxo); it's definitely been a crazy week.

6. Our little family is still reeling from the death of a close family member.

7. I'm loathing November, since Corey will be traveling for roughly 80% of it.

8. Despite #7, I'm super excited for my aunt and grandma's upcoming weeklong visit (they arrive in 17 days!).

9. This little monster, along with her ImfifteensoIknoweverythingandnooneunderstandsme sister are definitely keeping me on my toes, especially with Daddy gone.

10. Vegas feels like a lifetime ago.

 

10.1  I wish my husband would smile for a photo every now and again.

xo,

e