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
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
I'm proud to announce that I have been selected to be a design team member for Ch{all}enge Masters! This is a new challenge blog/community that hosts challenges in 16 categories, so there is something for everyone.
I am the team leader for the Scraplift group, and I couldn't be more excited. This month, I decided to lift this layout by Christine Drumheller
Here's my take on it:
I was pretty proud of myself considering I was able to pull off this layout from my hotel room in Vegas, with only the supplies I brought with me :)
My team member, Tammy, created a fantastic layout also. Click here to check it out, to play along and to join our community. It's tons of fun!!
xo,
e
Hi all-
For those of you not on Facebook, my husband and I are in Las Vegas for the next 6 days! We've had this trip planned for over a year and it really couldn't have come at a better time. We are both in need of a little downtime, and we're definitely getting it.
We had a fantastic dinner last night, and we're headed out to n9ne and to see the Michael Jackson movie in a few hours. Right now, we are on our laptops doing what we do best: not a damn thing.
I, of course, brought a bunch of scrap supplies and I've already made a mini album (even though we just arrived yesterday) and have plans to make at least one more. I'm also hoping to update my online galleries, make some headway on my album for Cathy's class at BPS, and do a little holiday business planning for my shop.
I'll be back tomorrow with some announcements and a few sneaky peeks!
xo,
e
I've mentioned before that we are members of a sweet farm that's just down the road from our house. I LOVE that they grow just enough pumpkins to make pumpkin picking an adventure for a certain toddler.
They cut all of the pumpkins from their stems, but left them in their place so that little hands can just select the ones they'd like (each family is allowed 4 pumpkins).
Sounds like a dream, right? Yeah. Except I forgot that a certain somebody LOATHES getting her hands dirty.
I have about 5 or 6 similar photos of Lauryn fussing over the dirt on her hands. Poor little diva! We left the farm with 4 pumpkins, 2 very clean little hands and a kiss for Nana:
Happy Harvest!
xo,
e
Last night, I was thumbing through my much-loved copy of Ali Edwards' "Sharing Your Story", and came across this sentiment:
One of the most beautiful aspects of scrapbooking is creating books to give away.
I really couldn't agree more. I've always loved making stuff (especially mini-books) for other people. No matter how much (or how little) effort I put forth, the recipient is always over-appreciative.
When I started Handmade Modern, even though I will always offer notebooks and bound books, my goal was to offer custom books as my bread and butter. Luckily, about a week after I opened my "doors", I received 2 custom requests: one from my best friend and the other from my mommy.
custom #1: julie's binder
My best friend Julie is a writer. She's also a write-from-home mom of two toddler boys. Yeah, she's busy. She really wanted a pretty place to put all of her writings and articles, from today and yesterday. So this is what we came up with:
I first painted the edges of an American Crafts 8 1/2 x 11 Modern Album (my all-time favorite line of albums) with acrylic paint (a combo of silver and purple) I then covered the front with this gorgeous paper by Basic Grey (since Julie loves purple). I covered the back with textured lavender cardstock.
I covered both of the inside panels with more Wisteria papers:
I then created dividers, per Julie's specifications; she wanted sections labeled "journal", "articles" and "archives". I designed them in photoshop, printed them out on cream cardstock, then mounted the cardstock to heavy chipboard.
To make things interesting, I covered the backside of each divider with a mosaic of coordinating paper squares that I stitched together on my sewing machine.
Finally, I "branded" the book with this little detail (I love how LA uses these in her custom books!):
Since this post was so photo heavy, I'll come back tomorrow to share custom book #2! I hope you all are having a great day!
xo,
e
Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been so long. I've been in Northern California for almost a week now; every day I've promised myself to post, but I've just been SO tired by the time I get to bed. I guess that's what I get for not preparing some automating posts before I left (that was my original plan).
Anyway, I thought I'd share my travel mini for this trip:
I took an old hardcover book (totally forgot to take "before" photos), removed all of the pages, covered it with patterned paper and covered the spine with white Duck tape.
After poking holes in the spine, I installed a binder mechanism and voila, a binder!
I filled my book with a ton of paper from Cocoa Daisy's August kit and with some odds and ends from my studio (excuse the glare; I took the photos at night):
My original intention was to simply punch holes and add things like I have done in the past. BUT, after drooling over THIS, I think I'm going to turn this into a hybrid journal. My hope is to create 5x7 vertical photo spreads (much like Elise did) and just intersperse them along with all of the patterned paper and other goodies. I may have to play some of this by ear, since the binder's rings are much smaller than the ones I normally use.
You can see the rest of the book here.
I hope you all are having a great week!
xo,
e
