handmade:modern by elizabeth rosemond (the blog)

project life 2013 | april | parts two and three

Happy Mothers' Day to all of the mamas (and mamas-to-be) out there! Right now, I'm enjoying a quiet house; my husband took the little ones out to grab breakfast and donuts. The teenager is still asleep (I know. SHOCKER).

So, I'm taking advantage of the quiet :)

 

The big event during the second week of April was my husband's birthday. Sushi dinner and Bundtinis for everyone!

That weekend, we took the littles to an urban park in Dallas (food trucks!), followed by kite flying back in the 'burbs.

The following week, our oldest turned NINETEEN (yes, I know)! I stitched a number card (numbers 1 through 10 are now available here. More numbers will be available soon).

In the top left pocket, I hid some journaling re: the tragic events of that week. I actually debated about how I would document those events. I eventually decided that I wanted to mention them, but I didn't want them to take over my spread. I definitely didn't want them taking attention away from our girl's birthday.

I ended the spread with my thoughts on the Downton Abbey finale (I finally watched it!).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! You'll likely find me on the couch watching Law & Order :)

xo,

e

 

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 

hello may!

It's the FIRST of MAY. 

I feel as if April really didn't happen; it went by so fast. But it did happen, and it's over.

I have a brain dump for you today (lucky you!)

A few hours after this post, I found myself looking at an unrecognizable face in the mirror. My face was swollen. My eyes hurt. My lips were itchy, stinging and a little swollen. The next morning, my lips were HUGE!! They were puffy, sore and still itchy. I couldn't even brush my teeth! The doctor gave me a steroid shot and an additional six day round of steroids. My entire system has been unhappy ever since.

After feeling super funky for over a week, I decided that I'm tired of feeling super funky.

I grabbed this book at Barnes & Noble yesterday and dove into it last night.

As I mentioned on Instagram earlier, I burst into tears several times during the first few chapters. The truth is that I feel "off" more than I feel "on". That's not right. It's possible that my issues aren't food related, but nothing else seems to make sense.

So, when I sat down to write my goals for May, I started with the food.

In May:

• I'm giving up gluten. I have to start somewhere.
• I'm keeping a detailed mood/food diary. Mainly to understand if there's a relationship between what I'm eating and how I'm feeling.
• I'm going to start excercising regularly again (at least 3x/week)
• I'm going to continue to ruthlessly purge my studio. I want to streamline before the move.
• I'm going to keep packing. And packing. And packing.

I know June is going to be wild and crazy, so I need to gain some control this month.

Hello May! I hope you're ready :)

xo,

e

project life 2013 | april | part one

Things have been quiet around here this week. I just found myself speechless. All. Week. Long.

It started with Monday.

It continued with this on Wednesday.

On Friday I found myself glued to the television, well into the night.

In the midst of all of this madness, our oldest girl turned nineteen on Thursday. NINETEEN! The celebration was lowkey but it included dinner out, just the two of us. I'll share a few photos in next week's Project Life update.

Yesterday? I was seeking a little peace and quiet (both mentally and literally), so we kept the television off. A little music kept us company throughout the day. The little ones played without conflict, as if they sensed the mood change in the house.

It gave me some uninterrupted time to work on a few personal projects, including Project Life!

On to April:

I kept things pretty simple this week. I even loosely followed a mustard color scheme without realizing it!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's time for me to feed the animals and the little people :)

xo,

e

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 

project life 2013 | march | part five

Hello Project Life, last week of March! I was a little short on photos, so the spread is super simple this week:

I went to Paper Source for ONE thing; in the top right pocket I used a little of their tissue paper and their packaging sticker.

My husband was at a conference in my hometown and kept sending me photos (making me homesick). I loved being able to include one in the spread. 

Lauryn and I finished our first chapter book this week (the entire series was recommended by the childrens' book manager at our local Barnes & Noble and we're both really loving it). I used Stephanie's printable right next to the book image.  The "morning scenes" and "snapshots" journaling cards are from Liz's new Diptych card set (which I absolutely LOVE).

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the day in the sunshine with the little ones. We successfully wore them out :)

xo,

e

 

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 

30 days of lists | march 2013 | days 26 to 30

In the middle of the night, I realized that I hadn't finished the final pages of my 30 Days of Lists journal with you! Here we go:

day twenty six: last year at this time

 

day twenty seven: quotes

I think I could have easily filled up several pages with quotes.

day twenty-eight: this week I chose to...

After I finished this prompt, I realize that I thought it said "this week I choose to", so everything was in the wrong tense. I'm totally over it now :)

day twenty nine: I'm grateful for

every.single.thing.

day thirty: mini manifesto

I belive in:

• loyalty
• truth
• honor
• trust
• compassion
• creativity
• and love

I'm so excited that my book is complete! Even though it took a few tries to figure out the best way to manage the Blurb book, I'm happy that I decided to stick with my original idea. I can't wait for the next round!

You can find all of my completed prompts from this round here.

Happy Saturday!

xo,

e

project life 2013 | march | parts three + four

Hello March, parts three AND four!

Part three (roughly 3/10-3/17):

It's VERY difficult to see, but in the top left pocket is this. Lauryn found one of the Project Life planning pages I use (courtesy of Marcy) and created her own spread. She even drew in extra boxes. Adorable.

On Tuesday, March 12 one of my dear friends (I only have a few here in Dallas) showed up at my doorstep and said, "you have an hour to get dressed and to pack a bag; you're with me for the next 24 hours". The following 24 hours was a total blur, but I had so much fun with my girls. I came back home feeling extremely refreshed and very grateful :)

The second half of the spread features a few inspirational messages from Instagram and highlights some gorgeous weather we had (near 80 degrees in mid-march).

 

Part four (roughly 3/18-2/24):

The early days of March Madness + one of Sade's friends (he's the #3 basketball player in the country) held a press conference announcing his commitment for the fall (looks like we'll have a reason to cheer for The Big Blue Nation).

Daddy was in Boston. Plus, I attempted to reconfigure my studio space to make room for Lauryn and her crafts. It was a total fail AND the room might be messier than it was before. Right.

I hope you guys are enjoying your Sunday. I'm trying to check a ton of items off of my to-do list before basketball resumes this evening :)

xo,

e

 

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 

project life 2013 | march | part two

Hi everyone! Happy Easter (to those of you who celebrate it).

My husband is out of town, so the kids and I had a lowkey Sunday: a little candy, a ton of plastic grass and some time in the sunshine. Oh, and we may have stayed in our pajamas all day :)

My next Project Life spread documents Lauryn's fifth birthday.

photos of Lauryn's friends have been blurred for privacy

We had an art party at a local art studio; such a good time! The Instagram digi template is by Nettio Designs; Artsy print and frame journaling card are from this set by Sarah Champion. 

The #5 is a stitched 3x4 card. The full set will be available in my shop this week.

The speech bubble card is another template by Nettio Designs. Due to the blur, you can't tell how cute the card is. I'll have more of these in next week's spread :)

Have a great night!

xo,

e

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011

30 days of lists | march 2013 | days 20-25

Oh yes, I do realize that I've skipped ahead quite a bit since my last 30 Days of Lists post. I'm completely caught up in my journal, but I started to stress about the fact that I haven't shared everything on the blog yet.

Today, I decided that I'm just going to move forward...stress be gone!

day twenty: I do not regret...

 

day twenty-one: today's weather reminds me of

I guess you can't beat a high of 72 in March!

 

day twenty-two: roadtrip playlist

The prompt for Day 16 was "this month's soundrack". My music really doesn't change much ;)

 

day twenty-three: past injuries

As I mentioned on Instagram, the majority of my injuries were from a childhood filled with competitive gymnastics and volleyball.

 

day twenty-four: pets (past and present)

 

day twenty-five: when faced with a tough decision...

 

Have a great night everyone! I'm heading upstairs with a bowl of popcorn. I have TWO episodes of Scandal to watch :)

 

xo,

e

project life 2013 | march | part one

Hello Project Life March! Sorry for the strange photos. I'm not sure why they look blown out!

This spread covers March 1-8. The bottom row of the left side (above) is where my birthday stuff starts :)

My birthday is carried over onto the first 2 rows of the ride side as well. I included a screen shot of an Instagram birthday wish from my dear friend Stephanie, my ahi tuna tower (yum!) from my dinner with the kids, a photo of the little ones enjoying some cupcakes.

My husband arrived back home later in the week.

I also had a few inserts this week:

I used this insert to document my daughter's fashion show at school. She entitled her collection "All Black Everything".

It's hard to tell from the photo above, but I have 2 4x6 pockets (cut down from a full sheet similar to these) on top of a Design H page protector (they will return in May to Amazon). I scanned the program from the fashion show (the original will go into Sade's scrapbook), then cropped it into two 4x6 images to fit inside the pockets.

Flipping those pockets over! Top left is the description of Sade's collection (scanned from the original brochure); underneath is my journaling. I may have gushed just a little :)

On the back, the fashion designer with her two biggest fans.

Lesson of the week = even if your photos are garbage (the fashion show photos are truly horrible), use them. It's always worth it in the end!

xo,

e

Not familiar with Project Life? Learn more here. Check out all of my Project Life posts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011

30 days of lists | march 2013 | days 3-7

Happy Monday everyone!

Even though I'm caught up with 30 Days of Lists, I'm clearly behind in sharing.

Here are days 3-7!

day three: this _______ I am going to ______ 

This June, I am going to move back to Seattle. It's true! I don't think I've talked about it much on the blog, but we'll be heading back to Seattle after our oldest finishes high school. I'll be sharing more about that in the upcoming months.

day four: on a typical day 

Since my birthday was on March 4, I tweaked the prompt a little bit in order to document my day :)

day five: this month

• i will lose 3 more pounds
• i will celebrate Lauryn's FIFTH birthday
• i will pack up the dining room + the game room closet
• i will take stuff to Goodwill, the consigment shop and to the dump
• i will go to they gym at least 3 days/week
• i will get ready for Corey's and Sade's birthdays
• i will finish reading "Holiday in Death"

day six: my talents

I wrote all of my talents on this card, then put the card inside this super cute envelope. For some reason, I could only come up with a few talents:

• good listener
• crafty
• decent cook
• a little athletic

day seven: in my bag

On this day, I wrote a guest post on the 30 Days of Lists blog. It was my very first guest post, and I was nervous. It didn't help that I originally intended to include photos of my purse and its contents. Yeah...total FAIL!

Over the next week, I'll probably inundate the blog with 30 Days of lists posts until I catch up. Right now, I'm getting the little ones ready for bed. I'll be right behind them; my throat is feeling a little scratchy :(

xo,

e