handmade:modern by elizabeth rosemond (the blog)

project life | march 2012 | part one

 Hey everyone! I'm popping in to share the first part of Project Life for March. 

The beginning of March marked a turning point in my health. The doctor prescribed a second round of both antibiotics and steroids and I finally started feeling better. 

My husband surprised me with a birthday dinner at The Keg with our friends (we've only made a few here in Dallas, but they're all golden). We stayed at a hotel that night, so I got a much-needed night's sleep. In the morning we went to brunch. YUM.

My insert this week (above) included my birthday cards and am awesome paper napkin (part of a gift from my friend Bertie).

The day after my birthday celebration (on the 4th, my actual bday) we decided to celebrate Lauryn's 4th birthday (her bday is the 10th, but Corey was going to be traveling). While I took Lauryn to her soccer game, Corey went to the bike shop and grabbed her a beautiful previously loved mountain bike (long story, but I originally bought this Radio Flyer at Target. MAJOR FAIL). The stitched #4 tag is from a set I created. You can grab one here.

I used one of Becky's 12x12 pouches as an insert this week (I can't wait until the new pouch sizes come out this summer!). I used thickers to label the pouch, then threw in all of Lauryn's cards.

Nothing too exciting here ;)

But THIS? This is goodness. I took Miss Lauryn to American Girl as part of her birthday present. We gave her a Bitty Baby for Christmas and I thought she'd like to pick out a little something for her. The horrible photo above of the right hand side of the spread is from our Afternoon Tea at the Bistro. SO.MUCH.FUN. At only $10 per person, we're definitely doing that again. The pink sticky note on the bottom right pocket is a reminder to reprint that overly-yellow Instagram photo. But you know what? I'm going to leave it as it is. It's one of my very favorite from the day (she's in bed looking at her babies enjoying their new bed).

My insert is simply a Design A page protector cut in half. Lauryn eventually settled on the sweet trundle bed (which came with two mattresses and bedding, which is why I think she wanted it).

I nearly had a heart attack when I saw these Bitty Twins! They look like a little Lauryn and a little Michael. They're the same size as the Bitty Baby (vs. the full sized dolls), so everything Lauryn already has will fit. Hello Christmas ;)

I really never thought I'd become that mom, blogging about American Girl babies. And yet, here we are ;)

Have a great night!

xo,

e 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

project life | february 2012 | part two

Hello April!! We have enjoyed a weekend of  gorgeous weather here in Dallas. I'm currently parked at the kitchen table watching the Women's NCAA Final Four (Corey is playing with the littles upstairs), so I thought this was the perfect time to share the rest of my Project Life for February :)

Can you tell this was the week of Valentine's Day? I had so much product in my stash that I was dying to use on this spread, but I don't even think I made a dent!

LOVE card in top photo from Jamaica's shop (I also included her cute invoice/thank you note). Pink heart is from Paper Source. 

Some close friends of ours welcomed their first baby (after years of trying) on Valentine's Day so I knew little Taigen had to be included this week :)

I also had a few inserts this week:

 

Corey gave me a sweet Snoopy card ( I love Snoopy!). On the other side is the front of a card Lauryn made at school. The grapes are her little thumb prints :)

This is a cute heart Lauryn made at school. On the backside (I forgot to take a photo) is her signature. Love that!

I think this speaks for itself! This was the beginning of the longest three weeks in history. In the top right corner pocket is my prescription slip from Walgreens. You'll be seeing a bunch of these in late February and March.

The weather was nice and I started to feel a little better. Picked up a book at the library (which inspired the TV series "GCB"). Worst.book.ever.

Full spread (sorry for the glare).

I took little Michael to the library for the first time (he didn't care about the songs or stories, but he loved the bubbles afterward) and Miss Lauryn fell ill with a sinus infection. I felt well enough to take the kids to the playground at our favorite grocery store and for a Shamrock Shake (I swear they used to taste so much better). Took some photos of Lauryn in her new Harajuki Mini dress before she headed to school to take her official school photo.

One insert this week (President's Day related):

...and the best part:

Priceless!

That's it for February. I've definitely fallen a little behind on March. I'm refuse to give up, but I think I might have to re-think my workflow.

Have a great night!

xo,

e

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

 

project life | february 2012 | part one

Happy Friday everyone! It's gorgeous day in Dallas and we're gearing up for a weekend with temps in the low 80s. YES! Grilling and salad-making are definitely in my immediate future. Before I get too busy, I wanted to pop in and share the first half of my Project Life for February :)

After editing all of these photos, I realized that blogging about Project Life on a monthly basis makes for massive blog posts! From here on out, I'll break each month up into two posts. You probably remember that I'm not working on this project on a weekly basis (too stressful!), so this is what is working for me.

The title page this month is from the bottom of the February Anthro catalog (click on photos to see them a little larger).  

I wanted to be sure to document Whitney Houston's death, but I also wanted to keep the mood somewhat positive. I downloaded some album art, then used a Smash journaling page to document my 5 favorite Whitney songs :)

Right in the middle of the period was A Day in the Life. I wanted to keep things super simple, so I just used my iPhone for every photo (my DSLR was in the shop anyway). The entire day is now documented and is nestled in the middle of this week:

I simply used 2 of Becky's Design F Page Protectors, which are awesome for iPhone photos (it looks like they're sold out until late April; see all of Becky's products here).  I cut off the very last column of each one so that they'd be a little smaller than my normal protectors. The title page is a free dowload from Ali, which can be found here.

I'll share the rest of February early next week. Right now, I have two little people in desperate need of baths after playing outside this afternoon!

Have a great night :)

xo,

e

 

 

 

 

 

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

project life | january 2012

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm popping in quickly to share my Project Life for January. I fell a little behind when I was sick, so I'm glad to have the first month of the year under my belt.

The girls headed back to school after their holiday break and life returned to normal :)

Michael and I went on a field trip to a local sanctuary with Lauryn's preschool class; I got a much needed morning at the nail salon; Lauryn ate her weight in cheese (again!); I found a "snake warning" sign on my morning walk.

I received some happy mail from Oprah; bought a ton of Martha Stewart's new labels (LOVE!); the Saints lost to the 49ers; my teenager left me some photobooth pics on my laptop; we had some amazing January weather

I wrote a letter to myself re: my weightloss/wellness journey (it's hidden behind my top left photo); thunderstorms; Michael and I both had sinus infections (which is why the second half of the spread is so sparse).

I also had an insert this week:

The theme of the week at Lauryn's school was the letter D. I had a serious fit of the giggles when this piece came home :)

Done and done! I'm currently plowing through February. How is your Project Life shaping up?

xo,

e

 

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

project life twentytwelve | title page

Hello Project Life 2012!

My loyal readers know that I attempted Project Life in 2011. I managed to get through April without completely breaking down, but I was stressed: frustrated about trying to "keep up" and felt guilty because I just couldn't make it work. Frankly, I just gave up.  However, I still collected little bits of life and I continued taking my usual photos.

I started to get excited again when Becky released her new products this past fall! I defintely wanted to try again, but new that something had to change. I realized that I was really weighed down/stressed out by the "week-to-week" documentation. So, I decided not to document our lives that way. For me, this will be a monthly project; some months will be sparse, others will be chock-full of photos and ephemera. I'm totally ok with that!

So, I wanted to share the title page for my 2012 album:

I clearly need to find a better way to take photos of these page protectors!

I wanted the title page to be fairly simple + neutral, so I printed all of my photos in black and white.

On the top right is a 4x6 sheet of kraft paper, topped with a few Mister Huey's, a paper doily and some awesome woodgrain Thickers (they were in a recent Studio Calico kit). As soon as I buy some more thread for my sewing machine, I'll stitch those Thickers down!). I wrote "twenty" on the doily with my favorite pen.

The 3x4 card on the left side is from the Clementine kit (LOVING it!), as are those orange arrows that are on the grid card (there's an arrow for each of us - I wrote down our names and ages as of January 1, 2012). The #6 is a metal piece from 7 Gypsies that I've been hoarding since we were the Rosemond Five :)

My plan is to share my pages monthly (just enough sharing, I think). I'll also show you the rest of 2011 as I work on it. I've been working through it backwards, so I'll be sharing December 2011 soon.

xo,

e

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