Hawaii Mini Album Part 1

While preparing for Hawaii, I was pining over making a journal/mini album of our trip. I had done this once before when we went to Park City but that was a pre-baby vacation! However, after reading a post by Amy Tan about her recent trip to Hawaii, I just had to do it. I gathered some scraps from my table..leftovers from other projects.. and made a collection of similarly themed tags, paper scraps, stickers, etc. I used the 8 x 8 Maya Road Binder Album which is a great album as long as you don't use too many bulky add-ons. Each evening, after Liam went to bed, I'd take all my supplies out and make the page for that day..just one layout. Here is Monday, Feb. 14th.....

(The postcard part is actually a flip out with other things written underneath it.)

Day number 2 along the western part of the island... I even glued on some sea glass pieces I found along Glass Beach.

Day number 3 along the eastern side of the island...

Our last day...
A final picture to remember....

I still have another page and the cover to post as well as some of the flip out sections. Be back later this week!!!

Aloha!

Greetings from Hawaii!! We just returned from a week away in paradise...*sigh*. Wish we could have stayed longer but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. We had never been to Hawaii before so we decided on Kauai, which was a perfect fit...lots of green lush vegetation, waterfalls, ocean, and roosters??? Yes, roosters! Roosters that start crowing at random times, including 4 am! However, other favorites far outweighed the cock-a-doodle-dooing...including shave ice with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom, banana frosties, lots of fresh ono and seafood, and Hawaiian hot dogs with mango relish!

Here is my dream home.. TURQUOISE!! ...right across the street from the ocean where we also saw baby sea turtles swimming in the surf.

My husband enjoyed lots of surfing while I was content to enjoy amazing scenery while running along the shore! Tag-team style, of course, since vacationing with a baby was definitely a change in mindset...no boat tours, no ziplining, no 8-mile hikes back to a hidden waterfall... {not bad} just different.
Liam at the beach for the very first time. He LOVED it and he loved to eat the sand. Just when he'd have a fully coated hand is when he'd want to suck his thumb. Go figure! To be expected...

There was lots of color and beauty everywhere you looked! We definitely plan to return when Liam is a bit older and more self-sufficient. I even took a little time each night to make a mini book with journaling of our day's activities! Hopefully I will have some time to take pics today and post it later in the week. Mahalo {thanks} for stopping by...have a great weekend!

December Revisited

Happy weekend!! I finally got around to taking some pictures of my December album. I purchased the album from the very sweet and talented Debee Campos. I think I've mentioned her work before on my blog. If you've never visited her blog called Art as Life, you must stop by. She just opened a new etsy shop, Inspire Lovely, which is stocked with all sorts of sunshiny (probably not a word) goodness!!

So here is my little guy with his Christmas outfit on, all ready to deck the halls...

The cover of the album, inspired by Debee. The "flowers" are actually red sequins which I french knotted onto the cardstock.
The toy soldier on the left is a fun pull toy that was my husband's when he was a boy. I thought the handprint was a great idea to look back on and remember how small Liam was!
Liam's Christmas ornament for 2010...picked out by mommy at mommy's favorite store, Anthropologie!! Can't go wrong with anything from there!!

Daddy and Liam playing the African drums during a "music lesson" over the holiday break. The style of this page was inspired by a new blog I've been reading by Vee Jennings.
That's just a sampling of some of the pages. I was happy with myself that I am finally using the sewing machine that I got for Christmas last year!! I haven't sewed one piece of fabric with it, but sure have stitched a lot of paper using it!! Lots of fun!!!!

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone out there has had a positive productive start to the new year!! It seems like just yesterday we were putting up the Christmas tree and now it's Martin Luther King Day weekend! I've been busy with lots of creative projects even though it doesn't look like it on my blog. I had some computer problems over the holidays so I didn't want to load pictures onto it if I was going to have to buy a new one. The glitches seem to be worked out so I'm going to try to play catch up and post some things I've been up to later this weekend. Here is one of the very best things I've been up to...watching this little guy grow!! He's almost 9 months old..wow! Not crawling yet but everyone tells me not to rush it and enjoy having my house in one piece.

A few other things that kept me busy in the last month were the December Daily album, although it turned out to be just a December album...no daily! I also signed up for the One Little Word year long class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. That really has helped to get me excited about 2011! My word for the year is NURTURE...I think you can guess why! Lots to nurture in the year ahead...for myself and others. See you back here later this weekend...enjoy the warmth and sunshine if you are in southern CA!

Elves Among Us

...and I've got one living right here in my house!! These were a few pictures from our photo session at home, trying to get some cute shots for our family Christmas card. Today was the last day of work until after the holidays...lots of Christmas preparations to still get done. I'm just so happy we'll be home for the next two weeks with our little boy! What fun this holiday will be! Holly jolly fun!!

Unlock Your Story

Being a new mom with little to no time, the online class thing is THE way to go these days!! I am so happy for the internet and the worldwide community of creative people out there...you're never alone!! I'm participating in a class offered by Elizabeth Kartchner (aka Dear Lizzy) entitled "Unlock Your Story". Just love her blog...always a great pocket of color and sunshine! It's really important to me to get all of those little, yet important, moments down on paper as Liam grows because I hear from lots of moms that the images you think will always be seared in your head slowly fade. Hence, my signing up for this class! They are lesson 7 right now, and I'm only on the cover but I will catch up sooner or later! I did not purchase the class kit since it utilized colors that were more inclined towards the girly side, so I used papers from the My Mind's Eye collection called "Lost and Found". Here is my cover...

My husband said there was a little too much glitter on the cover for a boy but I said: (1) the glitter was already on the paper so it was out of my control...always good to blame things on someone else...hee hee and (2) too much glitter??!!! Could there ever be TOO much glitter?!! Seriously....where has he been all this time!!!!!

Liam the Lion

Hear me ROAR!! Well..not exactly...this is a gentle lion that giggles alot!!

On another note...I finally finished up my next mini album of Liam spanning months 4 and 5. I always get these great mini books from Eve Johnson at Evalicious...she puts together the cutest stuff! I also got a new baby one from her this past spring which I used to document our first month with Liam. She puts together albums using eclectic little pages of this and that...then all you need to do is add the pictures, embellishments, and your journaling..super easy for a new mom with very little time! Here is the cover:

Daddy reading a book to Liam...

Liam's first football game of the season! Eating chicken wings and rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles...
(Sorry these pictures are not the best...I have limited time for photo ops and even less time to write a post!)

I hope everyone in southern California is finally enjoying the cool crisp fall weather!!! Loved the extra hour today!! Have a great week ahead!!!