Weekend progress..

Lots of crafting was done here this weekend, which always makes me happy! The kids put together and painted several models, Chloe made her own banquet of food with model magic, then Chloe and I stitched up an adorable felt owl mommy and baby. After being inspied by Leigh-Ann's project, I decided to alter my retro photo album into a book of gratitude, just to add little thoughts of thankfulness whenever I feel compelled. I slipped patterened paper into each little pocket, and just need to add a quote or other gracious tid-bit. Seems simple enough, and fun!
I also read the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller cover to cover. I first read about it on Ali's blog post here, and since we have the same word for this year, story, I thought it would be something worth checking out. I included a bunch of quotes I liked from the book on my page for the day.
Here are a few favorites...

Live a story; a life designed and lived with intention.

We learn our story through each other.

Half the effort is finding out what the story is going to be.

We are all living out the character of the roles we have played in our stories.

We are designed to live through something, rather than attain something and that thing was designed to change us.

The point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.

People love to have lived a great story, but few like the work it takes to make it happen.

Five Senses Friday: grey January edition

I love participating in abby's five senses friday. It's been so cloudy and grey around here lately. I can't complain too much, all that cloud cover means milder temperatures. touch: To perk things up a bit, the kids have been working on lots of art projects to add some bursts of color to our world, which makes an extraordinary mess and is utterly enjoyable.smell: Also enjoying all the citrus love that I've been seeing around blogland. Found this post and this especially inspiring. After eating these little cuties I saved the rind in little bowls to dry them. I remember having some of these cute little citrus containers that my grandmother had dried and I treasured them, so I thought I'd make some of my own.hear: We're really enjoying our new/old (from an estate sale) dining room table and chairs. I love thinking about all the family gatherings and conversations that have taken place at the table and so many more we will be adding to it's history.see: Hoping to get to work on some fun projects that I've envisioned and just need to get to work on. Definitely want to do something inspired by Leigh-Ann's great project here. taste: Love having a new "breakfast club" with some friends. Enjoyed taking my friend on her first outing since her accident. Check out her funky cast!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet thoughts...

Is it too early to start thinking about Chloe's fifth birthday?! (it's April 14th! hehe.) I'm not anxious for her to turn five, just excited to throw her a "minty" birthday party!! I love all the planning:) Here's some sweet inspiration on a cold, grey day.
1. pom poms, 2. vintage looking rabbit, 3. _BlueBallerina, 4. Back Porch, 5. blue1, 6. Fabric Inspired Cake, 7. Vintage Barrette Card, 8. Cake Pouch with Bow (blue) 1, 9. six, 10. Untitled, 11. food - multi-colored candy bar, 12. cake - bunt with pies, 13. food - colorful candy bar, 14. Sprinkles teal green cupcake, 15. GROUP BOOKING AT BAKE-A-BOO, 16. Farfallette Fascinator // Bows Tied, 17. Fabric Trees, 18. *JL* Doll-hollywood dolls-1, 19. Love Bites, 20. Untitled, 21. pretty camera!, 22. tue2, 23. A happy vintage find!, 24. FOUND!!! fabric - grandpas dots in green, 25. Coconut Layer Cake 4x4 Art Squared plaque, 26. Untitled, 27. Pink/Mint Party Banner, 28. pink blue cupcake hat, 29. Mint-balloons, 30. Sweet Little Mint Chip Brownie Cuppies with Ganache and Mint Buttercream, 31. Mint tea garden gala outfit, 32. "Choco-mint Minis", 33. Mint-Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.09, 34. scalloped fabric garland, 35. Untitled, 36. Mary Blair handkerchief

Dailyness...

I am truly enjoying the process of my page-a-day resolution for the year. Each day depicts my "everyday life" like visiting my friend that was in a bad accident, our meals for the week, balloons that made me so happy, holiday photos, lots of movies, time inside and outdoors soaking in the winter sunlight, skyping with Hope, and totally out-of-nowhere finding a new dining room table and chairs at an estate sale. The pages are super basic, each taking under 5 min. to create, but together telling a story of where we are right now in 2010. The joy is in the photography and choosing how I depict each day on the page. This is definitely my favorite new years resolution to date and I really look forward to keeping up with it.

Inspire me...

There are definitely some perks to being a librarian. I've always been a big fan of the illustrations in children's books. Then when I came across the book All Kinds of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Marc Boutavant at work a few weeks ago, I knew I had found something truly special. Marc's illustrations inspired me to no end. They were retro, yet whimsical and warm and I felt as Elsie said, it was "magical and beautiful". So I had to see more. My amazon order just arrived the other day with these three books. All Kinds of Families

For Just One Day by Laura Leuck and Marc Boutavant.And the best sticker book ever, Around the World with Mouk by Marc Bouvatant.

The book Pen Play also features Marc and many many other wonderful children's illustrators. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do! Who's inspiring you lately?

Embracing winter...

We've had a long cold snap here in Minnesota and now we're in what's considered a "warm up". For us northern folks, that means above freezing! It's supposed to last almost a week. Although the highest temperature I've seen today is 19 degrees. It's quite amazing how good that can feel after so many sub-zero days. This morning I went out to capture the glorious crystalized world all around. Beautiful!

Style school....

I'm really excited about Elsie and Leigh-Ann's Style School online class getting started on Sunday! Here are my homework pages depicting my current style inspiration in different areas of my life.
Can't wait to see what comes out of this class. Should be fun!
Anyone else taking it?
Have a wonderful weekend!

Color my world...

What's better on a frigid and snowy January day than some bright spots of color?!

My life in 2010....

I have a new year's goal of doing a scrapbook page a day in 2010. That may sound crazy, but I did it in Sept., Oct. and Dec. last year and really enjoyed the process and the results. As long as I do one album per month and put the paper in at the beginning of the month, I seem to get into the flow of taking the photos and desiging a page for each day. It becomes a diary, of sorts, and I really love how I remain more mindful throughout the day, enjoying the ordinary moments and documenting them. I am also using supplies that I have around the house. This album I bought ages ago on clearance and never used and I filled it with coordinating paper by going through my stash and dividing up my paper by season. A bin for each. Hopefully being organized at the get go will keep me going when things get tough. So here is what my year looks like so far...

I made a page about my sisters last day home before heading back to California. Loved how much our girls look like us in this photo!!

I really enjoyed reading Heather's post about her word of the year Celebrate!!

Just discovered Marc Boutavant's illustration work while at the library yesterday. So inspiring!! I adore the colors and the characters he creates.
Today's page is about Lowell going back to school and the alphabet book he created for homework. I love the pictures he drew!

Hope to share many more pages with you throughout the year.