getting ready & making a list

I don't know how most people go about packing for a trip, but for me it's something that I kind of look forward too..... and actually I think packing might just be the most exciting part of the trip. That sounds crazy right? Much like planning my weekly menus, I approach packing in the same way. I make a long list, write down each day and what I plan on wearing for the day - even down to the purse and shoes. Because I'm traveling this time with the kids, I'll do the same with their suitcases. All in a effort to keep things simple and hopefully I won't forget anything! ~ that's the plan anyway.

vintage inspired by TaraAnderson featuring travel bags

I've been playing on Polyvore - careful, it's addicting and extremely time consuming! This is what my mental picture of each day looks like. *dork alert* When I was a little younger, I would separate all of my clothes and accessories into individual bags with a label that had the day of the week. An entire outfit in a bag.... it took the guess work out of wondering what to wear in the morning.

Don't worry, I'm not nearly as organized when it comes to unpacking. In fact, I've been known to take my sweet time unpacking after a trip ~ as in weeks. :))

Monday Menu

It's been awhile without posting my weekly menu!

I actually enjoy going to the grocery store in the summer time. Not only is it about 40 degrees cooler than the blazing outside temps., now when you first walk into the store you can smell the nectarines & peaches. yummm! Plus, during summer, it's perfectly acceptable to serve salads every night of week and no one complains! So cooking during this season is super simple!

Here's this weeks menu.

Monday:
Fish Tacos
3 bean salad
watermelon

Tuesday:
Grilled Garlic Chicken
Mango Salsa
guacamole
Salad

Wednesday:
Eggplant Sandwiches
honeydew & blackberries with brown sugar lime sauce

Thursday:
Asian Beef & Vegetable Wraps
"fried" rice * I use brown rice with soy sauce to create an non-fried rice

Friday:
Terriyaki Chicken
Thai Coconut Rice with Mango's
Roasted Zucchini

Saturday: Breakfast night-
Grilled French Toast skewers
grilled white peaches with mascarpone cheese and honey
turkey bacon
eggs

Sunday:
either left-overs or Pizza

Now, time for a late night snack and some photo editing! night-night!

guest designing + Crate Paper

I think this month has been one of my busiest yet! Thankfully, it's almost over! I was asked to be a guest designer this month at Skissedilla - sketch blog.




I have this layout hanging in my studio right now, it's kind of inspired by the confetti packets I made for Crate Paper's wedding week. Who knew little paper circles could be so inspiring!

I also decided to host the giveaway for the sketch challenge as well ~ a little handmade & vintage embellishment kit, because everyone could use a little something extra!




On the Crate Paper blog today, my very first Crate DIY project has just been posted! Alaina and I got crafty and made a few Art display boards for her room, complete with tiny vintage tart-tin magnets. It's a fun summer craft project to try and it could be completely versatile! I plan on making another larger one for my kitchen pantry - to post the menu plans for the week and other lists.








whew!! I think that covers today's events. I have a whole day of apts. and errands and then a little dinner party to host this evening. Busy indeed - Happy Monday!

lovely sunday

color inspiration for the weekend - more suited for Spring but still pretty and light enough for Summer.

question of the day

What do you collect? Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 collections:

1. vintage glass containers/jars

2. postage stamps (especially birds, butterflies, and stamps from Malaysia & Singapore)

3. India flower vases
4. vintage cameras (of course! I have a particular love for Kodak cameras & Polaroids)



5. Orchids (I now have 5 plants living in my kitchen)


Do you collect something unexpected? I will admit, I never thought I would be a dorky stamp collector..... and yet, I have a great collection of pretty stamps. So, I will wear that title proudly!


Got to run and pick up the girl from art-camp. I have a bunch of projects to share for Crate Paper this week and a fun little giveaway as well. Be back soon!

Crate: wedding week

Over the past few years I've been adding various DIY ideas to my wedding-redo file. How many times have you thought "if only I could re-do my wedding, I would have done _______ differently?" Luckily for me, Peter has promised that when we renew our vows, that I can have that big wedding reception I've been dreaming of and planning for!! So, I've been storing away ideas; from color combinations to flower/plants, place settings ideas, decor concepts and a few menu ideas.

but then.... this week Crate Paper gave us the chance to create something wedding-theme-ish and I got to test out some of my ideas. Since I couldn't choose just one project, I created a few smaller project-ideas. If you don't have a wedding in the near future, I think any of these projects could easily work for an outdoor dinner party too!!

{I did a little write-up about each of these projects on the Crate Paper Blog.} My concept was: vintage cameras mixed with pretty scrapbook supplies.

{Table Number Cards}

{Table Seating Name Cards}

my favorite project! {Tear & Toss Confetti packets} I used a wax tissue paper and sewed them into small bags, filled with some handmade Crate Paper confetti and sewed a small tag across the top!

{mini paper garlands} ~ made from Emma's Shoppe and Portrait scraps

The Crate Paper Blog today, is giving away 2 Portrait Collections, pop over there and leave a comment to enter the giveaway and to see the rest of the design teams wedding creations! xo~ T

from the studio this morning

I have a few scrapbook layouts and maybe an atc or 2 and a color combo. on the agenda for today. An entire day devoted to being creative... hopefully. :)

Alaina and I love this song right now! Even little Chase dances around the studio when it plays. It's a fun song to listen to while working!

Enjoy your Tuesday!

weekends were made for the zoo

Warm Sunday morning at the zoo +
Picnic lunch under a shady tree +
Icees to keeps us cool +
2 Enthusiastic kids +
1 cute friend +
= a perfect weekend!

the hide-out queen

Sometimes you just need to build a fort and hide out for awhile. My imaginary fort is constructed of mostly vintage linens (the pretty floral ones) little twinkling white lights and lot's of big cozy Indian inspired floor pillows. I think that day-dreaming is lovely - even as an adult. It's been almost a month since I've posted here. I suppose, too much has transpired these past 2 months, certainly more than I care to share, so I did what any normal person would do: I hid. Metaphorically of course, as there is no pretty fort to take refuge in. But the much needed break from the Internet has proven to be a wonderful and creatively freeing idea. Just think: you cut out all Internet interaction for one month. Think of all the extra time you would then have to be creative. It's been nice..... and I didn't really plan to be gone for this long but hey, some of my best ideas have started out as mistakes.

live & learn

Creative, I have been. I've had time to scrapbook, to paint, to collage. I put together another Color Combo. for Crate Paper this month. I love color combinations, and Crate Paper and Christine over there just keep proving to be the perfect fit for me. I'm so thankful to have such a great place to be apart of.

I also put together a Push-Pin tutorial for Crate Paper last month. I ended up, clearing out most of my craft room and giving the room to Alaina to move into. So I made a little list of some things I was looking for, for the new craft room-space.

My new craft room - the process.

I found this beautiful end table while out visiting an antique store with Chase a couple of weekends ago. It needed a home and I was looking for something similar but more gold-ish, but for the price, this one was coming home with me. I've since found curtains for the room, light blue. As I complete the room I'll take photos however, I will say that I have had 2 people, just this week, walk by it and ask if that's my craft room.... I must have done something right with it. ;)

and finally, starting this Monday - Crate paper will be hosting an entire week of inspiring wedding themed projects.... and I may have a project or 3 to share next week for their wedding extravaganza!! Oh, and there will be 4 giveaways too, so be sure to pop in throughout the week - because you know you want a chance to win Crate Paper products!! :)

have a beautiful weekend. ~ T

May Color Challenge

I've been wanting to do this color combo f o r e v e r! I adore navy blue right now -just can't get enough. Since this is my monthly challenge for Crate Paper, I really wanted to challenge myself to use a color that, ordinarily, I would pass up. Purple. In any shade, I rarely use it, so this was the perfect challenge to try my hand at incorrporating a little lavender into my work.

This month's color pallete for the Crate Color Challenge is: Royal Blue - Sky Blue - Lavender

Pretty right! and here's the inspiration wire I put together for this month.

I had originally planned on creating just a layout, but the more I played with Crate's Neighborhood and Portrait collections, I thought a mini would be fun to make! Plus, I had chosen too many embellishments that I really wanted to use, and they were not going to all fit on just 1 layout.

My mini called: 5pm (because it's the best time to be in the front yard taking shadow photos!)

Since, I'm not that keen on the lavender color, I used it as an accent color. This way it didn't have a chance to overpower any of my pages. I custom blended 3 different paint colors (cream, magenta, royal purple) to create a lovely pinky-purple shade and painted all of the little paper flowers I used in the book. I would always say that if there is a color in the challenge that you don't particularly like, use it as an accent color!

I found this pretty navy Chanel flower and decided to add a few feathers & some vintage lace and make it into a gift adornment for the book, once it's wrapped with ribbon.

I hope you love this color combo as much as I do!! If you're feeling inspired this month and would like to play along with the challenge, I have the rules posted on the Crate Paper blog and you have until the 15th to create something! Oh, and did I mention there is an amazing prize for the winner each month!