16/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Outside in t-shirts, enjoying the sunshine and the warm breeze. Finally, spring has arrived. (What a dramatic difference compared to ten weeks ago)

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Three Things

Three things that made me smile on the weekend.

A surprise gathering for my birthday. It was truly the last thing I was expecting and I was so happy.

Beautiful flowers (from my hubby) and a gorgeous red owl (from my Mom). The owl is intended as a garden ornament, but I am not certain I will be placing him outside in the dirt....he may find a home inside the house.

The tulips are coming. I look at the rest of the garden and am quite overwhelmed by all the work that needs to get done, but seeing these shoots pushing out of the dirt makes me smile.

Hope you had a great weekend full of smiles.

15/52

 

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Claire - You are now reading on your own. I love to listen to you as you whisper the words, sounding out the ones you don't know by sight. You are so proud of yourself, and we are so proud of you.

Bridget - You lost another tooth this week giving you a typical (and adorable) eight-year-old smile. Biting has become a bit of a challenge, yet somehow you manage.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Cross Stitch Necklace and Brooch

Up until a few months ago (when they ceased publication) I had a subscription to the US Edition of Mollie Makes. Oh I loved that magazine - the patterns, the profiles of craft shops (sometimes in cities that I have visited), the beautifully styled photographs - it was a monthly dose of creative and crafty inspiration that I really looked forward to. I was quite sad when I learned that it was coming to an end.

To finish out my subscription, I have been receiving the UK edition of the magazine, with the perk of a little craft kit included with each issue.

This past month's kit was for a cross stitch necklace and brooch.

It has been ages since I did any cross stitch - I used to be quite avid in this craft - so I thought I would give this a try. There were many templates to choose from in the magazine.

After settling on my designs I set to work and created this necklace and brooch.

It was a quick little make, a modern take on the old craft of cross stitch, and I quite like how it turned out.

Of all the Mollie Makes mini craft kits that I have - from my subscription and from the odd magazine I have purchased on its own - this is the first one that I have actually made. Maybe I should get going on some of the others...they seem the perfect thing for learning a new skill (I have one with embroidery, and embroidery is something I am interested in trying) or for dusting off an older skill and using it in a new way, like this kit.

Have you tried any new crafts or revisited some older ones lately? I'd love to hear about it.

Growing Up

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. 

I have another layout to share with you today, and this one is based on the latest sketch challenge over at The Memory Nest.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my page:

These are pictures are of my oldest daughter before she went to her first Brownies sleepover. She was so happy and excited to be going on this adventure and she had an incredible time with all her friends. To me the whole thing was a stark reminder that my little girl is growing up, but I refuse to be saddened (too much) by that; things are as they should be. 

I used papers and embellishments from the Life Documented line by Simple Stories for this layout. I bought this line on a complete whim at my local scrapbook store and I am really glad I did.

As always, the other ladies on the Design Team have created some great layouts based on this sketch. Be sure to check them out here. 

14/52

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2015."

The Easter Bunny came so we had an early morning egg hunt with you girls in your pajamas. Running about the house looking for plastic eggs made you two so happy; and the egg hunting continued throughout the day as you took turns setting up egg hunts for each other.

Joining in with Jodi for the 52 Week Project.

Huh?

I made this card in less than five minutes.

All the pieces just sort of came together.

The numbers are an entire sheet of rub-ons that I have had forever. I love the font but have never had the right project to use them on, that is until I had the brilliant idea to put them all on the front of this card.

The patterned papers are just scraps...that happened to coordinate perfectly with the numbers.

The “Huh?” journaling sprout is from Jillibean Soup. The perfect addition.

I think you could use this card for any occasion – birthday, congratulations, thank you, thinking of you – the lack of a traditional sentiment on the front really leaves it wide open.

What do you think?