Monday, March 26, 2012

She turns 5

Happy Monday everyone !!

I do half to admit that Mondays are not my favorite. They mean weekends over, back to school, back to reality, back to the to do list, and back to cleaning. You see Mondays are cleaning, vacuuming, finish the laundry days. Yuck !!

I do want to take some time today and share with you all some pictures from Maddie's birthday party. Birthdays are usually big deals around our house and this one was no exception. Way before he birthday came around I took Maddie to the party store to pick out her birthday "THEME". Up and down the aisles we went,  in search of the perfect birthday party stuff. It took a little while to come to a decision. But in the end it was Smurfs. Yes, Smurfs. Don't know why but Smurfs were the first choice. So we had a smurf party.

My Birthday Girl.


I invited some of Maddie's friends from church to her birthday party. I made invitations on the computer and we took them out one Sunday afternoon before the birthday party. She was so excited to get to deliver the invitations.

The big day came around and I had everything done. I reused the idea of printing out some Smurfs to hang around the house for decorations.


We played Bingo.


All the kids were given a bucket so that they could search and pick smurf berries. (AKA easter eggs that I had hid around the room).


We also played musical chairs to the Smurf theme song, and then opened presents. Then came the cake. I really was going to research something cute to make. But the day before the party, reality came knocking and I realized that I didn't have time.And I decided to save my sanity and order one from the store. I am really glad I did and it turned out real cute. The two smurfs I already had at home so I had them leave room for them on top.


I would give anything to know what she wished for !!


Blowing out the candles.


That was it for Maddie's birthday party. It was a lot of fun and I know all the girls had fun. Happy Birthday Maddie. I love you so much !!



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Project Life Week 8

Project Life Week 8 | February 20-February 26

I have been working hard the last few days to get some work done on my PL. As you can see I have week 8 done, and boy was it a fun one to do. No inserts, nothing special going on. But I love it anyways, and that is what Project Life is all about.

I was also thinking today about how Project Life was perfect for me, because I am a picture taking freak !! I love to take pictures. In fact I take way to many pictures and I am running out of space on my hard drive. I spent some time today going through and deleting some pictures. I still have a long way to go but now I have some room so that I empty my SD card off of my camera !!

During our road trip to Disneyland and to Arizona I had brought my laptop and my pictures. While on the road I worked on editing and journaling some of my pictures from Week 8 and some of 2011. It was so easy to finish this week because I had already done some of the leg work. And it feels so good to have one more week done. How is everyone else doing on their albums ?

HERE IS THE FIRST PAGE :


THE PICTURES :

Patrick had found the XBOX in the shed and has been playing with the girls. Is is so funny to watch them play because they try to move the remote like the wii remote and say its not working !!

Used I Heart Stories Brushes And Stamp. The yellow sticker is from Studio Calico, it comes in a sheet of great stickers for PL.


This was one of our trees in the front yard.

Used Spring Hand Drawn Brushes for the word spring.  Learned something new in Photoshop this week, maybe everybody knows about them already but I plan on putting together a tutorial for next week. So stay tuned.


 Maddie spread out raisins for the "Noah dog to eat".

Used the Pink Paislee Free Photo Templates. Circle camera sticker from October Afternoon.


THE JOURNALING CARDS :

Washi tape by Hambly Studios. Banner sticker from My Minds Eye.  Clear letter from Heidi Swapp from way back, and oldy but a goody.


Patrick has been watching the firefly series. It is his kind of show.

Used a Cathy Z. Tiny Template. Changed the color of the title to match the Clementine blue.


Journaled about Maddie feeding the "Noah Dog.".

Banner from October Afternoon Farmhouse. Yellow Thickers. Black swirls from  EK Success.  The yellow diamond I cut out the patterned paper from the new My Minds Eye collection. Sticker from Crate Paper. Storytellers, love that line.


We took the car in to get fixed and Noah loved to watch it go "UP" while they fixed it.

Used a core kit journaling card. The banner sticker from October Afternoon. Before printing I stamped the tire onto the card and it turned out great.
 

THE LAST PAGE :


THE PICTURES :

I guess I didn't save the original jpeg file for this, because it looks so much better than when I tried to photograph it !! I took some images from online and created this collage.  We had come to an agreement this week about where or not Patrick would let me get a minivan. So he came up with the idea of, If he could have a mustang I could have a minivan. And I was so excited.

The word THIS is from I Heart Stories Brushes And Stamps. The word THAT is from This One Brushes And Stamps .


Used a My Minds Eye Follow Your Heart overlay for the photo. Made me a custom journaling card to fit the space that I wanted it to go over the photo.

Used the photo in photoshop as a template to see how big I needed my journaling card to be. I started out with a size that I think will fit my photo, created a new layer and placed it on top of the photo, then adjusting the size as needed. Once I had the right size I wanted I added my text and printed. I added the bike from this cute freebie digital kit . You will have to scroll down the page until you find the kit with the bike in it. Once my text was on my journaling spot I printed it and was ready to add my paper.

I Layered some My Minds Eye paper(Follow My Heart) on the top of the card. Added washi tape and stitched across. The letter S is Thickers "ELF". Used a border punch on the bottom.

One other thing I want to add. I have always found overlays to be so hard to get things to stick to them. So I stitched the journaling card onto the overlay. That way it will stay on the overlay. Staplers work great as well as brads for adhering to overlays and to get overlays to stay onto layouts, ect.


Original picture of Noah on his scooter. Barefoot no less.


Used I Heart Stories Brushes And Stamps for the word hello. My Minds Eye yellow banner sticker. October Afternoon letters.


Patrick and the girls on their bikes. The weather has been wonderful this week. Lots of bike riding. You can't see it very well but Maddie's face in this picture cracks me up every time I see it !! Love that girl.  Everyday Photos Brushes And Stamps


Butterfly from Jenni Bowlin


THE JOURNALING CARD :

Used this great freebie journaling card. Changed the colors to match the Clementine colors.



Have wanted to document the weather for a while now. Took a screenshot from my iphone and printed it out. I thought Cathy Z had a tutorial or video on how to do this but I can't find it. 


Love this pintrest freebie journaling card. Added the words love and this from Ali Edwards brushes. Banner sticker and star rubons both from Jenni Bowlin.


Doily in the corner. Washi tape. Number stickers from the core kit. Used the cute bike again that I used on the journaling card earlier. Reduce the opacity to make it fade but still be able to be seen.


Whew !! Done with Week 8. Now it is on to Week 9. This one is going to take me a lot more time to complete. This was the week that we went to Disneyland and then to Arizona. There will be many inserts to incorporate all of our trip pictures. But it will be fun to do. I will be checking in here at the blog every so often until I get this next week finished. So stay tuned. Lots to share about life here in the Niebuhr home.


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Project Life Week 7

Project Life 7 is now officially done. I had shared the actual week earlier, in a previous post. But it was not completed, I added one extra insert this week. That being of Katelyn's birthday party. And that is what I am going to share with you today, along with a detailed look of the entire week.

I am sorry that it has taken a while for me to post this. I know I have been a little quiet around here lately. LIFE happened, Disneyland happened, my parents happened, and a birthday party happened !!! Nothing major in the next few weeks though, so I plan on working on my PL album. So here is Week 7

HERE IS THE FIRST PAGE :


THE PICTURES :

Typed the word you on the pictures, adjusting the letters close together. Added Noah's name and the date.



Me and the kids enjoyed a candlelight dinner on Valentine's Day.


THE JOURNALING CARD :

Used a core kit card, stickers from my stash, and lettler stickers are October Afternoon. 


American Craft Thickers, and My Minds Eye sticker


I used this free journaling card. Washi tape on the bottom. Tiny stapler from Tim Holtz. Love my little stapler!!


Used the bottom of this freebie from Elle's Studio and added my picture to the top of the journaling card.


MY INSERT ABOUT KATELYN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY:

Here is what it looks like all together. I used the Becky Higgins page protector design G.


THE PICTURES AND JOURNALING CARDS :

I made the birthday party invitations, nothing special but Katelyn loved them. Shrunk it down to fit into the 3x4 pocket. 


Used a core kit journaling card, added a photo, added doily on the bottom by Martha Stewart. The 7 is Thickers ELF.


 I Heart Stories Brushes And Stamp. Washe tape, sticker from My Minds Eye, also the hearts on the bottom are from the Cobalt extra digital elements. 


Picture of the ponies that I blew up, printed out, and cut out for decoration. Hung them on a string to make a pony banner.


I used a label for the Clementine digital extra elements kit. Printed it out and adhered it to the picture. Sticker is from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan.


I painted on the girls cheeks. All the My Little Ponies have Cutie Marks, so all the girls picked their favorite pony and then I painted their cutie mark on their cheek.


Journaled onto cardstock, cut out and adhered with my Tiny Attacher from Tim Holtz. 


Katelyn with her cheeks painted.


HERE IS THE OTHER SIDE OF MY INSERT:



HERE IS THE PICTURES AND JOURNALIND CARDS :
 

Katelyn blowing out her candles.



 Used this free label . Changed the color of it and also changed the color of the inside to white. Birthday No. 1 Brushes And Stamps.


 Katelyn's cake.


Used a banner from the Clementine digital extra elements. Changed the color, cut it out and pasted it to the photo. Added a doily and a sticker. I Heart Stories Brushes And Stamps.


Remember the date chipboard from My Minds Eye. Numbers are Thickers. The butterfly is from Jenni Bowlin. I added an overlay from My Minds Eye Follow Your Heart collection. Just added the right touch.
 

This Is The Day Word Art


THE LAST PAGE :


THE PICTURES :

Everday Photos Brushes And Stamps


Banner from My Minds Eye. Letter N is from Thickers "ELF"

 

THE JOURNALING CARDS :

Used one of these free journaling cards . Added Washi tape on the top. Number 14 are thickers. 


I had a longer story about Katelyn this week. I used a foldable journaling card. I had this adorable dinosaur valentine's rubons from Fancy Pants. I journaled on the top and added the rub on. I do need to remember to put tabs on these foldable journalers so that I know to pull them out and look at the whole card.


 I journaled on the card inside, added the red rubon and also added the word roar.


The back of the foldable journaling card.


Used a core kit journaling card. Added a Martha Stewart doily, washi tape, and a tiny heart.


Used this freebie journaling card . Used Thickers.


That it is end of Week 7. Now it is on to week 8. This was a fun week to do. With Valentine's day and a birthday. I love it.

As always if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Also I love to read all your wonderful comments, they are great and please keep them coming !! Until next time, take care everyone.