birthday party banner

I'm hosting the Momenta blog today and I'd love for you to stop by for a visit and leave a comment!

Isabella, who turns 8 on Tuesday, went back and forth about a party theme this year. At one point, she even thought about a basketball party. True to form, she stuck with the girly-girl side of her nature and we are having a PINK PARTY. Big surprise {not} for those that know her.

Happy Sunday! I love creating projects with pretty paper, namely papers from Momenta, where you can even shop online if you don't have a local craft store near you!


This project came together so quickly, thanks to the incredibly versatile Cardstock Mats, which are sized to 5x7. Perfect size for a banner, don't you think? I simply cut into the bottom of the patterned papers to make the pennant pointed. Using the scraps cut from the middle of the 5x7 sheets, I used a punch to make reinforcements where I string my baker's twine through, which you can also see in the photo below.


To make the letters pop and be more noticeable on my banner, I scallop punched coordinating papers, also from the Cardstock Mat pad and used a textured cardstock {in pink} from the Brights Collection for the circle shapes. Those super colorful letters are from the Super Paper Pads, and I used this one.

Using yet another punch, I strung them {threading tip here} onto the baker's twine and made a knot under the flower shape to hold it in place. This is where the double-sided Cardstock Mat papers come in handy...pretty when viewed from the top OR the bottom!


I'll also be sharing the birthday invite, party hat and cupcake favors with you in upcoming posts on the Momenta blog. Stay tuned August 6th, that's when I'll be back with more ideas for your very own PINK PARTY!


me and my sister


Oh, don't even get me started. Look at my two girls, hand in hand. You can't see it in this particular photo, but Isabella has a banana popsicle in her right hand and is trying to keep it as far away from Victoria as she can. Victoria on the other  hand is earnestly keeping an eye on her sister and the hand with the popsicle.

They still hold hands as we walk up the driveway to Nana's and Papa's house and I hope they'll always be frients + want to hold hands + love each other. The photo is from 2007, but I don't remember when I made the layout.

week in the life | beginnings

This Week in the Life project is being brought to you by all the fun little items in my stash. No new purchases were made to create the journal documenting a week of our {extra}ordinary life.

I believe that the mini album is from a travel themed line by Making Memories and the 6x6 paper pad was won on Christina's blog and is by Sassafrass. I don't know yet what my plan for the front cover will be, but I have some time to think about it.


I created some word art, similar to what you can find here, personalizing it with our names. Yes, I included Zach even though he's not here. I'm just not ready yet to let go. And no, his last name is not Wright, but he is part of the Wright family!


Each day of the week has an intro page designed with a page from the 6x6 paper pad and some stray letter stickers. I really tried to use up some leftovers and had to search for sets that had all the letters I needed!


I designed the journaling page, too, and made sure that there was room for a photo to peek out to the right of the daily intro page, which is blank...so there are lots of possibilities there. We did not see Zach on Sunday, but I was downloading and editing photos from the trip Mom and I took to the Chicago area to see him graduate from Navy Boot Camp, so his photo became the focus for Sunday.

He's already an E3 {due to his ASVAB scores and Physical Training scores} and has two service ribbons AND he'll be an E4 by November. As you might be able to tell, Zach had a hard time trying to be stern and military-like as I was asking for poses, but I am sure in time smiles in uniform will be rare.


I cut down a business card holder page protector and punched some new holes to fit into my 2-ring album. I had some letter sized photo paper on hand and decided to resize all my photos to 2x3.50, print them on one page, trim them and place them inside the slots - front and back.


Thinking that I may embellish further with some journaling on top of the page protector.


On an impromptu trip to Knoxville to exchange my MacBook Air for the new, upgraded version, the girls voted to eat at P.F. Chang's and we did not disagree! They loved it and eating with the kid-sized chop sticks was a huge highlight of their day. I added half of a Top Note die cut to reinforce the edge of the glassine bag where I punched the holes.



Hoping that I'll have some time today to get my journaling transferred into my album and begin making a few more decisions about the front cover, inside cover and how I want to tell our story. I don't have quite as many photos as I'd like, but may take some and add them in on appropriate days even though they weren't taken on that specific day. I don't have a problem with that at all...who will know a year from now? Just me {wink, wink}.

More to come tomorrow. How is your Week in the Life project progressing?

week in the life | preparations

Working on getting all my Week in the Life goodies and stories and embellies and pages together.


I was able to document some neat little routines and aspects of our everyday life yesterday, the first day of our week. I just grabbed a notepad from our junk drawer and kept it with me throughout the day, sometimes keeping track of the time, sometimes not. This year, for me, it's not about following a pattern or being rigid in my design. 

I'm just going with the flow. And that's what makes it fun.

Hope to share my album, some pre-designed items and my first page tomorrow. Ali Edwards has set up a Flickr group as well as a free community at Big Picture Classes if you'd like to share your pages as well.


u



Another older layout, this time using some paper purchased at a deep discount. After all, not many people have a first name beginning with the letter U, right? I had the handprint hanging around as a sample from another project and decided to use it on this layout capturing Isabella in September 2009. To reinforce the U theme, I also began each characteristic with the letter U.

I did a similar layout for Zach and Victoria using this same paper and the same format. But, you already knew that I often recreate the same layout three times, one for each of the kids, didn't you. It really doesn't take that much longer to make three rather than just one.



christmas in july | baker's twine and labels


It's hot and humid and sunny and sticky here in East Tennessee, but that hasn't stopped me from hosting a Christmas in July theme all this week here at I Love It All. Everything from mini books, packaging, gift tags, bag toppers, notecards and free downloads have been revisited.

It only seemed fitting, then, to share some Christmas in July ideas here that I'm also sharing on The Twinery blog today, don't you think? The great thing about these packaging ideas is that you probably have some of the same items at home that you can upcycle and recycle. Instead of having to purchase cute tins to gift your handmade sweet treats, start planning now so that you're prepared.


Here's my starting point...


...an assortment of baker's twine in MaraschinoCappuccino and Honeydew {also available in a Sampler Pack} along with recycled containers and various glassine and kraft bags.


Wondering where those cute gift tags came from? The Twinery has a FREE DOWNLOAD of Printable Tags and Labels available in every color of baker's twine in the Shop. Just go to the sidebar and you'll find the download there. I just added my personal information with a graphics program.

Upcycling a cheese crumbles container, I cut a circle from cardstock with my circle cutter {to hide the logo} in a color to coordinate well with the Honeydew baker's twine and added a strand of Maraschino twine as well. After using this technique to thread twine through the hole I punched in my tag, I tied a bow and voila...scrumptious bakery treat ready to be gifted. 


The addition of this label lets the recipient know who it's from!


After deciding to use kraft bags, I knew that Cappuccino would be my twine color of choice and I added some Honeydew as an accent after finding the perfect patterned paper. I trimmed, border punched and then glued the paper bands to my bag before filling my bag and folding over the top. Tying with twine keeps the treats secure and fresh and makes this gift cuter than ever.


And one more Christmas in July idea for you...just wrap The Twinery baker's twine {in Maraschino here} around your container and use a pop dot to adhere your tag or label.


Look what I did to the top of the container using my large scallop punch and yet another tag!


Make your packaging fun and lively with these fun free printables from The Twinery!

The goodies in the photo below are up for grabs - 5 bags of each size wrapped with generous amounts of twine from The Twinery. 


Find more glassine, kraft and canvas bags in the shop.

this giveaway is now closed

+ Leave a comment to enter 
+ Earn two additional entries if you like my I Love It All on Facebook page
+ Be sure to leave separate entries and if you already like ILIA on Facebook, let me know - it counts!

christmas in july | tags, toppers and thank you notes


Are you always scrambling for gift tags? Do you cringe when it's time to package classroom goody bags? Wondering what to do about thank you notes? Okay, maybe not yet, but file these away as possible go-to's when you do start scrambling, cringing and wondering!

Find the free download for these gift tags on the blog.


Have you downloaded these treat bag toppers?


And it's always a good idea to have extra thank you notes on hand.


These all-in-one notecards are also free downloads. 


Thursday is going to be a big catch-up day for me with the 52Photos project where I'll be posting my captures for the last 3 or 4 weeks and on Friday, I'll be featured at The Twinery blog with a project featuring their out-of-this-world amazing baker's twine and a few Christmas themed projects as well. After all, it's Christmas in July week, right?

christmas in july | mini books, planners and journals


A subject near and dear to my crafting heart: mini's. It's really my preferred way to capture and document memories. Here are a few holiday-themed samples, but here are more:  here and here.

ornament mini













december daily 2009 {click photos below for two separate posts}


And how about this, {insert woot, woot!} one of my pages was featured in an Ali Edwards blog post, which you can see here.

december daily 2010


Tomorrow will be tags, toppers and thank you notes!