My mom loves things that are homemade and has been recently bitten by the bible journaling bug. I am a big fan of Shanna Noel and her Illustrated Faith. If you have signed up for her newsletters, you gotta! I gathered a few of the latest free downloadable cards she includes in her newsletters and printed them out. (I made a few doubles so I could have my set too!)
Gathered a bunch of Studio Calico goodies and put them in this hand stamped and watercolored bag. 
Thanks to Maggie Massey and her cute Mom's Day class at Big Picture Classes for her tutorial! Definitely putting this in my go to gift wrapping bank! 
my space
I used to have an entire wall full of elfa office shelves. We moved a few years ago and I wasn't able to use my new space in the same way. I also downsized my supplies by a ton so it actually worked out well. Right now I am using this blue desk.
This little corner is where I "dump" my current embellishments. I think having a small space helps you keep your supplies from overflowing. This right side keeps my current papers and stickers and a basket of books and mini albums. 
I love this natural light I get right next to my desk. And my little air plant that I do very little to keep alive :) 
I also have a big cart behind this space that wasn't photographed but carries some oldish supplies that I sometimes dig into. And some other photo boxes that have all my photos I pull from and some stamps and ink etc. Because this space is part of my bedroom, I'm determined to keep it neat(ish) and tidy(ish). :)
crafty packing to go!
When I found out we were staying at a little cabin, I knew I wanted to be able to take a little pack of crafty supplies! This mini book class from Tina was just starting so I gathered a bunch of supplies that were close by and threw them in a basket. 
Though I didn't really delve into my book as much as I would have liked, I did jot down this little page of memories. I didn't even make that watercolor background though, I snagged it from Elsie's leftover scrap of paper. She was using it as her paper to wipe off her colors so essentially it was going to be trash, but of course, it looked so beautiful to me! 
Glad I got those little tidbits down :)
I’ve been missing my DSLR
This is going to be a photo heavy post. I haven't taken my big girl camera on a personal outing in a very long time. I have been getting by with my phone for convenience. Sometimes I get good enough phone prints and I'm glad. This last big round of photos I ordered I was heavily disappointed. Disappointed in the quality and just bummed that I missed out on really having a good print of that moment. This trip, I knew I was going to take my big camera, and I am soooo glad. I got so many little gems I am sure I would have missed. 
Ate a delicious dinner at Industrial Eats. 
So proud of our little fire :) 
Top of our 6 mile hike overlooking gorgeous Santa Barbara County. 
Caleb got this one. Sigh! 
One last day at El Capitan Beach. 
Spring Break 2015. :)Though I got some really good photos with my phone (see post below) and I will continue to use my phone for picture taking, I'm going to try and be mindful of grabbing my 5d more often. I never regret it!
el capitan canyon
We went glamping last week for Spring Break. Kira was still in school so she wasn't able to join us. Which I think was okay as she's not really a camper 🙂 Neither am I, but this was about as close as I can get to camping, which makes it the perfect compromise as Chris loves camping! 🙂 We didn't stay in a yurt but I had to get a pic of it! 
I Iove the idea of the yurt but unlike the cabin we stayed in, you don't get your own bathroom. That's a little too rough for me! 🙂 There was a queen bed and then the 3 kids were in the loft above. 
Some of the cabins were in more populated areas, we weren't in this specific area but off to a side that was more secluded. I liked that a bit more. This seemed a little too much out of that period in the LOST TV series where there was that creepy community existed in the middle of nowhere. 
El Capitan Beach just around the corner. 
Hills on the other side of us. 
Family bike ride. They had the adult bikes there for use and we just brought Elsie's bike with us. 
So proud of her riding down this downhill! 
Very Miyazaki to me. Love it. 
Dinner out in town. The market offered barbecue kits that came with everything you needed to cook what sounded like a tasty meal! But I just didn't have faith in our "meat being cooked enough in the dark" skills so we didn't risk it. We did make smores though. Yay us! 
Very Sound of Music to me. Love it. 
Top of the 6 mile hike! That view! 
Hike hair. 
Walking to the canyon market to you know, get coffee and cinnamon rolls. Roughin it. 
Last morning of the trip. Thanks for the memories, El Capitan! These were all taken on my iphone. I have a whole other post on pics with my Canon 5d and why I chose to bring it along and why I am so happy I did!
design on time
Have you seen our new Youtube series, Design on Time?
We have a lot of fun and look forward to sharing more with you!
Studio Calico Lisse Street Sneaks!
It's almost reveal day at Studio Calico! Thought I'd share my sneaks here! Excited to have the Australia stamp to use! 
Kraft is really my favorite. 
Flowers not watercolored in. 
Finally did a layout from our Lorde concert, yay! 
Flowers watercolored in. 
Probably my favorite this month! :) 
See you at the Reveal on the 27th! :)
Elsie at 9
I used to share so much on this blog, from the time we found out we were pregnant with Els, til when she was born and then I tapered off a bit as she got older, around 4. This month, she turned 9. I cannot believe how much time has passed so quickly! 
and now: 
She is interested in so many things, all at once. She's a bundle of energy and ideas and questions. It's hard to keep up. Right now she's into becoming an actress, dancing, basketball, her friends and cooking. She's a little ray of sunshine. We are savoring this last year before she hits the double digits!
color theory (class 2)
Second class from Wilna's Color Theory class! Elsie and I had fun spreading the colors out haphazardly across our pages and stamping into them. We didn't quite get the look we thought we would be it's all good! 
They've extended sign up and you can still enroll today! Closes March 13. So go! 🙂
color theory (class 1)
My 9 year old daughter Elsie is always up for a creative challenge. She is a maker and doer at heart! When I enrolled for the Color Theory class, I had no idea I would invite Elsie to join me in the lessons. Well, last night was our first class and we had such a good time creating together. PS- They've extended enrollment! Sign up by March 13th at 11:59pm EST. We learned about the Impasto Paint Technique, here's our results. Elsie's negative and positives of the painting. 
The class calls for a Silhouette machine and since I don't have one, I used some of my old KI Memories Lace paper. I did borrow one from Amy though, so I am excited to get practicing in the next few weeks! Close up of Elsie's negative. SO PRETTY and gunky and all that texture! We definitely loved all the smearing without worrying process 🙂 The lifting up and revealing is also pretty cool. 
Mine. We used some old shipping chipboard as our backdrop which was perfect as it's super sturdy for our goopy paint! I was so excited when I woke up this morning to them all dry. It just feels good to feel like you are a real painter :)
My finished layout. I don't know what Elsie will do with her pieces, I'll post whenever she gets them done. I ended up using the negative piece for my layout, the whole entire chipboard and all! I will try and add the positive image on another project. I may have missed the whole point of that lesson as most people used the positive impasto technique part but I went this way. And that's okay. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I used bits from the current Studio Calico Odyssey kit, Calypso kit, Penelope kit, the Laina Alpha Stamp set, and some Printable digital elements by Hello Forever.
I loved that I could get messy with this layout and not worry about smudges and mistakes. That swish of paint under SWING title was not on purpose! 🙂 Looking forward to more lessons with Wilna and more happy mistakes!
watersix 