Tuesday, June 28, 2016

A Day at the Beach - Project Life Style

Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com

A day at the beach is always fun to document, right? Happy faces. Sand castles. Buried toes. It's the quintessence of summer!

Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com
 I saw these two cards in the June Take 10 Kit, and new I wanted to record some beach memories. The waves! Perfection.
Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Ugh! This boy. This might be my favorite photo of him of the summer! Fresh haircut and pure joy on his little face. That was a lucky moment to catch on my camera.

Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Speaking of fresh haircuts, there was a cute conversation the day before that I wanted to record here, between my son and my husband.
Hubby: Want to go get your haircut? (enthusiastic smiles)
Son: No. (deadpan)
Hubby: You get a lollipop after it's done.
Son: (not missing a beat) When are we going?
I printed it on vellum to let the wave pattern show through. I did a post awhile back on my journal printing process. Go here to find it!

Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I love having a big blank sky to put a title on! Don't you? Those Simple Stories stickers are very sticky, so be sure you have it where you want it before applying! But, I love them! Find them in the June Take 10 Glam Bag.

Day at the Beach Project Life www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I used a label sticker for the date and paired it with a word phrase sticker and enamel dot in the lower left corner of the page.

What are your favorite summer memories to document?


Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Traveler's Notebook Cover for #LittleSummerJOY

www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I think we are the last in the nation to still be in school....so I am just a wee bit ready to get a SUMMER BUCKET LIST moving right along. Is anyone still suffering along with me?? Our last day of school is today, June 21st!! The first day of summer!!!!

www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Have you heard about this fun FREE class hosted by Little Paper Products, called LittleSummerJOY? They did this amazing, inspirational class last summer, too and there were some very talented contributors. I can't wait to see who they have lined up this year! It is starting July 1, so go check it out. I was excited to get my June Take 10 Pocket Kit and Glam Bag because I just knew it would have some goodies to use for this project!! I kept a few items from my May Kit too (that flip flop card and "Summer Nights" wood veneer) that will fit well with this theme, too.

And the stamp "Summer Bucket List" is from the May Take 10 Pocket Kit, too.

www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I pasted the printable from Little Paper Projects into the first pages of my Traveler's Notebook and filled it in with all the fun things we want to do this summer. You need to go sign up for their newsletter to get this printable!

Follow along over on my blog for more on this project, as it progresses at www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Holly | Instagram | Facebook

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Using GIANT Elements in your Project Life Album

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I don't do weekly PL. So, I like to indicated the beginning of a new month. These giant wood monthly wood veneers are making a GIANT statement in my book....

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Field Days! This is a fun week at school. Our school has an opening ceremony on the first day of school. Complete with a running of the torch to the theme song from Chariots of Fire. It's awesome. I'm using the May Take 10 Kits in this layout. 

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

AND, since it is my first page for June, I added this huge JUNE wood veneer from the set I bought from www.thestudio29designs.com (home to Take 10 Kits - also available as a subscription). These Jumbo Month Wood Veneers fit perfectly in a 4x6 pocket and it's a set of all 12 months. There are a few left if you didn't grab one when they first came out. I love these and all of the wood veneers produced by Sara Mitchell.

I love Sara's wood veneers because they are so thin!!

I've always strived to keep my Project Life albums to one volume per year, but the last two years have so many thick embellishments, they are two volumes each. I know this is common, but I really don't want that many albums!!

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
I put two coats of acrylic paint on my wood veneer. Eek! It curls up quite a bit, but don't worry. I did stand it up on it's end to dry so that the painted sides weren't touching my wax paper and could dry properly. The "Juicy Melon" paint was picked up from my Target Dollar Spot just last week. I was happy with it for this project.

It curls up but don't worry! After it dries, just put it between wax paper and stick it under a heavy book.

It flattened out within a couple hours.

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
The three musketeers! This was their first Field Day as Preschoolers last year. What fun it was to experience with them.

Monthly Project Life. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
My daughter happened to be sitting by her wonderful teacher and I got a quick photo while the whole school was assembling on the field and settling in. We just had our field days this week again this year, so it was fun working on last years page to see what a difference a year makes.

Holly | www.paintedladiesjournal.com

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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Graduation Cards!

It's Graduation Season! This year I have two cousin's with daughters that are graduating from high school. I use a couple of the May Take 10 Pocket Kit 4x6 cards as the base for these two cards.  (Anywhere I just say "kit," I'm referring to Take 10 Kits!

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com
This one used the pink ombre 4x6 from the May Pocket Kit. Last week, I downloaded some of the digi freebies from The May 2016 Digital Press DigiScrap Parade. (check the link, some may still be available) They do these blog hops each quarter, offering a sampling from their designers. I suggest getting on their mailing list if you want to know when the next one happens. I grabbed the "Congratuations" from designer Bobbie Smith of River-Rose Designs.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com
The washi was from my stash. Some Target Spot. Some Stampin' Up. I cut them at varying lengths and made them look like arrows. I laid them down and wrapped the edge around the pink card.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com
On the inside, I adhered a trimmed down 3x4 card from the May Take 10 Pocket Kit. (This was a tough call because I could totally see using that card in my PL album for a fun summer adventure.) But it was just too perfect for this graduation card!

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com

On the back of this card, I used the exclusive stamp from the May Take 10 Glam Bag. Again, perfect for a grad card!! Also, note the beautiful gray striped paper. I printed this from my freebie collection as well. It was also from River-Rose Designs.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Next card! This one could totally have been for a guy! BUT, it's not and I added the sparkly heart from the May Glam Bag for a little feminine touch. The glasses! I just loved this card from the Pocket Kit and decided to pair it with a few more printable freebies. The gray filler card was a freebie from Juno Designs. Perfection. I added the "EPIC" from the kit.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Used that stamp on the inside of this card.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com

And the base of the card was a paper freebie by Laura Banasiak Digital Designs. The other add-on on the back from Juno Designs.

Graduation Card by Holly www.paintedladiesjournal.com
I can't wait to give these out! Do you ever use your journal card stash (I know you have one) to whip up some cards?


Thursday, June 2, 2016

Holly: Week in the Life Day 7 - Photos and Words

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Ok, this may be my favorite starting 6x8 photo of the week. I took the time to "move" the fork over to the side since it was smack dab in the middle and bring it on top of Ali Edward's stamp.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Christy woke at 7AM and headed over to her new place to get a few things and shower there. I slept a little more and then lay in bed editing WITL photos on my phone.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

09:00 AM. GOT UP. Showered. Heavenly.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Bought the frappuccino at CVS last night in anticipation of needing coffee in the morning with little or no choices in her barren, almost moved-out-of apartment. Check out the caveman/woman salt & pepper shakers...

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

This is my new favorite sister picture. I can't believe it's the only one we took. Glad it's a good one. Okay, there is one more later on. Wait for it...

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Saw this cool mural on our walk to the cafe.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
It wasn't hard to talk my sister into going out for breakfast. Hee. Hee. My reasoning was that we'd work through lunch and have a good dinner later, so better have a filling breakfast. Did I mention that I would be helping her purge stuff and pack stuff this weekend?

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I soon figured out why my sister chose this place. I think the bartenders that work here are required to have beards and tattoos. And maybe half sporting some man-bunnage. So, I had to be asked twice if I was rum added to my creamy cappuccino indulgence. My immediate response was NOOOOO. Then, my sister quickly answered YESSS for her's, so I felt like a smuck. It was our only chance to booze it up. So, when the bartender looked back to me with a raise eyebrow, I said, "Ah hell, ok".  Well....I couldn't stomach it. I think it had 4 fingers of rum in it. I stirred the hell out of it, hoping I just needed to mix it better. After getting a few inches down, somehow, I asked a different bartender to please add some more coffee on the sly (I didn't want to the one who made it to feel bad). My sister did the same. LOL!!!

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
We not only order the same drink, but also the same meal. Which came with this, AND that huge pancake at the beginning of this day's photos. I didn't eat the pancake, but brought it home...it never got eaten. I had 2 eggs over easy and Sis had scrambled. Yum.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
We walked across the street to Koppa's just to read the funny labels. "Tedious Pistachios" LOL! We liked that one the best. I was imagining this guy in the back, cracking himself up, creating labels. On our way out, we each, inconspicuously grabbed a stack of free newspapers for packing dishes...

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

First thing we did when we got back, was start unloading the storage locker unit. I was impressed that stuff didn't fall out on us when the door was opened. hee. hee.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
1:00PM Mom and Dad arrive. We were sorting through clothes, trying to purge stuff. (I was adding a few new items to my own collection - cute tops, capri's, yay).

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Dad ran over to Whole Foods right away and brought back sandwiches, chips & guac, and lemonade soda. Yum. Good Job, Daddio. He didn't understand all the photo-taking.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Wow, we got through ALL the clothes in this closet and that were in storage. Lots to take to Salvation Army, which was next on our list.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

I went with Christy to drop off FIVE bags of donations! That felt good. And then we went to take a few items to the new place.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
This is the new place. In a very residential part of Milwaukee. She has a roomie from work now. 

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com 

I loved noticing all the remnants of my Great Aunt & Uncle's home at Christy's place. That is a coaster with a picture of them on it.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
And this is a painting of Benji, their "dog son" from their home. Benji was a puppy when I was a puppy and passed away when I was in college. He was loyal to his family (including us) but don't mess with the family car. Don't come near it. Definitely don't go in it when he was in it. He was loyal... and very protective of their cars.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Ok, this is the part where my Type A Big Sister Personality stepped in. Packing dishes. Poor mom. She tried to just get it done. But I had to re-do the few boxes she had started and had about 5 boxes going at once, trying to fit different size items in the open spots in each box, until they were nicely and solidly packed. Well, that way, nothing slides and around. Everything fits in the box. And it closes. And then the boxes can be stacked. 

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Lots of boxes packed. Time for dinner. Mom looked up a Gluten-Free option. Not because she is picky, but because she is a Celiac. She found a sandwich shop (I was surprised) but we all walked over there glad that she found something she could have. Unfortunately, when we walked in the stench was overwhelming. And then my Dad labeled it. A Butcher Shop. Wow. That made it even more disgusting. This place is GF?? And then I saw a little line at the bottom of the menu, 
Gluten-Free Bread......$1.99
Um, no, probably not very safe for a Celiac. Since we couldn't stand the smell a minute longer, we stepped back outside to discuss out options. And then, Christy's nose started bleeding. Again! Mom was bummed.....

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

AND I WANTED A FAMILY PHOTO.  lol. Sis wasn't very happy with me, but when I sent her to her later that week she said she had NO IDEA our parents were being goofballs and loved it. I had permission to use it however I saw fit. So, here's our awesome family photo from the weekend. I think this is the only time we have all been together without my kids since said kids have been in existence.

Plan B. Mom walked Christy back home to take care of her nose problem. Dad and I walked over to QDoba to get some naturally GF burrito bowls.... yum. All is good.

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Ok, here's that other photo of my sister and I, as promised. It' odd. I don't quite understand what I'm looking at, except that it IS my sister and I with parts of our faces swapped. I have her nose and lips and eyes/eyebrows. But it's my teeth, glasses, forehead and hair. I was dying. She introduced me to SnapChat where you can faceswap...oh my. She didn't say I had permission to use this photo, but she didn't say I couldn't, either...

Holly's Week in the Life, Day 7 Saturday, Photos & Words. www.paintedladiesjournal.com

We all watched a movie while eating our QDoba from the limited collection. "Stolen." I shrieked when the motorcycle cop turned around it was my husband's BFF. lol. And we had to rewind and rewatch his whole sequence of lines before he was killed by the bad guy.

And this concludes and Photos and Words for Week in the Life 2016! My first WITL project and I'm really enjoying it so far. And now to get to the "making" of the album!!



Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Holly: Week in the Life Day 6 - Photos and Words


Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
 Yayday! Friday! Friday is here. So, we live like right next to an ice cream spot. It's always a part of our week....

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
 Still diapering the youngest. He's two. I love that I can change Drew's attitude about getting changed (um, he doesn't always want to sit still for this) by tickling him. I tickle him until he answers, "Yes, Mama!" He is laughing hard and saying it and then he cooperates. Some might consider it torture, but he really loves it.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Our corner to cross to go to school. K saw his best bud already on the other side and was impatiently waiting for the walk sign to get over there. Sometimes D walks, but many times I end up carrying him back, so I usually bring the stroller. A goes in the door on this side, but then we walk K over to his door on the other side.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Oh boy, we haven't seen you in about 16 hours! Always a happy reunion in the morning on the way to their preschool classroom.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
I was eager to steal some morning time getting my little travelogue art journal finished for a guest blog post. If we aren't out running errands or visiting a playground in the morning, we come back here and D typically asks for "Ba and T", which means a sippy cup of milk and TV. This morning I was happy to oblige.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Have I mentioned D's current obsession? Dinosaurs (aka "Rawrs") are everywhere at our house. All shapes and sizes. And they are usually arranged with things in their mouths. Like toy cars.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
D found some toys that had been hiding in our closet for awhile. It was like Christmas.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
Everyday we walk this sidewalk and see big kids on the field. My daughter's first grade class is usually out at the other end of the field and on the playground right now, on our way to go pick up K from Pre-K.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Then, we walk around to the other playground that is empty and have some outdoor playtime with our other Pre-K friends. More friends are out now that the weather is finally getting nicer. K has started this dare devil trick where he climbs on top of the cage bridge. Eek!

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

These two have become inseparable this year. My heart is going to break for all of us when they move to another state in a few short months. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Besties.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

We walk back home around the other side of school. It usually involves a race to see who can give me a heart attack. My kids are city saavy. They do know to wait for mom to cross any streets, alleys or curb cuts, but I still get nervous with them too far ahead.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
D fell asleep at noon today! Packing. Tonight, I get on an Amtrak train to go to visit my sister in Milwaukee. Yay! Need to be packed before 3PM school pick-up.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
K really likes these peanut butter balls, a new little treat we found.  After lunch, he's have a treat and getting some iPad mini time. His favorite is Stampee Minecraft videos on YouTube Kids. He searches for them with the microphone tool and I hear him say (just like Stampee), "Helloooooo and Welcome to another Minecraft video...." love this (but i don't love Stampee).  Also of note, in this picture, is the lovie he is hugging, which is a constant right now, "Foxie" whom happens to be the first gift I gave to his Dad on our first Valentine's Day NINETEEN YEARS AGO!!!

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
I pre-packed the car before having to run over and pick-up A from school at 3pm. I had promised a DQ ice cream treat today after school, so here we are!

      CURRENT DQ FAVES

  • A - Twist Ice Cream Cone, double scoop (which is a small, and they aren't scoops) with sprinkles
  • K - Kid Size Vanilla with sprinkles in a cup (and he like so finish whatever D doesn't eat, too) OR M&M mini-blizzard
  • D - Kid Size chocolate with sprinkles in a cup (eats about 1/2)
  • Me - Small Salted Caramel Truffle Blizzard
  • Dave - vanilla cone


Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com









































We got straight in the car from DQ to head downtown. We were picking up Daddy who would take me to Union Station to catch my 5:08 train to Milwaukee! I was nervous about Friday traffic and didn't want to chance missing my train because the next one wasn't until 8:00pm.  So, we got to Daddy's office and had to wait for him in the car a bit. We were parked under the "EL" tracks and this was D's look everytime a train went overhead.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com

Whew, I made it but I wasn't on the train yet. By the time I waited in line to use the restroom and waited on the very un-organized Corner Bakery to make a sandwich, I was running to my platform as they were calling "Last Call" for boarding! I had 2 hours of peaceful train ride to Milwaukee with my sandwich, water, chips and iPhone for working on my Week in the Life photos. But, I had a horrible headache, so I wasn't all that productive and just zoned out mainly.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
My sister was waiting for me at the station. It was raining and I still had a headache and she had an open wound on her hand from falling on the steps outside of her work. She was also suffering from a reoccuring nosebleed. We were kind of a wreck, but happy to see each other. We stopped at CVS to get us both medical supplies and snacks. Almost to her place by the lakefront. She's pointing at the lake in front of us, telling me about how sparkly it looked the other day.

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
After taking care of ourselves, we put on a movie from her limited selection (she is moving and no more cable and most of her DVD collection among most everything else is at the new place). We chose to watch "Source Code" with Jake Gyllenhaal and indulge in our snacks. 

Week in the Life Friday Photos and Words www.paintedladiesjournal.com
My bed for the night. The fold-out couch air mattress. All. To. Myself. No kids will be sleeping on top of my head, tonight! I slept like a tired mom (not like a baby, they don't sleep so well).

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