{6/52} Fabric birthday gift bag

Another cold winter day here, and it's been a day full of laundry, dishes, and sorting through the piles that accumulate all over the house. I was ready for a little break, so I decided to sew up a drawstring bag to "wrap" a gift for a birthday party that Lachlan is going to tomorrow. The invitation is "Monster High" themed, and although I'm not a fan of that show, I thought this little fashion sketchbook would be a fun gift with a box of new colored pencils.

I used a tutorial from See Kate Sew to make the drawstring bag. I have used the tutorial several times, and I love it because the bag is simple to sew, but seems a bit fancy because of the enclosed seams and drawstring. I eyeballed the measurements to make it plenty big to carry another sketchbook or collection of toys. I hope she likes the fun octopus fabric by Cotton and Steel!

{5/52} Valentine craftiness

The first couple weeks of February were full of pinks and reds and hearts as we prepared for Valentine's Day. I found a fun maze Valentine on Pinterest that both Lachlan and Kenley approved for their classmate valentines, so I ordered a bag of heart shaped mazes (I couldn't find a link for the hearts, but look they have Easter ones! :), and printed up a quick card, and we were good to go - quick and easy!

I always make valentines for my preschool class, so I had fun putting together this quiver of  Valentine arrows with pencils, felt, washi tape and hot glue!

I also made heart-shaped sun catchers with my preschoolers, and later Lachlan's 1st grade class during their Valentine party. They took a little prep work, because I cut the tissue paper into small pieces, cut the contact paper into pieces, and cut the cardstock heart shapes beforehand, but it was a quick and easy activity, and they look so pretty and colorful in the window, especially with the backdrop of grey winter days. 

Finally, I had to share a couple of the many love notes I got from Lachlan on Valentine's Day. He worked for two weeks on making me notes so that I would have "The Best Valentines Day EVER" - and it was definitely one of my favorites!

(4/52) January Project Life

Well, I did great with my digital Project Life for the first half of 2014, but then fell behind and never caught up. (Still holding out hope that I will whip those pages up and get the books printed this year!)

I'm determined to continue to document the details and memories of our daily life this year, but I want to make sure I have a doable strategy. Today I spent part of our snow day (yay!) organizing photos from my phone into the Collect photo app and adding short captions. Then I imported the Collect cards into the Project Life app, and used the new Project52 card kit. I'm happy with how they came out, and it was SO quick!

I'm not sure yet if I will have a 2 page spread for each week. I'd still like to include journaling cards for longer stories,  and notes about the stuff we are reading/loving/listening to, etc. Also, I don't want to abandon taking and printing photos from my big camera! I think I will keep these pages consistent in this style, and then vary what I include on the facing pages.

You can keep up with my Project Life pages on Flickr. Thanks!