Look What I Made

Simple Scrapper Layouts - April 2014

It's that time again to share my Simple Scrapper layouts for the month. The Story Starter theme for April is 'Right Now' which is right up my alley. I enjoyed all the prompts this month and would like to go back and create a few more layouts!

First up is my 'Day in the Life' layout. I documented this day, which was a randomly great day. One of those days where nothing happened but it was sunny and I was in a good mood.

I used a pretty simple grid template but purposely staggered some of the lines. I knew that the edges would never line up perfectly, so I will usually put things off center or staggered on purpose. That way, it doesn't look like a mistake. 

I snatched up a pack of screenprints from LifeLovePaper a few weeks ago. They've been hanging on my wall ever since and I decided to use the 'Adventure' print on this layout. I love the turquoise color and the bold type.

I typed up the journaling from this post real small and printed on a Dear Lizzy PL card. It was one of the 4x6" cards and I trimmed it down to a square-ish size. 

I worked in layers on this layout. I chose the main elements first; photo, background paper, screenprint. Then I just added in various paper scraps and simple embellishments until it felt finished.

Next up was this layout. Billy and I rarely take photos together these days. When his parents were in town this weekend, they took some good photos of us that I really liked.

I really wanted to use this yellow patterned paper by Crate Paper that I've been hoarding for a while. It's very bold, so I had to choose my photo and other products wisely. I converted my photo to black and white so the colors wouldn't clash.

I hardly even noticed the random blue letters scattered amongst the background paper at first. I decided to pair the blue polka dot paper with the yellow since the colors matched but the dot pattern was simple enough to blend in. After that, I chose various black, gray, navy and other neutral products to add.

I used a set of simple letter stickers by Fancy Pants and my ampersand stamp (with this navy ink) for the title. I wanted it to be a pretty simple yet bold title because of the background paper. 

The tag is also from the LifeLovePaper screen print pack. I really love this layout. I had to be very aware of my product choices so I spent a lot of time deciding what to use and where. 

I'm linking my post up at the Simple Scrapper Community Show & Tell today. Over there, you'll find a ton more inspiration!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

A Day at the LBJ Library

Billy's parents were visiting last week. We crammed (what felt like) two weeks worth of things to do into three days. We visited the LBJ Library on University of Texas' campus on Friday afternoon. It was really cool. I loved the building and loved seeing all the campaign posters and buttons from the 60's. For only $8 and free parking, it's definitely worth checking out.

Austin Bucket List: Minibook Update

A couple weeks ago, I shared my photos from our Food Truck Date. Now, I'm sharing my minibook update! I posted our Austin Bucket List title page here and now the time has come to get started on the fun part of the album. I printed a few photos from our day and used my February Paper Bakery Kit to create this simple spread.

I tried to keep it simple for the most part. There are 25 items on our list so I will be working on this for a while. I'm using this gray Handbook and plan to keep things consistent by creating a two page spread for each list item. I also plan to keep a white border around my photos, again, to keep things cohesive. Other than that, not putting too many rules on myself.

Austin Bucket List: Food Truck Date

Late last year, Billy and I made a bucket list with things we want to do here in Austin. A couple weekends ago, we finally got started on our list with a food truck date. 

We headed south of downtown to an area where there are a ton of food trucks all in one place. It was warm and sunny and the perfect day to sit outside and eat a bunch of food. 

We decided ahead of time to share everything, that way we could eat a bunch of different things! We started out with a beef pita from Pitalicious and an order of blackened fish tacos from Fishy Bizness. Both super good.

Next up were a couple of BBQ sandwiches from Big, Bad BBQ. We shared a pulled pork sandwich and a brisket sandwich topped with cole slaw. Both were delicious but I liked the brisket better.

Our last stop of the day was to Gordough's Doughnuts down the block. I first went here a couple months ago with my parents and wanted to bring Billy ever since. Soooo good. It's definitely a treat. We shared 'Mama's Cake', which is a doughnut covered in fudge and yellow cake batter. Amazing. I recommend going there if you're ever in Austin!

So that was our day. It was a pretty cheap date too. I think we spent $25 on everything. It was good to get out of the house, do something a little different and explore Austin. Bonus! We found this awesome mural.

A Quick & Easy Minibook

Hi friends! I am over on the Paper Bakery Kits blog today sharing a tutorial for this quick and easy minibook. I found a few old pictures in my closet and wanted to give them a home. I decided to make something relatively small so it wouldn't take up too much valuable shelf space. For my supplies, I used the Paper Bakery January Scrapbook Kit (Love Potion #9), gray, white and kraft cardstock and a few of my stamps! Easy peasy. Be sure to check out the blog for a closer look at my process. 

Life Update

Hi! It's been awhile, huh? SO much has been happening in these parts. At the request of my biggest fan, my mama, I am writing a little post to let you all (or shall I say ya'll) what's been going on around here. We're moving! To Austin, TX!! We've been very busy making plans, scheduling movers, and packing like crazy.

All that said, I'll continue my little blog break for now. I may pop in from time to time when I have a free moment or something to share. I plan to be back to the blog once we're settled in our new digs down in Austin...probably sometime in early October. Very exciting things happening over here! :)

A Random Bunch of Photos

01  I caught the sunrise one morning last week. It was hard to capture a good picture of it. There were so many colors!  //  02  I have a little Anthro bowl where I keep all my small little bits for layouts & Project Life. It's overflowing right now.  //  03  A peek at a layout I worked on over the weekend. It's my current favorite.  //  04  We made shishkebobs last weekend!  //  05  A photo of the Chicago skyline from my long run this weekend.  //  06  Billy & I at the Gold Cup this weekend.  //  07  USA vs. Panama. (We won!)

Normally I've been sharing marathon related posts on Mondays. But, honestly, today I had nothing good to share. It's going. I'm running and CrossFitting. A lot. I hope to make a big update to my minibook and share soon. We had a pretty busy weekend. Billy & I babysat all 3 of my nephews (all under the age of 5) (at the same time) on Saturday night. They are so adorable and so fun but it was slightly insane for a couple hours. Only 1 major meltdown so we're calling it a success.

On Sunday, we got tickets to watch USA vs. Panama in the Gold Cup final. It was at Soldier Field which is a hop, skip and a jump away from where we live. It was the perfect day to be sitting outside. We had a couple jumbo hot dogs and jumbo beers and enjoyed some time together.

Our Trip to D.C.

Billy and I went to DC 2 weekends ago. We went because we love taking long weekends away and because I ran in a half marathon. I sadly forgot the battery to my big charger in the wall at home, so I only had my iPhone to take photos of the adventure.

Highlights from our trip:

• The pefect weather – sunny, not too hot and a little breeze. The best. We tried to spend as much time outside as possible.
• Our hotel. We stayed in Arlington, VA near the Pentagon. It was really nice and we got a super good deal.
• Finding my new married name (3rd photo) on the wall of runners at Nike Georgetown. I'm still not used to having a new last name.
• Dinner with friends on Saturday night in Old Town Alexandria.
• Finishing my half marathon with a time of 1:51:49. Not my very best time but I was very happy with it! I felt like I trained hard for it, my main goal was to finish in under 2 hours.
• The looong nap I took after the race. I love taking naps after long runs.
• Sliding down the ramp next to the steps at the Lincoln Memorial.
• Walking around eating street food with Billy & seeing all the sights.
• Eating tapas & drinking sangria and mojitos together on Sunday night in Georgetown.
• Billy & I playing a guessing game at the hotel bar.
• Finding the perfect half marathon treat. I buy myself something for finishing my training and the race. Normally it's something from Lululemon, this time it was these shoes.

All in all, it was a really fun trip! We tried to pack in as much as we could without putting too much pressure on ourselves. It was my first time in D.C. so I knew I wanted to see the White House and the memorials, but other than that, I just wanted to spend some time with BP, eat food and drink wine. 

Limes & Cheese.

Living in the city means we have to make frequent trips to the grocery store. I stop at Trader Joe's on my way home from work at least 2 times a week, sometimes 3. Billy won't step foot in the Trader Joe's because he says those are "my people" – meaning, people who eat healthy food and vegetables. (He sometimes doesn't make sense but I love him anyway.) Billy will make a trip to the Jewel once a week to get his lunch food, milk and beer. I won't step foot in the Jewel because if there is a hell, I think it would have to be the Jewel on Roosevelt. This system works for us, and works for our budget because we can only buy what we can carry.

Here's the problem... these frequent trips means that all my grocery shopping gets jumbled together in my head, and I can never remember if we have limes or cheese at home. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's that I think running out of limes or cheese when you need it the most would just be terrible. I think I even remember my Dad telling me that running out of limes at a party ruins it. Or maybe it's because they have a relatively long shelf life and I think "ehhh, why not?" Regardless of the reasoning, I buy at least 2 limes and some type of cheese at every TJ's trip.

SIDENOTE: Another weird thing that we do is have a show-and-tell when we get home from the store. I like to show Billy everything I bought in reverse order of how much I think he like it. Meaning – I show him the brussel sprouts first and the turkey bacon last. It's kind of weird, I know. He has now caught on and recipricates with a show-and-tell of his Jewel trips. It's a good time.

Back to the point, my favorite part of these show-and-tells is the look on Billy's face when I pull out another lime from the bag. It's priceless. In zero words I know he's thinking, "Oh-my-lanta lady, I can't believe you bought another freaking lime." So now it's our favorite 25 cent joke.

So if you come to our house, your cocktail will be extra lime-y and you will have your choice between 7 different types of cheese. Yeah, yeah, I could make a list, or even check the fridge before I go, but this seems like a lot more fun.

6 Months of Marriage.

Photos: Justin Runquist at Studio Vérité Photography

Today, Billy & I celebrate 6 months of being married! It's not a giant milestone or anything, but it's fun to celebrate little things like this. We're going to have a nice dinner together at South Branch, where it all went down. We'll toast to the past 6 months (and everything before that) and I'll try to talk Billy into fabulous vacation for our 1 year anniversary. ;)

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In other, semi-related news, Becky Higgins featured my pages on her blog a couple of weeks ago! I shared with her the story about how I put our wedding photos into my 2012 album. I was (sort of still am) completely shocked that they decided to share my story with the Internet. You can read all about it here, or see my original post here.

And if you've already seen it, thank you. I really appreciate all the support and nice comments that were left. :)