painting

Last night, I was working on a little DIY project with paint.

I decided that since I already had the paint out, and some blank canvas, I would try to paint with Amelia.

First thing is first, her cute onesie had to go.  I had an idea of how messy this could get :)

We used the colors that dominate her nursery and really big paint brushes that would be easy for her to grasp.

I held the canvas in front of her with one hand and held her little arm in my other hand.

She held the paint brush.

I didn't move her arm at all but I held it in case she wanted the paintbrush to go into her mouth (didn't happen).

She flailed her arm all over the canvas with the paint.  It was amazing.

This was such a fun little project for us to do together.

There were a lot of laughs and smiles...

Catalina even tried to get in on the fun!

There was also a lot of paint that ended up where it shouldn't.

Messy but oh so cute.

Fortunately, after a bath, and some Lysol wipes the Bumbo and the baby were clean as a whistle :)

And seriously, isn't this the most beautiful art work ever??  I love it so much and decided to hang it in our living room instead of her nursery so it can be seen all of the time.

I love that we are able to create fun things together as a family.

This girl is truly something so special.

xo

janel

Insta-Baby

Seriously, what did we do without camera phones?  80% of the photos I take these days, are taken with my phone.  It's so convenient and spontaneous.

I love that I can sit there and take 100 photos of Amelia and be able to look through them all immediately.

Here are some recent "Instagram" photos of Amelia from my phone.

She literally gets cuter every single day. I can barely stand it :)

xo

janel

Project Life Week 31

Week 31 and this project is still my favorite!!

This has been a great week.

The pages speak for themselves :)

What an amazing week and an amazing project.

xo

janel

Would you like to know more about Project Life? You can read all about it here. You can also check out more of my Project Life pages right here!

Family Book for Amelia

Well, it's official.  I have only one week left of summer vacation.

I know I am lucky to even have any bit of a summer vacation but its still a bummer.

Fortunately, as an elementary school art teacher, I have a job that I adore.

 I have one week left to spend every minute of every day with Amelia. 

Last night, while watching The Olympics (duh!), I decided to get busy on a project.

I have wanted to make Amelia a board book with photos of her family members for a long time now.  

I purchased the Kid Made Modern board book making kit (for a blank board book) and I got started.

I still have a few more photos that I am waiting on to add to the last 4 pages but other than that, it's done!

I sized the photos and added the text in Photoshop Elements.

I adhered the photos to my pages using Scotch double sided tape, and that was that.

We have already read through the book a million times.

Her smile is so big when she is looking at a book with photos of people she actually knows.

It's so cool to see the recognition.

Again, this was a super easy, cute, and educational project that Amelia loves.

Now I am on to another little project that I will hopefully share later this week.

Have an awesome week friends!!

xo

janel

wrapped.

This week:

*  My sweet friend, Dawn, made Amelia this amazing blanket and Amelia hasn't stopped snuggling with it since.

*  I went up to school to work in my classroom and I am feeling overwhelmed with everything that I want to get done in there before school starts.

*  Amelia turned 5 months old!

*  I have written a bazillion pen pal letters and have loved every second of it.

*  We had an amazing meeting with our social worker

*  Adam found us an attorney for Amelia's adoption finalization in November

*  I knitted some more.

*  I have read 3 more books

*  I have watched The Olympics (A LOT)

*  I was very thankful for the rain

* Attended a City Council meeting that made me sad.

*  I will continue to focus on God's plan.

This was a great week.

One more week left of summer vacation (sad face)

xo

janel

obsessed.

As I mentioned before, I have caught the Olympic fever! It's pretty ridiculous :)  I can't remember loving it this much before but I l-o-v-e it.  In honor of the Olympics and all of it's addictiveness, here is a collection of amazing art inspired by The Olympics.

*  this tea towel is amazing. love the design, love the colors, love it.

* I love the classic look of this print a lot.

*  and this print is just perfection.

*  this is genius

*  another print that makes me happy.

*  and this print is just amazing and I made need this for our home :)

Oh Olympics, how I love thee.

xo

janel

handmade toys.

One of my favorite collections of Amelia's right now, is her handmade doll collection.  Since we had been planning for Amelia for years, I have been blessed enough to have collected a lot of amazing little toys and dolls for her.  I usually purchase these from Etsy, and I picked up some at Renegade a couple of years ago as well.  I love that they are handmade and special and I know that they will be super special to Amelia as well.

 I have been searching the internet for another sweet little doll for my sweet little girl and I made a board of some of my favorites out there right now:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Unfortunately, some of these are already sold out and others are way out of my price range, but seriously, they are lovely and special and amazing.  Do you have any favorite shops for special little handmade dolls or toys?  If so I would LOVE for you to share :)

xo

janel

Project Life Weeks 29-30

Seriously, this is the best project ever.

I know I sound like a broken record but BEST.PROJECT.EVER.

Working on P.L is one of my favorite times of the day.

in.love.

Here are the last two weeks of my life via Project Life:

 Amelia's firsts.

My sari scarf

and my new blog design.

 a painting that I did, cut down to fit into the pages of my album :)  I seriously love the full spread photos.

Snapshots from VBS!!  All of these photos were borrowed from friends on Facebook because I unfortunately didn't take a single photo while I was there! I was too busy teaching crafts :)

Another full page photo.  I was at a loss for photos this week and wanted to find a photo to make LARGE.  This is a photo from three summers ago in Rockport Massachusetts so it has nothing to do with this week at all except that it is beautiful and so was this week.

This past week was full.

* the olympics began.

*  i am back to using fountain pens and practicing my Copperplate

*  I was featured on Apartment Therapy.

* and Amelia is still rocking the solid foods.

Jack's adorable birth announcement came<3

I cut down a 6x12 page and sewed it his little announcement into it for an insert this week.

I also added my list of books read so far this year and sewed an insert to fit it as well.

The last page is just a random assortment of instax photos and beautiful papers that I got in the mail this week!! I like adding random beautiful things :)

Here's to week 31 this week!!

Another week that promises to be full.

xo

janel

Would you like to know more about Project Life? You can read all about it here. You can also check out more of my Project Life pages right here!