The Living Room

As you may or may not know, my little family moved into a new house this fall.  It has taken a LONG time to get things even starting to look the way we want it.  This house is amazing but it needed a lot of work (which honestly was a prerequisite for me.  I love a project).  So, at the very end of October we moved everything from our condo into the basement of this house We also set up a bed for Adam and I and Amelia's crib in the basement and we each had one box that we basically lived out of for about a month and a half while construction was going on our upstairs.  We redid the floors (twice!  They installed the wrong floor the first time around), reacousticed the ceilings, all new light fixtures, all new appliances, new vents, and had the entire inside painted white.

As soon as we got the upstairs back in working order, a sewer pipe in our front yard burst causing our basement to flood (with a ton of our stuff still down there).  So yeah, it's slowly but surely coming together.  Today I thought I would give you a peek into our living room before and after.

This the living room before.  It was beige and carpeted. The room is huge and the owner before  had it laid out kind of weird.  He had a living room space and then in the back of the room he had an antique hoosier cabinet used as a bar of sorts.  We knew we wanted to use that extra back space as a dining room. Here is it so far:

So as you can see we wanted to have our whole house flow with the Mid-Century Modern feel that we both love so much.  The paint, flooring, and positioning of furniture really opened up this space and brightened it as well.  I am still working on some art to hang on that back blank wall by the dining room table and some more art behind the television but other than that, this room is pretty close to being perfect in my eyes.  Here are some closer up images:

I still have so many projects planned for our home and I am so excited to be able to share it all with you through the process.

Any art ideas for my blank walls?  I would love to hear them!!

xo

janel

Amelia's First Snowman

These photos are NOT from this insane "polar vortex."  It has been way too cold to take my baby outside to play in the snow this week.  BUT, seeing as snow is all around, it made me think back to a couple of weeks ago when it snowed here, and wasn't in the negative temperatures.  

I have never been a fan of the snow.  Even when we were little my sister was racing out the door to go sledding and I was asking my mom if I could stay inside and help make the hot chocolate.  It's just not my thing.  I think it's beautiful for about 30 minutes, and then Im over it…I can't help it.

Fortunately, my east-coast husband was more than up for taking Amelia outside for her first snow play experience.

I mean….how cute can one little snow bunny be?

They shoveled our porch together.

Threw snowballs at each other.

And built her very first snowman together.

It was so sweet and I am so happy to have been able to snap some photos of it!!

But seriously, enough already with the snow and cold…no bueno.

xo

Janel

Project Life 2014

I am so excited to be doing this project again and to be back on track with this project.  I do have to say that I haven't completed the last three months of 2013 yet (yikes).  Things got super crazy with the move and then our basement flooded and a lot of my PL stuff got damaged so Project Life has been on the back burner.  My game plan though is to do an October November and December highlights only.  It would be insanely hard for me to try and remember every detail from those approximately 10 weeks. This way I can do an October section with the highlights from that month and then the same with November and December.  That makes the whole thing more manageable for me which also makes it more probable for me to complete.  "Simplifying" my friends :)

Now, on to 2014…

My cover page is sooo not original. I saw Elise's cover page, fell madly in love with it and couldn't get it off of my mind so I used her triangle concept :)

I wanted to make sure everyone from my little family was included, our photo of our city, and then some of our favorite things.  It really turned out cute I think.  I also added a lot of 3D elements to this page to make it even more special.  The first page of any book is a big deal :)

On the opposite of this page I added black and white images that I created or found on Pinterest with my One Little Word.  Again, this is something that I always like to highlight in my Project Life Albums (see 2012, and 2013).

Then, on the page to the right of that I did a large photo of our family to document our little family of 3 in the beginning of 2014.  Also, I ended up adding this so that Week One of 2014 will start on a  full two-page spread :)

The first year that I did Project Life, I didn't really use a "core kit" or a specific type of Pocket Page to create my book.  Last year, I stayed with one type Pocket Page and also stuck with the theme of the Seafoam Core Kit.  This year I decided to "keep it simple" and go back to not using a certain theme.  I don't' want to feel limited to a color scheme.  I actually have three different core kits now that I will pick from and continue using random papers from around my studio space.  I do however, love sticking with one particular type of pocket page and will probably stick with the Design A pages for MOST of 2014.

I am happy to say that my week one spread is soooooo almost finished.  I just need to add a bit of journaling and photograph it :)

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!

Amelia's First Haircut

Amelia got her very first haircut last week!  It was such a cute experience.  If you are local, we went to The Hairy Elephant, which is specifically for children's haircuts and first haircuts.  We decided to "the first hair cut" experience and also a "Curly Hair Cosultation."  Amelia's hair is amazing, seriously, like curls for days but it's also a completely different texture than my own hair so I needed advice on how to care for her hair properly and how to make her curls looks their very best.  Like I said, the whole thing was adorable, Amelia was so good and had a blast, PLUS I walked away feeling like I finally knew what I was doing with Amelia's hair.  

My favorite part of the day was when the hairstylist asked me what  type of video Amelia would want to watch during her haircut. 

Hairstylist:  "What kind of video would Amelia want to watch during her haircut?"

Me: "I don't know, she loves princesses."

My mom: "Oh she loves Yo Gabba Gabba"

Amelia: (hands the lady a video from off of the shelf) "Guys, I like Elmo."

She's so insanely smart and grown up and she's only 22 months.

She's growing up way too fast I tell you.

xo

janel

The Arch

Adam's family came down, from Massachusetts, this past week to celebrate a late Christmas with us and to ring in the New Year.  It was a blast, as always.  We really treasure all of the time that we get to spend with them.  We decided to explore St. Louis a bit since my nephews had never been before and our adventure landed us at The Arch!  My sister and Jack also joined us which is always a HUGE bonus.  Here are the photos from our day…

So yeah, it was a really great day :)

xo

janel

2014.

This is my mantra this year.  

Making my life simple, living simply, simplifying all of the aspects.

Happy 2014 friends.

I am so excited.

xo

Janel

one little word 2014

Seriously, does anyone still even read this blog :)  I miss it like woah.  I took a year off from it and it was a lovely break.  But I miss it.  This year I have lost all of my photos from my computer and others in a flooded basement so this blog has been a saving grace for my memories.  Also, I didn't pay for my domain name (which I paid $10 a year for) and now the company that bought it has it up for auction with a minimum bid of $650.  1.  No thank you.  2.  Lame.

Sooooooo, this year I am participating in the One Little Word challenge, as I always do.  This word has popped into my head over and over this past month and after reflecting on it and praying about it I have decided that my word for 2014 is going to be…

I need some serious simplifying in my life.  

With the big move into a house, and a fresh new budget, we need to seriously simplify our life over here.  

Simplify our finances

Simplify our possessions

Simply our decor

Simplify our life.

It's a "simple" as that.

Im super excited to have this blog again as a journal for myself and family. I love having a place to document it all for Amelia.  I also LOVE that it's one extra place to store my photos :(

If you are still a reader of this blog, thank you!!

Leave a comment below so I know you are still here :)

xo

Janel

one year

This post is late coming but it's here :)

Amelia's big one year birthday party!!
Being that Amelia is a Leap Day baby, we decided to celebrate her birthday on March 1, every year that doesn't have a February 29.
This year it was perfect because I had the day off of school so we were able to spend the whole day together as a family.
The theme was "You are my sunshine" and the decor was all pretty much DIY :)
Here are some photos from the day:

We of course, had to do a Smash Cake :)

Our BIG eater had no problem going crazy with the cake.

It was such a blessed day full of family and friends and love for our sweet little Amelia.

It is unreal how fast this year has gone.

She's talking, has teeth, and her hair is out of control in the best way possible.

I love her times infinity.

xo

janel

Amelia's Valentine Cards-2013

Amelia has some sweet little friends at her babysitter's house, at church, and some adorable online friends as well.

Since Valentine's Day is next week, and we had these amazing Valentine photos from Fresh Art Photography, I thought it would be fun to make a few cute valentines for her friends.

I used one of the photos from Jodie, and then set to work on wording.  I had bought a little pack of chapsticks for this project so I wanted a nerdy Valentine style play on words. Naturally, I started with "Let's STICK together" but I just wasn't feeling it.

Pinterest supplied me with the "Read my LIPS valentine."  I was telling Adam about it and he said are using Lip Balms and "You're the Balm!" came to my mind.

Like, you're the bomb!

I cracked myself up.

So, after adding words using Photoshop Elements, I used a little adhesive and stuck the lip balms onto the Valentines.

Easy, personalized, and cute :)

What are some cute Valentine DIY's that you have seen around lately?

xo

janel

MINē

I am so excited to FINALLY announce some big news with you all.  I have teamed up with two other AMAZING moms on a new blog called, MINē.

MINē is a lifestyle blog for the minis in all of our lives.

Here is our little mission statement :

 We sow seeds of fashion but are not limited to. 

We are on a mission - to create, share and inspire.

We radiate a passion -

To CREATE an unforgettable experience for our lovely visitors at MINē. At MINē all are invited to experience the quality of our lovingly hand-picked mini fashion pieces, and bathe in the fun and values we have to share!

To SHARE our affection and joy as loving parents, bringing other parents messages of love and inspiration of style for your mini's. Our fashion and lifestyle speaks so much more than looks, we hope to also offer a gift of hope and joy in parenting.  We plan to share not only inspiration in styling your mini, but giving inspiration in all aspects of life with your mini.

To INSPIRE our fellow parents with fresh, stimulating ideas of fashion, parenting and living life. We constantly provide fun tips and projects on our blog and social marketing channels, all in the hopes to inspire you and yours.

MINē is not your regular mini lifestyle blog. So join us at our visionary mini fashion blog, so that the creations and inspirations we have can extend to yonder and beyond…

Most of my blogging will now be done over there.  I will definitely be back here every once in awhile to share photos of Amelia and monthly pics and such.  I think I am going to focus on posting my Project Life pages on Instagram now (@jmaclean) instead of here.

I feel really blessed to be apart of this team and I know that this blog is going to be HUGE.
Please come over and check it, "follow" us, and stay awhile :)  
We have a HUGE a giveaway week coming up next week for our big launch.  
You won't want to miss it!!

xo

janel