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

11 months.

My little sweetie pie turned 11 months yesterday!

Next month she will be a year old.

Crazy.

11 months

* the best 11 months of my life

*  you are eating everything, EVERYTHING.

*  whenever we eat anything we always let you try it and you always love it.

*  you are saying all kinds of little words now

*  you like to repeat our actions and our words

*  you think you are so funny (and you totally are)

*  you still sleep like a champ at night, and during your naps.

*  you are soooooo close to walking.

*  you stand by yourself a lot 

*  your favorite word to say is "uh-oh"

*  you squeal with delight every time your daddy walks in the room

*  you are the most amazing little girl I know

Seriously, I can not believe she is getting so big!

She is the most precious gift that I have ever been given and each day with her is a blessing.

xo

janel

a year ago today...

A year ago today, we got THE CALL.  This was the call that would change our lives forever...

(Adam had just had Lasik, hence the sunglasses)

Dear Amelia's birth mother,

Thank so much for initiating that phone call.

Thank you for loving your daughter so much.

Thank you for allowing us to be her parents.

Thank you for giving us the biggest blessing we could have ever asked for.

Love,

Janel

I can remember this day, one year ago, so vividly!!

I was at school, eating my lunch in my classroom, by myself.

The secretary came over the intercom and said that I had a phone call, that it was my husband, and she would put the call through.

I remember begin really scared that something bad had happened since Adam would NEVER call my school to talk to me.

(I can easily answer my cell phone at anytime during the day)

I remember he sounded nervous.

I remember feeling nervous.

He asked me if I was sitting down.

That made me even more nervous.

He told me that we were chosen by a birth mother and that we would be able to meet her later that week.

He told me what he knew about her and that the social worker was 98% sure that she was going to have a girl.

I cried.

I danced.

I called everyone that I knew and ran around the school to tell everyone that I am close to.

I remember thinking that 98% sure wasn't 100% sure but I knew in my heart that we were going to be parents to a little girl...

Today is a great day.

xo

janel

insta-life

Life around here has been full.

Here is a little peek via my Instagram feed.

Good times have been had by all :)

xo

janel

Project Life - Week 2

And here is Week two!  I can't say enough about how this project just gets better and better with time :)  I've decided to have some consistency in my album this year with the date pages.  I am going to only use the paper from the Seafoam kit (it's so easy to use every week when you are in love with it!).  I also am going to use this amazing weekly download from September Blue.  They are so perfect because they are already designed to go with the Seafoam kit, color wise and font wise.  LOVE THEM.

 I got a new date stamp this year from one of my very favorite Sunday School girls.

I have also decided to document my weeks starting on Mondays and ending on Sundays this year.  I think that this will work better for me.

I love how simple my pages are; words and photos.  Nothing too difficult or ornate yet they tell my whole story so it's perfect.

Project Life 2013...I'm a big fan :)

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!

my friend Martin.

Happy Martin Luther King Day! 

For those of you who know me well, you know that MLK is one of my most favorite people of all time. 

I love his love for everyone, his peace, his hope, his purpose to do God's will.

He is so incredibly inspiring.

Let's spend today loving EVERYONE.
xo
janel

Project Life 2013

Well, my Seafoam kit arrived last week so I was able to get my pages together for Project Life!  I am so stoked to be working on this new year with my new kit!  Above, you will see my cover page :)  I still need to take a cute photo of the three of us to insert into that extra pocket but for now, it's empty and Im ok with that.

And here is my Week One spread:

I love the Seafoam kit so much more than I did before, now that I have seen it all in person. LOVE it I tell you :) The colors and patterns are right up my alley.  Elise you are a genius :)

Above are some photos from New Years Eve, a little pocket of sequins, our "one little words" for 2013, a photo of Amelia all bundled up for snow, and a documentation to symbolize Adam and I's new budget plan for 2013.  We are following Dave Ramsey's approach and that quote is one of his (that I secretly laugh about).

This page is just a random assortment from our days of looking at houses (that's a blurred out address and a blurred out contract under the yellow squares), my new planner, my favorite sweatshirt, and a little January calendar which was a free download.  They are perfect for Project Life.  I also loooove those sweet wooden elements from Freckled Fawn.  I've been using them every week so far :)

Well, there you go, Week one of project life 2013.  I'm so excited to be documenting with Project Life again this year.

I'll be posting my Week 2 and Week 3 later this week so check back.

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!

the weekends

The weekends are the best because they are filled with Amelia.  I get to spend the whole day with her, and seriously, it doesn't get any better than that.  Here are a few shots from my morning thus far...

This girl is a mover and a shaker.  We played kitchen, we wrestled with Catalina, we read the sweet love letter that her grampy sent her, we had a dance party to Florence and the Machine, and we practiced climbing onto the couch.
Has it really almost been a year?
wow.

xo
janel

home inspiration

Life has been pretty crazy around here. Adam and I have been looking at houses, figuring out our finances and taking care of a sick baby girl.  During nap times, I have been pinning home inspiration like crazy!!  Here are a few inspirational spaces that I have really been gravitating towards.

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Our little home, right now, is filled with white walls, wood floors, and pops of color and I love it.  I think that is definitely something that I will continue on with in our someday new home.

I am on inspiration overload right now with home beauty.

xo

janel