Summer Fun!

One of my favorite things to do in the summer to go to the beach. We live closest to California beaches, so that is where we have spent most of our beach time. A couple of weeks ago we got to go to the beach for a day while we were in Florida. Wow, the water was actually warm and I didn't mind getting in the water! I must say the East Coast beaches win by having a much more tolerable swimming temperature!

We spent the day playing on boogie boards, some tried out surfing and we relaxed in the sand.

Such a beautiful day at the beach! Now we are back in the 115 degree heat in AZ and we have the AC running almost non-stop. I'll just have to look at these photos and remember a time when I wasn't melting while being outside.

This week over on the Glitz blog, the design team is sharing lots of Summer Fun layouts. Stop by for some fun summer inspiration.

Stitch Fix #4

Okay, I am really loving Stitch Fix. (Haven't heard of Stitch Fix? You can read my post HERE that tells you all about it.) This month was the best delivery so far. I think it gets better with time because I get to give feedback on each piece that comes and over time the stylists learn what I like.

One nice touch is that each clothing items comes with a card attached that shows ways to wear that piece of clothes.

This time my stylist was Joseph A. and I've requested to keep him. He actually listened to my request that all of the shirts have sleeves. What to see what came this month?

Bangle Bracelets

See that set of two bracelets in the bottom right of the photo? This was the accessory that was included this time. I thought that it was fine, but didn't really plan on keeping them. (See below to find out why I ended up keeping them!) I really do like the star detailing on the red bracelet and they have a strong magnetic closure.

I'm thinking next time I will request that they skip the accessory and ask that they send a 5th clothing item instead.

Angie Delcan Crochet Inset Floral Print Top

Love the bright blue color of this shirt! It fit great and I liked that it was a little dressy, but still casual. The lacy insets adds a great detail to the top. I'm keeping it.

Hawthone Ivy Mini Dot Tab-Sleeved Blouse

I love that this shirt can be dressed up or down. I wore it with a black pencil skirt to church and thought it fit great and I loved the mini polka print.

After church, I slipped into some jeans and thought the shirt went well with those too. Got to love versatility!  My favorite detail on the shirt is a little hard to see in the picture, but there are tabs that reach around the ends of the sleeves and attach with a little button. I like how it puffs the sleeves a bit. Kept this one too!

Peppermint Ameila Mixed Print Tie-Waist Top

The mix of polka sleeves and a chevron bodice was really fun. I'd asked for shirts with fun patterns and this shirt fit the bill. Kept it!

Marigold Chambray Skirt

This was a really cute denim skirt with fun button and pocket details, but it was just too short for me. I like things down to the knee, so it didn't work for me. My 13 year old really wanted to try on the skirt and it fit her too. (A little loose, but workable.) I would have just sent it back, but after running the math, I figured that since I was keeping three shirts, it would only cost me $20 more to keep both the skirt and the bracelets because of the 25% discount that is offered if you keep everything.

I'm sure Stitch Fix has it all worked out so that people end up keeping more than planned because of the 25% discount. This is the first time I've kept everything.

So, it was a successful month from Stitch Fix! I love having new clothes arrive at my doorstep that fit and that I didn't have to walk miles at the mall to find.

Note: This post is not sponsored by Stitch Fix, I just really love their service and thought I'd share my fun with you. I do receive a credit if you use my referral link and decided to try it out for yourself.

Project Life: Week of April 28 & May 12

Summer is flying by around here. We have loved having friends over, our kids going to friends houses, going to a yoyo class at the library, doing morning chore lists, catching up on Weblos scout stuff, baking cookies, watching movies and yes, I do try and get some work done somewhere in the middle of this. I love summer!

There has not been a lot of scrapbook/creative time so far this summer, but I'm okay with that. I just grateful that I'm able to be home with my kids and enjoy time with them and help to keep them busy with good stuff. They'll be heading back to school in just 3.5 weeks, so our more relaxed time together is quickly running out.

I do have a couple of Project Life spreads that I put together last month to share with you today. I am still plugging along on this project and squeezing in time on it when I can.

Week of April 28

I tried out one of the 6 X 6 page protectors for this spread. Although I like how it turned out, it seemed to take more time since I had to create four mini layouts rather than just slipping photos into sleeves and adding embellishments. Maybe the time all came out even in the end since it was less pockets.

Badminton in the Backyard /// Choir Concert /// Bosa Donuts /// Ice Cream Sandwich /// Messy Pantry

Costco Cart /// My Cousin's Bridal Shower /// Feature on Ali Edwards' Blog /// At Our Friend's Bat Mitzvah

Week of May 12 - 18

Yes, this page does say that it's the week of May 19th, but after I photographed and edited the photo I realized that I stamped the wrong date. Oops! I have covered up the stamping and fixed the date, but didn't redo the photos. I'm sure you can just picture the correct date here on this spread.

I used the July Let's Chat kit from Scrapbook Circle for this spread. I love all of the stickers, arrows, alphas and tags in this kit!

Mother's Day /// Neighborhood Circus Party

Mother's Day /// On the Boat /// 4th Grade Wax Museum /// 2nd Grade Art Masterpiece /// Photo Booth Fun /// More Circus Party

Now I'm current on sharing all of my completed Project Life pages. Probably won't have much time to work on it for the next week because my sister's family (she had 5 kids!) arrives tomorrow and we are going to be busy playing. Not quite sure what we will do in this heat, but I'm sure we'll find things to keep us busy.

Project Life: April 21 - 27

I'm still doing Project Life and I still love it. I love capturing bits of our daily life and recording it all in one place. Here's a look at our week starting with April 21.

You can click on the photos to view larger.

I had some fun mixing photos with a painting by Hannah plus some cabinet plans/drawings for our pantry. This is the perfect place to document these things. 

Pantry Plans /// Sunday Brunch with Friends /// Gramps' Birthday /// Night on the Lake /// Half Day Lunch at Five Guys

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan /// Hannah's Painting /// Dancing at Gramps' Party /// My First Stitch Fix /// Setting Up Our New House

Another week is complete! 

Before & After

There is just something I love about taking before and after pictures. Seeing a transformation is always so fun and interesting. Here I snapped a couple of photos right before and after a new haircut for Hannah. I'm pretty sure my favorite thing about both photos is her awesome smile.

When I started this page, I was not liking it at all. So I pulled everything off the page and started rearranging things. Sometimes that is the best strategy when I'm not feeling like a page is coming together.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

I really loved the black and white striped background, but it was a little too overpowering for the page. So I trimmed it down and added a frame plus added some strips of paper to cover the white strips just for fun.

This page is bold and full of personality - just like Hannah!

Layout Supplies /// Let's Chat Kit /// July Embellishment Add-on

I Love Stickers!

I have always loved using stickers. I even had sticker book collections which were carefully stored in puffy binders as a kid. Wishing I still had all of those puffy, glittery and scratch and sniff stickers now.

This week on the Glitz Designs blog we were challenged to create something using any of their cardstock stickers. Perfect challenge for someone who loves stickers!

Here I layered a large sticker (it's the full size of the card) on top of a smaller sticker (with the tabbed edge) to create a bright, cheerful and quick background for this card.

When was the last time you used stickers? Do you love them too?

Stop by the Glitz blog this week for lots of sticker inspiration.

Orlando and a Wedding

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a great start. We returned from a few days in Orlando on Sunday and have now enjoyed a couple of quiet days at home. We went to Orlando so we could visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. That place did not disappoint!  Seriously so well done. I may have taken just a few pictures.

If you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. We visited Zonkos, Honeydukes, Hogsmeade and Hogwartz. We may have consumed way too much butterbeer while we were there. Oh well, that's what vacations are for, right?

I do have a layout to share today! It seems like it's been a while since I've created a page, so it felt good to have some time to create today.

I put this page together about the day we spent at my cousin's wedding. It may seem a little funny that I didn't include a picture of the bride and groom on a page about their wedding, but I just loved this photo of my kids, sister and brother that I took at the reception and wanted to use it.

Got to go. It's Taco Tuesday here at our house and it's time to make the guacamole.

Layout Supplies /// Let's Chat /// July Embellishment Add-on

Project Life: April 14

Eventually I may be current again on Project Life, but for today I have a spread to share from a couple of months ago.

This spread is about the week we moved and apparently I didn't take many pictures that week. Guess I was too busy packing, loading and uploading over and over again to take many pictures. Luckily we were given a couple of nice "new home" cards and goodbye cards from neighbors, so I had lots of space to share them here.

Even though we didn't have many pictures from this week, I'm happy this busy and exciting time was documented thanks to this Project Life album.

Celebrating the 4th of July

We are excited to celebrate the 4th of July this year. It really is one of my favorite holidays. We usually participate in my parents' neighborhood parade followed by a picnic. Nothing quite like a grilled burger at 9:30 in the morning. (We have to do the picnic early since it's so hot out!)

This week Glitz challenged the design team to create a patriotic themed layouts and I was happy to put some of my photos from last year onto a page.

Even though Glitz doesn't have patriotic specific products, I thought this page came together pretty well and wasn't overwhelmingly all stars and stripes.

This year we will be in Orlando on the 4th, so we won't be doing any of our usual activities.  We will probably miss the neighborhood parade and nighttime fireworks ar my aunt's house, but I'm thinking we will try to manage at a theme park or the beach.

I hope you'll stop by the Glitz Designs blog this week for Patriotic page inspiration!

Layout Supplies

Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" Patterned Paper: Scallop, Damask

Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" 6 X 6 Paper Pad

Glitz Designs "Color Me Happy" 6 X 6 Paper Pad

Glitz Designs "Uncharted Waters" Whatnots