Green Bunny: Canvas!

Canvas art! This was a really fun project. I am thinking it might be something I offer when I start my little business venture. I started with an 8x10 blank canvas. Next, I painted the whole canvas with Making Memories scrapbook paint. Then, I sifted through a bunch of patterned paper scraps and picked some coordinating designs.

I used foam alphabet stamps for my words and attached my papers with sticky photo tabs.

I finished the projects with a layer of modge podge. The boys always get my 'first tries'. You R My Sunshine in Carter's room and I Love You This Much goes to Logan. Can't wait to try a couple more with other colors and sayings!

Green Bunny: Little Blue Pool

This is...by far...one of my favorite layouts!

There is just something about chubby arms and that little blue pool that create a recipe for pure joy. This was the first time I combined both color and black & white photos on a layout and I love the outcome.

Joyeux Kitchen: Sangria! Ole!

We had a party over the weekend and this Emeril recipe was a huge hit.  It's easy to make ahead and serve later; perfect for a busy party day!

You'll need:

• 1 (750 ml) bottle of red wine
• 1/4 cup brandy (I used apricot)
• 1/4 cup triple sec/orange liqueur
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (I used bottled)
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice (again...bottled)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 an orange, thinly sliced
• 1/2 a lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 unwaxed apple, cored and cut into thin wedges (Oh please Emeril, where am I going to get an unwaxed apple?  I used waxed and didn't core it either.)
• 1 (750 ml) bottle of sparkling water, chilled

I also threw in a handful of tiny key limes sliced in half since I used bottled lime juice.  Combine everything but the sparkling water in a large plastic container or glass pitchers. Cover and chill completely, 1 to 2 hours. When ready to serve, add the sparkling water.  This recipe is great doubled if you're serving a crowd!  I doubled it, but didn't have a second bottle of sparkling water, so I used 2 cans of Sprite.  YUM!

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse & foodnetwork.com.

Green Bunny: Week In The Life

Another amazing project from Ali Edwards. I LOVED capturing our life for a week. All the 'stuff' that makes us the McCabe Family. I did my first Week In The Life album in May 2010. I tailored mine after Ali's for the first go round and used her Designer Digitals templates to set up my album. I basically followed her format exactly as I got my toes wet in this process. It is an 8.5x11 format. I used Photoshop Elements 4.0 with the digital overlays and the divided pages are baseball card protectors. Not sure if I will use the same templates this year or try something new. I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke..."

Ali has set her week in July this year. With Dan traveling, our anniversary, and Carter turning two, it didn't seem like the ideal week for us. I'd like to capture an 'ordinary' week (if that exists). I am going to set aside a week in August (currently looking at Aug 15-21). Consider yourself invited to join in during either time period. Visit Ali's Week In The Life page for even more inspiration.

SERIOUSLY...Give it a try! Last year, I took 80-100 pictures a day (Don't be overwhelmed by this number...that incudes 4-5 pictures of each subject to make sure I got atleast one good one...blurries...etc). It was easier than I thought it would be. I tried to capture several aspects of our lives: foods we were eating, the way our street looked that time of year, our shoes, toys, clothes, dog, the boys wrestling, the boys reading, the boys playing...I also included receipts, packaging, lists, pieces of mail, etc. I kept my Itso bin (mentioned in a December Daily post) on the kitchen counter with a file folder for each day of the week to keep track of everything. At the end of each day, I uploaded all the pics to a dated folder on my desktop. That way, I didn't have to sort through 1000 pictures at the end of the week and try to decided what happened on each day. I also kept a spiral notebook in the Itso bin to write notes and stories from each day. My mama brain NEEDS notes!

It is so fun to look back at last year's album. SO much has changed in just one year (no more bottles, Carter is walking, Logan is potty-trained, the toys have changed). Imagine looking back in 10 years and seeing what your 'reality' was. A glimpse of what used to be. LOVE it!

My hope is to continue doing one week a year and shifting a couple months each time in order to include different months/seasons over the years. I think I'll be able to fit two to three 'years' in one album. May 2010 was 16 pages. Take a look:

The right page is a printed 8.5x11 photo. I used Ali's digital overlays to create the collage and then printed them up on scrapbookpictures.com. I added the patterned paper once they arrived in my mailbox.

A couple of 6x12's for some variation...

The baseball page protectors were a fun size to play with. For the photos on those pages, I created a 5x7 canvas in Photoshop and added four 2.5x3.5 photos in collage format and printed them through scrapbookpictures.com. Just a small amount of cropping when they arrived and they were ALL the SAME size!

Inspired yet? I hope you'll join me! This is a great little book of memories for your family. Feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments section too!