random cards

Felt like playing with watercolor lately, so made these two cards - one to my dear parents for their 31th birthday anniversary, and the other to my dear friend for his birthday.

The first one comes in an envelope:

The paper I used here was Prima Art Paper (some old collection) and the flair is from Everyday Vintage.

I painted the card on a Prima Paintable I've had in my stash for a while.

The number is a wood veneer piece from Ali Edwards December Daily 2014 kit...

...painted with gold acrylic paint (Studio Calico 24 karat).

I inserted a picture of all the four of us (the only one this year so far taken back in January - I should take more family portraits, really).

The greeting is under the picture but I forgot to take a photo of it.

There's a wood veneer heart on the back of the card painted gold, too.

And this is the birthday card (the same paintable, but a different background and shape and one of my favorite color combos):

This is the second time in my life I've made cards, so please don't judge too severely. Thank you so much for reading!

week in the life 2014!

Hi there!

Let me share, I have to spill it out, I'm so, so happy today! I've actually just finished my Week in the Life 2014 album.

IT'S THE FIRST ALBUM I'VE EVER EVER COMPLETED!

Isn't it something to celebrate?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

No, honestly, I've been meaning to do this forever. I took part in Week in the Life last year in October together with amazing Ali Edwards and a whole group of cool folks, meaning I was taking pictures of our life for a week, and then I started printing them out and writing the words and putting it all together... and got stuck, and never returned to this project again.

One of my intentions for this year was to finish all my unfinished albums, and now I believe I can do it because well, I did it with this one!

I feel so excited and happy and grateful, that I decided to film a video walk-through of the album. Mind you, it's not only the first album in my life, it's also the first video in my life, so PLEASE BEAR WITH ME.

I'm filming it while holding my camera in one shaking hand and turning the page with the other. I'm nervously stammering in my far-from-perfect English. I'm also bursting with happiness and excitement of someone who's just finished her first ever album and filming her first ever video. You get the idea.

So that's it. You're watching this at your own risk. You've been warned!

Thank you so much for watching! And my hugs to anyone who'll leave a comment. They make me so happy.

A few pictures for those who prefer it this way:

Have you really made it this far?!

Love you guys.

april reflections

April (and the beginning of May) has been tough. Did I mention we all got ill in March? Well, April turned out even worse (for me). I seriously can't believe it's all over now, and though it was really hard and I didn't do anything I planned for at least two months (no blog posts, no scrapbooks, almost no housework etc) I must admit it was good for me to take such a long break. I re-thought and re-looked a few things in my life, and I feel like a different person now. So much happier, too.

It's funny how often things that seem dreadful at first turn out to be just what I really needed.

I'm playing catch up now, and the first thing on my list is April reflections. Here goes:

love

a huge breakthrough here. Hard times have a great love-developing potential, and I felt like I had a level up. It's a bit personal to write it out, but I'm still going to do that and keep in some sort of a secret pocket in my OLW album because I really want to remember the experiences I had during this illness months and all that I have learned.

scrapbooking

in the middle of scrapping April 2014 (random, I know).

blog

ignored.

home

slowly getting into shape.

tea

not bad here! Bought another gaiwan, two sets of tiny cups and quite a few tea selections (at least four, maybe more). Really enjoying these little breaks during the day when I get some time to treat myself and those who care to a cup (or twenty) of good tea.

relationships

much better, as I had to spend all the time I was ill with the kids, and I was absolutely not distracted in any way. This is so good for me and them. Almost no yelling, too. Just not as many walks outside as I'd like, but I hope we'll catch up on this.

food

just fine. I feel much less attached to food now. Usually I'm craving sweet and delicious things, but now I feel sort of calm about food. Just plain simple dishes I like is more than enough. 

exercise

not at all.

go to bed and wake up early

yep! still enjoying this a lot.

photography/design/writing

I've read through a couple photography classes and really liked the content. Now it's practice time. 

MAY INTENTIONS:

Love: buy the second book by L. as soon as I get the money.

Relationships: start training George using Sensei's method (with ball games).

Scrapbooking: finish April 2014. If yes, get to my OLW tasks.

Blog: daily.

Photography: write out the assignment from my photography class, put it on the wall and do a task a day. 

Home: get into FlyLady groove again.

So that's it! We're half through the month already, but even writing this out makes me feel better.