enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • she & he in december.

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    They got their Christmas cards out this month with way too much fanfare.

    She realized early in the month that newly-married couples are quick to get cute holiday cards mailed out.

    And they like to share wedding photos on them.

    But alas, she had already decided their cards would be neither early nor with photos.

    He started seeing all the photo-ed cards they were recieving and was all about including a picture in their card.

    Unfortunately, he made his opinions known after she had already signed, sealed, addressed and stamped the cards.

    She thought about it, and he was right.

    So she ordered 50 honeymoon photos, re-opened envelopes and redid the whole event.

    Next year, she is asking him in October if he has ideas for their holiday cards.

    ++

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    And in all seriousness, Merry Christmas from the Cripe's! Paul managed to get today and tomorrow off so we are laying low and then heading up to Sacramento to see our families tomorrow evening. Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole season and I'm glad we'll get to spend it with everyone we love. We're looking forward to a few days away … I'm not even bringing my computer in my suitcase. I hope you have a wonderful & warm weekend, whatever you celebrate. Look for a special post on Sunday and then lots of jam-packed posts next week. We've got a brand new year to usher in and I've got about 20 resolutions to make.

  • a blaha (and now cripe) family christmas tradition.

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    Growing up, we had a few holiday traditions. One of our favorites was filling in and reading through the family Christmas book that my parents had received as a wedding gift in 1981.

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    The book has 25 two page spreads which have a place to share a family photo from Christmas eve or day, a place to journal what you did during the holiday season, a place to share the holiday card you mailed out and a place to share what happened to the family during the past year.

    1983
    1987
    2003

    My parents took a lot of film photos of us as kids, but they did not do any memory-keeping or documenting with words other than this book – which, as it turns out, is really all you need. The book was packed away with our decorations every year and only came out each December. Reading back through the entries and seeing the photos change was always sweet & hilarious. When we got older, Robbie and I would help my mom make long lists of what had happened to each family member and then she would transcribe it into the book. My parents are now onto their second album and my mom types the journaling and tapes it in – too much happens each year to hand-write it all into the small space provided.

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    When Paul and I got married, my parents bought us our own book. I filled it in one night last week and added our Christmas card (the photo is on the back and the card flips up). I will adding a Christmas photo we take in our apartment before we fly up to Sacramento on Christmas Eve. I want to be sure the photo shows where we are living as that will change so often over Paul's military career.

    I remember reading about the four Christmases my parents spent together before I was born with fascination – it's always so hard to imagine your parents existing before you – and I love that our little ones will grow up with the same feelings.

    Seriously, best tradition ever. I am so thankful my mom took the time to capture our family every December and passed the idea on to me. And thanks Mom, for snapping the some photos of the Blaha family book for me to share.

  • holiday book update #5.

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    Holiday cards, Paul's 28th birthday, finding out we're moving to Ventura, holiday parties, Christmas flowers, the Nutcraker & filling in our family Christmas book. Busy week. click any image to enlarge.

    See more pages from this book here, here, here and here.

  • experimenting.

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    I've been playing around with paint today and "practicing" my handwriting. Getting a paint brush to work like a pen is much harder than it looks.

  • december 20th.

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    Yesterday : we went to see The Nutcracker with two of my college girlfriends and their significant others. Since college, we have all spread out across the country and taken such different paths. I can easily count how often I have seen my girls since we graduated in spring 2007 but it's amazing how when we are back together it all comes back. Like magic. It's crazy that after living in the same house for three years and spending every day together, these little reunions are all we need to fuel the friendships.

    Today : it is rainy. Paul is at work. I am getting up the energy to get to work. I plan on posting my next 15 or so pages of the holiday book tomorrow and then I think I might step away from the blog until after Christmas. I'm entering hibernate mode. Thinking and sketching and planning and writing and reading and building ideas for next year. I have so much to say about what I would like to do in 2011, but it seems right to wait until the wrapping paper settles. I'll share that all next week.

    Photos : taken with the ShakeIt app for iPhone of our farmer's market flowers this week. I am loving the spend-eight-dollars-on-super-random-flowers-in-a-color-scheme-and-then-mix-and-match-to-fill-six-vessels plan.

  • friday.

    Lastday

    Just so you know, today is the last day to shop and (hopefully) receive books or prints or posters before Christmas. I am making one final trip to the post office tomorrow morning and after that orders will not ship until December 28th. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I can't make custom cards, books or posters happen until after the holidays.

    Thank you so much for your support this year. And thank you so much for your excitement over our move. It's so nice to know what's next.

  • next for e&p.

    Calimove

    And about three hours north we go!

    Last year, at this time, we found out we would be moving from Maryland to San Diego. And today Paul got a call that his first choice for his GMO tour is available.

    And so : next we will be living in Ventura, California.

    A bit of background : Paul is a doctor for the US Navy. He went to med school in Maryland and then we came out to San Diego for his internship. He is hoping to do a residency in Radiology but will be completing a two year stint as a General Medical Officer first. The unit he will be with is part of the Seabees who are stationed at Port Hueneme near Ventura.

    He also found out today that the unit he will be with preparing to deploy soon. Paul will complete a bit of stateside training as soon as his internship is over in July then will join them overseas to complete the rest of their deployment out of a Navy base in Japan. We were hoping he would deploy as soon as possible so we could be back together & enjoy the more predictable schedule that comes with a GMO station. It looks right now that he will be back around October or November.

    As of now, we are planning to keep our current apartment in San Diego until he is back home. It makes the most sense seeing as we won't have any time to apartment search together or move our stuff before he leaves. Plus, I love being super close to the airport – I plan on doing a lot of traveling myself while he is gone. And of course I'll be blogging and business growing …

    Bottom line : He's excited! I'm excited! We're moving someplace new! We get to stay in California! (Have you seen the Ventura website?!) Paul will be home for next Christmas!

    All is good.

  • holiday book update #4.

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    I can say for sure that this holiday book is coming together much better than in years past. One thing that has really helped is my box of embellishments. I don't have to do any searching to find red & green odds and ends which means the books is getting more extra details than usual. I'm a fan. I hope the ease of filling this book continues because it is keeping this project very enjoyable.

    Below is progress from the last week or so. In most cases, the image on the left is how the book looked before I added to it. As always, click any photo to enlarge.

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    As mentioned in the last post, I flipped the silver patterned paper over. The label on the left was wrapped over the top of the page already. The second label was already cut and left over from another time that I messed up while writing on it. (You can always use the other half! Save the mess ups!) I added some text to both labels from December 8th. Into the gold evelope, I added a tag with a lot of journaing. Envelopes are perfect places for "hiding" more personal stories.

    If you looked back, you'd see I didn't do any writing or take any photos for this book from Dec 4-8. This is how it works best for me. No stress. At the end, if I end up with extra pages, I just pull them out of the book. But at the rate I am going, I think I'll have to add more. Some days take up a few pages.

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    I adhered a half a 6×8 photo to the back of the gold envelope and backed the second half of the photo with a piece of wrapping paper. There was a blown out bright spot from the window that was a perfect place for another label sticker with some handwritten text. I stuck a polaroid photo of my paper snowflake right into the book rings.

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    I ended up moving the dark green card futher back in the book and added a few labels and tags to the green circle piece. The brown sunburst label on the back of the polaroid is from Knot & Bow.

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    A photo of our gift tags was added to the back of the green circle paper. I clipped a small tag with text right onto the page with a spiral paper clip. I wrote out the gifts we are giving and tucked them into the striped envelope. The tape sealing the envelope is from Martha Stewart Crafts line at Michael's.

    I have a few more pages added already, but they are about our Christmas cards and I want those that are getting them in the mail to be surprised – so I'll share more next week!

    See more pages from this book here, here, and here. And in case you still want to start – I do have a few more holiday books available.

  • little reasons.

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  • fresh start.

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    Yesterday, I took almost everything off my bulletin boards. They are ready for the new year. New ideas, new inspiration, new color palette. I also ordered supplies for a new product to debut early in 2011 and then I mentally closed up shop. No stress over coming up with new products for the next few weeks. That idea on it's own is inspiring. Have you noticed that when you decide to stop thinking about something the ideas tend to come?

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    I did leave one thing on my blank board – my first ever business card. It's a stamp on a piece of cardstock. These were shipped out with my first couple orders. I'm sharing it here as a reminder that if you want to open a shop or small business you have to just start. It begins with making a product, taking well-lit photographs and posting them online. The details like your business cards can evolve with you and your business. Don't get caught up in making your brand perfect from day one.

    Just start.