+ it's been a pretty quiet couple days (filled with happy little things).
+ photos taken with the shake it app for iPhone.
+ thank you, thank you for the sweet words about our honeymoon album!
+ I am looking forward to a new week.
enJOY it
an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.
-
I've blogged about these kate spade idiom bracelets before, but I figured they deserved their own post. I have the white "on cloud nine" bangle and wore it for my wedding. I also bought them as gifts for my bridesmaids.
They come in two sizes (10mm @ $42 & 5mm @ $28) and many different colors. I think the best part are the little sayings engraved into the inside of the bangle. If I was to get another one I'd love "the grass is always greener." I also think they are going to continue to be my go-to gift for friends. (hi, friends!)
AND – if you order through the website, shipping is free. If you sign up for emails, you'll get a coupon for 15% off your first purchase. Can't beat that.
(p.s. am totally not affiliated with kate spade, I just adore the company.)
-
I finally got my shipment of kraft envelopes and was able to list my newest mini book kit – the city kit.
This 4×4 kit includes a few favorite patterned papers from cool paper companies as well as a couple designed by me. I think the best part is the printed map transparency. Any guesses on the city shown? It's not San Diego.
I will be sharing the inside of my book next week and the kits can be purchased here.
-
Originally, I planned to make a digital album for our honeymoon photos. It was going to be in the same format as our engagement and wedding albums and fit into a Russell+Hazel mini binder
. I scrapped (no pun intended) this idea for a bunch of reasons :
- the photos from our honeymoon were taken with my little point and shoot
at a much smaller resolution than our professional photos. They were not going to blow up and print as well in large format.
- I attempted the digital album twice and both times was very un-inspired.
- there was not as much story to tell with text – it was our honeymoon. It was amazing. But that's sort of it.
- Bora Bora was tropical and vivid and deserved a bit more of a mess than the clean lines of our previous albums.
And so, I decided to go with a thick, tactile book but I was still stumped on what size and style to go with.
Then a few weeks ago when girlfriends from college were in town, I pulled out my minibook from our spring break senior year. It had been years since I'd look through it and I loved the textures, the transparencies and the simple color scheme.
So basically, I copied myself from a few years ago to make this album. It came together in about seven hours over two days. Below are the photos of most of the page spreads. At the end of this post is a complete supply list.
Supplies used : Hambly transparencies, Office Depot write-on transparencies, staples, yellow & white cardstock, yellow & teal fabric, white thread, striped paper (from Paper Source but unlisted on the website), Paper Source label, vintage lace, letter stamps from Micheal's, American Crafts fine point slickwriter, stars from Crate&Barrel last holiday season.
Thanks for looking!
- the photos from our honeymoon were taken with my little point and shoot
-
…our honeymoon album is getting nice and thick.
-
around here : thinking about your suggestions. I have a big grid next to my computer and I'm jotting down thoughts based on your comments. A minibook workshop is starting to take shape. I'm shooting for early September.
around here : prepping for Paul's weekend away. He's headed up north for a bachelor party and I'm coming up with ideas for things to do in his absence. I think Renegade LA is on the agenda.
around here : starting on a honeymoon album.
around here : customizing guestbooks for upcoming weddings.
around here : watching 30 Rock like it's our job. We're about five years late to the party, but we're hooked. Alec Baldwin nails it. The whole cast nails it.
around here : preparing a "city mini book kit". They should be available by the end of the week.
around here : enjoying summer fruit by the bowl full.
around here : waiting for sunshine. We had a hint of the famous San Diego weather last weekend but it's back to the gray and the gloom. I told Paul we're destined to encounter weird weather where ever we're stationed.
around here : designing new custom posters based on an idea from Molly. Look for more information next week.
around here : busy is wonderful.
-
They made it through his first rotation.
Lots of long days.
And a bunch of over night calls.
She realized that on the nights he's on call, "dinner" is peanut butter on a spoon and some cereal.
No good.
He's enjoying being a doctor though.
The patient interaction is interesting & challenging.
The monitoring two cell phones is lame & challenging.
And let's be honest, the work phone rings waaay too often.
And let's be more honest, "too often" means "in the middle of the night."
Her productivity is way down.
And even without the night phone calls, she's not sleeping.
But that usually means a new idea is on the way.
So in general, morale is high for E & P.
They even managed to get out for two date nights.
AND!
They are both bike riders!
It's awesome!
And they still have just the one car.
They'd like to stick with one car forever.
But something tells them once their kids have to go to
soccercheer practice a second car (but not a minivan) might be in order.They are very serious about settling down in San Diego for the rest of their days.
She's hoping they never have to leave their two bedroom apartment in downtown.
Check back in July 2011 to see how well that plan worked out.
-
Anything you would be interested in learning in a class like that? Please leave a comment or drop me a line : elise[dot]blaha[at]gmail.com
Thank you!
-
Originally, the size of the kitchen was what we didn't like about the apartment. With basically one drawer and limited accessible cupboards, it seemed too small.
So we bought extra space at Ikea to store our dishes and small appliances and now it's pretty perfect. (Plus the free standing shelf is a good earthquake detector as it rattles like crazy.)
The shelf holding our pots is from Ikea too.
I recovered our kitchen chairs (finally) with blue fabric from, (where else?) Ikea. This was so simple to do. If your chair cushions have screws underneath them, you can do it. I didn't bother removing the black fabric that was already there, I just staple gunned the blue right over it. They are certainly not professional, but look much better and so far seem very secure.
I decided to decorate the space about the kitchen table with food and drink photos/art. The "C" for our last name is from Urban Outfitters. The wine painting is by Kal. The coffee mug photo was mounted on canvas by ColorInc. The vegetable photo was taken at our farmer's market and the breakfast image from our honeymoon. I would love to continue adding photos to these walls.
It's small, but simple and ORGANIZED. That's how we [try to] roll.
-
I am always on the lookout for perfect flats. They have to be simple. They have to be cute. But most importantly, they have to have a decent cushion between my soles and the pavement.Last winter, I bought Bloch ballet flats in silver and they fit all of my criteria perfectly. Except they were a little more than I usually like to spend.
So I was thrilled this morning when I found city flats at Gap. Simple, cute and cushioned. And for only $39. Perfect. I bought them in red and want them in black.
enJOY it 