Here's looking at me kid

Arts & Crafts | An Anniversary Book

After four years of marriage, what's a wife to do? (Okay, okay... what's a sweet G-rated thing she can do?) Well, you could write a cute blog post including photos from your wedding, make a scrapbook page about your anniversary date, or, I suppose, if you're a really good wife, you could put together a little book detailing special memories from the past years.

Since I'm a really good wife, that's exactly what I did! (No need to get all squinty-eyed, either, because I left out the juicy details. Those will be discussed over dinner. And maybe reenacted after dinner.)

Stress Relief in the Wintertime

Lately, I've been struggling with anxiety more than I ever have in the past twenty-five years. In the good old days, I used to create more art, too. So, I figured I would make a little collagey book, kind of like a journal, and in it, explore my anxiety and ways that I can overcome it.

Here it is, size 6.5"x8", and made from photos, vintage magazine clippings, and a little extra fun stuff like paint, fabric, and tape.

Elise of Elise Joy

Resolution #3:
Chronicle your memories.
Guest Blog post by Elise Blaha Cripe

Chronicling your memories in 2011 doesn't have to be overwhelming and you definitely do not need to stock up on a lot of materials. Here's a simple idea to stay on track and keep your adventures in one place.

Purchase a small 4x6 photo album. This one shown is from Kolo, but there are oodles of options in different sizes and thicknesses.

Commit to taking photos, whether it's with your fancy camera, your phone or the photobooth option on your computer. Every month or so, get a few of your favorite photos printed.

Keep a document on your computer or in your photo for writing down what you're up do. Simple things like "addicted to pomegranates" or bigger things like "bought a dog!" are all you need. These are memory joggers so at the end of the month you remember what was going on. The goal is to get both the photos and words into your small album. Below are a couple ideas for how to do that.

Add your text onto a simple sticker and place it right onto the photo or on the plastic sleeve protecting the photo.

Slip your photos into one side of the album and add a piece of cardstock with your printed or handwritten words in to the other.

Write or type your text on paper and cut into strips that can be layered right on top of the photo.

Add your strips of text on top of patterned paper to add more embellishment to the book.

If you have a few different photos of the same event that you can't bare to leave out, tuck them behind another photo in the album OR use decorative tape to add extra pages to the album.

Of course, you could get much more creative with this project and add embellishments and fill bigger albums with so many more photos. (See more ideas for minibooks here.) But I have found that with new years resolutions it's sometimes much better to start small and simple. It's easier to stick with it and not get discouraged if your project is manageable.

Photos are awesome. Photos combined with your thoughts and memories and even better.

Happy 2011 and happy creating. elise

Style File

Elsie and Leigh-Ann asked me a while back to contribute to their Style School as a "style feature." I was happy to share my style inspirations, of course, but I was even more delighted to be so inspired by the class content. One of the projects entails compiling visual inspiration and ideas into a notebook, or "style file." It's a great home for the inspiring images I have been collecting, many of which came from the Spring UO catalog.

To make the shell of this little book, I gessoed the cover of a binder from Target so that the style of the notebook could be completely customizable. I've mainly been accenting the images with Hambly rub ons and Jenni Bowlin paper. There is much more to come, of course, but I wanted to share my progress so far.