JulieK | Embrace the Everyday

10 on Tuesday

January 17, 2012 By JulieK

Happy Tuesday, which feels very much like a Monday :) Loved having that extra weekend day this week!! Here’s my 10 for today…

1. Christmas is finally put away, decorations down, and tree put away for another year…

2. Everytime I think Christmas is put away, I turn ar0und and find yet another decoration that we missed… This morning was the Santa door hanger… it’ll all be found and put away by Easter :)

3. Today is the start of our second semester at school, what that means for me is all new students… and the “big boring rule speech” today and tomorrow… My voice is already tired!

4. Random discovery… Laptops are MUCH more expensive than I thought they were… Yesterday we went to look at them, because between the children and my husband, I can never get to use my own computer… and my only 2 “requirements” were that I wanted it to be small (I don’t need a big screen and I want it to be portable) and have a hard drive of at least 500 g. ummm… all the ones that had what I wanted were over $500, so no new laptop for now…

5. “My” china has been discovered!!! I sent an email to www.replacements.com with the pictures I posted last week, and in 2 days got an email reply with the name and pattern of the china that belonged to my grandmother!!! Yeah!! They say that it was actually “Blue Brenda” by Sovereign Potters… They didn’t have any in stock…

6. After a frantic search of the internet, and my mad googling skills, that actual pattern can’t be had anywhere… BUT I went back and re-read the email they sent me, and the pattern was also made by another company!! Taylor Smith & Taylor made the same pattern, and it’s called “Silver Mist” AND even better, you can find some!!

7. I thought about it, and decided that I don’t really care which one I get… either way it’s a replacement, but makes me smile when I think about having the pattern… I can’t wait to get them in the mail!!

8. 2 teacups and saucers, along with the covered sugar bowl and creamer are on their way to my house as I type :) I love ebay :) There’s a pickle dish up for sale too… I might “need” to get that too…

9. I put together Kathryn’s new desk this weekend… I think it’s been sitting in her room in its box since October… I honestly never want to put together another piece of IKEA furniture… What a pain in the neck… Nice desk, will be great for her, but ack… putting it together was NO FUN at all…

10. It’s not too late to sign up for my Christmas Card book this Thursday at Ink About It… So, gather up all your Christmas Cards, and give the store a call if you want to come!!!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!!

Annual Christmas Card Book

January 11, 2012 By JulieK

It happens every year… You pack up all the holiday decorations, and have a pile of beautiful cards that you don’t want to throw away, but really have no place to keep… Here’s the perfect solution!!! Take them with you to my next class at Ink About It in Westford on Thursday, January 19. Call the store to reserve your spot, and we’ll bind your own beautiful cards together in a book and you’ll have them to look through for years to come!! Here’s a preview of the book, it uses BEAUTIFUL SEI patterned papers that are foiled and glittered. We’ll make the covers in class, and then use the Zutter Bind it All to punch and bind all of this year’s cards into a wonderful keepsake!!

Sneek Peek at this year’s cover…

I had the last 3 year’s worth of books on the coffee table this year, and it was so much fun to look through all the old cards, and expecially the photo cards!! Here’s the details on the older books…

The 2010 Christmas Card Book

The 2009 Christmas Card Book

The 2008 Christmas Card Book

10 on Tuesday

January 10, 2012 By JulieK

So… Today’s 10 is part of my new found obsession… Replacing my Grandmother’s china… Which would be easy, right? well, yeah, IF I knew the name or even maker of the china… If, for example, some family member had the china and could read to me what it says on the bottom… Unfortunately, all I have is a vague memory… Until… Well, Here’s my Ten for Today…

1. I have no idea what happened to the vaguely remembered china… Kinda grey flowers, maybe silver trim… in the old hutch, which all seems to have disappeared when the old hutch was replaced in the 80’s…

2. Message all my friends and relatives on Facebook to see if I’m crazy and the china was a figment of my imagination… and some remember it… but no one has it…

3. Spend literally hours googling “White china, silver rim, grey flowers” Do you KNOW how many china patterns fit that description?? ummm, about a billion!

4. THANK YOU Kathy for the suggestion of looking through old pictures!!! I found some, and have emailed Replacements.com to see if they can figure out the pattern…

5-10 Look at just a couple of the cool photos I found while looking for china :)

Hmm… See that tea cup? That’s the back of the pattern :) This is my Grandmother on the right, I think my Grandfather’s mother in the middle, and his younger sister on the left… Could be wrong on the left…

So, my Dad in the middle (photo dated 1962, long before he was my dad :) and my Uncle Dave on the far right… Not a clue who the other 2 people are… but that’s “my” covered sugar bowl and creamer on the table! Look familiar to anyone? I’ll take any suggestions… If anyone has one in their hutch and can just look at the bottom for me…

Pics of the teacups and another shot of the fabulous sugar bowl!

And, here it is… the dinner plate… That’s right… I did remember it… now if I can only get my xray scanner to work so that I can read the back… :)

OK… last 2 have nothing to do with my global search for the china pattern, but, honestly, I HAD to scan them too… Who wouldn’t want matching crocheted vests and skirts for Easter… circa 1975-ish :) Kathryn’s already lobbying me to make her one… Me and my sister :) We’re pretty cute!

Oh, look! Who’s that adorable baby? Oh, me!! and my Gram. January 1970… So I was about 8 months old… Kathryn thinks Gram looks exactly the same as she remembers, but with brown hair!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week… I’ll be searching for china!!

10 on Tuesday

January 3, 2012 By JulieK

Happy New Year!!! I’m very excited about starting a new year!! There will be a new look on the blog, a little new year spruce up… And a new theme for the year. Last year’s theme was “Blessings” as in, count them… This year, hmmm…. I had settled on “Grace” I was pretty sure that was going to be the theme… But now I’m thinking more on an “Embrace the Everyday” kind of theme… I really would like to focus on stopping the running race that I feel like we’re constantly running, and taking time to realize just how lucky we really are. Nothing is “perfect” but we can stop to find the good in every day. Which may kinda tie in to my original “Grace” idea.

And, adding a new feature… 10 on Tuesday… Not original, I know… but I like the idea. So, (hopefully) every Tuesday, I’ll be posting a list of 10 things… sometimes random, sometimes themed. Today’s 10 on Tuesday is themed… My 10 resolutions for the new year… Here we go!

1. What would a new year’s resolution list be without “I want to lose weight”? but it’s 20lbs that I would LOVE to see go… I joined Weight Watchers online just before the holidays, and now that the holidays are over, it’s time to dig in and do something!

2. Clutter… I need to purge it. I started about mid-year, and it’s going pretty well. I don’t mind getting rid of things, but it’s finding the time to really go through things that is the hardest part… So, this year I’m going to really clean out those kitchen “junk” drawers and find real homes for the objects, and if I don’t NEED or LOVE them, they go…

3. Daily Audio Bible. Just like it sounds, it’s a podcast (or app) that reads the bible through in a year. I love Brian, who reads it… and I made it through til July last year before I got sidetracked and then got too far behind to “catch up…” this year, I’m going to make it through all year, and not worry so much about catching up…

4. House… Kinda goes with the clutter, but I’d love for the downstairs to be “drop in” ready… If someone stops by, the house doesn’t look like a bomb went off, and I don’t have to be heinously embarassed… So, downstairs should look decent…

5. Church. Another from last year… I just want to continue… I made it last year, I went to church most weekends, only a few did I miss, and they were because we were away, or I was sick… So, pretty good last year, I just want to continue this year!

6. Blog… Another from last year… Again, I made it through the summer then slowed down… Hoping to post at least once a week this year.

7. Cooking… Yes, I’m cooking challenged… I used to be a pretty good cook, before life got so crazy busy with the kids and the husband… So, now that we’re not eating in the TV room anymore and we’re eating at the big kids’ table :) , I’m going to cook more. Maybe with practice it’ll be better!

8. Craftiness… I made a lot of projects last year because I had to… They were assignments, well, this year, I’m hoping to make more crafty projects just ’cause I’m feeling crafty and inspired.

9. (Craftiness part 2 ) This year I’m going to actually FINISH some of those projects I got started on, but then didn’t finish, like those quilt tops and other half finished fun projects!

10. Fiber… My OCD craft of choice at the moment is knitting :) I don’t go anywhere without my needles and at least 2 different projects… Having fun with fiber is going well… My Gram would have loved some of the Christmas knits I made… Hoping to finish a few more projects (and remember to post them here!!).

Well… There it is :) Happy New Year!!!

The Christmas Book is Here!!

December 17, 2011 By JulieK

Well… the only thing “Christmas” about the Christmas book is that it’s given as Christmas presents for the family… It’s really a “year in review” book that I make. I use digital scrapbook materials, create all 50 pages (plus a cover) with Adobe Photoshop Elements 9, then create the book using Word, turn it into a PDF and upload it to an online publishing company (I use lulu.com). It sounds MUCH more complicated than it is, as long as you know how to use Photoshop… HERE’S a link to last year’s cover…

The printed books arrived in the mail today!! I’m so excited, and can’t wait for everyone to see it… If you’re one of “those” people :) and don’t want a sneak peek… don’t look below!! But, if you’d like to see this year’s cover… Here it is!! The digital pages and elements that I used are from Shabby Princess, I use her digital elements for my books almost every year, she’s a wonderful digital designer (my header and other blog elements also use Shabby Princess digital elements, with permission).

Anyway… Here’s the cover of the book… (remember… don’t peek if you want to be surprised!!) The book certainly doesn’t cover everything that we do all year, it’s “only” 50 pages, and I took 1400 pictures during our summer trip alone!!! But it’s pretty representative of what we do through the year… This year, we took a Wild West Vacation… and so there are lots of pictures of that!! It starts in January with snow storms and Kathryn’s birthday… goes through the spring with Easter and Mother’s day… through various summer fun, the big trip and Sean’s birthday… through the fall with Halloween and ends with Thanksgiving!! I love the “excuse” to spend several hours looking through all my pictures of the year!!

Well… without further adieu… The cover…