(Front Cover) Using left overs from June's Main Kit

Hello sweet KR loves! Debee here sharing my newest creation made using KR’s June’s Salmon Creek add-on kit. This little book is all about the new condo my handsome husband and I just purchased.  Right now, we are just happy we survived the escrow process (whew!) and are looking to fix up the place with fresh paint, new flooring etc. But I also wanted to remember the “Before” it was fixed moments. This is a place where  I can keep color swatches, decor ideas and inspirations etc and some snap shots of what the place looked like when we moved in. 

A little watercolor love inspired by Anthro and some crazy sewing.

This picture we were newly weds waiting for the escrow process to hurry hurry hurry!  The book has thick white textured card stock pages. Perfect to watercolor on. 

Throw some gesso & watercolours over the plain chipboard letters and voila! Pretty letters!

We haven’t had the time (or money) to paint but this little space we have is so pretty even still. Makes me want to take a nap :)

Sometimes you just have to get in the picture :) Cheese!

Here I included the black & white paper from the inside of an envelope we got in our junk mail. I made this page to remember how much I LOVE to clean our new little place. It seems like there’s always SOMETHING that needs cleaning lol!

Oh it's okay to dream. No matter how much it costs. It's pretty. And it looks good in my little book :)

This is the place Mr. Handsome fears. The swatches, measurements, the clippings of pictures of things I LOVE (no matter the cost). My wish list if you will. It’s all going in the following pages. I LOVE that I can just pop this little book into my bag and shop till I drop ( or mr. handsome does ;P) It makes you visualize how things are going to look in your place much better.  

So as our little place comes together, I will continue to document it in here. I have a feeling things are always going to need fixing, changing, cleaning and I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for letting me share!

Happy & sweet love to you and your home sweet home,

Debee

hey everyone!!

this months family theme got me thinking about how crazy, chaotic, and busy our family life is….you so know what i am talking about!!!

soccer, BMX, dance, school, assemblies, presentations, bbq’s, company….the list seems endless of all the things we fill our calendars with…

how do you organize your family events?? keep track of them?? i have a calendar that hangs on my fridge that allows me to keep track of things months in advance…but i also have an old vintage window that i use as a dry erase board to keep track of our current weekly events…it works for us!!

this month’s kit and them really got me on a calendar kick….calendar pages to creating a planner. and it’s the planner i would love to share with you this morning!!!

ready???

first you need that divine wood veneer album that comes in the salmon creek add on kit. we are gonna white wash it, fun, huh??

get some white paint, add water so it becomes watery, and apply the watery white paint to the cover of the album

once you have covered your entire cover with the white wash, wipe it off

let it dry, then add some more coats until you reach a white wash look you like

done…love the look?? i know i do….i did both back and front and inside the covers as well.

next is the easy stuff….embellishing.

using various papers and embellishments from the home sweet home and occidental road kits and the stamp from salmon creek kit (love that stamp!!) i embellished the front cover and the tag already attached to the album.

then using the pages the heavy pages that come in the book, create divder pages. i used some glimmer mists, punched flowers, used  labels from the die cut tag sheet in the occidental road kit to mark what each divider was with the alpha stickers in the main kit. behind each divider page is insert pages i created in photoshop to go with each divider page

with the extras…i created to pocket pages out of the 2 thinner pages that come in the book (one at the front and one at the back) to hold things one might need to keep on hand…receipts, photo’s…whatever!

i had so much fun creating this project!!! it is now being sent off to school as a thank you gift for the amazing teacher my children have had over the last 2 years….she has been a huge inspiration for both my kids!!

now it’s your turn…if you create your own version of the planner…please!! let us see it by linking it up to the blog!!! created something else with the wood veneer book??? well let’s see that too!!!

and ONE last thing…i have NO IDEA how to make downloadable files…but i can still offer my inserts to those who would like them….email me (email link on my blog) and i can email them back to you!!! and maybe in the next few days i can get it figured out!!!

have a fabulous and creative weekend!!!

i just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that we will have all june boxes & orders out by tomorrow afternoon. today is in fact our usual shipping cut off {the 25th of each month} but as many of you know my 6 year old daughter maddie had major surgery last thursday at stanford childrens hospital. we were expecting to have everything out by this afternoon but caring for her during her recovery has put us a day behind, which actually isn’t so bad because she is doing amazingly well. ;)

we appreciate your understanding & patience but if you have any questions or additional concerns about your order please feel free to email us directly {info@kennerroad.com} and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. otherwise please expect to begin receiving your shipping notices within the next 24hours. and of course, since we ship us deliveries via usps priority, mail delivery {even to the west coast} generally only takes 2-3 business days. of course, international shipmanets still take a little longer.

thanks for all the well wishes and for being so patient. :)

xo

*Today we are delighted to feature a great tutorial from our wonderful guest designer, Lisa Truesdell!

Sometimes, the journey is as much the story as the destination.  I had some photos from a walk that my family took to a local ice cream shop, and I really wanted to include them on a layout about the night.  I started playing around and came up with the idea of mapping out our walk.  Now, this map isn’t accurate by any means – the photos are out of order and we took a slightly more direct route. ;)  But it definitely conveys the idea that these were things we saw along the way.  This technique would be fun to use for a vacation overview, a favorite walking or running path that you frequent, or even for some of your most visited places in your town or neighborhood.  My path starts at a paper pieced house and ends at the page’s main photo, and has lots of bits and pieces to see along the way.

Here’s how to make your own map:

1.    Lightly draw out a grid on white cardstock.  I made my lines 2.5in apart, and started the grid 1 in from the edge of the cardstock.

2.    Stitch across all of the lines using white thread and erase your pencil lines.

3.    Sketch out your photo placement so that you can figure out what route your path should take.

4.    Mask off your path.  Masking tape was too wide for what I wanted, so I cut it in half.  I found that if I stuck it to the edge of my desk and ran my scissors along the edge, it was easy to get a quick, straight cut.

5.    Spray your mist over the page.  I started with green and then decided it wasn’t dark enough, so I switched to turquoise.

6.    Peel off the tape.

7.    Trim patterned paper to 2×2in and arrange in the grid.

8.    Make a house from a 1.5inx1.5in square and a scrap cut into a triangle.  Stamp the house with the home sweet home stamp.

9.    Add your photos (I printed my small ones at 2inx1.3in, the larger was 3×4.5in).
10.    Journal on strips of kraft cardstock and add to the empty squares.
11.    Use a border punch on some scraps of paper and add alongside the photos.
12.    Border punch 4 strips of paper and add to the edge of the page.

13.    Add ric rac and baker’s twine to some of the squares.  Tie baker’s twine through buttons and add to the trim.
14.    Add journaling block about the main photo.  Spell out “destination:” with stamps, and then add your title in chipboard.
15.    Stitch a border around the page, through the title and through each set of journaling strips.

THANK YOU LISA!!!!!!!

**& don’t forget our Christmas in June – A Color Gallery Challenge…if you would like to enter your project into the challenge, please be sure it is linked up to that challenge post by July 5th, 9pm PST**

happy wednesday!!!

xoxo

gi

Whether it’s your mom’s homemade potato salad…or your grandmother’s sauce (or gravy, if you prefer :)…or your own special concoction of nutella, marshmallows & crackers…

Without a doubt, the best food is always homemade…maybe it’s the handed down recipe that has stood the test (& tastebuds) of generations…or the way it’s served in that old pyrex dish you remember when you were a kid…or the homegrown tomatoes & basil…

Whatever it is…there is something extremely special about enjoying a home cooked meal…

Being raised in Philadelphia, there is such a HUGE connection between home & food for me.  Philadelphia has a long & storied culinary history, and these days Philly is famous for it’s cheesesteaks and soft pretzels and hoagies.   But that is only the tip of the delicious Philadelphia iceberg.   I was lucky to grow up a block away from South Philly, and our neighborhood was full of extraordinary cooks.  My best friends’ mother was Italian and I would beg to stay for dinner when she made “Ceci & Pasta”.  Another friend was Irish & her mother always brought in “Irish Potatoes” for the whole class around St. Patty’s Day.  Another was Polish and her mother’s Pierogi were absolute heaven.

My mother & the other women from the block would exchange recipes & stories over coffee at one another’s homes.  Then they would sit in the kitchen laughing & learning from each other.  They would exchange recipes and their cooking secrets along with stories of their latest home cooked triumph or hilarious flop, while me & the other kids played in the other room & ate Tastycakes (another Philly favorite).  Looking back, I think I’m kind of envious of that kind of  kinship these women had.  It really was an extraordinary thing.  Something that, in these days of fast food, convenience & busy schedules, maybe got lost.

But maybe it isn’t?  Maybe we can still cultivate a bit of that kind of kinship here and now.

I think a Recipe Exchange may just be a great way to start, so  I’m planning to host one at my home.  I’ll invite my friends & neighbors over for some good food & wine.  Each will bring some of their family’s favorite recipes and we can spend the evening sharing our stories & our kitchen secrets.  We can chit chat about what works and what doesn’t (the “doesn’t”s always have the best stories too :) & I’m sure we’ll spend an enjoyable evening sharing each other’s company and histories.  See that little bundle of recipes above?  That’s what I’m planning on giving to my guests…a little bundle of kennedy favorites & a cute little tag they can use as a bookmark in their favorite cookbook.    I’m excited :)

*the crafty bit:  i typed out the recipes i’ll share at the party & put them on 4×6″ cardstock…then tied them all together with a bit of butchers twine…the cosmo cricket elements sheet, that was a part of june’s kit: home sweet home,  is the perfect accent for this little bundle, so i cut the cute little tags out, stitched around and added a bit of ribbon…the back has a little message from me…easy peasy & cute :)

So what is your family’s favorite recipe?  Maybe it’s time to share it :)

(& i’d LOVE if you’d share with me!!!  i’m always on the lookout for great recipes, so please share!  i promise to send you one of the kennedy faves in return :)

xoxo

gi