saturday morning vintage

palm springs album.

I shared a little about our trip to Palm Springs.  It was a surprise trip Lance planned for my 28th birthday and I loved every second of it.  I took a lot of photos on my phone and put together this album with all Postal Pix.

 

 

I wasn't sure what I was going to use as my album when I came upon this binder at the bottom of one of my craft drawers.  I'm sure I was saving it for "the perfect project" and figured why not this one?  It's about 5" x 7" and came with thick chipboard pages that I removed and replaced with my own pages.  One of my favorite features was the binder rings that easily allowed me to add and rearrange my pages.  I think mine must be 5 (or more) years old, but it is from Maya Road and the company still makes awesome chipboard books available. 

 

 

I'm fairly happy with the album overall, but I'm most pleased with the cover.  I used a black and white photo of the palm trees along with a cluster of my favorite things - woodgrain letters, vintage buttons, old label, playing card, and a recently acquired "Days of the Week" washi tape.  I like layering lots of pieces to add texture and dimension, especially with the addition of the buttons which I sewed on with some embroidery thread.

 

 

There is about a dozen or so pages tucked inside.  The pages are in somewhat chronological order, but my plan was just to document various memories from the weekend.  I used a lot of alphabet stickers, washi tape, and various tickets / tags / cards.  Let me know if you want the source of a specific product and I'll look it up for you!

 

 

We made a quick dinner stop at In and Out on our way up to Palm Springs.  I like the "his" and "hers" spin on the page - hamburger for Lance and grilled cheese for me!  The cute little chevron bag that holds the receipt is from a local scrapbook store (Paper Tales, if you're ever in San Diego!).

 

 

It was dark when we arrived and lighting in the hotel was low, so I settled for an "arrival photo" taken in the mirrored closet door of our room.  I added a handmade tab, used one of these inventory tags, and clipped it all together with a red and white striped clip from the Smash collection.  (If you picked up one of my Valentine's journals, these are the same clips I used in the embellishment kits!)

Our valet ticket was my favorite piece of ephemera from the trip.  I was probably a little too excited when I saw it on the dashboard of our car.  I really like the bold red number.  I simply stapled it over a photo of our hotel room's mountain view. 

 

 

This was the first time I ever really experienced snow so I took plenty of "snow pictures", but this one of the two of us is one of my favorites.  I kept it very simple with strips of washi tape, a starburst kraft sticker, orange "us", and some tiny star rub ons (that are from about 10 years ago, seriously).

I made sure to include the little kink in our weekend plans.  Somehow I got a teeny rock stuck in my tire.  It started off as a quiet scratching noise and eventually turned into a high pitch screeching sound which required a quick trip to the auto mechanic.  Thankfully it was a fast and inexpensive fix, and he even gave me the rock!

 

Feel free to send any questions my way!  I'm happy to answer any and all of them.  Enjoy your weekend adventures!

affordable finds.

It's been awhile since the last round of affordable finds, so I included two extras in each price point.  Have an extra $5?  Go treat yourself to one of these affordable finds!

 

$5 and Under

(1) jamroll, (2) reclaimer, (3) TheRawSupplyCo, (4) pistachiopress, (5) dashalee3, (6) fadedplains

 

$10 and Under

(1) ShopKStudio, (2) petitbonheur, (3) fadedplains, (4) sugarbsupplies, (5) RootsSoapCo, (6) cattales

 

$20 and Under

(1) whiteowl, (2) PerlaAnne, (3) bonnbonn, (4) foryoo, (5) ReigrucheStudio, (6) foxwise

casetagram.

I mentioned before my love for the Instagram app, just like everyone else.  When I got my first iPhone back in November I was thrilled to learn about Casetagram - an iPhone case made from your Instagrams.  The process is simple.  You log into Instagram to automatically upload your photos, and then use one or three or four templates to design your case.  Each case is about $35, including shipping and handling.

I knew I wanted to try out one of these cases, but was originally going to wait until I had enough "perfect" photos to design my case.  Then I realized that was silly and I could easily wait a couple of months compiling the "perfect" photos.  So, I grabbed my iPhone early one Saturday morning and snapped a bunch of photos of our home.  Lance and I are proud to be first time home owners and have spent countless hours working on our house.  I love always having little snippets of our home with me on the back of my phone.

It took about 2 weeks or so for my case to arrive - one week to produce and one week to ship from Hong Kong.  I was pleasantly surprised with the simple but lovely packaging - kraft box with black labels and black tissue paper.  After using my case for about two months, here's my thoughts -

The Good:

• I'm a sucker for anything that can be personalized.  I love seeing my photos every time I reach for my phone.  I really like the matte finish and the photos are surprisingly crisp, especially given how many photos you can fit.  The template I chose fit 28 photos and each is clearly visible.
• The process is easy, from start to finish.  You don't have to do anything to upload your photos aside from log into your Instagram account.  You can try out each of the templates without committing to purchasing a case.  You can save your work for later.  You can finish the entire process in 15 minutes or less, and when the case arrives you can snap it on in about 30 seconds.
• In general, I'm slightly less paranoid about my phone with this case on.  I'm less worried about it being in my purse along with all of the other junk I carry, which is where it spends a lot of time aside from my bedside table at night.

The Maybe Not-So-Good:

• This case is not going to save your phone from death if you drop it on concrete or anything similar.  The case is thin plastic and simply doesn't offer the same protection as some other cases on the market, such as those made from rubber or those with both front and back pieces. 
• There is a cutout in the case for the camera lens and flash area.  However, the cutout isn't quite large enough and the case does interfere with the flash a bit.  I've taken a test shot with the flash on, both with and without the case on and can see a difference.  I try to avoid using my flash whenever possible, so this doesn't bother me much. 
• I am a little skeptical about the quality and longevity of the case, but will have to see!  Like I mentioned above, the case is basically a thin plastic case with a decal attached.  The decal is definitely applied more strongly than a typical sticker (perhaps with some type of heat setting), but I worry a little about either the case cracking or the photos fading over time.  To be fair, all is well after the first two months, but the thought is still in the back of my mind.

Overall I'm pleased with my purchase.  Clearly you pay a premium to personalize, but it's fun and worth it to me.  Have you made your own Casetagram?  How do you like it?

valentine's day!

I love Valentine's Day.  I really do.  I understand how some people are put off by how commercialized it is, but I like to really embrace both the silliness of the holiday (heart shaped candies and cheesy Valentine sayings) and the love of the holiday (letting both friends and family know you're thinking of them).  I think my appreciation for the holiday began back in elementary school.  Making Valentines for your classmates and a construction paper mailbox to collect your own is pretty much a paper lover's dream.

I've been collecting and compiling products for a Valentine's Day shop update for the past few weeks, and was giddy to add them all this week.  Of course there are some journals and paper packs, but also some mini scrapbook kits (in pink or red) which are my favorite, antique calling cards, red BINGO markers, and a few scrap packs.

 

This is the first year I put together a Valentine's Day journal.  I'm not sure why I didn't make any before, especially since this holiday is perfectly suited for a handmade journal / album / scrapbook.  You could add some photos, memorabilia, and sweet words and have a really special gift.  You could keep it for yourself and fill with everything you love - song lyrics, magazine clippings, letters, and such.  You could document Valentine's Day 2012 with photos of the day, Valentine's received, and stories experienced. 

 

Inside you'll find lots of pinks, along with some reds and neutrals.  With each journal I make I try to add in something new.  This time I added in some Polaroid-esque photos and handmade tabs - both of which I've been using in my own scrapbooks lately.  Each journal also comes with a little embellishment pack so you can start personalizing right away.  All available journals are listed here if you are a fellow Valentine's Day lover like myself. 

 

Coming Next Week:  review of my Instagram iPhone case, some affordable finds, and my Palm Springs album

color week - thank you!

[sources: red, orange & yellow, green, blue, neutrals, pink]

color week - pink.

 

 

[pink collage pack, vintage books, sewing cards]