Hello Monday

I almost picked a different week to document my Week In The Life. Tony was going to be on vacation so I knew this wouldn't be a very normal week for us. The problem was, we were not going to have a "normal" week for a while so I decided to just go for it.

Here are Monday's words and photos.

The start of Week In The Life was actually the end of our trip to Seattle. We wanted to take one last trip into the city, so we packed up our car before we left. We were all feeling a little bummed that it was time to go home.

I loved the drive into the city, and would often hand my camera to whoever was sitting in front of me so they could take some pictures. Today's plan was to visit the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center.

First up was the Space Needle. We were pretty lucky to have blue skies on two of the four days we were there. 

My brother and his wife offered to stand in line to get our tickets, while we walked around. Lines are hard for 3 year olds. 

London saw this red sculpture and had to check it out. Once she got there she was confused on how you were supposed to get on the "slide" and why it had so many holes in it. She makes me laugh

After walking around and looking at all the fun things we could find, we eventually made our way back to the line. My brother and sister-in-law were still standing in it. 

Even though it was the start of our day, it was the end of our trip and I thought London was being a really good girl. I was grateful for that.

Our Hotel had a elevator with a glass back so you could see out as you rode it up and down. London loved it so much. I was really excited to watch her ride up the Space Needle. I chose to enjoy that moment with her instead of worrying about getting a picture. It was so fun to see the excitement in her eyes, and the smile on her face.

When we got to the top of the Space Needle, London told us she was very hungry. We decided it was a good time for everyone to get a snack. London ate all her yogurt, which is rare, so I new she was hungry

Of coarse the view from the top was awesome. Seattle continues to be one of my favorite places to visit.

This trip started out as a family vacation for just the 3 of us, but my brother, sister-in-law, and mom decided to join us. It was fun vacationing as a group. I know we did so much more then we would have if we didn't have them with us.

Next up was the Pacific Science Center. I may have regretted wearing my flip flops, but I was happy with my choice of leggings and a hoodie. I was tired and so were my feet so a comfy outfit definitely made my day more enjoyable.

Tony and Shea definitely had a little bit more fun then the rest of us.

London joined in when she wanted to.

They had a bug room, and at first she thought everything was "so cute". London is not a bug fan, and she must have realized what she was looking at because she started saying everything was "yucky". 

She was lucky to have Uncle Shea there to carry her on his shoulders. He is really tall, so London never had to worry about not being able to see something.

We all had some fun at the Science Center, but we were all really tired. It didn't take us long before we decided that we had enough fun. We knew it was time to go home.

London slept for most of the car ride home. When she woke up she was only a little cranky, but Booger had you smiling in no time. 

She played on the iPad for the rest of the trip home. I always try to find a balance with technology. On long car rides it's a life saver.

When we got home we only unpacked what we absolutely needed for the night. We were all pretty exhausted. 

London wanted to play beads first thing. I knew since she had slept the whole way home, that she would probably stay up later than usual. 

I checked a few things on-line while Tony warmed us up some soup for dinner. 

London went to bed around 10 and Tony and I stayed up a while longer. It was nice to be in our own bed.

For more information on Ali Edwards Week In The Life visit her blog at aliedwards.com. The hello Monday is a digital brush that I got from a set she did for designer digitals. I don't know if it is still available, but Ali some different days of the week brushes in her shop.

My Story Matters

I plan on participating in Ali Edwards Week In The Life this year. Last year was the first year that I joined in on this project, and that album is still one of my favorites. I will be instagraming daily photos throughout the week. If you don't already follow me, come check me out. I am Banning Lane. I will also being doing daily posts here on my blog. My hope is that by doing both of these things, I will be one step ahead when I go to put my album together. 

I love this project, and I can't wait to have another Week In The Life album on my shelf. 

To learn more about Ali Edward's Week In The Life project visit her blog at aliedwards.com.

Currently

Every few months I like to document London's life as it is right now. One of my favorite ways to do that is to do a current favorites layout. These layouts for me are almost always in a list form, which make them really fast, and easy, and fun. It has been awhile since I have done a layout like this, so when I saw Jen Schow challenge us to do a currents layout, I was on board. This is what I came up with

Most of the products I used on this layout came from my Felicity Jane box. (I only keep my most current kit separate. When a new kit arrives, the old one gets put in an Iris container with all the others.) 

I knew I wanted to use those fantastic teal green vellum letters. I moved them around the page quite a bit before I rested them below my photo.  By doing this, it created a nice little home for my journaling right next to my photo.

I used some tiny alphabet stamps that came in the kit to spell out each jumping off point (just like Jen did). It took a little bit of time, but I love the way it looks. 

After I got my photo and journaling on the page, I moved on to embellishing it. I pulled out a handful of hearts from my kits. Some of them were paper, and some were wood veneer. I like the variety of those two different textures. I decided that I would do two different clusters on my layout. One at the top and one at the bottom. 

For even more variety I pulled out some pink buttons, and an xoxo flair. I really like the pops of pink on this layout. To add just a little touch of girly, I also pulled a doily from my stash to layer behind the cluster by my photo. I like the way it grounds that area of my layout.

I added some cute little numbers that came on one of the cut apart sheets. six numbers for six currents. To bring some more color to the bottom of my page I layered a green label behind those numbers

To finish this layout, I added some stitching to my title and also to the group of numbers with my sewing machine. I also chose to take my pen and draw several messy lines around my layout. After that, I called this complete. 

I am heading over now to link my layout to Jen's blog. Her layout turned out amazing, as always, so head on over there to check out her take on this theme.

The Crafty Maven Getaway

Has everyone checked out The Crafty Maven Getaway YouTube channel. It is a pretty awesome group of some pretty talented people coming together every day of the week to bring you a new video. Each day has it's own theme, which I think is so fun.

Monday: Mix It Up Monday

Tuesday: In Your Pocket Tuesday

Wednesday: Free Flow Wednesday

Thursday: Twerk it Thursday

Friday: Art Party Friday

Saturday: Scrap Lift Saturday

Sunday: Spotlight Sunday

I am happy to call myself a "maven" and have already done three videos for the channel. It has been a lot of fun working with a theme and using some products and techniques that I wouldn't normally choose to use.

If you want to watch the process videos for any of these layouts you can find them here, here, and here. 

Here's some other information you might find helpful and interesting about The Crafty Maven Getaway group

We have a blog, thecraftymavengetaway.wordpress.com 

We are The Crafty Maven Getaway on Pinterest.

We are also on Facebook so be sure to check out The Crafty Maven Getaway destination Group. 

We love to see how you have been inspired by the inspiration pieces and layouts each week, so be sure to share your projects with us on Facebook. 

Best Camping Trip Ever

This camping trip to Priest Lake had been planned for a long time. Tony and my Dad planned and reserved our camp sites months ago. It may have just been the best camping trip ever and this is what I want to remember.

I want to remember how awesome it was to camp by a lake with a beach. Everyday we made a trip down to the water to play. 

I want to remember the look of pure joy on London's face every time she got brave enough to walk out into the lake and sit down.

I want to remember how cute it was when a little girl asked London if she wanted to play. They were the only little girls on the beach that day, and it was so fun to see them play together.

I want to remember how much London wanted to catch a squirrel. She walked through the woods with a rope so that she could tie him up and take him home if she happened to catch one.

I want to remember how fun it was to play sequence over and over again. It's been a while since we have all played that game and it looks like it is still a family favorite. 

I want to remember our morning bike ride down to the lake in our jammies. I wanted to get a picture of the lake, and the view was worth the ride (and walk) back up that hill.

I want to remember how cute Tony looked in his camping shoes that we got him for Fathers Day. They just made every outfit look great. He is still just so darn handsome.

I want to remember the cute little resort we went to for dinner one night. It had a very Dirty Dancing feel to it. I told Tony more than once that it would be a great place for us to get away to for the weekend. We will see if he picked up on my not to subtle hints.

I want to remember watching Tony and my Dad having way to much fun siting on tubes out in the water while flying London's shark kite.

I want to remember stopping for ice cream on our way up to camp, and thought it was such a good treat that we made sure to go back down later that week for an after dinner snack.

I want to remember playing games in the trailers at night. We were told a bear and her cub had been coming into camp and being outside in the dark scared me.

I want to remember how London wanted to go watch a movie in Poppy's trailer every night. It seems like that has become the norm when we camp with my parents. During the day I like her to play outside and enjoy being in the woods, but watching a movie before bed seems to be a nice way for her to end the day.

I want to remember how good it felt to have five whole days to spend as a family with absolutely no plans.

I want to remember how nice it felt to be home in our own bed after that five days.

It was an awesome camping trip. The longest one we have ever been on with our trailer. We will definitely be going back next year, a maybe even try to make another small trip before this summer ends. 

Being Brave

I discovered kit clubs a little over a year ago. I still remember the first scraptastic kit that I got in the mail. It was so exciting to open that box and look at all the goodies. Since then I tried Ali Edwards Story Kits and Story Stamps (which are both really really fantastic) and the Hip Kit Club. All of them are great in their own way, but the kit that has my heart and gets me so excited to scrapbook is the Felicity Jane kit. Everything about it is just plain awesome. It comes in the cutest black and white striped box that you have ever seen. I can not even begin to tell you how excited I get when I open my door and see my Felicity Jane box.

My kit usually shows up around lunch time, so I get to sit at the table and open my box while my little London eats. I always always know that there is going to be something unexpected. Whether it's the bits and bobs that come in a little box that is way too cute to throw away, or some frayed material wrapped around a spool. I love looking at all the unique embellishments that come in these kits. I always save the paper until last because it is my favorite part. Felicity Jane paper is so perfectly simple in the best way. The color combinations are alway spot on. I can always count on a great polka dot, a cute stripe, and a few pages that make me want to drop everything and go scrapbook right then. I am lucky that my little miss takes a nap right after lunch.

I remember when I first saw that Felicity Jane was having a creative team call. I thought about it for only a second, and then decided I should give it a try. I applied to be on one other design team and it was pretty stressful for me. I wanted to only submit my best work and tried to make something super amazing, which probably wasn't completely my style anyway. I didn't make that design team. This time around I decided that I would pick 5 of my favorite layouts that I had already completed that I thought best represented me. In the end if I didn't make it then that was ok. I would still get my Felicity Jane kit, I would still love the heck out of it, and I would still go on loving this hobby of mine. 

Extreme excitement and shock does not even come close to how I felt when I opened my e-mail one night and saw this

I had made the team. After I made a complete fool out of myself, jumping and screaming around the room, and the shock wore off, fear set in...

What if I wasn't good enough? What if I made completely horrible layouts every month? What if I disappoint? And I got so wrapped up in fear that I even thought... What if she didn't even mean to pick me? 

Through all that fear and doubt, My Mom and my Husband were right there telling me I was crazy, and this was a good thing.

And it is... It's a good thing. I am mostly excited and only a little nervous about this awesome opportunity. I know that I will meet new friends, I know that I will grow as a scrapbooker, and I know that I will have so much fun! I AM  ON THE FIRST EVER FELICITY JANE CREATIVE TEAM!! This, by far, is the highlight of my scrapbooking hobby... so far!!

A Place to Tell Our Story

Hello, my name is Dannielle. I am married to a really great guy and we have one little girl who is our whole world. I am a stay at home mom and I almost (I have a 3 year old) love every minute of it. I start most days with a Diet Pepsi, White dishes make me happy, and I love watching shows on Netflix like Murder She Wrote, and Gilmore Girls. The best weekends are the quiet lazy ones spent at home, but ones spent camping are a close second. 

I started scrapbooking over 10 years ago. I think it started out as more of a hobby, and a fun thing to do with friends. Everything changed when I became a mama. I instantly felt like I had a story to tell. For one thing my daughter was born with a very serious heart defect. I knew that our lives were forever changed and that my little girl would have a really brave story that needed to be told. I also had this adorable little baby girl that was mine and I just loved her with everything in me that could love. I wanted to document every part of our life with her. The good, the bad, and everything in-between. The day that my daughter was born was the day I became a “real” scrapbooker, and I truly feel the scrapbooks I am making today are one of the best ways to show my family that I love them. I think they will be treasured for many years to come.

I like to record my memories and that is what this blog is for. Its a place to record our everyday moments. A place to share all of our fun times, and probably a few of our struggles. Banning Lane is our story.

Where you can find me
YouTube: Banning Lane
Instagram: Banning Lane
Facebook: Banning Lane