a little handmade notebook tutorial, live shows and more... /  by jen geigley

I got my Red Velvet October kit in the mail last weekend and couldn't wait to start making stuff! I became totally giddy when I saw the Hambly birdcage and bicycle papers, and the gray platform Thickers. The color scheme this month is so perfect - yellow, orange, black, red, pink, turquoise mixed with gray!

She loves pumpkins. I mean loves them.

She also loves her vegetables. Eats them up like candy. For now anyway.

And she loves walking - you may recognize these photos from my post about her first steps. Glad I recorded everything from that day on the old bloggy because I totally copied my thoughts from here for this page to put in her book.

Check out the other gorgeous projects over at the RVKC blog (more to come soon) and this month was my turn to post a little tutorial, so go give that a look as well. I made a little hand-bound notebook to keep in my nightstand for all the middle-of-the-night stuff that I always wish I had written down. :)

It's super simple to make and it makes great use of random scrap paper, catalogs, junk mail, or whatever else you have lying around the house. A simple fabric binding and some thread and you've got a cute little jotter. That birdcage paper made such a perfect cover.

Tuesday night, Bo went to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Next week I'm going with Erin to see Against Me! and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. So excited to go. And funny how all this live music comes in spurts. Now we just have to scrounge up enough $$$ for Metallica tickets for the show later this month. Sigh.

Tonight Bo and I are going to Burn After Reading for our long overdue date night. I already know we'll both enjoy this movie. I mean, really, it's the Coen brothers. Love the poster, too.

And now I need your vote on something very important.

Boot #1 (Latoria)

or Boot #2 (Pricilla)

It's really a question of would I rather have a mid-calf boot or high boot, and $10 price difference. But I can't decide so let me know which one is rocking the most attitude.

And as posted on Twitter: INFORMATION: Ben Folds has divorced the wife to whom he was married when he wrote The Luckiest. This means the song is A LIE.


Don't forget to stop by and see us tomorrow (Friday) at Work Your Soul! Our very first amazing challenge will knock your socks off. You really won't believe it - mind-blowing, I promise. Your weekend starts here.

Good stuff, fun fall days, boot decisions, and lots of projects to keep me busy. Can't beat it. :D

** work your soul ** /  by jen geigley


So ... the secret that I mentioned yesterday? See that arrow off to the right? The one that says 'the weekend starts here'? Click on it and come check out a new collaboration. Between me and a girl who lives in the U.K. who I met because of a Vespa flickr group. Kind of funny, but true.

Kim and I have been spending the past few months exchanging ideas and long emails. Long emails. About starting up something artistic and creative combining our shared interests. For the love of vintage, photography, music, art, journaling and scrapping ... and Work Your Soul became our new brainchild. It's a challenge blog with a little bit of how-to and a lot of photography know-how. Just hop over to flickr and check out Kim's photos, and you'll see what I mean. We'll be bringing you tutorials, challenges and more to get you inspired. You'll just have to wait and see what we have in store!

We've unveiled the little beauty today ... so please take a minute to go over and say hello! And be sure to check back Friday for our first ever challenge (it's a good one - and its sure to start your weekend off with a bang.)

the way I see it... /  by jen geigley


I can make Starbucks' caramel apple cider/spice or whatever they call it at home. So by the way, have you noticed that if you order your drink the wrong way at the 'Bux, they have to correct you? Like I sometimes order a drink with skim milk, but since I say 'skim' it never fails that they have to correct me with 'non-fat.' Me: 'I'll have a grande skim mocha.' Them: 'Okay, so a grande non-fat mocha?' Yes. Pretentious. I'm just going to keep saying skim on purpose. I've been saying it that way for years. Anyway, you can find the caramel apple cider/spice recipe here. You need to get the Starbucks cinnamon dolce syrup but it's still way cheaper to buy that huge bottle that will last forever than to buy maybe three of their drinks. No worries, Starbucks - I'm still addicted to your coffee. And snap... I just saw that they have hazelnut hot chocolate. Such a sucker.

My favorite t-shirt is fading fast...

...so I would like to get this t-shirt to replace it. Or just in addition to it. I never throw my t-shirts away. Stacy and Clinton would have a field day with my closet. But this shirt, I must have it - if you know me, you know I love the Karate Kid.

Sweep the leg.

I also want the new Jenny Lewis. Sigh. Which just reminded me of this. Makes me laugh. I'm guilty.

I got lots of fun mail this week... including Brobee flair for my diaper bag. (Thanks to the ultimate sweetie, Patty!) And Elsie's Halloween paper kit.

Not to mention the October Red Velvet kit, which was yummy enough to eat. More photos of what I did with that soon. I am doing a tutorial this month over at RVKC so check it out. And eeeps! I made the catwalk at SIS today with the first page I made for my Steady Hand, Faulty Heart journal. Totally made my day.

This week's challenge at The Creative Type is to create your own font. (It's a busy week, right? I know!) I was going to draw something kind of blocky, but then I decided to just open up Illustrator and try to write in cursive with the mouse. Slow and low, that is the tempo. I had the song 'Dyslexic Heart' in my head that whole day, so that's where the words all came from. Funny, since it's a song about a girl who has bad handwriting. Amongst other things. Check back at the Type soon to see who the awesome Guest Designer is this week. She's the absolute perfect person for this challenge, I must say.

Last but not least, I've got a big secret that I'll be able to share very, very soon!
*NO, I'm not pregnant. We are waiting until L is maybe three before we start thinking about adding babies to the fam. :)

little things... /  by jen geigley

October kit is up! /  by jen geigley


Hurry hurry hurry over to the Red Velvet Kit Club etsy shop to get yours! October's kit is everything you could want ... a little spooky and a lot fun.

Bright, funky and jam-packed with gorgeous American Crafts Grey Thickers, brand new Hambly, American Crafts, Creative Imaginations scalloped papers, Sassafras, lots of journaling tags of all sizes, adorable dots/hounds tooth fabric and waaaay more than I've listed here.

It doesn't matter if you have summer, fall or Halloween projects - this kit will rock them all.

And don't miss the RVKC clearance sale! You'll find paper packs, full kits and all sorts of other items at a super discounted price. Check it early and snag your faves before they're gone.

And a big hooray for this month's Guest Designer, Kim Brimhall! Love this girl. Hope you're ready for the scrap she's about to bring. I love her style and can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve.

cherry cola, c-o-l-a, cola... /  by jen geigley


Yesterday we went to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch. We had to re-visit the 'how tall this fall' apple. Look here to see how little she was last year. She looks so tall now!

Spent some quality time with Grandma Carol...


... and Grandpa John.

Took lots of cute photos of the L and her little cousin, Oliver. They're pretty good buddies and they make quite the pair.

Dad helped pick out the perfect pumpkin. And I have no idea why I didn't buy any apples but I may go get some tonight because it totally put me in the mood to make apple pie. That and grae's yummy photos. Where's my piece of apple crisp, Greta? (I kid.)

Also yesterday, the L said 'thank you' - 100% on her own. Without any prompting. I always ask her to say thank you throughout the day, but yesterday morning, she woke up (earlier than we would have liked) and so we stuck her back in bed with us and flipped on the tellie to SpongeBob. (In case that might allow us to sneak in a few extra zzz's or at least gradually ease ourselves into our Sunday morning. We will take what we can get.) Anyway, Bo pulled up the covers over Lo's legs and she said 'thank you!' Pretty sweet. And amazing to see her learn so quickly.

Scored some incredibly yellow pants from J. Crew (not this exact shade of yellow, but close) for $12.99 on sale. I was asking the sales girl what colors I should pair with the yellow (because all I could come up with was gray or navy) and she said that this fall, it's all about cream. Who knew? And how amazing is that blue clutch+shoes with gray?

Worked on the very first part of Steady Hand Faulty Heart. Which I meant to do during the summer months, but it works equally well for fall. I was excited to use a real leaf. (And the tag from my tea, pieces of a Fossil bag that I've been saving forever, and some pretty yellow lace trim that I got in a RVKC kit awhile back.) I'm having a blast with this and hope to work on more pages this week. Like a bunch more.

Couldn't resist this totally rad Halloween crafty kit from Elsie. I mean, there's so much to love. Hand-illustrated shrinky-dink ghosts, embroidery patterns, felt ghost garland patterns, and the cutest Halloween craft paper I've seen yet.

But must hit the hay now. Even though I have that weird second (or third) wind going. It is 1:45 a.m. and I've been working on a set of modern fall fun invites for a freelance project. And I've been listening The Kinks since 9:30 while I've been working. I think I've only heard two songs more than once. It's kind of put me in a nice mood. But must sleep now. (Because the Kinks never-ending playlist just abruptly transitioned to Korn. That is my cue.)

today... /  by jen geigley


Lotus and I woke up this morning and went downtown for the Farmers Market (and to visit our friends at Craft Saturday.) It was a beautiful sunny morning and I know our opportunities to do this kind of thing are fading fast as fall days get closer, so I was glad we went.

L loved the pumpkins and the apples and the music and the dogs/puppies that we saw along the way.

I picked up these retro beauties from friend and crafter Lara while visiting the peeps at Craft Saturday. Just look at the adorable do's on these girls and the glossy sheen to their hair. Sweet. I may have my mom attempt a couple of these tunic dresses for L. Maybe she could wear them over jeans. But mostly I'm just a fan of the illustrations.

Also picked this pin cushion up from Lara - I'd had my eye on it for a long time.

Went on a quickie excursion to Goodwill and found these vintage notebooks with lots of cool yellowed ruled paper. Three different shades, even - red, green and blue. Even the covers are cool. Score. So glad whoever found these didn't throw them out. Nerds like me want them.

Made some progress on my wrecked journal.

And today Lo had one of the cutest outfits on ever, so I had to take a few more pics. (Well, she had different shoes on earlier in the day that weren't quite so neon green+blue. Those were cuter.) Did you know that they make skinny jeans for babies/toddlers? They do. These are from the Gap. Someday she'll look back at the things I made her wear and roll her eyes. But that's just part of a mother-daughter relationship. The agony.

They do accentuate the diaper butt. Still awfully cute.

love many things... /  by jen geigley


Challenge #3 is up at The Creative Type - check it. It's very simple - quotations. Use a quote in the background of your page. I love this quote by Van Gogh so that is what I used.

Love what you do, do what you love.

That's what I think about when people wonder why I like to stay up late and make stuff or scrap or paint or attempt to sew.

It's what I like to do, people. Can't help it.


And check out this super sweet preview of the October kit from Red Velvet Kit Club. Drool + yum. Houndstooth, awesome brights, what appears to be some very cool journaling blocks (fork+knife+spoon!) and that orange scalloped frame is a custom vinyl scalloped rub-on made just for RVKC. Plus Hambly and Sassafras, people. You can get yours from the Etsy shop on October 1st - be ready to pounce! Also available will be paper packs from previous kits on clearance - so if you missed one over the summer, now's your chance to pick one up at a very nice price. :)

Season two of Yo Gabba Gabba started this week, which is cause for celebration at our house. (Yes, of course we're still celebrating L walking!) But we're also happy about not watching season one over and over again. This show is still L's absolute favorite and nothing else will turn her frown upside-down when she's not having an especially good day. Great music all around this week. Like great. We'll have to sit and watch these new episodes over and over again (like we did last season...it's true, children like repetition) so us adults can analyze the tiny details. Like wasn't DJ Lance Rock's collar and cuffs on his sleeves white before, not yellow? Did Mark Mothersbaugh cut his hair? Is the Brobee costume new? And the sky behind Muno's land... didn't it used to be purple, not blue? (I don't mind the changes, Gabba folks... just sayin'... I noticed.)

I'm really tempted to try and pull off this Party in my Tummy cake at L's 2nd birthday party. I'm guessing that the food on top is fondant ... the grandparents may be confused by this, though. A log cake is not very appetizing, I'll admit. In fact, this one almost resembles a ham. It's very Ren and Stimpy... it's big, it's heavy, it's wood... it's better than bad, it's good.

I am going to attempt to make a Foofa costume for L to wear this Halloween. It's going to be more of a sweatpants/stuffed sweatshirt version with a felt collar + flower, but it should work.

Speaking of making things... I hung out with my girls last night and we actually sewed our aprons. We even gave them names, which have already escaped my tired brain. The whole process may have been a lot more challenging if Cat hadn't been there to guide us. (a.k.a. master seamstress/clothing designer extraordinaire/student at Parsons. Yes, that Parsons.) My end result was a little sloppy but I love it and already want to make more. There's so many cool prints out there (and Amy keeps sending me fabric porn) and I just want to keep going. But even better than my finished project was a whole night of laughing and goofing around with three very fun girls. We originally met through a local moms' group, and our common bond was based around our kids. But now it's so much more than that. Which is pretty cool.