On my ears: podcast recommendations

I have tried to come up with a catchy introduction phrase to this blogpost forever but the more I write the crazier it gets. I only wanted to recommend two podcast episodes to you that I listened to just recently. They both talk about kids. I don't know how you raise your kids, but I struggle the most with raising our firstborn son. Not because of him (turns out he is actually the "easiest" of them), but because we practice our parenting skills on him. There is always trial and error, expectations set too high, rules too strict and rules too loose involved. And every time when we think, we found our groove and everything goes smoothly, the child matures some more and everything is out of order. Again. It is like trying a computer game for the first time and the moment you think you finally got it, you get to the next level and you start all over ...

This year our next level is middle school. The difficulty level is high because Micha and I both have grown up in another country, in a totally different educational system. So middle school is not only new to our son, but also new to us. I was very happy when I stumbled upon this episode from "This American Life" that centers all around middle school. It tells and reminds us of the struggle most middle schoolers go through - finding their place in society and the world and physically and emotionally growing their bodies and minds to become an adult. If you have a middle school child - please take the time to listen to this episode: This American Life -#449 Middle School.

Every night, I get an email from my son's middle school showing his grades. In most subjects, everything he does, gets graded: every assignment, every homework, every paper he produces in class. His grades are always changing. He is a good student, but it is so tempting to define this child only by his grades. To ask: "Will I be surprised, when I look at your grades tonight?" Or: "Why did you forget to put your name on an assignments twice? Are you crazy, your grade is going to drop?" And yes, I have asked these questions, and I assume, I will ask them in the future. It is hard to let go of habits and it is very convenient to intervene at an early stage, isn't it?

Last night, I watched Julie Lythcott-Haims's TED talk on "How to raise successful kids without over-parenting". She delivered a powerful speech about what really matters for our kids. And it was a great reminder that we all should give ourselves from time to time. What our kids need most from us is our unconditional love and a tool set to master their lives by themselves instead of mapping it out for them. If you have 15 minutes, please let her convince you. Julie Lythcott-Haims: "How to raise successful kids without over-parenting".

Journaling in a Traveler's Notebook: Summer Journal 2016 Pigeon Point and Half-Moon Bay

I really enjoy journaling in my Summer Journal. This is why I am trying to work on it constantly. I am remembering so many details and want to preserve them all. The details of this specific trip are not so great, because I had a really bad day and picked a fight with my husband because I forgot to check the weather forecast and forgot my sweater at home. If you want to see the process, there is a video on youtube.

Planning in a Traveler's Notebook: October Review and November Setup

I would have never thought that I needed a monthly overview, but when I decided last month that I wouldn't use it, I actually went back and filled it in about 5 days into October. So this month I made sure I filled in all the events and get a good feeling for the month.

How do I utilize the monthly overview? I mark birthdays, holidays, school breaks. I add appointments, regular activities (in the mornings) and events. I do not need exact times because I don't use it for accurate planning. As I said before: the monthly overview gives me a feeling for the month, this is where I can find out if my goals align with the ongoing events. This is where I notice: "Shoot, THIS is actually November, if I want my kids to have an adventcalendar by December 1st, I have to do it BEFORE that day." Or: "I am reading in the classroom on Friday, there is two other appointments in the mornings that week, don't plan on getting any crafty time in." Or: "If I want to send a postcard for that birthday, I need to send it by that date because it takes a week to get there."

Are you using a monthly overview in your planner? And if so, how are you using it? If you want to see what my October planner pages looked like and see how I decorated Novembers planner spread, here is a video.

The story of the quilt. Or: Patchwork blanket that is far from perfect.

Two or even three years ago, I gave my husband a voucher for a handmade blanket. I did not specify exactly what it would look like but I actually had an idea in my mind. He is a big fan of the San Francisco Giants and I would make him a blanket out of different orange, grey, and black fabric squares, a very simple but also (in my opinion) very sophisticated fan-blanket.

Then I started collecting different fabrics in the colors of the color scheme and I thought about the construction of the quilt. I wanted it to be a real patchwork quilt. But if you know me and know me more than just soso, you might also know that sometimes what looks like procrastination is in fact perfectionism. I wasn't able to start because I didn't know how to start. I knew that I would have to put a lot of time and effort into construction a quilt that would meet my own expectations. And I also knew that even if I tried very hard, I would still not be satisfied because I just don't have enough experience.



Fast forward to last week, when I realized that it was not about making the perfect quilt and that it was not about the neatest mitered corners or the most intricate quilting or even about sewing straight lines. My husband wouldn't notice any of these things. He would however see that I chose the team colors of his favorite team, he would appreciate the time and effort that I put into making something for him and he would also snuggle in that blanket each and every night.



It took me about 3 days to finish cutting out the squares, assembling the quilt top and then quilting along each column. I had already found the perfect backing for the quilt last winter at Jo-Ann's. I then went ahead and cut a wide binding strip so that I would not have to worry about the edges and used my sewing machine to bind the quilt. Done! Not perfect in the eyes of a quilter. But perfect enough for me! I am so happy that I finished this project and it fills me with such a warm feeling seeing my husband toting his new blanket around like Linus from the Peanuts.

Project Life youtube series

I have started a new youtube series on my youtube channel where I share a new process video every Saturday. There are already several videos on my channel for 2016. Here is a link to the playlist:

Planning in a Traveler's Notebook: What is in my Fabric Dori.

Somehow, I can't keep up with blogging. That is why I am keeping it short and just directing you to my busy youtube-channel. I am trying to upload a video every Monday with planning content, here is my latest planning video.

Planning in a Traveler's Notebook: What is in my Midori.

I have posted a video on youtube where I briefly show you my planners and walk you through my Midori Traveler's Notebook. I mainly use it as a calendar on a daily basis. If you want to take a look, here it is:

Planning in a Traveler's Notebook: September flip and October setup

I have a new video up on my youtube channel where I show you what my September looked like. How successful I was in reaching my goals and what I liked and didn't like about the calendar pages I used. I will be changing up my weekly spreads in October because I want to find out what works best for me.

I am also trying out what kind of videos I like to make, what I am comfortable with and that is why I will only be sharing one Plan with me video in October - making these videos is very time consuming and doesn't leave much room for anything else. So before I am committing to a specific type of video on my channel I want to try them all. Please bear with me. I have started filming shares of my Project Life Album for 2016 and would like to make a series to catch up on my album. I am still stuck in May. I hope to start this Saturday, so stay tuned.

Mini-Album: Marilyn's Stories.

On Saturday I was able to spend all day working on this mini album. I love how it turned out. I even used ribbon which I rarely do as you might have noticed. But someone commented on one of my photos where I was wondering what to do with them, that there will come a time where I would have a use for them. And it has come! I am still surprised about that change!

When constructing the album I didn't follow any instructions, I just winged it. But I guess, next time I will first take a look at this amazing woman's blog where she shares so many ideas on how to make different kinds of mini albums. My album came out ok, but it could be better, if I had a little more background knowledge in bookbinding. But for a first, I am very satisfied with the outcome.

In my video, I talk a little more on why I made it, who it is for and how I went about constructing the album, so if you want to know even more, just go ahead and watch. I would love to hear your feedback! Thank you so much!

Cardmaking. 5 Cards. Edition 2.

When I stopped blogging in the end of March I didn't stop being creative. During springtime I made several sets of cards to give away as gifts. Often I would use leftovers from my scrapbooking kits and try to make a matching set of five cards. For this set, it just didn't work out the blue "hello there" card stands out no matter what. But I like it nontheless.

I usually take a leftover branding strip and wrap it around the cards, then seal it with this stamp that reads: "For you - handmade with love."

Scrapbooking Process Video #1: favorite stories

Yes, you read that correctly - after getting comfortable with filming, editing and voicing over videos, I branched out last week and filmed a scrapbooking process. It was a long wait over the weekend to finally finish it and upload it to youtube. But I am done and here is a link to the video.

Plan with me: Week 38

I'm just popping in to let you know that I have yet another "plan with me" video up on my youtube channel! I really like the way my Mondays start to take shape: the first thing I do after everybody left the house is setting up my filming station and then decorating and planning my week. Then I do the meal plan and shopping list and off I go to go grocery shopping. After I get back, I have lunch and in my lunch break I edit and upload the video to youtube. It's a tight schedule but it's something I enjoy doing.

Unboxing the Cocoa Daisy September Kits: Lunch Break

If you want to have a closer look at the kit - here you go. It got here Monday, but I was just able to do the voiceover today.

felicity jane: paperexchange 2016

In August I participated in the felicity jane paper exchange. If you don't know what it is you can read more about it here.

My partner had just recently gotten a webster's pages traveler notebook planner and so I thought that I would make a themed package for her. I started with a pencil case and some crochet flowers, went on to make paper clips using fabric scraps and tried to crochet a flower onto a paper clip and then I made her a folder for the planner that I then filled with several goodies from my stash.

Unfortunately, the folder was a little bit too short and I only noticed when I went to wrap the gift and saw that it was shorter than the notebook inserts I had also made for her. So I made another one, but I included the folder that I had originally made since it matched the pencil case so perfectly.

Here is a short video showing all of the things I included in the exchange package.

Plan with me: Week 37.

I don't know about you, but I really love watching youtube videos while doing chores or cooking dinner. That is how I found plan with me videos - people showing their decorating and/or planning process on video. I have been watching youtube since the end of 2014 and always wanted to give back to this awesome community. Scrapbooking videos felt so daunting and when I started decorating my planner (yes, I never thought I would do that), I felt that making process videos about my weekly planning process was something I could manage. Sort of like: starting out slowly.

So I have been filming my process for the last weeks and hopefully learned a lot every time I edited, voiced over and uploaded a video. This is already my 4th weekly plan with me. If you want to check it out, please follow the link. And if you like what you see there is even more: Plan with me. Week 35. And last week's video: Plan with me. Week 36.

weekend scrapbooking.

I had a very productive weekend and made two layouts for Theo's album. I am still trying to find my own style therefore I am dabbling in all sorts of things. This was my first go at 8.5x11 layouts. The first one was made for the September Sketch Challenge over at Cocoa Daisy and for the second one, I was very much inspired by Danielle from Banning Lane and her minimalistic style leaving room for longer stories.

Project Life: Album Share November and December 2015

This is the last part of my album share of 2015. Right now I am working on 2016, trying to catch up because there was not much crafting going on during my summer. I am continuing doing album shares for my 2016 album, but before I film the next one, please tell me: do you like these kinds of videos? How could I improve? What do you like about them? What doesn't appeal to you? Thank you for your feedback!

Project Life: Album Share September and October 2015

I have another Album Share video up on my youtube channel. I mainly used the kits from felicity jane for my Project Life in October and tried to see how I could work with these beautiful scrapbooking kits in my Project Life album. Tell me what you think!

Plan with me: Week 34

I am rocking it. At least for now. I would so love to continually put out content on my blog and youtube channel. This is why the Supergirl was stuck in my planner. If you want to see how I plan, I did a plan with me video last Friday and just added some photos to the end. I hope to do one every week so I will show you how the week turned out next Monday.

Project Life: Album Share August 2015

I have been living life and just did not have the energy to keep up this blog. But I am back and try to get back into a routine that balances my real and virtual life so that I can have both. I have great plans, the boys are back in school and I want to be more creative and share my creative endeavors with you again.

I am beginning with a series of videos that I filmed in March and just uploaded to my computer yesterday. They are shares of my Project Life 2015 from August all the way through December. I divided them into smaller videos and this is the first one.



When I listen to myself talking I cringe everytime, it sounds so strange. All of the seasoned youtubers I watch just seem to be talking so easily and they have so much to say. I don't. Maybe I have to take notes and read a script? I hope this will get better, just like everything else at my beginners' stage: the setup and the editing. For now, I hope you bear with me and smile at my first try and come back for more. Let's go on this journey together and watch me get better with every new video. (At least that's what I hope will happen. ;-))