enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

a simple but life changing indoor plant tip.

I have five hanging plants in my house right now. Three in our bedroom and two in our office. I love them an inappropriate amount. But they were always a hassle to water until my mom came up with the most genius idea.

Just throw a few ice cubes in there.

It's perfect. The ice melts slowly, giving the plant and dirt time to properly absorb the water. Ice cubes are drip free and spill proof. And best of all, I can reach up and drop in an ice cube (I can't just reach up and pour in water).

I love this idea so much that I've started throwing ice in all the plants. I just walk around the house with the tray and drop one cube in with the small plants and two in with the big ones about once a week. It's been months since I've had to hold a plant funeral so this is totally working. Thanks, Mom!

ps. another tip...turn your plants every few weeks or they'll grow toward the sun (like that one in the last photo) and here are a few more tips for raising indoor plants.

one little word in january.

My word for this year is WHOLE. It feels so much more abstract than my past words. Whole what? Whole personal life? Whole business life? The "Whole-y" Grail a.k.a the impossible "balance" between the two? Whole body? Whole grains? Whole house decorated?

Yes, please. All of the above. I am not sure where this word is headed, but in January I implemented two new habits (okay three if you count the mornings project) in an attempt to bring in more WHOLE (or maybe a better term is complete) living.

The first habit is public and it is my weekend links series.

I decided to make this part of my blogging routine because while I cannot keep the negativity off the Internet, I can focus on the positive stuff. It's easy to be anonymous and attack or nit-pick existing content. It's hard to be authentic and generate new content. I'm celebrating the hard.

I've learned through years of reading blogs and writing my own that competition online is more imagined than real. There is not a limit to the amount of great content that can be shared with the Internet. In fact, there is always plenty of room for thoughtful, honest and unique content. The "better" one blog does, the better the whole community does. This past month I have been actively seeking out more good stuff and, perhaps surprisingly, it's making me feel less competitive.

The second habit is personal and pretty much the opposite.

I am working on not taking my iPad or iPhone to bed. I've realized that reading blogs, looking at Instagram or scrolling Pinterest before I go to sleep makes my mind whirl. And not in the good way. There is a noticeable difference in how long it takes me to fall asleep on the nights that I read a book (on paper not my kindle app) and the nights that I read online content.

After the constant online refresh and continuous waterfall of all so many images and ideas, I find myself totally hyped up and tend to toss and turn. After paging through an actual book, I feel calmer and am generally asleep within minutes after I put it down. Obviously, good, restful sleep is a huge priority and this habit switch (which has been embarassingly hard to break!) is for the best. What I really need is an alarm clock that is not an app on my phone. Then I'll be able to keep the devices out of my bedroom completely.

So that's my progress on WHOLE so far and my attempt to make this abstract concept a little more literal. I am celebrating the content generators by day and eliminating the noise at night.

#eliselovesmornings / january.

So far, I have taken a photo each morning of 2014 and shared on Instagram. This project was not something I thought about much in advance but it's become a simple habit that brings me joy.

Mornings are my favorite time of day. (I have blogged about this before.) I am having fun with this because I love mornings. I've had a few comments along the "I wish I loved mornings" variety and my response to that is "Why?" If you don't love mornings that's no big deal. Don't waste time wishing you love anything and instead think about something you already love and celebrate that. Personally, I would fail miserably at a photo project featuring daily outfits, my hair, lunch, winter or evenings. (Though I totally enjoy following along with anyone who is passionate about and shares those things.)

My daily routine is much different now with the baby. That is for sure. But I wake up to an alarm at 6:15 in order to have some alone time with my coffee and my thoughts (and my iPad) each morning. We are very lucky that currently Ellerie is such an excellent sleeper and right now I am able to get those 45 minutes to an hour.

The interesting part about this project is that my mornings (with one exception this past month) all look the exact same. I get up. I pump (not pictured on Instagram for many, many reasons). I eat breakfast. I read blogs on my iPad. I do not check my email. I pour and reheat my coffee (Paul makes it before he leaves for work). The baby wakes up. I change her. I feed her. We go outside and see what's new in the backyard. We play on the floor of her room while I finish my coffee. Somewhere between 6:15 and 8:00 I snap a photo.

It's the same thing. Every single morning. But the photos are all a little different because finding interesting ways to capture my routine is part of what makes this inpspiring to me. I am so loving this simple creative outlet.

project life 2014 : january.

As mentioned at the end of 2013, I am no longer completing my Project Life album on a weekly basis. I did that for two years. I enjoyed the process and I love my albums. This year I am taking a much more relaxed approach and playing more with this project. I don't have much of a plan other than to complete at least one (and sometimes many more) spread a month.

The big win is that I can never be "behind" on this album. I also like that I don't have to worry about having seven horizontal 4x6 photos each week and can group photos by subject instead of date. I love that I will be under no "weekly deadlines" and will be blogging just once a month about my album.

I feel like this has been said a million times before, but there is no right or wrong way to approach documenting your life. Don't worry about what anyone else is doing...just find a route that works for you then adjust, adjust, adjust until you love it. (And when you stop loving it, quit.)

I've had fun with my spreads this month and I looking forward to continuing this project. Here's what January looks like...

My title page took up a front and a back side this year and so I needed just a one page layout for the right side.

I decided to take a bunch of photos of the three of us separately and wound up with some gems.

I used the Afterlight app to convert them to black and white and tucked them into pockets with a hello card and a floral pattern from the Sunshine Core kit.

click to enlarge.

Then I did a checkerboard spread of 3x4 cards and photos, alternating white and black cards with photos from the first week of January.

All of these photos (and every photo in my album so far) were taken with my iPhone.

The vertical iPhone photos are just perfect for this sort of layout.

click to enlarge.

I loved the look of the checkerboard layout and so I continued it through to the next spread.

This is my Studio Calico Creative Team spread for the month and everything here is from the Sugar Rush Project Life kit. I picked 12 photos from January that represented the "TOP 12."

These are random little things (like Ellerie's first card from her penpal and how I started eating quiona for breakfast) + a few big things (like how Ellerie cut her first tooth and can now sit up).

I love this approach to "a month in review." I know I will not do this every month but it totally could be used that way.

What I really like about the checkerboard format is there is TONS of space for journaling. I wrote all over my 3x4 cards (my hand actually hurt when I was done) and got a bunch of little stories down.

click to enlarge.

One of my goals this year is to get a photo of the three of us every single month. I am going to include them in my Project Life ablum as a full 12x12 photo.

I had this one (taken with TimerCam and edited with Afterlight) printed by Persnickity Prints.

I added some simple journaling about what was going on when we took the photo to some journaling spots and layered them right on the photo.

I decided to fill the opposite page with black, white and gray 3x4 cards. Mostly because if I don't start using more 3x4 cards I will likely drown in a sea of them.

click to enlarge.

I didn't have another 12x12 photo for the backside so I just stuck a piece of patterned paper in there with a quote from a past SC kit.

Perfect quote for this album.

For the next page, I used a Design B pocket page and tucked 6 3x4 horizontal photos of Ellerie and I from the past few weeks. (Some are even from December, but who's counting?).

I embellished the top 4x6 pockets with 4x6 cards cut diagonally and sewed them into place. I love the mix of paper patterns and am so happy to have these photos all together.

And that's January! Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2013 album progress here.

product sources: Studio Calico Sugar Rush PL kit, Seafoam core kit, Midnight core kit, Sunshine Core kit, Studio Calico past project life kit pieces, We R Memory keepers 12x12 pocket page, Design F pocket page, Design B pocket page, Meredith Carty (3x4 card), Elise JOY photo calendar, Scrapbook and More flair badge & 14 tag, Two Peas hello card, staz-on ink, Pigma Micro 01 pen.

Except for that 12x12, all photos were printed at home on my Epson PictureMate Show. 

jade plant ampersand.

So the good news is, the jade wreath is still doing great on my front door. We're about eight weeks in and it looks the same.

The great news is the jade plants in my backyard are still triving. Above and below you can see photo of the new growth that's popping up in the places where I snipped pieces off.

Every snipped end has two new pieces growing out of it. This is what I hoped would happen, but it's nice to see it in action.

And the best news is that ampersand that Target has had for awhile finally went on clearance. I have passed by this guy at least 45 times in the past few months. But finally, once I saw it was marked down, something clicked and I decided to turn it into a succulent planter.

I mixed up some cactus dirt and sphagnum moss (the same stuff my wreath was made out of) and packed it into place. Then I soaked the whole thing with water.

And started planting my jade clippings (I use a knitting needle to poke holes in the dirt).

It took a lot of jade to fill it in but it was totally easy - much easier than making the wreath.

It's hanging in the backyard on the fence. So, far, four days in, it's still alive and kicking. This is a total experiment; I have no idea how long it will last or how it will do. It's making me smile when I look outside though, that is for sure.

Can't wait to finish up our patio space - we're getting there.