If you’re in Primary and could use some birthday coupons for the kids, here’s a printable. I tuck these into the birthday cards we hand out.

Designing for Primary is a lot of fun. Much less pressure than designing for Relief Society, that’s for sure.

Click on pic to download PDF

Not that I’ve ever wondered, but I have received confirmation that I am truly a girl. Just so you understand, I am not a jewelry person. I rarely get my hair cut. Perfume makes me ill. My last professional pedicure was seven years ago. I loathe the ruffled clothing trend right now. But when I walked into the gems and minerals exhibit at a museum this weekend, I was like, Ryan–you must take the kids, because I need some alone time with the purdy jewels.

It’s been a year since I’ve last watched Ugly Betty, and while catching up on the last season, I realized I’ve forgotten about the amazing visuals and set design. Wilhelmina’s luxe, almost foreboding Manhattan apartment called to me. I love the repetition of modern, geometric shapes and exaggerated proportions throughout her space.

I found much better pics at InteriorDesign.net:

It’s fairly decadent, and I’m not sure if I could ever be comfortable habitating a home like this, but the design is intriguing and inspiring nonetheless.

I had the opportunity to teach Sharing Time in Primary last Sunday, and as I was preparing my lesson the night before, I had an 11th hour idea (because that is when the best ones come) to make bookmarks for all the kids. This posting is a bit after the fact, since this was the scripture for the month of June, but in case you’d like one — or four — for yourself, download…

…here!

8 inches gone! Totally thought I’d be feeling remorseful, but I guess I was ready to be rid of my Mahana hair.

Kai told me the other day — in a very animated fashion — that he had a dream where he was flying. It’s been a while since I’ve last had a flying dream (hmm, stress much?), but I remember it being magnificent and exhilarating.

When my kids are grown, I hope they will look back at their childhood as one being full of love and happiness. Comments from Kai like this reassure me that I’m dong an okay job!

It’s been a bit of a harried, chasing, bickering kind of day, so I was pretty exasperated to see Elsa the Cat flaunting her talent at lazing about.

Now it’s one thing for BP’s CEO to be off yachting in the British Isles, but it’s another thing for my cat to be enjoying nap number six in my perfectly unmade, rumpled bed while I play peace ambassador and short-order cook because my kids are going through an insane growth spurt. That’s wrong.

That blue chair! White coral! And this! My word, I am smitten to pieces by pretty much everything at Shine by SHO.

No offense to anyone, but I am OVER vintage chic and for a very long time, my tastes leaned heavily towards Scandinavian country/modern. But for me, for now, it’s all about glam, couture, and gold!

{via Fancy Frills}

First off, big congrats to Ryan’s little sis Lindy for
graduating from Cal Poly! Woohoo!

And secondly, if you ever visit San Luis Obispo, I recommend:
Breakfast sandwiches from Frank’s and/or cheese danish from Utopia,
Sandwiches from Gus’ (picnic lunch it at Mitchell park),
and dinner at Big Sky Cafe.

Ahh, I miss San Luis already!
Maybe we’re already prodding our kids to attend Poly one day…

Last year, I helped scrapbooking company We R Memory Keepers design their 4th of July line. If you’re interested in purchasing, or seeing the entire set, visit here.

And I must come clean that I am not a scrapbooker. : ) 99.9% percent of my photos have never even been printed! Maybe one day, when life calms down a bit, scrapbooking can be a new hobby. After sewing, knitting, exercising…

Flyer I did recently for a combined Church primary/ward activity. It was meant to be just a B&W design, but the little design devil that sits atop my shoulder and encourages me to use up grips of printer ink with no abandon insisted, “Color! COLOR!”

I find it very ironic that I’m trying to replicate a 2-3 spot color poster here. Someone who understands printing would get what I mean.

On my way out the door last Sunday, I had a last minute idea to cut up a past design of mine into little robot tickets to use as little “prizes” at church. I then got to thinking how circles would be a much nicer shape for the boys’ little hands, thus the robot coin was born!

Click on the image below to download robot coins for yourself.

I love origami! But as long as I’m not a rocket scientist, I have to be okay with making just frogs and boats for Kai.

More pics at Washington Post.

I spent a good half hour playing with my new Tilt Shift Effect app for the iPhone (thanks for the tip Melissa!). It’s the best time-waster since Kitteh Roulette. Three things are for sure: I love taking pics of my kids, I love my husband’s music, and I love cats.

Have you met Candace yet? If not, you should. She is inspiring, honest, has the neatest tutorials, and designs rad posters. In short, I hope to be like her some day.

This week, she has a wonderful line up of giveaways and guest posts on motherhood. I encourage you to check out her lovely blog, because it is a happy place. And you can read my thoughts on being a mother here.

First things first:
Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

And secondly,

…the Mother’s Day card I designed last year. Download here.
Have a happy day!

My favorite part this weekend was touring the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. It was hands-down amazing. Amazing! We took a self-guided audio tour (free) and was happy to see lots of other families with young kids and even some childrens’ activities. Afterwards, we visited the California Science Center — also no charge.

We’re very much about no/low-cost cultural activities to do with the kids, so let me know if you have any other places we should hit up. So far, I know that kids get in free to LACMA and the Griffith Observatory. And also that you can get 3 mini cupcakes for five bucks at Vanilla Bake Shop, super important to know!