Ace of Hearts Valentine Gram Printable

Make these fun and special "Ace of Hearts" Valentine grams for your classmates! Make it a special one by printing their initial letter cards. Printables include letters from A-Z (2 each) and all A's if you want to keep it simple and not use the custom letters. Hop over to Hello Wonderful for details and instructions.

Class Valentine Grams - Printable Favorites

Making Valentine's day gram for boy's classroom is one of our favorite craft activity to do every year. Boys are excited about passing our their Valentines grams again this year! I have rounded up few of our all time favorite ideas and printables. We've made these in previous years and they were a huge hit! Thanks to creative bloggers for sharing the printables. Hop over to download printables and tutorials by clicking on the links below. Happy Class Valentine's!

You Make My Heart Glow by DELIACREATES | Yoda Best Valentine by DESIGNWASHRINSEREPEAT 

Tic Tac Toe by SALLYJSHIM | Fruit Gummy Valentines by DOZIDESIGN 

Pencil Arrow by MUFFINGRAYSON | I Like You A HOLE Bunch! by DESIGNMOM

A Year in Review - Goodbye 2014

Jan
Nathan turns 8. Upgraded to n8. Celebrated with few of his friends at home and at nearby park.
First hot cocoa stand was a big success.
Nathan received a medal from the Berkeley Chess Club as second grade champ.
Raymond turns 41, well adjusted into 40s club.

Feb
Selina launch SKYCreatives blog. So it begins...
Selina went on a little coffee tour adventure in San Francisco.

Mar
Tyler turns 6. Upgraded to t6. Celebrated with few of his friends at home and at nearby park. We had a Minion theme party.

Apr
First family trip to Seattle / Portland for one week during spring break.
Selina did her first blog collaboration project with Apartment 34.

May
Selina hosted her first Banchan Workshop 1 in Temescal Oakland.
Selina & Raymond goes to Priscilla Ahn's live concert in San Francisco.

Jun
Nathan graduated 2nd grade with flying colors.
Tyler graduated Kindergarten with flying colors.
Selina went on a short sisters trip to LA to see Sung Si Kyung's live concert.

Jul
Selina turns big 40, joined Raymond in 40s club.
Selina decides to go unplugging for 3 days.
Family visit to LA and first time at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Selina & Raymond attended couple's seminar for the first time.

Aug
Nathan started 3rd grade in Ms. Schalet's class.
Tyler started 1st grade in Ms. Robinson's class.
Lemonade stand was a success!

Sep
Selina hosted her second Bachan Workshop 2 in Berkeley.
Nathan & Tyler started their swim class.

Oct
Selina & Raymond celebrated 13 years of marriage, 20 years of friendship.

Nov
Family day trip to Healdsburg, CA.

Dec
Tyler fractured his wrist doing cartwheels and had to get a cast for the first time.
Family visit to LA and first time at Six Flags Magic Mountain, second time at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Raymond payed-off his business payment after 7+ years.
Selina start sharing printables at Hello Wonderful blog as a momtributor.

Gold Coin Toothfairy Printables

I'm sharing this fun and simple "earn a gold coin for every baby tooth you lose!" printables on Hello Wonderful blog today. Hop on over to download the free printable and short instructions on how-to here. Have fun!

Family Photoshoot

I can't believe holidays are just around the corner! I was just starting to enjoy the warmth of fall weather and feeling how nice it's been to see the change in color and be able to walk on crispy leaves. We've been getting some spots of rain here and there (thank goodness!), still not enough for seriously drought state but it's been nice. Now I'm beginning to feel little pressure to wrap up bunch of projects that I had planned this year as I prepare for brand new year. At the same time, I hope to enjoy spending some quality time with the family.

Sending out family photo holiday cards has become the annual tradition for many families. I guess we used to send out handwritten cards and then when all of our friends started having kids and then receiving a pile of family photo cards in the mail sort of became the norm. I love receiving them. I love seeing how kids are growing up (so fast!). I usually try to design our own holiday cards with n & t's picture but I really wanted to get a decent family photo this year (including myself and Appah!). I am so bad at being in front of the camera, I would avoid it at all cause but I realized that I don't have many photos taken with my family. I realized I have to make a conscious effort to be in the photo with my kids. It didn't have to be anything professional. We met up with my sister's family at Saint Mary's College in Orinda, CA (15 min away from Oakland). I heard that they have the most beautiful foliage around this time of the year. I took some pictures for her family and she took some of ours. It turned out to be very casual, relaxing and fun photo sessions for both of us. I think kids had fun enjoying some time together with their cousins. 

When we finished taking some photos at Saint Mary's College, we went out to eat lunch at Temescal area in Oakland. As I was walking to get some coffee after lunch, we spotted this cute street murals on Telegraph & 43rd St. One side of entire block was painted with these fun and whimsical paintings. Kids were naturally good at posing, we didn't even have to direct them to do certain things. Kids are so creative it's amazing to see sometimes! Street art can become awesome back drop for the photo. Now I'm haunting for more in Oakland.

It's time to order those family photo cards online. Major sales and promotions are going on this week and next week so don't miss out! I'm happy to see many online paper stores offering holiday cards and in many different formats (photo card, ornament card, fold-outs, 3-tear cards...etc.). Here is three of my go-to place for holiday photo cards. I've been using them for many years and love all of their quality and services. Check them out!

 

+ Photography by Samantha SungYun Lee @sungyun306 & Selina Lee @skycreatives

A Day Trip to Healdsburg, CA

One of the best things about living in Bay Area is to be able to drive an hour or two away and feel like you're at different place. Napa/Sonoma, Lake Tahoe, Monterey, Half Moon Bay, just to name a few. This past weekend, we decided to drive up to Healdsburg, CA (in Sonoma County) and visit just few places that has been on my spotted list for awhile. It took about hour and half from Oakland. I'm glad we were able to get out and explore different town and not stay at home feeling like you are rottening glued to screen all day. I realized I should do this more often with my family, it's nice to have the weekends open so we can spend some time together as a family and enjoy outdoors, good food, of course. 

It was obvious, Fall came to SHED at Healdsburg. This James Beard Design award winning, a beautiful open space with dining, flowers, home goods, groceries and café is a dream space. This place reminded me a lot of London Plane in Pineer Square in Seattle, WA. It makes me so happy just dreaming about having my own space like this someday. Ok, maybe not to this extent. I think I'll be happy if I had a nice well lit space where I can have my design studio, a coffee bar, flower shop and a test kitchen. Oh why not, Never stop dreaming...

All of us enjoyed the food we ordered there. You can order food to take-out or dine-in, we decided to dine-in because we were hungry! We ordered some pizza, pork belly sandwich, beer on tap, sparkly lemonade. Boys really like this prosciutto and salami cold cut platter with bread and olive oil. YUM!

Popped into Flying Goat Coffee Roasters for some afternoon Capp.

We stopped by at this cute ice cream & pie bar, Noble Folk. You can choose a pie and ice cream flavors to make your own a la mode pairing. I picked Chocolate Baked Pumpkin Pie with Salted Caramel to take care of my sweet tooth!

I'm so glad that we were able to get out and get fresh air and feel like we've visted somewhere new. Just within this one block radius square (park in the middle) seem to have enough to check out filled with galleries, bookstore, boutiques and cafés and markets. We want to go back in the Spring/Summer time and have a mini picnic!

Have you visited or live near Healdsburg, CA? What are some of your favorite spots and things do there? 

All Photography by Selina @skycreatives using iPhone 4S + Nikon D3100.

Hopscotch Your Way to Adulthood! - Birthday Cards {Printables}

Last year, we invited few of n8's friends over to celebrate his 8th birthday. I didn't have a big theme party planned for him but thought of this hopscotch idea to use for his invite. I got the idea from watching him playing hopscotch at his school playground. I remember playing this as a child and love this idea of making birthday cards for his friends. I'm sure you have asked your child to draw something really quick or make a personal card before heading over to their friend's birthday party. I do that all the time and it's usually very last minute. So I have made these hopscotch invitation to printable birthday cards for you to download and print. You can even make it a fun project to do with your child. Enjoy!

n8 playing hopscotch afterschool. hard not to pass this on the ground every time. ; )

n8's birthday invitation that I hand-cut and put together.

birthday card printables (2-UP) for you to download {here}

birthday card stick-ons (3-UP, for extra) for you to download {here}

hopscotch birthday cards!!

MATERIALS

White Adhesive Labels (full size)

Neon or Color Papers (65lb card stock)

Color Printer (Inkjet shown)

Scissors

Tacky Glue or Double Sided Tape

A2 Size Envelope

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Print hopscotch birthday card (2UP) pdf from link above on adhesive white label (full size 8.5" x 11"). I usually buy this adhesive paper from the paper company like Kelly's paper but you can buy smaller bulk size at any office supply store. One that will work for your printer will be great. I used the ink-jet compatible ones.

2. Before you cut out the birthday card design into A2 (4.25" x 5.5") size cards, stick the design on color card stock paper by peeling full size printed adhesive label. Here I used neon color paper for the pop! of color but you can use any color paper. Just make sure to use not too thick (like 80 lbs card stock) as it may not go through your ink-jet printer. I used 65lb cover stock in neon colors. I picked up a small ream from the Target store.

3. Cut the design into A2 card size, you will get two cards out of this printables. I used xacto knife and metal ruler but you can use scissors to cut around the edges. 

4. Print stick-on printables (3UP) on 65 lb color card stock paper and cut out the pieces with scissors. You can save the extra ones for future use. 

5. Glue or stick on the right number (birthday age) for your friend's birthday card. You can use durable glue like tacky glue or double sided tape.

Happy Birthday, Kiddo! Hopscotch Your Way to Adulthood! 

Minimal Living - One Corner at a Time

We've been living in a small 1.5 bedroom apartment for many years now. Before we had kids, we were living in 1 bedroom apt downstairs in the same building. We had plans to move (for many years) but for some reason it never really worked out for us, never found a place that we can call it a home. We really got bought into convenience of living 5 minutes away from everything (work, school, groceries and growing coffee and food Mecca!). We love our current building, it was built in 1920s so it has lots of charm and personality (like the gold moldings around the ceiling!) but it has never really been renovated (esp. Kitchen and Bathroom) and as a renter, it's somewhat limited to how much investment you want to put into your house that's not your own. Because I thought I'll move out of this apartment sometime soon, I was never really that inspired to decorate or organize our space. I think looking at some of these inspirations, I decided to at least minimize our living in our small space and make it work for us even if we end up moving out in the near future. It's never too late to organize and de-clutter, right? These photos are not pictures of my home (Gawd, I wish!!), maybe I'll need to post some before and after shots just to show you how much "de-cluttering" I had to do. 

These inspirations caught my eyes because they seem to be right at the budget where I can probably afford. They seem to be furniture and items that can really make the place cozy and comfortable. De-cluttering is never ending project but I'm giving it a stab at it, one corner at a time. ; )

I like living in a space that has open view to other rooms like living room to the kitchen or living room to the dining area. Check out this built-in wall bookshelf. Isn't it great? I also love the low desk at the bottom for reading and writing. [via images of Living Room, Book Wall]

Heavy iron standing ladder to hang your throws or towels. No head board instead of nice shelf for photo art gallery. [via images of Standing Ladder, Bedroom Gallery]

I'm so getting this leaning shelves for organizing toys and books from Land of Nod! and low wide bed with plenty of storage built-in. [via image of Leaning Shelves, Low Bed]

Whether it's the oversize table or small table? definitely next to some good natural lighting. [via image of Oversize table, Small table]

Kitchen with plenty of maneuvering space and that flooring is kind of awesome. A good unit to hang all your utensils and tools. Kitchen is probably one area where I wouldn't mind investing the most. I think it's because I like spending time in the kitchen. I kind of own it. [via image of Kitchen, Hanging Unit]

Ok, I seem to be obsessed with these leaning units!!! Perfect for saving space at the entrance area [via image Leaning Mudroom Unit]

And for my own small yet do-able luxury, a coffee bar and a wine crate garden. [via image of Coffee Bar, Wine Crate Garden]

Do you find these ideas inspiring? Do you have a working system at home that helps you to keep things organized and de-cluttered? Please share as I am desperate to get this project going! Ideas and suggestions welcome. Would love to hear from you! _Selina

Family Traditions

Boys started school this week. I think I was least prepared this year. I guess it comes with the fact that we are already 4th year into our elementary school (omgosh!) and it really helps that I am already familiar with both of their teachers from previous years. In an effort to continue with our 'Happy Family Habits (#5 Family Traditions)', here is one (or two) small family tradition that we do every year. I hope these small traditions will build good memories for us and help us to make better connection as a family.

When I grow up I want to be ____________ 

My first day of school printables by MPMK

Lemon tatoos by Tattly!

We usually have a lemonade stand during summer and hot cocoa stand during winter. We get good foot traffic on Saturdays from our neighbors who walk to farmer's market nearby. We like to donate all the proceedings to our local OUSD elementary school. We hope to see you next summer/winter break!

Happy Family Habits by MPMK

Have you been following the 'Happy Family Habits' by MPMK (Modern Parents Messy Kids)? It's such a great series posted every 21 days (It takes 21 days to build a habit!) for families to teach children to practice happiness. In an effort to find more happiness at the Kim's resident, I've started following this series and tried practicing one item at a time. I'll be writing about the post-stories on them so stay tuned for that. The list keeps going but here is the first 10 habits that we are starting with... (be sure to follow the link to find details on How-To's ideas by MPMK!)

Kennedy's at Hyannis Port, 1959 / by Mark Shaw

Sharing your childhood photo albums, chatting about your childhood stories. [Read more...]

Setup a gratitude bowl or bulletin board to write down what you are thankful for. [Read more...]

Go unplugged more few mins every day to pay 100% attention to moments. [Read more...]

Say Yes to impractical things every once in a while. [Read more...]

Memories are made from traditions, big and small. [Read more...]

Teaching something new can also be meaningful. [Read more...]

Create consistent bedtime. [Read more...]

Find a spot where you can chat with your kids on a regular basis (e.g. at bedtime) and be a good listener. [Read more...]

A sense of gratitude has been proven to be one of the biggest determinants of happiness. [Read more...]

Think about a practical way to share with people who are less fortunate in your life, in your area. [Read more...]

via Modern Parents Messy Kids 'Happy Family Habits' series.