Confessions Of A Scrapaholic

My Birthday Girl

I think it is safe to say that the birthday celebrations have ended now. My little monkey turned FOUR yesterday. I can hardly believe it. She is turning into such a big girl! Yesterday we looked over and she was writing her letters and her name on the chalkboard in the kitchen. When did that happen?! I'm not complaining though. Yes, time does fly, but she is my little buddy. She is like my mini-me. Four year olds are awesome.

The festivities started on Saturday with her birthday party. It was the first party that she had her own little friends at. (You know, instead of all of mine and Kelly's friends with their children that she only sees at her birthday.) She was soooo excited. I let her open up one present Saturday morning which contained a "Birthday Girl" tiara and sash. Being the little princess that she is, she was in heaven. Would you believe that I actually have the party scrapped already? Wonders never cease. Actually, I think I was just motivated b/c that means all of her birthday layouts are caught up. Sweet.

The party was a smashing success. If you have a Jump Planet near you I would highly recommend them for parties. The kids (and parents...mostly Dads) had a blast jumping and sliding everywhere. The hostess in charge of our party even made a list for me of who the gifts were from, AND they cleaned up. There was one teensy little problem with the cake. We forgot it in the freezer at home. Kelly had to drive 20 minutes back to our house to pick it up. Oops! It was totally worth it though. Zoë picked out an ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery and it was the best cake I have ever eaten in my life. Everyone at the party raved about it. (Cake batter ice cream with sprinkles layered with chocolate cake.) Yum-O.

4th Birthday Party from Maegan B. on Vimeo.

Did you notice poor little Lucas sitting next to Zoë? He tried to blow out Zoë's candles for her. (He actually managed a few, so we had to re-light.) To stop her little helper Zoë covered up his mouth. LOL! He was not pleased. Poor little guy.

Kelly and I gave Zoë her presents yesterday. She had to have something to open on her actual birthday after all. We gave her a princess bike, complete with princess helmet and knee pads. She loves it. Well, I should say she did love it. She was going to town pedaling around yesterday, but today she had her first wipe out. Poor little monkey. She is not currently a fan of the bike. We are going to try and get her out on it again tomorrow. You know, back in the saddle as it were.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting...

I completely forgot to post about our Family Movie Matinee last weekend! We changed up FMN a little bit and went to the theater to see Kung Fu Panda. It was super cute. Zoë sat through most of the movie, only insisting that she sit on my lap when "the mean kitty" was on the screen. Our accessories (the karate head band thingys and black outfits) are apparently not the kung fu style, more the karate kid style. There was not a single one worn in the movie. Oops. Who knew? And to answer your question, why yes, we did wear them to the theater. That's just the way we roll. LOL!

The Best Issue of CK in Years

On average, it takes me about ten-fifteen minutes to flip through a scrapbooking magazine (with the exception of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine because I read that from cover to cover). I tear out the projects and layouts that inspire me, then off they go into the recycling bin. However, the July issue of Creating Keepsakes just rocked my socks off. It is FILLED with gorgeous layouts and projects, excellent tips and tricks. I think I may actually be keeping this magazine in its entirety. I haven't done that in years (unless one of my layouts is in them, LOL!)

I adore almost all of Becky Higgin's sketches. Her style is so clean and simple. I truly believe it will stand the test of time. I spend last night creating this layout from her July sketch. I love how I was able to incorporate so many photos without making the layout look cluttered. These photos had been sitting, waiting to be scrapped for a year because I wanted to include all of them and couldn't quite figure out how. Problem solved.

Click HERE for credits.

What else? The "Album Express" article by Elizabeth Kartchner was fantastic. I have been a fan of using different sized page protectors ever since I saw Ali Edward's Life Book in an issue of CK. The pages are so cool and go together in a snap (so I assume, I have yet to actually do anything but collect different page protectors). I liked Elizabeth's take on the idea. She uses a bit more color to embellish. My favorite idea? Using a three hole punch and punching through the page protector AND photo and attaching ribbon. Genius! And it looks soooo cute.

Last, and certainly not least, Tiffany Tillman's tip on the very last page of the issue, pg.112... The last page before the 50 or so pages of ads that is. Does that drive you crazy about CK too? I digress. LOVE her tip about adding cute accent characters using printables downloaded from the internet. That is PURE GENIUS! Now I finally know how I am going to accent all of my family movie night layouts. Thank you Tiffany!

That's all for now. I am off to finish preparing for Zoë's birthday party tomorrow. We are holding it at Jump Planet. I've never been there before but it sounds like kiddie heaven. Should be fun.

Happy First Day of Summer! Bring on the sun!

A Guilty Pleasure

I can't believe that I am actually admitting this, but I am watching Tori and Dean, Home Sweet Hollywood, as I type this. It is a complete guilty pleasure. I started watching "Tori and Dean, Inn Love" last winter completely by accident. I think I was laying in bed trying not to feel disgusting ("morning" sickness) and channel surfing when I found it. I never watch reality TV shows. Ever. It's just not my thing. But I can't wait for new episodes of this show. Sad but true. Love it. Probably because they remind me so much of Kelly and I (minus the Hollywood glam.) So there you have it. Don't judge me until you watch. ;)

Guess what else? Last week was Zoë's last day of preschool and they took one last field trip to a cute little farm nearby. While we were there Zoë's little friend Ryan gave her her first flower (you know, from a boy.) I caught the moment on film, barely. Awwww. Look how excited she was when she showed me. So cute.

She told me, "Look Mama, a flower! Ryan is a nice boy." Awwww. Zoë and Ryan are buddies. I actually created a layout of the two of them last week with photos from another field trip. Cute, cute, cute.

Credits coming soon

This Might Be A Record

I scrapped FOUR pages yesterday in about two hours. That is unheard of for me. I am one of the slowest scrappers around. I get my pages 95% done, then just fiddle with them for hours on end. Anybody with me on that? I used layouts from Traci Murphy's Sunny Afternoon Quick Page Album (resized to 12x12) and was able to cross about 1/2 of my 2007 lake pictures off the to-scrap list. Love it. Even better? The album is on sale at Funky Playground Designs right now for $1.00. I intentionally did not journal on some of the layouts because I am going to do that in my own handwriting (using this awesome pen) after they are developed. Take a peek...

That's all for now. Have a wonderful Father's Day weekend!

Library of Memories Goodness

I took the next step in my LOM organization...section tabs! Now that may not be exciting to you, but to me, it is soooo much fun. Of course some of my favorite stores are Staples and The Container Store so you know I am an organizational nut (and did I mention that I am nesting?)

On to the section tabs. Actually, let me explain my color coded albums first. Each color is a different subject: All About Us, People We Love, Places We Go, Things We Do and School of Life. As you can imagine, each subject has many different subcategories. The tabs make it easier to find the topic you are looking for. Very library-esque, yes? Ideally the section tabs would be inserted just behind my "section" layout, but I haven't done those yet. I simply slid the tabs between two layouts in the page protector.

To create these section tabs I used the cardboard that comes with my printed layouts from Costco (12x18) and cut it to 12.5" so that it peeks out just above the layouts.

I then cut pieces of color coordinated cardstock (of course) to 2"x4", folded it in half and glued it to the bookmarks. I then glued the circle tabs on, making sure that the titles were just above the cardstock. Here is a closer view.

It is the last week of my Library of Memories class. *sniff* If you ever have the opportunity to take this class I would highly recommend it to anyone. I have had so much fun. I mean come on, scrapbooking and organizing? Enough said.

I also keep forgetting to mention that I updated my Pregnancy Journal. I try and do it weekly. Click on over if you want to see my every expanding baby bump. OK, so bump may be putting it mildly. Hehehe.

Scrapbooking Goodness, As Promised

I have been a scrapping machine lately. Granted, the pages I am going to show you are from the last two or so weeks, but still. That is more than I scrapped in the past six months. I love having my mojo back. Specifically, I love not being stressed out about all the photos I haven't scrapped. My most important stories are being told and favorite photos shared, that is what counts.

This is actually a digi-redo layout. The first page wasn't terrible (it wasn't pretty, but it wasn't terrible) but it didn't fit with my birthday plan. I am using this template for all of Zoë's birthday layouts and someday it will make the most darling coordinated mini album, don't you think? Next year I may be wild and rotate the template. Hehehe. Click HERE for credits.

These are some of my favorite photos of me and Zoë. Kelly did a good job. :) Actually he was THRILLED to take the pictures. That meant that he didn't have to do any actual ice skating with us. This is one of our new holiday traditions and he is not a fan, so he can be the photographer. I also like looking at my former skinny self. Who knew I was about a week pregnant in those pictures? Not me! Click HERE for credits.

More holiday pictures. I had to scrap the story of our Christmas elf, Flea. It is a complete and total lift (read: blatant copy) of this fabulous layout by Heather, but I just love it. And you too can duplicate this page in moments using her Quick Fill Template. (I would save so much money if I was on her CT. Ha!) Click HERE for credits.

Brace yourselves for this. Here is a PAPER layout! I know! I have always said that I wouldn't go back to the dark side but when I saw this little kit at the CK Portland convention I had to buy it and scrap my cutie patootie nephew, Brodie. That little dude knows all there is to know about dinosaurs, and their names. (Remember when there were only about ten dinosaurs?) I think it turned out darling but the entire time I was making it I kept thinking, "Why would anyone do this? Look at this mess!"

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Now this isn't actually scrapbooking related, but it is kind of crafty so I thought I would share. I whipped up some quick teacher gifts for Zoë's preschool teachers the other night. All year long we have been scanning her artwork and doing two things: 1) Uploading it to her online gallery and 2) Resizing them to 4x6 and having prints made, which I slide into 6-Up page protectors in her School of Life album.

To create these note cards I resized three of her "masterpieces" (as we call them) and dropped them onto a white canvas then uploaded them to Shutterfly. I ordered one set of 12 note cards in each design. When I receive them tomorrow I am going to divide the cards so that Zoë's three teachers get four of each design. The entire process took about twenty minutes. I think these would also be great as a grandparent gift.

Sing with Me! "I Like to Move It, Move It. I Like to Move It, Move It. I Like to Move It, Move It. I Like to MOVE IT!"

We had a Madagascar themed family movie night on Saturday. We've had this movie forever, but Zoë has never really sat down and watched it, so viola! I have decided that unless there is a fantastic movie coming out, we are going to watch the DVDs from our collection for FMN. We have a ridiculous amount of DVDs at our house. I didn't realize quite how many until I put them all in the binders a couple weeks ago. I am also putting a freeze on DVD purchases. I can't even tell you how many movies we own that we have only watched one time. Ridiculous!

We all loved the movie. Zoë sat through 95% of the movie which is huge for her. She was more interested scootering around the house with her new Madagascar toys towards the end, but that's OK. Props included safari hats from the local party supply store and the toys from our fancy cupcakes.

I've got to say, they look cooler than most cupcakes I make, but mine definitely taste better. Of course, I have never been a fan of most grocery store bakery frosting (Costco being the exception.) The little characters have been Zoë's constant companions ever since watching the movie. They bathe with her, have come to IHOP with us, and they sleep with her. And all I had to do was pick it up at the store on Saturday afternoon. Twelve dollars well spent.

Did you know that Madagascar 2 is coming out this fall? I didn't until I was searching for a movie link for this post. It looks pretty cute. We may have to go see that in the theaters. I think next weekend we are going to go see this movie for family movie night. Kelly has been wanting to see it ever since we saw the trailer six months ago, and it will be Father's Day weekend after all...

I'll be back with more scrapbooking goodness later. Miss Zoë is waking up from her nap and there are some chocolate cupcakes on the counter that will be disappearing if I don't get upstairs fast. LOL!

Can You Guess?

What movie did we watch for Family Movie Night this week? Here's a hint.

Any guesses? How about one more clue.

If you said Finding Nemo, you would be correct. Zoë's new favorite evening activity is playing Go Fish with her Finding Nemo Go Fish Card Game. (Super fun if you have little ones. She plays with her cards facing up on the table so that we can help her.) Honestly, she watched about twenty minutes of the movie then wanted to go play her game, but that was fine with me. It was a Nemo themed evening...it's all good. And yes, we absolutely had fish sticks for dinner. Hehehe.

Do you like the cupcakes? They turned out so cute! (Truthfully though, the cupcake in the photograph is the only one with the seaweed. The fruit roll-ups were a huge pain to attach to the cupcakes.) I have a few tips for those of you that want to make these in the future. One: Buy the Betty Crocker Black Decorating Gel for the eyes of the fish and the White Decorating Gel for the bubbles. I used the gel for the eyes and it looked and worked 100x better than squeezing white frosting bubbles out of the ziplock bag like the book suggests.

I also wanted to share this handy little tidbit with you. Check with your local grocery store bakery about decorating cupcakes for you. I got the idea while Zoë and I were flipping through their book last week looking for princess birthday cakes. They have cakes for TONS of movies...Madagascar, Harry Potter, Cars. I asked the baker if they would be willing to decorate 6 theme cupcakes for me instead of creating a big cake and they said YES! So for $12.00 and with 24 hours notice they will whip up Family Movie Night treats for me. I consider it a bargain. I spend way more than that every time I go all out to make fancy cupcakes. And Zoë will have the little figurines to play with during and after the movie. Treats and props for $12.00?! You can't beat that.

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Now for some scrapping talk. First, I used Dani Mogstad's new Deep Blue Sea kit to decorate my blog post above. If you buy the kit before June 6th you will also receive the coordinating accordion album FREE! I also picked up the Lil Grad kit by Melissa Bennet this weekend which I thought would be cute for Zoë's "School of Life" album that I am working on. It comes with a FREE coordinating album as well as long as you purchase the kit by June 6th. Can you say perfect preschool teacher gift?

I have gotten quite a few emails about the products I used in my Library of Memories. Here are the specifics...

• The albums that I use are "We R Memory Keepers" D-Ring 12x12 leather albums.
• I found the coordinating polka dot ribbon at Michael's and JoAnn's. They are a mix and match of different brands. The ribbon is tied directly to the metal label holder.
  
• I used 1 1/4" Avery metal rim tags for the spines and the interior section dividers (pictures coming soon.)
• I used a 1" circle punch to punch out the photos/labels for the inside of the metal tags, which I adhered with this awesome liquid glue (perfect for hybrid projects.)
• I attached the metal rim tags to the album spines with 1/8" thick foam dots

I think that is about it. If you come up with any other questions feel free to post a comment or send me an email. Before I go I have to share another layout. This one of Zoë's first time sledding. That was a fun day, not that it made me want to live in a place that snowed...

Credits coming soon