Taking the Blogosphere by Storm

What can I say...It's been a good week. I've continued my daily posting streak. I won a blog giveaway. And (drum roll please)...my mini album is featured today on the Creative Mini Albums blog!

The mini is something I created a few weeks ago in an attempt to get my creative juices flowing again. I was one of those people who thought I had no time for mini albums (too behind on 12x12 layouts), but I was surprised at how quickly it came together. And I love the way every page has its own personality.

Here are a few photos. You can see the whole thing in my 2Peas Gallery.

Oh happy day!

I just found out that I won a giveaway on Tere's blog! A bunch of really cute (and small) alpha stickers. Believe it or not, I was just thinking about those exact stickers on my drive home (yeah, I'm THAT obsessed with my layouts these days) and thinking I needed to see if Michael's had any. And lo and behold, I now have a big 'ol package of them coming to me. I love when things fall into place like that! Thanks, Tere!!!

My scrapbooking this week has hit a bit of an obstacle because my printer ran out of magenta ink and I haven't been able to get to the store. Why I don't keep a stock of ink in my house is beyond me. I have probably 500 sheets of patterned paper and cardstock, at least 10 tape runner refills and multiple jars of buttons, brads, jewels, ribbon, flowers, etc. But I don't have ink! Oh, the irony.

So I'm posting another layout I finished on Sunday. It's a two-pager and I'm really lacking in my creativity when it comes to two-page layouts. I found a sketch in Page Maps (pretty much my go-to idea book), and it worked well with the photos. However, I still think it needs something. Just can't figure out what. What do you think?

It's a Drive-By Fruiting!

Okay, the title really has nothing to do with the layout I'm about to post, but I couldn't resist one of my favorite movie lines of all time. It's from Mrs. Doubtfire (not my favorite movie...just happens to have a really great line).

So even though there were no fruits harmed in the making of this layout, this post is kind of a "drive-by" because I don't have much time today. In my quest to be the ultimate mom-type, I'm on my way to a PTA board meeting. However, on my quest to be the greatest scrapbooker the world has ever known, I didn't want to break my everyday posting streak. Fortunately, I can find time for both...but only if I leave the house in the next two minutes.

I did this layout yesterday using my Scarlet Lime kit from June. Wasn't wild about these papers at first (except for the die-cut flower papers, which is TO DIE FOR!), but they are growing on me.

Gotta run (literally)!

Happy birthday to me

Yes, today is my birthday. I actually don't get too excited about them anymore. After all, turning 37 isn't quite as exciting as, say, 21 or even 18 for that matter. My only requirement is that I have cake. Oh, how I love cake! I would eat it every single day if it weren't for that annoying little issue of the gazillion calories and fat grams that accompany every decadent slice.

So I had my cake last night. Specifically, the Cake Sundae at La Duni. Now THAT is a piece of cake that is worth every calorie. It was bliss! And it made the fact that I am yet another year older a little easier to swallow (pun intended).

After the cake, it was finally time to see Harry Potter and, though it was a very dark and sinister chapter in the series, I expected as much based on my recollection of the book. What I didn't expect was all the focus on kissing. Seriously? Do we need all that? It's not central to the plot and a little would be fine, but it was EVERYWHERE!!! I'm by no means a prude, but when it comes to Harry Potter, for Pete's sake, can we just focus on wizardry and spells and potions and taking out the Dark Lord. Leave the kissing to Twilight or High School Musical 5, where it actually has a point.

Aside from the blatant hormone-laced kissing overtones, I really loved the movie. Snape is so evil and, though I hate him because of what he represents, I love the character. Sneaky, devious, snake-like...and you can hear the hatred in his voice every time he says "Potter..." And Draco is every bit the slimeball coward he is in the books. It's so much fun to see it all come to life.

Ok, so enough with the movie review. If you've made it this far, you must REALLY want to see a layout. And I will make it worth your time. This is the most detailed layout I've done to this point. It was a labor of love, literally. I loved the photo, I loved the paper (Crate Paper Mia collection) and I loved the Prima flowers I found on clearance at Michael's for $1. It all came together quite nicely.


For the journaling tag, I tried the distress inking technique I learned in the Thinking Inking series on 2Peas. I really like the way it "aged" the plain off-white cardstock and gave it some texture. I will definitely be playing around with Distress Inks again!


I used pop dots to give some dimension to the water lilies I cut out of the patterned paper. You can also see the detail on the Prima flowers here. I did not add the glitter...they were like that when I bought them.

"Pottering" Around

As a self-professed Harry Potter geek, I'm pretty psyched about the new Harry Potter movie -- and we're going to see it tonight! Wheeeee! Normally I hate movies made of books, but these movies are an exception, and they seem to just keep getting better and better.

So the question is: what will I do all day to kill time until we can go to the movie? With the forecast of sunny and 104 degrees, outdoor activities are pretty limited. I'm in dire need of a pedicure, so that'll kill an hour. And the rest of the day? Probably scrapbooking. I'm so predictable.

Speaking of scrapbooking, here's a layout I did with the 4th of July photos. Really loving die-cut papers right now, and I found this cute bracket-shaped paper at Michael's. I like the way it looks kind of like a badge when turned on its side.


The stars are chipboard buttons from Bo Bunny that I wallpapered and topped with a felt flower and button.

TGIF! Let's hit the pool!

For the past two months, our Friday night "tradition" has been coming home from work, putting on our swimsuits and heading to the pool for some splash time. And maybe, once in a while, I've been known to have a margarita or two. It's a great start to the weekend and reinforces my theory that, when you do something out of the house on Friday night, it makes the weekend seem longer.

Here's the layout I did from photos taken at last Friday night's pool outing. We invited some friends to join us , which explains the extra kiddos in the photo. (Thankfully, I did not give birth or adopt any more kids. Two is plenty!)


I really love this "smiley sun guy" from the Cosmo Cricket Snorkel papers.


I'd love to stay and blog more, but it's time to get my swimsuit on! Happy Friday, everyone!

OMG, I'm a blogger! (again)

Yes, it's that time again. Time for Robyn to start a new blog that she will try desperately to maintain. But this time, I actually have a passion for what I'm blogging about. I'm back in the scrapbooking groove or, if you want to take the negative point of view, I've fallen off the wagon and am back to my old addiction. Let's not be negative, though. This is a good thing...I'm preserving memories for future generations. My children will thank me someday, which is a happy thought considering they pretty much always think I'm "mean" these days.

Since this is a scrapbooking blog, I guess I should post some photos of layouts, huh? Ok, well, as you can see, I'm totally on top of this. I used a photo that Jackie Reitz took of us last October and we loved it enough to use it on our Christmas cards. I did the unthinkable and used the backside of some really beautiful October Afternoon paper (note to self: buy that sheet again and use the FRONT SIDE), but I love the way it turned out. Sort of monochromatic, with a pop of red.