Movin' on

Is it procrastination or just a serious case of denial that's prevented me from packing up my craft room? Every other room in our house is disassembled and packed, yet my scrap space is amazingly intact (except for a few empty shelves here and there).

I can't hold off much longer. We have one week to finish packing and get out of our current house. So tonight it will happen. Big time packing going down. I'll take some photos of the before, during and after.

But I do have a few projects to share. These are from my guest design spot at Ruby Rock-It last month. They sent me the August Moon collection, which has this fun, die-cut glitter paper. I think I used that one sheet in about four different ways.

For the layout, I cut sections of it for the background...
 

...and I cut the title letters from it using my Cameo. 

For the card, I punched a scalloped circle to use behind the butterfly. I also handcut the smaller sun shape that's behind the pink button.

By that time, I was pretty much out of the glitter paper, so I did some other fussy cutting on this layered card.

I love it when I can incorporate a bird somewhere along the way.

Now it's back to the packing. Wish me luck!

FRAK-y Friday {giveaway closed - winner posted}

It's been a crazy week of sick days (mine and Avery's) and a million errands around here, and I'm ready for some downtime this weekend. But first, there's some business to take care of:

On this balmy March day, I'm offering a bright sunny FRAK to one lucky blog reader.

This is a jam-packed bag of double-sided paper, die-cuts and pennant flags from the Pink Paislee/House of Three Soiree collection. I've also thrown in some chipboard flowers and borders from Ruby Rock-It's Paper Girl collection because they looked so cute with the rest of the stuff.

Leave a comment by 5 p.m. Central on Monday, March 5, telling me what you're looking forward to this Spring. Be sure to include your email address in your comment if it's not already in your Blogger profile.

Good luck!

UPDATED 3/5: This week's winner is...

Congratulations LisaM! I'm not seeing an email in your blogger profile, so please email me at robmab at yahoo.com with your shipping address. Thanks!


FINE PRINT: If you don't have an email in your blogger profile (or you aren't sure what I'm talking about), please be sure to leave your email addy with your comment. After 5 p.m. Central on March 5, I will randomly draw a winner from the comments  on this post and list the winner's name/ comment at the bottom of this post. I will also contact the winner by email if possible. If you live outside the U.S., you are welcome to enter, but I'll ask that you cover the extra postage cost. Thanks for reading! 

Simply fabulous

Sometimes I think (okay, I know) I don't give my kids enough credit. Especially Cecily. As the second-born, she's subject to all sorts of comparisons to her older sister. It's usually unintentional. I don't mean to compare them, but it sneaks into my mind and I feel so guilty for it. They are two completely different children. I want to celebrate their differences, not compare them.

Supplies: Ruby Rock-It patterned paper and chipboard, Epiphany Crafts
felt flowers and Round 14 shapes, My Little Shoebox alphabet stickers,
October Afternoon mini alpha

This layout celebrates the Cecily I know and love. I jotted down five examples of what makes her amazing and unique -- little things that I think are simply fabulous and so completely Cecily. There are many more examples, but I will save them for another day and another layout.

And I will keep reminding myself that there is nothing that can compare to her.

12 Photos and 2 Layouts

Last week, I started the Take 12 Photography Challenge with Ella Publishing. I have to admit: I was starting to panic a bit around 5 p.m. when I had only taken 4 photos. But it made me realize that my life truly begins when I leave work -- because I had absolutely no problem getting the remaining photos taken once I picked the girls up from school and we started going about our evening routine.
 

Left to right: stack of mail, mostly catalogs; picking Avery up from school; favorite winter coat; practicing piano; Lilah waiting for her treat; girls in their stylin' boots; to-do-list; Ceci writing in her notebook; my daily drink of choice (OJ diluted in water); marble jars -- our reward system; my messy desk; my nightly drink of choice.

I felt a little silly taking photos of my coat and the mail, but I think I might look back at this stuff in 10 or 15 years and think how outdated (or maybe retro?) everything looks. Chances are my desk will still be just as messy, though. Next step: get these guys into a layout...stat!



It's not too late to jump into the Take 12 Challenge if you're interested. You can start at any time -- all you need is a camera!

And while I'm here, I'll post my layouts I created for a challenge on the Ruby Rock-It blog. The challenge is to include a banner, pocket or tag on your layout. While it's not an official assignment, it gave me a little push to use these awesome Ruby Rock-It papers (the line is called Paper Boy) -- and they were perfect with the photos.

I got in the banner, but no pocket or tag. But I had paper left...and more photos...and time! So I kept going and made this one, too.

Journaling is hidden in the little mini paper bag/pocket.

These tags are so old-school. Metal-rimmed vellum tags that have been in my collection for years. They used to be the "in" thing, but they've faded from popularity. Still, once in a blue moon, a project comes along and they work perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by!