Remember those tiered serving trays from HomeGoods that I repurposed as storage/display pieces in my scrap room? Well, I'm at it again, and this time with a cupcake stand that I purchased at Target last weekend.

Also? I was in a wacky mood when taking these photos and decided to use random scenes from Stargate: Atlantis on my iMac as a backdrop. :)

I've been looking for something to hold all my little bits and baubles (such as buttons, brads, and cabochons) close at hand so I won't have to dig into one of my color bins every time I need, say, a single green button, and this cupcake stand's "fenced in" holders with flat bottoms looked like it would be a perfect candidate.

At first I thought I would just use empty votive candle holders to house all my goodies, but after raiding Target, Michaels, and the dollar store and coming up empty-handed (everything was either way too big or way too small), I decided to expand my search a bit. Luckily Hobby Lobby had these perfectly sized jars (with adorable latching lids, no less!) that turned out to be just what I needed. And, better yet, they were on sale 50% off, making them a mere dollar each!

See how perfectly they stack inside the little cups? Love!!

And now many of the jars are filled with tiny trinkets, just waiting to be used on a layout. I can already tell after making just a couple of projects that this is going to work out really well for me. I tend to use button and little bits on almost every page, and it's a bit of a relief to not have to dig those itty bitties out of the larger bins every time I need something,

So now this beauty lives on my desk, just off to the left, but it's also really easy to just grab it and place it on the floor when I need a little more desk space to spread out a project.

I also love that about six of the jars are still unfilled, meaning I have room to expand or use them or other little treasures as needed.

geek girl | september 11, 2011

This week's Geek Girl is brought to you in part by my little brother, who just a couple of weeks ago introduced me to the super fun geeky site Bit Rebels, where I've found some pretty cool nerdy stuff to add to the weekly mix. For this round I have everything from sci-fi crafts to clothing to share with you, so let's dive in!

From the top left:

• Apparently it's not too early yet to talk about Halloween costumes, because they've started popping up all over blogland recently. TheForce.net has a great roundup post that includes this slightly disturbing childrens' tauntaun costome.
• Check out this awesome fan-made Chewbacca costume! I cannot even begin to fathom how long it took to make.
• Star Wars even looks good in leather! This Yoda purse was crafted by a fan and is available for purchase in her Etsy shop.
• Epbot shares a look at this needle-felted tauntaun, another great fan creation.
• Who says a droid can't keep you warm at night? This R2-D2 sweater looks awfully snuggly and is also available for purchase on Etsy.
• I have a deep-rooted hatred for wallpaper (mostly because it's such a pain to tear down), but I do have to give props to the designer of this Star Wars wallpaper. And, yes, you can buy your very own roll- just don't expect me to help you hang it. :)
• Perhaps I should wear this Star Trek dress to my first day at my new job? Or not? 
• Yummy!! These Pac-Man inspired dumplings are making me hungry!
• I'm not much of a gamer geek girl, but if I had to pick a favorite platform it would definitely be the Nintendo Wii. This amazing Wii charm bracelet is filled with some of my favorite games- even Donkey Kong Barrel Blast is included!!

Until next time, geek out, peeps!

sweet peach layout | father's day

The first sketch for September was just posted today over at Sweet Peach Crop Shop, and I've got a layout in the mix! Keri Babitt is Sweet Peach's spectacular sketch designer, and I absolutely love working with her sketches- they're so easy to follow exactly as is or to change up a bit and add your own spin on the design.

As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew I wanted to use a set of three Instax photos layered over shipping tags- one of my favorite office supplies to use on scrapbook pages (you can read more about my obsession with office supplies in my crafting here). Also, those Instax photos? Totally fake! I made them using this tutorial from Elle's Studio, though I sized and printed the images at home instead of ordering them from a developer.

All supplies are from the completely awesome September Sweet kit at Sweet Peach Crop Shop. This month's kit is filled to the brim with goodies from American Crafts' Amy Tangerine line, and the papers and embellishments are so versatile that I was able to use the same kit for this page about Father's Day and also on some more girly pages that I'll be sharing later this month.

The photos themselves are, as I said a bit earlier, from Father's Day of this year. I got a few great shots of Dad opening his gifts from Jon and I, and I was happy to get Dad on a layout since I don't seem to scrap about just him very often. He's in a lot of family pages of course, but he's not often the sole subject of a layout.

This is just the start of my Sweet Peach layouts for the month- I have three more to share with you as September rolls on, so be sure to stay tuned!