Hello and a happy Sunday to all of my fellow geeklings!

We've been traveling for the last two weeks, mostly without internet access, so when I emerged from my state of disconnected-ness and one of the first things I read was that a sequel (two, actually!) for Independence Day was in the works, I was ecstatic! I loooooved that movie when it first came out, and it's still standard 4th of July viewing around my house. Word is that Will Smith will not be returning, but that Bill Pullman (yay!) and Jeff Goldblum are on board. Adam Baldwin has also indicated he'd like to return, and my only response to that is where's the petition I need to sign to make sure that happens?!?!

The rest of this week's geekiness includes lots of sweets and a wedding idea or two, as well!

From the top left:

• Amy Atlas recently featured a super fun Star Wars birthday party on her blog.
• The badges on these Star Trek cupcakes were made in a mold cast by the baker herself! And underneath all that geekiness lies lots of almond + white chocolate goodness.
• These Star Wars ship wedding invites are part puzzle, part art, and all awesome.
• All kinds of geekiness including Jurassic Park and Star Wars collided in this fantastic wedding held at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.
• Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of geek on a mainstream, commercial papercrafting blog. Such was the case with this TARDIS card featured at Paper Crafts Connection.
• These beaker and test tube cookies made me think of Darren, so, yeah, they definitely had to make it into a roundup!
• You'll find Daleks, The Silence, and more in this roundup of Doctor Who inspired nail art at Fashionably Geek.
• I love the cute take on The Avengers in this themed party featured at Hostess with the Mostess.
• This periodic table cutting board needs to get in my kitchen right now!

One of these years I'm going to make it to a Star Wars weekend at Disney. Until then, I'll continue enjoying the annual Dance-Off videos on YouTube. :)

MTFBWY!

friday favorites | june 28, 2013

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm just dropping in really quickly to share this week's crafty and scrappy picks. It's going to be a crazy weekend for us (who am I kidding, July is going to be a crazy month!), but in a good way with lots of fun stuff going on.

If crafting is in your weekend plans, then you might enjoy some of these links, which include everything from mini albums to origami to organization. Enjoy!

From the top left:

• Over at Crate Paper, Christine Middlecamp put together a stunning little mini album using the chipboard slide frames from The Pier collection.
• Tracy Larsen posted about the photo album she made for her son's fourth year. Such an awesome way to document, and I love the clean format she chose.
• The Crafty Pickle has a great idea for packing up Project Life supplies for scrapbooking on the go.
• Nichol Magouirk shared a peek at her process for planning out Silhouette cuts for her Project Life pages.
• I ran across these sweet little matchbox birthday cards at Fiskars thanks to a link on Punk Projects.
• Learn to make your own school of pretty origami fish at The Red Thread.
• This clever craft room makes great use of all available space, including the closet! Check out the whole tour at Sew Woodsy.
• There's a tutorial showing how to making your own super-chic clay feathers (love the gold accents!) at 100 Layer Cake
• Janna Werner shared some ideas for getting inspired by your crafting supplies.

TTFN!

this month in my scrap room | june 2013

This Month in My Scrap Room is based a regular series of posts by Sue Althouse, who graciously allowed me to use her idea on my own blog. Each month you'll find me documenting the little (and big) things that I'm working on to make my scrapbooking space more efficient so I can spend less time looking for things and more time playing with paper!

This month has been a quiet one for scrappy organization around here, but I have worked on a few little projects that have made some supplies and finished projects so much easier to find, use, and enjoy!

Finally, almost two years after ordering these binder spine labels from Amazon, I finally took the time to finish labeling all of my albums. I use American Crafts 12x12 D-Ring binders for my layouts, and these little black tabs fit perfectly (and snugly, so no falling off!) over the edges. I didn't use the paper tabs that came with the labels and printed my own out instead so I could use my favorite Traveling Typewriter font.

Most of my albums are labeled by year with a few special albums- vacations, holidays, etc.- thrown in the mix.

After falling in love with Heidi Swapp's new masks at Michaels, I found myself in need of a way to organize all of my stencils and templates to make them easy to look through. Previously I'd been just throwing them in a drawer in one of my IKEA Alex carts, but they were getting tangled up and torn (not to mention they were a pain to look through, meaning I rarely used them), so I went searching for another solution.

This post on Cocoa Daisy's blog turned out to be the perfect solution for me since I already had large binder rings, some old 12x12 post-bound page protectors, and 8.5x11 sleeves on hand. I did buy a package of We R Memory Keepers pages designed to hold four 6x6 layouts on a 12x12 page, though, since I had so many 6x6 templates.

I'm not quite sure what I want to do with the cover yet, so for now it's just a sheet of plain chipboard (also just laying around the scrap room) tucked inside another of the post-bound page protectors. I'm sure I'll deck it out sometime when I'm feeling inspired, but for now I'm just enjoying having all of my misting masks so easily accessible!

My washi tape also got moved to a new location. Previously I had it in my spinner rack from Harbor Freight, but the way the rolls were stacked on top of each other made them hard to look through, and I constantly had rolls falling out because it was just too full. I moved the inks that used to inhabit two IKEA Alex drawers to the spinner instead (where they're also much easier to find) and am now using those drawers as my new washi storage.

These small plastic containers were purchased at Target years ago and were sitting empty in our attic, and I was very happy to have yet another storage solution that didn't require any new purchases!

That's it for the moving, sorting, and storing projects this month! None of these took very long to complete, and they've all made it much easier to find my supplies (or in the case of the albums the right one I need to file a layout away). That's my favorite kind of organization- the kind that helps me actually locate and use my stash!

color me : aqua + bold pink

This week's installment of the Color Me series features bold, cool shades of aqua + pink with a bit of linen thrown in to add some sophistication. The glitter is optional, of course, but always recommended. :)

Image sources: A Beach Cottage | Key Interiors by Shay | Les Choses de Marie | Gayana (Etsy) | 100 Layer Cake

As always, I'd love it if you'd link up any layouts or projects inspired by this palette- I love seeing your pages!

Introducing the CHA Summer 2013 Sneak Peeks Page

It's hard to believe that it's that time again, but sneak peeks for the CHA Summer 2013 scrapbooking releases have already started popping up here and there! I'm going to be rounding them up in visual format again, just like the Winter 2013 and Spring Mid-Releases, and you can find all of them on my CHA Summer 2013 Sneak Peeks Page.

If you normally read my blog in an RSS reader such as Bloglovin or Feedly you might want to bookmark the link above if sneaks are of interest to you, and you'll also be able to find it in my blog's top navigation bar (shown in the image above) for the next several months.

The sneak peeks are just coming in at a trickle right now, but they'll start flooding in soon!

project life 2013 week 16 + we r memory keepers divided page protector review

Today in my Project Life album I'm taking one of the new Albums Made Easy kits from We R Memory Keepers for a spin! I've been excited to get my hands on one of these kits ever since I photographed them at CHA Winter (you can see my We R booth writeup here). I used their Memo collection for this layout, and I've got a review of it and a comparison of their Albums Made Easy page protectors to share with you a little later on in this post.

First, the layout. Which is really photo heavy, and I probably should have though of that before chose this particular week's pictures to use in this review. I thought that the greens, pinks, and oranges of all the plants that we bought during our anniversary weekend would look great with this collection, but what I didn't take into account was just how much I love to take photos of flowers. Which is apparently a lot. No worries, though, because I've got plenty of photos of the cards themselves to show you in just a bit.

Supplies:

I pretty much stuck to just the Memo kit for this page and added in just a few little pearls, rhinestones, enamel dots, and brads. I made a mistake when I printed my journaling on one of the cards, and while they're double sided and I absolutely could have used the back of that card on another page, I opted to punch it into butterflies and use them as embellishments instead.

Lots of people have been curious about the contents of these kits- how many different designs are there, how many of each size, and how many duplicates? I counted out my Memo kit, and here's what I found:

• Each kit contains 275 cards and retails for $9.99
• There are 75 total 4x6 cards - 5 each of 15 designs
• There are 200 total 3x4 cards- 8 each of 25 designs.
• All cards are double sided

If you've purchased Studio Calico or Becky Higgins brand Project Life cards, then you're probably used to seeing great patterns on the front and neutral grids on the back. The We R Memory Keepers kits shake it up a bit, though, because while the card fronts contain fantastic patterns...

...the card backs are grids and patterns in lots of fun colors, styles, and designs and not just neutral (though one or two still are).

The photos above show a selection of the 3x4 cards, and the two pictures below show a set of the 4x6 cards, front and back.

Can I just say that it's awesome to see some filler and sentiment cards that don't say "Best Day Ever" or "Loved This?" The Memo set is just slightly snarky without being overly negative, and I love that!

The cards are designed to fit perfectly in the Albums Made Easy page protectors (I received the set that's similar to the Project Life "Design A" style to review), and as you can see in the photo below, they do.

What happens, though, when these pages are put to the "3x4 Test" that I've been using for similar styles of page protectors?

My 3x4 card fit perfectly in the first two slots...

...but got a little bit hung up on the third one.

As you can see, it did fit inside, but not with enough room to actually lay flat. And as I was writing that, this scene from Star Trek: Into Darkness totally came to mind:


The fourth pocket did fit again, so it's just the third one you'll have to watch out for if you're cutting your own 3x4 cards or using other manufacturer's cut-apart sheets and want to use these pages. They do work perfectly with the cards that they were designed for, though.

I think that with this review I've gone through all of the "Design A" type divided page protectors on the market at the moment, and if I discover I've missed one (or if a new one comes out) I'll be sure to pick some up to review. If you'd like to see the other posts in my ongoing comparison of different brands of pocket page protectors, you can check out these links:

• Me And My Big Ideas, plus a video comparing American Crafts, Echo Park Photo Freedom, and Becky Higgins Project Life
• Simple Stories Pocket Pages

Happy Monday, everyone!

geek girl | june 23, 2013

Oh, my! Did you guys all see the news that David Tennant won an Emmy award for his guest role on Star Wars: The Clone Wars last season? I admit that I haven't seen the episode yet since The Clone Wars isn't exactly my fave, but having Doctor Who win an award for a role in a Star Wars production? Yeah, that's some serious geeky happiness, right there. :)

And speaking of geeky happiness, I've got the usual roundup for you this week, all ready to go!

From the top left:

• Katie at Punk Projects made this amazing Star Trek galaxy shirt and put together a tutorial showing how!
• Star Trek and Star Wars collide in these awesome cookies featured at Neatorama.
• These custom-made Star Wars guitars can really be played!
• There are oh-so-many times I've come very close to ordering a TARDIS USB hub, and now there's a K-9 version, too.
• I have a new respect for laser work now that I actually own one of the machines (long, long story), and this super-detailed Halo wedding ring is a great example of just what the technology is capable of!
• Avast, me hearties! Now you can cook pancakes like a scoundrel with this pirate pancake griddle.
• This Ewok cake is so darn cute that I don't think I'd be able to eat it!
• Fellow Lawn Fawn design team member Elena Roussakis put together this super cool Star Wars party for her son. So happy to be in the company of some great crafty and geeky girls!
  
• Tie Fighters featured a set of Star Wars posters by artist Joseph Chiang, inspired by ancient Chinese mythology.

And in today's video segment, Patton Oswalt's epic Star Wars fillibuster from a few weeks ago gets animated and reaches even new levels of ridiculousness (and of course hilarity).


MTFBWY!

two peas gardeners digest blog hop | june 2013

 

It's time for the June edition of the Gardener's Digest blog hop! It's a chance for the design team at Two Peas in a Bucket to chat for a minute about what's coming soon, what's inspiring us, and what we've been eyeing in the shop. :)

If you're following along with the hop, then you've most likely arrived from Janna Werner's fab blog. If you found your way here to the middle first, are lost, or just want to see all of the links in one spot, then the Two Peas blog is where you want to start!

I've got a different sort of project coming to the gallery next month- not the usual layers and mist splatters, and not Project Life. It's something travel related, it's been in the works and planned for months, and it'll finally be in the gallery on July 1! And it contains 300+ photos!

 

The gallery has absolutely been hopping this month! I've rounded up five favorites, and you can click through any of the links to see the full projects. From the looks of things I'm still drawn to white space, clusters, layers, and aqua and yellow color combinations. There are also two digital layouts in the mix!

Brotherly Love by Lingovise Water Baby by Missy Whidden Love by Jean Manis With You by Mettek These Two Make Me Smile by Add1cted

InLinkz.com

 

I'll be really honest here and say that I just have not been in a shopping mood lately when it comes to scrapbooking supplies. That's odd for me, but makes my bank account quite happy! I seem to be having more fun using my old stuff at the moment with just a few new things thrown in, as you've seen in my Back to the Future series. There are a few new items I'm enjoying at the moment, though, in no particular order:

3X4 Journaling Cards 12X12 Happy Camper Paper by Echo Park Paper Co. 3X4 Journaling Cards 12X12 Here & Now Paper by Echo Park Paper Co. Milestone Wish & Dream Cut Files by Two Peas Shine Brushes by BananafishStudio by Two Peas Aqua Arrow Paper Clips by Freckled Fawn

InLinkz.com

• Still in love with buying journaling card sheets from collections, including Happy Camper and Here and Now by Echo Park. It's so easy to mix these with papers from my stash!
• The star-and-constellation filled digital files in the shop this month totally appeal to the geek in me. And the best part? I don't have to find shelf space to store them!
• I admit that I did not *get* the shaped paper clips when they first appeared in the store. I thought they were cute, but not a must have. And then Jamie sent each of the Garden Girls just one clip in each color, and I started using them, and I was hooked! They're perfect for those spaces that need just a little something. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Laura Craigie's beautiful blog is up next on your tour!

friday favorites | june 21, 2013

Happy, happy summer-y (here in the US, anyway) Friday to everyone! I'm popping in today with the usual mix of things that have been inspiring me around the blogosphere lately, and there's a little bit of everything here- cards, digital, party idea, free printables, and more! So let's jump right in, shall we?

From the top left:

• Christine Newman wrote a fabulous series of posts at Write. Click. Scrapbook. all about hybrid scrapbooking. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4!
• I love how Debby Hughes turned the negative space of her die cut clouds into shaker windows filled with sequins. 
• Jinny Newland breaks down her process for creating two page layouts in a guest post for Shimelle.
• I stumbled across this super cute storage idea for journaling cards at Your Memory Connection thanks to a link from Sue Althouses's blog.
• How sweet is this mint and pink Pantone inspired birthday party, featured on Amy Atlas' blog?
• Kaisercraft shares some ideas for stamping on wood veneer embellishments.
• As a serial non-finisher of scrapbooking class projects, I love seeing what others make when they do finish one. Jen Chapin's This is Me album is a lovely example of what following through on a project can produce!
• Amy Coose blogs about ways to get out of a scrapbooking rut at Chic Tags.
• Erica Hernandez is offering a pretty set of free printable journaling cards.

TTFN!

color me : miami

I love, love, love color palettes when I see them on other blogs. I gaze longingly at them, pin them, and sometimes I ::gasp:: even use them! I finally decided to start making my own palettes, each complete with a mini mood board (because I really should put all of those "just because" images that I pin to use), and share them here weekly. They won't always go up on the same day, and if I have a busy week full of other posts I may skip a week here and there- it's just something that's new and fun for me to try. :) Hopefully they can provide some color inspiration for your next scrapbooking layout!

I'm kicking the series off with a bright, sunny, Miami-inspired palette of pink, orange, yellow, and green, and just looking at it has me thinking of warm sandy beaches...and Burn Notice.

Image sources: WindowWall | Vintage Revivals | Not Without Salt | Unknown (phantom pin!) | 100 Layer Cake

If you're wondering how a color palette can be used in scrapbooking, you might want to check out the first eight minutes or so of the video that I put together for this Project Life lesson at Two Peas in a Bucket. My favorite way to use color schemes is as inspiration for pulling together papers and supplies from a wide variety of manufacturers and collections to make my own kits, and you'll see me do that here.


If you create anything based on this palette please link it up in the comments- I'd love to see it!