The sun, the beach, and yummy scrap goodies

The sun has been shining and the birds have been singing! Life has been good. Sorry I've been away from the blog for over 2 weeks! Y'know the old saying... time flies when you're having fun. Well, not all of it has been fun. I potty trained Sam a couple weeks ago. He was so easy. I won't bore you with the potty details but it really wasn't that bad. I expected much worse!

It was warm most of all of last week so we blew up our cheesy, cheap swimming pool and the kids had a blast!

Then, it cooled off again. Our friends had their 3rd baby so their older kids came and stayed for a couple days. Once again, the kids had a blast. Just look at Maddie and Bella this day. They insisted on looking like twins. If you didn't know it, they could pass as sisters! Oh, and here's the latest celebrity. They named him Xavier Todd. Mom and baby are healthy and happy. Isn't he beautiful?!? How's that for stoking the "I want a third child" fire?!?Then Saturday was another warm day so we thought we'd brave the beach. It had been a while since we'd been there and we wanted to go before Spring Break next week. (All the tourists in San Diego during breaks is really crazy for us locals. ) Sand! Sand! Everywhere!!!And then, of course, I make time for my scrapbooking obsession. I just made this wall hanging with some papers and sticker journaling spots from Jenni Bowlin. Each month her site has full instructions on how to make something new. This was the February idea. I didn't follow it exactly, but you can find it here. For the red paint, I used my glimmer mist (Candy Apple Red) and painted the edges and back of the cardboard base. I'm loving the glimmer mist these days! I also used that same shade of Glimmer mist to paint this Maya Road chipboard album. I know it's weird to some people but I scrapbook backwards. Meaning that I make something inspiring, and later add, or even take pictures for it. There are no pictures in this album yet. I'm in the process of evaluating and photographing "what I live for today". It's a good introspective process for me. I used all my new and old favorite things that I'd been saving for "the perfect project". I was even generous with my favorite vintage lace. I can't even close this album so I guess I'll find someplace for it to stand. Ha!

My mini addiction to mini-albums

I have a new addiction: mini-albums. They're great if you want to document a specific thing or you have too many pictures for a one-page or a two-page layout.

I am so excited about this first FABRIC ALBUM! I made this album about my kids and their closest friends and playmates. (Naturally, that's our friends' kids!) This book is made from fabric and embellishments from Amy Butler. Michaels' now carries the Amy Butler embellishments made by K & company but I ordered the fabric from etsy.com. This album is so touchable, cute and EASY! Here's how you do it:

Cover full 12"by 12" sheets of chipboard with fabric. I bought fat quarters of coordinating cotton fabrics and used Yes Paste to adhere it. Then using your heavy-duty pinking sheers, cut the fabric-covered chipboard into 5 1/2 by 5 1/2" squares. Punch a whole in the corner and use a binder ring to keep it all together. I also tied ribbon around the binder ring for added texture.Add your photos and embellish it. All the paper embellishments you see here come in the "Die Cut Cardstock" embellishment kit. Don't forget to journal! I liked putting a paper pocket in the album to hold some of the cute paper tags.

I also used some rhinestones, a couple brads, and silver ink to ink the edges.

This second album is a sentimental album. As many of you know, our dog Kona was hit by a car on the 4th of July. I made this mini-album to honor him and his very special place in our family. It's a simple 6" blackboard album made by Cosmo Cricket.

How lucky we were to have such a good friend!

I hope you found some inspiration here today! I'm off to see Mama Mia the movie with my friend Laurie tonight. I've seen the Broadway production already (with Laurie too) so I hope they've done a good job with the film.

Cheers,
Christy