Listomania!

So, I'm pretty much obsessed with lists. I could speculate about a dozen semi-psychological reasons why that might be, but I'll spare you. Suffice it so say, there's a list of some kind on nearly every page of my Smashbook.  

Yes, I read the 50 Shades books. Don't judge.

I like to include a list of all the books I've read in the section for each month. Yes, I know I'm a nerd. But, I have to tell you, I wish I had done this in some form or another for my whole life, because how amazing would it be to have a master list for all the books you've ever read? That is pretty much my wet dream. I'm sort of proud of being a book worm, and since I typically don't go around in real life telling people about all the books I've read in the last month, at least I get to document it somewhere. Plus, at the end of the year, I'll be able to brag that I've read x amount of books. Oh, so nerdy. And, what better medium to record my book lists than library cards? I LOVE library cards.

Okay, more list pages. I made this one to commemorate my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Don't you just love that scowly picture?

My daughter gasped and said, "Mommy, why you so grumpy?"

29 random facts about me right now, some of them serious, but most of them silly. I used to do these on my myspace back in the day, and I've always loved reading lists like this, but holy crap was it hard to come up with 29 of them. I'm too old. Next time I'll get some kind of prompts first! I liked the pattern on the Smashbook paper, so I left it pretty much the way it was, just adding the turquoise dots to mat the picture and ground the title. I was pleased to find the RANDOM FACTS tag in my stash, since it fit so well, and I used lots of the numbers from old alphabet sticker sheets. I tried to differentiate between the different numbers with different pens and boxes and whatnot. It's a messy page, but that's the way I like them!

#10: I am grateful for chilly winter days in which I can wear a sweater and my new books. High of 65!

Here's another list page that I created back in November. This one is even more straightforward; just a black pen and all of my many and myriad blessings. I challenged myself to record something I was grateful for every day until Thanksgiving. It's so important to be cognizant of all my many gifts in life, and focusing on what I have instead of what I wish I had can be incredibly transformative. Every time I start to feel sorry for myself or obsessed with wanting something out of reach, I make myself sit down and write a list of all the things I'm grateful for, just to remind myself of how unbelievably lucky and blessed I truly am. It doesn't always bring me out of my funk, but when I look back in ten years, I want to remember trying to see the good in my life. 

This page is a little bit more scrappy; I prefer them that way. While I like my handwriting okay, it's nice to have pages that aren't all text. Last spring, I made a page like this for each member of my family to commemorate all the little things we were into. They are some of my favorite pages, because this is all stuff I have already forgotten. How precious are these tiny things?! I've only been Smashbooking a little over a year, and I'm already so grateful that I took the time to preserve these memories. I think I just inspired myself to make new ones like this for this year. Thanks, self!

And, since I can't help myself, one last picture. I bought my next Smashbook tonight! I've got about 10 pages left of my foxy doodle book (How awesome is that felt fox? I love it so much I can hardly stand it.), but I have the suspicion that it wont last me through the end of May. After much deliberation and angst, I decided to go with Smart Style, since my Little Mister will be starting kindergarten soon! Also, can you see how much fatter the red one is than the blue one? Once they're finished, they're so fat that they can't stand up anymore, and they have to be rubber banded shut just to fit on the shelf! There's something so lovely about a new, flat one. They're so much easier to write in in the beginning.

That's it for tonight, friends. Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I'll be better at updating in the next couple of weeks. I intend to post my Easter page next, so watch out for that. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what a dork I am, or share your Books of April list and brag about how many more books you read than me.

Book Nerd

Hello again.

So today this happened.

I go into my kids' rooms as little as possible. I tell people that it is because I want them to have "their own space," but mostly it is because their rooms are unbelievably messy and it makes me simultaneously terrified (of stepping on legos), infuriated (I just redressed all those naked baby dolls in their original outfits yesterday!), depressed (I just redressed all those naked baby dolls in their original outfits yesterday!), and guilty (a better mom would make her kids clean up after themselves). There is generally a walkway from the door to the bed and to the closet, and every other inch of floor space is covered with toys and books and dress up clothes.

Tonight, when I went to put Molly to bed and read her story, I discovered this little collection of books stacked next to her bed. There isn't a clear path to the bookshelf, so I guess she decided to just bring the bookshelf to her. She's got to get prepared for her extensive night time reading, you see. You can never be too close to your books.

I too have my own untidy tower of books next to my bed; books I am reading right now, books I finished months ago, books I just bought, books I'm intending to read eventually. Even books I'm never going to read. There are piles of books in pretty much every room around here, even the kitchen and bathroom. To me, no room feels right without some books in it. If you can force your children to become readers simply by surrounding them with books, mine don't stand a chance. 

Really, I know there is nothing really extraordinary about loving to read. Billions of people have loved to read as much as I do. But at the same time, it feels extraordinary to me. Of all the things I am, being a reader is probably the most fundamental and important characteristic. So much of my personality is shaped by my indefatigable love of books, by what I've read at certain times of my life, but my ceaseless ability to escape into the pages. I am who I am because of books, and if books are the only part of me that gets passed down to my children, I'll be a happy mom.

So, seeing my sweet little goose with her stack of books, it feels like maybe I am doing something right with this whole parenting business after all. Maybe I don't have to feel guilty about having my nose in a book always, maybe I am just demonstrating one of my favorite things about myself. And maybe soon enough, I'll get to share my favorite books too.

A Crap-Ton More SmashBook Pages

So, today I thought I'd share a few more Smashbook pages. These are all pages from the fall, since that Smashbook us finished and I already have pictures of it taken. I know I should share more current pictures of spring pages, but whatevs. It is what it is.

This page is from Thanksgiving, which is pretty much the beginning of Christmas for us. There are several of my favorite products on this page, and guess what?! I'm going to tell you about them! On the top left is the Smashbook calendar tape, which is very super cute and useful as I have become kind of obsessed with dating everything. You can also see two different washi tapes, which are both of the $.97 variety from Walmart. See, I am crafty, and frugal! Don't you want me as your new best friend? On the pictures on the bottom right corner, I used Cosmo Cricket tiny type, which is one of the best things ever. They used to make alphabet ones, but stopped. So, if you have seen them anywhere, please let me know. All of my alphabet sheets are out of vowels.

Oh goody, the Christmas pages begin! My holiday pages got a lot more scrapbook-y and a lot less crap pasted in, and this is because I didn't Smashbook at all in December. Gasp! Things got super crazy busy and my fingers were busy crocheting all those homemade gifts and wrapping and whatever, and I didn't do it at all. So, everything from December is slightly less genuine and slightly more adorable. And yes, I worry about the authenticity and veracity of my scrapbook. I am kind of a nerd. Oh well. 

I must have decided I didn't like the paper that came in the Smashbook here, since I covered the whole thing in patterned paper. But I like it plenty now, har har. I bought a roll of text printed wrapping paper in the Target dollar section and used it for everything but wrapping. Don't you just love the Target dollar section? The tree on the top left was a gift card that I swiped from Walmart along with my paint chips. Shhh. Oh, and there is a rick-rack banner, which may just be the best thing ever.

I always have tons of notes and crafts and extra stuff around Christmas time, so I added an extra pocket to keep it all in, though I usually only use the calendar pockets to mark the start of each month, lest my Smashbook get too fat (this one is busting it's seams). This page features the exploits of Dash, our Elf on the Shelf, a huge part of our holiday this year. I included a rare 5 X 7 collage, a size I almost never scrap with since we had so many adorable pictures of Dash. And more washi tape. That red stripe was almost the theme for all my Christmas pages.

Found objects are kind of a big deal around here. Ben is always going on "treasure hunts," and I can totally see where he gets it. I am always picking up trash neat little doo-dads around and sticking them in my purse to put in my Smashbook. My kids fight over who is going to get my grocery lists for their smashbook. So who could blame me for seeing this funny little interplay on the test paper at the craft store and NEEDING it? The only thing that could have made it better was if it had been about Harry Potter instead. Have I mentioned that I am a bona-fide Harry Potter freak, complete with snitch tattoo? (Ahem. New best friend?)

Santa dropped by our house this year and took a bunch of pictures and even left a video for us. We're just that cool. The awesome situation in the bottom left hand of this page is just a red envelope that I turned into a pocket. Inside the envelope is the kid's letters to Santa, and the back of it holds all the extra Santa pictures. I used two brads and a bit of bakers twine to hold the envelope shut without sealing it. And my mustache stamp was just right when stamped in white was the perfect touch. You can see here that I covered all the pages with my own paper again  so that they'd match my theme. 

Last one for today. I really like how this turned out. It's got the right amount of pretty things and pictures and journaling. I printed my standard sheet of 2x2 pictures, but also used some wallet size for variety. Sometimes the pictures are just too cute for two inch squares. I also discovered red label tape, which has pretty much rocked my world ever since. I lurve it so. Those number type stickers appeared again so that I could comment on each individual picture. Sometimes I wonder if it is all too much. Am I really going to forget that picture four was when we assembly lined presents into the house, or that Ben kept singing to the sky to guide Santa? The answer is probably yes, so I will just keep on documenting all the little things to prevent my crappy memory from ruining all my memories.

And that is a crap-ton more of my Smashbook pages. More to come soon. Thanks for reading!

Lizzie Bennet Diaries is killing me.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you aren't watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, you're a damn fool. (And you might want to stop reading this, for spoilers sake.)

Look at that gazing. Oh the power of that male gaze! (Lit major, you know. I can't help it.)

I discovered LBD sometime towards the end of last year. I clicked on a Pinterest link, and boom, there it was. At first I thought it was kind of silly, and really with as much makeup as she is wearing in that first episode, it does come off as waaay cheesy. However, I have watched every other version of Pride and Prejudice ever made, so I thought I would stick with it for a while. And then something magic happened. I fell so deep deep deep in love. Like how much Darcy loves Lizzie in love. Really, it's kind of gross how much I love this show.

Yes please.

I love Pride and Prejudice in all forms. There is something so compelling about loving someone in spite of yourself, loving them even after they've rejected you, and using that love to transform yourself into a better person. I love me a piner. All it really takes for me to love any book or show or whatever is for there to be a guy who is secretly (or not so secretly) pining over a girl he can't have. And Darcy is the ULTIMATE PINER! He loves her secretly, loves her despite it all, pines for her for the entire story. Plus, it doesn't hurt that he is always hot, rich, and hunky. Daniel Vincent Gordh is definitely no exception. Even if his shirt is sadly always dry.

When I first saw Daniel as Darcy, I was less than enthused. He was awkward and stunted and all flaring nostrils and grimaces. Bleh. Of course, that was the point. We're to see him the way Lizzie sees him; at first, he is rather abhorrent, but as time passes he softens and starts gazing at her and joking around and becoming all cute and squidgely. Therein lies the beauty of this adaptation: the better-than-you Darcy from the book is now just a really awkward Darcy who can't manage to attract Lizzie even with his piercing blue eyes and chiseled jaw because he is just too uncomfortable all the time. Awwww. So many of the social foibles that drive the story aren't issues today, and the writers have done a truly impressive feat in modernizing it in ways that are plausible, inventive and fun.

Well, this is the last week of Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and you know what that means. They finally got together and fangirls across the world squealed and died. Including yours truly. I am, in fact, writing posthumously. And not only did they get together and kiss and yes!, but we also got two videos of them being all happy and coupley and so so cute. 

I think I may have peed a little when I saw this moment from Saturday's Q&A video. It's so stinking cute that it caused my body to stop functioning briefly. Playful Darcy! Who smiles! And she would have said yes! Plus, it sent me into a flurry of "they've totally done it!" thoughts, since he totally wouldn't be picking her up if he wasn't comfortable touching her bod, if you know what I mean. Wink Wink. I'm not the only one who thought this either, if the large amount of smutty fanfiction out there is any indicator. 

Nerd Alert.

Today was the last video with Darcy, which is unsurprising though still sad. Only one more video left. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself once it is over. Wait, that's not true. I decided to re-read all fourteen of the Robert Jordan books, so I will be doing that for basically the next 6 months. Hopefully it will go faster once I am not so obsessed with LBD that I'm reading fanfiction every day instead of actual books. But that is neither here nor there. Today's video was thankfully nice and long and we got lots of Lizzie and Darcy cuteness, which all the people in the comments were griping about, but I could pretty much watch forever. I wish it never had to end. Darcy was very generous with the smiling today, too, which was nice. I went on a long rant to my husband over the weekend about how talented Daniel Vincent Gordh is to convey so much emotion with so little movement of his mouth. My husband did not care. But I still talked about it for a good fifteen minutes, then forced him to watch the video again for posterity's sake.

This post seems to have gotten away from me a bit. I had originally intended to share my Lizzie Bennet Diaries smashbook page and tell a little bit about why I love the show, but apparently I love it too much to bot gush for an hour. Meh. Here is the page I made about it.

I was pretty pleased to find that DCWV had a Dear Jane paper stack with tons of lovely Austen inspired images, and quotes from Pride and Prejudice. Way to make something for a very specific type of nerd, DCVW! I had to have it. Even the hubby couldn't protest when it was so clearly made for me. 

I sure will miss LBD, but I am looking forward to seeing what obsessions April has in store. Any suggestions?

Fill That Sucker Up!

Hi Y'all. I've had some pictures of my Smashbook up on Pinterest for a while now, and I finally have a blog to link them to. So, if you clicked here from Pinterest, you are in the right place! I'm Erin and I loves me some Smashbooking.

This is by far my most repinned page. Probably because people want to see what all that chicken scratch on there actually says. I know I click on pins all the time hoping for a closer look at what is there, so here you go, satisfy your curiosity pinterest viewers!

This was one of the first Smashbook pages I ever made. The third one, to be exact. What I like about this page is that there isn't much on it but my scribbles and ideas. And, of course, pictures of my kids.
You'd be hard pressed to find a page in my Smashbook that doesn't have them on it somewhere.

I wrote everything on here with the pen that comes with the Smashbook. It is one of the best pens I've ever had and I use it for everything. It is especially great for doodles and little line drawings. I'm not much of an artist, but I do think it's fun to sketch little pictures and visual aids. I also have the SmashStick in pink and blue, but the black one is the one I use the most. If you're wondering if you should buy the other colors, I'd say skip them. The pink and blue are very light and do not stand out well against most of the pages in the Smashbooks unless they are white like this one.



 I am a huge fan of the Smashbook polka dot washi tape. (yes, technically I am a fan of all washi tape, but still!) I use it for everything all the time. These pictures were glued down, but I thought they looked better with a little bit of tape holding them down. Nowadays, I cut my tape thinner a lot of the time, but I almost always leave the ends ripped instead of cut. A Smashbook is supposed to be messy, after all.

When I made this page, I had just moved into a new house that was twice the size of our old place, and I discovered that we had a lot of empty walls. So I spent a lot of time scouring the internet for cute and inexpensive things I could make to brighten up our home. As you can see here, this was the first time I discovered Pinterest! Oh boy, was it a revelation! I've never been one to dilly dally on the internet much, but Pinterest sure changed that. It's such a wonderful time sucking, soul stealing creativity inspiring site, and I've wasted many an hour endlessly scrolling like some kind of craft zombie. Me need ideas for gifting! Me hungry for recipes for laundry detergent! Me must click more more more. Oh pinterest, I love you.

Anyways, I think at this point I didn't actually have an account, so I had to scribble down all my ideas in my Smashbook. And add visual aids. And instructions. In the end, though, I did end up making a bunch of the things I jotted down here. The ruler growth chart is one of my favorites, because it is so cool and such a great conversation starter, and it was SUPER simple to make. Here is a link to my pinboard featuring a few of these things: http://pinterest.com/eyessocruel/we-made-these/. 

Super close up, in case you actually want to read all the little notes I wrote.

I want to make the rest of these!

I tried to make the kitchen sunburst mirror thing too, but it was a complete bust! My own personal craft fail. I bought all this plastic silverware and tried to spray paint it blue. But I didn't realize that spray paint wont stick to plastic unless you prime it first, so basically I just covered my garage in globs of old spray paint. Then I tried to paint a platter silver instead of using a mirror... oh boy, that was a mess. And ugly. But I had bought all the stuff, so I kept going. Perseverance! I then tried to hot glue the plastic silverware to the platter and ended up melting half of it and having the other half pop off ten minutes later. So many lessons learned in a single project, the best way they can be learned: through tons of mess and frustration. Ugh.

Well, I derailed a bit from the topic of this Smashbook page, but I hope it was mildly entertaining. I'd love to talk to you about Smashbooking or failing at your projects or how to make  things or about my grammatical errors. Please feel free to comment or send me a message. I will continue to add posts about the other Smashbook pages that are up on Pinterest in the days to come. Thanks for reading!

Smash it!

Hello again.

Just wanted to share with you a couple pages from my Smashbook, and some of my usual go-to products and techniques. 

March Starts.

When I Smash, I tend to do it in loosely chronological order. I start each month with a tab and a calendar pocket that I fill with odds and ends from the month that are too big to just glue down: cards, notes from my hubby, big pictures the kids have drawn, shopping lists, the worship folder from church, even just extra pictures with little notes on them. I think these pockets are really awesome, and I've gone through several packages of them by now. They are where I store all that stuff that I want to remember but never have a place for. Before I started Smashbooking, I had tons of boxes filled with all kinds of little things that I never looked at but couldn't bear to get rid of. But now I know exactly where that stuff should go, and where I can find whatever I'm looking for later.

I like to fill my calendar in with all kinds of things that are going on for us. Sometimes if things are busy, it is just events: birthdays, parties, date nights, etc. But when I am regularly adding to my Smashbook, I like to leave little notes about the boring stuff that makes up our life, like what days it rained, or what my son said one afternoon, or something that made me happy. You can see that this one is only half full- I'll keep adding to it as the month goes on.

As you can see on this page, and pretty much all my others, I am obsessed with washi tape, which is just patterned tape. I had a friend ask me once why I loved it so much, and I had a hard time explaining exactly why it was so wonderful. I use it to tape stuff down in my book, but I also use it just to decorate anything and everything. My sewing machine is covered in little strips of washi tape. There are three different ones on here, but I've got at least twenty five now.

This page shows a couple of other things that I habitually use in my Smashbook. I am constantly using paint chips for journaling blocks and photo mats and anchoring all the junk that a Smashbook is meant to keep. Any time I go to Walmart or Lowes, I stick a new handful of paint chips in my purse all guiltily. I don't know why I always feel bad about this since they are FREE, but I do. I'm always sneaking around in the paint section, peeking around corners and blushing. I'm pretty sure the Walmart paint guy is on to me. No one paints that frequently. These are solid color ones, but I like the strips of several colors too.

I also like to make my pictures into two inch squares in photoshop before printing them. I think this started with wanting to keep instagram pictures, but I've since abandoned instagram and just kept making the tiny pictures. I like them this way because they are small enough to get a bunch on there (I always have waaay to many pictures to scrap them all), but still big enough to be bright and dynamic. Plus it is cheaper than printing a thousand full size pictures.

Okay, here's the page that is really cute (if I do say so myself).

Look at my hubby all scowling while I kissed him in that second pic in the photo strip. He is lame.

I'm super pleased with how this page turned out, because I think it is a nice mix of just getting your stuff down and more traditional fancy scrapbooking. I mean, it's still pretty random, but look at how much pretty stuff is on here! I love the gorgeous pages that you see in magazines, but I get anxiety over making them myself. I get all stressed about perfect layouts and never being caught up, and I can't make myself put anything down on the page. Hence, my love of Smashbook. No stress, just glue your junk in there! But I do still like to make pages scrapbooky sometimes. 

I recently discovered a bunch of products by Basic Grey 70% off at my local JoAnns, and I bought that shit up! The striped background paper on the left, the star pin, the banner, and the noteworthy tag on the bottom right are all from this collection. The pages in the Smashbook are always cute, but for some reason I always end up completely covering them with other paper. I have been accused of having a paper fetish though, so that might explain it. In any case, I love the six by six inch paper pads for my Smashing because they are the perfect size for photo mats and journaling squares and covering up the frequent pictures of horses that seem to appear in all the Smashbooks.

Here you can also see one of my very favorite Smashbook products ever, the label maker. I love this and use it all the time. I like to add a title to my pages and labels are such a cool way to do that. Plus, I am a nerd and like to organize shit. Don't judge. I dug out a bunch of things from my kids my stash for this page. Bits of ribbon and flowers and buttons and a metal tag. The journaling spot on the left is actually just the packaging from some chipboard tags. Because I am also a bit of a hoarder (at least I'm an organized one). And of course all the washi tape. I can't seem to help myself.

I don't know why I had like six paragraphs of stuff to say about that first page, which I don't even like that much and I can't come up with much to say about this one that I really like a lot. But there it is. Are you sold on Smashing yet?

Yep. It Happened.

Momma's got a brand new blog.

Hello there friend. My name is Erin and this is my first ever blog. Which basically means that I have no idea what I'm doing or exactly what to say, but that is okay, since this is mostly an exercise in getting back into the habit of writing. And since probably no one will read this.

Me: Molly's Momma, Tickler Extraordinare, Wearer of Weird Homemade Jewelry

Okay, so a little about me. I am a 28 year old stay-at-home Mom with two gorgeous children who drive me absolutely crazy. I have a completely useless degree in English literature, so I have a lot of nerdy tendencies, and a spectacular proclivity to get something stuck in my head and obsess over it for ages. I love books of all varieties and would rather spend my time at Pemberley or Hogwarts or Bon Temps than in my house. I like sparkly indie rock and will unabashedly play a single (usually sappy) song on repeat forty times until I can unravel the feelings or story that it inspires. I'm essentially a family oriented person, and I spend a lot of my time just hanging out with my parents and sisters. I like to take lots of pictures of my kids (surprise surprise, right?), and look at my kids, and brag about my kids, and read books to my kids, and tell funny stories about my kids, and complain about my kids. 

It gets bigger and bigger. Kind of like my butt.

I'm an avid and enthusiastic *Smashbook-er. My main reason for creating a blog is to share my Smashbook pages, and for my pinterest pins to link to something. I am a huge advocate of Smashbooking, and I have tried to force mostly everyone I know to Smash too. I have kind of a terrible memory, and I mostly blame that on Mom brain, but because of my inability to retain information for more than 48 hours at a time, keeping a record of what goes on in my life and the lives of my family is something I take very seriously. I'm a little tempted to insert some cheesy cliche here about how life is lived in the mundane details, but I'll refrain. Suffice it to say, I really love the low-key, no pressure, messy recording of mundanity that is my Smashbook. If you aren't Smashing, you should be. Because it is awesome.

Currently, my obsessions are Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Lizzie Bennet Diaries and oh yeah, Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I cannot get enough. Can. Not. As a general life rule, I try to avoid fanfiction. Not because I dislike it, but because I love it so so much. Fanfiction is the literature equivalent of Thin Mints. It's rather unhealthy for you, you're not going to stop until you've consumed waaaay more than you should, and it is just sooooo satisfying. So, just in case you aren't clued in yet, let me make it clear: I have read nearly every Lizzie Bennet Diaries fanfiction anyone has ever written. And that is a lot. Could I have found a better use of my time? Certainly. Could I have found one more emotionally satisfying than reading all the fanfiction? Eh. Debatable. It is awfully nice to live in Pride and Prejudice land as much as possible.

Lizzie Bennet Diaries

So, for now that is probubaly what this blog will be about. Smashbook, my kids, and Lizzie Bennet Diaries. At least until that is over at the end of the month and I have to find something new to nerd out about. Like Beauty and the Beast? Squaresville? We'll see. 

Thanks for reading imaginary internet person!