My Summer Album

This summer, I've decided to put together an album to track what our family is doing. I'm keeping the design and form very simple so that filling the album will be something fun and not something that I feel obligated to put together.

There is not a set format such as a photo a day or daily journaling. As I have photos or a story to share, I will add it to the album. I'm printing all of my photos at home onto matte photo paper because I've noticed that glossy prints tend to show fingerprints more and these pages won't be in page protectors.


I started the album with photos from June 1 since that was our kids' last day of school. I'm not sure when the album will be finished because the kids go back to school on July 25th and that still seems like the middle of summer. I'll just add to the album until it seems finished.

So far, I've loaded the photos that I want to use into Photoshop and then created collages for a couple of pages at a time. I arrange as many photos as possible onto a page so photo paper isn't wasted.

On this page, I used a sealed envelope for a smaller page. It was a perfect spot for two photos.


I'm looking forward to a great summer and it will be fun to document it along the way.

Album supplies: Scrapbook Circle Garden Party Kit and Elle's Studio Tags found (here and here.) I'm also using a printable set from Elle's Studio (Summer 2010 Documented) that is now retired.

Out of This World Card

Today I got to share a card featuring Fancy Pants rub-ons on their blog. There are several fun ideas for using rub-on on projects.


Hope you'll stop by and check it out if you get a chance!

The Almost Flourless Chocolate Cake

Last month I read the very enjoyable book, A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. This book is a collection of Molly's favorite recipes with a story about how each recipe became important to the author. Not only was the writing very entertaining, but I really want to make a majority of the recipes in the book. My mouth was watering throughout the book, so I recommend reading this after you have eaten.

Ever since reading the last chapter of the book with the story and recipe for the Winning Hearts and Minds Chocolate Cake, I've been wanting to make it. This is such a good recipe that the author made 20 of these to serve as her wedding cake. Luckily for you, Molly has the recipe on her blog!

Yesterday, was finally the day I had time to make the cake. A bonus was that I had all of the ingredients on hand and didn't need to do any extra shopping for the cake.


This is a VERY rich cake, so if you aren't a big chocolate lover, you've been warned. I thought it was fantastic. The recipe suggests serving it with slightly sweetened whipping cream, but we didn't have any, so we served it with vanilla ice cream.

Now I just need to decide which recipe from the book to make next: the Banana Bread with Chocolate & Crystallized Ginger or the Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Ganache.

(There are also really great sounding savory dishes in the book, I just have such a sweet tooth, so I tend to want to bake treats!)

Last Minute Beach Weekend

At the beginning of last week one of my husband's clients asked if he could come to San Diego for a business meeting later in the week. Normally, he just goes alone, but the kids were going to be out of school so it seemed like a great opportunity for a quick family getaway.

San Diego is only a 5 hour drive from our house, so we loaded up the car late last Wednesday and drove to San Diego. While my husband was working, the kids and I enjoyed a couple of days at the beach on Thursday and Friday. He was luckily able to join us for a while on Friday.

I love the beach! It was so beautiful and relaxing. Of course, I took loads of pictures on our regular camera, but I also snapped a few on my phone with the Instagram app. Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend.


I'm excited to have some new photos for layouts and maybe a beach mini album.

Glitz June Challenge

This month the challenge over on the Glitz blog is to use this sketch for a card or layout creation.

I decided to use the sketch as inspiration for a birthday card for my sister in law.


This is a card that just has a front and back (doesn't flap open.) On the back I attached a library card holder where we could slip in a gift card and write a message.

All of the challenge and prize details are on the Glitz blog, so I hope you will stop by and check it out.

Happy Saturday to you!

Glitz Summer + Father's Day Ideas

Today I'd like to share with you a couple of summer themed projects plus a Father's Day card idea.

The Afternoon Muse line was prefect for my spring layouts and now I'm seeing that the colors are perfect for summer too.

On this layout I used that Afternoon Muse line with photos of my daughter from a trip to the beach last summer. The journaling talks about how much she is growing and how special my sweet girl is to me.


Next, I decided to make a card celebrating summer. The bright yellow and aqua colors are perfect for summer themed projects.


The last thing I would like to share today is a Father's Day Card idea. The Love Games XOXO Peek a Boo Transparency was a perfect base for this card.


Thanks for stopping by today!

A Day at the Beach Supplies
Glitz Designs "Afternoon Muse" Paper: Block, Polka, Carte Postal, Banner, Stripe
Glitz Designs "Afternoon Muse" Book a Boo Frames
Glitz Designs Teeny Aqua Alpha

Hello Summer Card Supplies
Glitz Designs "Afternoon Muse" Paper: Carte Postal, Floral, Polka
Glitz Designs "Afternoon Muse" Peek a Boo Transparency
Glitz Designs Teeny Aqua Alpha

Father's Day Card Supplies
Glitz Designs "Love Games" Paper: Poppies
Glitz Designs "Love Games" Peek a Boo Transparency
Glitz Designs "Love Games" Glitzers
Glitz Designs Teeny Black Alpha
Other: Ribbon

Are You Using Instagram?

A few months ago I added the Instagram app to my phone, but then forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago when a friend was showing me all of his Instagram photos.

This app let's me quickly add a filter or border to my photo which makes the picture more interesting and artsy. You can also follow other Instagram users and see their photos in the photo feed in the app. I love seeing the photos my friends are taking.

Here's a look at the pictures I've taken over the past couple of weeks.











My favorite thing about this app is that I find myself pulling my phone out and taking more pictures. I'm trying for a photo each day and so far it's working out pretty well. Although the photo quality isn't great, it's still a fun way to capture moments in our lives without pulling out our regular camera.

Are you on Instagram? Let me know in the comments and I'd love to follow you. My Instagram name is lisaandrewsaz if you want to check out more photos.

Hope you are having a fantastic Wednesday!