Sometimes when documenting a big event in a scrapbook, I have more pictures than I can fit in a single layout. When I just can’t whittle the set of pictures down any further, and I still want them all to appear on one layout, I turn to one of my favorite (albeit time-consuming) techniques: the photo mosaic.

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When I was in the hospital giving birth to my daughter, lots of friends and family brought me vases full of gorgeous flowers. I love receiving flowers, so I was thrilled with them sitting around the hospital room. But when it came time to take them all home, things were a little more difficult. It was hard carrying all of those vases and all the baby stuff and let’s not forget the new baby! As I was shopping the other day though, I came across a great, new type of vase that would have made transport a breeze — Vazu vases.

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The other day I was at Jo’s house for dinner and caught her prepping some fresh ginger root to add to the food she was cooking. I saw her grab a knife to peel the ginger and I stopped her right away and told her to use a spoon instead. She thought I was joking at first, but after just a few seconds with the spoon in her hand, she was a believer.

That’s right. A spoon is the perfect tool for peeling fresh ginger. Just hold the ginger firmly in your hand and scrape the edge of the spoon along the surface. The skin will peel away quickly and easily, with very little effort. Even the lumpy bumps of a ginger root are easy to peel with a spoon, and you’ll be left with a beautiful piece of ginger and almost zero waste.

I’ve shared with you all the bits and pieces of my daughter’s new room over the last couple of months. I reused old furniture, punched up some new items and bought a few things to round out the room. When we unveiled the room to her, my husband was worried that she wouldn’t like the change… she would want her old room back… she would feel displaced… how wrong he was! She absolutely loved it and to Mommy’s delight, she exclaimed over every item within her new brightly colored paradise.

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When I work on scrapbook pages, I usually add the photos, some memorabilia, then the embellishments. The finishing touch is often a title made up of individual letter stickers. Those stickers are always the trickiest part, because they are usually not re-positionable, so you only get one shot at getting them exactly right. There is nothing more frustrating then ruining your otherwise perfect layout by messing up your title because you misjudged the spacing or put the letters down in a crooked line. My sister, in particular, always has trouble with this, so I came up with a technique for her to use to get perfectly lined up titles every time.

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The other night, I got to the end of the magnetic note pad I use for grocery lists that resides on the side of my refrigerator. For a split second, I was annoyed at having to find a sheet of paper to write our contact information on for the babysitter. Then it dawned on me. I wrote all of the information on the cardboard with the magnet attached to the back. I trimmed the excess off the bottom and gave the information to the babysitter to keep on her refrigerator in her home. Since she is also our neighbor’s daughter, it is a nice, recycled magnetic reference card for them to keep.