justem: little bits of this and that

Come on Get Crafty!

Happy Friday! I am so excited to be the featured guest today at Come On Get Crafty, which is a great new online store + inspiration blog!  Nicole, the sweet owner, sent me a bunch a great goodies to play with, and I created this layout documenting last summer when it was super hot:

I used my Cameo to cut the windows out of the cardstock and then used all the shop goodies to fill them in!  To read my profile (I always sound like such a dork when I have to talk about myself!) be sure to check out the post on the Come On Get Craft blog! Have a great day and a fun weekend!

Ring Toss

I have a new layout up on the Pebbles Blog today!  It's another Sketchy Thursday layout. I must admit, I have always been so afraid of sketches, but my last two Pebbles assignments were sketches, and I loved them both!  The funny thing about this layout is that I literally looked at the sketch one time before I started creating, and I was so surprised to see how similar my layout actually was to the sketch in the end!!  To see the original sketch and another designer's version of it, be sure to check out the post on the Pebbles Blog!

A Very Ventage Weekend!

I don't normally post very many personal things on my scrapbooking blog, but since I DO post my weekly "Ventage Tuesday" posts, I thought maybe my scrapper readers would like to hear about our first ever Ventage meet-up!  Memorial Day weekend was the very first time that all five of the Ventage girls were together! That's Angie, Barb, Katrina, Stephanie and me...all in the same place at the same time! It was epic. ;)  The occasion? To celebrate our very own Stephanie's birthday!  If you follow me on Instagram, you were bombarded with photos of that weekend. In fact, we even had our own hashtag...because we're cool like that. ;)  If you want to check out the rest of the photos, search Instagram for #averyventageweekend. Here are my photos (plus a few that I've stolen from my friends!)  

Breakfast at Graze in Madison with Barb + Katrina + Stephanie Hamen (yes a different Stephanie!):

We totally ate cheese curds for breakfast. When in Rome... ;)

A trip around the Dane County Farmer's Market - the best market EVER. :)

Katrina eating a WI squeaky cheese curd!

Next we headed up to Green Bay to meet Angie and Stephanie.  There were some fun times in cars... ;)

Dinner at Hinterland in Green Bay, which was incredible. I had a quatro fromaggi pizza.  It was perfection. :)

Drinks at Hagemeister Park, which is a bar right on the river. It was chilly, but we had a nice fire to keep us warm.  Some of us had drinks to keep us warm...me, not so much. ;) My brother and Ryan also came to visit since they live in GB, and I don't see them very often!

The next morning was Stephanie's birthday garden brunch...which was, in a word, lovely. Every little detail was perfect. I had such a great time!

Stephanie and A.J.

Katrina and Sammy

After the party, Barb, Katrina, and I headed back to Madison, where we met my family for dinner at the Great Dane.

It was a wonderful weekend...I had an incredible time, and I can't wait for us to all be togther again soon. We are all very different, but we all connect on different levels and over different topics. I would say we all compliment each other very well! I am so, so lucky to have these girls in my life!!

Birthday card pair...

I am not much of a card maker, as you all know! ;) But, I have a bunch of Pebbles supplies sitting around that I thought I'd put to good use!  Here are two quick and easy cards I made using a mix of Pebbles product!

I like the idea of picking a basic design and then just copying it with different papers and product.  It makes the whole cardmaking process much less stressful!! I might even make a few more to go with this set and give them away as a gift...since I am horrible about actually sending the cards I make! ;)  Hope you are having  a great day!

Dream, Plant, Grow

This month, Gossamer Blue and Lily Bee teamed up and created some fabulous exclusive products for the June kit.  Each DT member (as well as guests from the Lily Bee team) were asked to make one layout featuring some of these great products! Here is the "Lily Bee-centric" layout that I made! 

These are photos of my daughter "helping" me plant impatients earlier this summer! She got pretty messy considering the small amount of work she actually did! ;)  But I loved that it was something we could do together!  Be sure to check out the Gossamer Blue post all about the Lily Bee exclusives for a chance to win a kit! Have a great weekend! :)

Summer Fresh!

It's Summer Week on the Pebbles Blog!  I have a new layout up today!  When I was thinking about my favorite parts of summer and looking back through some photos from last summer, there was one thing that really stuck out to me as a favorite activity. Every Wednesday last summer, while my daughter was at camp, my son and I would head to the local Farmer's Market  to pick up some fruit, veggies, and treats.  And every day when my daughter got home, she'd examine and count everything we bought! I love the bright colors of fresh fruit and vegetables and, even though it's not a "typical" summer theme, I knew I wanted to use these photos for my summer layout!

We actually took our first visit to the Farmer's Market of the summer yesterday!  The only things on my list to buy were herb starter plants and a loaf of bread from my favorite bread shop.  I ended up with quite a bit more...and only basil!  There were no herbs! Here is what we bought:

What are your favorite parts of summer?  I'd love to hear!! :)  Have a great day!

Summer Sippies

Good Morning!  This is my final layout for my Elle's Studio guest spot!  I love these photos of the kiddos from last summer. They were so cute. Henry wanted to do everything Miri did and vice versa. They get along so well sometimes. It makes me smile. I had a blast playing with all the great new Elle's products. The tabbed cards are my favorite!!

(pardon the wonky colors...)

Choose Happy

Friday, my monthly "Pinspired with Gossamer Blue" challenge went up on the GB blog!  I had a number of inspiration pieces, all with the same message.  Here is one of them:

(source: mereleemade)

I received some not-so-great news last week  (no worries, everyone is healthy and fine!), so "Choose Happy" seemed like a perfect sentiment for a layout.  Those big Crate Paper acrylic letters were just the right thing to emphasize the "happy" portion!!

To see the other inspiration pieces and to find out how to play along for a chance to win a $10 gift card to Gossamer Blue, check out the original post!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Featured...

Happy Saturday!  Just a quick note that my interview for my guest spot at Elle's Studio is on their blog today, along with a chance to win my three favorite products! :)  Check it out!  Hope everyone is having an enjoyable weekend!!

Ventage Tuesday: 5 Summer Pins

I am a day late with my Ventage Tuesday post today, which is a bit ironic since the post topic was my idea! ;) I've been totally obsessed (even more so than normal) with Pinterest lately. It seems like the the inspiration + yumminess + fantastic ideas are never ending!  Here are five pins that I would like to try this summer!

1. One Pot Wonder Tomato Basil Pasta. I am going to try this one tonight! ;) We are supposed to get some crazy storms. Let's all hope I have power so I can actually make dinner! 

2. Pallet art. Okay, this is cheating a bit...as I have been planning this project for awhile and actually finished it last night! ;) I will try to do a post about it soon!

3. Homemade Watercolor Paints.  I found some old ice trays, and my kids are way into painting...so it's perfect!

4. Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles.  We made a TON of popsicles last year. We tried one new recipe a week!  I hope to continue this tradition this summer, and I think this is the perfect recipe to get us started!

5. Fresh Flowers. This is a summer must for me. Sunflowers are incredibly cheap at Trader Joes and I love having them on my table all summer long!

Feel free to check out my Pinterest boards for about a billion more ideas...well, 5956 to be exact!