justem: little bits of this and that

tidy up...

Hi! Just a quick note that I'm going to try to do a little blog maintenance and change a few things around here...so it might look a little funky here for a day or two...but funky's cool, right? ;)  I think most 2nd graders know more about html than I do, so please bear with me...hopefully it will be looking spiffy soon!!  Have a great day! :)

Ventage Tuesday: 5 under $5

Today's Ventage topic is brought to you by Angie - who challenged the Ventage girls to think of five things we use {almost} every day that are under $5 each.  I have to admit...I had a kind of tough time with this one! Maybe that's because everything I like and use is expensive. Yikes. ;)  Okay - not really - I'm a pretty frugal person!  But darn is the world expensive!! So after much thought...here are five things I use on a pretty regular basis that you can get for under five bucks!

1. Pandora.  So, Pandora is free, obviously.  But it serves as my background music for the vast majority of my day.  I am not a TV person at all. In fact, I think I'd be just find without television at all...but I need music!!  Pandora is a great way for me to constantly listen to some great music throughout my day, as well as find lots of great new music and artists. 

2. Instagram/PicTap Go. I used to haul my big camera everywhere with me. Don't get me wrong...I still LOVE my camera and use it all the time, but now that I have a phone that can take decent photos and some great apps...well, it's MUCH easier to just use my phone!  I have captured some great shots this summer!

3. Burt's Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes. This is a product that I totally stole from Katrina! ;)  When she was here for our Very Ventage Weekend she had them...and now I use them every day. I have always (always!!) been horrible about washing my face at night...and this has saved me. They are so easy and convenient and I'm totally sure I must look like 10 years younger now that I use them!!

4. My Greenroom Planner.  Okay, okay. So it was $5.99, but that's close enough! ;) The past probably five years I had a big (and awesome) planner from Paper Source that cost me an arm and a leg.  This year I realized that I was wasting money (and space in my purse) so I got this cute little planner (mine looks just like the one in the link) for a fraction of the cost, and it's served me SO well this year. I really do use it every day!!

5. Laughing Lips Glaze. This is on clearance for 3.99...so that counts, right? And...I may or may not have received mine free from a certain lip gloss professional!  I LOVE this stuff. I have the coconut flavor, and it's amazing. I pretty much love any and all lip gloss...but this is my go-to one lately!    

For more great finds under $5, check out the other Ventage girlies: Angie, Barb, Katrina, and Stephanie. Have a great day!

20 Weeks

Hello!  I'm alive!  Sorry for not posting much lately...I've been busy working away with my (totally amazing) August Gossamer Blue kit and there isn't much to share on the old scrapbooking blog!! I do, however, have one last July kit layout that I hadn't posted. This was made with a bunch of the fun new Fancy Pants Designs new releases!

For the record...I am now 33.5 weeks and the baby belly is slightly out of control. ;)  Also, for anyone who is interested...there are just a couple more days to submit your entry into the Gossamer Blue/Fancy Pants Guest Designer Contest! Very cool!  I'm loving so much that Fancy Pants comes out with lately! This would be a great opportunity!!

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I can't believe I only have three weeks left...then it's back to work...then baby time!  :) 

Gossamer Blue: August LookBook

Have you checked out the newest LookBook at Gossamer Blue? I have to say...this is one of my favorite kits!!  The funny part is that the colors/themes are not ones that would usually jump out to me as something I'd love, but for some reason the great mix of product has me swooning this month!!  Here are a few sneaks of my own + the LookBook. (PS: I can never seem to format these LookBook posts correctly! Pardon my inability to properly space and center align, ha!):

Color Challenge!

Good Monday morning!  I had another "Pinspired with Gossamer Blue" challenge up on the GB Blog on Friday!  This month I chose a color challenge.  My layout includes the fun summer colors of orange, aqua, yellow and green:

To see all of the sample color pallettes and to find how how to play along for a chance to win a $10 Gossamer Blue gift card, check out the original post on the blog!  Have a great day!

**Also - if you are interested in another totally awesome scrapbooking sale, check out my good friend Barb's blog!  She's got some serious loot up for sale! Lots of past Studio Calico kits and add-ons and much more!  Go there. Now! ;)**

Revealed!

Happy Thursday - where is this week going?!  Yesterday was a very exciting day at Pebbles, where they introduced their brand new logo:

So, so cute!  I also may have had a glimpse at this logo on some of the upcoming CHA products. Um...SWOON.  I'm in love with it all!!  And while we are talking about Pebbles, here is a quick and easy card I made for our amazing outgoing DT coordinator Lynn:

Have a great day! :)

Ventage Tuesday: Currently...

Today's Ventage Tuesday post is brought to you by Stephanie, who challenged us all to answer these questions:

I don't necessarily DO all these things...so here are some of the ones that apply to me! ;) Also, I must share that I had *just* finished typing out this post this morning when lovely Henry decided to try and plug the wrong end of my iPhone cable into my computer...which caused some kind of freak power surge...which immediately shut off my computer...which wouldn't charge or restart. Fabulous. After a trip to the Apple Store, things are the old Mac are running again...but this post is probably not nearly as good after I wrote it a second time!!

Reading: The Great Gatsby - though I'm only on the first page, ha!
Watching: Justified on Amazon Prime (wow...disturbing!)
Trying: New strawberry recipes after we went strawberry picking over the weekend!
Eating: Onion and Dill pickles from Wienke's. (So totally cliche...)
Drinking: Seriously delicious Cherry Juice from Country Ovens
Texting: My girls. :)
Pinning: Home decor photos and popsicle recipes
Tweeting: My blog posts...and that's about it! I'm a Twitter degenerate.
Scrapping: Gossamer Blue projects!
Going: Crazy...but it's kind of an ongoing trip... ;)
Loving: Spending the day with my kids, even if they are the cause of me going crazy!
Hating: How summer is flying by!
Enjoying: Swimming Lessons! Our first were last night.
Feeling: Hopeful about the future.
Listening to: Pandora - Justem Radio!
Celebrating: My anniversary - two weeks from tomorrow!
Thanking: God for a healthy pregnancy thus far.
Starting: To count down the days until school begins and Baby Bud arrives!
Finishing: This blog post - waaaaay too late!

To check out more of the Ventage Girls "currents", stop by their blogs: Angie, Barb, Katrina, and Stephanie!

Love These Girls

Good Monday morning! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and weekend! We are home from a great little trip to visit family! I have one of my Gossamer Blue layouts to share with you today.  This layout actually came together pretty quickly, and even though it's a bit crazy, I really like the final result...probably because I just really love those girls at the top! ;)  These are the "Ventage Girls" that I refer to all the time and talked about in this post. I figured I should probably make a layout including them, since they are such an important part of my life!!

I used black and white photos because otherwise there was just TOO much color in this layout! (I know, who knew I would ever say such a thing!) There is a lot of fun new Fancy Pants product here, some Simple Stories brads and stickers, and a random mix of other products from the various kits. I loved how bright and fun this whole July kit was. :)  Have a great day!

**PS: I ended up selling ALL of my flat rate boxes, so I have deleted the post. Thank you SO much to everyone!  I still have a number of Studio Calico stamps left, if you scroll down!**

Puddle Jumper!

First - thank you SO much for the awesome response to my SC stamp and flat rate box sale. I still have about half of the stamps (see this post) and only ONE mixed box (see this post) for anyone who is interested.  I've finally got some layouts to share!  Sunday was the first (seriously...crazy!!) which means the new Gossamer Blue kit was revealed!  This is my main kit only layout:

Gossamer Blue has a ton of great things coming up. Have you heard about their new Life Pages kit? I received mine in the mail yesterday and it's amazing! I'm so happy and excited to be a part of their team! If you haven't checked them out, I cannot recommend them enough!!  Great kits, great people, greatness...all around! ;)

Giant Studio Calico Stamp Sale!!!!

As promised, here are all the Studio Calico stamps that I am selling.  99.9% of them are brand new and unused.  The few that are used were probably used once. I'm not exactly a master stamper. ;)  All prices include shipping.  I will only accept PayPal, and I will only ship within the US.  

PLEASE leave a comment on THIS POST with a list of what stamp(s) you want AND the number I assigned them and then EMAIL me with your PayPal email + your address so I can invoice you. This will make it much easier for me to add it all up/figure out what you want. If you private message me/email me/peamail me, I will check those AFTER all the blog comments.  These will all ship out next week.  I've separated them into five lots - don't laugh at my made-up names! ;) I have NO idea what any of these are really called! ;)  *edited - man, you guys are FAST!  I am updating the list as soon as I get comments!*

Lot 1: All stamps $3 each - ALL SOLD EXCEPT PINWHEEL AND HEXAGON
1. Pinwheel #1 
2. Pinwheel #2
3. Cuckoo Clock
4. Hexagon Outline
5. Date 
6. Know This
7. Circle Boarder
8. Starburst Outline
9. Snowflake
10. Spirograph
11. Ampersand
12. Moon
13. Ledger Circle
14. FAQ Circle
15. Photo/Fun Outline

Lot 2: All stamps $4.50 each! - ALL SOLD
16. True Story
17. Tree Stump
18. You Are Here
19. Oh Snap
20. Clouds

Lot 3: All stamps $7 each!
21. Together/Celebrate
22. Journaling Block/Star
23. Butterflies
24. Woodgrain
25. Cupcake/Birthday
25. 4 blocks
26. Butterfly/Journaling Block
27. Story Time
28. Giant Hexagon
29. Hooray/Today
30. Hello/Circles
31. Happy Home
32. Map

Lot 4: All stamps $7 each
33. Retro Boarder (no idea what to call this one!!)
34. Leaves
35. Circle Boarder/Words
36. Bikes
37. Books
38. Just a Note
39. Arrows/Circle
40. Ruler
41. Conjoined Circles
42. Star Boarder

Lot 5: $10 each
43. Pattern
44. Triangle Grid
45. Confetti

Phew. I think that's it. This is the most work I think I've ever done to sell something! Happy Shopping!!