justem: little bits of this and that

First Day Sillies

Good Morning! I have a layout up on the Pebbles blog today!  Last week my kiddos had their first day of "school" (aka: daycare, because I was going back to school!!) so we took some obligatory first day photos. They were both so excited to be wearing their new backpacks and to be headed back to school to see their friends!

This is my last official assignment as a 2012-2013 Pebbles DT member, and in September I will begin my new term. Look for some fun new things from Pebbles this time around! It's going to be exciting!! For more information about this layout, be sure to check out my post on the Pebbles Blog! Hope everyone had a great day!

You & Me

Friday, my monthly Pinspired challenge was up on the brand new Gossamer Blue Blog! (Which, by the way, is awesome!  Have you checked out the new site yet? There's also a message board and a gallery!) I used two different Pinterest pieces as inspiration for my layout.  My layout features the cute exclusive circle stamp in the Life Pages kit, which is unfortunately sold out.  

For more information about the layout, including the two original inspiration pieces AND a chance to play along, be sure to check out the original post on the Gossamer Blue Blog! I am back to work today with students!  Wish me luck...it's going to be a long day!!!  ;)

And the winner is....

The winner of the "Simply Playful Accents" BPC class is:

Latrice! Congrats!! :) I will contact you will the information! Thanks to everyone who commented! :)  

Super Dad!

Today I have a Pebbles layout to share with you!  I was asked to create a project using the Party with Amy Locurto Super Hero line. I admit, I'm like the opposite of a "themey" scrapper, so I was bit nervous. BUT...the Super Hero line is so cute, and I had the perfect photos to go with it all:

I really like how it all turned out in the end.  It is "themey" but it also still feels like an "emily" layout!! I realize this particular line was designed for boys, but why not celebrate the Super Dads in our life?!  This layout totally cracks me up. It was taken almost a year ago. The kids were crazy crabby and if you look closely you will see my son has no pants and is carrying a giant loaf of bread.  The entire scene was hysterical, but Justin took it all in stride! :)

PS: Don't forget to comment below for a chance to win a spot in Angie Gutshall's BPC class!!

Giveaway: Simply Playful Accents E-Course

My talented Gossamer Blue Design Teammate Angie Gutshall just debuted her awesome new self-placed class "Simply Playful Accents: Easy embellishing ideas for scrapbook layouts" at Big Picture Classes! I'm super excited to give away a seat in her class!  Here is a little bit about the course:

Would you like to add a bit of fun and whimsy to your layouts? What if you could do it in a way that was not only fun and playful, but also simple! In Simply Playful Accents, instructor Angie Gutshall will share more than 20 ideas for using items in your supply stash to add a little bit of pizazz to your layouts.

You'll receive 20 emails with before-and-after images, each showing how just adding a little accent here and there can take your layouts from blah to beautiful! You'll also receive four bonus emails with additional ideas and inspiration. Angie even shares her layout-creating process in a fun video tutorial!

 Read rest of description here.

I am giving away one seat in Angie's class! To be entered to win, please leave a comment on this post! You can just say hi or, if you feel so inclined, tell me what your favorite summer memory this year has been...since today is the first day of my last week of summer!! So sad!!!  I will post a winner next Monday evening!  Have a great day!

Birthday Train Ride

Happy Friday!  Today I have another Gossamer Blue August layout to share.  This uses a mix of the main kit and the add-ons.  As soon as I saw the awesome subway paper from Basic Grey I knew which photo I wanted to scrap! This birthday photo of my daughter standing on the L-train steps is one of my favorites! And it just so happened that all of the kit colors perfectly matched the colored labels on the steps!

I also wanted to share with you some fun information regarding some new products that I was sent to try out.  I was contacted by the fine folks at Perfect Paper Crafting, asking me if I'd like to be a Brand Ambassador.  They sent me a few of their Perfect Layers products to try out, and this was the first time that I used them.  I must admit, I was a bit nervous, as I'm not much of a "tool" girl, but they assured me that they would be fun and easy to use, and they were right!  I used my Perfect Layers Border tool and my craft knife to make a perfectly straight and even mat for my photo:

I must admit - it's a big step up from my "guess and stick" method of matting photos in the past!! ;) I was really impressed with how simpe it was to use and how "perfect" the result truly was!! As a Brand Ambassador, I got this very cool blinkie (look to the right!) and by clicking it or using my code "Emily5%" you can automatically get a discount. :)  Just thought I'd pass this along! I'm looking forward to using more of my Perfect Layers products on my upcoming projects, and I'm so honored that they chose me to be Brand Ambassador!

I hope everyone has a great day and a fun weekend! :)

An announcement...

I am so honored to be part of the Pebbles Design Team for another year!  
I will be joining all these talented scrappers! 

Amanda Coleman

Becky Williams

Candace Pelfrey

Emily Spahn (yay!)

Eva Pizarro

Holly Gagnon

Juliana Michaels

Kathy Martin

Kim Jeffress

Kim Kesti

Laura Craigie

Laurel Seabrook

Marjan Pel

Nina Yang

Patricia Kumfer

Renee Zwirek

Samantha Taylor

Suzanna Lee

Tauni Evertt

TiffanyHood

Wendy Antenucci

Wendy Sue Anderson

I can't wait to get started with all their new fabulous CHA releases! :)  Have a great day!

Summer Project...

Good Morning! I have another Gossamer Blue August layout to share! The very clear "theme" of this month's kit was "travel." But, I don't have many travel photos (at least recent ones!), so I made it my goal to make a layout that used the kit (+ add-ons) that was about something other than travel!!  I love making fresh lemonade in the summer, so this was something that was on my summer bucket list! I didn't really mean to take three "circle" photos, but when I went back to print out the photos, I realized that they all kind of matched, which was a fun, random coincidence!  I love the pink exclusive GB patterned paper as the background! :)  

Have a great day! :)

San Fran Sights

Happy August!  The new Gossamer Blue kit has been revealed!  I must admit, this is probably up near the top of my "all-time favorite kits" list.  I LOVE this kit and it's add-ons!!  This is my main kit only layout. We do not have very many opportunities to travel, so I had to go back through the photo archives to find these pictures of our San Francisco trip!!  I was pregnant with my daughter at the time! (That's how old they are!!)  

Be sure to check out the gallery and the debut of the new design team members and the brand new Life Pages kit!  There is so many exciting things going on at Gossamer Blue right now...and I'm so, so honored to be a part of it all!