justem: little bits of this and that

M & L {Cocoa Daisy Guest Designer}

Happy Monday!  We had a fabulous fall weekend that included cupcakes, a football game, dinner overlooking Lake Monona, a trip to the Capitol, a walk along Lake Mendota, and lots of work around the house!  I mentioned on Friday that I am the guest designer at Cocoa Daisy this month! Their kits went live last night, and I have my main kit only layout to share with you today!  The kit is filled with fun colors and great little elements! 

I made four layouts using the Cocoa Daisy main kit + parts of some of the add-ons. I will be sharing more of my work later this month!  To check it all out now, here is a link to my gallery there! Have a great day!!

Five for Friday:

1. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I've been sneaking a few images for Cocoa Daisy...because I'm the guest for October, hooray!  I'm sure nobody remembers but a long, long, LONG time ago. In fact, it was my first "big name" design team!  It's great to be back. Here's a sneak of one of my projects featuring the cut files and exclusive papers for October:

2. I decorated the front stoop for fall.  This is our first fall in our new house, and it's been fun decorating!  I love having a nice big front stoop - though I'd like to get new steps at some point...they look a little rough. 90 years of Wisconsin weather will do that, I suppose. 

 

3. I am loving the smells of fall. I have been diffusing clove + orange essential oil around my house, and it smells sooooo good.

4. My husband and I are not big gift givers, so I was super excited and surprised when he got me this for my birthday. I am in love. I know he got a little help picking it out, but that's cool.  It's perfect. :)

5. Our school district has the day off today for a teacher institute day. It's great having my oldest home again. she and her brother have been playing nonstop this morning.  It makes me realize how much he must miss her while she's gone!!!  Not sure what our plans are for the rest of the day, but I hope YOU have a great Friday and a fun weekend!

Henry Goes to Preschool {October Afternoon}

It's funny, last year at this time I was struggling to find things to blog about.  I never had enough layouts, and I wasn't sure what people wanted to read about, so I started added other posts - kid crafts, house stuff, etc.  Fast forward to today...and I'm actually behind on sharing layouts!!  This has never happened before! I will hopefully have a little more diverse content as I continue forward, but this month especially, we've just got lots and lots of scrapbooking!! ;)  Today I have a recent October Afternoon layout to share. I made this layout based on an inspiration piece:

For more information about my layout, including the graphic art that inspired it, check out the original post on the October Afternoon blog! Have a great Thursday!

Thirty Five

Yesterday I turned 35. I had intended on sharing this layout that I made with the Gossamer Blue September kits!  As you probably noticed...that didn't happen. ;) So...we'll try today (well, tonight!), when I am 35 and 1 day old! This was a fun and fast layout to make. You all know I'm a sucker for anything with a rainbow!  All the bright papers in the September kits + add-ons were just screaming to be used on a rainbow layout!

 

I used the black and white photo of top of the black and white photo to mirror the way I used the color-on-color embellishments in the rest of the layout.  I also love the little bits of kraft and cork to mix things up a bit!

I had a wonderful birthday with my family yesterday.  I'm totally at that point where fun and flashy is not nearly as appealing as sweet and simple.  I have no problem with my age - because even though I keep reminding myself that I'm getting a bit old...I don't feel it!  I feel just as young as happy as I was 15 years ago...better, even.  So, 35 - bring it on. It's going to be a good year. :)

Loved {Fancy Pants}

Happy Saturday!  Today I have a layout made with the super fun True Friend line from Fancy Pants!  If you've been a reader of my blog for awhile, you know that there is nothing I like more than a layout that comes together quickly. This one was no exception.  The first thing I did was print my journaling onto my page. I have a typewriter, but I'm presently out of ribbon, so I just used a computer generated typewriter font.  I decided to use the premade/precut Brag Cards to block out my layout. This saved me a ton of time!  I simply staggered them on my page, added a few embellishments and drops of mist, and added a cut title from my Silhouette. This entire layout took me under an hour to create. Score! ;)

Have a great weekend!! :)

 

Five for Friday:

1. I must say, this week flew by.  Wednesday was a little dicey, but other than that, it's been a fast, fun week! This weekend we are tailgating with friends, attending our first Badger home football game of the season, and having a grill-out with friends on Sunday.  Next week is also my birthday...yikes.  How did I get so old? 

2. I realize I am probably the last person on earth to read the book Eleanor & Park, but I finally read it last week...and I read it in less than 24 hours.  I loved it. LOVED it.  It was the first book I've read this year that just made me feel good. I realize it's a young adult book, but honestly, the writing was better than the Orphan Train book I talked about last week.  That book was mediocre in comparison.  The author, Rainbow Rowell, was basically spot-on in her descriptions of young love. There were so many perfect parts that I highlighted (thank you, Kindle app!) just because they made me smile or made my heart go pitter-patter nostalgically.  I seriously might buy a physical copy of the book to keep it for Mirielle when she's old enough to read it...with all the best parts highlighted in good old fashioned yellow highlighter of course. ;)

3. Do you like meatballs?  I don't.  I don't like meatballs, because I don't eat meatballs or any meat, for that matter.  However, I did make a meatball recipe at the first birthday party last weekend that was, according to those in the meatball-know, supposedly far superior to other more common meatball recipes out there.  I felt that perhaps it was my duty to share this exceptional meatball recipe with my meat-eating, meatball-making readers. ;) And honestly, wasn't it kind of fun seeing how many times I could say meatballs in a single paragraph.  Meatballs.

4. Guess what happens next week? Parenthood - Final Season.  YES. (And by yes, I really mean noooooo. I only watch two shows.  Whatever will I do without the Bravermans??)

5. I shared this photo on Instagram, but I've been doing a little bit of painting.  I bought an older "step table" a couple months ago that I intended on painting, but I never got around to it. When another similar table popped up on Craigslist, I picked it up, and I finally painted them both!  I'm not exactly the world's greatest chalk painter, and there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to the waxing process...but honestly...I LOVE how they turned out.  I also just bought a 10 dollar Craigslist coffee table that I want to paint, too! ;) Once I get it finished, I will share some updated photos of the living room, which already looks quite different from this post from earlier this year! And, as I mentioned on Instagram - someday that ugly loveseat will be replaced with a fantastic sofa. Maybe this one.  A girl can dream, right?

 

5 {more} Favorite Books of Summer

We accomplished our goal of reading 100 books this summer! I kept track on a Pinterest board that I will make public soon! (Still need to add a few!).  But, in honor of summer officially being over (um, can you say 37 degrees this morning?!) I thought I'd share five more books that we loved reading! Have a great Thursday!

Fishing in the Air
I love the melodic prose of this book. It is a beautiful story of a boy and his grandfather who go on a fishing adventure. The art work is also very eye-catching (obviously...). ;)

 

The Dark
I'm too old to have read Lemony Snicket, and I don't really know what he's all about, but I do love this particular book!  (Jon Klassen as the illustrator helps!) It's clever and very kid-friendly. We had a nice long talk about "the dark" after we read it!

Another Brother
My kids LOVED this book, especially the 5 year old!  She loved reading the names of all the brothers as fast as she could. It had silly illustrations and was perfect for the child who sometimes gets sick of her siblings bugging her! ;)

Pluto Visits Earth!
This was a surprise favorite at our house! We chose it because certain members of our family are OBSESSED with the planets and space. It's a super cute story about Pluto coming to Earth to find out why he wasn't a planet anymore. It's both fun and informative!

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
This is one of my (if not my MOST) favorite books from the summer. I love everything about it. The story is perfect and the illustrations are delightful.  We might even buy this one to add to our permanent collection!

I love you... {Gossamer Blue Pinspired}

Last Friday my monthly "Pinspired with Gossamer Blue" challenge was up on the GB blog. This layout is a bit different than I had originally planned (surprise, surprise), and it was also my first time using gelatos and, well, let's just say there was a bit of a learning curve!  I tried a few different things, but finally, I ended up with this:

To read about all my adventures with this layout and see my original piece of "pinspiration," be sure to check out the original post on the Gossamer Blue blog.  I'll give you a little hint into my process...this was the third..no maybe fourth version of this layout! ;)  Have a great day...or night...I'm posting this at 10:20 p.m. because...well it was the only time I had today to blog!! Sweet dreams night readers! ;)

Fall To Do...

It's not quite Fall yet, but it sure feels like it outside!  Fall is my favorite season, though it always seems to pass us by far too quickly! Here's a little list of things I can't wait to do this fall. We shall see if we can get them all in before the snow arrives. It is Wisconsin, so that could be like next week... ;)

Bager Football Games
Tailgating
Apple Picking
The Pumpkin Patch
Watching the leaves change
A Fall Scavenger Hunt
Celebrating my Birthday! (Next week...)
Autumn Art Projects
Backyard Bonfires
Roasting Marshmallows
Decorating our house for fall for the first time!
New Soup Recipes
Hot drinks at Starbucks
Halloween
Pumpkin EVERYTHING
Football Sundays
Hoodies and Sneakers
Thanksgiving
Date nights (wishful thinking...)
Snuggles
Love
My family...always. :)

(photo from last year - luckily we haven't lost this many leaves yet!)

First Day {October Afternoon}

Hello, and Happy Sunday!  Yesterday we celebrated my littlest's first birthday!  It was a busy week preparing for the party.  We had a wild animal theme, and it was a blast!   In true "he's the third child" fashion, I ended up not taking nearly as many photos as I wanted to...but hopefully I will find a few to post here once I get them off my camera!  

Today I have my very first October Afternoon Design Team layout to share with you!  Every Friday this month they will be introducing the new team members. Last Friday I got to share the spotlight with my talented friend Ginny Hughes. Here is a link to our intro post.  This layout includes a lot from the Public Library line, which was perfect for this layout of my daughter on her first day of Kindergarten. I used my Cameo to cut out the giant K and added on from there!