justem: little bits of this and that

Gossamer Blue April reveal!

The April Gossamer Blue kit went live yesterday and the gallery is rockin'!  I had a great time creating with this kit - but when I go back and look, all my layouts look really similar! This could be due to a giant lack of mojo thanks to that little announcement yesterday!!! Anyway, today I am sharing my Main Kit-only layout!  I took these photo on our last "real" day of Summer Break last year!  They are so bittersweet to me...I love them, but they make me sad, as it was our last day together before I went back to work!!

I think the Maggie Homes/Crate Paper green frame with the cloud was my favorite piece of the entire kit!

The Dear Lizzy "adventurer button" was a pretty close second!

I cut the little chevrons with my Cameo...

Spring break flew by, and I'm back into the swing of things today...how many days until summer?! ;)  Have a great Tuesday!!

Oobleck Adventure

Happy Sunday night! I just realized that I never posted my final Gossamer Blue layout from this month!!  This is a very quick and simple layout, but it makes me smile!!!  I have really been working at including more than one photo on a layout lately... ;)  And, I have to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the package of American Crafts pinwheels that came with the Main Add-on, but I love how this one fits perfectly into the layout. :)  

I'll be back tomorrow with my top layouts of 2012! :)

Everyday.

Happy Saturday!  Today I have another Scrapbook Circle layout to share!  Remember my plan to scrap OLD photos (that I printed but never scrapped)? Well, this is one of them. In fact, this is Henry's baby announcement photo. It's crazy to think how much he's grown since this photo was taken almost 18 months ago!!  Have a great day! :)

a

PS: For those of you out there who are sticklers...yes, I kind of realized AFTER the fact that my title should have been "Every Day" rather than "Everyday." But what is my scrapping philosophy? Keep it real. Mistakes are real. I'm okay with it. ;)

Cute, but Feisty.

I have another Scrapbook Circle layout to share today! This features all kinds of new American Crafts Amy Tangerine goodies!  I've been on a mission to scrap old photos lately, hence the picture from a year and a half ago!!! :)  I feel like this layout is a bit of a throwback to my "old" style...not that it's really evolved all that much over the years! But all the layers and the black pen outline make it quite reminiscent of my layouts from a couple of years ago!!  I like it...the Amy Tangerine products were my favorite parts of the kit!

Home

I have another Gossamer Blue layout to share today.  I have loved the song "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnificent Zeroes since I first heard it on the Visa commercial a couple of years ago. I immediately went online to find out who sang it and downloaded it that very day. :)  I've since seen the lyrics on prints and t-shirts and everything else under the sun.  When I saw the adorable Basic Grey house chipboard included in this month's kit, I knew right away that I wanted to use it for a layout featuring these lyrics. The funny part?  I have searched high and low to find out if the words are "whereever" or "whenever," because I've seen both.  After listening to the song a gon of times, I've concluded that they actually do sing both versions, so I picked the one I liked best! :)

CHA favorites...a mega post! ;)

I spent all day yesterday at CHA ogling over the newest product! I took a bunch of photos to share of some of my favorites. I apologize in advance for the wonky color. Every single booth had it's own light set-up...and I was not about to set my white balance in every booth.  That would have taken up precious paper-gazing time!!  It's funny...even though I went to each booth at least twice, I am still seeing things I love on the web that I never even noticed yesterday!!  Be forewarned, I'm a paper lover. So the vast majority of photos I took were of just that!  ;)  For your viewing pleasure...in no particular order...my Summer 2012 CHA faves:

Simple Stories: Their new SN@P line is maybe my favorite thing from the entire show. It's perfect for Project Life, it's colorful, it's fun. I love everythign about it!!

Glitz: So, I'm an honest person...Glitz has never been my cup of tea. It was always very froofy, which is not a verb that is often used to describe me or my scrapping.  The new lines are still rather girly, but I'm loving like everything they came out with.  Maybe that means I am becoming a more froofy scrapper?  Who knows. In any case, their stuff is awesome.  The papers are fabulous...the washi...perfect. :)

love the top paper and the pink w/hearts...

great colors, fun patterns...

that bottom paper...very cool.

Teresa Collins: This normally fits into the same category as Glitz. However, I LOVE this first piece of paper and a lot of the elements of her "Tell Your Story" line.  It's very cute...without being cutesy!

KI Memories: They're back!  I kind of want to do a happy dance. Waaaay back when I started scrapping, KI was like MY paper. I think I owned every single sheet of their paper and nearly every embellishment they had. I may or may not still be hording some KI... ;)  They have one new line they released, and I really love it! It's fun and cute...and there is cloud washi!!

My Mind's Eye: I'm totally in love with their new "The Sweetest Thing" line in Tangerine! I would buy every single piece if I could!

Bella Blvd: They had some totally cute projects in their booth. I especially love their embellishments and chipboard alphabets!

Lily Bee: They had some of my favorite layouts of the whole show in their booth!!  I especially liked their Persnickety line...that yellow paper is my favorite!

Jillibean Soup: They had a  ton of people in their booth...making it hard to get any product pictures, but they, too had some fabulous projects I managed to snap!

how crazy cool is this wreath?! (says the girl that never makes anything buy layouts w/her scrapbook supplies)

October Afternoon: I will be honest, I really only "loved" one of their lines: Midway.  It includes one of my favorite papers of the entire show!  The other three lines were just okay for me.  

this is the paper i love.  the circles, not the slightly spooky faces...

Pink Paislee: This is another brand that is always really hit or miss with me. I remember when they first began, I was in love with everything. But lately, they have moved over to with the froofs...but I did really like a couple of things in their booth!

Echo Park: I loved their first "For the Record", so I knew these next ones would also be a hit in my book. Theirs was another very busy booth, so I didn't get photos of everything I wanted, like the new Everyday Eclectic line.

Queen and Co.: Um, washi, washi, washi...!

i'll take one of each, please!

Lawn Fawn: I'm not a stamper, but I am loving their Dewey Decimal paper release. It's so cute and fun with great colors!

how cute is this apple paper!

speaking of cute, who are those cute girls?!

Elle's Studio: It was so awesome to see Elle and her products at CHA.  I love her tags...these were fabulous!

Basic Grey: I love, love, love their Soleil line. It's funny...I probably would never use half these papers because I wouldn't know how to use them, but they sure are gorgeous!

some fab artwork at the bg booth, i think...it's all beginning to blur together in my mind!!

Studio Calico: Yearbook...I knew it would be a favorite based on the sneaks.  It didn't disappoint. This is probably my favorite SC wholesale line of all time! I want to buy it all up this instant!!

American Crafts: LOVE the new Amy Tangerine line. It's perfect, in oh-so-many ways!!!

those hearts??  must have them! and the orange and green thickers?? must. have.

I also really like the new Soho Garden line. I wasn't too sure when they revealed it on the blog, but the papers are SO pretty in person!

Crate Paper: Another (probably too) honest remark...when I first saw the three new lines on their blog I was so disappointed.  I just didn't like them at all...they seemed just a little too crazy and colorful...and I'm like crazy and colorful's #1 fan.  But in person...man, my mind has been changed.  My favorite is Acorn Avenue, followed closely by, gasp, their holiday line. As a rule I don't do holiday papers...but it's so versatile and fun!!

paper lust...

Pebbles: Okay, so I know I'm supposed to openly declare my love for Pebbles now that I'm on their design team, but honestly, even if I wasn't...I would still rave about their new lines.  It was awesome to see them in person. I keep pinching myself...I can't believe I am going to get to work with such amazing product!!

clearly this was meant for me, right? ;)

Jenni Bowlin: Usually Jenni Bowlin papers are a little too vintage for my taste, but boy does she make some awesome embellishments!  These were some of my favorites...

feathers...very popular. i like these, though i have no idea what i'd do with them!

a pinwheel punch? genius!

And finally, a fun little photo of my partner in CHA crime, Valerie O'Neill, who is a fellow w.c.s'er.  We met for the first time yesterday and had a blast walking around together! :)  Here she is next to the Craft Wars house.  If you watch Craft Wars you know what I'm talking about. If you are like me and you don't have cable or crafting shows just aren't your thing...well...it's just a cute picture. ;)

It was a super fun and full day...I was happy, but exhausted!!  What are your favorites from this summer's CHA?  Did I miss something you love?

Family ABC's

Hi there!  Happy Friday! I'm up today over at write.click.scrapbook with  a fun and relatively easy project to create for kids. I thought I'd share it here, too!  My family and I live in Illinois, while all of our extended family lives in Wisconsin, most up to 7 hours away. We also have family in Georgia.  This means my kids don't get to see their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins very often.  I decided to create a little game for my daughter that could meet two objectives.  First, it would help her remember the names of all the faraway family members. Second, it would reinforce her knowledge of letters and letter sounds.  There are basically two steps to creating this project.

The family cards I made were super simple, and thanks to my resources, took me very little time to create.  I used my Canon Selphy printer to print out images of all our family.  I love this printer because I can select the "4-up" option, and it will automatically print four images on a single 4x6 photo. After I used my trimmer to cut them all apart, I adhered each photo to a blank Project Life journaling card.  The photos fit perfectly.  That's it. I told you...super simple! 

I purchased a set of generic library pockets from a local educational store. I used a bunch of papers from my stash to decorate them up a bit and included a single letter on each. I kept it simple and didn't spend a ton of time on each one, because let's face it, a three-year old would be playing with them...they are bound to get a little destroyed! ;) 

Mirielle and I reviewed the names of everyone on the cards.  Then I had her figure out what letter of the alphabet each name started with. She already uses a lot of name association with her letters ("J is for Justin") so this was a perfect next step.  Once she decided upon the first letter, she put the card in the appropriate pocket. The Project Life cards just happen to fit perfectly into the library pockets!

I have to say, I was a little surprised at what a hit this game was. Mirielle was so excited to see all her family members. She loved it immediately! We had a little trouble deciding if the grandparents should reside in the "g" pocket for "grandma/grandpa" or the pocket for the first letter of their first name. She decided we should go with the first name, which was probably a good thing or the "g" pocket would have been stuffed!

All on her own, she also started playing  a matching game with the family cards, matching same family siblings and spouses to one another. I was amazed at all the different combinations she eventually came up with. It really helped her understand the relationships between all our family members - things like who mommy's brother, who is daddy's grandma, who is cousin C's mom, etc.  I did have to laugh when she mixed up the great grandparent couples based on her oh-so-scientific method of who had the whitest hair. ;) I made the game a couple of weeks ago, and she continues to play it at least once a day.  As predicted, it already looks, though not destroyed, very loved! 

Let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Pinterest Made Me...

I have caught the Pinterest bug, just like everybody else in the world. I LOVE making new recipes that I find on Pinterest. Most have been pretty tasty! I also love taking photos of my food...I wish I was a better food photographer!!  Anyway, I put my two loves together in this layout!  

And a close up on my typo... ;)

What are YOUR favorite Pinterest recipes?  Thanks for stopping by! :)

a card...

I don't make cards very often. For some reason I have a much harder time creating a tiny little card than I do a bigger layout.  I will choose to make a layout over a card  any day, even if it does take three times as long!   I used to be in a stamping group where I made cards every month, but since I've left that, not only have I hardly stamped, I have also made only a handful of cards.  I'm a sucker for rainbows, so this particular one fell together pretty easily!  I really like the final result...perhaps I need to come out of my card-making-shell and make some more! :)

Beauty School Drop-Out...

Tomorrow is the first day of July, and that means two things! First...Happy Birthday Mom! ;)  Second...there is a new gallery up at write.click.scrapbook!  This month's theme was "5 products."  This really wasn't too much of a challenge for me...since I'm not a big embellisher to begin with! ;)  In fact, I ended up adding the doily because I needed one more "product." (I didn't think staples counted!)  My five products were: patterned paper, thickers, doily, washi tape, and 1 button!

This layout totally makes me smile. Last summer my stepmom found a bubble recipe online and made it for my daughter to try.  Unfortunately, Mirielle was way more excited about "washing her hair" with the bubble solution, which was quite the mess!!  I think her hair produced suds for about the next three baths!!  As I said on the layout...it's a good thing she's so cute! :) This layout uses the Studio Calico City of Lights kit.

Be sure to stop by the gallery and check out the layouts of all my talented teammates!
Have a great weekend!