justem: little bits of this and that

Love

Happy Monday!  I have my first Gossamer Blue layout of this month to share today! Have you had a chance to check out the February kit, yet? It's soooo pretty!  This was actually the last layout I made. There were so many fun papers I hadn't used, so I tried to include some of them in this layout.  I will have a post up on the GB blog later this month about it and another layout that were both Pinterest inspired! This is one of my favorite photos EVER. The funny part is that it was a super sunny day and the actual picture is pretty horrible - overexposed and kind of blurry.  The black and white saved it!

Thanks for stopping by! :) Have a great day!

My Mind's Eye + Gossamer Blue

I have one final Gossamer Blue layout to share before the new kit goes live. I've been keeping this one under wraps until a certain special blog post appeared yesterday! ;)  First, the layout...then then some news about an awesome opportunity!

This was a triple dip in terms of assignments. It was made with the January GB kit, featuring mostly My Mind's Eye products, and also for the January gallery at write.click.scrapbook, where the theme was "Note to Self"...hence the insane amount of journaling! What can I say...there was a lot I wanted to write to my former self! Anyway, because of the journaling, it's not a typical "em" layout, but the words make it a pretty special one. ;)  Anyway...on to the exciting news!  My Mind's Eye and Gossamer Blue are teaming up for a guest designer contest!

Check out My Mind's Eye or Gossamer Blue for more details!  I can't wait to see all the entries! Happy Sunday!

Little Gardener

Good Morning! I have another Gossamer Blue layout to share today! If you would have asked me a year ago my opinion of gold, I'd probably turn up my nose and make a face. But, like every good trend follower, I've decided that gold is actually pretty awesome!!  I was SO excited when I opened the January Color Kit (now sold out) and saw all the gold goodness!  I used a lot of the products, as well as some from the other add-ons in this layout.  These photos of my daughter (with her crazy style) put a smile on my face every time I see them!

Happy Wednesday!! :)

Shine

I'm finally getting around to sharing the last layout I made with the totally fabulous Gossamer Blue September kit!  This layout was a bit out of my comfort zone! It's pretty "artsy" and also includes sewing, which is something I am really trying to include more in my layouts. This was a layout where I had the "idea" long before I had a photo picked out. I think the ladies at Archivers thought I was nuts as I pieced this whole thing together, but I truly love the final result! As for the story...I knew I needed something "beachy" to go along with the look of the sun and the water, and I didn't have a ton of great beach photos, so I chose this one of Miri this summer.  If you look closely, you can see her name written in the sand behind her!  Thanks for looking, and have a great Monday!

Meet Lewis

I'm slowly making my way through the five layouts I created this month for Gossamer Blue.  This one is one of my favorites, but honestly...they are ALL one of my favorites! I'm slightly worried that my work is only going to go downhill from here, because I love everything I created this month so much!!!  This is my adorable little nephew!!  

When I first began this layout, I had intended on using the backside of the floral My Mind's Eye paper, which has a navy and white stripe, similar to his outfit, but at the last minute I switched it to the floral side...a decision I am quite happy with!  Who says you can't have flowers on a boy layout?!

I think my favorite item in the whole kit was the yellow striped washi tape. I think I used it on every layout!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment, just to know who's lurking out there! Have a great day...or night, depending on when you read this! :)

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?

I am the lucky one.

I went through a stage a couple of years ago where I pretty much just filled my layouts with lots of punched items. Proof? See here. Or here. Or here! ;)  I kind of did a little throwback to that stage of my scrapiness with this layout! It includes what might be my all time favorite photo!  This layout uses the Studio Calico 35mm kit, which was a month that I only got the main kit (and supplemented with a couple of items from Archivers.)  I was feeling like the layout needed a little bit "more" but I wasn't quite sure what to add, so I stuck some mist up in the corner. That might have been a big mistake. I know that misting or splattering or whatever it's called is very trendy right now...but I'm not exactly a trendy scrapper, and I'm not sure if it helped or hurt the layout!!  Can't go back now!  It's not the most technically advanced layout of all time, but I like it...it makes me smile. 

*published: Scrapbook Trends, March 2013*

Long lost layout...

Hi! Hope everyone is having an enjoyable Memorial Day and remembering in their hearts the real reason we celebrate this day. I have a long lost layout to share with you today!  I began this sometime last fall when my good friend Barb came to visit and scrap with me. I started it, got distracted (probably by a crying baby!!), stuck it in my bag with the rest of the Studio Calico Boardwalk kit, and never once opened that bag again to finish it. Yikes.  That's a little embarrassing! I found it recently, and thought I really should finish it! It's not my favorite layout of all time, but it's done...and I do love the photo! ;)  

scrappy sunday!

I have one last Midnight Rooster layout to share!  This is a photo I took this summer over the 4th of July weekend.  I still cannot get over how much Henry looks *just* like my brother Jake in this photo! I don't necessarily think they look alike on a daily basis, but something about his smile and his expression in this photo just screams "JAKE!!" to me!!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Messy, messy...

I created this layout as my first official assignement as a member of the Scrap That Baby Design Team. which I finished up on the day before our Henry arrived! The April 1 prompt = Messy!  I had a plethora of Messy Miri photos, so this was not a tough assignment!!  The layout uses the February Studio Calico kit, and because it was made at the height of my creative draught...it's basically a lift of this older layout of mine!  The one fishy thing...the top photo looks so faded in this picture! It must have been the light. Weird.  I assure you, in real life it looks perfectly normal! 

 Have a great Saturday!