justem: little bits of this and that

Just wanted to mention...

Hi! I just wanted to mention that a month or so ago I made the decision to step down from the Ormolu creative team.  It was a very difficult decision to make, but at the time I was swamped with work, a husband who was never home, a son who never sleeps, and a daughter who is lovely, but feisty. ;)  I decided that when the new design team call took place, I would not renew my contract.  Ormolu is an incredible company to design for.  Their products are stylish and fun, and Kaitlin is truly one of the kindest most generous women I've had the pleasure of working with in this industry.  I also have loved getting to know all of the other designers, who are so talented and super sweet! Of course, now I'm second guessing my choice, but I think it was for the best.  Kaitlin just ended her call for new designers, and I can't wait to see who the lucky girls are!  Thanks to Kaitlin and Ormolu for everything!! :)

Weekend Snapshot

 Last weekend I took a ton of photos.  Project Life has made me rethink a lot of my photography habits. Lately, I find myself taking a lot more photos of random little things, rather than just the big moments that are "blog-able" or "scrapbook-able."  These are the photos of our day to day life...photos where the house is a mess, the kids are dirty, and things are far from perfect.  I am finding that these are the photos I cherish the most when I go back and look through my photos each week to choose ones for Project Life.  I made a layout for the Ormolu blog today featuring a bunch of the little photos from last weekend. As you have probably noticed, I am NOT a multi-photo scrapper, so this was a big challenge for me!!  But I really love the result. It's simple, but it gets my point across. ;)  

**PUBLISHED - Scrapbook Trends**

 Have a great Monday!

Project Life Journaling Cards

hello! happy day after valentine's day! ;)

today i have a quick share of some project life journaling cards i made for the ormolu blog.  a couple of years ago i bought the becky higgins "project 365" kit, which was the predecessor to "project life." that was the year i had mirielle, and not much of anything got done that year! ;)  so i was left with a bunch of page protectors and journaling cards that i never used. unfortunately, the cards aren't the same exact size as the current project life cards/page protectors, but i don't mind.  i do mind the fact that the designs on the cards are very much NOT my style, and so i decided to jazz them up a bit with some ormolu products. here are the results:

ps: notice the lovely concrete backdrop! ;)  this is what happens when you don't get home until almost five o'clock and it's crazy dark and wintry!!  i'm sure my neighbors thought i was nuts!

Thankful. Every single day.

I have a challenge up at the Ormolu blog today...

Today I am off of school...
Planning on a little family time...
A little shopping...
A little cooking...
Maybe some kisses and snuggling...
It's going to be a good day. :)

family

Today, I wanted to share a layout I made for the Ormolu creative team. I love these flair buttons, and yes, my title is corny...but I'm corny, so it all works out. ;)

journaling: when miri met henry...it's not quite as perfect as it sounds.  becoming a family of four will be an adventure for us all, but it is one that i cannot wait to embark on.

I took this right as the sun was going down, and my white balance appears to be a little off...but you get the gist of it. ;) I hope you are all surviving the aftermath of Halloween. I, for one, have been dealing with crazy kids at school and crazy kids at home!!  The weekend can't come soon enough! :)

Us.

I have a layout to share today.  I made this one on Sunday night for the Ormolu blog. That would be why the photo was taken on my scrap desk. It's apparently the only place I can get a half decent photo at about midnight!! ;)  (And yes, I realize I forgot to put a date on it!  This has since been remedied!) This layout is for a color challenge. I chose aqua, red, black, and cream as my colors.  You can see the entire post here. If you have some extra time and want to create a layout based on this color scheme there could be a $5 Ormolu gift card in your future!! Here is my layout...

It's funny, I've had some people comment on the journaling and how sweet it is. But, I actually think the journaling is a little hokey. ;)  This was actually the second tag I journaled on. The first I liked much better, but I wasn't thinking and typed on the portion of the tag where the "u" needed to go. Silly me.  And the journaling on this tag...just not as good.  But I like the layout overall. It's fun to just mess with paper and put a bunch of different ones together! I'm definitely motivated by pretty paper!! Happy Wednesday!

Ormolu

I've had two posts up on the Ormolu blog that I wanted to share here. The first is a post about being green, something near and dear to my heart. I decided to write about scraps and ways to use them. I made a layout, a card, and a tag for the post:

The second post is my "Meet the Creative Team" feature! :) I made this layout using some Echo Park paper that I'd been hoarding for months! ;)
 
The second post has a giveaway of my favorite Ormolu product, the Negative Numbers Package tags, which are very similar to the ones used in this layout!  Check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win! Just be pepared...there is a giant photo of me at the beginning of the post...it's a bit frightening if you aren't expecting it! ;) Happy Monday...if there is such a thing!

I Get Misty...

I have a layout and a tutorial up on the Ormolu blog today.  The tutorial is about misting. Say what? For those of my scrappy friends that know me, you are well aware that mist and I are NOT friends. The big misting craze began a year or so ago...and I, for one, was not crazy about it.  It looked messy to me...and only a few people did it really well. I was also a bit scarred from a mist-tastrophe that included a red Maya mist that splurted (yes I made that word up) all over my paper...looking as though I had accidentally amputated my pinkie finger. Not pretty. But, in the past year, the mist has grown on me, especially with the release of the Studio Calico Mr. Hueys.  They are great colors and pretty easy to use.  I'm not about to become a crazy mister and mist every layout...but here and there...I admit, it almost looks good. ;) I went a little mist-wild on this layout, and I did a couple of "takes" before I was happy with the final product.  My only suggestion would be to make sure you are 100 percent sure of your colors before you begin misting. The brown here was a lot darker than I wanted, but I had a limited number of tags to work with and once I started, there was no turning back!

two to share

I have been busy...
and CHA tomorrow. yay for scrappy times!
for now, two more layouts to share!

(for the Ormolu creative team...check out today's post...there is a fantastic giveaway!)

(another July Midnight Rooster layout. can't wait to meet up with the MR girlies tomorrow!)

Scrappy shares...

I have a couple things to share today!  The first is a card that I made for the Ormolu design team. It is a 60th birthday card for my mom, though by the time she actually got the card the tag had been bent and the O was ripped off.  I suppose there's nothing like the special "Miri touch"! ;)

The second thing to share today is one of my July Midnight Rooster layouts! This month's kit "Butterfly Stampede" is now available, and as always it's a fabulous kit filled with great papers, fun embellishments, and unique one of a kind items.  I can't believe how much Miri has grown since these photos were taken last summer!!

It's funny..the layout started out looking pretty much nothing like the finished product.  I started w/ a bunch of layered pattern paper at the top (pattern on pattern), but it was too messy looking. So I ripped off the elements...though then there were a few little "oops" spots where the adhesive had been. I then, very selectively placed the buttons over the "oops" places! ;)  And finally, totally on a whim I added the bakers twine and the date and age flags...and I'm loving the result! Sometimes those mistakes happen for a reason! ;) I have some more layouts to share with you later this week!  But for now, be sure to check out the kit and the work my fellow designers created!  Have a great Wednesday!

(PS: Speaking of "oops"...I just realized I put Miri's age as 29 months, which is her age THIS August! Last August she was 17 months...I'll be changing that!)