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!!

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!! :)

 

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!  

Dance Recital {Gossamer Blue Pinspired}

Happy Monday!  There are only three more weeks of summer!!! Where has the time gone?!  I had a new layout up on the Gossamer Blue blog on Friday as part of my monthly Pinspired challenge.  I had a pretty fantastic visual inspiration piece this month and had a great time making my layout!  Here is my final product:

 My favorite part of this layout is definitely the fun row of Teresa Collins brads!  I often have trouble using brads on my layouts, but these worked perfectly here!

For more information, including the original Pinspired piece, check out the post on the GB blog! Have a great day!

1, 2, 3...Jump! {Farewell, Pebbles!}

As of August 1, I am officially done with my gig at Pebbles.  I have proudly designed for them for two years, and it's been wonderful watching them grow and evolve. They have some crazy cool releases right now...those new design team members are in for a treat!  Today I have my very last Pebbles layout to share. It's a little crazy. I guess I felt like going out with a bang. ;)  This uses their newest "Birthday Wishes" line, which is really fun, and colorful!  

 

Have a great Wednesday!

Meeting Oliver {Pebbles}

This is my last month with the Pebbles team.  It's been a fabulous two years designing with them !!  Today I have one of my last layouts for Pebbles.  This features a mix of their lines, but most prominently uses their Birthday Wishes line, though it is a "birthday" layout in another sense! ;) These are some of my favorite photos of the first time my husband held our newest baby (who is almost a year old now - where does the time go?!).  When Oliver was born, he laid on my chest for a couple of hours before I was willing to let him go so he could meet his Daddy up close and personal! ;)  Luckily I was ready with my camera to capture this special moment between father and son!

We have a busy week full of friends and activities!  I have a lot of blog material to cover in the next couple of weeks - some fun scrapbooking news to share, as well as some great kit crafts and summer treats. As always, thanks for stopping by! :)

#summer14 {gossamer blue july}

Happy Monday!  We had a fantastic weekend and have a fun-filled week of swimming lessons, tumbling camp, a dance recital, and a 10 year anniversary!!  Today I have one of my July kit layouts to share! This uses the pie chart cut files - did you know that all Gossamer Blue kits come with printables and cut files?? Good stuff!

This is a week filled with announcements over at Gossamer Blue - starting with a fun grab bag sale today! Be sure to check back every day this week...I can promise you won't be disappointed! ;) 

Explore {Gossamer Blue July}

Happy Monday. I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted - and how is it already July 7th?!  This summer is flying by!!  Today I have my Main Kit-only layout using the Gossamer Blue July kit! This kit (and its add-ons) ranks up there with my favorite GB kits of all time!! 

I didn't take any close-ups, but there's nothing too out of the ordinary here!  I took this photo at a beach not too far from our new home.  We've been exploring all the major parks in the area, and one day last month they requested a beach...so we found one! ;)  Stay tuned for some some big news coming to Gossamer Blue in a couple of weeks! Can't wait! :)

Guest Designing: Simple Stories

Happy June!! I cannot believe it is JUNE already.  Wasn't it just snowing last month? Oh wait...it actually was. ;)  I'm very excited to be guest designing for Simple Stories this month.  I was given the choice of collections to create with, and I chose their super fun new line "Good Day Sunshine."  I love all the woodgrain combined with all the vibrant colors!  I will share my projects over the next few days, but I will start with my favorite!!  This was the first layout I made, and it makes me smile...which is good since it's called "Summer Smiles." :)

I LOVE this piece of cloud/text paper. It's probably my favorite piece in the entire collection.  I used some vellum from my stash to create a sunburst effect over the top section of the layout, and then I brought the vellum back down at the bottom.  The font I used to cut my title  is "Always in My Heart."

 

It's rainy here today...but it's the first day of the last full week of school!  (NINE more days, yikes!)  Hope everybody has a fantastic day! :)

Kid Crafting: Washi Easter Eggs

I was planning on sharing this photo on Saturday before Easter, and I'd like to say that I couldn't because of that ridiculous Typepad outage, but in reality, I was totally busy with yard work and cooking for Sunday and all that jazz...so...in an effort to draw out Easter a few more days...here's a cute Easter craft that I blatantly stole from the Internet. That's right, like the majority of my kid crafts, I do not claim credit or responsibility for any of this!!

My first step was using my Silhouette Cameo to create some egg shapes.  At first I thought I was going to have to buy and egg shape from the Silhouette Store because I am a big old die cutting dummy, but after about five minutes, I was able to use the "oval" tool to create some pretty stellar egg shapes. I then gathered some other supplies - namely, washi tape and a craft knife.  A word to the wise - choose tape that you don't mind wasting, because man do kids have NO clue how to conserve product! ;)  

I adhered the negative image to a white piece of cardstock using a single strip of washi, then off my daughter went with the rest of the tape. I just gave her free reign to pick and choose what and where she wanted the tape.

Here is the egg after she finished with the tape:

And here is the final product once I used my craft knife to cut out the egg:

 I took one "in progress" cutting photo...you know...because y'all couldn't figure that out on your own... ;)

They turned out really cute! We made a few more and did some other nifty activities like stacking the washi tape... ;)  

She realized they weren't in rainbow order and had to start over again...that's my girl! ;) In this photo, you can see one of the funkier eggs sitting on the table next to her...not sure why I didn't take a good picture of that one.

The rainbow washi prompted her to make a rainbow egg. I love that she chose to create a (somewhat) symmetrical rainbow going from top to bottom!

 And yes, she is indeed wearing a tutu and a swimsuit over her shirt...because that's just how we roll...

It truly was a fun and easy project. We managed to make six eggs in the short time that her brothers were napping, and if you know them, you know that when I say "short", I really mean it!!  The only bummer is that the washi is not the stickiest of tapes, and the tape is starting to come up on a lot of them. Perhaps I should laminate them and keep them forever. Or throw them away and make more next year. We shall see... ;) Hope all of my Easter celebrating readers (all four of you, ha!) had a great Easter!