Lovely October

Gossamer Blue offered up some amazing kits for October....I went a little bonkers with my order :)

Sno-Cone

This is one that I don't love now that I see a pic of it.  Ever have those moments?

Dear

A layout about my BFF's husband.  Miss Q calls him Dear.  I call him a pain in the buns, but love him anyways!

40 & FAB

My sweet Winif turned 40 this month, I had to do a layout of her birthday lunch and our silly photos.  Love this girl!!!

Q and I took another trip to visit my Dad (Papa), and I snapped this lovely photo of Kansas:

I think I included this in a previous post, but isn't the sky amazing?  And I love that old truck in a field.  So awesome.  

Little Johnny

My dad's lady friend's son-in-law has a farm (with me so far?) so Miss Q and I took a trip out there to meet this gorgeous fella. 

Little Johnny is the name, being mini horse is my game. 

Isn't he just a doll?  I SO want a mini horse in the backyard!

Yet Another Layout

I still have loads of Gossamer Blue's September kit and, because it is soooo awesome, I plan to keep working through it until there's nothing left. This is a layout of my fantastic father-in-law and Miss Q's #1 fella (after Daddy of course), GRAMPY. 

I just received the GB October kits on Monday and did this girl load up or what?!?!  There was so much amazing stuff when I opened the box I was a tiny bit giddy!  Haha. It's like Christmas every month. Can't wait to get elbow deep in a bunch o' goodness!!!

so busy...

I've been a busy bee using up the September Gossamer Blue kits!  Here's all the layouts I've made, and I still have plenty of product left to do some more!  September's kits have been some of my favorites...Gossamer Blue nailed it once again :)  But first, here's a few from
August's kits:

Right Here

Away We Go!

And now the goodies from September:

My Dad

This one is so dear to me, I've grown so much closer to my dad since he retired and I had my daughter.  Love spending time with him.

Make New Friends

A tribute to my two best friends, Freddi and Angie.  We celebrated our 20th Friend-aversary this year!

LOVE

I snapped these photos of Angie and her husband on a visit early this summer.  Adore. Them.

Out Here

Photos from our day with my dad.

Be Happy

I originally made this for the GB anniversary sketch challenge and didn't get it uploaded in time.

#BFF

I challenged myself to a 15 minute layout.  While I like this layout, I see what I would have done with more time.

Sweet Child of Mine

I had to use that Sweet Child card because it reminded me of the Guns-n-Roses song!  Did I just date myself?  haha!  And the card went perfectly with the photos.

Confessions of a Pace Mouth

I think the layout title describes the page perfectly!  Tons of photos with Miss Q and her bff, Paci.

I have also been trying to use up my stash...I purchased the first Maggie Holmes for CP products and rediscovered them the other day, so I challenged myself again to make a layout that's just for me, and to use up some stuff.  (The stamps are old Hero Arts for Studio Calico I had received in a kit some years back.)  I love this one...

Find Joy & Shine On

And that wraps up my most recent layouts!  Enjoy.

Winner

Guess who won the July Gossamer Blue scraplift challenge?

THIS GIRL!
Gossamer Blue Blog

July P12

Hello August, when did you get here?

I completed the July P12 for Gossamer Blue and finally remembered to post it, so here goes nothing ;)

 Here's the two page layout, I'm having difficulty getting a clear pic with my iPhone, but I will overcome!!!

Right side, includes photos of our tree removal early in the month, my lil' firecracker and parade pics.

Left side shows tons of family pics from a couple visits to my hometown.  Also a shot of Q giving her grandma's pic a stroller ride and meeting a sweet pup named Jordy.

I just received my second album from Gossamer Blue as a reward for posting 4 (or more) layouts in the Flickr gallery.  That makes the GB kit club the most awesome one around.  I encourage anyone interested in monthly kits to check them out!

I'm a Winner! (Sometimes)

So the super fun Heather Goldiecar did a post with some of her awesome layouts...I commented on the post because she had a layout dedicated to Sanuk flips, which are my all time favorite flips.  EVER.  And guess what happened?  I WON SOME HAPPY MAIL!

(Please ignore the wee baby hand snagging stuff from the pile o' loot.)

So yeah, I got a ton of awesome papers and embellies and I do believe I'll be whipping out some cards and other goodies soon.  THANKS HEATHER, YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

Whew! Some days it's a marathon...

OF SCRAPPING!

I finished another three layouts from my Gossamer Blue July kits.  First up is 3 Generations, a layout featuring my super cute, bubble-blowing hubby, Miss Q and my youthful mother-in-law.

Next is We Are Related...it seems not a one of us looks alike in my family, but we can sure make stupid faces!!!  My sister Amy is on the right and my nieces Shelby (dark hair) and Katie (blonde) are in the middle.  I'm trying to use my handwriting more on layouts, but this didn't turn out as I would have liked, darn it!

I also did the Gossamer Blue Scraplift challenge this month, lifting the lovely Erica's Snow Day layout.

I loved her misting from corner to corner, and the snowflakes are sooooo pretty.  I did a little bit of misting, but mainly used an ink pad + stencil to get a similar effect on my layout, Sister.

I feel as if I get into a bit of a rut and my layouts are a bunch of the same, so the scraplift challenge helps me get out of my same 'ol, same 'ol.  And holy cow, how unattractive is my face in that top right picture?  I had no idea I could look so incredibly constipated :-/  HAHAHAHA!

Gossamer Blue, Layout Two

I LUUUUURRRRRRVVVVE the colors in the July kits!  So gorgeous, really.

After photographing the layout, I'm not real sure I like the ink splatters, but whaddya gonna do?  The vellum paper is lovely, so I cut up the strip and used it to make a banner (shocker!), and the clouds are really to die for.  Looking at the photos I can't believe my Q was that tiny way back in December!  She was a bit unsure about playgroup in general, as my girlie is a bit on the cautious side at first.  Can't believe how much she has grown in 7 months!!!

Gossamer Blue Pinterest Challenge

I skipped last month's GB Pinterest challenge, so I had to jump on this month's challenge super-quick so I could be sure to get my entry in!  I opted to use a color scheme chosen by the fabulous Emily rather then search for one of my own; I find that Em's inspirations are spot-on and easy to work with, so I went with this one:

Here's my take on the colors:

The background has the darker blue text on white, the orangey-yellow heart paper gives the pop of color and the green paper helps pull the color scheme together.  I like the cork accents to bring in the tan color in the inspiration picture.  So there you have it!

Fab 5

I was able to bust out 5, count'em 5 layouts with the June Gossamer Blue kits!
Let's get to it...

Chicken Feet

 Amazing Quinn Starring in Her First Summer

 Fun

 Dear Grandma

Feeling the Love Love Love
June 13 GB Sketch Challenge
And just totally realized I mis-spelled nieces.  HOW EMBARRASSING.

Life is crazy busy right now, and some days I feel like I'm not even doing that much.  Time is just sliding through my fingers...

I hope to play along this month with Emily's Pinterest Challenge on the GB blog as well.  There just aren't enough hours in the day!  I did complete my May P12 layout, but just didn't get photos taken....but I promise I did it.  Cross my heart :)

Two More Layouts....finally

I'm cutting it close to the wire to make the date for the Gossamer Blue monthly album challenge.  I finished my last two layouts last night and just got them uploaded to the Flickr gallery:

I'll get my May Project 12 completed tonight and I think I"ll be sitting good for the month.  I've only had a minute to check out the June kit, which arrived last week.  I'm just running like crazy on my hamster wheel it seems, not getting anywhere anytime soon!

Is May the craziest month ever for you, too?

So, it seems like everyone and their uncle graduated this May.  Fortunately for me, Gossamer Blue had just the perfect kits this month for all those grads!

I used the GB kits to create 3 graduation cards and a birthday card.  Here's the grad cards:

 This was for my nephew Kale's 8th grade promotion.  Back in my day, they called it 8th grade graduation!  Why the change?  These things puzzle me :)  I used Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler for this card.

I created this for my darling Manny (my nephew Brant, or as Miss Q says, "Brrrrr.")  He graduated high school (waaahhh!), but will be attending college in the city I live in so that's a bonus, right?  Can't believe that chubby faced baby grew up already.  I used Simon Says Stamps You stamp set--it's a must-have, by the way.

This was created for my sister's nephew (by marriage).  Austin has joined the military and I thought he would appreciate the sentiment on this Simple Stories Urban Traveler card, along with the map.  I used Lawn Fawn's So Much to Say stamps for the congrats.

This card was created for my husband's nephew--he just turned 13.  That kid dreams of visiting Russia (!?!?!) of all places.  He's definitely into doing all sorts of boy things and adventures and camping and whatever else 13 year old boys do.  He's not into fancy, so I stamped and fussy cut the star, then layered it over the circle sentiment.  These stamps came from Paper Trey Ink (sorry, can't find the set to link!).

Last, I made this basic grad card for my husband's co-worker, who just completed his degree.  I did some Versamark stamping of the Lawn Fawn grad cap (So Much to Say), then used clear embossing powder.  I used some gold glitter paper and gold Zing to highlight the sentiment from Paper Smooches Simply Said set.

 So, that's my May so far!  Ready for things to slow down a bit, but I'm doing a garage sale in just over a week, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, then going on a girl trip to visit a very dear friend.  It will be my first time leaving Miss Q overnight and I'm already devastated.  I hope I handle it ok....a 7 hour drive to have a crappy time just doesn't sound like fun, does it?

I {heart} Just Em

Emily Spahn of Just Em is absolutely amaze-balls.  She's all sorts of a cool mom, makes awesome, colorful and full-of-whimsy scrapbook pages, and loves macaroni and cheese.  The cherry on top to all this?  Emily designs for Gossamer Blue too!  I love her monthly Pinterest challenges that give me a jumping off point with my layout, and get me to do something I probably wouldn't have done on my own.  Check out this month's Pinterest Challenge on the GB blog here.

I opted to design with the cool blues and greens, and created my layout using the GB May kits (which are also pretty darn amaze-balls, too).

Ok, so this layout is more blues than greens :)  And sorry about the glare on the green banner.  I'm still trying to figure out where to take the best pics of my layouts.

Go check out Emily's blog and play along with GB's Pinterest challenge!

P12: April

So I finally finished my Gossamer Blue Project 12....it seemed as if it took forever!  But in reality, these pocket style pages and scrapping this way really is quite quick and easy.  I think people new to scrapbooking and memory keeping would really enjoy this without feeling overwhelmed.  So, here's what I cooked up:

I really like using my monthly GB kits for my P12, I already have everything out and tossed crazily organized neatly all over the floor.  This month included a banner I made for our dear friend's baby shower, my darling niece Shelby's first prom and lunch with two of my sister's.  There's a snap of my darling paci mouth Miss Q, along with her new favorite game of Guess If I Took My Diaper Off This Morning (it's fun for Q but nothing but horrors for Daddy and Mama!).  I also included Miss Q cruising around the furniture and a stroller ride.  So that's April all wrapped up neatly in my Project 12 Album :)

Gossamer Blue April Kit Layouts

So I finally got my Gossamer Blue April kits put together for some layouts, and I have to say I rather enjoyed using the Maggie Holmes photo frames.  I've always liked photo frames, but had difficulty using them.  I think I overcame my mental block with the frames and used them in some fun ways.

Here I used three frames, using one for the Instagram picture, one for the title, "Bow," and another as a decorative element.  The majority of this page is Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper (which was a homerun in every aspect, in my opinion).

This page is inspired by the amazing Nichol Magouirk's style.  She does fantastic layering and uses stamps, Silhouette cuts and tons of embellishments.  I just love her style!!!  I used more Maggie Holmes, some Dear Lizzy embellishments, Ali Edwards stamps.

A few more Instagram photos with tons of Maggie Holmes embellishments and papers.  The gold letter stickers are Maggie Holmes Thickers.  I love the pic of Miss Q, she looks like she's so interested in whatever Daddy is saying :)

A Love Hate Relationship used two more Maggie Holmes fabric frames, along with some Maggie embellies and a few Dear Lizzy items.

My May Gossamer Blue kit should be arriving today!  Can't wait to see the fun in that box...I should have a Project 12 post in the next day or so, I just need to embellish my pocket page and it will be ready for posting.