Gossamer Blue December Memories Blog Hop

Welcome to the Gossamer Blue December Memories Blog Hop!  I am so thrilled to be doing my third GB December Memories album, and to share it with all of you.

I have two sweet friends who are doing their December Memories album along with me, so I have opted to put my kit in a tote bag to make getting together and scrapping super easy.

Every single tool + the entire kit contents fit perfectly!  I grabbed coordinating inks, embossing powders, twine, stamp blocks and cutting tools from my stash.

My dear friend Rebekah from Life of B created a photo prompt list that I'm using this year (click HERE to print her list or add it to your google calendar!), so my album will consist of a photo prompt pic and a daily pic, unless the two get combined for that day.  For my foundation pages, and because this is the way my brain works, I find it easiest to use sticky notes on the completed pages as reminders for where the photos go and what the photos will consist of (hopefully!).

As you can see, I'm doing some see-thru pockets this year (I also did a few last year); I really like how the next page peeks through the see-thru pocket.  I'm also mixing up the page protectors; I've done this every year and I just like changing up my photo sizes throughout the album.

To place the ampersand in the pocket I cut down a 3x4 pocket page.  I trimmed the edges of the page off until I had just the front of one 3x4 pocket, then attached the die cut and slipped the whole thing into my 3x4 pocket page.  Knowing you could see the back of the ampersand, I heat embossed the back of it using gold powder.  A bit of the powder got on the front as well, but it turned out great!  Happy accident :)

Doilies are making a strong statement in my pages, I think the gold ones included in the kit are so pretty!  I also really like the small bags in a pocket in place of a card.  As December progresses I hope our daily activities provide me some small ephemera or other goodies to place in the pockets.  If that doesn't work out I'll add in sequins or confetti!

I do anticipate having more than 1-2 photos on some days, so I'll use the extra pocket pages as inserts when needed.  I may cut down a 3x4 pocket page to just two pockets, or possibly stitch a 6x8 page down the middle and trim off the excess for a 3x8 page.  My process is to complete the foundation pages by the 3rd or 4th of December and then totally finish the pages with photos and additional embellishing every 1-2 days, as my schedule allows.  I absolutely do not get any further than 3 days behind, ever.  It's my one personal rule for this project!

Thanks so much for checking out my December Memories process!  This project is one of my all-time favorites each year, and one that I plan to continue into the future.  

Keep hopping along to the fabulous Jina Jean!

In case you get lost here's a master list for the blog hop, or you can go back to the Gossamer Blue blog to start over.

Anabelle O'Malley

Beshka Kueser
Brenda Weaver
Cindy Liebel
Diane Payne
Erin Taylor
Ewa Kujawska
Eyoung Lee
Heather Leopard
Jessica Lohof
Jill Cornell
Jill Keller   <------THAT'S ME!
Jina Jean  <------GO HERE NEXT!
Kasia Przbyt
Katie Ehmann
Keisha Campbell
Laura Rahel Crosby
Magda Mizera
Maria Lacuesta
Melanie Blackburn
Naomi Atkins
Michelle Wooderson
Pam Garrison
Rebecca Luminarias
Tara Anderson
Vanessa Perry
Yana Smakula

PL Cards on a 12x12 Layout

I created a layout using Project Life Blush edition and Bella Blvd Tiny Tots papers for the A Walk Down Memory Lane blog, check it out HERE.  A complete list of supplies and layout information is included in the post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the U.S. readers this week!  I'm so very thankful for a healthy child, beautiful friends, tons of family and so much more.

THE WINNER!

How excited am I to announce the winner of my first-ever blog giveaway?!?!?!?!?

Cheryl, please email me jillpkeller (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your prize!  Thank you to everyone who entered by following on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Cheers to the next 100 posts :)

New Facebook Page

I took some advice from my dear friend Rebekah at The Life of B and created a Facebook page for my blog.  Please like Creating Us on Facebook, I'm so close to 100 likes I can almost taste it!  And you know what would be the cherry on top?  If you liked Living the Life of B on Facebook too!

To like Creating Us click HERE.
To like The Life of B click HERE.

And now for a dose of cutie pie cuteness!

Miss Q, approximately 1 year ago.

Miss Q, ignoring me, approximately 1 week ago.

Here's to hoping your kids aren't ignoring you....and if they are, go like the new Facebook page!  And don't forget to enter the giveaway HERE!

Love This Girl: AWDML Blog

Hello Hello!  I'm up on the A Walk Down Memory Lane Blog today with this layout about my sweet Miss Q.  Please visit the blog for a tutorial on creating all these layers/the brands I used, and leave some love in the comments section!

Have you thought about your scrapping Christmas List yet?  

Make sure you enter my GIVEAWAY for my 100th Blog Post!!!  (click HERE)

Get busy....

This is No. 100!!!!

This is my 100th blog post and to celebrate in a BIG WAY, I'm doing a little giveaway!  My dear friend Rebekah at Living the Life of B has offered up an amazing hand scrub to keep your scrappin' fingers in prime scrap-condition and I have a bunch of embellishments to giveaway as well!  Here's the loot you can win:

The giveaway includes:  Deep Steep Hand Scrub (from Rebekah's blog here), Pebbles kraft letter stickers, black Thickers, AC DIY shop chalk badges, Crate Paper trim, Crate Paper Open Road embellies, Fancy Pants cork arrows, Basic Grey chalk badges, Studio Calico Scraps, Studio Calico clothes pins, Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings, Simple Stories DIY burlap stickers, Chic Tags gold foil lables, October Afternoon chipboard labels, Studio Calico transfers and Dear Lizzy ribbon photo corners.  Whew!  THAT IS A BUNCH OF EMBELLISHMENTS!

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY BELOW:
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Special thanks go out to Rebekah at Living the Life of B (because she's just awesome), Heather at Goldiecar Designs (because she's a fab internet friend and amazing scrapper), Gossamer Blue and A Walk Down Memory Lane.  If it wasn't for my dream spots on those two design teams I definitely wouldn't have reached 100 posts.

The giveaway will be open until 12 a.m. Friday, November 21, 2014.  Winner will be selected via random draw.  Winner will be announced on Sunday, November 23, 2014.

Gossamer Blue November Blog Hop: Instant

Hello!  Thanks for hopping along from the crazy-talented Heather Leopard's blog and landing here!

This is a November Main Kit only layout, with the addition of some Heidi Swapp Black Velvet Color Shine.  I loved the bright colors in the November kit so I took advantage of using a B&W photo by adding pops of color and gold on my layout.  The 3x4 card summed up just how I felt about the photo of my girly and hubs on a walk.

I used another 3x4 card trimmed out of the Basic Grey paper, layered it with a Maggie Holmes tag and bow and placed it along the bottom left side of the layout to create balance from the photo area.  The mist was flicked in the same direction of top right photo area to bottom left embellishment.

Next on the hop is the brilliant Kasia, click here to head over to her blog!  If you get lost or stumble upon a bad link please head back to the Gossamer Blue blog.

GB Blog  http://www.gossamerblue.com/blog/
Anabelle O'Malley  http://anabelleom.blogspot.com/
Beshka Kueser  http://www.bckueser.com/bckueser/
Brenda Weaver  http://sweetpapertreats.wordpress.com/
Cindy Liebel  http://cindyliebel.blogspot.com/
Diane Payne http://www.dianepayne.typepad.com/
Emily Spahn http://justem.typepad.com/scrapbookery/
Erin Taylor http://erintaylor718.blogspot.com/
Eunyoung Lee  http://www.eyoung-craft.blogspot.kr/
Jill Cornell http://jillcornell.blogspot.com/
Heather Leopard http://thespottedleopard.blogspot.com/
Jill Keller http://jillkeller.blogspot.com/  <-------- THAT'S ME!
Kasia Przbyt http://antilight-craft.blogspot.com/
Katie Ehmann http://antilight-craft.blogspot.com/
Keisha Campbell http://abiteast.typepad.com/abiteast/
Laura Rahel Crosby  http://laurarahel.blogspot.it/
Maria Lacuesta http://www.analog-paper.com/blog/
Melanie Blackburn  http://melblackburn.blogspot.ca/
Michelle Wooderson http://michellewooderson.blogspot.it/
Nicole Harper http://seriouslybrains.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Luminarias http://thurstonpost.blogspot.com/
Sabrina Alery http://www.sabrinaalery.com/
Vanessa Perry http://www.vanessadocumented.com/

100th Blog Post

I just realized that I'm only 2 posts away from my 100th blog post!  So crazy!  So to celebrate, I'm  going to host a little giveaway on Creating Us!  Stay tuned for my next post and what the giveaway will be... I think maybe I'll create a little box of Happy Mail for a lucky reader.

That layout has nothing to do with this post but it's an old favorite from Gossamer Blue a few years ago. I miss that baby!!!!!!  And it's a fun layout like this fun post!  Ha!

See ya at the same bat time, same bat channel 😉

Tiny Tots REVEAL

My first post is up on the A Walk Down Memory Lane Blog today!  Please click HERE to read my post and see the how-to for creating this layout!

Isn't that little guy in the pic just the cutest?  He let me squeeze him yesterday :)

With Gratitude...

Jill

Sneaky Sneaky

My first blog post will be running this week on A Walk Down Memory Lane!  I'm so excited I decided to share a little sneaky sneaky here and on Instagram.

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram:  jiller_p  Just request to follow me!

See ya on the inter-webs :)

Best Times Ever

My darling Q.  She seems so old lately...it's nice she's growing up but sad at the same time {sigh}.  I miss that chunky nine month-old so much!  But the girl she's becoming?  That girl is going places and directing traffic along the way.

I used the Gossamer Blue November Main Kit and Main Kit Add-on to make this layout about my girly.  She loves some kinetic sand, that one ("kin-neck-tic sand mama"), so we sat on the porch during a light rain and she dug and squished and created and destroyed and it just made for a perfect memory.

I used Mister Huey's Cameo, Piglet and Pickle to color the Heidi Swapp embellies.  I think I'm falling in love with Heidi's line of mistables.

Feeling dreamy. . . .

November Rewind

The November kits are absolutely amazing this month! Such a fantastic range of colors and mix of products... for the November Rewind I knew I wanted to scrap the little over-night getaway the hubs and I took to Denver to see a favorite band play. The Basic Gray pieces offered up so many bright hues that I knew the July kits would mix perfectly.

Up first are the pieces for the November kits: Basic Gray papers, stickers, frames and feather die cuts from the Main Kit, Add-on Kit #2 and Life Pages Themed Add-on.

Next are the items from the July kits: Fancy Pants paper and flair, and Crate Paper Thickers, stickers

and paper.

The frames from Basic Gray were my whole inspiration for this page so after cutting down the map paper and gluing it down, I laid out the frames and photos.

After fussing with it a bit, I glued down the frames and photos first, then started embellishing. The Crate Paper stickers provided the geotags to highlight of few places we visited in Denver, including Denver on the map paper. I also used the Basic Gray Incredibly Awesome sticker to link a few of the main pieces together

The washi tape in the November kits is so cute, love that both rolls have multiple patterns on them!

I created my title with the July kits Thickers and sticker sheet. I love mixing fonts to create my title, and these Thickers were a must-use for the layout.

I embellished with the lovely feather die cuts from the November kits and used my Tiny Attacher on a few different spots to create more texture.

  

Thanks for reading, I hope to see your Rewinds in the gallery!

   

   

Anticipation

When I was a kid, waiting for Christmas took for-ev-er.  To deal with my anticipation, I would secretly unwrap some of my gifts and then re-tape them before my mom could catch me (YES, I really did that.  But my older sister Amy is the one who showed me how to do it.  YOU'RE TOTALLY BUSTED NOW FAV SISSY!).

Fav Sissy and Q, circa 2012

As an adult I don't feel the compulsion to unwrap gifts under the tree, mainly because my husband knows better than to put them under the tree before Christmas.  Another thing that helps is working on my December Memories album.  I take at least one photo a day leading up to Christmas and document it in a mini album.  It can be a photo of Christmas decorations, daily life, activities, anything really.  This year, like the last two years, I'm using the Gossamer Blue December Memories kit.  The kit comes with the album, page protectors and about a zillion papers, embellishments and stamps to create and document all your memories for December.  The number of exclusives in this kit blows me away--enamel dots, cork pieces, papers, vellum and the album itself can only be purchased in this kit.

Making memories....

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Hey Guys--my big announcement is official today!  I was picked for a spot on the A Walk Down Memory Lane Design Team!  Wooooo-hooooo!  High Fives all around :)

A Walk Down Memory Lane is a full-service online and brick-and-mortar store located in Rock Valley, IA.  The owner, Lisa, and her DT Coordinator, Samantha, have got to be two of the kindest gals I've had the pleasure of emailing.  I am THRILLED to be a part of this awesome design team, I can't find enough happy adjectives to describe how I feel!

To read my bio on the AWDML blog click HERE.  Leave a comment on the blog post and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a $10 AWDML gift card!!!  If you feel like doing some shopping at this fantastic store, click HERE.

I'll be writing one blog post a week using the fab goodies from the AWDML store.  Be sure to check the blog to see what I create!

I'm on Cloud 9!  Can you see me way up in the sky?

Discovery Part 2

In thinking about why I love this hobby/craft/art/whatever-you-want-to-call-it....

1. You can't get it wrong.  It's what YOU love to do, it's the colors that YOU like, it's photos YOU choose.  Most importantly, it's what is pleasing to YOU in every way.
2. Style.  If you like to do similar page layouts over and over and over, DO THAT.  I tend to use one photo, sometimes 2-3 smaller photos, with lots of layering.  It makes me happy.  It's my style.
3. Patterned paper.  That is all.
4. Cards.  Mixed Media.  Home Decor.  There are about a million different ways this craft can go, the path is there for choosing or not.  I don't enjoy Home Decor projects so much, so I stay off that path.  I love cards and refuse to buy them anymore (unless handmade!), so cards is one of the paths I take.  
5. Amazing on-line friends.  Get active in a gallery or forum or both.  Share your work.  Connect.  This is one of the kindest communities you will ever find, make some friends, you will come to value them.

After writing Discovery Part 1 (read it here) I realized that the things I listed that aren't me are actually things I didn't feel confident in doing.  While I will probably never master grids like Lisa, there's no reason I can't do my own version.  Flicking and misting?  I think I'm definitely getting better.  I just have to keep at it.

Here's to keepin' on :)

P.S.  I have A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming sometime this week.  BIG.

I Treasure You

The Gossamer Blue November kits went live on Saturday, and with all this amazing Crate Paper stuff it's no surprise that all of the kits are sold out except for the Main Kit Add-on!  Lori at Gossamer Blue is incredibly talented when it comes to putting together a winning line up.  For this layout I used all of the CP Maggie Holmes products.  I have to say that Crate Paper is one of my favorite companies and the Maggie Holmes lines are beautiful, feminine and make my scrap-lovin' heart smile!  This photo of Q's tangly ponytail with a perfect curl at the bottom was a calling for a girly layout.  

My friend Rebekah at Living the Life of B has been helping with my layout photos, which are way harder to take than I realized at the beginning of this craft journey.  But I'm getting there, and enjoying the process.  

Happy Sunday, friends.