AWDML: You, My Brown Eyed Girl

Tuesday AGAIN!  I've got a video (and a major blooper) on the A Walk Down Memory Lane blog HERE.  

I just love my girly's big dark eyes.  I remember waking up one time when she was still tiny, I had to use the bathroom and when I crept back into our bedroom there were these big, brown, baby eyes looking right at me.  She didn't make a peep, just looked right at me and started kicking with excitement.  I miss those days.  But I'm content with right now, soaking up every single minute.

Be happy, friends!

Gossamer Blue: August Reveal

Happy 1st of August my friends!  It's reveal day for Gossamer Blue and the kits are perfect for scrapping summer photos.  I'm sharing one of my favorite pages, featuring my sweet girly in one of her favorite places:  our backyard.

August kits have October Afternoon, Simple Stories, Fancy Pants and Crate Paper.  The mix of products truly blew me away, Lori is incredibly talented and makes the best kits, hands down.

Get your goodies at noon central HERE.

Pages, just because

I have not 1, not 2 but THREE lovely Carta Bella Paper projects to share today!  First up is a photo from my wedding, when the hubs and his band did a special performance just for little 'ol me :)

I used the Rustic Elegance kit for this page, punching confetti bits with a EK Success punch and adhering them down here and there on the page.  Major glue fingers and I stuck to everything for a minute, but worth it for the fun look on the page.  I added a few gold paper clips from my stash to give the page a bit more edge.  Apologies for blowing out a few of the stickers in the photo, I messed with my camera settings and can't get them back the way I would like.

Next up is sweet Liam!  My friend Rebekah (please read her blog HERE) hosted a playdate this past winter and I caught this moment when Liam was watching out the big picture window.  I used a Silhouette file and took out some of the cut lines to get the page background the way I wanted.  I used papers from the Boy Oh Boy collection and sequins from my stash along with an Ali Edwards cut file for the title.

Last is a page featuring the girly and her hatred of birthday cake!  Ok, she doesn't hate cake, but she hates cake tipping over in her lap!

Love these photos by Tracy Perrett!  I had to include a Bella Blvd feather to mimic Miss Q's fancy headband, and what birthday page isn't complete without sequins?!?!?  The papers are from the precious Baby Mine collection.  The pat-a-cake card fit perfectly with the photos and I used Silhouette files for the 1 circle and scallop and turned it into a rosette ribbon by notching the ends of some scraps.  Another Silhouette file was used for the title, off set with gray card stock.

These are photos I've had ready for scrapping for a while, but was waiting for the right papers to come along :)

Keep on keepin' on, friends!

Gossamer Blue: Magical

The last of the June layouts made with the pretty, colorful and delightful Gossamer Blue June kits. This one is all about my girly and her obsession with my high heels (for the record, I haven't worn high heels since before I was pregnant with this kiddo!).  

That floral paper is so dreamy, isn't it?  And the vellum, it spoke to me on many levels.  The majority of this layout came from the June Main Add-on Kit, which you can still purchase.  If I were you, I would head HERE and buy it right away.  

I've been getting some pretty awesome photos with my iPhone lately, taking inspiration from my dear friend Rebekah at Life of B.  Rebekah has a way of framing a photo and catching a moment... she's pretty amazing and whenever I get a good pic I know it's because I channeled my inner RB.

I use the PicTapGo app for filters and cropping.  There are many great phone apps for filters but this is the one I got and I am very pleased with the results.  

You'll be seeing these photos, and more, on some layouts soon.  Stay happy my friends.

The last few days...

The girly and I took an adventure to my hometown for Old Settler's Reunion.  This celebration occurs every five years and most people who grew up/lived there at one point return to reconnect.  I spent time with one of my classmates and was able to visit with another very briefly, plus see a handful of others from my childhood.  Now I get to share Old Settler's Reunion with my girly!

Our last day before heading home to get some much-needed rest included birthday cake for me!

41 years old.  For some reason this number is harder to take than 40!  It shouldn't matter at this point, the number doesn't signify anything.  Maybe the birthday in combination with Old Settler's made me reflect a bit more than other birthdays, as I've been spending more time on memories lately.  Lots of changes in my life since the last Old Settler's Reunion, mainly the addition of Miss Q in our lives!  

Here's a quick re-cap of the last 5 years:

• Miss Q
• Quitting work to stay home with my girly
• Design Team Member!  Special thanks to Lori at Gossamer Blue and Lisa at A Walk Down Memory Lane for having faith in my work
• New (to us), bigger house that I love.  I've also realized I don't really like houses built after the 1960's
• So many new girlfriends.  Making friends as an adult is about a million times harder than when you're a kid (and by kid, I mean college age and younger).  There are several girlies that have really impacted my life in a positive way--you know who you are
• KIDS.  I love and adore my friends' kiddo's
• FAMILY.  Hoping to stay connected to extended family!  I recently found a few of my favorite cousins from my childhood on Facebook and that is the best. feeling. ever.

There's so much more.  I think I'm going to spend some more time immersed in these memories and thoughts, maybe do a now and then post sometime soon.  It feels like something inside needs rediscovered and I'm awfully close to finding it.

Stay happy my friends!

XOXO

Jill

Gossamer Blue May Blog Hop

Thanks for hopping along to my blog with the Gossamer Blue blog hop!  I am sharing one of my favorite layouts from the May kits, plus a little extra project I completed.

The Maggie Holmes die cuts in the Main Add-on #2 just spoke to me... I remembered this photo from a zoo trip last year and had to use the giraffe die cut!  I also used the Bits and Pieces kit on this page.

The Maggie Holmes ephemera pack has some amazing die cut words.

And there were tons of bits in the Fancy Pants Designs ephemera as well.  I think the "splendiferous" definition worked perfect next to the giraffe.

I really liked the wood heart frame from the Main Add-on #2 and thought it would be cute as part of Miss Q's room decor.

I rarely make room decor and thought this would be a simple project--and it was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!  I'm totally going to attempt another project like this in the near future.

In case you encounter a broken link during the hop, head back to Gossamer Blue or refer to the list below.  Thanks for stopping by and head on to my favorite Aussie, Joy Taylor, by clicking HERE.


Annabell O'Malley
Beshka Kueser
Brenda Weaver
Caylee Greyvenstien
Cindy Liebel
Diane Payne
Emily Spahn
Erin Taylor
Eunyoung Lee
Heather Leopard
Jill Keller  <------THAT'S ME!
Joy Taylor   <------GO HERE NEXT!
Katie Ehmann
Laura Rahel Crosby
Tara Anderson

In the Springtime

I missed the first day of Spring by a day or so.  But that's not stopping me from feeling inspired by all the possibilities of Spring:  flowers, sunshine, fresh color, outside play.  This is my second favorite season, a close runner-up to Fall.  I think Spring is sheer perfection; I feel hopeful and energized after the darkness that Winter can bring.  I like a slow warm-up to Summer and Spring gives me just what I need.  But Fall...she makes me feel like falling in love, which is why she will always be my favorite.

But today it's all about the delicate perfection of Spring.

My precious Miss Q, Queen of the Dirt Diggers

Daffodil in our front yard

Peanut Butter M&M's, in a favorite green Ball jar

Do you have a favorite season?  

I'm feeling very inspired by color lately; the Gossamer Blue April kits are absolutely so lovely, you can check out the Lookbook HERE.  Isn't this the perfect color scheme for Spring?

Birthday Invitations

So... I did not have intentions of making birthday party invites for Miss Q's 3rd Birthday Bash. However, I've become a paper craft snob and couldn't find anything, anywhere, that came remotely close to what I wanted for her party.  Ok, that's not entirely true, I found tons of adorable stuff that I just couldn't bring myself to pay $60 for.

I made a quick Hobby Lobby run and found white cards on sale, then saw these super cute Me & My Big Ideas banner pieces.  My mind was made up, I just needed to make them myself.

I used two different font stamp sets from Lawn Fawn and two Hero Arts shadow inks for all the stamping.  I stamped one line at a time and wasn't too worried about keeping things straight or perfect.  

I used some Dear Lizzy papers and white paper die cut with Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle dies for the front.  I have had that adorable stamp for a few years and thought it was perfect for this because of the three candles on the cake.

 This was my first dance with Copic markers.  I'm officially addicted now so if anyone knows of a good place to purchase them (read: low cost), please tell me!

I stamped Let's Celebrate in gray Hero Arts ink using another Lawn Fawn stamp.

I loved the invites and was really happy I decided to make them myself.  Hooray for Handmade!

Miss Q At three

We had quite the celebration last weekend.  Our girly turned THREE.

Cupcakes.  Sugar Cookies.  Balloon's.  Love.  So much love at this party.

It's hard to describe living with a three year old.  Mood swings.  Yeah, I think mood swings sums it up the best.

Our dolly is a delight.  Incredibly imaginative.  She can play pretend with her babies for hours.

Our girl is dramatic.  The smallest things can break her heart.

She's learning to be a friend.

She's understanding what it means to share (although she doesn't seem to care for it).

She still loves paci.  When she is looking for paci and finally finds it, she typically exclaims, "there you are my beautiful paci!"

I know she's too old for paci.  But I don't want her to grow up yet.

This girl is going to preschool in the Fall.  It's all she can talk about.

And in the next breath, asks me if I can stay with her while she's at school.

I know this girl will be amazing.  

She's definitely going places.

And one day she will leave home for good.

Until then, you can find us spending our days like this.

Happy Three our precious girl.