Gossamer Blue: Swim Style

One of my favorite pieces of paper in the June Main Kit from Gossamer Blue, is the hearts and graph paper combo from Pink Fresh Studios. I really like the rainbow colors on the bright white background along with how the graph paper creates a natural spot for photos and embellishments. When I cut this paper down to 9x12, I decided I didn't want to go for my usual paper layering. Instead, I wanted to fill the blank space with the cute frames and square stickers from Simple Stories using a grid design.

As I was working on the grid using my photos and frames, I did not like the weight of the classic 2x2 grid and how it was "overfilling" my page. My solution was to modify my grid and only include 3 squares. After making this change, I felt much better about my layout and it reminded me that it's okay to let go of ideas that just aren't working for you.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Michelle

The Cut Shoppe: Crazy Hair Day

Hello! Michelle back with you again and today I am showcasing the super fun background cut file Quirky Quads from The Cut Shoppe!

Recently I have been playing around with more mixed media, spray inks to be more exact, and when I went searching through the cut files I was looking specifically for something that would allow for the color from my inks to peak through. The Quirky Quads cut file, which is avaialbe in both and 12x12 and 8.5x11, was just perfect!

For my layout I didn't need the entire background, so I cut just a few rows out to layer underneath the photos. To adhere the quads to the cardstock I used just a little bit of glue and then machine stitched through them.

Wishing you the best day!

Michelle

In The Scrap: June Challenge

Hello! This past month I officially joined the design team at In the Scrap--a challenge blog based in Spain!

This invitation came to me at a really good time-you see, I had been feeling a little lackluster creativity-wise. I wanted to scrap, but my brain felt a little dried up.  What I had been doing just wasn't working anymore for me. Surely, I am not alone with this feeling?? This little slump really had me thinking that maybe I needed to revisit some of the things I used to do, such as participate in online scrapbooking challenges--something that I used to do on a regular basis. I Then along came the invitation....Funny how things work out sometimes!

Like I said earlier, In the Scrap is a great place to find lots of scrappy inspiration. For example, on the first of the month a new challenge is issued and the design team provides their takes on it. This month the challenge is a mood board type of challenge:

When I saw the "My Celebration" themed images I was excited! There were so many ways to take the theme and I was super excited to look through my stash to find products. When I create a project based off of this type of challenge I always start with making a list of all the things that stand out to me and here is what I wrote down:

Celebrate; gold foil; lights, wood grain; pink thread; ballons; 

blue, ruquoise, and pinks; banners; string lights; hearts; and arrows.

Having a written list really helped me zero in on specific products as I was looking for things to use. It's always nice to shop your stash!  Here is what I came up with:

When it came down to putting the inspiration from the image to use, I really embraced the whole theme of celebration. From my photos of my daughters on the youngest's birthday to the birthday themed embellishments, it's is obvious I went pretty literal. 

I love the little details that this challenge inspired, such as the addition of the pink thread and the foil hearts. These were two things that I probably would not have thought to add if not for the challenge and I just love what these minor details brought to my page!

One of my favorite parts about scrappy challenges is seeing what others do. There are just so many possibilities and I invite you to head on over to the blog to see what the rest of the design team did with the challenge :). 

Michelle 

Gossamer Blue Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the September Gosssamer Blue Inspirational Blog Hop!

I know that the "kit world" moves pretty fast and when most of you are receiving your kits the design team is receiving the next month's kit which means sneaks of the new kits start happening.

At Gossamer Blue we know that can be pretty overwhelming, so we've come up with a solution-each month on the 15th we are going to inspire you just as you are receiving your kits!

This month the September Kits were amazing and I truly had so much fun creating with them. Today I want to share a brand new layout made with a mix of the September Kits:

Lately I have really been inspired to try and layer more embellishments to create focal points. Usually I am a "less is more" kind of a scrapper, but I have been craving a little bit of change and this is one way I am going about doing that. You can see here that I mixed up my embellishments with diecuts, stickers, flair, enamel dots, puffy hearts, and sequins (that already have adhesive on them!).

This month the kits also provided a great mix of alphas and words/phrases such as the yellow "cute" from Crate Paper and teal letters stickers from Elle's Studio.

Now as much as I hope I have inspired you to drop everything and get those September Kits out, I want to encourage you to continue on with the hop because there is an amazing amount of talent in the line up and I wouldn't want you to miss a thing! Here are the links:

Alex Hunter 

Andrea Gray 

Anabelle O'Malley 

Brenda Smith

Brenda Weaver 

Caylee Grey

Chantal Philippe

Diane Payne

Emily Spahn

Eunyoung Lee 

Jill Cornell 

Jill Keller

Joy Taylor

Kathleen Graumüller 

Katie Ehmann

Kellie Winnell 

Kelly Xenos

Michelle Wedertz <-You Are Here

Michelle Wooderson 

Olatz Garaiyurrebaso 

Patricia Roebuck

Rebecca Luminarias 

Sandra Dietrich 

Sian Fair

Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle

Citrus Twist Kits: September Kits

Yesterday, the latest kits from Citrus Twist Kits were revealed! Yay! September, for me, is always a great month in regards to scrapping. It just seems that that the kits leading into Spring and Fall always hold so much promise and excitement. At the end of Winter and Summer I am ready for a new season and the kits at these times of year help satisfy that craving for a change of scene and weather.

Here's a look at the kits I worked with this month:

September Main "Lombard" Kit

September "Little Old You" Embellishment Kit

September Sprinkles Kit

This month my projects have pretty much been putting themselves together-love it when that happens :).  Up first is my Main Only layout:

This month's kits features several pieces of Crate's new Wonder collection and I LOVE every single piece of it! The wood veneer from Pink Fresh Studio came in a close second on my list of faves--they are so detailed and fun.

I also included a pocket page to go along side my layout. I used only the Main Kit plus some sequins from my own supplies.

This next layout is a combination of the Main and Sprinkles Kits. The giant paper clips are such a fun element and I just had to include that little fox! 

My final layout that I am sharing today is a mix of all three kits and features the stickers from the Embellishment Kit.

Stickers are always a no brainer for me and I would have to say that they rank right above epherema as my go to embellishment.  The funny thing with the stickers though, is that I am always adding pop dots to them to add some dimension, which sort of makes the whole "sticker" part null and void! Haha.

 

And these wonderful alphas---love them! Typically I sort of struggle with mix patterned/colored alphas, but not with these. I think that the colors and patterns just clicked with me.

September is certainly turning out to be pretty awesome and I am looking forward to sharing a fourth layout with you next week! Meanwhile, make sure and head over to the Citrus Twist Gallery to see what the rest of the Design Team created!

Michelle

Gossamer Blue: September Reveal

A brand new month brings a brand new set of kits from Gossamer Blue! Today I am super excited to share my first two projects with you featuring the September Kits!

When I opened my box I was beyond excited because the kits include lots of items on my scrappy wish list! You see, I have almost come to terms with the fact that I really don't need to buy any extra scrappy supplies outside of the kits because what I want ALWAYS shows up in a kit! I just need to wait patiently ;).

September's kits are a beautiful way to wrap up the summer season as we head into fall. If your anything like me, you are still in the middle of scrapping all things summer, but are really wanting to dive into fall already. This month's kits gave me that taste of fall while still being able to scrap summer. The beautiful combination of products from Crate Paper, Pink Fresh Studios, Fancy Pants, and Elle's Studio have me steadily feeling creative and excited about documenting my memories.

 This first layout, Santa Monica Pier, is a combination of the September Main Kit, Main Add On Kit, and Add On Kit #2:

 

For this layout I wanted to build a big cluster of embellishments and the stickers and chipboard from Crate's Wonder made this so easy. I especially loved the string of lights sticker-so fun and I wish I had more.

With this next layout, Joy, I went with a completely different look using products from both the Main and Add-On Kit #2:

I found myself super inspired by the polka dots on my daughter's floatie and let that guide me in picking out my papers and embellishments. I also cut some circles out of the wood grain paper and had them up float up in a vertical line. 

As I said earlier I have been super inspired by September's Kits and I am really looking forward to sharing the rest of them with you soon! To see the rest of the design team's September projects make sure and stop by the Gossamer Blue Gallery!

Michelle