Gossamer Blue July

First, thank you so much for your kind words regarding my previous post.  I really hesitated putting it all out there, but it helped to write it down and look at it.  Life sure is precious.  And unpredictable.  The whole "enjoy every moment" takes on a new meaning when you realize how little control you really do have sometimes.  

I managed to get a bit of my groove back in time for the July kit from Gossamer Blue, and I'm so glad I did!  It felt good to get creative again and I really like how my projects turned out.  

The first layout I want to share was made with the main kit only:

We bought a ski boat and have taken it out several times already this summer.  We have hesitated for years, sometimes wanting a fishing boat, sometimes wanting to do without a payment, but an opportunity presented itself to go in with friends on a used boat, and we jumped for it.  So far it has worked out perfectly!  We have taken it out together, and taken turns.  Our friends were a perfect choice because not only do we love them like family, our schedules also mesh.  Because of Steve's career with the Fire Department, and my soon-to-be career in schools, we aren't weekend people.  We can often go out on a Wednesday, etc.  Our friends, on the other hand, are M-F people.  So it's been great.

We got a new tube for the kids to try, and in order to build up some bravery, we have to driver really really slow.  They'd rather stop and swim.  But we are working on it.  And we have been having a lot of fun.  

To create the bubble background, I started with this image from the Silhouette store.

You could create this yourself but I went with easy.  I resized it a bit smaller than 12x12 because I have issues with lining things up perfectly on my machine.  After I cut it out of the yellow print designed by Mitchel Kraft for GB, I started arranging my photos and decided to cut into it to make it a more interesting design element.  

I just cut circles away until I was happy with the layout and then adhered.  

After that, I trimmed some circles from cardstock and mounted them on pop dots, and then added alphas, embellishments, and of course, tons of stitching for texture.  The digital elements for the main kit weren't available to me when I created this layout.  

My next project features only new release products from Fancy Pants Designs.  

Every once in a while the kids play together with smiles and enjoy how lucky they are to have each other.  It's rare, but it happens.

The title was created with my Silhouette and the Pacifico font.  I love many cursive fonts, but this one welds together the best for cutting which is why I stick with it.

Another fun product from Fancy Pants is that chalkboard tape.  The roll is HUGE and should last a long time.  That was fun to play with.  

This last layout was created with a mix of products from the kits this month:

I've stared at that photo a few times with confusion.  I can't believe how old Payton looks in this photo! Her legs are so long!  

I love the trend using die cut images on a square/rectangle piece of paper so layered a few pieces for this layout.  I also had to mix in some chevrons, the gray are hand cut, and added some fun buttons too. I put the layout under my sewing machine and winged it for the stitching around the heart.  I didn't always get it quite in the right spot, but that's one thing I like about stitching.  I'm not looking for perfection.  

Did you like what you saw in the kit?  Check out this link from the Fancy Pants Designs blog for a chance to win the July 2013 kit.

Check out this link to the Gossamer Blue blog to have a chance at this Fancy Pants Designs prize pack:

The deadline for the prizes is July 17.

Thank you for stopping by!  I will be back soon with some Project 12 updates.  Suffice it to say, the past few months have been tough and documenting the little details has been a bit of a challenge.  But I'm anxious to get back to it!  I adore this challenge so much.  As you know, Project 12 is a monthly take on documenting the everyday.

You can read more about Project 12 via the tab above and also at the Gossamer Blue blog here.  

XOXO.  Davinie