Thursday, May 30, 2013

Stitch Fix Review #3

Hello there! I received another Stitch Fix box in the mail today! I have to be honest I was not planning on getting a box this month but I had some referral credit burning a hole in my pocket - so thank YOU for that!

You can read my reviews from previous boxes here: Stitch Fix Review #1, Stitch Fix Review #2. And thank you for stopping by to read my reviews - I was shocked that my last review had over 2,000 hits - I never have that kind of blog traffic! :)

This month, I pinned a lot of items on my style board on Pinterest. I asked again for summer items - dresses, sleeveless tops, etc. I had actually asked for a specific blouse that I had read about on another Stitch Fix review but they must have ran out of it because I did not receive it. I also asked for something with either a Peter Pan collar or a bow tie collar as I have really been drawn to that type of top/dress. Oh, and I should also mention I requested the same stylist - Jen - she is who I have had for all of my fixes. Again, I asked for no accessories. I have decided that I don't want those items in my fixes and would rather pick them out on my own - I don't wear jewelry enough to receive anything in a fix.

Now before I get into what I received I also want to be honest and let you know how Stitch Fix goofed on this shipment. I was scheduled to receive it on Tuesday. I always receive an e-mail letting me know it shipped and I had not received anything by Friday. I was concerned that I would not be receiving it Tuesday because of Memorial Day and I was right! Stitch Fix did not ship my fix out until Tuesday. I was able to talk with someone via Facebook over the weekend but it was a little rain on my parade (ha!) when I so look forward to these boxes.

Onto my items - Now, my envelope on the outside said the items were chosen by Claire as did the paper inside but this time (and this was the only time this happened), I received a lovely note from Jen at the top. So, I'm not sure exactly who styled me but I'm betting on Jen! :) She had obviously visited my Pinterest board so that made me happy! All of my items were in the $38-$78 range = me happy again!


1) Olive & Oak Lexii Mixed Material Button-Up Tank - Very nice quality! The material is a mix of a sheer chiffon (on the bottom) and a very soft jersey material. The tank buttons up and has a nice back collar. I like it but it feels a little blah to me.

2) Olive & Oak Allania Striped Jersey Tank - Another tank from the same company. This one is a racer back with a very nice, soft feel to it. I think I like this one better. It's definitely classic and I like that! But, I do have to say I was a little disappointed on the tops I was sent. The last two fixes I bought two blouses with a lot of color and this fix let me down a little bit. But, I know I don't have anything like this one in my closet so I'm still considering! (I had to add the red flats for a little color and either of them could use a statement necklace for a pop of color).

 
3) Tulle Mila Printed Sleeveless Dress - This is a navy dress with a bow tie collar (which is hard to see in this photo). The dress is very comfortable but I feel it needs a little something. It's a navy dress with a cream collared confetti print. I like it but it's very similar to a navy dress I already own with polka dots. Also, the size on my paper and on Stitch Fix's tag does not match the size on the dress - hmmmm... so it was little bigger under my arms that I would like. 


4) Darling Lillian Bird Print Pleated Skirt -  I'm pretty sure I am in LOVE with this skirt! I don't have anything like it. It definitely feels like the most romantic piece of the bunch (compared to the classic feel of the rest of the items). I love the color and it's pretty flattering for the most part. I have on a black ruffled blouse and black wedges. The skirt is so silky and soft and hopefully you can tell has a cute bird print. The one thing holding me back right now is the price - it's definitely more than I typically would spend on a skirt. My stylist sent me the skirt because I had pinned a bird skirt from ModCloth.


5) Oxmo Serena Printed Belted Dress - Okay, not going to lie when I pulled this out of the box I was like "Are you kidding me?" and not in a good way. I specifically asked for items that are NOT beige because I have such a fair complexion but THEN I tried on the dress and I REALLY like it. I do not own anything beige or anything snakeskin at all. I tried it on by itself first and then I added a black cardigan which makes me feel like it is more of a classic dress. I could add boots and tights and wear it in the winter if I wanted to. It is SO comfortable! I did a little searching online and discovered Oxmo is based in Denmark. I am almost 100% Danish - do I think it is a sign? YES! Ha! :) And check out that little keyhole on my detail shot - if I had more cleavage it would definitely be risque but I think I am okay. :) This is an instance where I appreciate my stylist so much - I never would have tried this on had I found it at the store!



 
So thoughts? Help me out! I am a little more open to keeping more than one item this time. In fact, this is the first box I would considering keeping it all but I'm not 100% sure of that yet. Want to sign up for Stitch Fix too? What should I keep, what should I send back?

Note: This post is not sponsored by Stitch Fix. I used my own money for the styling fee/items. But, I do earn a referral credit if you sign up via my referral link.
 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Scrapbook Circle: Coloring Easter Eggs

Good morning! Today I have a two-page layout to share with you using the May kit from Scrapbook Circle. I loved the colors in this kit and it inspired me to create this one with photos of our egg coloring experience this spring.


I cut the ovals (for eggs) with my Coluzzle - yes, I still have one of those and I use it only for circles and ovals. I don't think I will ever get rid of it either! I also did some hand stitching around the largest egg for texture. 


I carried over the stitching to my second page and did some random embellishing here - a Basic Grey chipboard frame, Lily Bee label sticker and Crate Paper bow. 


I added a couple of Thicker fonts to my title. I just love mixing and matching alphabets and the grey stickers are in the May kit. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Yesterday, we took the girls to their allergy/asthma doctor for their annual visit. Instead of having allergy testing as I expected we discovered both girls had an ear infection in their right ear (gotta love twins to keep things equal!). Over the past week, we had some allergy/cold issues with coughing, etc. and we had to do some nebulizer treatments. I was so surprised that one of the girls had a low blood oxygen level too so we're keeping an eye on her and laying low for the next couple of days. Never a dull moment around here! :) We'll try the testing again in a couple weeks.

Have a great day!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Emma's Paperie: Today, You are 4

Happy Monday! Today I have a layout to share with you for Emma's Paperie. The design team recently focused on Simple Stories products and this was a fun one for me to put together. For this layout, I actually mixed and matched 3 different collections - Sn@p, Urban Traveler, and 24/Seven. When I usually work with Simple Stories products, I tend to stay with one collection but for this one I wanted to pull out teal and red products and these three collections have them both!

(By the way, you will be seeing several birthday layouts from me over the next few months as I tend to scrap a lot about the girls' birthdays.)


The spinner brad is in the 24/Seven collection and I always love Simple Stories assortment of bingo cards for phrases I can use on my pages. 


Lots of great chipboard and sticker elements in the collections!


I used one of the die-cut Sn@p pages here - I love the look! (And the new I Heart Summer collection has its own set of die-cut cards that you can use for purposes like this - I really hope they keep this up for the new collections coming out). And for the title, I mixed and matched chipboard and alphabet stickers for an eclectic feel.


Love the little phrase stickers in each collection too! 

For a complete supply list and instructions on how to make this layout, visit the Emma's Paperie blog here

We had a very busy weekend with our garage sale. It was great to clear out a lot of stuff and make a little cash doing so. We did pretty well considering we only had a few larger $30 items - everything else was pretty small dollar-wise. We were also able to donate 4 boxes and 3 bags of stuff to Goodwill and that feels good. I have a few things I am also going to try and sell on Craigslist and ebay. I'm just happy it's over and now I can get my house back in order! :)

Have a great day!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Scrapbook Circle: They Love Him

Good morning! Today I have a layout to share with the May kit "My Favorite" at Scrapbook Circle. This was a fun kit to work with because it was full of great colors and patterns and it was easy to take this kit several directions as you will see when I share all of my layouts. For my first layout, I wanted to highlight a special relationship my girls have with their sweet little cousin. They absolutely adore spending time with him and he always has the biggest smile for them.


The only thing I added that was not in the kit was the ticket die-cut...I needed a little pop of red to balance out the layout.


I played off the triangle patterned paper but punching a few squares and then cutting them in half to form triangles. There are a lot of great label stickers in the kit this month as well.



Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a great day! :)

American Crafts Blog Hop Winner!

I meant to draw a winner after the weekend but forgot so here you go:

Rhonda said...
LOVE your layout. I am already a HUGE fan. Thanks so much.

Congrats! Please send me an e-mail to cornellgj(at)yahoo(dot)com with your mailing address and I'll get your prize out to you! :)

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Webster's Pages: Fabulous at 4

Good morning, good morning! Today I am sooooo excited to share this layout because I am absolutely in LOVE with this new collection by Adrienne Looman for Webster's Pages. The collection is called Citrus Squeeze and it is full of fun, bright summer colors! I almost feel like Adrienne was in my head and knew we were going to have a circus themed birthday party for the girls (of which I have yet to blog about). As soon as I had the collection in my hands, I knew I was going to pull out the red and teal for birthday party pictures. Every year I create an individual birthday layout for each girl and this one happens to be Miss Lily's.


The collection has a lot of great patterned papers including ones that are easily cut apart to get the Polaroid frame and tags you see here. 


Love that little "Admit one" ticket and a sweet girl waiting in anticipation... :)


There are mini trim cards included in the collection as well and that red ribbon was perfect! (The blue doily is an older Webster's Pages product). 


Finally, I used a journaling card that I tucked behind a sewn pocket of patterned paper. The designs in the collection are so fresh and fun!


Thanks for stopping by today! I am frantically trying to prepare for our garage sale this weekend so that will keep me busy over the next few days.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Monday, May 13, 2013

Simple Stories: Summer Fishin'

Good morning! Today I have a new layout to share that features the brand NEW I Heart Summer collection from Simple Stories. My family loves to fish and this past summer my girls were able to go for the first time with their grandparents. This was our second trip and the girls were catching fish after fish after fish and they were so excited! I pulled out the fish elements in this collection for my layout.

Summer_Fishin

One of my favorite products from this release is the new Sn@p Cuts. I used the yellow heart die-cut card on my layout.

Here I layered several of the Bingo Cards with my wallet size photos.


I love the fish border sticker and little individual fish stickers and chipboard. So cute!


Thanks for stopping by today! We are going to have a busy week prepping for our garage sale this coming weekend! More to come soon... 


Thursday, May 09, 2013

Emma's Paperie: Sweet Pink Piggies

Good morning! Today I have a new layout and card to share with you for Emma's Paperie. The layout was created with a lot of Echo Park's "Sweet Girl" collection and for the color challenge at Emma's Paperie. The girls love having their toes done up pretty and this mama loves doing it for them!


This collection is just so sweet...I love it! That floral washi tape is so pretty! 


I backed the little wood veneer frames from Maya Road with different patterned papers and used them as embellishments. The fabric is a piece of canvas that I hand stitched and it was also a mistake from another project. Instead of throwing it away, I was able to use it here! :)


For the complete supply list, please visit the Emma's Paperie blog here

I also have a card to share today that I created for the sketch challenge using the Trendsetter collection from Fancy Pants. My card is mostly monochromatic - love that pretty mint!


For a complete supply list, please visit the Emma's Paperie blog here

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

Create: Mini Albums Winner!

The winner of the Create: Mini Albums issue is:
Delete
Blogger Tammy B said...
woot, woot! congrats on the cover. i adore minis and would love to have this for inspiration!

Please contact me at cornellgj(at)yahoo(dot)com with your mailing information!

Congrats! :)

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

American Crafts: Oh So Lovely Frame

Good morning! This week is mom's week over on the American Crafts blog and yesterday I contributed a step-by-step tutorial of how I created this "Oh so lovely" frame using the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection. Quick and easy and perfect for any mom! :)


I added a lot of texture with tone-on-tone punched border strips that were stacked on top of each other. 


And I added one of my favorite recent photos of the girls in black and white...


To see a complete supply list and my tutorial, visit the American Crafts blog.

By the way, I forgot to mention I ended up keeping the Daniel Rainn blouse from my Stitch Fix #2. I have already worn it once and I just love it! :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Monday, May 06, 2013

Scrapbook Circle: Hello Spring Day

Good morning! Today I have one last layout to share with you using the April “Happy Place” kit from Scrapbook Circle and then I'll start sharing my work with the May kit. I just love the colors in the kit and created my two-page layout based on photos of my family enjoying a spring day this month. It was finally nice and we were outside all afternoon and evening…it was fabulous!


I cut apart the Echo Park patterned paper and used the natural arch to help draw the eye into both pages of the layout.


I also love the Elle’s Studio snippets in the kit – they are perfect for adding a little text to help tell the story better.


Finally, I added a few embellishments here and there: a Yes, Please journaling die-cut and heart speech bubble, a Scrapbook Circle exclusive tag cut-out and one of the wood veneer speech bubbles.


Thanks for stopping by today! My giveaways are still all open so scroll on down! :)

Saturday, May 04, 2013

American Crafts: National Scrapbook Day Blog Hop!


Welcome to the American Crafts National Scrapbook Day Blog Hop! Today a lot of the design team members are posting projects with challenges and giveaways and it's a great weekend to play along! (NOTE: I actually have two posts today - If you are looking for my Simple Stories/Create: Mini Albums giveaway, please visit this post.)

My challenge is to: Create a layout that mixes and matches alphabet stickers!

I love the new Mayberry collection from American Crafts, and I pulled out the patriotic colors in the collection for this layout of the girls' outfits from the 4th of July last year. 


One of my favorite American Crafts products is Thickers and I used a lot of the new Mayberry Thickers for my title. 


There are a lot of great stickers, chipboard, die-cuts and puffy stickers in this collection.



I also love the new burlap layered tags!


I also have a little giveaway today of this great assortment of American Crafts goodies. Leave a comment on this post by Saturday, May 11, 2013 and I'll randomly select a winner!!!

Here is the full blog hop list! Make sure you go through the entire hop, leave a comment on each blog, then visit the American Crafts blog to win a great prize!



Next on the hop is Corrie Jones

Happy National Scrapbook Day!