Gossamer Blue June reveal

Hey, friends! I can’t believe it’s June!!

Today is the day for brand new kits from Gossamer Blue to go up for sale. It also happens to be my 20th wedding anniversary! Wow!!

Anyway, here’s my June projects.

Awesome page (main kit):

I really, really love the “awesome” patterned paper in the main kit. Not only the huge word, but the city scape images inside. I knew I had to use it to make a page about our recent NYC trip.

I knew I had to use some photos I took that just screamed NYC to me. So I chose a photo of yellow taxis all line up o the street outside the train station, flowers for sale on the sidewalk, and a cup of coffee at at the amazing Aroma cafe. These photos just say NYC to me.

A few embellishments here and there was all this page needed.

Favorite page (Life Pages kit):

Since I’m always looking for ways to use up some of the Life Pages cards, I chose to use a few here to document our favorite local ice cream joint. Their black raspberry ice cream is the bomb!

I love that wood veneer “favorite”, and the circular “I heart this” piece was cut from a Life Pages card as well.

Hello sunshine card:

Dies cuts and washi from the Life pages add-on #3, chipboard star accent and heart sticker from Life Pages kit,

High Five card (main kit):

Don’t you just love that super cute hot air balloon stamp? All the items you see here come from the main kit. Lovely lix of papers and accents.

I like those rubber embellishments a lot (high five banner). They are a little tricky to adhere, though. I did use some liquid glue once that seemed to hold them better than anything else. But you could also try stapling them on.

That’s all, folks. I hope you enjoyed these projects. I enjoyed making them.

Don’t forget to head on over to Gossamer Blue to check out all the kits and all the designer galleries.

Gossamer Blue May reveal

Hey guys! Today’s the day that the new kits went up for sale in the Gossamer Blue shop. I hope you’ll head on over and check them all out if you haven’t yet.

Shine card (Main Kit):

I love the plastic “shine” piece that comes in the main kit. I paired it with some chipboard and a few die cut pieces (the frame, buttons, and tab).

I so love how that shine piece just, well…shines! It’s like a mirror. Pretty!

Hello there card (Main Kit):

I used the strips along the bottom of the patterned papers for this card. What are those strips called? I know they have a name, but it escapes me at the moment. Anyway, I cut a few off and added them haphazard-like to the card and added a few word stickers for good measure.

Those little stamped hellos are from the stamp set that comes in the kit. The stamp set has some super tiny and cute words and images in it, some that can be paired up together. Cute!

Be Kind card (Life Pages kit):

The life Pages kit has really been impressing me lately. This card is one of the 4″x6″ cards cut down just a bit to fit onto the front of a card. The tan color just seemed to beg me to pair it up with some pretty pinks and corals.

I paired up a sentiment tag with a stapes phrase. The tiny hearts are also from the Life Pages stamp set.

Here are your shopping links for this month. Have fun!!

May 2016 Main kit

May 2016 Life Pages kit

May 2016 add-ons

And your gallery links:

May scrapbook gallery

May cards and projects gallery

May Life Pages gallery

More GB April projects

Hey friends. Golly, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. I kind of forgot about sharing the rest of the April projects I created for Gossamer Blue. But then my May kits came in the mail, and I was like, oh crap!

So anyway, now that I should be sharing sneak peeks of the newest kit, I’m finally getting around to sharing the last of my April projects.

Post Card holder (Bits & Pieces kit, Life Pages kit):

I really liked the large post card stamp that came in the April Bits & Pieces kit and thought it would make a fun project. So I created some post cards with a cute little holder to gift to someone, maybe someone leaving on a trip or to college or something like that. Then they have little post cards to send home.

I used the metal clips from the Life Pages kit to hold a few post card stamps in place. I was lucky enough to get some stamps that actually coordinated somewhat with the patterned paper designs.

The post cards are two layers stitched together. A layer of white card stock that I stamped with the post card stamp, then a patterned paper layer on the back. The patterned paper is white on the back side, so technically you could just stamp on that, but it would be pretty flimsy, especially for mailing it just so. The two layers together make it mush more durable for mailing.

Perfect & delightful card (Life Pages kit):

I always like to create something using some of the Life Pages cards each month. This time I used the 2″x2″ cards to make this long, unusually sized card.

The rub-ons, phrase sticker, and plastic heart are also all from the Life Pages kit.

You are my heart card (Main Kit):

Another simple and easy card, this one using elements from the Main Kit only. The die cuts in the Main kit are fabulous. I’m a sucker for flowers and leaves, so these were right up my alley.

Patterned papers were layered and torn at the edge for an interesting element.

And that’s all my April projects for Gossamer Blue.

In other news, I was up on the Gossamer Blue blog earlier this week sharing some fun ideas for using paint in your projects. You can see that here.

What I’m up to these days:

1. Thinking about this thing called blogging, and how I’ve been doing it for a long time, and do I want to continue? Sometimes, most times, it doesn’t really seem worth it. I like Instagram a lot better these days. It’s quick and easy, and you get much more interaction. I started blogging back when blogs were boss, and it was a lot more fun back then. These days it seems more like a chore. And when something no longer brings you joy you have to wonder if it’s worth having in your life.
2. I’m still in a weird creative funk. I feel like I am changing as a person (aren’t we all always changing?) and my desires are changing too. I’m still not sure what it looks like for me. But card making is probably not high on the list. I still enjoy scrapbooking, still enjoy photography. Still love being creative, although I haven’t been taking the time for it much lately. It’s really weird and hard to put into words. I feel like I’m rediscovering who I am. Finding a new path. And don’t you dare say it’s because I’m 40 now! 😉 It’s got nothing to do with it.
3. We just celebrated my oldest turning 17! What!?!? My baby. My teeny little boy! He’s grown up into an amazing, and very handsome, young man. He’ll be graduating this year and moving on to other things. Life is always evolving, never static. I love this stage with my kids. I love having teens. That kind of surprise me, because prior to having teens of my own, teens kind of scared me a little. But I love it. Love it so much! It’s incredibly fun and rewarding to catch a glimpse of the totally cool and awesome adults your kids are becoming.
4. I started running again. It’s been a while. I don’t enjoy running, but I needed some form of exercise, and this is the easiest and cheapest way to incorporate exercise into my day. I’m using the couch to 5k app. It’s a great way to ease into it. Hopefully I can keep it up, because running over the hot summer months sounds like pure torture. Maybe I’ll love it by then. Hahaha!!! I crack myself up!

And that’s all for now, folks. Hope you’re having a great week! If you’d like to catch some sneak peeks of the new kits from Gossamer Blue, I highly recommend you join our Facebook community. It’s fun and interactive and we’d love to have you. Check it out here.

Later!

Gossamer Blue March day 4

I’ve got just a couple more projects to share using the Gossamer Blue March kits. These kits are amazing. I had such a fun time creating these projects.

Note: there will be a Gossamer Blue designer Instagram hop this afternoon instead of our usual monthly blog hop. I hope you’ll head over to Gossamer Blue on Instagram at 3:00 EST for that.

Lovely card:

I really liked the colored doilies that came in the kits. I divided mine up between a few of my projects, including this card. The rub-ons were a fun way to dress up the doily without adding more layers.

The twine is from my stash, and I also added the mist droplets. Isn’t that doily so pretty?

Work hard play hard card:

This one is a little unique. I cut out some phrases from the patterned paper in the 6×6 stack to create this focal element. I created the background with the To-do list stamp from Jen Hadfield. Everything on this card is from the Bits & Pieces kit except for the glitter enamel dots. those are from the life Pages add-on #3 kit.

Lots of great advice here on this card, wouldn’t  you say? Perfect to send to someone  embarking on a new journey in life, or a friend who just needs some encouragement to stay focused on a goal and keep pushing foreword.

Again, here are your links for March:

March Main kit

March Life Pages kit

March add-ons

March designer scrapbook gallery

March designer cards and projects gallery

March designer Life Pages gallery

Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget about the Insta-hop this afternoon. We’d love to have you join in on the fun!

March GB reveal day 2

Ready for more Gossamer Blue projects? How about a few cards today?

I split my time equally between card making and scrapbooking this month and made four of each. This was a record breaker month for me, I think, as far as number of projects goes.

This month, in addition to the Main Kit and Life Pages kit, I got the Life Pages Main add-on, the Life Pages add-on #3, and the Bits & Pieces kit. I can’t name a favorite this month. I love them all. The Life Pages cards were especially good this month. I  always like the patterned paper package in the Bits & Pieces kit, and so many of the other elements in the kits were just right up my alley.

The Best Day Ever card (Life Pages kit only):

There are doilies in a couple of the kits this month. They come in a brown paper bag (so don’t miss them), and they come in such gorgeous colors. I got teal and pink, but I saw some people had yellow too. It probably depends on which kit you get. I cut a piece off of mine to use on this card.

I also used two of the 2×2 Life Pages cards, a rub-on, a phrase sticker, a brad, and some buttons from my stash. Aren’t those colors so fun?

Happy Smile card (Main Kit only):

I so love the gold acrylic elements in the Main Kit. They are so pretty. I paired one here with some stickers and a rubber embellishment.

I trimmed the rubber piece down a little bit so it would fit better. Since they’re soft, it’s very easy to trim them down if you need to.

Tell me what you’re loving from the kits so far? Have you ordered any of yours yet? I’d love to know which one(s) you chose.

Again, here are the links if you need them:

March Main Kit

March Life Pages Kit

March add-ons

And the gallery links:

March designer scrapbook gallery

March designer cards and projects gallery

March designer Life Pages gallery

1 stamp set, 3 ways

I’ve noticed I’ve gotten away from using my stamps over the last, oh I don’t know, year or so maybe. Since I stopped submitting cards for publication. I mean, I’ve been using the exclusive Gossamer Blue kit stamps, but not the stamp sets I own from other companies that I really love. I’ve been creating cards without much stamping. And those are fine too. But I’ve really been neglecting my stamp collection, and I miss it!

I really wanted to get back into using more stamps. I’d like to make those stamp purchases more worthwhile. Plus, I miss the different techniques stamping allows me to try.

So, I’m bringing a new feature to this blog that I hope to do monthly. I’m calling it 1 stamp set, 3 ways. I’ll be featuring one stamp set each month and then sharing three different ways to use that stamp set. I plan to vary the styles of cards and the techniques I share, so hopefully I can share something that will inspire people with different styles and tastes.

The stamp sets will not always be the newest releases, but rather ones I may have had for a while and haven’t gotten around to using much. There might be a new purchase thrown in here and there, but I’ll most likely be sticking with the stamp sets I already own.

My goals are:

1. to get more use out of my stamp sets
2. to try a wider variety of techniques
3. to inspire you to use the stamp sets you have in new ways

For my first 1 stamp set, 3 ways feature, I used the Southwestern Style stamp set from Paper trey Ink.

I owned this stamp set for quite a while, but I hadn’t even used it once. How sad. I bought it because I really love southwestern style, and the stamps in this set seem to be very versatile.

So, here goes!

Southwestern Style watercolor Hello card:

For my first example using this stamp set, I chose to pair the set with some watercolors. I like the southwestern designs softened with a bit of water coloring. The designs were heat embossed with white embossing powder before the watercolors were added.

I added the sentiment stamped on a banner and mounted with foam adhesive.

Example number two!

Southwestern Style shabby chic Cheers to You card:

I really wanted to pair the designs in this set with some patterned paper. So I pulled out a little container full of patterned paper pieces I keep in my studio and began pulling some out that I thought would work. When I came across that blue floral paper I thought how fun it would be to create a card with a southwestern prairie, feminine vibe. I found a few other pieces of patterned paper to add to it. One with a wood grain design, and two with geometric designs that I felt went well with the designs in the stamp set. Then I stamped a few of the designs from the set onto some strips of paper to add to the mix, along with some pieces I cut from a  doily, a bit of twine, and some sequins to finish the look.

And example number 3.

Southwestern Style Geometric Masculine Birthday card:

I’m always in need of masculine birthday cards, with two boys who constantly get invited to teen friends’ birthday parties, and/or a husband looking for a card to give someone at the last minute.

This card showcases the set in an entirely different way. You wouldn’t think by looking at this card that the designs are southwestern, since this card is anything but. But if anything, I feel it shows how versatile a stamp set can be, even when it’s mostly geared towards one style. I stamped the design multiple times to created the repeating background, then stamped over top in several places using the small open square that comes with the set. That piece is intended to use inside the design I used on the first card. But by using it this way, the end result is a more modern geometric design.

I had so much fun coming up with different ways to use this set. It’s always good to stretch your brain to think in new ways and come up with different uses for the supplies we own.

I hope you enjoyed this new feature. I’m excited to bring you more!

Let me know which example  is your favorite in the comments below.

 

Gossamer Blue February reveal

I think being on a kit club design team makes the months seem to go faster than ever. Almost as soon as I complete the projects for one month, I’m already looking forward to the next month’s box of goodies to arrive. The weeks in between seem to go quickly. But each month I feel so honored to have the awesome opportunity to get to use the Gossamer Blue kits to create things I enjoy making.

The February kits have a bit of a spring flavor to them. It seemed a little ironic to be looking at spring-like papers while there was a couple feet of snow outside. I know I’m an odd bird, but I’m not at all ready for spring to arrive yet. Don’t get me wrong. I love springtime as much as the next person. It’s probably my favorite season after fall. But I enjoy the winter months of spending more time indoors, getting things crossed off my to-do list that just won’t get done once the weather turns warmer. I like my months of hibernation, warm sweaters, cozy slippers, and snow flying outside while I curl up with a cup of coffee inside.

But let’s get on to the projects, shall we?

Friends card (Main kit):

I always adore a bit of watercolor. This small floral sticker stood out to me and just begged me to create a piece to accompany it. So I pulled out my watercolors and created the circular piece, stamping it with one of the exclusive kit stamps (yes, they’re back!!) once the watercolor was dry.

Simple beauty. A little patterned paper accent, a little watercolor, a little floral, and a little bit of mist drops.

Fabulous page (Life Pages kit):

The Life Pages kit contains so many really great photo pocket cards. I just had to use some of them in my projects. I used three of them on this page. I also used the exclusive Life Pages kit stamp set.

Ahhh…sushi!! One of my very favorite foods. This page tells about the day I learned how to make it from a Japanese friend of a friend. So good! So awesome!

That large, gold, “fabulous” die cut was perfect for this. The star stickers are for the five stars I give the sushi and the lesson on making it.

Fantastic card (Main kit, Life Pages kit, Add-on #2, Main add-on) :

There are some really awesome puffy sticker script words in the kits this month. These are from add-on #2. I cut away the patterned paper from the upper edge of the sticker and then angled the paper onto the corner of the card and trimmed it off.

I clustered some of my favorite embellishments together for visual impact. I love that plaid badge.

I’ll be back with more projects over the next several days/weeks. In the meantime, you can check out these links to see more.

February kits:

February Main kit

February Life Pages kit

Add-ons

Galleries:

February designer  scrapbook gallery

February designer cards and projects gallery

February designer Life Pages gallery

There are so many great projects in the gallery from the design team. What’s your favorite project in the gallery? I’d love to hear.

Hope you have an awesome day!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a little something new I’ve been working on. I hope you’ll join me.

 

 

 

watercolor lessons: brush strokes

Hey guys!

I’m taking a class over at Online Card Classes called Watercolor for Card Makers, Intermediate Techniques. I took the original Watercolor for Card Makers back when it came out and loved it so much. So when I saw this one I immediately signed up for it.

I know I probably won’t be able to find the time to make a card for each day’s homework. there is a LOT smooshed into this class. It’s well worth the money, since they really do teach you a lot of techniques. Plus the card samples are out of this world gorgeous! If I can improve my watercoloring skills even a little it will have been worth it. I’d love to be able to paint like Dawn Woleslagle, but I know it takes years of practice. I’ll do what I can.

For the first class we learned all about brush strokes and loading our brush with a proper mix of water and pigment to achieve the results we’re looking for. The class assignment was to create a card using the techniques we learned, but creating a geometric design. Well, you can see I didn’t follow the rules, but chose to create an organic design instead.

But the same techniques of brush loading and getting a feel for your brush and the pigment/water ratio applies here as well.

I grabbed a couple of leaves off the little palm plant in my son’s bedroom as inspiration for this painting. I wasn’t quite able to active the same shape as the leaves I picked, but maybe next time. It was a lot of fun creating the different shapes of leaves and seeing how the colors varied depending on the amount of pigment I had in my brush.

I stamped a simple sentiment to not distract from the painted design, layered it over some card stock, mounted it to a card and called it done.

What’s even more exciting is that my order of Peerless watercolor papers just came in the mail, so I now have a wider array of watercolor options to chose from!!

I’m sure I’ll be back with more homework results from this class. I can’t wait to try more ideas.

 

 

Gossamer Blue January /// Snow Day, Yay!

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been having a hard time getting back into my normal routine since the holidays. Maybe this week will seem a little more normal to me.

You know what doesn’t feel normal? My oldest just got his driver’s license last week!! And we left him drive away on his own to a destination an hour away from home for his first solo trip. Talk about having to let go!! This mama’s not ready for her kids to be off on their own, but time just slips away, and they keep on growing and changing on me. Anybody relate? (sigh)

Anyway, here are the last two projects I created using the January Gossamer Blue kits. These two projects came together so quickly and easily, and are some of my favorites.

If you haven’t checked out the Gossamer Blue designer galleries yet, you can do that here.

Snow Day page:

We haven’t gotten any snow yet this winter (Boo!!!), so I consoled myself by creating a scrapbook page with one of my snow day photos from last winter. I love snow so much, and the evergreens in our front lawn always look so gorgeous covered in snow, and I can’t resist snapping a few photos each year.

I kept the design of this page calm and serene and reminiscent of the snow with lots of white and white space.

I accented the page with the foil letters, gold heart embellishment, and some punched snowflakes.

Yay! card:

I decided to break out of my white or light grey card base box and try a darker shade of grey to make the base of this card. I love how it contrasts with the floral paper.

I made the tag out of watercolor paper and painted on the light grey stripes

I like how it turned out, and it’s pretty flat and easy to mail, so that’s a win!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your week is off to a fabulous start!

 

Gossamer Blue January /// Hello Love, Today is the day

Hey guys! I’m back with more to share from the January Gossamer Blue kits.

Hello Love page:

I used an Instagram photo of my husband, taken on one of our dates, to make this page. I used some of the wood veneer, a colorful tag, some of the puffy stickers, patterned paper, a label and journaling card for this page.

Today is the day card:

I pulled out some pretty yellows, pinks and treys to use on this card. I used the diamond shaped paper clips as embellishments on their own instead. The tiny stars are from the On My Desk collection from Gossamer Blue.

Love that pretty floral tab and the gold accents. This card is feminine office theme-y with those tabs, labels, paper clips and sticky notes.

Oh, and I also wanted to let you guys know that we’ve started a Gossamer Blue fan page on Facebook. It’s a place for  subscribers, friends, and fans of Gossamer Blue. Get to know us (from owner to designers) , see behind the scenes sneaks and peeks, and chat about your love of all things paper!                                                                                                                                                                   It’s going to be so fun! I hope you’ll join us so we can get to know you. Check it out here!