Gossamer Blue...May "leftovers"

Hey everyone.  We're off to an early weekend as we head out to the State track meet.  Josey qualified in the open 400 meter.  Wish her luck to make it to the finals.  She runs tomorrow for preliminaries to qualify.

Before we head out I thought I would share the last of my Gossamer Blue projects for May.  Once I'm done with my assignments for the month, I like to gather up all the unused kit items and see what I can create with the leftovers.  I came up with 3 cards and a fun notebook.  You've already seen the card on the right in a previous post using Pan Pastels. 

These two cards are just wild and crazy and topped with oodles of products.  I like to reserve these types of cards for the girls to pick through for birthday cards.  The teens just love the crazy mix and colorful collages.  

This is where you can do some unconventional combinations and just play with the products.  Here I used a leftover polka dot sack, a resin flower, a toothpick flag and more.  It's all fair game.

Here's more of the same with layered labels, wood flags and partial words cut from die cuts.  They're a but bulkier so I always keep these with a stash of sacks from my shop and tuck in a candy bar, pack of gum etc for a gift. 

Here's a fun notebook that I plan to take with me on our Summer road trips.  I always need a little notebook to jot down some cool ideas I saw at a junk shop or maybe a note for Project Life.  

I loved adding some white Gesso to the wood pieces then adding embellishments on top.  Just a crazy mix of colors that are kind of vintage and fun!

As a final note, I've got this fun, red picnic ensemble in the shop.  It comes with the pretty set of 8 trays and cups + lots of linens to dress up a summer tablescape.  

Cute little dishes with a rose pattern. 

I love the original packaging that the snack set is in.  It's pretty rare to find the original box.  I think this is cute enough to display the dishes just like this.  

Okie doke, we're off to see the Wizard.   Hoping to get Josey a pair of winged shoes.  ;)  

May Gossamer Blue....calendar cards

Hello everyone!  Thank you for the birthday wishes.  We ended up the evening last night by celebrating with an ice cream cake and watching 2 funnel clouds.  Exciting stuff!  We're all okay.  Today we start the first week of SUMMER break!  Woohoo, I love having my girls at home with me more.

Today I'm sharing more cards made from the Gossamer Blue May Kits.  If you're like me, you love seeing all the inspiration you can get from a kit once you have it in your little hands.  I post my projects for a particular month all throughout the month so you can continue to be inspired.  

Here we go with some fun birthday calendar cards.  The fun calendar is from the May Bits & Pieces Kit and the patterned papers are from the May Main Add-on Kit.  You can see all of the kits here.  

For the tops of my cards I used various Papertrey stamps from my stash.  I stamped them in fun colors that coordinate with my papers.  Some of the sentiments were stamped directly onto the card fronts, some were stamped on Medium Manila Parcel Tags and some were stamped onto cardstock that I cut out with my scissors. I splattered some orange ink onto the tops of the cards.  The fun paperclip flags are from the May Bits & Pieces Kit. 

For the bottom of my cards I stamped the calendar stamp from the May Bits & Pieces Kit onto a simple index card.  Using small number stamps I stamped the year "2013".  When I'm ready to send our a card I'll stamp in the month and then use a small circle stamp to highlight the date of the birthday.  I love the fresh colors on these cards. 

I also have a sneak peek at what's to come for Gossamer Blue in June.  Below I used one fun embellishment pack to create some easy card toppers.  After the June release I'll be showing you how to create 8 quick cards from just the one pack of goodies that will be in the Main Kit + a few other supplies from your own stash.  Perfect for Summer themed cards.  

You can check out more of the June Gossamer Blue Kits sneaks by clicking on the Look Book link.  The colors coming are just fruit-punchy and fun!

If you're new to Gossamer Blue, here's a few quick facts for you:

1.  Kits are available on the 1st of every month. 

2.  Subscribers can shop for add-ons 24 hours earlier than non-subscribers, with a $5 discount off the main kit. 

3.  Main kit is $34.95 or $29.95 with a subscription.  

4. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time with no fees....a very easy commitment.

5.  Kits ship on the the 5th of every month.

6. Kits include a mix of manufacturers items including patterned paper, cardstock, digital elements, embellishments, stamps and Gossamer Blue exclusives. I'm always impressed by the current selections that Lori picks for the kits.  

7. The Look Book (sneak peeks) debuts on the 15th of the month.

8. We have a blog + a Design Team Gallery and a Member Gallery for great inspiration.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm off to finish up the cards from my sneak peek photo.  Hope you have a crafty day.  

Friday finds....

Last day of school...

Here we are, the last day of school!  I can remember that awesome feeling when that final bell rings and  you are out the door for Summer.  Can't wait to have my reds here the entire Summer.  It's going to be busy as I have a big Bucket List of projects to tackle, trips to take and things to do.  I'm so thankful to have such a great family to share it with.  

Dina Wakley art journal layering class...

I took a road trip last week for a one day class in Oklahoma City with a crafty friend.  It was awesome. Dina is awesome.  I'll share more in a full post, including the mini book I made and my thoughts on incorporating those techniques into my cards and scrapbooking.  Below are some pages in Dina's fantastic vintage ledger journal. 

Using your stash....

I'll be working soon on a post of my thoughts on how I've been creating lately.  I have some thoughts on keeping some staple items, using kit items and incorporating in vintage, found items.  I think you'll like this post.  

Shop items...

I finally carved a wee bit of time to work on a Project Life layout.  I was very happy with this little insert that uses my new glassine envelopes and sequins.  I've got lots of goodies in the shop that can be used on Project Life pages.  I'll be re-stocking the colored sequins soon & the neutral packs are still in stock.  

A recipe.....

I made this recipe for lunch yesterday.  All veggies & so good for you.  I loved it and I'm sure it will become a staple this summer.  You all know I love a good, refreshing Summer drink.  I'll be sharing my new favorite soon, once I get it perfected.  

And now you'll find me....

I'm outta here, folks.  We're picking up Jordy and a friend after school and we're headed to the Regionals track meet.  We need your prayers for Josey to make the top 4 so she can go to State in the 400 meter open.  I know she can do it!!  Later this weekend I'll be working in the flower beds.  Sunday is my birthday so I'm sure we'll head to the nurseries for a boat load of flowers, my favorite gift.  We might try some homemade pizzas on the smoker too.  Have a great weekend, everyone!  

Project Life 2013...Week 11

Well, May has done it to me for the 3rd year in a row.  I'm behind 6-7 weeks I think.  I haven't even had time to check.  I have a few open days this week so I'm hoping to catch up a few weeks.  How about you?  If you're staying up to date, feel free to share your secrets.  :)

Today I'm sharing Week 11.  It was still cold and like Winter here so the warm weather events hadn't started yet.  Here's my 2 page spread.  

The left page..I covered up a photo of Jordan with her driver's license.  

The right page.  Aqua was the color of the week, I guess.  Photos in all but one slot so it was easy to add simple embellishments and journaling. 

I loved my weekly title page which includes a little photo shoot of a card I made for our awesome art teacher + a set up I had sitting out for my new blog header.  I stamped the "week in review" stamp then added chipboard letters and some typed grid paper for the dates. 

I captured some photos that I haven't added before..ones where I was shopping for garden seeds and onions.  It was fun to capture the packets all lined up and the thousands of onion bulbs ready to be packaged up.

This is a 6 x 12 insert for Eric's birthday.  I used a Medium Parcel Tag from the shop with a cloud sticker and more of the ombre chipboard letters.  I also included a birthday card by simply punching holes. 

Here's the back side of the birthday insert with more birthday presents and celebrations.  I used lots of stamps on the photos.  

After looking at my album....and getting a little down time this week....I'm inspired again to get back to my Project Life.  While the girls are doing their homework, I think I'll make notes about photos and sketch out some weekly layouts.  And P.S....if you've ever thought about getting a Traeger smoker, they're awesome.  Best birthday present ever, Eric says.  :)

I've got a few stamps sets and some Project Life items up for sale on my SALE page and I've got some new greeting cards still left in my shop.

May Gossamer Blue...Pan Pastels & Stamps

Happy Mother's Day.  Today I have a fun card to share that's all about having fun and relaxing, very suitable for this special day.  I used papers and stamps from the May Gossamer Blue Kits.  I also reached for my Pan Pastels and my Versamark ink pad.  You can see below how I arranged a big assortment of the clear stamps onto a large clear block.  

I was able to make quick work of some word bubbles by inking the entire block of stamps with Versamark clear ink.  I then used my Pan Pastels and sponged color over the inked images.  I used pink, aqua and yellow Pan Pastels.  It makes for a very soft background piece.

I used some black ink splatters over the top.  

For the rest of my card I used fun embellishments, all from the May GB kits.  I used twine from my stash to tie a double wrapping around the card front.  Then I tucked in a flag and resin flower.  Love that look.  The rest of the little pieces and parts are just layered and tucked in here and there.  This is what I love about the Gossamer Blue kits....there are just so many embellishments that there's no need for hoarding.  

Okay, we're off to celebrate Mother's Day.  So thankful that all of our moms are here to celebrate with us.  Time to load up the traditional flower baskets for them.  Have a great day everyone!

May Gossamer Blue....watercolored rainbows

I'm back with more watercoloring today and it's all about rainbows.  I chose some papers from the May Gossamer Blue kits that had a rainbow theme to use as a starting point for some birthday cards.  I used watercolors, brushes from my Mixed Media Kit, a spray bottle, my heat tool, 2 jars of water and cream cardstock. 

I always spray my watercolors first to get them moistened up. 

Next I used my patterned papers as a color guide when mixing my watercolors to get a good match.  

I started off with a wash of color, first wetting the entire paper surface with clean water.

Then I painted strips of color onto the wet surface so that the watercolor would soak in and spread out. I used the strips on my patterned paper as to how wide I made my brush strokes.

On this one below I went back in let more of the same colors run down the paper surface.

For this one I just painted vertical lines straight down from the zig zags of color.

While my watercolored papers dried I stamped some sentiment using Papertrey Ink stamps and gathered up some flags from the Gossamer Blue kits. 

Here's my final cards.  I kept them fairly flat and with minimal embellishments.  These will be gifts for our moms and they tend to like simple cards.  I just realized that the right card on the top has the watercolored paper adhered the wrong way & the colors don't match up.  And that's okay! ha.

I used Washi tape from the kits to secure the toothpick flags.  I then stamped stars from the stamp set from the kits and cut them out with my scissors.

The bottoms of my cards have the fun watercolored pieces.  

Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!  I'll be spending a day with Dina Wakley in one of her awesome art journaling classes. I can't wait to get all painty....

May Gossamer Blue...mixed media cards

It's time to share some projects I created using the Gossamer Blue May kits.  I believe all of the supplies I used for today's cards are from the May Main Kit which is still available.  When you click on the link for the Main Kit, you'll notice that the colors displayed with the kit products shown are quite different from what you see in my product picks below.  

Tip: What I love about kits is that you can totally use to suit your style.  When I get a packaged kit the first thing I do is open the kit and flip through all the products.  I immediately turn the patterned papers over to which pattern I like best.  This helps me to get a feel for a kit.  Then when it's time to work on a specific project using that kit, I pick out a few papers at a time and a few embellishments, all in mixy matchy style.  I was totally able to keep my style in mind by choosing the floral paper, the whimsical polka dots, the bright green and some other mixed embellishments.  Give it a try, I think you'll get more bang out of your buck with your kits.  

Once I had my supplies spread out, I knew I wanted to create some cards.  I often will look at what supplies I want to work with then draw out a quick card sketch that incorporates those elements.  You'll see with my finished cards that I was able to stay pretty true to the sketch. 

 I'm all about altering items lately in an artsy fashion because I think it adds a totally unique look to your projects.  For my cards,  I chose to work with watercolors to alter some of the printed die cuts.  I used the floral patterned paper as my color guide and mixed up watercolors in my palette to match the pinks, reds, aquas and yellows.

 Next up I used Gesso from my Mixed Media Kit (now on sale in the shop) to brush on a swipe of white color using the small flat Studio Brush from the Mixed Media Kit.  You'll see on my finished cards what I plan to use the white space for.

 On the fun flashcards type die cuts from the Gossamer Blue Main Kit, I sprayed the water on top to dampen the paper surface.  I then used a round brush from the Mixed Media Kit and applied the watercolor.  I made sure to keep complementary colors away from each other so that I didn't get a muddy color mix.  The results was a soft rainbow mix of swirly colors.  This is a fun technique to try if you're starting out with watercolors.  If you'd like a stepped out tutorial, just let me know in the comments section.  I'd be glad to help you get started.

 I can't remember for sure but I may have need to swipe on the Gesso again to get a nice white layer of color.  Or you could totally do this part after the watercolor dries and not before.  So below you see what my rainbow painted tags look like against my inspiration paper. I like.

Here are the finished cards, my absolute favorites from all of my May Gossamer blue projects. You also see another mixed media card I created.  This got thrown into this photo and I'll do another post showing you how I used modeling paste from my Mixed Media Kit to create the fun sentiment area. 

 Here you can see that I used that fun swipe of white Gesso to create an area for an additional typed sentiment using my vintage typewriter.  I just got creative with other phrases that would make fun sentiments on my cards.  I followed my sketch and used buttons and enamel dots from the kits to add some accents.  The twine is from my stah.

 I love creating these bit notched pieces of patterned paper.  It's a fun way to create multiple, airy layers of several patterns.  I only stitched across the top of these pieces so that layers were kind of flippy, I like that look.  I also used a piece of simple grid paper as a base layer to add a bit more pattern instead of the stark white of the card base.

I really had a fun time creating these cards. I soooo wish I had more of that delightful floral paper. Okay, off to Jordan's softball game....I'm going to enjoy this marvelous sunshine and warmth.  :)

So I started an art journal...

Okay, here goes nothin'.  Or something.  I'm finally sharing my first art journal page that I made in my Dylusions art journal.  You can see what the art journal looks like below. It's a nice big 9 x 12 size with very sturdy covers.  

Inside there is a manila pocket for storing whatever you like and a front cover page.

The inside pages are wonderful quality journal pages that are specifically designed to withstand art medium such as paint, gesso, mists and modeling paste.  This really is a good journal.  If you're interested I am putting them on sale for a short time in my shop.  

So.  I decided to start an art journal. I pinned so many art journal pages, watched a lot of videos, did a lot of research....and I still wasn't quite sure what an art journal meant to me.  I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take, what I wanted to include.  So I just opened the journal...and it sat for quite a while.  Those nice big 9 x 12 pages stared at me and I stared back.  Then I just started laying down scraps, little pieces and parts that I liked.  Before I knew it I had a whole collage going on.  I really liked the way it looked.  Truth be known, I probably like the before better than the final product but I promised myself I wouldn't judge or critique my art journal.  

 But sometimes when starting something new, you have to take a certain path before you know which road you really want to take, right?  Such was the case with my first art journal pages.  I jumped in one day and just started spritzing and spraying and painting and adding gesso and more.  I kind of feel like I didn't know when or where to stop because I didn't know how I wanted my pages to turn out.  I couldn't help but critique the pages as a finished product.  That's what I'm used to doing...finishing a card, finishing a Project Life layout, etc.  It's hard to just create and dabble and not expect a big "tada" at the end.  But I know that I want my art journal to be just a mixture...not a finished product. So here are my first pages.  Love it, hate it....I'm not sure yet.  But the process felt great, I do know that!

 So I shut the journal and left it for a while.  When I went back to the journal I knew I needed to share it. I know that some of you might be feeling the same way or asking the same questions about why to start or what to do in an art journal.  I'm still asking those questions but I did come to some conclusions.

I will share in a future post about where I think my art journaling might be headed but here are a few thoughts.  I loved looking at these separate photos of the pieces and parts of my pages.  I could break down the techniques and really identify what I loved instead of looking at the entire 2 pages as a finished piece.  I loved seeing little sections and thinking, "hey I would like to try that on a card", etc. Like the Gesso with the aqua spray mist.

 I loved stitching and adding textural items to my pages like this vintage place mat I had in my stash.  I liked seeing how the spray reacted on this old book page.

 I love the white space with just a few splatters.  I loved adding fabric although it totally got muddied up.

 I liked adding in a tag I had made earlier.  I liked working with the color wheel and adding splashes of color to complement each other.

 Overall, it's okay.  Sometimes you figure out what you definitely don't like before you figure out what you definitely do like.

I've got more thoughts that I need to get down in writing.  I'm excited to turn the page and try again.  I think I have a plan and I'm excited to share it with you once I experiment a little more.  Thanks for joining me today.  I can tell you, I was so hesitant to share this but then I remembered...I'm not looking for a good or bad critique.....it was all about the process.