Introducing Sweet Summertime...

Hey everyone, I'm very excited to announce my first class coming up with Gossamer Blue.  It's called Sweet Summertime and it's going to be jam packed full of Summer crafty goodness. 

Here's a peek at some of the items we'll be making in the class.  I've got an awesome double banner that will be perfect for displaying front and center in your home.  It's homespun and cute and just full of eye candy and unique crafty items.  Then I'll be showing you how to make some sweet cards, gift sacks and tags.  I know you all love to get new recipes so I'll be sharing some of my new favorites, packaged up with the packaging we create in class.  To top it all off, I'll be sharing some inspiring Pinterest finds for ideas on how to display your banner + you'll be the first to see the progression of my chalkboard wall which is where I plan to display my Sweet Summertime banner and Summer Bucket List. 

The concept for this class is so great, here's how the classroom works........

First, you will be able to purchase all the supplies needed for the class in the Complete Sweet Summertime Class Kit.  The kit is on sale now at this link. You can see a photo of the kit contents + there is a listing of the kit contents below the photo.  When I say jam packed, it's really jam packed full of goodies from Basic Grey, Crate Paper and some fun items from my shop + a few vintage finds.  The kits are in limited quantities so act quickly if you want the exact items that I'll be showing in class.  

Next you can purchase the Sweet Summertime Class at this link.  This gets you private access to  a special blog which becomes the classroom.  The class will open July 5th with a welcome message and full class syllabus.  Class begins on July 8th and will updated by me every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with fresh content.  The class will run for 4 entire weeks so we will be able to have a lot of fun in July!  There will be detailed instructions on how to assemble the banner, the cards, the gift sacks and tags.  Plus there will be a message board and gallery so that participants can connect, ask questions and share creations and display ideas.  You can see the full course outline at this link. 

So you can purchase the class and the kit and you'll be all set for July.  If you think you'd rather use your own supplies but would love the ideas, you can certainly just purchase the class and have access to the private blog.  Or you can just purchase the kit and use the supplies as you'd like. It's all up to you.

I hope you'll join me in class.....I promise this won't be your typical Summer school. No math, no hot class rooms, no research papers....just pure fun!

But wait....I'm giving away 3 spots to just the classroom (no kit).  If you'd like a chance to join me in class in July, leave a comment at the end of this post telling me an item on your Summer to do list.  You must leave your name and email address so that I can contact you if you're a winner.  I'll select the 3 free class spots on Sunday evening at 6pm Central Time.  Winners will be announced on Monday, June 24th here on the blog.  

Gossamer Blue June Reveal Day!

Hello everyone, yep it's June already and that means it's reveal day at Gossamer Blue.  This month we've teamed up with Lily Bee for some crafty fun.  Be sure to check the Gossamer Blue website and blog all month for new creations.  The shop items and Design Team projects will be available at 10am PST.  I'll be sharing my Gossamer Blue projects all month long here on my blog.  I have lots to share and I'm still using up kit items so please visit often.

Today I'm kicking of my June Gossamer Blue projects with a set of cards. The kits are so full of goodies that I just love to pick out some products, spread them out on my work table and see what I can come up with.  Notice that I used the fun wooden stamps that are included in a few of this month's kits.  

There's of fun layers on my cards today.  Here I used a delightful little floral patterned paper by Lily Bee layered with oodles of tags and sticker words.  I started the base of my layers with a simple index card and red stitching + a Dainty Doily.  I stamped the quote bubble and a Small Manila Parcel Tag with the stamps.  Then I added the sticker words, some Washi from the kits, and a tied button

For this card I used more of the same kit items + I added one of the cute flair buttons from a kit.  I sprinkled on a few sequins and added some fun birthday themed stickers.  

On the inside of this card I embellished it with another Happy Birthday sentiment using a sticker and the exclusive Gossamer Blue stamp.  I love the pack of embellishments this month that includes a bunch of these labels.  I stitched over the label with red thread leaving the end strings long.  I love that they look like little streamers hanging down.  A portion of a Dainty Doily is peeking out from the patterned paper. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm off to do a little yard work then I can't wait to come back to see the Gossamer Blue gallery for this month.  :)

Project Life Week 23, 2012...Guest for Basic Grey

I'm back today with Week 23 of my Project Life. This week I am a guest at Basic Grey and will be using the Clippings collection of products on my pages. Melanie Bauer from Basic Grey will also be using the same products for a week of her Project Life. I was thrilled when Mel asked me to use the Clippings line because I love it! It's graphic, a little vintage, has a great neutral color way and there are oodles of fun embellishments within this line.

For me, the best way to use a large variety of products from one line is to grab some blank Project Life journaling cards and just start creating my own handmade inserts. I made way more than I needed for one week but the leftovers will go into my stash to use for future PL pages. Please zoom in to get a better look. I used just a few tags from my shop + a few punches and the rest of the items are from the Clippings collection.
Here are a few of my favorites. I love the "guest check" journaling card from the Snippets pad, the notebook fringe stickers from the 12 x 12 Element Stickers sheet and the great patterns in this line. When it becomes available again I'll be purchasing the Garland also. It's die cut and stitched together, ready to use. Cool idea.
From the Snippets booklet I also made these 4 x 6 inserts. I used just a few items from my stash to fancy them up a bit. I also embellished a paper sack to hold some journaling or tags.
And now for my finished pages. Here's how I use my handmade journaling cards: once my photos are trimmed and placed on top of the page protectors I go through my journaling cards and just start selecting ones that seem to fit in terms of color, photo placement, etc. A layout comes together really quickly this way, especially since I had 4 x 6 inserts made ahead of time also.
Here's my left page.
Here's the right page.
This dated 4 x 6 inserts was embellished with a photo collage, a snippet of Washi tape, an arrow sticker from BG, Studio Calico number stamps and letters from the 12 x 12 Alphabet Stickers.
Our pets. Another 4 x 6 BG insert simply embellished with typed label stickers + a date stamp.
Curious Charlie discovered what the pool is all about. I loved the layered look of this 4 x 6 BG insert. I added a small tag with circle heart sticker + Washi + my typed labels. I love the layered look without all the bulk.
Eric had a nice day of early morning fishing at the big pond. I typed on a trimmed down BG journaling card from the Snippets pad.
Here's another 4 x 6 insert straight from the Snippets booklet. I added more of the BG letter stickers, some tickets from the Elements Stickers and then hand cute a few long strips from a piece of patterned paper from the 6 x 6 paper pad. Here's the 12 x 12 version of this paper so you can see the fun strips.
Moving on to the 3 x 4 inserts. On the left insert I used one of my handmade journaling cards along with more stickers from the 12 x 12 Alphabet Stickers + some arrow stamps from the coordinating Hero Arts set. Here's the other stamp set, also great for PL. On the right I have a Week in Review card. All I had to do was add in a little of my own handwriting.
More inserts embellished with my typed labels + some stickers from the12 x 12 Elements Sheet.
Here I used a some hand cutting and a little help from punches to embellish my 3 x 4 inserts. I loved using the small BG letter stickers with stitching over the top. They make fun mini titles for my 3 x 4 cards.
On the left is a page from the Snippets booklet. I only added my photo and typed journaling. So easy. On the right I used a tab punch + a border sticker from the 12 x 12 Elements Stickers.
I also created an 8.5 x 11 traditional scrapbook page insert for this week also. It was a big day when the girls got their new iPhone 4's. I printed a giant 8 x 8 size Instagram print which filled most of the page. For my inserts I like to print larger photos so that an event is really highlighted and made special.
For what was left to embellish, I used 2 of my handmade journaling cards. I just tucked them under my photo after adding some stamping and typed journaling. The fun yellow tag is a Printed Hang Tag from my shop. On the left I embellished a sticker from the 12 x 12 ElementStickers sheet with some small BG sticker letters and tucked it under the photo also. I added a border sticker along the top of the photo and as a finishing touch I added the memories tab from the sticker sheet to the outside of my page protector.
And that's it for this week of Project Life. I'd like to thank Melanie for asking me to be a guest this week for Basic Grey. This was definitely a fun week for me to work on and the Clippings product line is so awesome.

Edited: Forgot to add that I'll be doing a prize drawing for the Basic Grey 6 x6 Paper pad, the alphabet stickers, the elements stickers the snippets booklet and one of the stamp sets. Wowzers! Just leave a comment on this post telling me a little bit about how your Project Life is going. I will close the comments on Sunday evening at 8pm Central Time.

Shopping?

Hey, you might want to check out Studio Calico's lineup of products in their kits & shop items this week. I see that there are lots of Basic Grey goodness there this month, including that sold out garland I've been seeking. Happy shopping. :)

NEW Project Life products are finally in stock:

You can read all about them here at Becky's blog. Don't hesitate if you want something. :) I can't wait to use some of these new items.

My new 2 Squared School Kit:

A fun new kit with a challenge to boot! I've been tweeting lots of project peeks and I'll be showing you projects all week long starting tomorrow. :)

Holiday Wrappings...pocket with tag

It's time to start thinking about your holiday wrapping. This year my theme is going to be a simple Kraft wrap of small sacks or from a roll of Kraft butcher type paper. With this I'm going to pair the color red and whatever else pops up.

Today I have a little sampling of a brown paper sack pocket with an embellished tag. These little sacks will be used to hold small, stamped notecards....a few candies.....a homemade treat...or perhaps a gift card. I love having these types of holiday wrappings made up and ready to use come December. How about a little tutorial on how I made it?
Supply List:

Small Manila Parcel Tag

Medium Manila Parcel Tag

Mini Wooden Spools

Candy Cane Clothespin if you got some from my NOEL Notions...or Mini Clothespin...or Small Clothespin

Brown Paper Sacks

baker's twine.....I have this one in the shop

Jolly Jingle Bells if you got some from my NOEL Notions...or plain jingle bells

Patterned paper...I used a sheet from the Basic Grey 6 x 6 Picadilly pad

thick cotton twine

holiday stamp...I used an Ali Edwards stamp from Technique Tuesday

dimensional sticker....I used a Martha Stewart star sticker from Michael's

white spray mist.....I used Studio Calico's Mister Huey in white

white buttons

Scor-Tape

For the embellished mini wooden spools, cut strips of patterned paper to fit the spool. Back with 1/4" Scor-Tape. Cut strips to about 1-1/4"long, remove adhesive backing and wrap around the spool. I burnished the end of the strip really well so that it doesn't peel up.
For the tag assembly, check out the first photo. Cut a notch in the small tag to create a little flag, then stamp the image in red ink. For the medium tag, apply adhesive to the tag then stick it on the patterned paper. Cut around the tag and punch a new hole. The two tags will layer together like you see below.

To create the jingle bell wreath embellishment, string two bells, two buttons and one mini wooden spool onto baker's twine like shown below. Tie up the two ends of the baker's twine to form a circle, leaving big loopy bows and long strings. String the cotton twine through both tags and tie off. Using an additional piece of baker's twine, tie the little wreath to the cotton twine. Attack small star sticker to the tag.

For brown paper pocket, fold sack in half and stitch around three sides. Splatter with white mist. Attach gift tag to brown paper pocket with clothespin.
And there ya go, a cute little pocket all ready for some holiday goodies. Enjoy!
Note: The candy cane clothespins and jolly jingle bells are sold out and will not be offered again this season.

Holiday Journals/December Daily update

I'm working today to take photos and get my blog posts ready. I'll have 3 separate posts, dividing up the pages + I'll explain how I'll be using my journal this holiday season. I'm hoping to have the first post up tomorrow or Sunday, depending on the family happenings around here this weekend. :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.....and let's remember our brave veterans on this Veteran's Day. The freedoms we have in our wonderful country and throughout the world should not be taken for granted. Somebody fought for you. Somebody died for you. When I think that we can drive clear across our nation and go wherever we want and do whatever we want, I always stop to remember how lucky we are to live where we do. Thank you to all our veterans!

birthday cards from scraps...

Hi there. Amidst all of the crazy fun of having my sister & nephew here since Wednesday and having 6 girls here for a birthday party this weekend, I managed to make a few cards this morning while everyone was occupied.

It's pretty easy to throw a few cards together if you just use up the scraps from a scrapbooking project. I've decided that I'm going to make a few cards from each of my weekly Project Life scraps. If you're a scrapbooker, you definitely need to try this. You'll have a great stash of cards in no time.

For my cards, I already had out the scraps of paper, a few Studio Calico chipboard butterflies + the little journaling sticky notes from this Project Life spread. I cut out a few more flowers from the Basic Grey paper too. To complete my cards, I grabbed my Birthday Bash Sentiments from Papertrey, some Rustic White cardstock, some black ink, rhinestones, Washi tape and black & white twine. I also used the card in the photo below as my inspiration piece. Having a sample card to look at or a cards sketch makes the work go even faster.
And here are my completed cards. So easy to assemble because most of the products were already out. These are not my normal colors but I think they'll make great birthday cards for the girls' teenage friends. Did I tell you I have TWO teenagers now? Good times, indeed.
Love these big & bold flowers that I cut from the Basic Grey paper.
The birthday sentiments were stamped on the round sticky notes + directly onto my base layer of patterned papers. A little Washi tape, some machine stitching + baker's twine tied up with the chipboard butterflies = some fun and easy cards.
Who knows, maybe I'll make this a regular feature here on the blog. It's sure an easy way to get a few cards cranked out. Here's a link to some previous cards I made from leftovers. And hey, did you do anything fun for World Card Making Day???? I'd love to hear.

This week:

Holiday Journal Mini Album Kits.....I'll be announcing the date that the remaining kits will be up for sale in the shop. Plus hopefully I'll be able to post a few photos of some updated items that will be in the kits.

Halloween treat packaging kits.....coming to the shop later this week. Look for a blog post for sample projects. Black + white striped pocket sacks, Elle's Studio goodness, twine, homemade goodness.......you won't want to miss these!

Project Life Update....

Hi there, I'm back today with another Project Life update. This week I used some papers that I purchased from Basic Grey from their Out of Print collection. A little out of my usual homespun style but I knew these papers would be great to use with school pages/photos of the girls. And right now we're definitely into all things *school* so it worked perfectly + our school colors are black & white so the colors fit right in with this week's photos.

Project Life....week of September 11th to September 17th, 2011

The two page spread. I love the finished 2 pages side by side because it reinforces what I'm trying to accomplish with my Project Life....more of a traditional 2 page look.
The left page....
The right page.....
For the main weekly date insert, I used that fun floral paper from Basic Grey. I cut out the flower, used a whimsical chipboard alphabet + Studio Calico butterfly mask, Mister Huey spray mist & stapled on SC chipboard butterflies. Label with *to do* was topped with small alphabet letters and stitched on with red thread because that's what's in my sewing machine at the moment. Cute yo-yo with button sits in the center of the flower. Love this whimsical look.
More stickers with typewriter journaling + additional cut out flowers.

More Basic Grey patterned papers, 7 Gypsies number stamps, Studio Calico Fabrips + a favorite new product from Studio Calico.....those little sticky notes. Love them and will use them lots, I'm sure. The best part is that they are thin like copy paper so just stick 'em on a sheet of paper and they go through vintage typewriters so easily.

Here I used a journaling tear off sheet from a Smash Pad + another arrow sticky note from Studio Calico. I also used a black & white chevron sack from my Etsy shop. I love that they fit into the Project Life journaling pockets. I added another cut out flower + October Afternoon circle sticker + some border stickers with numbers. A Project Life grid journaling card is tucked into the chevron sack. I added a scrap of patterned paper to a Studio Calico chipboard tag and stapled it onto the journaling card. Here, two entries went on one journaling card. I just used my date stamp to mark the two separate days.
Here I used a small photo of flowers in a journaling card space. I typed on a Studio Calico stick note and stitched it onto the photo. For the Gator journaling card, I used another SC sticky note that was topped with small alphabet stickers.

My Project Life status: I'm keeping up with current weeks and am slowly getting a week or two done from when I got behind this summer. Loving it still!

Etsy shop update: I got a new shipment of the chevron sacks + all the grid & notebook paper sacks yesterday. I'll have more in the shop towards the end of the week.

Okay, off the computer now. I've got a birthday party to plan + presents to buy for a soon to be 13 year old. Two teenagers in the house come Saturday!! Have a great day everyone.

Warm wishes mug cards..

I love my friend Pine's (Heather Nichols) set called Warm Happiness. Her sets are so simple to use which makes for some quick and easy stamped images.Actually this mug image is so easy to cut out that I stamped it with Scarlet Jewel ink onto scraps of the Basic Grey background paper and paper pieced the images by cutting them out with fine tip scissors.

Before I adhered my mugs to my punched squares stamped with Borders and Corners Squares, I stamped the oval image from Warm Happiness with Aqua Mist ink. I love how this creates a little shadow for the mug. Aqua Mist Vintage Buttons with linen string finish off the mugs. A little Aqua Mist ribbon and a sentiment from an old SU! set finish off the cards.

These cards would be great to give along with a packet of hot cocoa, perfect for this time of year. I found a new hot cocoa recipe mix that I'm so anxious to try. I have searched and searched for the perfect homemade cocoa mix and hopefully this one will be the one. I'll be sure to share the recipe if it's a keeper.

Sip and relax..

Edit: Linda asked if the ribbon that I wrap around the card front shows on the inside of my card....or if I cover it up. I do not cover it up. Many times I stick an extra little note, a check that I owe someone, etc under that little snippet of ribbon. Hope that helps. :)

I love the pretty colors of these cards. I drew inspiration from the colors in the Basic Grey patterned paper I used. There's nothing like a pile of finished cards to make me happy. :) I used Papertrey stamps for my images...Tea for Two the sentiments and Everyday Classics(anniversary set) for the teacup.

I finished off the main image with a scalloped square punched that was stamped with a polka dot square border from Borders and Corners Squares. Ink colors I used were Aqua Mist for the teacup, Scarlet Jewel for the sentiment and tea bag and Sweet Blush for the polka dot square border.

For a quirky little touch, I added tied ribbon in Lavender Moon. I love to add those unexpected colors just to mix things up a bit.

It's dark and rainy here today....a perfect day to meet up with a friend....enjoy a cup of tea........and relax. :)

Caffeine and friends...

Once again, I've got some coffee themed cards to show you. This time of year I love to keep a stash on hand. For my cards I used JustRite Stampers Just A Little Caffeine Border and Centers stamp set to create my focal image. You'll notice on my stamped circles that I have some inky rings around the rims. I decided to use the center stamp only (not a border) and pressed the stamp into my ink pad. I like the graphic look of the inky circles...and it kinda reminds me of coffee rings too.

I finished off my card by adhering the circle embellishment to a punched scalloped square, stamped with Papertrey's Borders and Corners Square stamp set. Scarlet Jewel ribbon is from Papertrey and cardstock is from Basic Grey.

Hope you're having a great, caffeinated day!!

Freaky Girl

I'm not sure what you call this little girl so I'm calling her Freaky Girl. I saw her at my local scrapbook store and she jumped into my shopping basket! She was just hanging there, staring at me along with all of this colorful Lemonade collection by Basic Grey. I think Freaky Girl is hard to find so good luck! Last I saw, Eclectic Paperie had her packaged up in a little bundle of stamps. Check it out HERE, EP also sells the Basic Grey Lemonade collection of papers and matching embellishments. I was like a little kid making these cards. Just for the sheer fun of stamping.....as Forrest Gump would say......for no particular reason.

If you want to try something new with your Copics, try stamping your images onto Kraft cardstock, then coloring. You just have to use a little more vibrant/darker colors so that they'll show up on the Kraft color. Use a little scrap of paper to test your colors first. And see that shimmer on my little red headed Freaky Girl (she looks like Josey who has more blond in her red hair)? I used Copic Spica markers to add some shimmer. My friend Pine likes to use a Star Dust pen and then smudge it before it dries. Thanks for the tip Pine! For this little card, I used a sentiment from Papertrey's Vintage Picnic and matched it up with a tiny envelope from Papertrey's Mailbox Greetings.

This time I colored Freaky Girl to look more like Jordan who has darker red hair. I love their little blushy cheeks.

I shimmered up her hair too and added a popped up heart, some buttons, ribbon and a little machine stitching. Polka dots on both cards are from Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics II. For each of the main image layers, I used a fine tip Copic Multi Liner in black to outline the squares and have the lines meet at both sides of the sentiments.

Time ran out for me, but Freaky Girl also has a friend. I call him Freaky Boy and I can't wait to color him for some little boy cards. If you click on that link at the beginning of my post, you can see Freaky Boy in that bundle of stamps that EP is offering. Oh boy, did I have some freaky fun stampin' up this little girl, she's SO dang cute!!

Okay friends, I've got to pack up my final stuff for CHA....then vacuum and dust (do you clean before you go on a trip?)......and do our Town Tuesday stuff before I head to Dawn's tonight......hair cuts, guitar lessons, pick up Jordan's new contacts.....oh, and go to McDonald's to see if Josey's new Itouch picks up the free WiiFii there. Priorities ya know. :) Have a great day. I'll be taking photos but won't be able to post while I'm at CHA. Maybe Nichole, Debbie, Dawn or Pine will though so be sure to check their blogaroonies. Later girls!