Project Life 2014...Week 7 (Valentine's Week)

Week 7 of my Project Life 2014 included Valentine's Day.  Always a fun week that I like to get creative with.  I used Gossamer Blue March Kits and stamp sets.  

 The left page.

 The right page.

 Main, dated insert.  Here I added a journaling card to a 4 x 6 card, added a Small Manila Tag, chipboard letters and wood veneer. I used a small letter "o" from a wood stamp set for the circles on the calendar card.

 The stamp sets this month were a favorite.  Lots of foodie themed stamps.  I used three on this insert along with a sticky note and metal clip.

 Stickers to accent a photo.

 More foodie stamps, directly stamped onto the photo.

 Photo app on photo, created on my iPhone.

 More stamps and wonderful journaling cards this month.  I'm loving the snippets of ribbon in the kits too...and those daisy brads, need a dozen of those.

 A foodie stamp on a Notebook Paper Label with typewriter journaling.

 Chocolate dipped strawberries for Valentine's Day dessert.  Rub ons right on the photo.

 Fun journaling card, photo corner and brad.

 More 3 x 4 inserts.

 A fun 3 x 4 insert with stickers and embellishments then stitching down the center with gold thread.  Another rub on on the flower photo.

 Ribbon tied to a chipboard accent, photo corner, buttons, sequins.

Lots of fun goodies to play with on this spread.  Enjoy!

February Inspiration Board...Wood You Be Mine?

This year I started a monthly series of inspiration boards over at my Pinterest site.  Each month I'll select a group of images that I've collected from my various Pinterest boards and use them as inspiration on a whole new board.  February's inspiration board is called Wood You Be Mine?  

I was inspired to create this board after seeing this image below.  It reminded me of all the Aspen trees we saw in Colorado last Summer while riding our Gator on some mountain trails.  We'd see carvings on trees just like this.  Although we wouldn't let the girls carve their initials on any trees, I did find the carvings endearing.  So fast forward to February and I thought that hearts and woodgrain would make a perfect pairing.  

(source from Pinterest)

Since so many of us pin a lot of inspiring photos from Pinterest I wanted to share how I actually use the photos to jump start an actual project.  I know....actually creating something from a Pinterest pin...novel idea, right?  

Here's a few photos that I pulled from my February board and how I might use them on a project.  I loved this handmade bag photo and have admired it for some time.  To convert the idea to a paper project I like the idea of using the design for a card front.  I could use woodgrain paper and maybe a few other patterned papers to create a striped background layer.  Then I could use layers of other papers, maybe a ledger paper, and some stitching to finish off my card.  I like the idea of the neutral backgrounds and maybe I could create a whole stack of those to use on cards anytime. 

(source from Pinterest)

From this photo I was simply inspired to use more ribbons on a project.  I'm giving ribbons a comeback this year on my projects and this is a fun reminder that there are lots of fun ribbons just waiting for me in my stash.  The neutral background could easily be switched out with a woodgrain pattern.  Love the color inspiration from this photo also....minty greens, salmon and the neutrals.  

(source from Pinterest)

From this photo, I'm combining two recent loves....hand lettering and floral clusters.  I'd love to just print this photo off for inspiration then get to work on practicing my hand lettering.  Then I'd love to make some hand lettered card fronts then stamp on some little floral clusters...maybe adding some hand painted floral elements into the mix.  Sometimes I  really like the idea of the stationery look with flat layers as a contrast to heavily layered cards. 

(source from Pinterest)

I hope I've inspired you today to select a photo from my Wood You Be Mine? Pinterest inspiration board and create something special. The inspiration is plentiful, we just need to put it into action.  I'll be keeping all of my monthly inspiration boards active so they'll be at my Pinterest site from month to month for 2014. 

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!  Hope your day is lovely.  We celebrated with a wonderful dinner and little gifts last night....tonight we'll be watching the girls play basketball and will have hotdogs from the concession stand.  :) Looking forward to a relaxing weekend with warmer temperatures after tonight.  

Note: I will be still be posting my December Memories remaining pages.  Please don't let my last few unseen pages stop you from working on your album though.  I'm not quite sure when I'll get to posting all of the remaining pages but they'll trickle in here on the blog sooner or later.  :)

Valentine Cards using Gossamer Blue February Kits

Today I'm sharing some handmade Valentine cards that I created with the Gossamer Blue February kits. There were so many fun papers and embellishments in the kits, I hope you were able to get some before many of the kits sold out.  

There's something about Valentine cards that make me want to do handmade stuff to them.  Like when I was little and we cut out red hearts from construction paper and glued on glitter and made our own Valentine boxes from shoe boxes or paper plates for our desks.  I had fun piecing together these cards and they definitely have a few handmade touches that I've added.  

 I used large chipboard pieces from the February kits along with the scalloped circle sticker sentiments.

 The background papers are a neutral print with book page printing.  I love that look for cards and it's fun to use 12 x 12 papers when I come across them instead of actual book pages sometimes.

 Each card has the basic same layout even though the elements are different.  There's a large focal chipboard piece, the scallop sticker and my favorite star paper which is a Gossamer Blue exclusive this month from One Little Bird.  I could use it on every project.

How to: before adhering the book print layer to my card base I layered on the clear shapes, the blue star strip of paper and the scalloped sticker sentiment.  I stitched through the center of the sticker across the strip of blue with red thread. Each card is finished some enamel shape stickers or the fun shimmery enamel dots from this month's kits.

 I'm really, really loving photo corners right now.  Whether it be from manufacturers or hand cut like the ones I made, I'm using them on everything lately.  A photo corner adds just the right design element to balance a large focal piece or to just add another element of pattern or texture to a project.  I hand cut mine from this fun Crate Paper 6 x6 pad from the Bits & Pieces kit.  I made them kind of long and wonky then stitched them with the red thread.  I splattered some white Mister Huey on the blank parts of my cards.

 You can see here how the cards all look similar even though the actual individual elements are different.  This is what makes mass producing not so monotonous.  It's all similar...but not the same.

 For many of my card sentiments lately, I've been using my vintage typewriter.  It's just easier to slip in a piece of scrap cardstock and type exactly what I want.  You can see below that I just cut my sentiments into strips and adhered them to my card fronts with pop dots.  I try to find interesting places to set the sentiments.....like over the XO or clear hearts....or in a little space that seems empty..or over a heart.  I love the hand made aspect of my cards today.

My supplies are all left out and I do believe that I have a package of unopened Hershey bars hiding in my cupboards.  I plan to use some of the 6 x 6 papers to make some candy bar wraps to go along with my cards for Valentine treats.  I'll be sure to share them here on the blog.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Note:  I have my February Pinterest Inspiration Board up now....it's called Wood You Be Mine?  You can view the board at this link.  I'll be back soon to share my inspiration for this board.

Valentine's Cards using Gossamer Blue February Kits...

Today is the release day for the Gossamer Blue February products.  It looks like many of the kits are now sold out so I hope you snagged a few fun items.  I'll be sharing my Project Life/Life Pages throughout the month using the new kits.  I've also been having fun making Valentine Cards with the various kits.  There's sooo many pretty papers and embellishments for card makers.  

I'm sharing a few of the Valentine cards I've made so far.  The four cards below use the Elle's Studio stamp set from the February Bits & Pieces Kit. I love the scripty font and little heart label stamp that I used for my date stamp. 

For each of my cards, I used either a diecut from the various kits or a Spellbinder's circle die which also embosses.  It's been a while since I've used those so it was fun to dig into my stash. 

 Each stamp has the date stamp using Elle's Studio label stamp and also a chipboard embellishment of some sort.

 I also used enamel dots from various kits + some gray twine from my stash.

 I'm still loving my gold stitching so I added some of that to a horizontal strip of cardstock on each of the cards.  Oh, and that beautiful patterned paper...it's from February's Main Kit.

Nothing is more fun than getting a handmade greeting card.  I like the happiness to start right at the mailbox when the recipient sees stamping on the envelope.  I used Elle's stamp set for the hearts and arrows + a red Copic marker to color in the arrows.  

So fun and happy, I just love to create Valentine's Day cards.  Hope you enjoy!

Shop update...Valentine goodies

Chiming in again today to announce a shop update.  Be sure to scroll down to my previous post today for a sweet treat.  Just in time for Valentine crafting, I've got some fun products to share.  They're all in the shop here.  

Valentine Ribbon Bundle....features 5 yards each of beautiful pink toned seam binding.  I love this for tying around a journaling card, for cards or tying up gift sacks. 

 Pink Silk Ribbon....beautifully soft and silky, hand dyed ribbon.

 Gold and Cream Baker's Twine...a new favorite of mine.  Perfect for the gold lovers out there.

 Silver and Cream Baker's Twine....just the right amount of metallic.

 Metallic Sequin Mix....a mix of golds, silvers, grays and shimmers.  Down to my last quantities of this.

 Sweetheart Sequin Mix...chock full of fun for Valentine's Day.  I'll be using this on cards and gift packaging.  Would look adorable sprinkled in these vellum envelopes.

 Vintage Metallic Trims....some beautiful vintage finds along with the new metallic baker's twines, vintage Rolodex cards with metallic gold stitching, metallic clothespins and vintage starburst sequins + a full package of the metallic sequin mix and more. My shop favorite this time. Limited quantities.

 Paper Doilies Set.....these just say "vintage Valentine" to me.  So sweet, so dainty.  I also have the gold and white doilies in separate sets.

 Valentine Tidbits Kit.....a sweet little mix of Valentine goodies to use on cards, packaging and more. Includes a vintage lace package and a full package of Sweetheart Sequin Mix.

Be sure to check out my shop basics too.  I love to use simple tags and labels on all of my cards, Project Life and packaging.  Some of my favorites are Large Kraft Sacks, Grid Paper Labels for journaling, the  Notebook Paper Heart Labels for journaling and card sentiments, Red & White Baker's Twine, and Medium Manila Parcel Tags. For the Project Lifer's, I have added some sets of my 2014 Project Life Planner pages.

I've also updated my Papertrey Sale Page with some new sets and dies.  I will happy to combine shipping with shop items if you order from both places.  Check back at the shop often, I'll be adding new items and vintage finds here and there.  You never know what might pop up after I get to digging in my stash.  :)

Project Life 2013, Week 7...Valentine's Week

Today I'm sharing Week 7 of my Project Life 2013.  I had an insert his week, adding in our Valentine celebration.  

This is the 2 page spread. I kept this week's photos very light and airy, using a white border filter in my iPhoto editing program.  

The left page...

 The right page.....

 The Calendar Insert using chipboard letters, Crate Paper, SC PL labels and stamps.

 Here I used a Notebook Paper Label to add the journaling right to the photo instead of on an additional 3 x 4 card.

 Love this photo of sweet Charlie boy.  I used lots of the chipboard letters to add initials to photos this week.

 Here I used an Elle's Studio 4 x 6 card + a small library card from Banana Fish Studio.  I think it's fun to document the books that you're reading at the time..

The girls on Valentine's Day morning before heading out to school.  I used more chipboard letters + a Notebook Paper Heart Label for typed journaling. 

 Here I used a Studio Calico label topped with mismatched chipboard letters.  The circle accent is from Elle's Studio.

 Another photo of Charlie, this time with our cat Stormy.  I used a 4 x 6 Elle's Studio card accented with stickers, Washi tape and typewriter journaling.

 The 3 x 4 inserts. Pretty simple with small Instagram photos + typewriter journaling.

 Lots of small letter stickers and pieces leftover from my Gossamer Blue kit.

 More cute 3 x 4 inserts from Elle's Studio.

 I've developed a strategy for including lots of sports photos.  I'll share my method in separate post another day.  For this week, I included a photo of each of the girls dribbling.  I stapled their jersey numbers to the photo.  We have a local couple who are professional photographers and they've taken a liking to my  girls....probably the red hair.  They send me discs of photos and they take the best shots.  I love that they allow me to use their photos in my albums.

 This is the 6 x 12 insert which has a flipper card that I created.  The journaling cards are from Studio Calico. Paper is Create Paper. You can see more of this insert at the very top of this post.

 Here is the flipper card flipped up to reveal a photo of our Valentine's dinner with some journaling.

A very fun week in the book, full of things I love.  Thanks for joining me today.  

Right now.....the girls are still on Spring Break.  The weather has been in the 30's for most of the week and both girls have had outdoor track and softball practices.  It's not been Spring-like here at all & tomorrow they're calling for 3-7" of snow.  I would much prefer a nice Spring shower.  Crazy.