Just a Note cards....using January Gossamer Blue kits

I saved a few of my favorite patterned papers from the January Gossamer Blue kits for some card making.  I also used the fun glitter glue from the kits along with a trimmed up photo overlay that has gold foil leaves from the kits.

Here's the first set of cards I created.

I also used Dainty Doilies, Typewriter Mini Instagrams, resin flowers and a fabric paperclip from this kit. I typed the sentiments for all the cards and stitched with gold thread.

A second set of cards using this beautiful yellow paper with coordinating envelopes.

I added gold baker's twine on these cards along with the pieces of the clear overlay pieces I trimmed to 1" x 4" pieces from a 4" x 4" piece.

Here's some of those beautiful overlays.  I just love the gold foil on this set. 

For a little creative experimentation, I painted Gesso medium onto some grid paper strips of cardstock.  I let that dry then painted on the of the blue Zazz glitter glue.  

I placed the clear acetate with gold foil leaves on top of the glittered strips of cardstock for a beautiful, shimmery effect.  

I used a Simon Says stamp set (all the yellow stamps) for the envelopes.  

I paired the sentiments with the black stamped image from the October Afternoon phrase stamp from the Gossamer Blue January kits.  Who doesn't love a cute, stamped envelope....especially when it's addressed to them?

Hope you enjoy!  Stay tuned....I'll be back soon with some sneak peeks of the February Gossamer Blue  kits.  Cards makers, you'll love all the goodies that you can use for cards this month.  :)

Papertrey Ink stamp sale...

I have been doing a little sorting in my craft room and have some Papertrey Ink stamps & dies for sale.  See the link under PAGES at the left of my blog.  :)

2013 Hot Cocoa & Hot Spiced Tea Station...

With low temperatures and wind chills dipping down to the -20's, I thought it would be a good time to finally share my 2013 Hot Cocoa & Hot Spiced Tea Station. 

This was something that I looked forward to setting up for the holiday season and I'm so happy that I did.  I turned my vintage kitchen cabinet into a warm & cozy place to fix a hot drink right before warming up by the fire.  You can get a peek at our fireplace in the background.  

 I used vintage plaid accessories for my Winter decor this year.  I had thermoses, a marshmallow tin and plaid, wood blankets.

In the little cubby I added my jade green measuring scale along with some new but old, tiny Santa mugs. 

I had never seen this teeny size before and I think they're just cute as a button. 

For my drink station, I purchased a second 3 tiered, galvanized stand from Pottery Barn.  I have one in my work room and just love it.  I couldn't give it up for my drink station so I made the second purchase.  In the top of my stand I have travel cups, red hot candies in a vintage jar and some decadent chocolate syrup I came across. 

The middle level of the stand has cinnamon and cocoa powder which I poured into vintage green Depression glass shakers.  I labeled everything with stamped metal rim tags.  The Santa mug with candy cane stir sticks was a new/old find this year too.

The bottom level of the stand has a vintage jar filled with homemade hot cocoa mix and an old tea jar filled with my mom's delicious hot spiced tea recipe.  Two other glass pieces are filled with homemade and regular marshmallows. 

Homemade marshmallows were on my to do list this holiday season and they are yummy.  They are ooey and gooey when they melt and taste so much better than the store bought variety.  But some people like the store bought variety so I kept some on hand in the fun jar I found while junkin' this Winter. 

These giant store bought marshmallows became the filler for my drink station.  They just reminded me of giant, fluffy snowballs and they were perfect.  

More candy canes and some vintage silver spoons.  I like to slip a few of these in my purse and hand out to my favorite kiddos at the ballgames. 

This darling teacup set sits front and center.  It was a gem of a find this Winter. 

So pretty.  I will keep it forever and ever. 

We enjoyed hot drinks all Winter long....and will continue to do so until it warms up a bit.  I loved the hot spiced tea in this mug a friend bought me years ago. 

Ooey and gooey, I told ya.  The marshmallows become like liquid goodness and are especially good with some drizzled chocolate and cinnamon sprinkles.  I have to admit, I'm all about the marshmallow goodness.  When it's gone, the cocoa kind of sits.  

Definitely will do a new version for 2014.  Something to look forward to for sure. 

Hope you're warm and cozy wherever you are.  I'm headed out to the basketball games tonight...and I think I might just take along a travel cup of hot spiced tea.  Or cocoa. Or tea.  Hmmmm.

Radiant Orchid Inspiration Kit...

If you've followed along this month, I've started a new monthly feature where I share a Pinterest board with specific themes.  I'm pulling photos from each of my boards to create one very special board a month.  This month's theme is Radiant Orchid, the new Pantone color of the  year.  You can read about the original post here.  Today I'm sharing some color inspiration that I pulled from my own stash of items and a new kit with a sampling of Radiant Orchid items. 

I am so inspired to reach for my paints at the moment.  I'll be sharing some behind the scenes photos of my watercolor and acrylic painting sessions soon with some projects. 

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 I love the background on this floral invitation.  Lots of color bleeding and very saturated colors.

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 I've always been fond of draping ribbon and I'm bringing it back this year.  Nothing finishes off a card or pretty package like a width of ribbon.

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 Old stacks of books inspired me to find a fun purple book of my own.

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 Vintage linens are so whimsical and colorful.  I found a few purple tones that will work well with this month's theme.

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Here's the kit I pulled together for the shop.  This orchid color is kind of hard to photograph because it's so vibrant and beautiful.  The kit contains a little sampling that you can sift through to create a few projects.  Just a little of the Radiant Orchid color here and there gives a wonderful boost, especially during this cold Winter we're having here. I've included a vintage book page, a pocket stitched with Radiant Orchid colored thread....

 This beautiful collection of ribbons.  There's three yards each of the two seam bindings and the exquisite hand dipped silk ribbon.  I have been saving this silk ribbon for years because it's just that gorgeous to look at and it was very pricey if I remember.  The entire spool of ribbon was hand dipped in beautiful inks to create this mirage of vibrant colors.  It's delicate, drapes beautifully and it will create a one of a kind look to a special project.

 I had a fun afternoon of painting yesterday with both acrylics and watercolors.  You'll get 2 of each kinds of tags...both have shimmery colors which are so pretty when the light catches them just right.

 I found some pretty, vintage postcards in my stash that were too perfect not to share.  I also snipped some vintage fabrics that could be wrapped around a card front to create a little tab or stapled over a sack for a finishing touch.  Or gather up and create a tiny ruffle.  The paper flower and shiny small clothespin are small additions that will be just too cute.

 The kits are listed in the shop now in limited quantities and ready to ship out.  I hope you enjoy them.

The girls go back to school tomorrow so I'll be spending more time at my work table, creating a few new things with some of the kit items.  Stay tuned....and stay warm if you're enduring this dreadful cold we're having!

2013 Project Life...Week 48

My Project Life Week 48 was created with the Gossamer Blue January Life Pages Kit.  

 This month's new Life Pages Kit is full of colorful journaling cards, exclusive GB wood veneer, October Afternoon Daily Flash Tin Pins, a stamp set, enamel dots and much more.

 I had a lot of photos this week so it was easy to just fill in with journaling cards and a few embellishments.

 I trimmed down a 4 x 6 journaling card and adhered it to a Gossamer Blue Basics 4 x 6 Journaling Card.  If you haven't added these to your stash, I highly recommend them for your Project Life.  In the set you get an assorted package of 28 3 x 4 and 4 x 6 basic journaling cards.  The designs are very neutral with some fun ledger, notebook, grid, etc patterns. Here you can also see the exclusive Life Pages stamp set in action.  The words are all on one stamp and stamp inside and above the arrow stamp.

 How about this 3 x 4 size of exclusive wood veneer.  It looks fun placed over any journaling card or you can use it to make a fun sequin shaker card, etc. For some extra journaling on this week's spread, I typed my journaling on my Grid Paper Labels.  You just run the sheet through your typewriter, stick to a photo or journaling card and trim if you only need a partial part of a label. These are another staple item I like to keep with my Project Life supplies.

 Here I created a flipper pocket so that I could add a little more to our day of shopping.

Here's to a great new year of Project Life.  I'd love to know your plans for Project LIfe 2014.  Are you doing 12 x 12 pages?  Smaller pages?  Weekly, monthly?  Please feel free to share your thoughts.

January Inspiration Board: Radiant Orchid (Pantone 2014 Color of the Year)

Happy New Year! Today I'm announcing an exciting, new monthly blog feature.  Over at my Pinterest boards I'll be sharing a monthly inspiration board with a new theme each month.  I'll announce the new board here on the blog each month.  From there, I will be sharing projects I create from the inspirational photos.  I hope to inspire you each month also, so feel free to email me with your creations or share here in the blog comments.  

I dearly love the invention of Pinterest.  I find myself browsing my various boards a lot because the beautiful photos and links provide such a source of inspiration.  I thought it would be fun to pick a monthly theme, browse my own boards for inspirational photos and plop them all into one new, monthly inspiration board.  I'll be leaving the boards up indefinitely so you can refer to them often. I also plan to add items to my online shop that fit into the monthly theme.  This month will be hit & miss because of the busy holiday and some family illnesses that I'm dealing with.  

So here we got with this month's Pinterest board.....

January Inspiration Board: Radiant Orchid (Pantone 2014 Color of the Year)

link at Pinterest

I'm kicking off my first inspiration board with a color theme.  After the holidays, I'm a little tired of the traditional red and green color scheme so what better way to fresh things up than with a fresh new color? Radiant Orchid it is.  Of course you can use the January Pinterest board for color inspiration. 

link at Pinterest

I usually pair several colors together so I'm looking forward to mixing things up a bit.  I like some of the pairings below.  

link at Pinterest

I have a huge fondness for Rifle Paper Company right now so you'll likely be seeing lots of their beautiful pieces of work in my monthly boards.  I'm really going to focus a lot more on cards this year, but switching things up to be more stationery like.  I actually have an entire post kind of dedicated to Rifle Paper Company coming soon.  :)

link at Pinterest

Hand lettering is so popular and I so want to improve my skills and find some good products to use.  Wouldn't we all love to have our envelopes look like the ones below?  And that color! 

link at Pinterest

Pretty packaging just makes a present so much more special.  I'll be sharing my new favorite gift wrap finds in my shop, including lots of pretty ribbons this year.  Card makers, stay tuned.  :) 

link at Pinterest

I've created a new art cart, filled to the brim with art products.  My new watercolors are front and center so I'll be including lots of inspiring art photos in my monthly boards.  Just pick up the brush and start.  I'm intimated for sure but it's not gonna happen if I don't try.  

link at Pinterest

I love flowers and gardening so it's fun to search my floral boards for arrangements or floral finds that  match my monthly theme.  I could use some fresh flowers right about now.  Talk about a mood booster.  

link at Pinterest

I have lots of boards dedicated to food and drink so not try to see how a food find can find it's way into my monthly mood boards.  I don't know what these fruity looking concoctions are but they sure look delightful.  Purple Kook-Aid is calling me now. 

link at Pinterest

Home decor always plays a huge part in determining color palettes and designs for our paper industry. It's fun to search my magazines, especially Pottery Barn, to see what's coming next. Am I going to create a Radiant Orchid room?  Probably not but it's sure pretty to look at.  I could definitely see me translating this photo into a radiant orchid, chartreuse and linen color scheme for a paper project though.   The idea is to use my monthly inspiration boards as a spring board for your own creations.  

link at Pinterest

I'll leave you with this for today, friends.  Be sure to check out my entire January Pinterest board.  To see the entire collection of photos one board really makes the creative sparks fly.  Enjoy!  I've already got February and March boards in progress, I was so excited to start this new feature.  I'll be back soon with some new creations.  

Yes, I'll be sharing the rest of my December Memories album too as I finish it up.  You can check out my 2014 cover page and a blank template for my first week of Project Life 2014 over at the Gossamer Blue blog here.  Here's to a great, new year!