Gossamer Blue and Etsy

 It's super hard to believe but an entire year has already gone by and my time as a designer for Gossamer Blue has come to an end. With my final kit, I decided to create a few things that went along with the kids' final month of school. So, a couple of cute teacher gifts were put together. I seriously love gift wrapping. The little layers of fun paper things mixed with random unexpected objects; painted feathers, sequins, those cute word bobby pins! These little gift wrap boxes actually inspired a couple of new ideas for the etsy shop as well!

Since the kids are on summer break, I've signed both of them up for a summer reading program through the local library. As an incentive for reading, I made them these little reading log books with Popsicle book marks. The reading logs are made with a PL 3x4 card and then filled with index cards cut down to size. It's such a fun way to encourage the littles to read more! 

 I also made these little wooden keychains. Summer just seems like the perfect reason to pull out all of the paints and make something cute. Like an ode to summer camp from childhood!

 In the Main Kit there's lot's of cute embellishments and really large cardboard letters - spray painted gold they make really pretty addition to my art table! 

 

 and finally the Etsy part! I am reopening up my little shop tomorrow. Now that my obligations have slowed in time for summer, I'm hoping to have lots of extra time to devote to my own collections! This first update is called:

 Summer Soiree

- it's a summery collection of both handmade and vintage, a little of everything with a summer time theme. I'll be adding more to my shop throughout the summer but this first update is so exciting, it feels as though it's been forever since I've really devoted any time to my artsy little shop. It's good to get back to what makes you happy! 

 

Thanks for stopping in today! I look forward to being able to post a little more regularly as well. I've come to love summers and the extra time that comes along with the warm season! 

xo ~ Tara

Gossamer Blue ~ April

 I love the first of the month when I update my gallery over at Gossamer Blue! It's fun to see lots of little projects all come together. This month's kit include lots of Elles Studio paper and Simply Stories chipboard embellishments. The add-on kits though came with a variety of Crate Paper - Craft Market products - which are my personal favorite!(How could you go wrong with that much gold glitter!)

 I may a little early with this idea, but I wanted to start putting together a mix of things to take with me on a road-trip that's currently in the works. I used one of the Craft Market linen bags from Crate Paper and made a little 'weekend adventure' bag - full of things I can use on the go! 

You can never have too many gift tags laying around! Especially as we're getting ready for end of the year gifts for everyone involved with the kids' school year!

 Here's a super cute idea for Easter (there's still a little time!) Easter Bunny wands! I found a printable template and used the template to trace out a 'chocolate' bunny shape onto some scrapbook paper. I cut out the shapes, mine are backed with colored card stock paper, and then sewed almost all the way around the bunny leaving just enough room for a small wooden dowel. I used some extra chipboard embellishments to decorate the bunnies and I'll add a name tag to each bunny with the kids' name on them. (I wanted to make a few pink paper Peeps as well, I think they would be perfect in a vase with some flowers for our Easter brunch table!) 

I have a Pablo Picasso class to teach later on today so I 'm off to review notes and make sure I have all of my class samples ready to go! I hope you have a fun day planned as well and thanks so much for popping in this afternoon!

xo ~ Tara

DIY Christmas Ornaments

Hi everyone ~  and a happy lovely Holiday season to you all. I'm afraid I may have been a tad bit over zealous in believing that I would have enough time to DIY my Holiday all while trying to get this house packed up and ready to move. What a total bummer to be moving during Christmas again. However, I have made a few gifts for the kids, reupholstered a favorite thrift store chair, and I made a new tutorial for the Gossamer Blue blog.  (Things are getting done, just at a much slower rate than I had originally anticipated!) 

We're keeping the Christmas decor really simple this year with 1 tree and minimal decorations throughout the rest of the house. I went with a silver and gold theme again this year and decided to make embellished ornaments as part of a tutorial. They are super simple to make but sparkly and pretty ` the perfect combination for any project! 

To start with, you’ll need a small collection of glass bulb ornaments, word stickers, craft glue, glitter, spray paint, and a paint brush.

I decided to spray paint my stickers first with a gold paint to match the the glitter. It only takes a minute to dry and if you end up with a little too much paint on the sheet, simply wipe away the excess with a paper towel.

Next, working with one sticker title at a time,  use the craft glue and dab a few small amounts of glue onto the sticker. Use a paintbrush to spread the glue along and be sure to cover the entire area of the sticker. Once your sticker is covered with glue, sprinkle the glitter, enough to cover the entire sticker. Let the glitter set into the glue and dry before peeling it off of the sheet.

Once the stickers are dry you’ll be able to peel them right off and add them to the glass ornaments. Be sure to gently position and press the sticker on the glass bulb.

I ended up leaving a couple of the stickers plain without the glitter. Since the stickers are textured I found that the gold paint really added dimension to them even without the added glitter. 

Hopefully your week is off to a wonderful start! Have a lovely day~ Tara

DIY Holiday: Embroidered Makeup Bag

Hi everyone! So this year instead of buying a bunch of gifts - I'm planning on making them! At least some of them! I've been jotting down different ideas this past month and gathering up supplies to make the kids and friends more personalized gifts that I think they will like. This way, I use up things in my craft room that have just been sitting for way too long and hopefully gift-giving will be a little more meaningful.  

Today I'm making a few Embroidered makeup bags, or clutches - they can be used for almost anything! In the Gossamer Blues Bits & Pieces kit   you'll find the Amy Tangerine accent Embroidery Stencil Kit and that's what I'll be using along with the gold and silver zippered bags - found at the Dollar Tree store for only.... $1 each! (I love that store, you can always find little things to DIY!) 

Here's what you'll need for this project! 

 a bag or clutch and the Embroidery Stencil Kit 

The Stencil kit itself comes with everything you'll need to embroidery; the needle, stencil, rubber mat, piercing tool and even 3 types of string! I wrote down the directions on the photos themselves, if you've never given embroidery work a try, now is the time! It's one of those fun projects to grab, sit down in a cozy chair and just stitch. Simple as that! 

After I was done stitching the outside pattern, I knotted my string and thread a new piece of string onto my needle. I like to work with a shorter amount of string at a time. I find that it doesn't tend to tangle or knot as easily this way. Once your finished stitching the inside pattern, knot the string and trim and you're all done! I added a few handmade tassels to mine bags as well, just a little something to add some more color!  

Here is one more idea that kind of goes along with this DIY gift! I always seem to have a few left-over brads, buttons, little embellishments etc. from the kits I work with, and instead of just tossing them into my 'loose junk bin' I decided I was going to give them a new purpose. I used a package of bobby pin forms (purchased for $1.30 for 6) and a dab of craft glue and just added a little embellishment to each bobby pin. I think Alaina will these, they are dainty and perfect for a little girl who loves adding pretty things to her hair! 

Hope you enjoyed my first project! I have a whole bunch of DIY gift ideas to share this month as I make them. 

Have a wonderful crafty day! ~ Tara

December Projects!

It's that time again! Time for a few photos and new projects from Gossamer Blue but first, I wanted to add in a question that I received here on the blog last week. 

so inspiring ... u can make anything look pretty ... can u pl tell us which camera you use ?? - whitelink 

So, my trusty camera right now is a Nikon D3100. I use a couple of kit lenses and sometimes the Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens. I live in AZ which pretty much guarantees me sunny skies year round which are optimal for good lighting in photos, especially if you're like me and love the way natural light looks. In the rare event that it's cloudy I have some light umbrellas that can assist in adding light but they tend to cast a weird blueish light. So, stick to natural light, pull a small table in front of a window and try to photograph during mid afternoon time. Hope that helps! 

Thanks for all of the other sweet comments I get here as well! I appreciate them all!  

Project time! 

Fall is definitely the time to cook and bake! I pulled out some of my Grandmother's recipe cards with the intentions of testing out her recipes and writing down the ones we like. I made this little recipe index card book to help keep our recipes together this season. 

Part of Gossamer Blues Life Pages themed add-on kit include tags and cardstock embellishments from Pink Paislee. I combined both to create these embellished gift tags. We are going with a silver and gold color theme again this year! 

This one is such a simple idea, but we're trying to move and lists right now are saving my sanity! So many things to try and remember to write down and keep track of that I thought having a few magnetic notepads around would help to keep my thoughts in order. :) 

There are are a few more projects to share from Gossamer Blue this month but I have to run - have a quick workshop on Winslow Homer before it's my turn to teach. Tomorrow I have a super fun tutorial planned for the blog - part of my DIY ideas for December! 

Thanks for popping in today! ~ Tara