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 ~ November +Color Wire & Etsy

I'm really liking this theme idea each month. It makes the creative process go a little faster. The hardest part though this month was coming up with the name. Believe it or not, 'Southwest Pastels' actually took some time to think of... my brain is on a creative overload this week from Halloween preparations, class parties, and time spent looking at houses, there is no creativity left. I used it all up this week. So, I'll throw it out there, feel free to leave me an idea for a better name for this post. 

The concept however, is one that I love. A clean Southwest feel with lots of pretty pastels and tiny potted cactus plants! Keep scrolling down to see what I came up with this month for Gossamer Blue!

I'll start with my favorite project first! This past weekend our friends daughter turned one and had a little birthday party to celebrate. I always like to show up with at least one gift that is hand made. (I think people might expect it to) but it makes gift giving seem a little more personal. So, I took a photo album that I've had stashed away for years and decided that I would make a simple photo book. Just a place where mom could add photos to, but not necessarily have to scrapbook them. Quick and easy! 

This month's kits use lots of Maggie Holmes products like these cute embellished tags! I pre cut about 20 small pages and embellished half of them with tags, typed sayings, a few journal cards and a couple of sewn sequin packets. 

I let the kids each pick out a gift for Kinsey as well. True to form, Chase went with a toy and Alaina chose little girl clothes for her. (I forgot how cute baby girl clothes are!) Wrapping the clothes was as easy as finding a box and I wanted the gift wrap to match: light muted colors and simply embellished. Just some vintage lace, a few tags and a pair of feathers. 

and the tiny birthday card I made 

More Maggie Holmes stuff! I love brads and if you break the prongs off of the backs, you can glue them to almost anything! I made a little memory board using one of my favorite color combos right now: coral-navy blue-gold and turned the brads into push-pins. 

There are still a few more projects to post but they'll have to wait until mid-month. I also want to do a few Fall craft tutorials throughout the month in a similar style. I was telling a friend of mine that I think I'll finally embrace of Southwest Fall season (or lack of one) and add a twist to all of the traditional themed crafts. Kind of excited about seeing all these ideas I've been scribbling down coming to life this month! 

It's back! My color wire that is. It's been quite some time since I've put one together but last month I started playing around with some color ideas and decided to put together some different combinations. Ultimately this is the one I would use and one that inspired a collection of new products for my etsy shop: Citron Faire. 

black raspberry ~ peach sand ~ carnation pink ~ army green ~ spiced gingerbread

Thank you so much for stopping in today! Hope you had a wonderful Halloween and enjoy your weekend! ~ Tara

Saturday Color Combination

Hello again! 

 I thought this weekend needed a pretty color combination! Since summer is in full swing here, it means I'm spending more time inside and that means more time to be creative! Jessica asked me last month "Tara, I miss your color wires, when are you going to do another one?" (Sometimes even the best ideas just need a break!) So, I put one together last month, completely forgot about it until yesterday when I wanted to do a little scrapbooking and needed some color inspiration.

 

coral - peach - sea glass- dove grey 

Black and white stripes, pastels and a gold nautical embellishment - sure, why not! There are so many fun trends going on in scrapbooking right now, I love the randomness of it all and how un-matchy things are. Then there are some trends that I think I will never grow tired of; black & white stripes, ink splatters my type writer and sewing machine. What are your most loved trends right now or ones that you've held onto over the seasons? 

I also wanted to share this last month, but time got away from me! I sent off a little package of collected things, all inspired by a color combination. This one went to Jessica, a belated birthday present that included some of the brightest fabric I've ever seen! It's a fun way of sending crafty stuff to a friend!  

and here's a little peek of a page that I did for a fun sketch challenge! I'll be posting the details this coming week on where to find the challenge. I'm excited about this layout too, I typically have a hard time using sketches and I don't think I've ever created a layout that uses 5 photos, so it was a double win for me with this layout! :) 

and now that school is out and I'm not in the classroom anymore, I've been filling my days with going to the gym (yep, never thought I'd hear those words out of my mouth or that I really like it too!), summer cooking (super light healthy meals and tons of salads) scrapbooking and playing with some new products for etsy. 

The newest collection for the shop is called Market Place, lot's of vintage and office type supplies for scrapbooking and journaling. I'm working on some simple summer office paper journals for this summer's vacations, just little places to take notes and record the happenings from each day. 

I've also taken on the largest scrapbooking venture ever (for me anyways): a custom wedding scrapbook - 20 pages of dark blue - white - kraft - and light teal and just a tiny bit of red. (I love those colors together!) I figure I need to spend all of next week working to finish it up in time for the kids and I to go on vacation. Just 15 more days til vacation ~ let the count down begin.

Enjoy your weekend! xo~  tara

Giveaway: from Citron Faire

Hello friends! In honor of getting my shop updated this week, I thought doing a little giveaway would be a perfect start to end the week - because I like Fridays and I like giveaways! Since it's almost summer and that means more time to scrapbook (we hope!) I thought making a sweet little embellishment kit might be fun to work with! 

To enter: 

just leave a comment below and I'll pick a winner on Monday (the 29th) morning and in the meantime have a wonderful weekend!  

Citron Faire, update

I have plans today to update my little shop with a new summer inspired collection of products! I was thinking about all of the things I love about summer and road-trips won out above everything else, so I designed and collected things that I thought fit that theme. There are combinations of flowers inspired by the southwest states, some fun touristy vintage items, a road-trip vintage paper kit, new scrapbook mini kits and little summer note/journals made from handkerchiefs. (So far, I think this is my favorite themed collection, I had so much fun with the photos!) 

and vintage fabric bundles are back too with new 'old' fabrics in springy pastels! Check back here on Friday, I have a little giveaway for the shop planned then! 

xo ~ Tara