the pink couch: scrapbook

Showing posts with label scrapbook. Show all posts

Mar 10, 2015

March with Gossamer Blue!

Hi all! There are many new things in the works around here which partly explains my absence. Not all creative and craft related but I'm slowing getting use to the idea of transitioning my time else where - and with school and teaching winding down in the next 2 months, it seems time to welcome some new challenges!

But first I have the March Gossamer Blue kit to share! I have to say that the collection of papers in the main kit, while not the typical sought after colors of Spring, are quite sweet and cute. Lot's of bold black and white graphics with grey and pink florals blended in. It's not an over the top pastel Spring kit but rather a more grown up polished Spring kit! I loved the paper and wanted to make a few small projects like these embellished handmade envelopes!

The kids are all set for Spring break next week and I thought it might be a cute idea to give the teachers a gift of little envelopes containing packets of seeds to plant over their break. We chose easy to grow seeds packets and a few packets of flowers and then made these super easy sewn envelopes with some graph paper. Add a chalk board marker and assemble a few tags together and you have a thoughtful gift!

I love some of the products that Pink Paislee has out this season -like these clip on metal charms. They are a fabulous addition to not only scrapbooking and little mini albums but I used an extra diamond shaped charm for a necklace. I'm calling these 'Flea Market Charms' since they are a mix of found and collected objects.

and because it's not Spring unless there are a few flowers! I've had this vintage embroidery hoop tucked away in my craft closet for years and recently found it while doing some Spring cleaning. Alaina got a peek of this petite wreath while I was assembling it and promptly claimed it as hers. I have a sneaking suspicion that the kids hang out with me towards the end of the month, to see what they can stake their claim on while I create projects with each of the kits! I'm really loving the black and white with a dainty flowers!

I have another post for the Gossamer blog later on this month but here's a sneak peek - my most favorite projects - tiny mini books!

Thanks for stopping in tonight and have a lovely rest of the day!!

xo ~ tara

Jan 15, 2015

Inspiration Blog Hop with Gossamer Blue!

Hello, hello! This month seems to be flying by - both a blessing and a bit of a pain as I rush to finish studying, projects and classes! I do love seeing that to-do checklist shrink little by little with each passing day.

Today Gossamer Blue is holding an inspiration bloghop in honor of the January kits. Since we're just a few weeks away from Valentines Day, I decided to get a head start on scrapbooking and put together a quick color wire for the occasion! My challenge for the month was to create various projects for Valentines Day without using the color red. This color palette is one of my favorites, I think it's such a pretty combination for scrapbooking, especially if you have black and white photos to use.

Blackberry Purple ~ Portrait Pink ~ Grapefruit Pink

It feels like forever since I've been scrapbooking. I took over teaching a few art history classes this year, and it's taken up much of my creative time. So, any extra *extra time I have I try to slip into my messy little studio to create something. (That doesn't involve oil, acrylics paints or pastels. :)) These mini projects and pages in a 6x6 size are perfect right now - they come together quickly and I get to feel like I actually accomplished something!

I have a bunch more projects to share for Valentines Day, and the plan for today is to try and photograph them all. I have my fingers crossed for a very productive photography day!

For even more inspiration keep clicking through to visit each of these blogs and thank you so much for visiting mine!

Joy Taylor
Katie Ehman
Laura Rahel Crosby
Maria Lacuesta
Melanie Blackburn
Michelle Wooderson
Michiko Kato
Naomi Atkins
Rebecca Luminarias
Sabrina Alery
Tara Anderson ---- (you are right here!)
Vanessa Perry

Dec 2, 2014

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

Nov 1, 2014

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

Oct 15, 2014

Blog Hop with Gossamer Blue

So, an idea was presented at Gossamer Blue last month, where the entire design team would do a mid-month blog-hop sharing something that we made from this month's October kits. Since most of you know me and my love of tiny paperish things (and photos), I planned my post around a small collection of handmade Fall gift tags! Plus, this blog-hop idea also gave me an excuse play around out in the desert with some fun props. Kind of the best of both worlds for me!

~ Fall is in the air! ~

I used remnants of the Main Kit as well as some things from my own collection; rhinestones, tags, fabric. I think the process of collecting little things to add to the tags is maybe the best part!

I've made about 10 of these stuffed pumpkins, they are so much fun to make! I knew last year that I really wanted to make a few of them and so I saved all of the stems off of our pumpkins. Just leave them out to air-dry and then store them in a safe place for making some of your own pumpkins!