Vellum shakers...

Happy Friday! I'm so looking forward to the weekend, how about you? I wanted to share a quick card that I made for Scrapbook Expo this week that I forgot to post. It started with the butterfly background that I had leftover from cutting out the butterflies in my last post, and I thought I should put it to good use! I layered some leaves over the top, then a piece of vellum and a pretty chipboard floral bouquet. Love how the layers turned out!

To add even a bit more layering, I stamped a "hello" and some leaves over the vellum.

Stop by the Weekly Scrapper blog to read more about the details and process and to see the finished card. See you tomorrow with another post! 

Papertrey April blog hop challenge...

It's Monday again? Wow, where does the time go? April has almost come and gone! I decided to play in this month's blog hop at Papertrey Ink just for fun... hop over to see the inspiration piece that inspired my card HERE! I can't wait to dig in and see what everyone else made. So here is my card...

Inspired by the ombre effect of the reds and oranges in the inspiration photo on Nichole's blog, I cut some butterflies from the Cover Plate: Bitty Butterflies die and ink blended over them to add color and shading from light to dark. I arranged them in the colors I saw from the inspiration piece: red (Pure Poppy), orange (Summer Sunrise), cream (Vintage Cream), white and gray (Soft Stone). The white slashes in the photo reminded me of stitching, so I added some stitching to the butterflies. The sentiment was die cut with Color Pop Butterflies dies from the Make It Market mini kit that just came out! The papers are from Gossamer Blue's On My Desk line.

I'm off to hop! See you soon, hope you are having a great day!
Danielle

Creative Cardmaker: Gold, vellum and layers...

Happy November! I can't believe it's November already...oh my! I have another quick card tutorial up for you at the Scrapbook Expo blog. Swing by to see how to make this card!

I've used Gossamer Blue's gorgeous Gramercy Road line. I couldn't help but to pull it out for fall again...it's perfect in every way!! Don't you just love that gold embossed floral paper?! The sentiment is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Basket of Blessings stamp set in Dark Chocolate and Classic Kraft inks. I'll see you soon. Be sure to check out my SHOP tab at the top of my blog, I'll be adding new things here and there! Happy fall!

Danielle

Gossamer Blue: May and a winner!

First, I need to announce the winner of the Cards With Dimension Craftsy class from my last post. Thank you to ALL who stopped by and said hello. Love to hear from you always! A random winner was chosen, and it is...petunia670! Email me at dflanders71@hotmail.com to claim your free class! (You can still get the class for 1/2 off by clicking the link in my last post.)

Couple of quick cards to share with you today made with the Gossamer Blue kits for May, available now. The first one is a mix of the Bits & Pieces kit, the Life Pages kit and the Life Pages Themed Add-on. Love them all! The papers are from Crate Paper Confetti line, one of my very favorite paper pads ever. Such beautiful patterns.

Added a bit of Graphite Glimmer Mist sprinkled over the top by Tattered Angels. (It's an older mist from my stash).

Next, this one is mostly the main kit (papers, bow clip and hello chipboard).

The today and happy day stickers are from the Life Pages Themed Add-on. 

Check out the Gossamer Blue GALLERY for more inspiration with these kits! The team does such amazing work.

Gossamer Blue kits for April...

Happy Spring! Is it warm yet where you are? My girls were just on spring break for 10 days and are now back to school. We had a beautiful warm, sunny week! Went to the movies, to the Denver Zoo, flew kites and did some hiking...and of course, played with friends quite a bit. It was busy...but fun! I am so ready for summer and no schedules again. I love it!

Just popping in to let you know that the Gossamer Blue kits for April are now available! I'll show you a few things I made with the kits. I received the main kit, the Life Pages kit, the Life Pages Themed Add-on and the Bits and Pieces kit.

On the Hello card, I mixed some of the kits. I used two Life Pages cards layered together, a colorful 4x6" one and a smaller gray chevron Life Pages card. The I added a floral clip from the Life Pages kit, chipboard flower from the main kit and an arrow from the Life Pages Themed Add-on. (It comes glittered like that - by Crate Paper.) The hello is stamped with the Elle's Studio stamp from the Bits and Pieces kit.

Next, a quick card made with another Life Pages card. Aren't these fun? Perfect for greeting cards!

This Life Pages card is a gray dot with notebook lines on it. All I did here was cut a slit for the tab and slide it on, added a sticker and a chipboard word.

Used another little clip here from the Life Pages kit. Chipboard word is from the Bits and Pieces kit. The word broke as I was taking it out of the bag, so I used it just like it was! Turned out that it fit just right this way!

Added a tiny bit of machine stitching on the sticker for more dimension. (The pearl was added from my stash. I like how it repeats the white polka dots.)

And last, a card made with the April main kit only. This one is more "handmade" looking with the paint and stitching.

One of the Elle's Studio 12x12" papers in the main kit has little "journaling cards" printed on them, so I trimmed one out with the text on it. I wanted it to blend in with the background aqua cardstock a bit more, so I painted around the edges with white acrylic paint.

Then I added some chipboard, Elle's Studio die cuts and little bits of paper along the edges to resemble washi tapes and to add little bits of pattern and color!

Hope these inspire you in some way. :) Visit the online Gossamer Blue shop to see the April kits in full!

On trend: sequins...

Sequins are HOT right now! They can add so much to a card!

Have you been looking for new ways to use sequins, or aren't sure what to do with all those sequins you have? I've written a blog post for Gossamer Blue today that explains why I love sequins, what they do for your design and different ways you can use them! Follow the link above for the story on sequins!

On this card, I've used the On Trend: Sequins from My Mind's Eye from the Gossamer Blue Bits & Pieces kit from March. They come in cute colors and shapes (triangles!), so I made little flowers out of them to add over this gorgeous floral Life Pages card.

Here are a couple of other cards made with sequins lately, in case you missed them, a sequin banner and gold foil heart with random sequins.

Swing over to the Gossamer Blue blog for a list of ways sequins add to your design and how you can use them creatively in your next design----> On Trend: Sequins!

Gossamer Blue: March kits...

The March kits are really pretty with blush and black, yellow and teal, and lots of gold hints throughout the kits! First up is a card made with just the March main kit only. I really loved all of the papers, so I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate many of the patterns together.

Scalloped circles were punched with a Martha Stewart punch and then I added them to a Card Base-ics 2 die by Papertrey Ink. I tied seam binding through the slots in the background. I even used one of the patterned papers as my sentiment by just punching out certain words from the gold paper! So quick and simple to make.

Maybe it would make a nice Easter card? Or a spring birthday!

Next, this card is made with a mix of the main kit, Bits & Pieces kit and the Life Pages Themed Add-on. Just layered some of the journaling cards here with a gold foil card from the Bits & Pieces kit by Pinkfresh Studio.

Love these sequins in the Bits & Pieces kit too! Added a white die cut that I made myself with the Swoosh dies by Papertrey Ink.

I've got more ideas with these kits coming soon to the Gossamer Blue blog! :) Happy creating!

Gossamer Blue Feb kits and a process video...

The February kits at Gossamer Blue are now available! This month the colors are more primary and bold...and fun!

The "Hugs, Hugs and More Hugs" card is made with the February main kit only. I used the bold stripe paper and added "hugs" words that I die cut with a Papertrey Ink die called Big Hugs using my Cuttlebug. I trimmed it out two times from the floral patterned paper and the one from the sun ray pattern. I used the Snap! die cuts (label and heart) and a Pebbles enamel dot from the kit. Printed out "and more" with my computer to add to the die cut.

The next card is a mix of the Feb. main kit and the Bits & Pieces kit.

Loved the frames and the clip in the Bits & Pieces kit from the Pebbles Banner Kit and wanted to use one on a card! (There are 12 of these frames in the package, so you could make a lot of cards with it!) I added a few of the Snap! paper washi tapes around the edges, then backed it with patterned papers from the main kit. I stamped "absolutely love this" with the stamp from the main kit (gorgeous font!), and die cut "thanks" with a die by Papertrey Ink from the Wet Paint Cuts Die Collection.

Also, I decided to make a process video take one of the kits that I received, open it up on camera and create two cards with it! You can watch the VIDEO here at Gossamer Blue. To make these, I've used the February Life Pages kit.

The little project life cards are so stinkin' adorable. Who says they have to be used on scrapbooking pages? There's no rule that we can't use them on cards, right?

Everything here is in the kit except the machine stitching and the seam binding.
Hope you enjoyed seeing a peek into my process. I always pick my favorite things from the kits and then figure out how they work together, for example the floral project life card with the floral chipboard. Um hello, perfect! You can use them as borders, like I did with the striped card too. Make the products work for YOU! :) 

Valentine pockets...

The January kits at Gossamer Blue were perfect for making "love-themed" projects, so I have some Valentine pockets I've made... great for holding a little treat, love notes, etc.

To make these pockets, I cut a piece of white cardstock 7.5" long x 4.25" high and folded it so that the fold in on the right of the pocket. I added type paper to the front and a piece of pom pom trim in between the layers on the right hand side before stitching. I trimmed the Kiss Kiss- Crate Paper gold heart die cut from January's main Gossamer Blue kit, so it would be off-set a bit on the pocket, wrapped seam binding around the card and tied in a bow on the right side, then finished off with a few more die cuts over the top. And of course some papers, die cuts and goodies tucked inside the pocket. (The Dear Lizzy - Watercolor Words are fun tucked inside! Love these, so much fun!!)

I love the colors this month, aren't they fabulous! Warm and classy.

On the second pocket, I did the same thing with the pom pom trim tucked in on the side before stitching it closed, then added a Watercolor Word and some die cuts and things over the top. A little collage.

Hope this inspires you to layer on your next project! When layering, be sure to choose large, medium and small patterns that coordinate. With the 3 different scales of patterns, it will be sure to be eye-pleasing!

Check out the Gossamer Blue blog also if you haven't stopped by in awhile! The team has more to share with you using the current month's kits, so stop by and check them out:

Anabelle O'Malley

Brenda Weaver

Danielle Flanders (you are here)

Diane Payne

Emily Spahn

Erin Taylor

Eunyoung Lee

Heather Leopard

Jessica Lohof

Jill Keller

Joy Taylor
Katie Ehmann
Laura Rahel Crosby

Maria Lacuesta

Melanie Blackburn

Michelle Wooderson

Michiko Kato

Naomi Atkins

Rebecca Luminarias

Sabrina Alery

Tara Anderson

Vanessa Perry

Gossamer Blue: January kits...

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to put the holiday stuff away and am longing for spring again already! The January kits are available at Gossamer Blue and are so pretty! Have you signed up for their kits yet? Don't forget, you can cancel at any time with no cancellation fee, and I PROMISE you'll adore these kits like I do! Amazing...each and every month! Here are two cards made mainly with the main Jan. kit.

The only thing I used extra was an enamel dot from the Jan. Life Pages kit on this one below. I simply cut the big gold heart (which I used on my other blog post, coming soon!) and used just a portion of it at the top of this card, along with other die cuts from the main kit, and then a bit of seam binding from my stash.

The gorgeous die cuts are by Crate Paper in the main kit, from their Kiss Kiss line. I adore them! You could make ENDLESS cards with these, there are so many in one package! Just lay out little layers of die cuts and other products you like together and then add them to a card! If you saw my post on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, you'll see how I like to lay out all different little vignettes with my goodies, and go from there to build cards.

Main kit only here, love that typed vellum. Oh my goodness. I love anything with type on it, and any kind of vellum, so I was in heaven.

I did add a tiny bit of mica flakes from my stash for some sparkle without adding bulk.

The last card is a mix of the main January kit and the Life Pages kit. The background paper is by Dear Lizzy's Serendipity line!

Layer, layer, layer. Love how all of these items are tucked together. So much fun, they fit perfectly together. The red stripe is an edge I cut off of one of the main Jan. kit 12x12" papers.

I have more to show you soon with these kits soon. Thank you dear friends for stopping by, I am always grateful for each one of you! Danielle

Bits & pieces...

As a cardmaker, do you buy 6x6" patterned paper packs? I've been getting those more often lately and loving all of the smaller patterns and how well they work for cards. I have a couple of cards up on the Gossamer Blue blog...here is a little sneak peek.

I've done a bit of stamping and embossing onto vellum and punched out some hearts. With the negative of the punch, I used it as a mask and sprayed over the heart mask with Graphite mist by Tattered Angels. This is still one of my favorite mists, it's a little lighter than it looks here in the pictures, very soft and pretty. Anyhoo, stop by and visit the Gossamer Blue blog for all kinds of inspiration!

Are you all ready for the holidays? I'm not quite there yet, but getting company on Saturday, so I better be after tomorrow! Have a very happy holiday, crafty friends!
Danielle

Gossamer Blue: December kits...

How was your Thanksgiving? I had a very nice time with my family, my parents and grandma. It felt so good to take a break and just spend good quality time with loved ones! I just finished filming an online class with Craftsy this month, which will be available early January, so I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders when that was finished. I'm excited to share more info about the class soon!

Popping in quick to share the amazing December kits that are now available at Gossamer Blue. You must swing by and see the loveliness in these kits! Gorgeous as always!!

Here is a "Hello" card created with the main kit! I loved the mix of papers and the pretty die cuts!

The gold in the die cuts is gorgeous, hard to photograph, but amazing in real life!

Then I've got some holiday tags made with the December "Life Pages Themed Add On" kit by Gossamer Blue, these were all made with the Pink Paislee Merry & Bright line and the cute little chipboard sayings in the kit!

Oh, I just adore how these turned out! This is a beautiful line, not much needed to be done to jazz the tags up. I simply used the preprinted tags and added Ephemera and such over the top, popping up the elements with pop dots for dimension and some twine from my stash.

These will be fun to use to dress up my gifts this year!

Thank you so much for reading and leaving me a note today (and every time you stop by)! My Thanksgiving company is still here but are leaving tomorrow, so I will be back with more projects soon. It was so nice to take a break, but I do miss creating and can't wait to get back into my groove. :) Have a sweet day, crafting friends!
Danielle