Crate Paper

A Special Crate Paper Guest Designer :: Davinie Fiero

This talented artist has been a long time friend of Crate Paper as a previous design team member and a project contributor over the years. She's also a committed designer to our sister company, Studio Calico! Her work makes frequent appearances in major scrapbook publications, including Scrapbook Trends and Scrapbook and Cards Today. Say "hello" once again to Davinie Fiero! 

~

About Davinie...

Davinie Fiero is a busy mom of two cute girls, married to her local firefighter and living on a couple of acres in Central Oregon.  She is a design team member at Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine, as well as Studio Calico.  She’s gone back to grad school for her teaching degree in Elementary Education, due to graduate in April 2013.  In her spare time she sleeps, not that there’s much of that to be had.

 

Ten Random Facts...

I was born in Alaska.

I have one dog, two cats, 2 cows, and 6 chickens.

I would like to purchase one of each in every Boden catalog.

I’m addicted to Starbucks.  If there was a platinum card, I’d have it.

My favorite shows are Survivor, the Amazing Race, Project Runway, and Gray’s Anatomy.  And SYTYCD.  And SMASH.  Oh my goodness, did you watch the Smash finale?!  LOVE this show.

I will not be embracing the neon trend.  Sorry.  Neon green doesn’t work for my skin tone.

Just received my very first Mac in the mail.  It’s so cute and such a scary little machine.  Hoping the learning curve isn’t too much.  I don’t have much brain power to spare.

My favorite color is turquoise.

I’m going back to school to teach K-2.  I’m scared and excited and overwhelmed and proud of myself, all jumbled together.  It is REALLY hard to go back to school after you have taken a leave of absence (and I got a BA in 1999, so it’s a long leave of absense).

I really want to learn to play the piano and am looking forward to the next school year because I am going to sign myself up when I sign up my then, third grade daughter.  I hated lessons when I was a kid, so my mom allowed me to quit.  Note to self:  follow your instincts and don’t let the children make all the decisions.  A musical vocation is really good for the brain and something all kids should have exposure to, even if they complain when they are young.

~

Stroll...

I wanted to include some of the fun sticker alphas, so I decided to do so in a subtle way by layering the alphabet at the top of my patterned paper. The best way to ensure they stay put? Stitch right over the top of them. And as always, I love all the fun chipboard elements and had to layer a few for this layout.

 

A Little Dress-up...

 The Story Teller line worked perfectly with the dress Morgan was wearing while playing dress-up one day. The dress reminded me of a Tuscan villa, so I pulled those elements from the Crate collection to enhance the mood of the design. It's also the inspiration for the work I did with my die-cut machine. 

 

So Lovely...

This card came together on it's own. I'm a huge fan of the way Lisa does wood-grain, so I wanted it to be a prominent feature of the card. I also liked the chipboard elements, so I paired the flower bouquet with a butterfly. I then layered border stickers, and gave the card it's finishing touch via a sentiment sticker.  

~

Davinie, it has been a joy to have you with us as a guest! We treasure everything you've shared with our Crate Paper community and hope to see you again in the very near future!! Thank-you so very much, Davinie! Good luck with the Grads Degree pursuit and your re-entry into elementary education! 

Memory File Made Simple w/Anabelle O'Malley

 

 

Hi! This is Anabelle and today, I Have a fun project to share with you. For me, scrapbooking and paper crafting is all about keeping stories. I decided that I wanted to create something that would keep the story of my son's first year of life. I have things written down in his baby book and did scrapbook this precious time, but I wanted something that would keep all of the memories in one place. I decided to do a Memory File using Little Boy Blue. I create twelve envelopes, one for each month, and on the front, I placed a photo of him at that age. Then, inside, I tucked in a card highlighting all of the things that happened that month. I love how he will have all of this information handy in one cute place! Above is the result!

 

To create my Memory File, I found an envelope that I wanted to use. I cut it with my Silhouette. You can use any envelope, though. Just carefully unfold it. Then, I used it to make a template which I traced onto a variety of the patterned papers and cut out. I assembled them so that I had twelve envelopes - one for each month.

 

Next, I cut twelve cards from cardstock. These are the cards on which I printed my information.

 

Now came the fun part; embellishing the envelopes. I tried to keep a simple pattern to my design. First, I cut a coordinating 3.5" x 5" piece of patterned paper and adhered it to the cover of the envelope.

 

I added a doily and then, adhered either a journaling card, or tag.

 

I punched two circles - one scallop, one plain. I brought the two circles together to create a base for adhering a Thickers number that represented the given month.

 

Also, I added sticker borders, some chipboard and wood veneers as accent pieces to the completed envelopes. Above is an example of one! 

 

Next, I found a wooden box at the craft store to use for holding the twelve envelopes. To decorate the box, I trimmed an assortment of 3.25" x 3.25" squares of patterned paper and stitched them together. I adhered them to the outside of the box and then positioned the title on the front.

 

There are infinite possibilities for a project like this. You could create a memory file for each month of the school year, hense recording the signifigant changes throughout the year via monthly progress reports and photos. Other ideas that might be fun are to create a "Week in the Life" box, or a "Vacation" box! It's a great alternative to a mini album, or scrapbook page. 

Thank-you for stopping by today. I hope you consider creating your very own Memory File at some point. Like I said before, there's so much you can do with it!

CP Spotted :: Pinterest

 

 

Our absolute favorite time of the month is here and we're raring to go with all sorts of projects from the Crate Paper Spotted board, the place where the Crate Crew "pins" and brags about your CP Creations! Every couple of weeks, the board takes on almost fifty + additions. From Two Peas in a Bucket, to Studio Calico, there are Crate-Made projects just waiting to be found! Of those that make it to the Crate Spotted board, one is chosen, per month, to win an awesome Crate Paper prize pack! It's then shown here as the very first "pin" in a line-up of many, all of which our hand-selected and credited accordingly.

There is a definite prize winner today! What we like most about Tamara's doubly cute "cupcake" pastry box is it's beautifully decorated corners and polka-dot interior. Never has Pretty Party's chipboard and tags looked so sweet! Congrats Tamara!! 

CP Spotted :: Tamara Tripodi

 We'll be in contact with you shortly, Tamara! Feel free to email us directly if you like at cpblog@cratepaper.com

 

CP Spotted :: Amy w/Tsuruta Designs

 

CP Spotted :: Marianne w/Mine Scrappierier

 

CP Spotted :: Melissa Phillips

 

CP Spotted :: Tyka Cochonneau

 

CP Spotted :: Alicia Giess

 

CP Spotted :: Maria w/Maria's Scrapbox

 

CP Spotted :: Mary Ann Jenkins

 

CP Spotted :: Pam Brown

Of course, there is so much more to see at our Pinterest "CP Spotted" board. Check it out if you have an extra moment, or two! Also, become a Crate Paper follower. The Crate Crew pins new content, daily. Don't miss out! 

 

Making Crate Paper Magnets w/Sasha Farina

What is your favorite kind of craft? Well, for me, the best kind are the ones that use scrap pieces of paper, and who doesn't have a ton of those?! I also love the kind that are quick to create :) Trust me, many times, fast and easy craft projects have saved the day when I needed that one more little gift for a friend, or family member.

I took out my smaller pieces of Crate patterned papers and of course, my punches. Also on the supply list, six pieces of circle die-cut chipboard pieces, and a pack of small magnents purchased at the Japanese $2 Store. Yes, the $2 Store. Laugh.

After pulling everything out, I then went ahead and played around with all the elements in front of me. I mixed and matched patterned papers from Crate's Paper Heart and Story Teller collections. I punched out a couple of butterflies and a little bird. Also, from the same two collections, I added stickers, and some bling and faux pearls. The additional smaller items were perfect for the project!

 

When you're done embellishing the circles, flip them over, and attach a magnet using a strong adhesive, or sticky red tape. Allow them to dry properly for about twenty minutes and voila! Here's the complete set. I think it's absolutely adorable!

 

Since I produced the magnets for no particular reason, other than sheer fun, my twelve-year-old quickly claimed them as her own. Here they are in action on her magnetic notice board showcasing her collection of Instax pictures.

Listen, these are super fun, and easy to make - do give them a try! Personally, one can never have too many magnets!

Crate Color Challenge - June

Hello, hello! Well, here we are in June and it's time for my challenge of the month again! I've decided, since I gave pink a break last month, that I was going to make up for it by incorporating pink somewhere into my color combination for June and then I realized something! You know what color goes really well with pink? More pink! Two more shades of pink in fact! I'm dubbing June's color combination '50 Shades of Pink!' Don't fret though, you'll only have to use 3 shades of it in order to enter our challenge. 

I'll admit the inspiration for this month's palette was slightly inspired by a Baby Shower, that I've been recruited to help with! Baby stuff, pink and scrapbooking... what more could I ask for! 

This month's color combination is: Lipstick Pink - Barbie Pink - Soft Baby Pink

the June inspiration wire:

some nitty-gritty details about the challenge:

- You may submit a card, layout or project to be eligible. Projects need to be submitted by: (Friday) June 22nd please email your work to: cpblog@cratepaper.com

- You may use the colors in any proportion you wish, as long as you use all 3 colors in the palette. And you may add black, white or kraft paper to the colors.

- Projects must use at least 75% Crate Paper - you may mix any paper lines you like, old and new.

- The winner will be announced on: May 25th (Monday), and I'll share some of my favorite projects here on the blog.

- The winner will be selected based on creativity and quality of work.

~

So, like I said I was recruited in helping out with a few small projects for a friends baby-shower. I use the term 'recruit' very loosely, (as I may have jumped up and volunteered myself) because I was beyond elated to be making anything baby girl related again! I'll walk you through some of my merry makings from this past week! 

 Although I can't take credit for this first idea, I love the possibilities of creating a special space at the shower for shower goers to write sweet sentiments to baby & mom. It's such a lovely idea and a true keepsake to be able to have those notes collected in one place!

During a shopping spree at Ikea last weekend, my friend Jessica picked up this ornate white plastic frame. There was just something about it yelling "embellish me, I'm a bit ordinary but it can be fixed!"  Which was completely true! I used a few chipboard accents and lots of foam pop-dots to embellish the picture opening part of the frame only - this way it's still perfectly reusable after the baby shower but it looks as though the actual frame itself has been decorated!

Next to the frame is a large hurricane bowl that will be used to collect those notes for baby Harper. Because I love color and texture, I wrapped the glass with a combination of pink chiffon, tulle, lace and some vintage seam binding and then made it's own tag with a painted H monogram.

{the wood-grain tag is my absolute favorite!}

In keeping with the letter H theme of the baby shower, I took a rather plain wooden letter and proceeded to give it a makeover by applying a few coats of spray paint and a flowery rosette. This H monogram will find a place on the reception table of the baby shower, nestled amongst petite jars of pretty pink flowers and our 'sweet notes' glass jar! 

I must say, that I think this little book is ingenious! I created this small book/mini using index cards to record the name of the shower attendee and the gift that was given. This way, everything is recorded and organized in it's own special little book and sending out thank-you cards will hopefully be a breeze for the mommy-to-be!

I sewed a small accent cut (Little Bo Peep collection) onto each page, being careful to leave enough room on each card to write down the gift information! 

and finally, a simple baby card I created by combining the Little Bo Peep and Pretty Party collections together! 

So now it's your turn! Go ahead and paint the town pink and then come back and sort through all of your Crate Paper to find those pink papers and embellishments. We're giving everyone an extra week this month to create something marvelous using our monochromatic color palette and I can't wait to see what projects you send me! - Hopefully you'll be as inspired as I was! 

Have a wonderful weekend! ~ Tara

A Special Crate Paper Guest Designer :: Andrea Budjack

Today, Crate Paper is exhibiting a beautiful array of altered crafts, and cards, from the shabby chic expert, Andrea Budjack. We crossed paths with her whimsical creations a few months ago at Pinterest. Her work had immediately caught our attention, and so, we asked her if she would join us for a day at the Crate Blog! As luck would have it, she said, "Yes!" Two months later, the moment is finally here. Please, give a warm welcome to our talented guest, Andrea Budjack

About Andrea...

Call Florida our home with my hubby and two quickly growing boys.  Spend my days at home taking care of the four C's in my life: cleaning, crafting, caring for the family, cooking.  Have been crafting for the past eight years.  Often find that I gravitate to crafting at some point throughout each day.  Love being inspired by  and inspiring others.  

 

Ten Random Facts...

a true Oregonian at heart

will find any reason to keep even the smallest paper scraps

the only sport I can play...tennis

never wear makeup

love workout clothes...not so much working out

hope to make a quilt one day

couldn't craft without my sewing machine

learned the love baking from my mom

miss living in the country

am a little on the shy side

~

Love the sheet of tags, perfect for just about everything.  I envisioned a carousel of photos and tags, layered together, which is how I came up with this.  Created from a base of a wooden knob and formed wire, this project  includes five paperclip holders.

 

These beautiful papers, stickers and embellishments were fun to work with in creating a wall clock.  Something that would be displayed in my craft room with a variety of colors and patterns to keep me inspired.  The wood frame created a create start to the clock, backing it with paper and chipboard.  Painted the frame sticker to give it a little rustic, shabby chic feel.

 

Love creating cards and the chipboard stickers are a perfect way to add dimension and color to them.   

~

Sincerely, thank-you so much Andrea for honoring us, and our blog readers, with all that you've made from our Story Teller & Pretty Party collections. You've brightened our day! Everything is simply gorgeous. We hope you'll visit again another time!

Designer Gallery :: Origami Boxes + Mini Album

 

 

It's been far too long since we last gave the CP Girls a chance to boost your creative spirits via the bi-monthly feature, Designer Gallery. Their return feels tremendously good and with them, is a widespread showing of Crate Paper designs. There's even a couple of Little Bo Peep creations we think you're going to really love, including an assortment of adorable, petite handmade boxes from CP Girl, Claudia Shaffer. It's today's very first Designer Gallery idea! Check them out...she included a personal tidbit as well. Do read it!

CP Girl :: Claudia Shadler

Claudia here with a set of mini gift boxes made exclusively from the newest CP collection, "Little Bo Peep". I made these little gift boxes following a simple set of box origami instructions that I'd googled earlier on. I also decorated them with embellishments, which took very little time! They can be stuffed with treats for the mommy to be, the precious new baby, or the party's guests - the possibilities are endless!

I made the little banner embellishments (gift toppers) using Little Bo Peep, as well as the gift boxes.

The collection's embellishments are easily made into a focal point for the gift boxes. A couple snippets of patterned paper, fabric netting, and one or two elements, is all that is needed to create one!

 

CP Girl :: Anabelle O'Malley

Anabelle's layout plays hostess to many of Little Bo Peep's offerings. What we like most are the glittered die-cut wood shapes - their dark edging is a nice contrast to the lightly hued, sparkling glitter she used. Very pretty!

 

CP Girl :: Charlene Cundy

This sweet, sweet mini album from CP Girl, Charlene Cundy, is the kind of project that Little Bo Peep is very well suited for. The antiqued vanilla pages, patterned papers, and self-made embellishments are a literal extension of the collection's vintage-like qualities and 1950's vibe. There's so much to look at, too! It's just gorgeous!

 

CP Girl :: Lilith Eckels

Baby layouts are so much fun to create because there's lots of topics to cover. Always though, is the challenge of choosing which photo's to scrapbook first! Laugh. Of course, portraits are a favorable option - lilith devoted two layouts to just portraits and they are totally precious!

 

CP Girl :: Piradee Talvanna

We're going to finish up with one more project Crate's "Everyday" collection, Story Teller! These tags from Piradee are almost impossible for us to summarize via one sentence, but we love the beautiful detailing and antiqued backgrounds that characterize each and every single one of them. They're Truly a work of art!

Thanks for stopping by the Crate Blog everyone! See you tomorrow!

 

A Summer Mini + Glitter Splatter w/Rahel Menig

Layouts are fun to make, but Mini Albums have a special little place in my girlie heart. They're perfect to capture not only a special event, or time, but also to capture an entire season. You can always add another page, too! Collecting memories is an endless task - mini albums are a convenient means of keeping them tidy and compact. 

 I like for my mini albums to maintain a unified look so that they're cohesive and make for a pleasant read. This doesn't translate into using the same old paper over and over again. There are multiple options to go about creating similarities throughout an album. For example, think about the colors you'd like to incorporate - choose a consistent color palette and go with it! Also, opt to use a couple of top-notch favorite techniques and spread them throughout. Repeat a few while you're at it! Eventually, you'll end up with a beautiful mini that is refreshingly different, but still looks as though it belongs together. 

*The Color Palette: Yellow, Aqua, Pink, Peach, and obviously, White

*The Favorite Techniques: Title Cut-Outs, Glitter Splatters, Washi Tape, Sewing, and Border Making. 

If you're the proud owner of a Digital Cutting Machine {mine is the Silhouette SD}, create the page title using it's program feature and let the machine do the rest of the work! If you're without one of these fancy tools, no problem! Either print, stamp, or draw a design/shape onto the album page and then trim it by hand via an exacto-knife.

 

Now comes the fun part! Find pretty paper to back your album page with and cut it to size. 

 

For my California page, I wanted to use Crate Paper's newest Little Boy Blue patterned paper, "Leo". I also thought it deserved an extra something, so I added my favorite washi tapes to a sheet of white paper large enough to fit behind my trimmed-state of CA! It's a an all-out-fun backdrop and pairs well with the yellow patterned paper.

 

Now, I confess, I love to use my hot glue gun! I don't expect others to love it as much as me, especially if it just so happens to be the case that you're not a fan of it. An alternative option are 3-D Pop Dots or something similar. As the final step, bring the title page and background page together. Apply lots of adhesive and allow it to cool for about five seconds. Once the five seconds are over, immediately and gently, apply the title page on top the background page. If desiring a greater "shadow" effect, squeeze both ends of the paper twoards the middle, a very small amount, and hold it down until the glue has completely cooled down. 

 

*Bonus: Use the excess alpha's to create additional title-work and do some sewing, too! The two items combined give the album a textural boost! 

 

*Second Bonus: I love me some glitter! Using watered down glue {Jewel-It or something similar} and a cheap paint brush, add glue splatter to the page in a vertical direction. Pour fine glitter over the area and remove any excess {small paint brushes do wonders in terms of removing extra glitter - always keep a stash of them around for moments like this!}. You should end up with a sprinkling of fine glitter! 

 

 

And here is my final feature to go along with tutorial's mini album tutorial - a Glitter Splatter "How-To" presentation:

 

   

Final Day - Creative Weekly :: Charts!

 

 

Because Crate Paper played hostess to Tara Anderson's three-tier Baby Gift on Friday, CP Creative Weekly is finishing up today, instead of at it's usual time. That means there remains to be three fresh, sparkling projects based solely on the ongoing subject, Charting, awaiting presentation! And guess what? There are some definite heartfelt surprises around the corner as our CP Girls talk family and fun..there's mention of a chore chart, too! 

Stephanie Dagan

For me, the topic of charting inspired the creation of a structured and compartmentalized layout - a usual go at my graphic, clean scrapbook style! In studying it closely, I created six rectangles, three of which house photos. Behind each photo-adorned rectangle is hidden journaling and adorning it's top or bottom is a matching title. And for the purpose of instilling energy/feeling, each one radiates a brightly colored hue! Overall, the layout is a lot of fun, and totally interactive :)

 

Charlene Cundy

When this month's Creative Weekly was to "Chart", my first thought was to do a Chore Chart for my granddaughter, but then the question became, how? Luckily, during a recent visit to my favorite scrapbook store, it's owner kindly donated to me this adorable tray. Turns out, it's a $1.00 purchase at the ol' Dollar Tree! In hearing of this, I was excited greatly. After bringing it home, I painted the nickel plated tray (yes, it was a shiny nickel color - would you have guessed?) an ivory hue. As for creating the chart, I covered the inner part of the tray with Crate Paper patterned paper. I then applied a flat sheet of self-adhesive magnet on top the patterned paper. From there, with the help of Microsoft Publisher, I designed the chart, printed it on pattern paper and trimmed it accordingly so that it would fit as shown. The magnets are the sum of punched circles w/supportive backing {cork or chipboard} and small sized magnets {Feel free to cover them with dimensional adhesive or glass cabochons}. The birds nest is made from simple trim rolled into a circle. Super easy! And there you have it, a fun, interactive personalized chart for the kiddo's! 

 

Shanna Noel

When I think of charting, I think of clean lines and simple/beautiful design. I remember seeing some similar projects on Pinterest around Valentine's Day, and I thought it would be a fun thing to try when Jonathan was deployed. So, I made these mini envelopes (they're less than two inches wide) to tuck little love notes in for my husband. The thought being that each time he needs a little pick me up, or simply to smile, he can pull out one of the notes and read it. I love the idea of doing this as a count down to a birthday, or anniversary. Another idea is to create and frame it as a wedding gift! 

It's a Wrap! - May

Hello - hello! It's Tara and I know what you're probably thinking: "It's not the last day of the month, she's late!" Which technically I am but what better way could there be in starting a brand new month than with a few gifts? May was the month for birthdays around here just as I had predicted ~ I believe we had a birthday party to attend every weekend, which equals lots of pretty wrapped presents! For me, shopping for gifts is just as fun as wrapping them, so I can't really complain either way. I do enjoy birthdays! 

I thought I would share how I went about wrapping up the little baby book I created last month using Crates new Little Bo Peep collection! As I was playing around with different ideas for Haley's presents I was determined to create a tiered gift that resembled a festive piñata or even a frilly birthday cake. With a little trial & error (yes, I'll admit it, it took me 2 or 3 tries in order to get the technique perfected!) and various colored tissue paper Haley's presents were already for her first big birthday party! 

The actual baby book is tucked away into the middle, medium sized box. Baby clothes are folded into the bottom box (any excuse to be able to purchase cute baby girl clothes!) and a few small toys fit snugly into the very top box. As for the actual mechanics of how-to re-create the piñata inspired look: I took long strips of tissue paper, carefully sewing the delicate layers together, making tiny cuts every inch or so with scissors and finally taping the sewn tissue strips to the lid of the box only. This way, the lid could easy be taken off without having to tear the tissue papers. Actually, it was made very much like how a typical piñata would have been constructed! 

True to form, I created another small bundle of gift tags to adorn the top of my gifts paired  along with a handmade flower and pretty pink butterfly.  I really love anything layered, this goes back all the way to being a child and I don't think I'll ever grow tired of the look! 

I think the Pretty Party collection coordinates effortlessly well with the Little Bo Peep collection! Here, I've mixed a few journaling tags and chipboard accents from each line to create a series of gift tags. (I even created a small paper envelope within the baby-book to collect the gift tags from all the presents!) 

Well then, this concludes another month of my 'It's a Wrap' posts! I'll be back next month with a whole new theme and a few more ideas for you! Have a wonderful and hopefully very creative weekend! 

Happy creating! ~ Tara