Crate Paper

Crate Paper Design on File :: Circle of Gratitude w/Kimberly Neddo

 

 

Now that Thankgiving is over, we're entering the second half of the Holiday Season! During this time, there is still plenty to be thankful for! Today, I'm going to showcase a layout on the subject in a way that I think many of you are plenty familiar with; circular design. 

I love the idea of expressing gratitude through "circles". I think it's pure genius. Circles symbolize "unity" and "connection", and as links, are extremely resilient and of great importance. To echo this idea, I took immediately to Sleigh Ride's "Spirograph" style snowflake design patterned paper. As a whole, the snowflakes stand close to one another, and feel "connected". For this reason, I chose to use the paper as the background for my layout, which I'll share with you shortly...

When given this assignment, my thought process went immediately to my prayer life. I've always wanted to find a creative way to document this constant of my daily life, and what better way to do that than with circles {& Crate Paper}?

I had a vision of creating layered circles and with them, I wanted to frame my layout's main photograph. I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to cutting circles, and have found that using my handy circle compass is the best tool for the job! So, I trimmed a few out, paying close attention to sizing while trimming them from a couple of different papers.

To give them a little more pop, I rubbed rubbed charcoal grey ink around the edges of each one. This quick, easy-to-master technique gives the circles dimension, which is a "HUGE" plus for promoting "layers". 

A direct ink application (dragging the ink pad against the paper's edge) is preferred. 

 

With the photograph, "Pray Big", as the layout's central focus, I brought my cherished prayers to the outside parameters of the layout. I punched small circles from light patterned paper and wrote prayer subjects on them. I then attached them to the layout interchangably with pop-dots and wet adhesive. I inked the edges of the smaller circles. Again, this one additional detail has major impact on depth.  The circles draw the viewer's eye around the page.

 

Finally, with the title, all is brought together. I love the font with the black glitter foam thickers. Not only does the black stand-out, but it also compliments the inked edges of the various circles sprinkled throughout the page.

To have a little more fun with the title, I decided to use the photograph as part of the title itself. I brought the title down the center of the page starting at the top, and finishing it at the bottom. It ties everything together perfectly. 

 

Here's a look at completed page, what do you think? It's officially your turn to sit down and think about what you're thankful for. Once the list is written, think about how to express it using the unifying design element, circles! Literally, the possibilities are endless! 

CP Design On File :: Bohemian Chic Cards w/Ashely Newell + On Trend Giveaway!!

 

Although thank you cards are needed and given throughout the year, it seems that during the Fall and Winter season, there's a bigger demand. With all of the holidays and so many reasons to share gratitude before the year-end, we all need lots of thank you cards on hand. So, I had a great time combining lots of patterns and prints with shapes and sizes to create a festival of bohemian-chic cards. Just because we're headed into the holiday season doesn't mean we can't still enjoy bold and bright colors with fun layouts, right?!

To hold all of my cards, I made a little box using On Trend patterned paper and chipboard embellishments. I added some die-cuts on each side as "handles" and dressed them up with a bit of American Crafts black tulle.

 

On this card, I used stretched out triangular shaped dies to create a funky wallpaper-style background. Don't be afraid to mix those patterns for a unique and bold design.

 

To dress up the patterned paper on this card, I stamped flowers and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder. After adding a tag shaped focal point using On Trend patterned papers, this card came together in a jiff!

 

Don't forget to use those Thickers! I just love the bold colors and prints on these alpha chipboard letters. Simply create your own personal message and place it on a die-cut with various patterns and your thank you card is done. Customize your gratitude by stamping it or typing it on a computer/typewriter, then trimming the cardstock.

 

For my last card, I mixed together a few of the cardsock elements from On Trend and let it all hang out! Don't be afraid to let cardstock or embellishments hang off the edge of a card. Worries about shipping? Use a larger envelope, make an envelobox, or place it in a glassine bag if hand delivered.

 

On the enxt cozy day, take a couple of hours and make some handmade thank you cards so you will be ready to share your gratitude with others. Need a jumpstart? Try using these cards for sketches for your projects and just have fun! So, what's the hold up? Let's make a plethora of thank you cards to share our sincere gratitude. 

~

Today, we're going to do something sort of offbeat and fun. It just seems like a long time since we last gave away an "On Trend" collection kit. So, if you're a card maker, scrapbooker, DYI crafter or altered crafts artist, tell us which color palettes are on your "Holiday Project List" this season. Is bright and bold more your style, or do you prefer to stick with traditional color palettes like red and green? Whatever the case, before you leave, note the color palette in the comment section below - we'll draw a WINNER on Monday, November 12, 2012. 

CP Design on File :: Delightful Tape Stickers w/Heathyr Hintz

 

 

I love the new Crate Paper Tape Stickers!! As far as I'm concerned, they're one of the hottest new products that Crate Paper has introduced via it's latest collections. The tape stickers are just like washi tape, but with much funkier patterns. I especially like Acorn Avenue's tape stickers - the patterns are to die for! Get ready as there is much cuteness ahead...

I have to say that what appeals to me most about the stickers is how stunning they all look when lined up next to each other in their packaging. Because of this, I instantly thought about how cool it would be to mimic the arrangement on a layout. To pull it off perfectly, I made the decision to use up an entire pack of tape stickers. I kept the design similar by scattering the stickers across the bottom portion of my layout. Any gaps or open areas were supplemented with Pistachio Market patterned paper. In the end, the collage of tapes makes an inescapable statement that is playful, and charismatic.

 

And if you hadn't already of noticed, the blue chevron background lends wonderfully to the design, even amongst all the patterned tapes. Normally, patterns tend to collide if there are too many, but the blue chevron is subtle enough to avoid that problem. If anything, the warmth of the tape creates a nice contrast against it's cooler counterpart. Literally, it looks like the tape is "popping" off the page!

What started out as a simple page about an adorable dog playing in the leaves, is now something else entirely! It turned into a high-impact page full of vibrant color!

An Ombre Fall Celebration

Ombre is a trend that is currently quite popular! The definition of ombre is 'shaded or graduated in tone'. A common ombre item that many of us have seen is the paint chip. But, if you look around, ombre is everywhere these days! Today, I've created a Fall project to share with you using the ombre trend. 

First, lets take a peek at some of the ways it has been used elsewhere. I love perusing Pinterest to find inspiration and there was a ton of ombre photos there that sparked my creativity. 

There are ombre comforters:

(Urban Outifitters)

 

Ombre Flower Arrangements:

(lanuchan.com)

 

Ombre Walls:

(designindulgences.com)

 

And even ombre iPhone cases!

(Harper Grey Etsy Shop)

Since Fall is a celebration of brown, orange, red, and yellow tones, I decided to focus my color combination there. I started by digging through my Crate stash. (it's grown pretty big theses days as I refuse to purge any of it). I found papers from Farmhouse, Pretty Party, Story Teller and Little Boy Blue lines. Next, I layered them together from lightest to darkest to see if I liked how they blended together. Here are the ones I chose:

The stripes look pretty enough, but I decided that I wanted more of a "pieced" look, so I punched circles from each paper.

Then, the fun began. I played around with them, layering, arranging and deciding upon my design. I ended up cutting them in half and began adding them to my page. I started with the darkest color on the bottom. I adhered the row of color and added stitching to give some extra texture. I built my entire background moving from dark to light and then back to dark, adding the row of stitching as I finished.

I really love how the background turned out. It reminded me of the leaves that are scattered around everywhere in the fall! Since I wanted this to be the focus of my page, I kept the embellishing to a minimum. I added my photo and layered a bit of chipboard, stickers and a Stand Out around it.

 

A few brads and wood embellishments rounded out my design, along with a bit of washi tape.

Finally, I was done! The ombre background is the perfect backdrop for this photo of my son and nephew at our favorite Fall destination -- Linvilla Orchards. We have gone every year since he was born. Not only do we love picking out our pumpkin and seeing the decorations, but we love taking photos. And peeking through these painted frames is something Ryan enjoys every year.

Once I finished the layout, I had some circles left over on my scrap table. I couldn't let them go to waste! So, I made a coordinating card, too. 

The Farmhouse brads and sticker were the perfect accents.

There are still some punched circles left on my table and I'm thinking that an ombre Fall Garland might be in my future. But, for now, I'll leave you with these projects.

There are so many wonderful Crate papers to create an ombre design with. Try doing something with the variety of pinks or greens/aquas that are in our collections.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. ~Anabelle

 

Crate Paper's Making the Cut w/Piradee Talvanna

I've got admit that lately, on most my projects, I find myself automatically reaching for my silhouette machine to either help add the finishing touches or even as inspiration for some of the projects. With all the amazing designs that are available and the endless possibilities, what can I say...gotta make the cut!

Speaking of inspiration, today's mini album about those moments throughout the week, was inspired by Loni Steven's "Days in the Week" design files. 

For this album, I used a mix of pattern papers and embellishments from various Crate Paper collections, including Story Teller, Pretty Party, Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue. The concept behind the album was to create something that I could use to organize and help document the various moments throughout the week; similar to having a diary. Whereby I created a card for each day to be used as page dividers and in between, I added several sheets of journaling paper.

 

Interested in making one? Then grab some pattern papers, stickers, and all those embellishments that you've been hoarding. Also, dust off that Silhouette machine or put your new Cameo to action and start cutting away some design files for the days of the week, a title and some additional page dividers (I found that the 4" x 6" card designs are perfect for these). For added variation, consider including "overlay" page dividers and don't forget that you'll need a stack of journaling paper, too. (On some of the mini album pages, I attached tabs to help flip through the book and to quickly jot down dates.)

 

Each page divider I created represents a day of the week, including weekends. Those days are each numbered, and backed with a "pop of color". For a tone-on-tone effect, the titles were kept "white", the same color as the background.

 

Thanks for letting me share this petite, "cut-in-yourself" mini album with you. If you're interest in making a similar album, you can find the files here, here, and here. Have a scrapp'en fun day everyone! 

 

A Crate Paper Count Down + On Trend Giveaway

Lists, love them or not, they're a regular feature in everyday life. Typically, we create them to help us remember things. It makes managing a busy life, a little easier. That said, lists also serve another purpose. In the realm of scrapbooking, a list-style format is a great alternative to the standard paragraph. When center stage, it brings your story into focus and assists in highlighting the memories that matter most. Today, Rahel Menig is going to share a beautiful project exemplifying this unique, alternative journaling technique. She's written a brief project description, as well.  

At first, it was quite the challenge to make a numbered list on a layout - especially since the numbers stood as the main focus. I cut a patterned paper to letter width and trimmed large sized numbers with my Silhouette. To re-establish the patterned paper's 12 x 12 size, I adhered a second sheet of pattern paper to it (Little Boy Blue's "Leo"). I then positioned white cardstock beneath the numbers, which creates a subtle amount of contrast without distracting from the rest of the layout. My next plan of action was to write down our five year plan. I know, it's kind of silly to write down such plans, but I thought it'd be a fun topic to look back twenty or thirty years from now. I'm sure that it'll cause a few giggles with everyone that see's it.

  Random Tip: If you want to create an interesting shadow effect like I did with my numbers, don't forget to add paper behind them. The additional layer lends dimension and definition. 

~

We'd like to help you with your list making, so in conjunction with today's post, we're giving away an "On Trend" Collection Kit!! If you want to get in on the random drawing, in the comment section below, "list" three of your all time favorite Crate Paper collections. Please submit your comment by Sunday, September 1st (8:00pm Central Time). Also, include your location (State; MN, FL, etc.). On Monday, we'll announce the kit winner and tell you the three collections that got the most votes! 

A Crate Paper Fall Color Redo w/Naomi Atkins

Naomi here, with a Fall color redu! Now if you're like me, you love all of the signs, scents and colors of Autumn! Orange pumpkins, yellow and brown leaves, and red apples. But, who says that Fall has to be limited to those colors? There are many colors that can lend to a Fall feel, outside the traditional color lines...giving the arm, rich feel of Autumn. I'm a photographer, and love the Boden Catalog. I enjoy the photography, often outdoor photography, and love their bold use of color. It makes me want to buy all of the clothing for a fall photo shoot with my kids! When I got the catalog this year, I was not disappointed. The colors and catalog had a wonderful Autumn feel, but introduced the colors of teal, plum, mustard and grey into the Fall color palette. And it was love at first sight! 

 

The picture that most spoke to me was a girl in a mustard yellow pea coat throwing fabric leaves in the air. The leaves were grey, pink, and plum. The dress on the opposite page was a blue/teal in nature, and voila! My page inspiration started right there!

 I also searched Pinterest (of course!) by simply typing "color palettes" in the search box. I didn't type Fall, because I wasn't necessarily looking for a traditional Fall look. I wasn't disappointed! I then came up with the following color palette:

For me, the colors had to at least have one color that REALLY reminded me of Fall to make it all work, and that was the mustard yellow.

Crate Paper hasn't disappointed with the Fall line-up of paper as well! Instead of the traditional Fall color palette, they have introduced some new colors into the new release, Acorn Avenue. The combination of these bold color hues went right along with the theme!

 ~

I also used a photo of a girl throwing leaves in the air for my inspiration. I punched patterned paper leaves out of many of Crate's new patterned papers for Fall. I layered them on my layout over strips of paper that were solidly colored, and punched circles out of some of them while also layering patterned paper underneath. For the tag, I used one of the tags that came with the collection, and strips from one of the new patterned papers cut up and sewwed onto the tag. I used the mustard yellow from last year's Fall collection, Farmhouse, for one of the strips. I embossed the "heart fall" stamp ith hite, then sprayed over it with brown Mr.Huey's and also grey and cream papers to help "ground" the bold colors. I hope this inspires you to think outside the box and use some different colors in your Fall layouts!

CP Special: Tag, you're it! w/Tami Gookstetter

I love tags! Really, they're my favorite and I believe them to be one of the most versatile scrapbook/card making supplies out there. Crate Paper's Tag Cuts are great because they're printed on a sheet of 12 x 12 paper, and the designs are varied and affordable.  You can either use them "as is", or dress them up a little with embellishments. While I often use tags as a background element or journal spot on my layouts, I want to show you a couple of fun creative ways to use your tags differently. Follow along!

 

To start with, tags are a great accent for gift wrapping and packaging, and the tags from the Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue, are perfect for baby gifts! My good friend just had a little girl last week, so I used this pink tag with the sweet deer on it as a starting point for embellishing. I added on a hand cut heart, layered with a fabric brad, and positioned a sticker at the bottom before finishing it off with the word "baby" from Crate's Wood Shaped Veneers. I broke the word in half to make it fit on my tag a little bit better. Don't be afraid to cut/break/alter your wood veneers. I also used a wood tag from the pack and simply embellished it with an "E" for the baby's name, and then tied it all onto my jar with some baker's twine. Add some flowers from my garden and voila - an instant cute and unique gift for the proud new parents!

 

Next, I decided to make some teeny tiny notebooks using a tag as a cover! These cute lil' books are perfect to throw in your purse to jot down a quick note when need be, or used as an embellishment on a card or layout. They're really quick and easy to make, too. I started with a large tag, scored and folded just below where the sides narrow in, and then once more in the middle of the rectangular area. I cut some plain graph paper down to size for the inside pages and folded it in half. To bind the album, I lined up the inside pages with the folded cover, and stapled the two pieces together along the fold using a regular office stapler (which just so happened to have green staples in it). To keep the little notebook closed, I punched the a hole in the tag and wrapped twine inside, and around it.

The finished books are a great itty bitty canvas for embellishing, as well. I monogrammed one book with a letter thicker and another, with a section of border sticker and a flower cut from one of the patterned papers.

There are so many things that you can do with tags. I hope these two projects have given you a little inspiration to think outside the box and try something new with your tags! Thanks for stopping by the Crate Paper blog today!

Wood Be Crate w/Kaori Watanabe

 

 

Hello Everyone, Kaori with you today to talk about "wood", a familiar "all-natural" material that only recently joined the Crate Paper family. Last Spring, upon the release of Little Bo Peep and Little Bo Blue, Crate introduced it's own baby-themed mix of wood veneer shapes. They happen to be some of my favorite embellishments. So, today, I'm going to introduce a couple of modification techniques to alter them ever-so-slightly, and follow it up with a layout I'd made using the finished product.

 

Even though Crate's wood veneer shapes come packaged via "mix", inside are these delightful, mini frames. One is scalloped and the other, plain. Also, one side is dark and the other, light. Note the wooden small tag and flower on top the plain frame just above. I kept them "as-is" and will not discuss them in much detail, though thought I'd point them out anyway.

 

With this first frame, I painted it a light vanilla hue using the flat end of a chipboard piece. I chose this application method because it lends a less-than-perfect feel by applying only a thin layer of paint. Also, unlike a brush, the markings left behind, are noticeably obvious. I love that!

 

After applying paint, wrap small sections of vintage paper around parts of the frame. I went with the sides.

 

After the frame has fully dried, back it with vellum. I created my own vellum design using blank sheets of "printer-friendly" vellum and scanned sewing patterns. Set the frame on top the vellum, trace around it lightly with a pencil and then trim the area out. Adhere it to the backside of the frame. This first frame is finished!

 

Now we're gonna try a fun, two part combo that I think you're going to enjoy. Once again, with a plain frame at your disposal (though, this one isn't painted), back it with vellum. Like before, I created a personalized vellum design.

 

As a second layer, introduce to the backside of the frame a chosen section of printed transparency (Hambly: Retired). Adhere it just behind the vellum, beneath the outline of the frame so that the adhesive is hidden and out of view. That completes frame number two!

 

And for the very last frame, apply only transparency, skip the vellum. Super easy, and way too cute!!

 

And here they are, together, the three altered frames - prepped and ready for my layout!

 

Finally, a place to call home for the three frames - I set them up along a horizontal line, and to soften their stiffness, I angled them in different directions. I positioned some Crate Paper "Little Boy Blue" stickers on top two of the frames and decorated the other with an epoxy brad, and the tag and flower noted previously. Check out the fab red umbrella?! An unexpected twist from Little Boy Blue's "Oliver" patterned paper.

So much else can be done with Crate's wood veneer shapes, it's just a matter of experimenting with differing ideas. They might include spray mists, alcohol inks, ink pads, diluted acrylics, and so forth. A high gloss varnish may be in order, as well! If you've an idea for altering wood, give it a mention. We'd love to hear it!

Crate Paper Baby Card Central

Hi, it's Rebecca here with some projects all about babies, babies, babies! I don't know about you, but there seems to be an influx of new babies in my life. Two friends recently had baby boys, my sister had a baby girl back in June, and every time I turn around, it seems that someone else is expectings. It's okay - few things are more exciting than new babies and baby cards are some of my most favorite to make. 

 

With Crate's Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue collections, it has become even more fun to design baby cards! I had so many ideas and so many products I wanted to use. I designed the first card with a baby shower in mind. I had "Hazel", "Matilda", and "Alice" scraps lying on my desk and I liked the way they looked together, so I lined them up and added a strip of the yellow backside of "Alice" across them.

 

I was definitely aiming for a sweet, colorful mix of patterns and embellishments. The pink rosette stand-out, the pink fabric brad, and the impossibly cute wood veneer deer are perfect for adding little touches and texture.

 

~

I designed the next card with a few things in mind. First off, I wanted to show how you could mix both of the Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue collections together. Secondly, I wanted to design a card that could be given to a baby boy or a baby girl -- more and more people are waiting to be surprised about the sex of their new little one so it's great to have some gender neutral cards on hand. And lastly, these collections are so cute with their vintage appeal, but when I started to mix paper and elements together, I noticed a more retro feel taking shape and I went with it. 

 

I love the subtle color scheme of yellow, green, and gray, and the pops of natural woodgrain in the "Congrats" tag and veneer stork really work well together. The background paper is "Clara", taken from the Little Bo Peep 6 x 6 Patterned Paper Pad. Also, from the LBP collection, are the stork bingo card and fabric brad. There is definitely a stork theme happening here! The alphabet card is from Little Boy Blue "Oliver" patterned paper -- one of my most favorite in the entire collection! 

 

Layering, along with using bits of this and pieces of that, played a big role in putting this project together. I punched a couple of medallions from the yellow "Leo" paper from LBB, layering a LBB rosette Stand-Out over one of them. Just a small piece of a green LBB Border Sticker added a needed pop of green behind the alphabet card and I cut the striped yellow "Date" strip off of the bottom of one of the LBB accent tags and stitched it to the side of the "Congrats" tag. 

 

~

The last card might be the one closest to my heart! Both Crate baby collections have several different elements that can be used in creating baby announcements. Although I had many ideas and the best intentions, I never got around to making any when my own little guy was born, so I decided I would attempt one now, just for fun! 

 

I used all Little Boy Blue products and mainly stuck with a red and blue color scheme here. I chose the blue with red dots base paper, "Stanley", because it wasn't too busy and I knew I would have several other layers, patterns, and elements to build on top of it. My next step was to choose another subtle patterned paper to matte my photo on and I went with "Oliver" from the LBB 6 x 6 Patterned Paper Pad for that. I added a couple strips of the red scalloped Border Sticker for interest under the picture. If I could use Border Stickers on everything, I would!

 

One of the things that initially inspired the announcement idea was the little accent card with the colorful growth chart on it. It says "He's Here", but I covered that up with the "Introducing" sticker because I wanted to add another element to it. I liked that the card had a space for the name and the birth date, which I immediately filled in! I also used two other accent cards layered underneath it -- isn't that little duck pull toy, the cutest?!

 

I made a little flag with some more "Oliver" paper and a toothpick, and used the flocked Doll Thickers in Red to spell out "Gus". Lastly, the wood veneer duck and the "It's a boy" sticker completed the card.

 

If there are currently a lot of new babies -- or future babies -- in your life, I hope you got some inspiration here today. Little Bo Peep and Little Boy Blue are full of sweet, sweet patterns, images, and sentiments that make creating baby cards incredibly easy and enjoyable. From little boys to little girls to little surprises, they've got you covered!