Crate Paper

May's Designer Gallery :: Part I

 

 

So we admit, Pretty Party isn't just for parties. It's a super cute collection for "MOMS", too! With Mother's Day around the corner, creating something handmade to celebrate the special day is a tradition for many. So, when Roree Rumph shared her "Mother's Day" potted flowers with us, we thought, "What a GREAT gift idea!" Her timing is perfect!

 Roree kindly put together a supply list for creating the beautiful blossom display...

*Pretty Party Paper {Confetti, Party Guest, Papercloth, Spool, Streamers}, Pretty Party Chipboard, Pretty Party Eclectic Buttons, Pretty Party Fabric & Epoxy Brads, Farmhouse Alpha Set, Farmhouse Border Stickers, Farmhouse Eclectic Buttons, Art Minds Simply Surfaces Flower Pots, Embroidery Thread, Craft Sticks, Cricut Expression 2, and Sweet Treats Cartridge. 

 

Sometimes, it's just more fun to create "mini" cards - we think so, at least! They're a quick gift topper, too! Here's what Claudia had to say about them..

"Hello, Hello, Calduia here with a mini card trio featuring chipboard pieces from the Story Teller collection. The little flower pieces are adorable, and I really like the pop of color. I like them so much, that I made them the focal point of the cards. Again, in the light of the Spring Season, these are the perfect as "hello" or "thank-you" cards. For the background, I randomly splattered some water color paint, just enough to create a touch of whimsy."

 

As you might of already guessed, these two precious layouts are from our white space extraordinaire, Jaime Warren. Both echo heartfelt sentiments using Crate's Pretty Party and Story Teller collections. 

 

A trip overseas to San Francisco has left Sasha Farina with a host of never-forgotten moments. From what we hear, she aspires to return ;) And check out her "stamped airplanes" on Story Teller's quintessential map patterned paper!

 Thank-you kindly to all of the designers that contributed toward today's Designer Gallery. And to our visitors, make sure to check out yesterday's ongoing giveaway via Tara Anderson's "It's a Wrap!" gallery - bring your favorite birthday gift with you! 

April's Designer Gallery :: Part II

 

 

 

Two of Crate Paper's very new favorite products are the FRAME SETS from Pretty Party and Story Teller. If you haven't yet had the chance to see them in person, we think you're going to be pleasantly surprised by their superior cuteness factor and ease of use. Our frames are as light as a feather,which makes working with them, a "Dream"! They're also a fun addition to just about any project! Use them to show off photos, embellishments, journaling, and so much more - they're truly limitless! 

In highlighting Story Teller's cherry-colored wood frames, Kaori Watanabe's layout is first and foremost today! Beneath it, is layers of patterned paper and stamped writing and on top, is the layout's primary focal point, her little guy! A happy moment for sure.

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And now, two new projects from two outstanding CP designers...

In Lilith's own words...

"I am so lucky to have so many photos of me when I was a child and what is even better is that I have quite a few of these photos on my computer thanks to my father who has been scanning them. When looking at all these memories I realize that the person in the photo is still me and that I haven't changed that much. I have only aged. The Story Teller collection fits my "old" pictures so well and the theme is just spot on. I know I'll be scrapping loads more using this line."

 

An alternative twist to the traditional mini album, die-cut tags replace album pages in this one-of-a-kind creation by Charlene Cundy. Inside, are lots of little nooks and crannies to explore, including an accordion binding filled with varying tags, and two fully embellished pages!

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So tell us, are you a FRAME fan? How about winning a free set of frames (plus other Crate goodies) from our very own Story Teller and Pretty Party collections? Share with us your frame ideas in today's comment section. Winner will announce this Friday, April 20th, 2012. Please have your comment submitted by Thursday, 8:00pm Central Time. Good Luck!

 

April's Designer Gallery

 

 

Just in time for Easter, a gorgeous set of treat baskets from our altered crafts designer, Roree Rumph. Filled with Easter's most popular yellow icon, "peeps", these baskets would put a smile on just about any early riser come Easter morning! They're cuter than cute!

*The baskets are generated from Cricut's "Spring Cottage" cartridge using a Cricut Expression II machine and our "Pretty Party" patterned papers.

 

Catering to a similar "party" theme, Suzanne Sergi, celebrates her two daughters via a night on the town! She's used the perfect Crate Paper collection for it too, Pretty Party! Note the layered chipboard frames, Gift Box accent cut and Party Time sticker. A great use of all three!

 

In Lilith's own words..."I'm an avid paper lover, and the Pretty Party collection nearly stole my heart. The colours are so beautiful and soft, but not too pale. I really wanted to use the pinks even though the layout is about my boys (DH and youngest son). Who says pink is only for girls? I also wanted to incorporate some geometric shapes (another of my latest crazes). I decide to go with triangles which in my opinion, make all the difference. A zest of blue and a splash of yellow and another memory recorded and ready to be placed in our family album."

 

Sasha Farina surprised us with this sweet "Thank-You" card a few weeks ago. It's linear construction includes Sasha's signature sewing and a collage of elements from Crate's Farmhouse and Random collections.

 

In Anabelle's own words..."I love how confetti pockets have been showing up on layouts recently. The confetti adds such a fun and whimsical touch to the projects. On this page I decided to made circular pockets filled with confetti. I cut the circles from a page protector, stitched them and added the confetti before finishing off the stitching. I think they gave the page a fun feel and added lots of texture, as well."

 

Piradee deliver's a vacation layout that show's off StoryTeller's travel-friendly side! If you have plans to travel in the near future, grab a StoryTeller collection kit before you go! That way, you'll be more than ready to scrapbook upon your return home..

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And there you have it, another round of creativity from the Crate Paper Design Team! As usual, feel free to pin your favorites! Also, make sure to stop by again tomorrow to check out Tara Anderson's latest color challenge palette - WINNER takes home a Full Collection of their choosing {w/embellishments}, either Pretty Party or StoryTeller. See you then! 

March's Designer Gallery + "Pin It" Giveaway!

  

Behind the scenes, our CP Girls are glued to their creative spaces and producing a wide range of projects from two of our latest collections, StoryTeller and Pretty Party. To give them a home, and as a place for you to persue even more crafty ideas, we've come up with the "Designer Gallery", a bi-monthly presentation of freshly-constructed works from the Crate Paper Design Team! As a slight twist, and to bring you into the picture, the Designer Gallery also includes a special giveaway, so read on...

Pick a favorite project from the Designer gallery line-up & pin it at Pinterest! We'll then seek out a "Pinned Crate Paper Creation" within twenty-four hours of the gallery's post date and announce the lucky winner at the Crate Paper Blog, along with the pinned project! In order to recognize your participation in the giveaway, we ask that you label your pin accordingly with the following two items:

 "Crate Paper Fave" + "Designer's Name" 

**Please, in order for your pin to qualify, it must link directly to the Crate Paper Blog.

It's super simple, and fun!! Lets get started, shall we?! Check out what the team's been up to this month...

CP Designer: Sasha Farina

 

CP Designer: Anabelle O'Malley

 

CP Designer: Kaori Watanabe

 

CP Designer: Rahel Menig

 

CP Designer: Shanna Noel

 

CP Designer: Charlene Cundy

 

CP Designer: Claudia Shadler

It's officially your turn - START PINNING! Don't forget to label your pin as noted at the beginning - if you have a question'(s) about Pinterest, or about the giveaway itself, make reference to it in the comment section of today's post. Good Luck to all of you! 

 

A Final 2011 CP Designer Showcase

In saying good-bye to 2011, Crate Paper brings the year's final set of design team projects to you, along with a boost of inspiration to reign in 2012! And as you take a peek at them, remember, that with the new year, you can expect to see an even better Crate Paper with it's familiar tell-tale vintage edge mixed with the usual hints of modern flair. We'll also be updating the team near the end of January and staging new ideas for the Crate Paper blog. If you've any feedback to share, we'd love to hear that as well! Happy New Years to all!

Crate Paper DT Artist :: Geralyn Sy

Some of you might already have a few inches of snow on the ground and begun the winter layout preparation process. If so, the Peppermint Collection offers a perfect color & pattern palette to help summarize it's popular snow laden festivities! Just look at Geralyn's ultra colorful mini album, it's filled to the brim with good old fashion Winter fun! 

 

CP Design Team Artist :: Geralyn Sy

This is a complete contemporary take on Random that we've not ever seen before. Leave it to Geralyn to show us that Random doesn't always have to be "so Random". We love it! 

 

CP Design Team Artist :: Lexi Bridges

 More snow and a reminder of Fall, both these layouts show how kindly our collections take to non-traditional scrapbook materials. And with the popularily of mixed media lately, we love seeing the two come together in fun, unexpected ways! For example, check out the Lexi's cotton filled vellum/pattern paper pocket and adorable plastic doily frame via her last layout..Cute stuff! 

 

CP Design Team Artist :: Rahel Menig

The star/accordian flower pair is perfect as a holiday/winter emblem - constructed from Peppermint's "Candy Cane" and "Winter Green" papers, Rahel's commonly familiar white backdrop leaves ample room for them to shine! Simply pretty...

 

CP Design Team Artist :: Stephanie Dagan

There's a smidgen of every Fall 2011 CP collection in Stephanie's bi-folded/encased stand-up photo display. It's 2011's final CP project to debut here, and as such, the combination of collections seems fitting given the timing! It's exsquisitely constructed, too. Thank-you Stephanie!

 On behalf of Crate Paper, may 2012 bring you more creative successes and unforgettable memories! Thank-you for joining us today!

 

Crate Paper Designer Showcase

Bright color is something that we've been striving to feature more of in our collections, especially in this last year or so. You may have noticed that this season's token, non-traditional collection, Random, is packed full of punchy, oddly coupled hues. To tone them down a bit, we threw in a couple basic neutrals, including the most commonly utilized neutral, "Black".

Amazingly, our design team picked up on this combination and during the last few months, their projects have been alive with bright, bold color! Usually paired with one of Crate's popular tone-on-tone neutral patterned papers, color always finds a home on a submitted layout, mini album, or card. Each is entirely unique as well, which makes it extremely exciting for us when viewing a project for the very first time. Color is what it's all about - lots of it! 

A regular user of white backgrounds is our CP Girl, Rahel Menig. This latest layout from her is but another example of her clean, minimalist style, though this time around, she summed it up with snippets of bold color! We absolutely love how it turned out - also, the photos are simply too fun! Donut anyone?

 

Along the lines of color, but also Halloween, Geralyn gives us a preview of the Halloween she once celebrated as a child. She intermixed patterned papers from both Random & Farmhouse to create the first project and then relied solely on Farmhouse for the second.

 

 Lastly, a simple, sweet layout from our French designer, Stephanie Dagan. Again, another Halloween layout from the Farmhouse collection and as always, Stephanie's photos provide the finishing touch! Them painted faces say it all! 

We're going to conclude at this point, but we hope that todays' post served as a source of inspiration for the many of you out there! Thank-you for stopping by and sharing in the subject of "color" with us! Have a fabulous day!

Crate Paper Designer Showcase

Our designers are still working diligently behind the scenes to bring forward lots of great ideas now that Crate's collections are readily available to most of you. And because we've quite a bit of "catching-up" to do of their recent submissions, we're jumping right in to find out what's been inspiring our team members lately!

The first comes to us all the way from France! Stephanie Dagan's simple, clean-cut scrapbook style and beautiful photography beckons to be peeked upon, especially these color intensive, Peppermint cards that cater perfectly to the upcoming holiday season...

Already dressed up with names, we imagine they'll soon find their way into a stocking or a special gift and will be held by the hands of little ones. Too sweet and a definite keeper even after the holidays are over! 

 

Can you guess which one of Farmhouse's patterned papers is used as a backdrop for Amy Parker's "Celebrating Six Months" layout? Cross Stitch is one of those really cute designs we put together with the hopes that it would host well as a "base" for just about any layout. It's similar to some of our woodgrain papers, but instead of an actual woodgrain patterning, it's solid dark brown with the addition of cross-stitch lettering. 

 

Another layout from Amy Parker, but from a more personal side that Random seems to capture so wonderfully here, is an autobiographical portrait of life's ever-evolving details - it's a beautiful layout, especially with the pronounced texturing of layered banners! 

 

Old fashion frames and Farmhouse greet each other on this latest layout from Erin Stewart - even our Farmhouse collection has an eclectic side, hence the Bingo accent cut, petite vintage clothespins and lacey trimwork -they match fabulously with the frames!

 

In re-mentioning our woodgrain pattern paper, Kaori Watanabe uses it in a way we've not seen before - white mist & vines resembling the scenic, snowy background of a typical winter day. How very pretty, don't you think? We love this layout from her...

 

And finally, another stunning layout belonging to Tara Anderson - while always bringing attention to the serene and simple, she utilizes Peppermint's pop of "red" against the prettiest of subtle backgrounds, light green-blue. It's a wonderful combination...

And this brings us to the end - have a lovely Tuesday everyone! Thank-you for stopping by....

CP Girl Designer Showcase

It's a day of fresh, gleaming projects from the Crate Paper Design Team, and guess what? The girls are settling in with the new collections and putting together some major "WOW" factors for us to look at, and just in time too, 'cause the new collections are readily available at your favorite retailers! We've already received numerous notices of the collections having been located by a few of you. Already, "Reader Gallery" projects are being spotted in our inbox from those taking to crafting and playing with the their latest Crate Paper Fave'(s). Also, our Facebook page has received a lot of traffic as well, hence the daily posting of projects directly by our FANS! Run and check it out if you haven't already... 

Accommodating almost every single one of Geralyn's enticing layouts is an easy to take away idea for those seeking alternatives to what they might already be doing on a regular basis. She's totally technique driven..well, at least we think she is, anyway. As a quick example, verticle strips of Random pattern paper joined together to reflect a colorful patchwork of prettiness. White outlines added thereafter...

 

Oh how clever you are, Kinsey Wilson! She overlapped sections from Random's "Textile" pattern paper with various other pattern papers to coincide with her meticulous stitching. The juxtaposition of cool & warm is also a nice addition - definitely a "Fall" friendly layout! 

 

Snuggled beneath layers of tissue paper, as Rahel Menig so readily shows us, are snippets of Peppermint's snowflake chipboard pieces and what looks to be a hidden journaling spot constructed from sewn on stickers and a hand-trimmed journaling card. A simple, beautiful idea that we so love...

 

A mix of Crate's old and new Christmas Collections, Michiko Kato created the most amazing holiday mini album & matching box that we've ever seen! The combination and layering of elements is endless - you can't help but look at each page more than twice!! So much to take in - the fireplace & presents is a perfect pair too!

That about does it for today's Designer Showcase!! Thank-you to are awesome CP Girls for their hard work and dedicated insight into cultivating and bringing about great ideas to be shared here! Couldn't do it without you :)

Crate Paper Designer Showcase

A brand new "Designer Showcase" is here and with it, Amy Heller reminds us what the end of Summer is all about, especially for those with prospering gardens that have been tended to since Spring. It's the time of year when we turn to our backyard's bountiful harvest of organically grown goods to partake in a delightful meal with family and friends . Think late night gatherings, freshly cooked recipes and a table filled beyond capacity with enough seasonal specialities to last beyond one meal! Sound familiar to you? If so, then maybe you've a photograph or two from such an event or popular theme that's to be scrapbooked eventually..our Farmhouse collection is perfectly suited for the subject. Amy demonstrates this quite nicely with her latest layout too, Sweet Harvest. Her family grew their very first garden this Summer and almost immediately, it turned out vegetables of all varieties - just look at the photos! 

 

Our Lexi Bridges takes Farmhouse a completely different direction, though still, pumpkins aren't that far off the list of backyard surprises when it comes to gardening - a perfect pick, just in time for Halloween! Note that she's used Crate's Portrait, too. 

 

 

Moving right along, are simple scrapbooker, Erin Stewart, brings us more Farmhouse, though Peppermint as well! Lot's of great lil' moments captured here of her sweet, young guy! Big, first steps too!!  

 

 

And our very last two projects are from our new CP Girl, Stephanie Dagan of France. They're her very first set of contributions and we're excited to be sharing them with you today - once again, an introduction to Farmhouse, but from a family perspective. 

Have a lovely day Crate Paper followers! We'll return tomorrow with an extra special "mini album" tutorial from Suzanne Sergi - just wait 'til you see it! It's unbelievably beautiful!! See you then!

August Designer Showcase

Once upon a time, Crate had an ongoing tradition of hosting their "Designer Showcase" on the weekends, a post solely dedicated to Crate Paper's CP Girls whom routinely submit new crafty projects almost every week for sharing on the blog. Ultimately, change beckoned and with it, came the decision to shift the schedule slightly so as to make room for our "Designer Showcase" during the week, rather than the weekend! In making the slight adjustment, us Crate folks felt it was time to shake things up a bit by bringing forth more variety in terms of everyday creations and traditional layouts so that you, Crate's biggest fans, have more to look at and possibly "pin" while hanging out here! And if "pinning", please take a moment to note the source of the project - spread the "Crate Paper" love. :) 

 

Random seems to be a major favorite amongst our designers and this latest layout (along with the following) is proof of it's popularity. Both are classic and beautifully layered with hints of sophistication, a common thread throughout Michiko's layouts. 

 

And who says Farmhouse isn't perfect for celebrating school milestones, especially considering that school begins in a few short weeks? Amy Heller demonstrates that Farmhouse pulls through in highlighting the upcoming school year with this adorable layout about her preschool graduate. 

 

Oh, Chevrons, need we say more? Two very first layouts from Geralyn made way to us a week or so ago and we simply couldn't wait to post them here. She's of course one of our new designers and we love her simple, graphic scrapbook style to pieces! 

 Round one of this month's Designer Showcase is to conclude for the day! Thank-you for stopping by to find out what our girl's have been up to - Have a great Wednesday everyone!!