Crate Paper

The final conclusion of last week's "Wedding Week" has arrived and with it our the three Crate & Barrel Gift Certificate winners that we've yet to announce! Because we opted to extend the deadline for challenge submissions, today was the newly assigned day for the big winner extravaganza and if you're visiting because you submitted a challenge entry, then may we suggest you scan below to find out if your project was selected as one of the three {Love Story, Wedding Day Recap & Wedding DIY} - if a familiar name appears to you, email us with your shipping info at cpblog@cratepaper.com..drum roll, please.

 

Love Story

Love stories are meant to be told and this Cassie's as provided in her email to us when having sent her layout:

"Robb knew I loved playing on the beach in Old Saybrook, CT as a kid, so one day, August 2007, as we were sitting on a bench at the very same beach, Robb got down on one knee and proposed marriage. I, of course, said YES! Two years later, we sat on the same bench as a married couple. August 2010, we sat on the this bench together while I was 9 1/2 months pregnant. This Summer, 2011, we sit on this bench together with our beautiful son, Charlie. This bench is, oddly enough, ver dear to me - as are you, Robb."

A gift certificate awaits you Cassie! The genuine and meaningful nature of your journaling caught our attention and we felt instantly that you were our winner for the "Love Story" category - what a very powerful story you've shared with us! Thank-you.

 

 Wedding Day Recap

 The Wedding Day arrives and departs so quickly and we know this for a fact since it's been a fair number of years since the very special, never-forgotten day we'd united and committed ourselves to marriage. Rebecca Keppel has shared a glimpse into her wedding day from August of 2003 via her submission, a layout of multiple, groom & bride photos along with an eye catching banner decorated with Portrait's stickers and chipboard.  Congratulations to you as well Rebecca, you're also the grand prize winner of a C & B Gift Certificate! You're layout is exquisitely beautiful...

  

DIY Wedding

Kim Hurst so easily reminds us how natural Portrait looks when featured next to neighboring, authentic vintage materials such as the ones she's intricately partnered with the likes of thread, fabric, vintage buttons and Portrait's Portraiture chipboard. Here's a brief summary about Kim's "Vintage Thrift Wedding" display:

This is an album cover I made for the keepsake notes and wishes that the guests would write to the happy couple. The album is assembled from chipboard layered with vintage sewing tissue patterns then machine stitched.  The cover is a layered combination of burlap, tissue, crocheted lace trim, vintage trim cut from a tea towel, vintage glass buttons amongst a ribbon rosette, and other embellishments that fit theme.  Then finished off with a "classic wedding" chipboard CP accent machine stitched to hold it in place on top all the layers.

 And Kim, you are today's last winner of a Crate & Barrel Gift Certificate! Thank-you for inviting us a glimpse of the couple's guest note table - a table embellished that beautifully more than likely attracted enough guests to fill that entire basket! Such an inviting presentation...

As we say good-bye to Wedding Week, Crate Paper would like to formally thank all of those that contributed their efforts and time towards the challenge! We'd received quite a few entries and selecting only three of them was an almost impossible feat for us. We sincerely appreciate your following the event and giving us an opportunity to partake in some of Crate's favorite activities, including admiring the work of our fans! You've absolutely made our week and we look forward to doing this again at some point - THANK-YOU!

And Congrats once again to the aforementioned winners...

Here we are, almost at the very end of what has turned out to be a spectacular week of wedding craftiness and still, there's one more day to bring you before we officially move on to our reader's projects..which by the way, we've unanimously decided to extend the deadline for! You've now 'til Wendnesday, June 15th {8:00pm Central Time} to submit a challenge entry! If this is your first time hearing of the challenge, you'll be able to locate the details at our Monday blog post entry from earlier this week. We've up for grabs three $50 Gift Certificates to Crate and Barrel {the popular furniture/home decor retail outlet!} that we'll be giving away to three very happy shoppers come next week. Because of the deadline extension, winners are expected to announce on Thursday, June 16th. Also on this day, both winners and runner-ups will be highlighted via the posting of their project images on our blog! *Please, mark your calendars accordingly...

Moving along, the gift opening ceremony is the final farewell and conclusion of every wedding and with it, there are numerous chances to include a handmade item or two, even though the party is nearly over. With so many photographs probably having been taken at this point, there are still tons of options to be taken advantage of. Also, them gifts need dressing, including pretty tags, cards and gift wrap, don't you think? Here are a few samples to fill the requirements of both creative opportunities on gift giving day...

CP Designer: Jaime Warren

I just love Crate's Portrait line - the little chipboard accents are perfect for cards and gift tags. For both my card and tag, I layered on lots of the chipboard elements, as well as some hand-cut flower details. They add just the right amount of texture and dimension! Also, the flowers give way to a pop of color against the black/cream polka dots!

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CP Designer: Kinsey Wilson

I've been noticing a trend in the past year or so of people renting photo booths for their weddings, so with that in mind, I made a photo-strip mini album! I designed it with my dream wedding color scheme: Woodgrain, Yellow, Grey, Black and Cream. Not too frilly or over-the top - just the way I like things - understated!

Since the photo booth strips measure approximately 8.5" x 2.25", I built my album so that the covers and pages are 10" x 4". I bound it using the accordion fold method. I left all of the pages blank so that the guests could tape their own photos into the album using washi tape and also, to add their own journaling or fun messages to the bride and groom..fun, right?! 

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CP Designer: Mou Saha

I strayed away from the traditional 'to and from' concept with my wedding tags. While I mostly used Accent Cuts, stickers and chipboard from the Portrait collection, I also used some Emma's Shoppe Play House pattern paper in the background. I cut out a frame from an accent cut and used pop dots to frame a photo of the couple. Again, I focused on the two little birds on the green Accent Cut and cut it out to create the Love Birds tag. Some punching, tearing and layering later, my two tags were ready!

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CP Designer: Michelle Lanning

My sister got married just a little over a year ago and I had been meaning to make her something as an anniversary gift. This frame with the beautiful Portrait collection was definitely the right way to go! I used the 6 x 6 Portrait pattern paper pad for cutting the small squares and rectangles. My sister has a spare room that is very vintage-y and I wanted this to fit perfectly with the style. I added some spritz ink to the edges of the (frame). It gave the perfect touch that I was seeking and I knew my sister would just love it! 

*Quick Tip: I used hot glue to adhere all of the embellishments (except the ribbon). This was to make sure that everything stayed in place and that it could take some abuse if necessary. And one more additional tip, if you apply a substantial amount of hot glue, it'll create a three dimensional look that is common to other adhesives. 

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We want to sincerely thank our CP Girls for helping us make Crate's Wedding Week a sensational, eye-catching success! This has really been a spectacular week for us and we hope it's been the same for you too - much fun has been had and we couldn't of done it without our vast and varied, talented design team! Thank-you so much ladies!!

And real quick before saying good-bye to the big week - the Two randomly selected Portrait collection WINNERS are as follows:

I've been married 20 years, but with all the wonderful ideas here I would love to get married again, just to use CRATE to decorate it! thanks for the beautiful things to drool over!

Posted by: Amy K | June 09, 2011 at 05:00 AM

I love how well Portrait blends with vintage touches (like the suitcase + typewriter + vintage item). It is the perfect collection for bringing handmade elements into a wedding, wow! I also love the idea of confetti (love love love the colors!) from scraps.

Posted by: lacy tatum | June 09, 2011 at 08:36 AM

Please send your info over to us {cpblog@cratepaper.com} if you find your comment listed! Congratulations to the both of you! Yeah!!! Portait awaits....

Thank-you to all who've spent some time with us this week during the special feature - we'll bring back our challenge winners and runner-ups to this very place, next Thursday! Be ready....

 

A Special Portrait Giveaway just below....

More is just over the horizon this lovely Thursday! General Wedding Decor is the going theme since not every handmade ware has to be designated to just one segment or another of the eventful matrimonial day. And in all honesty, it's the array of DIY options that make wedding's the pavilion of all events in terms of deciding which things to do yourself. One is given numerous possibilities to choose and create at will whatever he/she wants. Our CP Girls did just this and captured some ideas you might be interested at trying if you're to tie the knot or know someone who's about to! They range from detailed to simple...

CP Designer: Lexi Bridges

Here I combined two of my favorite things: the Portrait collection and vintage finds! The idea is to use a $3 suitcase and a collection point for guests to drop off cards for the happy couple and perhaps small gifts. I also thought it would be fun to add the typewriter as a way for guests to sign in or write little notes to the newlyweds on shipping tags. A small cup houses mini clothespins so the tags can be added to hang within the suitcase. Old books act as a stand for a milk bottle filled with vintage buttons and decorated with Portrait elements. Portrait buttons and brads are scattered and used as the center of woodgrain paper doilies which, along with Portrait accent cuts that decorate the inside of the suitcase. The Mr. & Mrs. banner across the top was created by sewing die-letters to a linen-like material cut pennant shape and sets the tone for the tablescape.

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CP Designer: Davinie Fiero

Floral pomanders are a fun addition to any wedding decor, as they can be used in centerpieces, and can also be carried down the aisle by bridesmaids and flower girls.

Paper pomanders are a less expensive way to include a burst of color and are a sophisticated addition to your wedding decor as well.

To create this one, I used a styrofoam ball, circle punches {two sizes}, push pins, and some trims/buttons from the Portrait collection, as well as the Bridesmaids and Bouquet pattern papers (how appropriate!) from the 6 x 6 paper pad. 

It was simply a matter of layering punched circles, and attaching them to the styrofoam with a push pin. I then topped it with vintage styled trims in a loop for carrying, and a few vintage buttons from the same collection.

Imagine these in different sizes in a glass vase, a bowl, or in the hands of a sweet little flower girl. The possibilities are endless!

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CP Designer: Tara Anderson

All of those Crate Paper Scraps were put to use by punching out lots of small circles and hearts to create hand-made confetti. I sewed wax tissue paper into a small packets, filled each with the Crate confetti and sewed a "tear and toss" tag across the top. Tear and Toss confetti, the perfect send off to a creative wedding.

 

With these final images from Tara Anderson, we're going to do a Portrait giveaway if you happen to be interested in commenting on the projects shown today...if so, we'll throw your name in with the mix and carefully select TWO winners to for a Portrait Collection Kit!! We'll announce our winner's tomorrow! Good Luck Friends!

 

It's time to walk down the aisle with Crate Paper! Today's primary focus is the never forgotten, most significantly special ceremony between both bride and groom. Thinking back to that time, most memories stem from that very moment, the loving, meaningly exchanges a couple undergoes while up at the alter. Words are said with the greatest of sincerity and love, and echo a lifetime for most. That being said, a handcrafted contribution to the ceremony is an absolute must! It'll demonstrate to the guests the inner workings and devotion between two best friends seeking to rejoice in their union in a personal way. So, we have for you today three lovely projects (two with semi-tutorials) from the crate paper design team that are solely based for around and during the ceremonial festivities. 

 

A Welcoming Board is a common tradition in the Japanese culture. Kaori Watanabe crafted this one from Crate's Portrait for the placement at either an entrance or a location in which it's readily available to be seen. 

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This guest book will beckon to be signed by guests! Here's a word from Sarah Martina about it's construction process:

Sarah here, and I have a project that I would consider one of the essentials of the typical wedding celebration…the Guest Book! I coupled the Portrait collection with Restoration to create a palette of fun and vibrant color with lots of texture. I die-cut the title and included lots of sticker layering to add interest.

I continued the design to the inside of the Guest Book by adding a fun Polaroid frame, some more layered stickers, and some journaling lines. 

 Recently, I have noticed a trend of guests taking fun pictures at wedding receptions to commemorate the occasion, so I thought it would be neat to incorporate that into the guest book, hence the Polaroid frame above the journaling lines, where guests can leave a message for the special couple.

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A butterfly bouquet, how perfect! Our CP Designer, Larissa Albernaz, wrote an entire tutorial for creating the fluttering, eye-catching piece:

Larissa with you and I'm super excited to be here! While I was looking for inspiration via the internet, I found the most amazing bouquet I'd ever seen. From the moment I saw the "Butterflies Bouquet" at Pinterest, I decided that I wanted to recreate a paper version for CP's Wedding event. I also thought to give it a personal touch by adding paper flowers, leaves and small birds. 

Creating the butterflies is really easy. Stamp a butterfly image onto Crate Paper's patterned papers with Versamark Ink and then emboss it with a heat gun and Zing Black embossing power. 

Trim the stamped image from the paper and stick it to a piece of wire that is able to fold. 

Adhere a small piece of paper to it for firmness (in back) and an improved finish.

Continue then to decorate the butterfly with embellishments. You can use netting, flowers, bling, pearls, etc. 

After you're done embellishing the butterfly, arrange it just so within a small plastic tube like that shown above. 

Repeat this operation several times until you have a beautiful bouquet. Cover the tube with ribbon, laces and trim as you prefer and when you're done, you'll have a unique bouquet! 

In creating the bouquet, consider making one for the flower girl as well (though on a smaller scale). Too sweet.

Thank you to all the CP Girls for the wedding projects we've shown you so far. We still have two more days to go before we reach the final project from our design team! We'll then start presenting some of your wedding-themed projects beginning next Monday! Pick a challenge from the three mentioned and submit them to us!

 

It seems that the popularity of the DIY wedding has grown exponentially as brides and grooms discover the true delight of personalized additions to their significant day. So in celebration of this handmade trend, Crate is hosting their very own "Down the Aisle" week-long event and we're excitedly inviting you to be a part of it! Nearly all 17+ of Crate Paper's designers have contributed exceptionally exquisite and over-the-top inspiring projects towards the event. We'll be highlighting their projects over the entirety of the week with each day representing it's own unique, wedding-relegated theme - the first day being that of invitations and general gift-giving wedding cards.

 

Of course, the week wouldn't nearly be eventful enough without your contribution, so Crate came up with the idea to host a universal, "share the love" triple challenge. We're talking weddings after all, aren't we?! In supplement of the creations that'll show this week, we're wanting to put forth some of yours as well, so what we've come up with is the following set of challenge participation options:

- Scrapbook your Love Story via Crate Paper: Relive the beginning on paper - 

- Capture the Day: Document either yours or another's wedding day on a layout/album -

- DIY Wedding: Almost anything goes, though it must be strictly wedding themed -  

After selecting and carrying out one of the aforementioned challenges using 95% Crate, send an image of your project to cpblog@cratepaper.com.  Starting next Monday, we'll begin premiering our faves of those received {Deadline: June 11/11:49 pm Central}, and of those, we'll select three to WIN a $50 gift certificate to the beloved wedding gift registration site, Crate & Barrel! The three winners will be announced Tuesday, June 14th, right here on our blog!!

To start the week, we've to introduce a simple, perfectly refined invitation from Danielle Flanders...

Hi there! This is Danielle with a wedding invitation idea for you to start out the week. I'm so excited to see what everyone has made for Crate's "Down the Aisle"week! There are so many beautiful ways you can make your own invitations, save money and still make them look fabulous! While working on this idea, I tried to keep it fairly simple, so they can be mass-produced and still look very professional and beautiful as well. 

First, I cut a piece of vellum and a piece of white cardstock the same size: 5" x 4". I printed out the wording with my computer onto a 8.5" x 11" piece of printer paper and chose an elegant font for it. The font I chose is called Vladimir Script. I looked up traditional invites online to choose the wording for the invitation {sample only}. The names are completely made up for the tutorial! 

Next, place the vellum directly over the computer printed page where you would like it to print on your vellum and adhere in a small section at the top of the vellum, so it doesn't move around as it's going through the printer. Send the paper through the printer again.

Gently peel off the printed vellum and adhere it to your 5" x 4" cardstock piece at the top. We will be covering the adhesive with a strip of paper. 

Cut a 2" circle from the Traditions paper and snip some small pieces out of it as shown above. Create a small burlap flower by wrapping a strip of burlap around itself, adhering it with a hot glue gun. Cut a piece of the striped paper from the 6" x 6" Portrait paper pad and snip the ends into a "V" shape. 

Die cut some leaves from the June paper. Snip them in half. The die cut is "Turning a New Leaf" by Papertrey Ink.

Adhere leaves and striped paper onto the invite as shown.

Adhere paper flower. Attach the curled burlap on top the flower.

Punch two small holes through the top of the invite and wrap a piece of twine through them. Tie it in a know. I placed the knot to the left to balance out the heaviness created with the flower in the bottom right-hand corner. You can leave long tails of the twine or trim them.

You are finished! Now you just need to create two-hundred more of them!! Happy Wedding Day to all of you! 

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The invitation is just the start of an upcoming wedding - how about a thoughtful round of cards to give to the bride/groom on their wedding day or any day thereafter or before it? One can never give too many congratulatory cards to a newly joined couple...

There are ceaseless options out there when deciding which tools to use for handcrafting your own cards. Jen Chesnick took to her Silhouette die-cut machine in producing realistic bride/groom attire cards from Portrait's pattern papers.  She's even taken into consideration some of the finer details, including a bottom laced dress {Portrait Ribbon Collection} and rose/ribbon accented wrapping. 

And occasionally, individual wedding cards are meant to be as meticulously beautiful and layered like this one from Christine Middlecamp. Take into consideration when a guest opts to give a card and monetary amount instead of a hand-chosen gift from a bride/groom's registry. A card such as this one easily speaks for itself...

 

This officially concludes day one of the event. It'll resume once again tomorrow, though the focus will be entirely different and the project display vast and varied. We also have arranged for a special giveaway in the next day or two thanks to a co-host of sorts. Details to follow soon!