Crate Paper

Paper Finial Ornament with Amy Heller

 

 

Hi everyone! It's Amy Heller here today to bring you a super, super easy mini holiday tutorial on how to create your very own finial ornament out of paper. 

 

The idea for this blossomed out a few different ideas. First, I'm loving sewing my own paper banners and garlands, and second, I was remembering back to my own childhood and we had a couple different free hanging felt displays that were constructed very similarly to the paper garlands I've been making this past year. My grandmother had made them, and every time you walked past them, or under them, they would move so elegantly and twist and turn and rotate exposing the front and back sides of the felt. I loved the motion they would create, so I thought how could I create something similar with paper? First, I wanted to recreate that felt Christmas tree that we had as a child, but in paper, but then as I was creating it, I discovered something, a) simpler and b) up my alley style wise. 

 

Source: zulily.com via Pinterest

I love finial ornaments, particularly made of mercury glass. There's something nostalgic, elegant and oh, so beautiful about these delicate ornaments. I have several on our tree that I love. While creating my paper garland, I found these beauties on Pinterest, and thought I would try to use the shapes as inspiration for my project, thus making an ornament with the same movement and whimsy as my grandmother's felt decoration but with my own love of finial ornaments. 

 

So this is what I did! And here's how I created it!

 

Required Supplies: 

- 3 different sizes of circle punches. I also mixed things up by using a scallop circle as one of my punches.

- Coordinating patterned paper

- Sewing Machine (make sure both your bobbin and main thread match)

 

First thing you are going to do is punch out lots of circles, then group them together by size and color as desired. 

Next step, is to lay your punches out in a design you find pleasing - keep them in this order next to your sewing machine.

Stack three of each of the same three sizes of circles on each other, all flush with one another.

Let out a long bit of thread and bobbin thread before you begin sewing, as this will create your loop to hang on the tree when finished.

Set down the foot of your sewing machine on your first set of circles so they don't move around.

One stack at a time, sew a straight stitch all the way through the center of each - from end to end. 

Continue sewing past the end of the stack just a few stitches, then carefully, set the next stack of three circles under the foot of your machine. Continue this process for your entire design, making sure to keep the order of your original design. Go slow - there's no need to have your machine on a fast setting - in fact, I put mine on the slowest, just so I would ensure my desired spacing.

Open up your paper stacks to create a three dimensional orb look to each layer of your ornament. This will create a lovely rotation that will reveal the beautiful double sides to your patterned paper. 

Once finished, leave a bit of thread at the bottom of the ornament. If you wish, add beads or buttons to the bottom. I decided to leave mine with whisps, as I love the free feel of it, adding to the movement of my ornament, when I have it on an outside branch. Just tie a loop in the top of your ornament with your thread, and there you have it, you're ready to place it on the tree!

And that's it! So simple! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful day!

~

And because Amy recently sent to us a bunch of brand new, beautiful cards, we're taking advantage of this moment to post them so that our audience can fully enjoy them just as we already have. There are a total of four to admire...

A Doily Folded Invitation w/Rahel Menig

 

 

Yes, it's true, Christmas has come and gone, but it's still December and as such, it's remaining days are to be devoted to our Designer's final set of projects for the month. Some of these projects include a few more "Merry Makings", but most awaiting spotlight are general creations that are simply to inspire and help with ideas for next, upcoming year! And don't forget to bookmark your faves, or reserve an image or two on Pinterest incase you want to peek at them later on...it'll be another year 'til we greet Christmas once again.

 

A nice dinner party doesn't start when you enter the home of the hostess, it starts way before, with the invitation. To get you started on thinking about invitations, as many of you are probably going to be sending out invitations at some point this month, I'm going to share with you a sweet, doily handmade invite that'll have all your guests anticipating the party! 

To reflect more closely upon the season, I wanted to keep the colors of my invite quiet and winterish. Though, to still make room for Christmas's more traditional color set, I opted to throw in a bit of red and pink. The white paper doily represents snow with it's delicate borders & cut-outs. And even though we're without the lovely snowflakes in California, it's nice to think about them and incoporate them into projects like this. 

 

To get started, you'll need the help of a couple of items - Peppermint's Wintergreen patterned paper, large paper doilies (craft store), red/white twine, and tini wooden clothes clips. 

 

The absolute first step is to fold your doily. Take two opposite sides and fold them to the center. Usually, there's some kind of center design or pattern on the doily that makes it very easy to identify the best folding placement. 

 

The absolute last step is to measure the space from within the folded doily to determine the exact sized patterned paper to fit inside it. Trim the paper and insert it as shown - to give my invitation even more whim, I sewed all around the edges of the paper, and distressed them with my exacter knife. I then added some of Peppermint's cute chipboard {Mr.Santa} and finished it up with some baker's twine and a jingle bell! See the images below for the completed invite...

Once again, an impressive display to entice your guests into visiting the party! It's also the kind of invite that's easily made in "bulk", so if you've a lot of invites to send out, definitely give this idea a try! Feel free to switch up the papers with Crate's new Paper Hearts collection, too!! Tuck a valentine inside your doily instead of a party invite. :)

I wish you the best of luck in the gathering of your next party, New Years Eve included...Happy Holidays!

Christmas in Any Color w/Christine Middlecamp

 

 

Welcome to a special weekend edition of Crate Paper's "Merry Makings"! Today, the popular manila tag joins with Peppermint to create a catchy, colorful assortment of gift toppers! I have to admit, I adore Peppermint's non-traditional color palette. It feels peppy and reminds me of the old fashioned hurricane glass ornaments from the 1950's. I'm sure you're familiar with them, and maybe you've a collection on display at this very moment! In any case, these tags look fantastic when paired with just the right wrapping paper. More than likely, I'll go the route of polka-dots because they're just as playful as the tags!

In total, I put together three tags, but I'll only be featuring a step-by-step instruction set for one. It should still give you a general idea of how all the layers come together and as to how I go about organizing them. And believe it or not, the tags aren't that difficult to make! Let me show you...

To begin, you'll want to purchase a box of manila tags at the local business supply store. Grab a tag and cover it with Peppermint's Pink & Plaid Accent Cut. 

 

Cover the center of the accent cut with a hand-trimmed area of Peppermint's Ski Lodge patterned paper. Layer it further with hand-trimmed vintage book paper. 

 

Now, this is where things get slightly more complicated, so bare with me. Trim this wreath gift tag from Present patterned paper. Add half a page tab to it's lower right corner. 

To create a strong horizontal line that unites the tag's numerous embellishments, trim a snippet of the doily red border sticker and lay it on top the vintage book paper. 

 

Tuck the tag beneath a white, pretty felted flower (Maya Road) and continue to embellish the surrounding area with small sized stickers & chipboard pieces. 

 

Pop up this vibrant red candy sticker with pop dots near the left edge. Note the 1925 sticker, too. It's vintage turquoise color and font make my heart melt. I don't think I'd ever grow tired of using it. It's a great graphic element that sits perfectly next to some of Peppermint's more whimsical designs. 

 The tag is officially finished! Now as a slight alternative to the gift topper idea, these tags would also make really cute gift card holders! A pocket could easily be created on the backside of the tag with the help of patterned paper. You might even feel like doing a little sewing to attach the pocket. Slip in the card, and you're set to go!

 I'm going to leave you with the final two tags - they're just as lively as the first! Do enjoy!

The Little Tags Box w/Stephanie Dagan

 

 

Hello Everyone!! Stephanie Dagan with you today to present a very small project: a Little Box for the storage of Little Tags! At first, I wanted to make an advent calendar, but the box for this particular project wasn't deep enough to contain all 25 tags. So, instead, I opted to go this route, which is still just as cute, and holiday friendly! I'm going to hold off on the advent calendar idea 'til next year :)

 

To begin the project, I chose some patterned papers from the Peppermint Collection and with my big shot, I cut ten + tags. I then embellished each tag to my liking before moving on to the box I chose to go with for storing them. So now, lets make the box!

 

I love making boxes from papers, it's fast and super easy! And once you understand the technique, you can use it to create different sized boxes. Here, I've given you the dimensions to make a box that measures 2.95" x 3.93" and 1.96" high. Make use of the sizes mentioned and photos, to cut and make your own boxes!  

 

After completing my box, I cut a strip of transparency to create a sleeve in which to tuck the box into so that my tags wouldn't fall out. Of the trimmed transparency, I scored the folds and glued the ends together. After allowing it to dry some, I positioned the box inside the transparency cover, along with the tags! I opted not to embellish the top of the box because it was important that the tags be seen in their entirity.

And here are a few of the finished tags! Note how neatly and perfectly they fit inside the box and how adorable they look together...

That's all for today! Hope you'll find this tutorial easy to follow and also, inspiring! Thanks so much for stopping by - wish you a wonderful Christmas!

Doily Snowflakes + Holiday Treat Bags

 

 

With the holiday's quickly closing in, and still ample tutorials to post, scheduled today are two tutorials from our designer's, Lexi Bridges & Kinsey Wilson. The two are nearly a pair, so we thought "why not show them together?" It'll be a merry ol' time! First up, Lexi, with a creative take on painting Winter's most recognizable friend, SNOW! 

 

Doily Snowflakes

Good morning Crate Paper fans! Lexi here with you today to share a fun way to add some paint to your projects. The look and texture of paint can be a fun element to add to scrapping projects, but what about when you want it in a perfect circle shape? I thought accenting some snowflakes on a winter layout would look fun with some paint behind them, so I set out to find a way to make it work.

Turns out, it's simple, like most things I do!

In the most basic sense, you'll only need: Cardstock/Patterned Paper, Glue Dot/Washi Tape Roll, Paintbrush, and Paint.

To begin, I cut my card front from the chosen pattern paper. I then laid my roll of glue dots on top, in the upper right hand corner. Because this circle is big, and the size of a card is small, I had it going off the side a bit. The inner cardboard roll acts as a kind of stencil. Choose the color of paint--I went with white because I wanted the snowflake feel --go ahead and paint inside the circle. SUPER easy. You can see the washi cardboard roll is smaller in diameter so it adds some interest size-wise {below}.

My actual “snowflakes” were pieces cut from a paper doily {clever, eh?}

 

Because the paper I chose for the card had a wintery, blue feel to it, I used blue thread to stitch my snowflakes in place. Carrying on with the “snow” theme, I wrote over the chipboard word “snow” with a snow writer pen. Love how it turned out! Sparkle is an easy accent to Crate's already super cute chipboard pieces—here I added some icicle stickles to the snow and tiny doily snowflakes inside the globe.

 

As easy as paint circles inside a cardboard glue/tape tube are, I wanted to see it further translated on a layout as well. Here, the painted circles are outlined with a pen and painted with an aquapen. Bigger Doilies are preferable as the size of the layout benefits from them. I've sprayed them with a metallic sheen. 

 

 

Here, you can see that I also used some white spray ink on top of the layout as a whole. It adds another fun, new feature to the layout.

 

Most of the colorful snowflakes on the layout have been punched using various punches from one sheet of paper — Snow Globe. A few have been popped with dimensional adhesive. I also added some different stamped snowflakes as well.

 There are so many ideas by just varying the paint colors and embellishments used. As simple as paint circles can be, it's a great way to add an extra layer to your projects. I do hope you'll give them a try!

Holiday Treat Bags

Hello once again! Kinsey following up with a quick and easy way to make cute little holiday treats for your kiddo’s class party. For my daughter’s class holiday party this year, I made these little goody bags using two of my favorite Crate Paper lines - Peppermint and Random. All you’ll neet to whip these little cuties together is a few sheets of patterned paper, some fun embellishments, small Ziploc bags, and adhesive. So, let’s get to work!

As you know, Ziploc bags come in all shapes and sizes so you’ll want to fill the bags with treats first and then measure length, width, and depth of the filled bags. My treat bags measured about ½ inch thick, 4½ inches tall, and 3 inches wide.

Cut paper into strips…if your treat bags are taller than 5 inches, you’ll need to piece two strips together according to the measurements. For mine, I cut 12 x 3 inch strips and then creased and folded them to create triangular packages with open sides and the treat bag fits nice and snug inside of the folded package.

 

Punch the top edge of each strip with an edge punch and then back it with a contrasting strip of paper.

 Run a line of adhesive along the top of the Ziploc bag and adhere it to the inside of the packaging, add a little note from the kiddo, and then fold it up and adhere the top decorative edged flap to the front cover section of the package.

 

Add some fun stickers and chipboard pieces along the flap seam…tags would be really cute here, too.

 These are so fun to make and each one is a little bit different. Brianna is so excited about handing them out at the party! I hope you all enjoy your holidays and your holiday crafting with Crate!

Write it in Twine :: Geralyn Sy

 

 

Hi everyone, I have a cute and simple holiday card tutorial to share today! All you need is some Crate patterned paper and embellishments, baker’s twine, and a glue pen. Let’s get started.

 

First, handwrite the word ‘joy’ on the base of your card. I decided that I wanted the cute little Santa Claus to go on the right side, so I wrote the word on the left side of the card.

 

Use your glue pen and outline the first letter of the word. I found that it was easier and less messy to outline one letter at a time instead of outlining the entire word all at once.

 

Now use your baker’s twine and carefully follow the outline.

 

I wanted to keep the little loop in my letter ‘o’, so I snipped the twine after reaching the bottom of my ‘o’. It’s totally fine and often easier to not use one continuous length of twine when writing a word with twine!

 

Here, I started the length of my twine again at the beginning of the loop of the ‘o’, and continued to follow the outline of the letter ‘y’.

 

Once you reach the end of the word, snip off the extra twine and you’re done. Now you can embellish your card as much or as little as you like and it’s ready to be given to a loved one. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Re-Framed Crate Paper Style w/Tara Anderson

 

 

 

Hi Everyone! It's Tara here to share a little project I started earlier this month. With the holidays here and my entry way table looking a little bare, I wanted to create a set of Holiday inspired framed art work! With the use of a few repurposed picture frames found at second hand stores (glass removed and recycled) and the Peppermint Collection ~ my holiday themed artwork is complete!

 

I love to paint on fabric! Here, I've used a deer silhouette as a template and lightly traced the image onto a piece of stretched linen. Instead of painting on the antlers to my deer, I decided to embroider them with black sewing thread. I made a tiny paper mat for the "jingle" Alpha Label to use as a title for my frame. This is a very modern approach to cutesy holiday artwork!

 

I'm also a very big fan of layering embellishments! This petite frame started with a soft pink paper trimmed down to just the size of a wallet photo. I started with a snowflake from the chipboard accents, layered on a phrase sticker ticket, and then the pretty snowflake from the layered stickers. Top the snowflake with a small bit of thread, red button, and sparkly rhinestone!

 

Snowflakes and Buttons...these are a few of my favorite things! I really enjoy using embellishments as a focal point and it's easy to do when you keep a neutral palette! I used a journal card from the Accent Cuts as a starting point, covered the card with vintage white buttons, and then clustered a snowflake, some string, and a sticker (Alpha Sheet). Because I wanted a noticeable dimension between each layer and because I also needed the embellishments to be secure, I covered foam-pop dots with craft glue. Let your framed artwork "set" overnight to allow the glue to continue to dry and then you can proudly display your handmade artwork!

I've a few other "Merry Makings" projects up my sleeve that'll be posted this week - It's all about the gift of inspiration for us here at Crate Paper! So, keep visiting, and also, if you haven't already, check out our "A Very Crate Christmas" special! Peppermint creations are in top notch demand right now and there's still plenty of time to submit them to us! Happy Monday everyone!

Merry Makings :: Tree Decor w/Jaime Warren

 

 

I just love the holidays, don't you?! One of my favorite things about Christmas is fun little arts and crafts like this simple layered ornament. There are many different variations of this particular project online - but, I take a very simple approach to it. You'll need a styrofoam ball, circle punch, hot glue gun, ribbon, brads, buttons, and your favorite patterned paper.

 

To get started, you'll need to punch out the circles, around sixty to seventy, depending on how layered you want your ornament to be.

 

I usually start around the top area of the styrofoam ball and work my way around for the first layer. Then, once I have one layer established, I hot glue my ribbon to the top by simply making a loop and attaching it. From there, I start layering around my loop, working my way around the entire ball. I tuck circles in the open spots and try to keep the papers as mixed up as I can for variety purposes. Then, to build the layers more, I add more circle on top! Once I have all of my patterned paper circles attached, I hot glue my buttons and pop on the brads in random areas! See, super simple and easy!!

 

The final result is a fun little ornament! It would even make a fun craft for kids and a way to keep them busy this holiday season!

Good Luck with your own handmade ornaments this year - and Happy Holidays to all of you!