Crate Paper

Halloween Home Decor w/Mou Saha

Happy Halloween from Crate Paper!

In leu of the holiday, we're presenting a fun, spooky-filled Halloween tutorial from our CP Girl Mou Saha! She's made a haunted house Restoration creation for hanging in the home - take a look!

Hi there, my Crate Paper friends, Mou Saha here with today’s tutorial.

If you are like me, you might love dressing up your home to match the season. And chances are you might just love using your scrapping supplies to create fun seasonal home décor projects. Of the festivals we celebrate here in the US, Halloween is one of my favorites. I love it for its bold contrasting colors. Today, let me share with you a Halloween décor project I created this year with papers from the Restoration line.

What you'll need: 

Patterned Paper (Restoration Collection)
Die Cutting & Embossing Tools: Sizzix
Punch and Fringing Scissors (Martha Stewart Crafts)
Ink (Ranger)
Adhesive
Black & Ivory Cardstock
Cardboard
Hole Punch
Yarn

----------------------

 Start with a 5”x6” cardboard piece and ink it with Black Soot distress ink.

 

Attach a 5”x4” piece of Refinish paper at about the center of the inked cardboard.

 

Die-cut a Rickety House from Doilies paper using Sizzix Big Shot die-cutter and die. Layer it on top of Fringe paper and glue it down and cut out the layered piece with scissors to create a haunted house effect. 

 

Layer the house onto cardboard with foam tape to add further dimension.

 

Cut ‘grass’ out of black cardstock using fringing scissors, roll them with a pencil and attach below the house.

 

Diecut a scaredy cat out of black cardstock and punch out a pumpkin out of Fringe paper and attach them to cardboard as shown.

 

Emboss ivory cardstock and ink it. Cut out Skeleton and fence and layer them into the design.

 

 Die-cut letters to spell out ‘boo’ and punch holes at the top of the design and tie with yarn! 

Do enjoy! Hope you'll give it a try!

Crate Paper Retailers: Jenni Bowlin Studios

 

 

 

Halloween visited us a little early this month when we happened upon Jenni Bowlin's October Kit a few weeks ago!! What a treat it was for us to find this kit - not only does it entail Crate Paper's infamous Restoration, it's also backed with inspiring projects from the Jenni Bowlin Design Team! Their designers created a gorgeous line-up of layouts and cards that we quickly fell in love with and organized for sharing with you here today. Of course, we couldn't capture all the projects, so we focused on some of our favorites. For further viewing, visit the JB Design Team Gallery, which is easily found at the Jenni Bowlin retail website. In visiting the gallery, we're offering up a free kit to one of you! Tell us which project'(s) inspired you during your design team gallery tour or which of those you could see yourself scraplifting or adding a photo to. We'll review your responses and announce the kit winner next week! Here's a closer look at the kit: 

We're head over heals for them vintage sales tags and pretty pink floral journal spots. Don't you think they're just fabulous?! We're crazy about all things vintage right now - next is a peek at the projects we mentioned earlier on: 

Designer: Ranjini Malhotra 

 

Designer: Doris Sander

 

Designer: Betsy Sammarco

 

Designer: Danielle Flanders

 

Designer: Keisha Campbell

A special thank-you to Jenni Bowlin Studios for providing us a giveaway with today's post - We've thoroughly taken a liking to this month's kit and can't wait to send it off to one of our Crate Paper followers! 

Non-Traditional Journaling with Lucy Edson & CP Giveaway!

I often struggle with adding journaling to my layouts, but I still desire to tell the story or the feeling behind my photos. Sometimes, it's hard to find a place to add journaling where it compliments the overall design but doesn't overwhelm it. Another issue I deal with is keeping my handwriting straight..lol. So, the school lined paper {Study Hall} from the School Day collection was the perfect solution in this layout! I simply filled the background with free flowing thoughts about my daughter's smile and thereafter, realized it served multiple roles - handwritten journaling, straight lines, and a great design element! 

In this layout, I combined papers from Snow Day, School Spirit and Paper Doll. I then added in embellishments from these same collections and also, Restoration and Brook. Lastly, I further embellished my layout with fabric, crochet pieces and buttons from my stash. 

You could do this with any kind of ledger paper, including those that are formated via grid! Another idea is to create your own by following a paper's design or sketching in lines using a pencil and ruler! Be sure to erase away the lines after you are finished! 

-----------------------------------

So, we're wondering what sort of inventive ways you've come up with when integrating journaling into your work? Have you ever resorted to sneaking it behind something such as a photo or large section of pattern paper? Are you one whom enjoys using journal stickers or journal cards? What's you're ideal solution for fitting in journaling on an otherwise busy, "not-a-lot-of-room" kind of layout? In responding to this question, we're offering up a mish-mash of Crate Paper delightfulness to one person, so leave us your answer below! We highly encourage you to "think outside the box" in answering the question as we'll determine our winner solely on creative merit..the name to be announced this Friday!! Good luck & we can't way to read your responses!!

Snow Day Sweetness w/Davinie Fiero

Hi there, Davinie here with a layout to lift using the new Snow Day line, which isn't just for Winter/Christmas themed photos. There are many delicious colors and prints in this line which are perfect for photos I took of my kids and their treats at our recent visit to the Silverwood Theme Park.

To start, for fun, I used mist to add some texture to a piece of cardstock!

After That:

1. Trim the Melt pattern paper at 10" wide by 9" in height. Trim 2" off first, keeping in mind that we want to use one of the scallops from the B side as well. 

2. Trim the Flakes pattern paper at 6.5" by 8.5"

3. Trim that remaining blue scallop from the Melt pattern paper's B side. Trim 1/2" from it's width making it 11.5" wide. 

4. Hand draw and trim a rough scallop from the yellow side of Mittens pattern paper. Trim it to 1", making it 11.5" wide. 

5. Ink edges of both and layer them on your cardstock. Adhere and stitch, if desired. I used both yellow and pink thread for fun!

6. Using various circle punches, trim circles of various sizes to layer for "Sweet Lollipops". Adhere circles together as I've done in combination with layered accent pieces and buttons!

7. Trim a few lollipop sticks from white cardstock - about 1/4" in width.

8. Arrange photos on your layout, adhere, and then add lollipops. 

Hint: Be mindful of how you arrange your lollipops. If you arrange them as I did, with one up high, the second up a little higher, and the third lower then the first two, you will lead the viewer's eye to the photograph and the rest of your design. 

9. Layer title over photographs.

10. Journal on the "notes" tag from Snow Day's "Phrase" stickers and adhere it to the right of your photograph. 

11. To finish it off, add some of Snow Day's "Candy" chipboard accents to the lower right of the layout. I put them here as the other chipboard elements sit on the upper left of the layout and I needed some dimension and weight at the bottom for balance. 

Be sure to share your non-traditional pages with the Snow Day line as we'd love to see them! If you happen to have one or have plans to create one, send it to [email protected] for possible debut on the Crate Paper blog! 

Our Designers Inspire Again

Already we're seeing an end to October and we still have lots of work to share from our CP Girls!! This will add to the great line-up of layouts we posted yesterday from this month's sketch challenge - a huge congratulations once again Justina Lu, the winner of challenge! She will be receiving a box of Crate Paper goodies and will have her layout added to our "Sketch Gallery, which is conveniently located in the left sidebar. Haven't visited it yet? Well, take a look before you leave! It's still a growing gallery, but soon, it'll be packed full of beautiful projects from forthcoming sketch challenges. Each and every sketch challenge winner finds their way inside the gallery, along with a few of our favorite sketch challenge submissions. It's one of the major perks of playing!! The next sketch challenge is scheduled on November 19th, so mark your calendars! Emily will "WOW" you once again with another great sketch! 

Here's the beautiful assembly of design team works we've lined up for you today:

Are you able to guess who this is from? It's of course from our collage expert, Larissa Albernaz! She's mixed Restoration with School Spirit to create an eclectic, lively display about her sweet daughter - look at all them pieces, isn't  her layout just amazing?! 

 

We're guessing this layout from Ania is about 3-D cinematic entertainment! Another "out-of-the-box" idea for using School Spirit - A Night at the Movies! 

Ania also snuck in a card when having sent us her layout. It's truly exquisite - would you not love to receive this card? We'd have to frame it for sure...

 

Amy Heller came up with a creative pocket for storing journaling on her layout - look how it peeks from beneath the photo! Not only is it clever, but it saves room for all kinds of other layout additions, including some of Crate Paper's Restoration chipboard! Note how she's also added simple pattern paper behind one of our chipboard frames - it's a nice backdrop for nearby embellishments. 

 

We're turning back the hands of time and revisiting "Paper Doll" with our designer, Jen Chesnick! It's been a long time since we last chatted about Paper Doll, so we're positively excited to share this layout from Jen. The best part is that's it's quintessentially "Paper Doll" - Girls + Friends! They're a perfect duo!

By the way, Jen is teaching a bunch of Crate Paper related classes at her local scrapbook store, Photo Scraps. If you're lucky enough to be in the area, check them out! She just finished up teaching her famous "Christmas Wreath" class - which quickly sold out! Her next class is Maya Road & Crate Paper Ornaments :)

 

Cottage Country meets exquisite beauty - a phrase that clearly describes Melissa Phillips's soft vintage card making style. These are two of her most recent cards - the second including one of our most vivid, brightly hued pattern papers from the Snow Day collection, "Melt". It especially captured our attention as she's paired it with Restoration's "Slipcover", another colorful pattern paper. 

Well, that about sums up today's ongoing display of design team works! We shall return with more of their creations in the very near future - we wish all of you a wonderful Tuesday! Take care!

 

Announcing the Winner of the October Sketch

Goodness! We had nearly 50 submissions for this month's sketch. And I want to thank each of you for pouring your love into the beautiful pages I saw. There were so many fabulous takes on the sketch, using a variety of the collections we've produced over the years. You guys went above and beyond and made it really hard to choose just ONE layout as the winner. But after careful consideration, using the criteria of creative and innovative, I chose this one by Justina Lu about her 21 month old son. She turned each of the squares into doors, behind which she stored sweet little bits of information. Such a great way to add the journaling, but keep the layout clean. She said each door is decorated to represent things he loves or does well at this stage. She even stored a letter to him behind his photograph!

Here's a close up:

Justina, please send your information to [email protected] and we'll get a sweet package of Crate Paper goodies out to you very soon!

And even though I can only pick one winner, there's nothing saying I show off some of the other gorgeous pages that you sent. Thank you again for all the hard work, I hope you'll keep playing along with our sketch!

 
Carol Monson's take just blew me away, instead of using paper or photos, she stitched the square in the grid, I love how that adds a beautiful subtle touch.

 

Megan Aaron made the grid all nice and cozy feeling, almost like a well loved quilt. I love how she made the photo much larger. She added lots of fun details as well.

 

Audrey Yeager created a fun, almost folk art feeling layout, that flower is just cute! And housing it all on the scalloped paper is perfect.

 

I loved how Juno (Michiko Kato) from Japan made the photos different sizes, but kept with the grid feeling.

 

 

And finally, Sheila Monteiro-Lim turned the sketch into a 4x4 get well canvas for her daughter, so cute!

 

Thank you again everyone for all your beautiful work this month. I'll see you again on the 19th of November!

Going "Green" With Jaime Warren & CP

Hi Everyone! It's Jaime Warren here to share a fun and "green" layout with you all! I love, love,love corrugated board for scrapbooking. Whether it's using it as a background, or creating embellishments out of it - it's a great way to add texture! It's also a great way to recycle those cardboard boxes we all get! 

What you'll need:

Crate Paper Restoration Collection
Prudence - Charity Die-Cut Paper
Corrugated Board
Border Punches
Adhesive
Glimmer Mist
Alphabet Stickers
Favorite Border Punches
Foam Pop Dots
Sharp Scissors 

 

Step One: This particular piece of corrugated board was inside one of my photo deliveries, and the edges were perfectly rounded - which I loved! I simply started tearing off the sheet that lays over the corrugated board and then started sanding away the little bits that get stuck in between the lines. I left some of the main sheet for added texture. 

Step Two: I pre-cut a bunch of flowers out of the Crate Paper Restoration patterned paper so that I would have them on hand to play with. For this particular layout, I used Glimmer Mist - so get ready to get messy!

 

Step Three: Mist the corrugated board generously - you will find that it absorbs the glimmer mist - so it will take more than regular patterned paper does. I also dropped some of the mist directly onto the board for a fun splattered look. 

 

Step Four: I cut the Crate Paper circle (Charity die-cut paper) in half and attached it to the left side of my corrugated board.

 

Step Five: I kept a more centered design to this layout - I placed all three photos, slightly tilted, and going across the page. I then tucked the flowers behind the photos and around them - again, staying centered and going across the page.

 

Step Six: Title time! I added my title to the center of the three photos - I used foam alphas (American Crafts), but any will do!

 

Step Seven: Now it's time to start adding some more embellishments! I added some of the Restoration stickers as well as some cut outs from the patterned paper. I used foam core pop dots to give them added dimension.

 

Step Eight: I added my journaling strips to the top right hand corner. I then used two different border punches and attached the punched pieces to the left side of my layout.

 

A super simple layout full of texture and dimension - my favorite kind! I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial as much as I did! Have a wonderful day everyone!

Snow Days 3-D Card with Jen Chesnick!

 Here is a super fun and creative card all of your friends and family are sure to enjoy for the Holidays or anytime of the year! I loved the 3D diorama effect of this card. I hope you do too! Let’s get started.

You Will Need:

1 Sheet Pattern Paper (Snow Days!)
Snow Days Chipboard & Cardstock Stickers
Adhesive & Pop Dots
Trimmer & Square Punch

Start by cutting your paper to 11x3.5” This will be the base for your card. Then cut a second sheet to 5x3.5” this will be the interior of your card.

Next score your base paper at the following. 1 inch "in", 2 inches "in", 6 inches "in" & 7 inches "in". (see photo) Then score your interior sheet of paper at ½” inch on either side.

 

Next fold your card on the scores to look like I've done above.

 

Using your square punch, punch through both sheets of paper to create the center. Watch placement of your punch when doing this!

 

Next attached your interior piece of paper to one side of the base of your card. I do this so when I embellish the inside I know exactly where the placement will fall when the card is complete.

 

Embellish the bottom layer of your card as so.
Snow Days Label Sticker + "Happy Holidays" Chipboard Piece

 

Then continue to embellish your next two layers.

 

When you are finished embellishing, attach the interior of your card to the other side of the base as follows. Make sure that your interior sides are opposite of each other to keep your card stable.

 

Viola! A cute & fun card to make anytime! I hope you enjoyed. Cannot wait to see your creations! Here are a few close-up images of the card for you to peek at (pretty cute, eh?!):

 

Exploring the Details :: Kelly Noel

Hello Crate Paper friends! Kelly Noel here to share a fun layout and also to share some tips on adding details to your pages. I'm mostly a simple/clean lines/graphic type scrapper, so adding details/embellishing is something I've always struggled with. I've discovered a few things along the way though and it is super simple to add details without overwhelming the page if you're a "cleaner" scrapper like me. This layout mixes up 2 lines…School Spirit and Brook…mixing lines is fun and a lot of my favorite layouts are ones that aren't restricted to just one line. I basically added pops of red here from School Spirit and mixed it in with the blues, yellows, greens and browns from Brook.

 ---------------------------

Here's a list of products I used:

School Spirit Chipboard Accents
School Spirit Sew Brads
School Spirit Layered Chipboard
School Spirit Homeroom paper
School Spirit Grade Card paper
Brook Chipboard Accents
Brook Journal Stickers
Brook Sunshine paper
Brook Ripple paper

 

Don't be afraid to add detail with something as simple as a pen. By just outlining the photo corners and bracket edged paper here, it really helps those elements to "pop" and stand out more.

 

Dimension can add so much to your layout. I've got lots going on here on my page…felt arrow from the School Spirit layered chipboard set, tag that's popped up with some pop dots and "attached" with a fun brad, layered flowers with buttons on top. All of those "little" details add up to a lot of dimension and makes the layout interesting to look at.

 

Mixing up titles is another favorite "technique" of mine, because it adds such a put together look. When you've got a longer title, try using a combination of smaller and larger letters to really help your title to stand out. Adding the Brook flower stickers and embellishing with a fabric School Spirit brad on top really finishes the title look.

I hope these tips have inspired even you simpler scrappers to add more fun details to your pages! :) Have a great day!

Fall Tuesday Feature + PB Winner!!

This about sums up the last series of Autumn inspired works we'll be sharing this month, but there is still plenty of good news just over the horizon because in conjunction with the beautiful layouts we've coordinated for you today, we're also announcing our Pottery Barn Gift Certificate Winner at the very end of this post! If you contributed a Fall project this month as part of our "Fall Tuesday Feature" special and saw your project here on our blog, then you've automatically been included in the PB giveaway!! The remainder of what's to be seen today was also considered for the prize...speaking of which, scroll down if in the mood for some last minute Autumn filled moments!! We're showcasing the last of the "Fall Tuesday Feature" projects! Come see what our blog readers have been up to...

 

Leaves abound and "Beauty All Around" - oh yes Piradee, your layout has us thinking about the warm,inviting colors that have taken over the backdrop of our surroundings lately. They're instantaneously beautiful! 

 

It's been a while since we last posted a project using our Brook collection - thank-you to Flora Masciadrelli for reminding us of why this collection was so popular following it's release! Not only does it appear to be the ideal collection for Spring, but it looks to be perfectly suitable for Fall as well! We would of never guessed!

 

It's often this time of year that we're especially grateful for family being that the holiday season is nearly upon us. Frances Sylvia sent us this layout of her and her daughter spending time together. Just Precious. 

 

Robin Tarbert tells us that she's been hanging onto these photos for "2 years" and it wasn't until our Fall challenge and the availability of Restoration that she finally decided to scrapbook them! Good for you Robin! Not only do we love the photos, but also the stitching and hand-trimmed doilies too! 

Here's a tip for you to take home from Robin - to stitch intricate, unique leaves and other similar style subjects, trace them from clip art and then stitch! 

 

Audrey Yeager sent us this multi-layered layout recently - it's of her (as a little girl) attempting to replicate the painted pumpkin face behind her!! Audrey, you are just a doll in the photo and the whole "mimic the pumpkin face" idea is too cute for words!! Thanks for sharing!

 

To be found on the header of Alexandra S.M.'s blog - a simple sophisticated layout that caught our attention after having received it in our inbox a few weeks ago. It was created on behalf of "A Page in Time Scrapbook" kit club using their September Crate Paper kit! Alexandra is one of their talented designers! 

 So, who'll be the winner of the Pottery Barn Gift Certificate?! We thought about leaving it up for a vote, but then, you'd have to wait another week before our announcing the winner! To avoid the needless delay, we selected what turned out to be our favorite layout of the many we received the last couple of of weeks - here's who'll soon be visiting PB with a pre-filled gift card: 

Robin Tarbert, your two page layout was well worth the wait! We're so happy to hear that our Restoration collection and this month's challenge inspired you to piece together photos from long ago - you're are PB WINNER!! Please contact us with your info at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you! 

A huge thank-you to all that participated in this month's "Fall Tuesday Feature" challenge! We sincerely appreciate your taking the time and interest to send us your personalized creations using your favored Crate Paper collections. Visit us next month for another "Tuesday Feature" thematic giveaway!