Crate Paper

Rehousing the School Photo :: Davinie Fiero

School photos. Packaged school photos. The annual event where you pick out your kids outfit (IF you are lucky enough to have any say), and send your little cuties off to school, crossing your fingers that they pay attention to the whacky things their hair might be doing, keep their shirts tucked in and their collars down (unless you prefer to live like 1985 and want to flip, I won’t judge), don’t have crumbs on their face, and smile their best smile at a complete stranger with their hands folded and a purple sunburst in the backdrop.

I can tell you I’m not a fan of picture day, especially being part of an artistic community,where photos are the focal point of our everyday. But I get suckered into package A with pose C3, etc., every time. How else am I going to get the class photo? And watch this be the time I don’t purchase her individual photo but she has an adorable smile. Ack! It’s a dilemma.

And what do you do with that great big 5x7, maybe 2 of them, after your picture package returns, she wasn’t crossing her eyes, shirt was tucked, hair in place and you aren’t after retakes? Do you keep it in the windowed envelope forever? Frame it, hoping the purple sunburst backdrop matches your décor…. Somewhere?

I’ve passed out the wallets to family in the past, but I admit to having one or two contact sheets still in the Lifetouch envelope. Is that bad?

To break away from that habit, and because of the super cute School Spirit line, I decided to put a 5x7 photo to good use on a layout that doubles as a pocket for school paraphernalia you get throughout the school year.

I started with a kraft cardstock base, and then trimmed the school house “Study Hall” print at 11.5 inches wide by about 6 inches tall, and adhered it to my base, at the top.

This will be the back of my pocket, so I stitched all the way around it to help prevent any memorabilia from getting lost or hung up on the patterned paper. I didn’t use a whole sheet of this paper as most of it is hidden and I want to be able to use it for other projects.

After this step, I took the “Ruler” print and trimmed it to 11.5 inches wide by 8 inches.I used a postage edge border punch to trim the top of this piece. This decorative edge is the top of my pocket, and I want to make it tough, as it is paper after all. To do that I trimmed an 11.5 by 2 inch strip of the same paper, only the reverse side, and adhered that. I then added a border sticker to the top.

After doing this, I stitched the pocket.

Two things to note:

1. I stitched through the border sticker. Stitching through adhesive can be really hard on your needle, so keep that in mind should you run into trouble later. I am lucky in that it has never been an issue for me, but it can be. You might need to change yours.

2. I did not stitch all the way around the perimeter. I only stitched around the top of the pocket, and down about two inches on each side.

 

Now that you have completed this portion, it is time to do your stamping and adhere the stickers.

Using stamps I made a place for Morgan’s name, her school name, and her teacher’s name. I was able to use Phrase stickers to finish the look. As soon as I can catch her, I’m going to have Morgan sign her own name. I think in addition to saving the accolades and performance records in this pocket with her photo, it’s also important to document things like her own handwriting. 

Now we are ready to attach our pocket.

I didn’t use any adhesive to hold down the top of my pocket before stitching. I just held it in place and went slow. I started stitching on top of my previous stitching, about an inch and a half down the side of the pocket. I then stitched around the bottom and back up the other side, stopping about ½ inch into my previous stitching. There is a reason we left a flap open:

This is a pocket, which means the pieces will be separated and eventually it will be bulky with memorabilia. Because of that, I thought it might be helpful if there was a little gap between the base of the pocket and the outer portion of the pocket. With that in mind, at the top 2 inches on each side of my pocket, I arranged 3d foam squares on each side. I used small squares (about ¼ x ¼ inch squares).

This gives a wee bit of a gap and I’m hoping the paper is able to flex better than if it was stitch, and that the flexibility of the squares will help prevent the paper from tearing.

After I finished this step, I adhered the photo, tucked in the fall review and a bit of praise,and voila, Morgan’s First Grade Pocket is complete.

I hope this gives you some ideas with those 5x7 photos you purchased in your picture package that have been gathering dust! ~ Davinie Fiero

P.S. In the end, the gamble was a wash. Her photo was …. Okay, fine really, but I had high hopes. High, I say. She had *just* had four front teeth pulled, her first baby teeth lost. Mama was hoping for a great big toothless grin. I’m still happy with a somewhat happy looking face though! Lifetouch has done it again! :)

Sketch Winner Announced--November 2010 Edition

Thank you everyone who played along with this month's Sketch Challenge! Even with the holiday here in the US, we still got an amazing turn out of sketch participants. It was fun to see how everyone interpreted the original, it was hard to choose just one winner, but after careful scrutiny, I decided that this one by Keandra Willis. Congrats on winning this month's challenge Keandra! I love how she filled up the page with journaling, how she flipped the design sideways, her fun use of the Restoration die cut, framing the photos! What a great idea! Keandra, please send your contact information to info@cratepaper.com and you'll get some happy mail soon!

Some other creatively designed layouts that caught my eye this month include this one by Jill Cornell, I just love how she filled up the space with her huge snowflake. Snowflakes are a new favorite of mine. And the way she turned the sketch upside down is very clever.

 

This beautifully designed layout by Lady Grace "LG" Belarmino features the top half of the sketch, it's a great way to focus on a couple of favorite photos.

 

And finally, this sweet page by Anthea was such a great (almost) literal interpreation, but the way she anchored everything on a large sheet of patterned paper was lovely.

 

Again, thank you to all who participated this month. Getting ready for the December sketch, I'll give you a hint: TYPOGRAPHY. I'll see you on the 17th!

Designing with Grids :: Ronda Palazzari

Hello everyone. It’s Ronda Palazzari and I am going to take you through one of the ways I love to begin a layout. Read further about it below! 

  My supplies include: 

Snow Day Papers, Snow Day Layered Chipboard, Snow Day Brads, Snow Day Phrase Stickers, Vellum, Pencil & Ruler, Sewing Machine & Bling/Rhinestones

  

In my stash, I have a set of paper scraps that are already cut to the same size as traditional photos. When I start a layout, I will typically pull these out to decide what size photo to print.

 

I love using grids as a starting point on some of my layouts. This time I wanted to use a hand-created grid in the upper left corner and the bottom right corner of the layout.

 

I drew pencil lines 1 inch apart. First, 3 vertical lines in upper left, and then 5 in the lower right.

 

I then drew in some horizontal lines to complete the grid.

 

Now I am ready to stitch. These lines are great guidelines to help me keep my stitches somewhat straight.

 

After trimming the thread, I erase the guidelines. I'm now ready to add papers,embellishments, inks, paint, spray inks, or whatever else strikes my fancy.

 

I hope you found some ideas to try on your next layout! You can make the grid lines larger or smaller for a different look, start in the center or sew just around the edges - The ideas are endless!! Also, fill your grid in with snippets of pattern paper and fun lil' embellishments like I've done above. Don't be afraid to create "outside" the lines! Grids aren't always meant to be followed...thanks for joining me today! Lots of Love, Ronda!

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A quick couple additions in supplement of today's tutorial that we thought to post for you just prior to the eventful holiday weekend - the first is that of a beautiful "Fall Decor" layout from Lexi Bridges. We promised her that we'd share it with you before Autumn's departure, so here it is for you to partake in...

What we love most about Lexi's layout is the punched stitching she created along the right-hand side of it. We're guessing she punched her pattern paper's edge using a border punch and then followed it with stitching via her sewing machine. Isn't it impeccable?! The punched holes are perfectly aligned and work wonders to highlight the curvature and shape of the paper's edge. To complete the look, she's tucked velour ribbon beneath it - so very pretty! 

 The second item to present itself is that of an upcoming International Scrapbooking, Mixed Media and Digital Scrap event where our dear Ania Jo Alexander will be teaching an assortment of classes, including a non-traditional card making class with Crate's Restoration collection! Details about the class and it's scenic Paris location are available for viewing at the official event website, Paper & Company. Ania also has further info listed on her blog, which can be found here. It's been mentioned to us that one of the card classes is is sold out, though an open class still remains, so if interested in attending (for those of you close to event of course), check out the posted info! Good Luck Ania! :))

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving everyone - from all of us at Crate Paper!

November Designer Showcase

Wow, do we have an amazing line-up of design team projects for you today or what?! We've been holding on to them nearly all month so that we could provide you an outstanding display before Thanksgiving's arrival. Being that Thanksgiving is now only two days away, it's probably a good time to get these posted so that you may partake in their inspiring ideas before the craziness of the holidays set in. We imagine you have lots to finish the next forty-eight hours, though before you jump in and make amends with Mr. Turkey and them famous mash potatoes everyone loves, how about a quick two minute peek at some really great projects? The design team girls want to ensure that you take a break and so do we! After all, every great chef deserves a treat or two! Grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy! 

 

Can you guess which soon-to-be CP designer created these? That's right, we'll soon be initiating Kaori Watanabe's membership to the Crate Paper team! She'll begin contributing on a month to month basis beginning January 2011...further details about this exciting news shall be shared when we announce Crate Paper's Winter/Spring 2011 Design Team following December's departure. 

 

 

This pretty lil' tree was sent to us from Lolly Chessie. The tree itself was created using Adobe Illustrator and Lolly's Cricut - an .svg file is available for downloading here if you're interested in trying it with your own Cricut: Lolly Chop Tree 

Also, Lolly's come up with other various uses for creating projects with her super cute trees - find the instruction video here. 

 

This is a major first for us - A Restoration Pop-Up Card! Lolly aquainted a Sizzix 3-D die with our Restoration in celebration of her mom's birthday - the birthday card includes two packets of tea as well! Talk about this being the perfect gift - we love it! 

 

There is truly something soft and exquisite about these two layouts from Jaime Warren. Both house finely torn edges that are carefully curled forward in the most delicate nature - and the details are of just the right amount! 

 

Window cards are amongst our favorites! These two cards are attributed to Jen Chesnick - note the wooden pattern backdrop (Restoration :: Refinish) she used inside her card's window. We happen to think that wood pattern paper's are some of the best neutrals to date! We simply love the naturalness of them!

 

Isn't the photo of her two kiddo's playing in the leaves amazing?! It was the first thing we noticed after having received this layout from Amy Heller a few weeks ago. She's paired it with an assortment of our collections, which is another feature we couldn't help but notice. Everything about this layout is seamless! 

 

So many feminine, sweet-like features to be had here with Michelle Lanning's layout. From scallop borders to softly strewn leaves and the cutest sweater we've ever seen, Michelle has created the quintessential "Pink Plum" layout and we're quite fond of it. 

 

Lucy Edson's layouts are literal works of art and this one is no exception. The combination of photo, embellishments, sewing and Restoration pattern papers make this one of our favorite layouts from Lucy! Just check out the vellum backed chipboard frame - we nearly missed this major detail! Gorgeous Lucy! 

 We hope this time honored break that's been heaped upon has ended too soon! We of course will return tomorrow with one more tutorial before the holiday weekend's arrival. On Thursday & Friday, the Crate Paper blog will serve out a temporary hiatus. We promise to return on Monday with the latest Sketch challenge winner via our sketch host, Emily Pitts! For now, have a wonderful Tuesday and good luck with your Thanksgiving preparations (whatever they may be)!

 

Woven Monogram Place Cards :: Amy Heller

Hi there everyone! It's Amy Heller here today to share with you a fun technique to incorporate into your cards, scrapbooking or altered items; paper weaving! I've created a set of place cards for Thanksgiving today, but you can certainly use this technique anywhere you want to create a "wow" effect to your project. What I love about this technique is two-fold:

~ It's a great way to use up those scraps! ~

~ It's is a super fun way of mixing all sorts of pattern to create ~ fabulous texture. 

So, let's get started!

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What you will need: For the Weaving

Scrap sheets of (Crate Paper) patterned paper
Paper Trimmer
Removable Double-Stick Tape
Sewing Machine (or heavy duty tape)
Scrap Cardstock
Adhesive
Scissors

What you will need: For the Card

Cardstock
Crate Paper's Refinish (Restoration Collection) Wild Flowers (Brook Collection) pattern paper
Bare Chipboard Letters
Craft Glue
Sandpaper, Emory Board, or Finishing Files
Dry Paint Brush
Glitter 

 

First, gather your patterned paper scraps and arrange them in your preferred color ways in piles.

 

Trim your patterned paper in 1/4" strips using your paper trimmer and then set them aside as I've done above. 

 

Take a piece of scrap cardstock and trim it to the size that you want for your finished weaving to be. I chose a business card size of 2" x 3.5". Then, cover your cardstock fully in removable double stick tape, leaving a good half, to 1" of over-hang off the ends.

 

Begin layering your strips, either in a pattern or random order, leaving no space in between, but also making sure that they do not overlap at all.

 

Your covered cardstock will look something like this when filled up.

 

Now, take those overhang pieces of tape and wrap them over the top of the patterned paper (see white circles). This will additionally secure your pieces while being sewn together. 

 

Trim off overly excess pieces from the width of your project. It it's too wide, it will make it difficult to send through your sewing machine easily.

 

Now, take your piece to your sewing machine. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can easily tape the overhang on either side of your cardstock. I chose to use my sewing machine to provide a little more flexibility in the pieces as well as stability. Sew a straight stitch seam on the outside of either side of your cardstock. 

 

It will now look something like this.

 

You can now remove your tape and scrap cardstock from the back of your weaving. Now we're ready to begin weaving!

 

I like to start at the bottom of my project. Simply use an over/under motion to weave your first strip through the vertical strips. Then with the next strip, use the opposite - under/over.

 

With each strip you weave, pull down the paper so it is taut. This will create a strong surface and make the design uniform.

 

Once you've reached a bit longer than your original piece of cardstock, you are then ready to adhere it to your finished size piece of cardstock. I simply used the same piece of scrap cardstock (that of the beginning). 

 

Note: Make sure that if you're not using a sewing machine to double secure the piece that you are using, that you use a heavy duty glue/adhesive to keep the pieces in place, as it will begin to unravel at the edges if it isn't secure. 

 

Place your freshly glued cardstock in between your sewn/taped seams (see white circles) on the reverse side of your preferred pattern. Press down firmly.

 

Using your scissors, trim directly to the edge of your cardstock.

 

It should look something like this when completed.

 

Now, I love to sew on all my paper projects. But I feel on this project that the sewing not only adds to aesthetics, but it also adds much needed stability to the edges of the woven paper. Sew just on the inside of the woven paper. Once it's sewn around the perimeter, it won't go anywhere, which I love! :)

 

So, I decided to add an additional feature by roughing up and distressing the edges of my woven paper. This adds to the rustic feel I was trying to achieve for my Thanksgiving place cards. 

 

Once completed, simply add to your card bases in a variety of placements, creating a fun, modern look to your set. 

 

In addition, I covered a variety of bare chipboard alphas with Crate patterned paper from the Brook collection for my monograms. Simply glue the paper to the chipboard, trim and finish them off with a good sanding around the perimeter and you have custom monograms for your place cards. 

 

For that extra little wow, take some glue around the perimeter of the letters and brush on the slightest bit of glitter to give the letters that extra, pop!

 

 

Wrap them with some coordinating twine, adhere to your card and voila, beautiful custom place cards for your modern Fall family dinner.

 

That does it for me today! I hope you enjoyed this fun weaving technique! I know I did! Thanks so much for stopping by the Crate Paper blog today! I will see you next month with another fun project! :D Take care!

The Sketch Challenge--November Edition 2010

Hello! It's Emily with the November Edition of the the Crate Paper Sketch Challenge, and I'm so happy because I have a bunch of examples for you today. The sketch is a voluntary thing for the Crate Paper Girls, so when I sent the sketch out to them last week, I was hoping to get the usual one or two examples to share. But lucky for me (and you), I got back four examples! Don't forget, here are the specific rules:

• You have until midnight (MST) Friday the 26th to work on the sketch. That's one week.
• Projects must use at 50% Crate Paper products, new releases are not required.
• Sketch can be a layout, cards, tags, or other project.
• Scan/Photograph your project and send it to info@cratepaper.com
• Winner will be selected based on quality or invention of work and I'll announce them and share some other entries on Monday the 29th.

This month's sketch has a lot of white space that you can either leave or fill up with embellishements. After reading CP Girl Davinie's post in September about curved titles, I thought it might be fun to add a circular element in case anyone (me) wanted to use her tip. There's room for at least three photos, but you can play around with that as well. And to top it off, I thought a bow would be a fun element, you know I'm getting ready for the holidays already. :)

 

Here's my take. I flipped it upside down and moved the clusters around, swapping out a photo for the chipboard trees. I think it's so fun to use a winter holiday line (Snow Days) for a summer vacation page. I also used the Float paper from the Brook Collection. I notice I keep using that same piece of paper. I'm going to have to get some more soon...

New team member Kinsey Wilson adds her signature stitching to this fun and colorful layout using the Snow Day collection as well. I love how it fills up the space without the bulk. Don't you love how she layered up her borders?

The next example is comes from Anne Jo Lexander, using all Restoration. She took the sketch and miniaturized it into a card. My favorite part? How she kept the bow from the original sketch, making it front and center instead of just a little element.

Lucy Edson has a great gift for clustering, and isn't it fun how she used a bunch of business cards instead of photos for a layout about her desire to keep learning? Not every layout has to have pictures! Lucy used alot of different elements from the various Summer releases, they go together seemlessly here!

Our final layout comes from Amy Heller. I love how it looks like she took the sketch and shook it onto her page, letting it fall wherever it may, kind of like a pile of leaves... She combine Brook and School Spirit, I think it's such a perfect bit of mixing!

With all these great examples, I bet your creative juices are flowing! I'm looking forward to seeing all your interpretations over the next week. Have fun. :)

 

Thankful Blooms with Michelle Lanning

Hello All & Happy Fall! I can't believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!! We have a week long break from school here and I thought this would be a cute and simple gift to give to my daughter's teacher.

Here are the supplies you will need...

Float Pattern Paper (Brook Collection)
Peach Pattern Paper (Pink Plum Collection)
Heirloom and Lace Pattern Papers (Restoration Collection)
Pens (Any will do)
Mini Flower Pot
Ribbon

I grabbed some Fall colors from some Crate Paper lines and planned on only using the more solid sides of the sheets. I used my paper cutting machine to cut flowers in two different sizes. I layered the flowers and added some circles to the center. I did not adhere the flowers until all were finished. I knew I wanted to make the word, "Thanks", so I made six flowers.

 

When the flowers were completed, I added alphas to the centers with some strong adhesive. As I was letting them dry, I wrapped the pens with some leftover ribbon I had on hand. You can use anything really! I have even used garden tape (the green one) to make these. But, I used what was in my stash and made sure that the ends were secured with glue.  

 Adding the flowers was simple. Place hot glue, or other type of strong glue (and let set) to the end of the pen and adhere your flower. 

 

 To finish these off, I placed them in a mini flower pot. Usually I would fill the pot with beans, but I had none on hand so I used pasta, which worked just fine. I would suggest wrapping the flower pot in cellophane to finish the gift off, and so the pens stay in place. 

 

Here are all the pens laid out flat. Note the cute leaves from felt! A flower isn't a flower until it's been partnered with leaves!

 

And that's it! So fun and easy - and cheap! Hope this inspires you to make some for someone you wish to thank this season! 

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So, we mentioned to you that we had a box of Crate goods awaiting a new home before the upcoming holiday weekend!! We asked you to tell us what your holiday craft projects entailed this season being that the holiday season is upon us already and nearly seventy of you responded! You're a busy group of crafters! Who'll be needing to make more room for crafty, fun stuff from Crate Paper? We thought Ally White's idea was remarkably different.  She's going with the whole tag idea, though plans to store them in a handcrafted box to keep on hand for years to come! Congratulations Ally - you're our Crate Paper winner!

These are some of the most gorgeous tags that i've seen! I love them!!! Every year in our family at Thanksgiving i make some small tags and we all put what we are thankful for on them and sign and date them. We then put them in a craft box that i decorated and someday in the future we will read what each other wrote.

Posted by: Ally White | November 17, 2010 at 03:20 PM

Send us your info Ally at info@cratepaper.com - you're box awaits! 

Speaking of which, there are a lot of really great ideas to be had of the sixty plus comments we received in response to this week's giveaway. We highly recommend taking a moment to read them to find out what everyone else is working on at this very moment and into December, as you're bound to find something to add to your already busy plate. :) Thanks to all whom shared their ideas! 

Emily Pitts will be joining us tomorrow with this month's sketch! Be sure to stop by and say "hello"! Have a great day everyone!

 

A Holiday Recipe Album with Sarah Martina

Hey there my fellow Crate Paper lovers! It’s Sarah here, and I’m so excited to share with you a holiday project that I created with my kids in mind. My kiddies and I just love to bake sweets, and I wanted to have a special place to house our favorite holiday dessert recipes. This fun mini-album is just what we needed! I used the Snow Day collection to embellish to my heart’s desire, and this is what I came up with… Enjoy! 

The colors of Snow Day absolutely fill my heart with smiles… I am instantly happy whenever I play with it! I love that Crate Paper provides lots of dimension with its embellishments, and I took full advantage of them as you can see by the fullness of my album…

 

I love adding flair to the chipboard elements by sanding, painting and glittering them up a bit, as I did to this scrumptious Christmas tree here…

 

I dressed up some chipboard letters with some acrylic paint to match the fun plum color in the Snow Day line. I layered it above a cute, swirly border rub-on…

 

Remember what I said about dimension? Well you can also create it yourself by “popping-up” some sweet sentiment stickers. Also, don’t be afraid to mix your rub-ons with your stickers, they coordinate so nicely as you can see here…

Although this album took me quite a long time to make (I’ll never disclose just how long, it’s quite embarrassing, lol!), I enjoyed each and every minute of it! I hope it inspires you to get those holiday projects going…December will be here in the blink of an eye!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit us at the CP blog today! I’ll leave you with some shots of theinside pages of my album…. Hugs! 

Crate Paper's Blog Hop Tag Recap!

Last week's Crate Paper Autumn Blog Hop was a huge success!! Our CP Girls did an awesome job of putting together a vast variety of tags for you to check out during last week's hop and for that, we're truly thankful! We thought it might be kind of fun to bring them all together so that you'd have a chance to revisit them right here on the Crate Paper blog! No jumping from blog to blog or skimming posts! All the tags are listed below! This is your chance to be inspired again!

With that said, we think the tags are a great starting point for creating just about anything including those cards, layouts, and projects you'll be working over the next couple of weeks. Being that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, we're curious to find out what sort of Thanksgiving projects you have on your plate right now? What are your current paper crafting plans for remarking on this special day? If you're up to answering, you just might win some FREE Crate Paper goodies! We have a mix of items we'd love to send to one of you - so tell us what sort of crafty projects your working on this Thanksgiving and we'll announce our winner this upcoming Thursday! Now for the recap...

 

We love a good collage when the details call for it and sure enough, the tags provided a plethora of details we couldn't resist revisiting. Some of our favorite details fell along the lines of paper weaving, elegant vintage ribbons, ragged torn papers and circular stitching! 

 

CP Tag Artists :: Michelle Lanning & Sarah Martina

 

CP Tag Artists :: Lucy Edson & Lexi Bridges

 

CP Tag Artists :: Amy Parker & Jaime Warren

 

CP Tag Artists :: Kelly Noel & Christine Middlecamp

 

CP Tag Artists :: Jen Chesnick & Davinie Fiero

 

CP Tag Artists :: Heidi Sonboul & Ronda Palazzari

 

CP Tag Artists :: Amy Heller

 

CP Tag Artists :: Anne Jo Lexander & Kinsey Wilson

 

CP Tag Artists :: Lori Gentile & Larissa Albernaz

 

So, we thought we'd save the most inventive tag for last 'cause it's super darling!! Lolly Chessie drew Mr. Owl and then carefully pieced together all his feathers and cute 'lil face before making him at home on her tag. As a quick solution for displaying one's handcrafted tag, Lolly found herself a warm inviting frame to put her tag in - we think it's an absolutely genius idea! Now the tag doesn't have to go unnoticed or be put away in an album somewhere - we're betten' it's hanging in Lolly's studio! 

Don't forget to leave us an answer in the comment section below!! Thanks for joining us as we went about creating this eye candy driven post for you today! Tags are easy to love, aren't they? We think so anyway..have a great Tuesday you guys! Take care!

 

Sewing Made Simple with Kinsey Wilson

Hello hello! Kinsey Wilson here, with my first ever CP tutorial…woohoo! So, it’s no secret that handstitching is my favorite element to add to my projects & layouts…it’s something that makes it’s way into everything I do these days. One of my favorite ways to incorporate it is by using a patterned paper as a template.

 

Here are the CP goodies I used to create my layout:

Brook Collection - downstream (I used this paper as my template)
Restoration - doilies, heirloom
Paper Doll - Olivia grace, addi, emma
Pink Plum - pomegranate
Snow Day - blizzard

Other items used:

Hambly- doily rubons
Basic Grey- alpha
DMC embroidery floss
paper piercer

 

So let’s jump right in! I started off by taping my template paper (downstream) to my background paper using painters tape…it holds everything in place while piercing. Then pierce to your heart’s content…I didn’t want to cover the entire layout with stitching, I wanted to have a bit of negative space in the middle of my layout so I pierced accordingly.

 

Handcut/diecut pieces…I handcut a few flowers from the Paper Doll Collection and then used a small circle punch on all of the other papers (about 10 from each paper).

 

Add photo(s), handcuts, and embellishments…the photo was punched using a 3 inch circle punch. I layered the photo and handcut flowers over the doily rub-ons and I adhered the little circle punches to the pierced lines so that they look like they’re ‘beaded’ onto the lines.

 

Title, journaling and handstitching. Since I used the pierced lines as guides for my paper punch placement, I went back and repierced through the additions and then handstitched everything into place.

 

I love that just about any patterned paper can be used as a template…papers that have ‘boyish or masculine’ colors can be transformed into a ‘girly’ layout…and if you don’t want to pierce through your favorite paper, just scan it and print it onto copy paper and use that as your template instead. For all the machine stitchers out there,the template idea can work for you too! You can use graphite transfer paper (the transfer is erasable) to ‘copy’ the pattern onto your layout and then follow the lines with your sewing machine :)

Here’s a look at the whole enchilada…

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today! I hope you had fun and maybe picked up an idea along the way! Big Hugs ~ Kinsey