Crate Paper

Studio Calico :: Presenting Story Hour

We're bringing you Studio Calico today! Their latest kit includes much of Crate Paper's infamous everyday preservation collection, StoryTeller. They even have available, the matching chipboard, to go with the main kit. Stop by if you haven't already - they'd love your company, and Crate Paper ideas! 

This should about summarize the kit's contents, directly from Studio Calico themselves...

Join Studio Calico for STORY HOUR! We've packed it with the brand new StoryTeller line from Crate Paper and beautiful bright basics from Echo Park. And that's not all - our tale continues with an exclusive roller date stamp, Studio Calico papers, fabric flowers from Amy Tangerine, and ledger papers from Stupid Flamingo. Our March kit will bring all of your stories to life. 

http://www.studiocalico.com/kits/story-hour

Story Hour Project Samples from a few of our very own, and the Studio Calico Design Team

CP Designer :: Roree Rumph

 

CP Designer :: Anabelle O'Malley

 

Studio Calico Designer :: Kelly Noel

 

Studio Calico Designer :: Geralyn Sy

 

Studio Calico Designer :: Nicole Samuels

A recognizable trend - Patchwork! Beautiful layouts, to all the designers! And now for something extra that we try to do with all our kit clubs, a great BIG KIT GIVEAWAY! Would you like your very own "free" Story Time kit to take home? If so, make a mention in the comment section below as to a story that's currently driving you to be creative - In sharing, you might win a scrappy kit! The winner will be announced tomorrow! Please list your state (location) within your comment. This is to help avoid confusion amongst names when we go to announce the winner - thanks! 

Crate Color Challenge - Winner!

Hey everyone! Tara here to announce this month's color challenge winner! Thank you so much for all of your submissions, I know it was a challenging palette but I was excited to see so many entries come in! I sometimes think it's fun to push our create boundaries a bit and introducing new color to our work is a great way to start!

The winner of the March Color Challenge is: Lynne Stewart

 

We loved the way Lynne incorporated the color palette into an eye catching chevron print! It's quite creative and very pretty. A bold patten combined with a sweet photo and a splash of ink splatters made Lynne's submission a winning project this month! Congrats Lynne! 

I also wanted to share another layout that caught our attention! Eva Pizarro sent us this beautiful layout. I was excited to see that Eva was able to combine both of my color palettes for this month and I might also have a special fondness for paper pinwheels. 

 

 

Thank you all again for joining me in Crate's March Color Challenge and a very big thank you to everyone who contributed their wonderful projects! Don't forget to pop in next month for an all new color combination - it's going to be a very Pretty April!  Happy Wednesday to you! 

Crate Paper Product 5 Ways :: Latonia Grant

 

 

Hi everyone! It's tonia here and one thing that I love about Crate Paper are their sticker collections! From the chipboard adhesive stickers, to the phrase stickers, alpha stickers, border stickers, layered stickers, the options are endless! Their versatility offers a variety of ways to add unique touches to almost any project. Here, I created a mini doily tag album using a combination of Random stickers.  

 

First, the chipboard adhesive stickers are great for layering. For the cover of the album, I layered the chipboard works "Adorable" and "Sweet". I then followed it up with a ampersand using pop dots. Not only does layering the chipboard bring about a "lift" and additional dimension, it also serves as the title because it "stands out" amongst the crowd!

 

Second, phrase stickers are fabulous for journaling! They're the perfect insert item for keywords and phrases. They give the journaling a little something "extra". Here, I used the "Stinkin Cute" phrase stickers to describe the baby photo of my daughter. Also, I used orange phrase stickers throughout so that there would be room for additional journaling later on.

 

Third, the mini alpha stickers are absolutely perfect for creating quick titles or photo captions. Sometime's, there just isn't enough space to go with a large traditional title. Keep those small alpha's nearby for convenience purposes like this. They're an asset to any project, big or small!

 

Moving along steadily, border stickers are awesome for creating a full background or border on a project (think white space here). More often than not, it doesn't take a whole lot to cover an area or to define it. Here, I dangled a pretty banner over my photo - it fits nicely within the tight space.

 

Last, but not least, are the layered stickers. CP's layered stickers make it very easy to embellish and add dimension to your project wtihout having to do it yourself. I used two accordian flowers on this last tag, a definite favorite in my book! 

 

In conclusion, CP's stickers are fabulous! I hope you'll find other unique uses for them. Thanks so much for stopping by the Crate Paper  blog today, and happy scrapping!

Book Binding 101 w/Kaori Watanabe

Hello CP Fans! Kaori Watanabe joining the Crate Paper Blog today with a simple, quick-to-make mini album. Personally, this is my favorite style album, not too busy, though not overly plain either. Inside is lots of room for for photos, large swatches of patterned paper, and a cohesive, graphic look that unifies the entire album, including the cover. And the best part, it's self-constructed, which means there's not another album out there like it!

The Must Haves

Paper Heart Collection: Patterned Papers {Delivery, Friendship, Cupid}, 6" x 6" patterned paper pad.

Peppermint Collection: Accent Cuts {Backside}

Random Collection: Patterned Paper {Graphic}

Toy Box Collection: Patterned Paper {Games}, Stickers

Restoration Collection: Patterned Paper {Refinish}

Portrait Collection: Stickers

Others: Chipboard Sheets, PVA Book Binding Glue, Scrap Fabric, Clamps

 

I opted to size and trim the chipboard and patterned papers first. Preferably, 4" x 6" - I really enjoy working with this size because it provides ample space for poloroid photo presentation. If you're without chipboard and would like to know where to find it, I suggest visiting your local art supply store or where ever book making supplies are sold.  You might request that they pre-trim the chipboard for you if you're not comfortable doing it on your own.

 

Once the chipboard and patterned papers are ready to go, move forward creating the pages of the album. In doing so, ensure that the "thickness" of each page is similar and that there's not too much "bulk". Try to stick with flat elements like I've done - this is where stickers are most handy!

*For page design ideas, visit the last set of images of today's post.

 

Ok, now we're going to begin the actual book binding process. Put together your pages "evenly" and in the right order. Turn the album on it's side and position several big clamps along it's edge. The purpose of the clamps is to keep the pages "in position" while the book binding adhesive is drying. 

 

While carefully holding the album, and with a medium size brush, apply an even, thin coat of adhesive to it's spine. *Don't use too much adhesive all at once! After the first layer has dried, apply a second, and then a third - each should be fully dried before the application of the next layer. The glue turns clear once it's dried. Allow the album to sit a total of four hours - make use of this time by finishing up some housework!

 

After the glued is readily dry, the next step is to add cloth to the spine so that it's covered and fully secure. You've the option to use paper instead of cloth if that's more preferable. The benefit of using cloth is that it's cleanable and flexible, which makes working with it a lot easier than paper. Here, I used vintage Chinese fabric. 

For added security, and to protect the album further, wrap the spine with a thin layer of cloth and attach it with book binding glue. Position the final piece of cloth as desired, and adhere it to only the front and back of the album. *Do not adhere it along the spine. 

Again, allow it to dry completely...

And here's the album fully disclosed, from start to finish.

If you haven't attempted a book binding project as of yet, this is a great way to get started on one - it's straightforward and doesn't require any stitching. Plus, it's totally Crate worthy!! You can't go wrong :)

Designer Gallery + Pinterest Winner

 

 A Happy Friday to you all! Today, the announcement of our first-ever Pinterest winner takes center stage! During Tuesday's "Designer Gallery", we asked that you pin a favorite creation from the CP gallery line-up. We then assigned twenty-four hours for ample pinning opportunity before setting out to find one of your project pins!! Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to bump into one - Congratulations to this week's CP Pinner: 

{ http://pinterest.com/pin/6192518207665988/ }

Crate Paper would like to honor you with a prize package of some of our newest goodies, Valerie! Please forward your information to cpblog@cratepaper.com so that we may work on prepping your winnings for early future shipment. Above is a peek at Valerie's favorite creation, Charlene Cundy's Recipe Mini Album - made from Crate's very own, Farmhouse.

 Don't forget, that with each brand new CP Designer Gallery, to pin a fave! It just might land you a surprise box of Crate's brand new products, and who wouldn't love that?! It's super easy, too! Stay tuned 'cause there's another Designer Gallery just around the corner ;) Have a fabulous weekend everyone! 

A Crate Story w/ Stephanie Dagan

 

 

Hello Girls! So so happy to be with you for a new project about A Crate Story. I was just excited to put my hands on the new collections. The papers are really awesome, and it's so easy to mix them up!

So, I'll present you a mini album based on the different work spaces in my day. I work at home as an accountant. It's the more serious part of my day that lasts throughout the morning. We have two offices at our home, and I will not deny that I much prefer workspace number "3". And as is popular in France, we love to eat! I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen when I'm not working. My children arrive home everyday at 11:30 to for lunch and then return to school at 1:15 (my husband too). This makes for ample opportunity to enjoy delicious meals, though sometimes, I could do without :)

 

The structure of the album is very simple. I trimmed two squares {4.72"} and a strip of fabric {2.8" x 4.72"}. Then, I sewed the fabric strip onto the edges of each square as is noticable in the photo above. 

 

Next, I developed pages for the album, and joined them together with the help of my bind-it-all. Each page is of a different size, including some that are larger than the cover.

 

 

I didn't want the journaling readily apparent, so I printed titles on various color backgrounds. Each is sewn along it's side and sits on top the journaling. It does a fine job of hiding it while serving as a decorative introduction.

*If you'd like, feel free to download a PDF copy of the the title pages. I thought you might enjoy them! 

{ Download Workspace1 , Download Workspace2 , Download Workspace3 }

 

I hope this project will give you some ideas for presenting your everyday life! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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

  

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

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

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

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

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

CP Designer: Sasha Farina

 

CP Designer: Anabelle O'Malley

 

CP Designer: Kaori Watanabe

 

CP Designer: Rahel Menig

 

CP Designer: Shanna Noel

 

CP Designer: Charlene Cundy

 

CP Designer: Claudia Shadler

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

 

Confetti-Filled Mini Album w/Lilith Eeckels

For me, March symbolizes Spring, with the sweet scent of flowers in the air and soft, subtle colors on display. So, I thought it time to celebrate the season by creating a mini album from Crate Paper's "Paper Heart" Collection. It's fitting considering it's color palette is nearly perfect for this time of year. Inside the album are photos taken in May, 2011, and also, pages dedicated exclusively to one of my favorite ongoing trends, confetti making!

The Must Haves

Paper Heart Collection: Patterned Papers, Chipboard, Border and Phrase Stickers

Farmhouse Collection: Trim ~ Random Collection: Buttons

Others: 4 x 6 Photo sleeves {American Crafts}, Various Punches, and Stamps or Journaling Written via Computer.

 

In creating the covers, select two patterned papers from the Paper Heart collection {Pebbles & Valentine}. Trim a total of two 8" x 5" sections from both papers (you'll need two 12" x 12" sheets of each).

 

Grab two of the 8" x 5" sheets (one of each pattern) and cut them in-half so that they measure 4" x 5". Using a scorer, score five lines along both pieces starting at 1.5". Adhere the two pieces together to create binding for the album.

 

The next step is to join front and back cover using the binding from the previous step. Adhere them to the binding so that they just touch the outer score lines. The score lines help the album to "bend" easily.

 

After attaching the cover, I decorated the front of the album. I covered the seam line with a border sticker. Then, to create a cluster of embellishments in the lower right corner, I partnered varying stickers, including my favorite, the "love" ticket!

Now lets move to the inside of the album. I have a lot of 4" x 6" photo sleeves lying around and decided they'd be ideal for this project.

 

Choose a patterned paper to slip into the sleeve, and trim to size.

 

Using different punches, create confetti to place inside the sleeve. Feel free to add buttons, or other die-cut shapes.

 

Sew a line along the width of the page so that the confetti doesn't fall out. 

 

I discovered that one of the sewn lines didn't look very pleasing to the eye, so I covered it up with a Paper Heart border sticker. On another sleeve, I used the twine from the Farmhouse Trim Pack.

You can create different types of pockets for your confetti. Why not create a half-circle? I drew one on patterned paper and stitched over the line. It's a little trickier to get the confetti in just the right spot while doing this, but it creates a really cool effect!

 

Decorate each of the photo sleeves. The photos are to be placed on top the sleeve, not inside it. 

 

The final step is the bind all the pages together. Take your sleeves (I had three of them), line them up carefully, and stitch along the binding. Then adhere the back 1" binding to the back cover of the album (use double stick tape) so that the pages are now inside the album. 

 

Trim a 1" x 4"1/8 sheet of patterned paper {Delicate}, and adhere it on top the plastic binding so that the stitches are covered (again, double stick tape).

To document the memories connected to this little outing with my son, I added some journaling strips. {Mine were made with the computer, but stamps are another option}

And there you have it - a confetti-filled, Spring themed mini album! Do enjoy and may Spring find you very soon!

Heart Puffies Tutorial w/Michiko Kato

Even though we're well beyond Valentine's Day, the creation of Michiko's "puffy hearts" are too adorable to pass up. Finally, instructions on how to make your own "puffies"!

Hello my friends, Michiko greeting you today with an introduction to a Heart Stitch layout I so happily created in celebration of February's familiar theme, "Love".  In Japan, there are many hearts displayed thoughout town, including both paper and chocolate varieties, and upon seeing them, I often feel a strong sense of excitement and glee. To recapture this feeling, I went about creating a layout on the subject, though skipped out on the chocolate! It's famous feature, puffy hearts! Today, I'm going to show you how to make them!

 The Must Haves

Paper Heart Collection: Pattern Papers {Delivery, Define, Cupid, Friendship}, 6" x 6" Patterned Paper Pad, Stickers, & Chipboard. 

Farmhouse Collection: Patterned Paper {Homemade}

Others: Sewing Machine. Cotton. Embroidery Thread, and Vellum Paper

 

First, make a heart template from a folded sheet of cardstock, or scrap paper. Draw a half-shaped heart along it's folded edge and trim it out.

 

Go ahead and make yourself a small pile of various sized hearts from cardstock; big & small. Feel to free to create a few that are in less-than-perfect form. I went with a total of five stitched hearts for this particular project, but you're welcome to make as many as you'd like.

 

In moving forward with the stitching process, you'll need two of the same shaped hearts. This is when the templates come in extra handy! Fold a sheet of patterned paper in half (again, use up them scraps!), tape the template to the patterned side of the folded paper and trim around the template so that you have two matching sized hearts to work with. Repeat this step for the remaining hearts. 

 

With needle and thread in hand, and while holding matching hearts together, blanket stitch around them. Stop stitching after you're 2/3's the way around and tuck cotton inside the heart 'til it's slightly puffy. Lastly, stitch closed!

 

I produced a total of five stitched hearts. Only three of them contain cotton, whereas a few are without it. Believe it or not, this minor difference lends texture to the layout, and the overall unique combination of hearts.

 

To finish the layout, trim a 11" x 11" section of "Homemade" patterned paper and adhere it on top of Paper Heart's "Delivery" patterned paper. Stitch around the edges with a sewing machine. Mat a photo with both "Defined" patterned paper and torn vellum. Position stickers, hearts, chipboard pieces, and other elements as shown. Finally, locate a small section of journaling next to the photo. Short and sweet is perfect!

 

I hope feel the same happiness I felt when having been surrounded by so many hearts not so long ago. If hearts aren't your thing, maybe go about creating puffies of a different shape - with so many shape options at your disposal these days thanks to the endless array of die-cutting machines, making puffies is super easy, and endlessly fun! See you next month!

March Crate Color Challenge!

 

Hello-hello! Tara here again and since it's this first Friday of the month that can only mean one thing.... Color Challenge time! I'm super excited about this challenge, so excited that I've added a little something extra for the first time this month! March, for us here in the Southwest is the beginning of Spring. Flowers are blooming, tiny succulent gardens are being planted and the days are warm and sunny. For this month I knew I had to use the great outdoors as my inspiration!

The color palette for this month is: champange peach - emerald green - charchol grey

and the inspiration wire: 

 

and here's the extra part of this challenge! I couldn't decide on which color combination I liked more, so I decided 2 would be better than one! Feel free to choose from either palette this month. (Or you can use all the colors together as I did!) 

palette #2 - tulip pink - champange peach - emerald green

Just a few guide-lines for the challenge before we start:

- You may submit a card, layout or project or mini album to be eligible. Projects need to be submitted by midnight (EST) March 12th . Please email your work to: cpblog@cratepaper.com

- You may use the colors in any proportion you wish, as long as you use all 3 colors in the palette. And you may add black, white or kraft paper to the colors.

- Projects must use at least 75% Crate Paper - you may mix any paper lines you like, old and new.

- The winner will be announced on March 14th and I'll share some of my favorite projects here on the blog.

- The winner will be selected based on creativity and quality of work.

~

I love creating little pieces of art-work to hang on the walls of my craft room and this gave me a great reason to put to use the journal cards from the Story Teller collection!  (You're going to LOVE the Story Teller collection, the papers are so versatile!) I sewed a quick fabric banner and pieced together a tiny ticket stub, and a layered paper embellishment complete with a sparkly emerald. With the help of a little metal clip, my wall art is ready for hanging! 

 

My love of confetti and sequins has evolved into a love of circles. I really the look of using one shape for the 'base' of a layout. Here, for my Carry On layout, I mixed up various sized circles in different colors. Did I already mention that you are going to love-love the new Story Teller collection.... just making sure! (I also used paper from the Paper Heart, Peppermint, and Random collections.)

 

My last contribution for the challenge is a simple layered card for a sweet friend. I've mentioned before that I have a tendency to use fabric along side paper in almost everything I make! I created this little card by combining a layer of fabric and a layer of paper until I had enough contrasting colors and then added a chipboard typewriter and my title.

 

Alright friends those are my projects - now it's your turn! I hope you'll be inspired to create something lovely this month using our color combination and I'll be back on the 14th to showcase some of your artwork and to share the winner of the March Color Challenge!

Happy Creating! ~ Tara