Crate Paper

It's a Wrap! ~ April

Hello all you Crate Paper fans! It's Tara here today to share our third installment of It's a Wrap ~ where we wrap up the end of each month by playing with a different gift-wrap theme! The theme this month wasn't one that took alot of deciding upon. We've been celebrating many birthdays this month and May is looking to be just as full with festive birthday celebrations! 

I also thought a Birthday theme would be a wonderful reason to share a gift that I just wrapped up for my good friend Erica! Erica has reached a milestone birthday and we are ready to celebrate in grand style next weekend which meant that her gift could be a little over the top... I like to call it fanciful! 

  

Erica's gift ended up being on the larger side, so in order to bring balance to a large square gift, the gift topper had to be circular and colorful, as I had wrapped her gift with simple white wrapping paper. I decided on making a very full pom-pom for the top, it's very bright and very whimsical - just like my friend Erica! I will admit that it was much larger when I first created it but after a few snips here and there with my trust scissors, I was able to create a better proportioned pom-pom. It's attached to the gift by using a few foam pop-dots reinforced with a little tacky glue. 

By now you may have noticed that I'm a huge fan of tags in place of cards when it comes to gifts. I love taking a small group of tags and arranging them into  pretty layers. Mix in a few textured elements, like a flower and maybe a few clothe-pins and the bundle of tags are complete!  

As an extra layer I created a couple of frayed fabric tassels in coordinating colors to match my gift wrap. I chose to attach this very soft dove-grey tassel to the back of my little tag bundle. 

 

Now for my gift tags! If you can keep a secret, I'll let you know what I got Erica for her birthday ~ one of the tags will make more sense knowing what the gift is! I purchased a new record player for my friend and to carry the music theme into the gift wrap, I used a music-note flashcard and typed a little note about shopping for vintage records.  

Since I tend to save all of my scrap paper, even the tiniest of pieces, I'll often use a paper punch to punch out shapes and then I can create petite sewn garlands like the one I used on Erica's Happy Birthday tag. It's a great way to recycle and reuse pretty paper! 

Another fun idea for reusing tiny paper pieces? Use a hole punch to create your own confetti and pour into a small glassine envelope. To attach the envelope to the gift tags, I used a mini clothespin, from the Story Teller Collection, to clip into place. I think fussy, sometimes simple details, like confetti, are a cute extra to add especially since Birthdays are a day to celebrate and what's better than sprinkling a little confetti around?

 

To make this edition of It's a Wrap even more special, we're giving away a Pretty Party Collection prize pack to one of our lovely readers.

We'd love to know what the best, or just the most creative, gift you've received as a birthday present!  

Leave us your comment in the comment section of this post and I'll be back this Friday to choose a lucky winner. Make sure to have your comment submitted by Thursday, 8:00pm Central Time - Good Luck & Happy Monday!

 ~ Tara

April CP Creative Weekly :: Blue Bird

 

 

We've come upon our very last day of April's CP Creative Weekly. Sadly, that means we have to say good-bye to Pretty Party's precious Blue Bird, this week's reoccuring project theme. We truly hope that you have enjoyed her company, and of course, the ideas she's inspired amongst our Crate Paper Girls.

The final two projects, a gorgeous multi-page mini album from Stephanie Dagan, and birds-in-flight layout from Sasha Farina, are today's very last - take a peek!

Stephanie Dagan 

This is a mini album I made for my daughter's future birthday party. I wanted to do something "very light", so I used transparency as part of the cover, and also, on some of the album pages. For the cover, I took two pieces of transparency, sewed them together like a pocket, and then positioned feathers, sequins and a little blue bird inside it. To further highlight the little bird, I positioned a Crate Paper "Copper" frame onto the exterior. On the very last page of the album, I sewed a rectangular section of transparency onto the patterned paper with both birds and sequins beneath it. Additional embellishments were added to the outside.

 

I plan to include even more transparency pages as we near the birthday celebration, and complete the album after all the party photos have been taken. I just know the special day will include lots of sunshine and smiles!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sasha Farina

 

When Christine emailed me with the 'Blue Bird' assignment, my mind went straight to my baby girl. Like a bird, she sings and tweet tweet tweet tweet non-stop, all day long. She comes to me for hugs and kisses, then continue tweeting and singing even while watching tv, or in the shower. LOL. I think, we listen to her too much that when she goes to school, we're not used to the silence. :)

 

I decided to create a layout for her to display in her room. My base is a simple circle cut from Archives paper from our Story teller collection and some handstitching, of course. :) Then I played with the Story Teller 6 x 6 paper pads to finish up the patterned paper portion for the rest of the layout.

 

I cut two blue birds from a scrap piece of cardstock and added a blue bird chipboard sticker from the Pretty Party collection.*sigh* I love that little bird. So pretty! I added a kraft tag to house my journaling, a brad, a button and some stickers and ended up really, really happy with how this one turned out.

~

 

 On Monday, we requested your Blue Bird project ideas, and boy, did you deliver!! Quite a number of you suggested a Spring Banner for either inside or outside, depending on the banner's intended purpose. Another idea we thought was kind of fun was to frame the bird inside a widow box frame, or traditional frame and hang it in a child's room or entryway. Super easy, and cute!

 

How about that WINNER - you ready? Of the 70+ Comments/Suggestions, here is the lucky person... 

"I'd make a banner with a bunch of little blue birds that spell out, Welcome Spring.
Posted by: Beth Beery | April 23, 2012 at 03:15 PM"

A HUGE congratulations to you, Beth! Yeah!! There is a Pretty Party box with your name on it - send your info to [email protected]  

Have a great weekend everyone! We'll see you next week!

 

April CP Creative Weekly :: Blue Bird

 

 

It's another awe-inspiring day of beautiful bird designs from the Crate Paper Design Team. First up is Claudia Shadler's darling envelope and gift card holder, an easy & quick way to enclose a special note, a set of photos, or a any small gift you would like to share. 

Claudia Shadler

 When this month's assignment featured a "blue bird" theme after Pretty Party's collection - I immediately knew I wanted to make a "gift" type project with the blue bird brad. I made an envelope with my Martha Stewart's score board (notice it's actually an envelope box) and added a splatter of watercolor onto the background. I also incorporated various strips of patterned paper as tiny banners. With a little bit of ribbon and tulle, and voila, a wonderfully gift envelope for that special someone.

I made a "matching" gift card sleeve - these babies are super quick to make - take any standard size envelope, seal it, and cut it in-half. With a 2" circle punch, add a slit to the top for easy card removal. Decorate as your heart desires...

 

Piradee Talvana

When I heard that this month's assignment was to incorporate the super cute blue bird from the Pretty Party collection, I knew that I had to create a little home for my little blue guy. And using my silhouette, I cut the bird cage that not only housed the little birdie, but also my picture! 

 

Charlene Cundy

I'm thrilled to hear that this month, Crate Paper is focusing on Blue Birds!! Not only are they adorable, but they're perfect for Spring! For my creation, I decided to start with the Little Blue Bird from Crate's Pretty Party chipboard collection. I intended to make a memo pad for my refrigerator as I'm always looking for paper and can never find any - now, I'll know officially where it's located!

For the basis of the project, I used a pattern called "A Tree List Holder" (Designer: A Little Hut) from the Silhouette store. The pattern calls for the memo paper to be on top the patterned paper, but I love the paper so much, that I didn't want to hide it. Instead, I adapted the patterned paper so that the memo paper sat beneath it. I then added a magnet to the back. Very easy and a nice addition to the fridge. No more scavenger hunts for paper!

April CP Creative Weekly :: Blue Bird

 

We know you'd love a free box of Pretty Party Papers and embellishments, so hop over to Monday's post {HERE}, and share your blue-bird project idea with our blog audience. Tomorrow is the final day to tweet about it!

 

Lilith Eeckels

I love decorating my home, but I do have a limited budget. When seasons change, I add little touches here and there around our home to celebrate it. This month's creative weekly inspired me to make a Spring wreath using the Pretty Party collection and it's gorgeous blue, chipboard bird. The wreath is made up off different flowers cut with the help of my cameo and are mixed together with layers of chipboard. If you'd like, watch my video tutorial to see how the wreath is created:

 

 

 

Kaori Watanabe

I love Pretty Party's precious Blue Bird. Overall, I adore the collection's chipboard designs. I was entirely happy to notice that it had finally arrived at my local scrapbook store here in Japan. Crate Paper is wildly popular with Japanese scrapbooking fans! They especially like the Pretty Party collection - so far, it's been the most popular CP collection of all time! 

 

Shanna Noel

Have you guys every heard the Elizabeth Mitchell version of Three Little Birds? Its SERIOUSLY the CUTEST thing EVER! I am in love with it. Even though I am sure my kids are sick of it, we listen to it all the time in the car. Its such a happy song, and it always brings a HUGE smile to my face. I knew that CUTE little bird in the chipboard shapes of Pretty Party had to be a part of this project. For this mixed media project I used an 10x10 canvas and ripped the edges of some paper from Paper Heart (I love that line, don't you?) to use as my base. From there I just pulled a little of this and a little of that from all the fun Crate lines. One thing that is really fun about Crate Paper is that the lines really mix and match well. I used some modeling paste to make the clouds and just doodled and stamped until my heart was content. :)

April CP Creative Weekly :: Blue Bird

 

 

 In moving along with this week's central focus, "Blue Birds", our CP Girl, Latonia, begins today's post with a bird house built from love and for her daughter. It's a sweet retreat for a fine feathered friend and is CUTE beyond words...

Latonia Grant

This month I immediately thought about the bird house that we had outside our home when we lived on base as a little girl and while I didn't know what type of bird it was at that time, I just remembered that it's stomach was blue and that I thought it to be very pretty. I didn't care much for the chirping but it was always there and eventually, I grew quite fond of it. So, this month, I knew exactly what I wanted to create - a BIRD HOUSE! Conveniently, I found this chipboard bird house at my local craft store. When I saw it, I fell immediately in LOVE! My little blue bird finally has a home and it's pretty cute!

 

Michiko Kato

I remember having read a book about "Blue Birds" a long time ago. It was the story of little girls who'd been trying to find a blue bird known for bringing about great happiness. I became caught up in reading the book and at the end, I learned that most don't notice the happiness that is at their side. All one has to do to find it, is look down. Now, I have three children at my side, and they're my happiness and treasure.

 

Anabelle O'Malley

When we were asked to do a project using the bluebird chipboard piece as inspiration, the phrase 'blue bird of Happiness' immediately popped into my head. I decided to create a little gift set that could be given to someone just to brighten their day. But, what could be inside the little tin I wanted to make? I decided to peruse my favorite online source of inspiration, Pinterest, for the answer. And I found it in these ADORABLE little blue bird candies!

My son and I ran to the bakery supply store, grabbed what we needed and, VOILA, a flock of jordan almond blue birds were born!

I created my tin using some Pretty Party paper from the mini-pad and a small length of Random trim. I was so excited to get my hands on the coordinating frames and decided that it would be the perfect backdrop for the chipboard blue bird. I painted it with Gesso and white paint then added some chunky glitter. More trim, a button and a chipboard butterfly embellish the blue bird's wings. The little blue bird candies fit perfectly inside. I made the coordinating card and one day soon, I'll be giving this little treat to a deserving friend!

~

Before you go, don't forget yesterday's giveaway!! You still have four more days to add to the mix of comments that we'll be drawing from on Friday, April 27th. The WINNER takes home a box of assorted Pretty Party goods!! Please see Mondays' post for the full set of details - have a great Tuesday, friends!

April CP Creative Weekly :: Blue Bird

 

 

In thinking about what we thought might be fun as a focus feature for this month's "CP Creative Weekly", we turned to Pretty Party's soft spoken friend, Blue Bird. This sweet feathered creature captures the delight of just about every person she meets. She's also as pretty as can be, and the perfect shade of eggshell blue. So, we put our designers to the challenge of finding her a home, layouts, cards, boxes, wherever...

To start us off, Rahel Menig shows what it takes to create a little birdie album with wings and a note of "tweets"...

Today, I'm super excited to share with you a tiny little tutorial on how to make a cute birdie album! I hope you enjoy it!

 

Draw a shape on a piece of scrap paper, that looks somewhat like a cute little birdie. Remember, that you want enough space to be able to write little tweets or quotes, so make the body of the birdie big enough. Bonus, this will make your bird shape look even cuter ;)

 

 Cut out your pattern and assemble your paper. Clip them together and use your pattern to draw the shape on your pretty paper. Cut out the bird. If you have difficulties with the thickness, simply divide the amount of paper in half and do the step twice.

 Next, if you have a sewing machine, sew together the bird by its tale. I started a few times to get that 'feather look' from the excess thread. If you don't have a sewing machine use your staple or a brad/eyelet!

 

Now you got your little birdie album all done :D I wanted to make my bird look like it was holding the banner, so I drew and cut out a little wing for it and hot glued it to the front.

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"If you could find a home for Crate Paper's Blue Bird, where would it be?"

It truly can be in any crafty context as long as it involves the idea of "birds". How might you go about the idea of basing a project's theme from that of the very cute and adorable, blue bird? Would you tuck her in a cage, dress her up with paint/glitter, and parade her with flowers and ribbon? Tweet your ideas in the comment section of today's post for a Pretty Party prize pack to be given away this Friday, April 27th. Make sure to have your comment secured and submitted by Thursday, 8:00pm Central Time - Good Luck & Happy Monday!

April CP Guest Designer :: Waleska Neris

 On top the list today is Crate Paper's April Guest Designer, Waleska Neris. She has a very special history with us as she once had been a member of Crate Paper's 2010 Design Team. We invited her back once again to incite spark and creativity via her recognizable, modish scrapbook style. It hinges on eclecticism, as well, a quality of hers we have always enjoyed and admired. Please welcome Waleska Neris... 

About Waleska...

I'm a mama to two sweet, silly boys and wife to a very patient guy. An accountant by day and scrapper by dawn. I love scrapping (of course), photography and shopping for shoes and jeans. 

Ten random facts about me...

I love bright colors
I'm very short
I'm a terrible cook
I love to run
Sometimes, I go days without drinking water
I've never owned a bicycle
I'm a morning person
I'm slightly addicted to Peanut M & M's
I'm loud
Growing up, I never had a pet 

 

My Story

I love the tags paper. I wanted to use lots of them, yet keep my design clean and simple. I added the oval frame and other chipboard shapes for some fun contrast.

 

Today

This page was inspired by a fabric I saw online. As soon as I saw the random triangle design I knew I wanted to try it with paper. I used a scalloped square punch with a variety of patterns and cut them in half to create the triangles. I then followed the fabric design very closely.

 

Thank You Card

One of my favorite things to do is duplicate designs in different forms. This card was inspired by a layout I did a little while ago using the same design. As you can see, I love adding different (bright) colors and patterns to my projects!

Waleska, it has been a pleasure to have you at the Crate Paper blog! Thank-you for being our very first guest designer to create with Story Teller & Pretty Party this season. As is always the case, your contributions are exquisite - sincerely, thank-you. 

~ 

This Week's Giveaway Winners

For those of you stopping by to find out who this week's giveaway winners are, we're happy to finally announce them on this fabulous Friday! The first is in regard to our "Frame" Fans from Wednesday's post. You've waited the longest, so you're officially first today! Congratulations to this "Frame" fan...

"love frames! Would love to do a page with each member of my family in their own frame." Posted by: Lynnsey | April 17, 2012 at 12:07 PM

The second winner is for the Elle's Studio April Kit!! A lot of you threw your name into the comment pool for this one - and spoke of your latest Spring Adventures! Not shockingly, the running ongoing theme was the weather! It's been a whirlwind of a Spring for nearly everyone this year. It's brought with it, plenty of adventures, don't you think? Congrats to this person...

 "Our latest spring adventure was my daughter's school carnival. It was a great turnout, and the school did great with fundraising...we even ran out of cotton candy and popcorn! Fun times, fun times. Looks like a FUN kit from Elle's - love these pages, and I'm a fan of their products! Thanks for the chance to win!" Posted by: Cynthia B. | April 18, 2012 at 05:36 PM

Send us your info ladies - [email protected]. Include your last name and location within your email. Thank-you, Thank-you!! Congratulations to the both of you! 

Elle's Studio :: One Here & Now

 

Crate Paper is partnering with the popular tag maker and exclusive kit seller, Elle's Studio, to host an extra fun GIVEAWAY this week in celebration of their new April kit, One Here & Now. Most of you are probably familiar with Elle's Studio for their infamous graphic tag assortments, but did you know they sell kits as well? Often, the kits include exclusive Elle's Studio products not found elsewhere, including stamps and tags. There's also the occasional add-on for those that that aspire to own "more" kit-friendly wares to go along with the main kit. Here with further info about both is Elle's Studio...

Elle's Studio has just released another amazing kit and add-on, both filled with great products from your favorite manufacturers (including Crate Paper) and of course, Elle's Studio exclusives! Each kit hosts a special variety of Spring themed journaling tags not available elsewhere. As a second exclusive, an "I Treasure this Moment" banner stamp! Lastly, we requested special badges for this month's kit and they're too cute for words!

 

Elle's made an inspiring layout featuring her sister and nephew from April's kit to share with us today! And here's what she had to say about it, "My favorite part about creating with kits is that everything is already color coodinated and ready to go. All you need to do is open the package and get crafty! Plus, the exclusives that come with it, add an extra level of fun! You can't go wrong!"

 

As an added bonus, another layout from Elle's Studio Project Kit Coordinator & Blog Contributor, Jenni!

Both kits are truly meant to compliment the documentation of everyday life, and so much more - and not only that, the colors go amazingly well with the Spring season! Once the kits are sold out, they're officially gone for good - visit our blog to purchase your very own before it's too late!

And yes, there's a kit giveaway today! Elle's Studio is generously offering a kit to one of Crate Paper's blog readers. To participate, please comment on your latest Spring adventure! We'll announce the winner this Friday, April 18th.

 

April's Designer Gallery :: Part II

 

 

 

Two of Crate Paper's very new favorite products are the FRAME SETS from Pretty Party and Story Teller. If you haven't yet had the chance to see them in person, we think you're going to be pleasantly surprised by their superior cuteness factor and ease of use. Our frames are as light as a feather,which makes working with them, a "Dream"! They're also a fun addition to just about any project! Use them to show off photos, embellishments, journaling, and so much more - they're truly limitless! 

In highlighting Story Teller's cherry-colored wood frames, Kaori Watanabe's layout is first and foremost today! Beneath it, is layers of patterned paper and stamped writing and on top, is the layout's primary focal point, her little guy! A happy moment for sure.

~

And now, two new projects from two outstanding CP designers...

In Lilith's own words...

"I am so lucky to have so many photos of me when I was a child and what is even better is that I have quite a few of these photos on my computer thanks to my father who has been scanning them. When looking at all these memories I realize that the person in the photo is still me and that I haven't changed that much. I have only aged. The Story Teller collection fits my "old" pictures so well and the theme is just spot on. I know I'll be scrapping loads more using this line."

 

An alternative twist to the traditional mini album, die-cut tags replace album pages in this one-of-a-kind creation by Charlene Cundy. Inside, are lots of little nooks and crannies to explore, including an accordion binding filled with varying tags, and two fully embellished pages!

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So tell us, are you a FRAME fan? How about winning a free set of frames (plus other Crate goodies) from our very own Story Teller and Pretty Party collections? Share with us your frame ideas in today's comment section. Winner will announce this Friday, April 20th, 2012. Please have your comment submitted by Thursday, 8:00pm Central Time. Good Luck!

 

April Crate Color Challenge ~ Winner!

Hello all! Tara here today to announce our April Color Challenge winner! Thank you all so much for contributing your projects this month! We've had lots of pretty layouts, crafty projects and sweet cards to look through and I believe we've chosen a winner! 

The April Challenge winner is: Elena Stefanidou

We loved not only the arrangement of overlapping tags and journal stickers but also the use of this month's color combination! The use of bright yellow in contrast to the black and white really made Elena's It's About Time layout truly stand out as a winner! Congrats Elena!

I'd like to share a couple of layouts that also caught our eye! With each new entry that we receive here at Crate Paper I really look forward to seeing how each person intreprets the color palatte. As you can see in the examples below, the color white was quite dominant this month, when mixed with our red-blue-yellow combo! 

scrap artist: Christin Gronnslett

scrap artist: Marina Garcia 

scrap artist: Brenda Booth

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Well friends, that wraps up this month's Color Challenge winner and featured artists! Thanks again for joining me and I hope to see you next month for a very Springy inspired color palette! Happy Monday ~ Tara