Crate Paper

Crate Paper Guest Designer: Raphalen Benedicte

 

Raphalen Benedicte

My name is Benedicte, I'm a French Scrap-Addict. I've got two daughters, Cassandre & Danae, who really inspire me. We live in Brittany (an area located in the North West of France) with my husband, Yannick, and my stepdaughter, Sarah. I'm a psychologist and work with teenagers and homeless individuals. I started scrapbooking about five years ago and I'm rather keen on freestyle with a touch of shabby, vintage and whimsy. What I enjoy creating the most are layouts, but I also love working on mini-albums and art journals in which I use altered art techniques. From time to time, I like creating DIY and home decor projects. I've been working for the design team of a French magazine called Histoires de Pages for almost four years now. I've also taught several classes and have launched my own crop events. I'm sincerely honored to guest design for Crate Paper because the new collection inspire me a lot. They're perfect! I love the designs, color and admire the creativity that makes Crate Paper such an original, singular brand. 

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Ten Randoms About Me

I like playing witches, fairies and mermaids with my daughters.

In the morning, I like to surf the net with a cup of coffee; Pinterest, Facebook, Emails & Fave Scrapbook Blogs

I love cats, but dislike hens; I've a very traumatizing memory from my childhood while having spent time at my grandparent's farm. 

I listen to the radio a lot in my car and sometimes, I find myself singing at the top of my lungs.

I love the sea and countryside. I'm not much of a town girl. I love wide, open spaces found in mother nature - there's much peace and quiet to be had there. 

My dream is to go to Iceland for it's northern lights, it's volcanoes and it fjords.

When I cook, I like to innovate and try new recipes with seasonal vegetables.

I often take off-centered photos because most of the time, they're the best ones!

The only jewelry I wear is earrings. I put them on everyday.

I never watch TV, but still love watching films and show series on DVD's.

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In creating this layout titled, I Love Your Smile, I first cut a strip of Acorn Avenue tags and placed at the top of the page. I then added a triangle border beneath it's bottom edge - trimmed from my very favorite Acorn Avenue patterned paper, "Hazel". I mixed orange and brown alpha's for the title. They match quite well! As accents, I used various pieces from the Acorn Avenue chipboard collection, including the camera, leaves and butterfly. I enjoy gathering embellishments together to create vertical clusters. Overall, this Fall collection is bright and warm and does a great job of highlighting the photo of my daughters, and their dear friend. 

 

This mini album is crafted from Crate's On Trend collection. I trimmed 10 x 15 centimeter sheets from various patterned papers. Leftovers were kept for adding to the album at a later time (you can see bits and pieces throughout). Once the album was finished, I noticed that the papers matched beautifully. The collection as a whole is cheerful and colorful - I love it! 

 

I thoroughly enjoy creating home decor from recycled items. In following this passion, I used the wheel of a worn bike to create an inspiration board. The shades of the Acorn Avenue collection inspired me to create a photo montage frame from Fall photos, the Fall leaves collected with my daughter and of course, the numerous chipboard elements, stickers and vellum garlands that I LOVE! 

First, I customized clothespins with tape stickers. I then cut different sized rectangles from Acorn Avenue's patterned papers. I added a few real Autumn leaves and some chipboard/sticker pieces to them. As a finishing touch, I adhered a photo to each one - the girls collecting leaves, our walks through the forest, and our mushroom hunts. I love recycling. Just look at this old, fashionable wheel! 

*One last tip you might be interested in hearing about as to this photo-friendly,crafty wheel - you can update it whenever you'd like according to the seasons! :)

I hope to have inspired you with my creations. I really appreciate the opportunity to work with Crate's two collections, On Trend & Acorn Avenue - they're so wonderful and easy to work with . Thanks again to Christine, Lisa and Crate Paper!

Mixed Media Exploration w/Kaori Watanabe

 

Hello Everyone! It's Kaori with you today to present a fun, mixed-media tutorial using readily available supplies and a quick application method that can tried on nearly any project. All that's needed is washi tape, acrylic paint, gesso, a vintage-themed stamps, an ink pad and colored spritzer. A flat plastic card essential as well. Last but not least, Crate Paper's "On Trend" collection is a sure must!! It's quite splendid...

 

Select one of Crate's "neutral-friendly" backgrounds such as this simple, clean woodgrain from On Trend. In studying the composition of the layout, decide on an area to stamp random images onto the background. In this instance, I concentrated the placement of images in the lower right corner, behind my photo. 

 

After the stamped images have dried, apply washi tape (or masking tape) over the stamped area in the shape of a lattice.

 

Pour a small amount of gesso on top the lattice and spread it around with a plastic card. You've also the option of using acrylic paint instead of gesso. What ever you have on hand, go with it! Acrylic is totally ok :)

 

Punch a large circle from scrap paper and using it as a mask, spritz circles over portions of the lattice. Try mixing colors when doing this - I opted for plum & sunshine yellow. There are no hard and fast rules here, so create as many circles as you like. 

 

When the paint is fully dried, remove the tape. Do so very carefully to avoid tearing the paper behind it. Pull gently and watch closely while lifting it away from the layout. 

 

One of the benefits of white gesso is that it doesn't interfere with the coloring of the circles. If you were to try painting with other colors, which is certainly worthwhile, the circles might not be as vibrant, or true-to-color. Still, try it once! You might like the effect! Work with different mask shapes, too!

 

With the base complete, it's time to get to work on the rest of the layout! Stitch across the layout a couple of times, and over some of the paper pieces scattered throughout. Again, pay close attention to placement of your sewn lines - they should interact with the rest of the page in a way that is balanced, and is central to the photo.

As a base for the photo, build layers from On Trend's patterned paper, journaling cards, and chipboard. This floral cluster has beautiful coloring - you can't miss it, which makes it the ideal attention grabber..it draws the eye inward.

 

One last tip I'd like to share before leaving you is the idea of "softening" up paper. By crumbling up this number seven On Trend die-cut element, curling it's edges forward, and then sewing just across it's top, you now have what looks like a "clothing tag". Kinda fun, eh? 

Thank-you for stopping by the Crate Paper blog today! Happy painting & sewing!

A Christmas Album Revamp w/Anabelle O'Malley

 

 

December is nearly upon us! And that means that Christmas will be here before we know it. Each year, I take a ton of photos. I rarely scrap them all, but I would like to print them out and keep them in a special place. I decided to create a little photo album to house them. 

Rather than creating my album from scratch, since I'm already starting to feel the 'holiday crunch', I used one that I had laying around the house. This particular album was one given to us by our hotel in Maui. I never used it because I needed a much larger album for our vacation photos, but I knew it would be the perfect size for some Christmas shots. These 4 x 6 albums are easy to come by. You can get them at the big box craft shops and even at local dollar stores. 

I started by painting Gesso along all of the edges. I didn't want any of the original album's color showing through.

After it dried, I measured the length and width of the album. I cut a piece of Sleigh Ride Silver Bells paper to fit and scored it at the point where the spine on the album is. I added lots of adhesive and adhered it to the album cover. 

Next, I measured the inside covers of the album and added the same paper to finish it off.

Now came the fun part. I knew I wanted to keep the design on the cover rather simple. I designed an embellishment by layering a punched paper circle, a label sticker, a snowflake chipboard piece and a brad from the Sleigh Ride collection. 

I added strips of paper from Sleigh Ride and On Trend and layered some tab stickers onto it as well. A piece a border sticker was the perfect accent for the edge of the front cover. Finally, I added a half of a doily on which I could layer my embellishment.

I'm really happy with the final results! The addition of a bit of red bling really gave it some shine.

 

The little sticker on the spine was a fun touch, too.

 As I said, I plan on using this to house the many photos I will be taking this Christmas. But, this album would also make a perfect December Daily or December Journal Album, as well. 

Thanks for visiting today and have a great one! 

Crate Paper Design on File :: Circle of Gratitude w/Kimberly Neddo

 

 

Now that Thankgiving is over, we're entering the second half of the Holiday Season! During this time, there is still plenty to be thankful for! Today, I'm going to showcase a layout on the subject in a way that I think many of you are plenty familiar with; circular design. 

I love the idea of expressing gratitude through "circles". I think it's pure genius. Circles symbolize "unity" and "connection", and as links, are extremely resilient and of great importance. To echo this idea, I took immediately to Sleigh Ride's "Spirograph" style snowflake design patterned paper. As a whole, the snowflakes stand close to one another, and feel "connected". For this reason, I chose to use the paper as the background for my layout, which I'll share with you shortly...

When given this assignment, my thought process went immediately to my prayer life. I've always wanted to find a creative way to document this constant of my daily life, and what better way to do that than with circles {& Crate Paper}?

I had a vision of creating layered circles and with them, I wanted to frame my layout's main photograph. I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to cutting circles, and have found that using my handy circle compass is the best tool for the job! So, I trimmed a few out, paying close attention to sizing while trimming them from a couple of different papers.

To give them a little more pop, I rubbed rubbed charcoal grey ink around the edges of each one. This quick, easy-to-master technique gives the circles dimension, which is a "HUGE" plus for promoting "layers". 

A direct ink application (dragging the ink pad against the paper's edge) is preferred. 

 

With the photograph, "Pray Big", as the layout's central focus, I brought my cherished prayers to the outside parameters of the layout. I punched small circles from light patterned paper and wrote prayer subjects on them. I then attached them to the layout interchangably with pop-dots and wet adhesive. I inked the edges of the smaller circles. Again, this one additional detail has major impact on depth.  The circles draw the viewer's eye around the page.

 

Finally, with the title, all is brought together. I love the font with the black glitter foam thickers. Not only does the black stand-out, but it also compliments the inked edges of the various circles sprinkled throughout the page.

To have a little more fun with the title, I decided to use the photograph as part of the title itself. I brought the title down the center of the page starting at the top, and finishing it at the bottom. It ties everything together perfectly. 

 

Here's a look at completed page, what do you think? It's officially your turn to sit down and think about what you're thankful for. Once the list is written, think about how to express it using the unifying design element, circles! Literally, the possibilities are endless! 

A Day of Gratitude & Thanks

 

 

We'd like to express our sincerest gratitude on this day and thank all of you for your support and fellowship in everything Crate Paper. Happy Thanksgiving! 

We're grateful for the talent of our design team, including this latest praiseworthy layout from Naomi Atkins...A small piece of inspiration on this warm, golden holiday.

Naomi Atkins

"A layout about my girl Cami in her little owl hat. I'm owl obsessed...and she loves the hat too! I was inspired by Jen Chesnick's fabulous cut file and her son in a little owl hat. I wanted to convey that feel, the warmth of Autumn, and a splash of gold. Crate has some fabulous gold in their "On Trend" and "Sleigh Ride" lines, and AC has some beautiful Thickers out there to compliment them. I'm loving the warmth and sparkle that gold adds to a layout!"

Crate Paper Creative Weekly :: November Winner

 

 

At the heart of last week's Creative Weekly challenge, we asked that you pledge forward a feeling of gratitude towards those things most important to you and to document it with paper and embellishments. In return, we promised to select a winning entry and to give that person the entire Acorn Avenue collection. Today, we'd like to formally congratulate Leigh Penner, the official Gratitude Challenge Winner! Right away, her layout captured our attention! The traditional display of photos and journaling made it truly easy to appreciate Leigh's "gratitude list". Also, the pocket and tag are precious - they'd make a wonderful gift at the dinner table Thanksgiving Day. Thank-you Leigh for the thoughtful submission! Please send your information to cpblog@cratepaper.com. 

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And a HUGE thank-you to these ladies, as well!! More inspiration to behold...

Artist: Amber Engelhart

 

Artist: Amanda Coleman

 

Artist: Cassandra Chen

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And last, but not least, thank-you to everyone who participated in last week's challenge!! We thoroughly enjoyed your projects and hope you'll rejoin us again next month for a special "holidazzle" Creative Weekly! Love, love, love the holidays!

Pink in November w/Sophie Crespy

 

 

November is the month of falling leaves and autumn beauty. Nature is full of lively oranges and rustic yellows, as are the seasonal scrapbook supplies available this time of year. Leave it to Crate Paper to break tradition - upon recent release, "On Trend" gave way to a gorgeous color palette of modern brights, including shades of pink that beg to be used no matter the season. So, I've taken to exploring the feminine hue on a newly created autumn-themed layout to show you that even in November, pink is undoubtedly doable. 

To be quite honest with you, pink is my favorite color when it comes to scrapbooking. I love to use it with shades of yellow, green and blue. This might be because I'm the happy mother of a very sassy daughter, or maybe it's because I'm sassy myself! My girl dresses in pink, dreams in pink, envisions the world in pink - recently, she wished the autumn leaves could be pink. In Hearing this, it became the basis of my layout and so the story goes...

 

I pulled out the Acorn Avenue and On Trend collections to search for all the pink items I could find. I set them aside, along with a few brads and buttons from the brand new Sleigh Ride collection. 

 

Once I had my supplies in order, I thought about how best to mix together the different shades of pinks, and varying patterns. One thing I've learned is that "when in need, go for a grid!" So, I did! I drew a grid of 1" circles side-by-side in Silhouette Studio. I then had my Silhouette trim the grid from white cardstock. I also punched 1" circles from both "Acorn Avenue" and "On Trend" 6" x 6" patterned paper pads (only the pink papers). I positioned the punched circles inside the grid at random locations and embellished them with brads, buttons and a hand-trimmed heart.

 

With the grid complete, I located this awesome vellum paper {Sleigh Ride} with gold/silvery stripes for die-cutting leaves to be placed along the bottom and top portion of the layout. They match the theme of the layout {photos & title} quite nicely.

 

I then cut the title and extended it above and below the grid. And to lend further interest to the layout, I sprinkled green brads and stickers throughout. 

 

I love to back my layouts with a sheet of cardstock, or patterned paper. It frames the layout and contains all it's elements in a unified setting. 

One more piece of info - for a distressed look, I like to run my finger beneath the paper's edge and curl it forward a bit. In this case, I did this with the layout's background patterned paper, next to the stitching. 

I hope you'll give Pink a chance on your next autumn project just as I did! According to my daughter, you can never have enough pink! 

Crate Paper Creative Weekly :: Thankful

 

 

If you've a free moment this weekend and are up for a project challenge, then check in HERE to find out all the latest details on this week's "Gratitude" theme. Acorn Avenue is the prize (every piece of it!). The winner and runner-ups will post next Tuesday on our blog, along with blog links if you happen to have one. Make sure to note your blog address upon submitting your entry. Due date is November 18th! Best of Luck to the participants!! We're anxiously awaiting your "Gratitude" stories - do share and tell! 

Megan Klauer

There are so many things in my everyday that I'm Thankful for; my 3 kids, especially. In 2002 & 2004 we were blessed with two healthy boys. Five years later we were blessed and surprised to find out that we would be adding baby number three to our family. My layout uses the Acorn Avenue collection to record my thoughts of being thankful for God's unexpected gifts. 

 

Sophie Crespy

There is so much to be grateful for, but I wanted to document how grateful I am for my children, especially their smiles and the way they help me grow everyday. I had two large photos, so I created a symmetrical design around the title "delightful". On trend papers and embellishments were an ideal fit for both photos. I then sprayed the white paper with green and pink mist before punching it up more with confetti.

 

Ashley Cannon Newell

I'm very thankful for the ability and desire to travel. Traveling brings me so much adventure and opens my eyes to new cultures, people, and experiences. I just loved the airplane chipboard element to add to a card design to gift to someone who's about to venture off to a new place. I'm also grateful for photography. Now, I'm not the best photographer in the world, but I have a fond appreciation for it and am thankful for the wedding clients we have had in the past. The camera chipboard embellishment really takes center stage in allowing me to thank customers. Always grateful for all of my blessings, but these are just two!

For those of you in Utah, because we were unable to secure the lease on the building at the Provo Shops at Riverwoods (our fault, not theirs) we are canceling the sale at that second location. We are truly sorry for the mix-up and invite you to visit us at our West Jordan location in Jordan Landing, 7378 Plaza Center Drive. The sale will be going strong there in West Jordan starting today and going through December 30.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes, and hope you are still able to make it to the sale in West Jordan!

Crate Paper Creative Weekly :: Thankful

 

 

Welcome back to day "3" of Creative Weekly! It's Crate's special week of "Gratitude" as the design team introduces beautiful creations centered on those things that bring about great meaning in their lives, and happiness. If your interested in finding out more about it, and this week's challenge, visit HERE. The prize is Acorn Avenue, embellishments + papers. Don't forget, entries are due November 18th, 2012.

 

Michiko Kato

I'm always truly thankful for my family. I'm a part time worker, so my daughters help me everyday. They scrub the bathtub, hang out the laundry and iron clothes for me. When I'm tired and return home from work, they help me to relax and tell me about their day. When they do, they're always so happy and to see them that way makes me just as happy, if not more so. Recently, my oldest daughter has entered a rebellious phase. I often have to quarrel with her, but as soon as she smiles, the frustration quickly subsides. I feel myself compelled to forgive her all the time. Much of my life is great because of "family" - I have the best time scrapbooking about them, especially my girls. 

 

Piradee Talvanna

It's amazing how fast the year has gone by, in just a few more weeks it'll already be the new year. As I look back on this year, so many things have happened - from a crazy work year of traveling every month, to having the opportunity to travel and teach scrapbooking classes, making new friends and to saying goodbye to old things. There's so much to be thankful for and I wanted to capture this in a series of cards for my box of Thankfulness.

 

Naomi Atkins

For this week's theme, Be Grateful, I made a thankful banner, and wanted to involve the whole family in the project.

I rough cut some burlap triangles..the best part was I wasn't obsessed with it being "perfect" so my daughter Ellie helped me..and she loved it!

Then, we selected patterned paper from Crate's Fall collection, "Acorn Avenue", and cut them in slightly smaller triangles. I made a template, and once again, my daughter helped cut them out. While she was doing that, I chose several pieces of coordinating cardstock and patterned paper to cut leaves out with my Silhouette. Crate came out with these adorable patterned clothespins to match their collections and I knew I was going to adhere multiple leaves to each one and hang those between the banner pieces. On the back of each leaf, for one day in November, each family member will write something we are thankful for. We can keep the leaves after we're done, and come next year, add new ones! I really love the concept of teaching my children to be thankful for both the big and small things in our lives. My oldest daughter wrote that she is thankful for our dog, Winnifred.

I wrote the word "thankful" with these gorgeous new gold foil Thickers that American Crafts produced to for Crate's "On Trend" line. They packed the perfect punch to glam up the banner a bit..and I like the results! I strung the banner and leaves on burlap twine that you can pick up anywhere. Hope this inspires you to create something that reflects your gratefullness this season!