March Crate Paper Guest Designer :: Charlene Cundy

Hi There! I'm so excited to be back at Crate Paper as a guest designer! Crate Paper is my all time favorite paper company! I can remember the first time I fell in love with Crate Paper. I was in my favorite scrapbook store and turned the corner and saw "Restoration". I couldn't pick up the paper and embellishments fast enough! I remember I was with a friend and she was driving us home. I must have pulled out that paper five times to look at it on the way home...and that began my love of Crate Paper!

I started paper crafting almost four years ago. I have been known to make a layout or two, but my first love is card making and altered projects. I have always been crafty in one way or another. I make jewelry, paint and pretty much anything that involves creating. When traveling, I stop at all scrapbook stores. I love to go antiquing and find vintage treasures to scrap with...maybe some lace doilies, or vintage clothes pins or maybe an item to alter.

When I'm not crafting, I love to go for drives and discover new places. My absolutely favorite place is the ocean. I love to visit waterfalls and walk in the forest along streams. I love to have the grand kids over for a sleep over and craft night. They are four and six at this moment, and the light of my life! I like to read and go to the movies, have friends over and just enjoy life!

*First of all, I really love the new Maggie Holmes line. It's eclectic, the colors are vibrant and the patterns are gorgeous! I thought I'd start off by making a few cards with it...

I started with kraft cardstock and dry brushed white around the edges, added some coral colored American Crafts cardstock behind that to pop the colors on top. I then used some AC dark blue cardstock and punched out the embossed pattern, cut it into squares and drybrushed them. I love how they turned out and I'm sure I'll do this technique again! I went ahead and added some "Wonderful" patterned paper over kraft cardstock, embossed it along the bottom in "white" and finally, used AC pop dots to secure the squares along the top before adding a doily and strawberry label to the center.

For this card, I embossed the kraft cardstock and then dry-brushed it with white acrylic paint. I positioned Maggie Holmes "Click" patterned paper to the top, a smaller layer of "Elizabeth Kate", and a ticket while calling attention to it all with a beautiful butterfly! I notched the sides out with a circle punch and added some twine, tied into a bow.

I started this card by running the cardstock through my crimper and then dry brushed it with white acrylic paint. I trimmed a smaller piece of Maggie Holmes "Elizabeth Kate" patterned paper and sewed it to the crimped background. I cut-out hearts with my Silhouette and backed them with a cardstock cut. Lastly, I tied ribbon across the card and topped it off with labels and hand-cut felt leaves.

I embossed light blue cardstock with a hexagon pattern. I dry-brushed white acrylic paint across it's surface. A white frame was added (trimmed using the Cameo), as well as a butterfly embossed in gold. A hand-trimmed banner and butterfly die-cut (Maggie Holmes) was used to adorn the butterfly and the remaining overall card.

This card is made with Crate's new Party Day paper and embellishments. Such a fun party line!! I love the Party Day Emphemera Die-Cuts! I took advantage of them in making this card. To begin, I trimmed the middle area from a yellow cardstock tag. Just beneath it, I added "Wish" patterned paper. The rosette was created from "Cake Batter" patterned paper, a punched 1" circle and a cupcake brad.

For this card, I used "Click" paper on top and "Captured" paper on the bottom. I then took various strips of Maggie's "Washi Paper" and placed them along the left side of the card. I cut-off the top-most portion of a tag, strung some twine through it and stapled it to the top of the card. It's a great hanger for the cute little camera!

A couple of additional cards from the festive Party Day collection...

Finally, I crafted a mini from Maggie's Mini Clipboard Album. It's 6" x 9" in size and a whole lot of fun to work with! It's the very last project and one I enjoyed creating until the very end...

Thank-you Crate Paper for having me! It's been a pleasure to work with the new collections, Maggie Holmes and Party Day, and an honor to be here with all of you!

Comments

Wow! Your projects are all so amazing! Love your style & all of the layers!

Posted by: meganklauer | March 07, 2013 at 05:22 AM

Beautiful cards Charlene! These are so lovely, great layers and textures, wonderful!

Posted by: Miriam Prantner | March 07, 2013 at 06:51 AM

love all the layering! simply gorgeous! gonna pin this!!!

Posted by: SamSam | March 07, 2013 at 06:53 AM

WOW Char I LOVE your cards and that mini with all the layers....awesome work!!!!

Posted by: Margo | March 07, 2013 at 07:03 AM

amazing projects!

Posted by: Evgenia Petzer | March 07, 2013 at 09:37 AM

Absolutely stunning, Char! These are fantastic! LOVE all the bright, colorful goodies, and your grandchildren are such dolls! Way to knock it out of the park, girl!

Posted by: Jinny Newlin | March 07, 2013 at 12:15 PM

Oh my shabby goodness ... such eye candy created by my sweet friend, Char! I couldn't pick a favorite ... every one is a work of art! Bravo :)

Posted by: Debbie Marcinkiewicz | March 07, 2013 at 02:56 PM

Your projects are amazing!!!

Posted by: Julie Tucker-Wolek | March 07, 2013 at 04:52 PM

Love, love, love everything you make....so gorgeous!

Posted by: clippergirl | March 07, 2013 at 11:32 PM

I am a HUGE fan of Char's and my jaw is hanging open at all of these gorgeous creations of hers! Absolutely stunning spotlight of your fabulous products! I am in AWE!

Posted by: Audrey Pettit | March 08, 2013 at 05:31 AM