July Creative Weekly :: Personal Celebrations

We're doing something a little different this time around with July's Creative Weekly presentation - we're giving our designers a voice in selecting their own inspirational source for the creation of a Creative Weekly "Celebration" project. Each has chosen a favored image to use as a transplant of an idea, whether towards a card, layout or something altogether unique and beautiful. Over the next three days, come take a look at what motivates our designers using only a single image and all things Crate Paper...

*Please note, due to a schedule change in preparation for the exciting collection premier, we're announcing June's Creative Weekly winner this Thursday, July 11th (6:00am Central Time). Entries are still rolling in, and wouldn't you know it, we're crazy about them!! You guys are loving the dot theme!! Thank-you to all that have submitted a challenge project thus far - we promise to put on a big showing this Thursday of your wares. We'll be pinning them, too! Stay tuned...

Photo Credit: Briana Marie Photography

Magda Mizera

What I love about my inspiration photograph is the colour scheme. Mint is my favorite colour ever and I like how it suits the soft rouge of the wheels and bicycle seat. I tried to capture it with this layout by choosing the awesome chevron patterned paper from "Fourteen" and mint alphas (American Crafts). As you can see, the cute chipboard bike from "The Pier" almost matches the actual bike, perfectly! Generally, my layout is about celebrating time I have for myself. I love to spend an hour or two alone, celebrating quiet and calm, scrapping, reading, taking photos or..riding a bike! :)

Photo Credit: Ruffled Blog

Michiko Kato

My image of 'celebration" is a gallery of balloons. To celebrate my birthday, my mother cooked my favorite dish, Sushi, and gave me a present of many balloons. I still remember this memory, and I'm grateful for the extensive arrangements made for me. Balloons make me feel a little happier.

Photo Credit: Wood & Wool Stool

Anabelle O'Malley

When looking for an image on Pinterest for this month's Creative Weekly, I decided to search 'Summer Celebration'. I have been doing so many fun things this Summer, so I wanted an image that would reflect that. I fell in love with this photo by Ingrid Jansen (Wood and Wool Stool) on Flickr. I chose to scrap a photo of my high school best friend and me. We don't see each other that often, so it was definitely a celebration when we got together recently. I just loved the neutrals in this photo with the pops of red, pink and aqua. I chose a grey paper from the Story Teller line so that I could recreate the wall in the background. I added a few layers of watered down gesso to it and then cut it into small squares. I added some silver mist and then started my layering. Elements from the Maggie Holmes and DIY Shop lines were perfect. I wanted to have little pops of color like the photo. I chose to create a banner using some of the washi tapes from The Pier and Maggie Holmes. I used small bits and then added gold sequins and gold stars to emulate the lights in the photo.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Jeanette Lee

I found this inspiring photograph on Pinterest. It sparked much thought about my fear of heights. For as far as I could remember, I never liked being within high places and taking cable car rides or roller coaster rides. I used to have nightmares thereafter, fearing for my own life. I guess I just didn't care for the lack of control of what could happen. Things eventually changed and in recent years, I've slowly wanted to do something about my fear of heights. That meant, slowly letting go, embracing difficult situations and celebrating what life 'should' be. Just like the balloons descending into the air, it is my inner yearning, too, wanting to break free.

To document this, I was first inspired to do an ombre color effect as shown in the photograph via painting different shades of blue on white cardstock. Then, I die cut some balloon tickets strips and matted them with patterned paper. The repeated photos on the layout show yet another breakthrough moment - my taking a hot air balloon ride in Korea. I complemented the photos with more celebratory elements like the balloon chipboard and butterfly die cuts. Indeed, this is how life should be celebrated and I'm glad to come thus far.

Photo Credit: 79 Ideas

Janna Werner

The Crate Paper 'July" weekly theme is "celebration". When browsing the internet for an inspirational picture, I fell immediately in love with this beautiful, shabby setting. I adore the wood floor, the light room with splashes of color and finally, the minimalism of it all. It's so expressive. I knew right away that I wanted to add white wood grain to my card, twine and the colors of the balloons. I didn't use a balloon image on the card, but Crate Paper's The Pier offers balloon themed papers and embellishments. The card I created consists of lots of layers. Actually, I didn't want to use that many layers, but when I got out all my favorite Crate Paper papers, I couldn't stop myself :) I wanted the card to be very light, just like the room. The vellum bag filled with sequins is perfect as the vellum dampens the intensity of the colored sequins. The twine is a fun detail - I wrapped it around the clothespin and afterwards, around the card. If wanting to open the card, you'd have to unwrap it first, just like a present. As the twine is attached to the clothespin, it won't get lost upon opening the card.

Due to time constraints, there will not be an open challenge this month - join us next month for an exciting "Creative Weekly" challenge as it will entail a giveaway of a brand new Crate Paper Fall/Winter release!! You won't want to miss it...seriously folks :)