Crate Paper

Thank You Notes - Anniversary Layout & Letter w/Sasha Farina

Lets say we're playing a game where I say the first thing that comes to mind when the other party says something (ala this scene in Skyfall) - You say 'thankful' and I will say 'Sam'. I'm a hopeless romantic, I admit, and I'm blessed with a good man I call my husband.

A few days ago, we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary, and my husband left for Sydney the very same day. So, I spent some time creating this layout and a beautiful, heartfelt letter.

The Close Knit collection is just perfect for my 14 & Counting layout. I decided to cut a large ampersand from the 'Fabric' patterned paper and used it as the main embellishment.

I can't resist that cute little tag from the 6 x 12 sticker sheet. And of course, I can't stop layering all the gorgeous pieces from the die-cuts pack. The colors, oh my, the colors work so well together!

I wanted to add some definition to the large yellow ampersand, so I stitched around it with blue thread. A scattering of brads, mist droplets and buttons finished the layout nicely.

After the layout was completed, I had no where to journal! I have nobody to blame except myself - I was having too much fun! :) So, I decided to write him a letter instead. It's a little bit funny, a little bit sappy, but contains many happy memories of the two of us.

I won't bore you with the letter itself, but I thought I'd show you how I decorated the front of the self-made vellum envelope. For it to coordinate with the layout, I lined the envelope with the same paper from which I cut the ampersand. Love how soft it looks here!

I used the chipboard polaroid frame as the focal point and surrounded it with die-cut flowers, heart veneers and a kraft tag.

I finished it off with this cute brad from Close Knit. Told you I can't resist the 'cross stitched' heart :)

In no time at all, I have a layout and letter. I guess you could call them a set of 'Thank You' gifts for my darling husband. I think it's a nice way to tell that someone special that we're thankful for them.

If you're doing something like this for the festive season, I'd love to see it! Feel free to link me up.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Thank You Notes - Everyday Gratitude w/Sophie Crespy

Sophie here today with you dear CP Fans! If you've been a follower of mine, then you know I'm French, which is a plus most of the time; I get to eat fabulous food and am surrounded by century old buildings! However, there are times when I'd love to be an American. You partake in some really great celebrations, Thanksgiving included! I think it's marvelous to take time out of the year to be thankful. In truth, gratitude is an attitude I try to retain all year 'round. I find that scrapbooking is a way to be grateful. I usually record memories that express what I truly cherish and the things that make me most happy.

Today, I'm going to take you through a step-by-step process of how to make this grateful page on behalf of this week's theme, "Thankful Notes". The "thank you" part of my project is the journaling, which is central to the layout's design. 

In general, the idea was to write a little note about the three most important people in my life; my two kiddo's & husband.

As to the overall design of the page, I was inspired by this beautiful packaging I spotted at Pinterest.

In getting started, I trimmed an assortment of leaves from Flea Market's 6 x 6 patterned papers.

This is the final result...

Then, I did the very same thing with my photos. They reflect the love and joy of our family. Though, the only real difference here is that I didn't use my Cameo to cut them, but my Bigshot Cutting Machine and some leaf dies.

I backed the photos with patterned paper cut in the same shape.

I wanted the leaves to look as if they were flying across the page, in the wind. So, I decided to scatter them every which way to recreate the look of blowing leaves.

Then, I thought about how to include my thank you message on my layout. I opted to create a template using Open Office Word; a simple 3-column template. I wrote my text inside the template, a thank you note for each of them: my husband and two children.

I chose to print my journaling on vellum becauses I wanted to keep the emphasis on the leaves. The vellum keeps the layout light and whimsical, and the design, clean and simple. When you print on vellum, remember to wait a little while for the text to dry before cutting  and gluing it to the layout.

I chose a font that looked like real handwriting.

As a final step, I added a title and backed the white paper with a sheet of gorgeous Flea Market flower patterned paper. I then added a few drops of my favorite custom made pink ink. {Love the 'custom' bit!!}

I adore the end result. I'm so happy to think that all three of them will one day read this and know how much I love them and how much I am thankful for their company and presence in my life.

Thank You Notes - A Precious Card Album w/Piradee Talvanna

This time of year, you might find yourself showing gratitude in ways that take on a hint of craftiness as you decide how to reach out to those that are closest and thank them for their generosity and good will. You might have a table or desk with crafty items scattered about with half-made cards, special notes and other tiny expressions of love you plan to giveaway on Thanksgiving Day, or sometime thereafter. For this reason, we put our CP Gals to the task of creating gratitude projects with the help of Crate's warm, welcoming collections. The charming series is titled, "Thank You Notes". This first installment is from our CP Gal, Piradee Talvanna....

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In wanting to try something new for this week's theme, I decided to focus on the things that I'm most grateful and thankful for at the moment using various cards and the beautiful Crate collection, Close Knit. It's my take on this week's "Thank You" theme and not surprisingly, the central subject is my precious new daughter, sweet Sophie.

In addition to the cards, I opted to create extras and turned them into an album about my daughter, Sophie. First up is the cover! I used the Silhouette to cut out the title and sub-title details. I backed the title with patterned paper to make it pop and to add contrast.

On the second page, I used one of the cards hosting the Crate patterned paper, Laughter, as inspiration for the layout (love the quote!). It captures an amazing moment - I find it hard to believe how fast my daughter is growing each and every day. Before long, her hands will be as big as mine! Goes by so quickly...

And having fun with the array of embellishments that are a part of this collection; from the cute heart dimensional stickers, to the wooden buttons and not to forget, the awesome wood veneer.

Finally, here are the thank you notes/cards where I documented all the things that I'm grateful and thankful for when it comes to this little princess; along with the various photos of all her different expressions.

To create the cards, once again, I used the Silhouette machine to cut out the title work. And just like before, I backed each title with patterned paper.

And a quick close-up of the other cards made from various Close Knit embellishments. I especially love the wood veneer and double layered dimensional stickers.

In crafting thank-you notes this month, find a way to bring them together - whether inside an album or as part of a display on Thanksgiving Day. 

 

Harvest Gathering - Thanksgiving Kids Table w/Megan Klauer

Imagine it's the morning of Thanksgiving and you've been so busy preparing the meal that you forgot about a table for the little ones. It's gotta be something special — just as special as the "big people" table. The first thing you do is send your older kids out to supervise and help the little ones find nature's treatures: berries, acorns, and fallen leaves. And bonus: the house becomes quiet for a few moments...hee!

To set our table I began by creating a simple table runner out of a roll of kraft paper from my supplies. It serves as a place for the little ones to color.

I then used a full 12" x 12" sheet of patterned paper from the Close Knit collection for the place mat. In fact, our entire table setting will be created using this collection!

I used my circle cutter to cut a 6" circle from a different paper to place on top of the plate which will hold the place card and a few of the kids' nature finds.

The place card is a simple piece of 3" x 3.5" piece of pattern paper folded in half that is decorated with embellishments. So easy!

The center piece is going to consist of a jar of colored pencils resting inside an old camp cup, surrounded by acorns and leaves.

Little details like the wood veneers add such a fun touch; although they don't have to be glued down - you can use them again later!

Creating such a special place for the little ones will create lasting memories for all!

Harvest Gathering - A Colorful Thanksgiving Banner w/Deb Duty

Hi everyone, I have a Thanksgiving banner to share with you today! The banner spells out 'Thankful', and was created with colorful patterned papers and embellishments from the Close Knit collection.

I cut banner shapes that are 5.5" x 3.6" out of Kraft cardstock and included a hole in each upper corner. Next, I chose patterned papers from the Close Knit collection and cut each rectangle at 3.9" x 3". I used my Silhouette to cut the letters out of the Close Knit 'Seamstress' paper with the 'LW Jumbo' font which is available at the Silhouette store.

Here's a closer look at each letter...

To make the letters stand out a little more, I cut an offset shape for each one out of Kraft cardstock. I embellished each letter with elements from the adorable Close Knit collection and added some leaf shapes. The beautiful patterns and colors of the shapes are lovely together strung with brown ribbon! I hope you will give it a try and enjoy making a colorful banner with your supplies too!

Harvest Gathering - Family Favorites Recipe Album w/Melissa Stinson

Crate Paper's theme this week is Harvest Gathering, bringing to mind celebrations with friends, family, and, of course, plenty of food! Thanksgiving is the time of year when many of us pull out traditional recipes, some of which have been passed down through the generations on well-worn index cards or in much-loved recipe books. Thanks to the internet (and more recently, Pinterest!), recipe books seem to be a little less common these days, and as I looked at the sad stack of computer printouts of some of my favorite recipes that we make in our own kitchen, I decided that I needed to start a recipe album of my own!

 

This is an album that I want to be able to easily add to over time as my husband and I find new favorites to include, so I started off with a 6" x 8" binder and a set of divider tabs to make the framework for the book. The actual recipes will be protected by 6" x 8" sleeves, but the unprotected tabs are likely to get a little dirty over the years, so I started things off by painting each tab with several coats of black chalkboard paint.

You can see that I wasn't very neat with my painting at all, but that wasn't an issue since my next task was to cover these dividers front and back with some of my favorite prints from Crate Paper's Close Knit collection!

I decided to limit the decoration in the album to just the dividers both to make it a little less bulky and also because I'm not likely to feel like scrapping a whole 6" x 8" layout every time I want to add a new recipe to this book! I settled on six sections -- main dishes, side dishes, breads, slow cooker recipes, grilling recipes, and desserts. Most of our recipes seem to fall into one of those categories, but of course you can change them up to fit whatever suits your cooking style!

I added the name of the category to each tag with a white pen, and I also put together an embellishment cluster using chipboard, die cuts, Thickers, and lots of other embellishments from Close Knit. If you're a much better food photographer than I am, you could also add a picture of one or two of your favorite dishes from each category, too.

I wanted to make it as easy as possible to add recipes in the future, and my plan is to simply print them out and slip them into the 6" x 8" page protectors. Crate Paper's collections almost always include one or two fantastic grid or neutral prints, and I pulled out a small selection of them to print up my first batch of recipes.

Right now, I'm using a chipboard binder to hold everything, but I have a leather-bound book on order that should hold up better during actual kitchen use - the cover should be easier to clean off, at least!

My husband and I are looking forward to adding to this album in the years to come, and I can see it expanding into multiple volumes as we continue to try new things and find old family favorites to include.

November Guest Designer :: Sandy Ang

Hi, I'm Sandy Ang from the tropical island of Singapore and I love being creative with scrapbooking papers and embellishments. I think of my design style as being quite classic, concerned typically with the manipulation of line, shape, angle and proportion, with a strong emphasis on layering. It's such an honor to be invited to guest design for Crate Paper! I have loved working with Crate's newest collections, Flea Market and Close Knit.

Sandy Ang's Blog: Sandy's Space

YIPPEE!

These Flea Market gold resin flowers are so adorable - I used this first design to showcase a half dozen of them. I sketched some twine-like lines on the soft bokeh background before stitching them in with black embroidery thread. Next, I scattered the flowers to draw the eye down to the photo, suspended within a wood grain frame.

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TAGS

Making tags is a quick and easy way for me to test out layout design ideas. On these tags, I played with the theme of a right-angle triangle, varying the proportion of elements and changing the placement of focal points to create two complementary designs with subtle differences.

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LARA

This page about my niece has a photo technique that I often use which is to rotate a 4" x 6" photo and then crop it into a square. The resulting lines and angles formed by the subject's eye and body allow me to place embellishments in a diagonal arrangement - creating an x-shaped design on the layout.

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With great gratitude, we'd like to thank Sandy for having joined us this month as guest designer and scrapbook enthusiast of all things Crate Paper. It has been a priviledge and joy to share your layouts and tags with our audience. Thanks for the memories...

Thanks for the Memories - Fall Traditions Mini Album w/Michiko Kato

There really is no better way to end this week's running theme than a pretty mini album presentation from our CP Gal, Michiko Kato. Inside are familiar oldies from last year's Crate release, including the coveted floral patterned paper, Artistry {DIY Shop}. It's often true that Crate's designs never go out of style, especially everyday collections such as DIY Shop. Just catch a glance at this endearing, heartfelt album...

Fall is a favorite season of mine in Japan. An abundance of fruits and vegetables are at their peek and the leaves are turning a bright, vivid red. We thoroughly enjoy seeing the changing foilage and the arduous removal of delicious sweet potatoes. A typical Autumn event for our family is to go camping. Unfortunetely, we weren't able to make the camping trip this year, so I created a mini album encompassing photos from last year's camp festivities. I chose the Close Knit collection for it's construction - it's a perfect fit for Fall, don't you think? Let me show you...

I chose two heart patterned papers from Close Knit that are my absolute favorite and used them on the cover of the album. The pink chipboard cookie jar is a favorite, too!

Here is the second page set...

When we went to camp in Sasayama, I went to a furniture shop with my family. Not only had it sold fancy furniture, but a lot of fancy dishes and nifty gadgets as well. The shop was beautiful, so I asked the owner if it would be alright to take a few photos. I remember being absorbed in the store's content - I simply couldn't get enough of it! 

I used a photo taken of my daughter picking up green soybeans. On the farm, there were a lot of insects. She's doesn't care much for them, so she ran about in circles. It was interesting to see her response and watch as she tried to avoid them.

I created a pocket from vellum paper. Tucked inside are a few gold sequins and an assortment of tiny Autumn leaves.

There was a cosmos field next to the soybeans. I picked cosmos and used them to adorn my table.

 

My youngest daughter is a total tomboy. She loves to catch insects! After catching a dragonfly, she showed it to her older sister who disliked insects and sure enough, her sister ran like the wind! She laughed while watching her run around, trying to avoid the gross pests - following that bit of fun, she went potato digging and got covered in mud from head to toe. Out of all my family members, she enjoys camping the most!

When I looked at these beautiful dishes, I thought about bringing them home. They made me entirely happy!

I wish you the utmost happiness this Thanksgiving. Enjoy the mini album and feel free to create one for yourself!

Thanks for the Memories - Fall Country Farm w/Marie Lottermoser

We recently spent a Saturday out in the country to enjoy the Fall colors and gorgeous scenery. When I saw this quote, it totally summed up my feelings. Just one day in the country can completely help to revive you from the hectic pace of everyday life. I loved using the new wood chipboard letters from the Close Knit collection to write out the quote. The wood tones are a perfect match for the photo of my son at the farm - enjoying a beautiful Fall day. 

I carried the country theme one step further and made another layout using a collage theme - it reminds me of an old quilt. Once again, I used the Close Knit collection. It's full of country-friendly ephemera bits! The colors are perfect for the season and I really like the wood tones against the background paper.

Remember to take the time to reflect upon the wonderful memories being created this Fall, especially those made outside and in the country. It is so beautiful out there!! 

Thanks for the Memories - Fall Vellum Mini Album w/Ashley Cannon Newell

The Fall season is always welcomed with open arms in our home. I think it's the crispness in the cool fresh air that wakes us up in preparation for the upcoming holiday seasons. To welcome Fall properly, we went to a pumpkin patch with our friends. I designed a vellum pocket mini album to display the photos embellished with all sorts of Fall themed goodies from the Close Knit collection.

There are four vellum pocket pages. I used eyelets to reinforce the holes of the album secured by twine. I also used larger photos as page dividers in the album.

Here are the details of the pages inserted into the vellum pockets.

I hope this album has you thinking about Fall and perhaps some photos you took at the pumpkin patch this year. The Close Knit collection really makes it easy to compile all the photos and add the perfect embellishments. So, get a little close with your photos from this Fall and create an album today to capture those memories forever.