Crate Paper

Create a Winter Planner Dashboard

Hello CP friends! So excited that this week we are featuring Snow and Cocoa. What I love about this collection is it could be used for December daily, winter memories as well as Christmas celebration. The versatility of this collection is really great! Perfect for any kind of projects. With that theme in mind, I took the opportunity to decorate in my gold planner. Simply because everything looks good with gold *wink*

To create the dashboard and decorative cover page, all you need are a few supplies like patterned paper that will work as base and all the pretty embellishments (cute die-cuts, clips, chipboard stickers, etc.) that you can add as you decorate. 

The dashboard (on the left) is useful especially when you want to add any pretty elements on your planning pages. You can always grab those and make your inner pages pretty & interesting! I embellished the pockets with lots of embellishments like paper clips, tags, decorative clips and stickers. These elements are perfect to be used in decorating your to-do-list, shopping list and so on.

The decorative cover page (on the right) will be great as a monthly cover for your daily/weekly planning. You can always add the month for reference. 

This page is pretty easy to put together. I cut the base to fit the planner. Then I used some gesso and covered up some of the words to create a subtle look to the page. Added a tag towards bottom of the page, a paper fox and added more fun paper ephemera to fill the gaps. Layering gives a fuller look to your page. 

By keeping or changing things around in your planner will keep you going and will give fresh look as well.  It's also a fun way to keep up with the new products as well. Thank you for swinging by! Have a great week!

Supplies : Snow and Cocoa - 6x6 Paper Pad (375883), Ephemera Pieces (375886), Decorative Clips (375893), Jar Pockets (375891), Snowflake Stickers (375889), Brr (375875)

Winter Magic Layout

Hi there CP fans!  It’s Ashley, and I’m here to share a layout with you, using one of my favorite new collections from Crate Paper, Snow & Cocoa!  I love that this collection can be used for winter photos and Christmas layouts.  And there are so many cute images included in the collection!

The first thing that caught my eye in this collection, was the fun reindeer Printed Vellum sheet.  I just had to use it!  I thought about the best way to use it for my layout, and I decided to layer it over the Rosy Cheeks patterned paper.  This added a variety of color behind the reindeer pattern, without taking away from the design.  It can be tricky when you are adding vellum to a layout, because you don’t want any adhesive showing through the transparent paper.  I solved this problem by adding my adhesive to the vellum where I knew my photo would cover it.  You could also machine stitch the vellum to secure it to your background paper.

When it came to my photo and embellishments, I kept everything clustered near the upper left hand corner of the layout.  I didn’t want to cover too much of the vellum paper…because let’s face it, it’s the star of the layout!!  Keeping all of my embellishments and my title clustered near the photo, also helped the photo stand out from the background design.

I always like to add interest and mix textures with my embellishments, so I mixed some of the die cut snowflakes from the Ephemera Pack, one of the wood veneers and some of the cute puffy stickers.  I also love the glitter texture on the snowflake stickers and the touch of Gold it adds to the layout.

I kept things simple for the title, and used the word Winter from the puffy stickers pack.  I love that each letter included a color from the collection.  Then for contrast, I used the Bright Thickers to add the word Magic.  I really liked the look of the two different sized alphas in the title and the Black Thickers really popped on the background paper.

There are so many fun ways to use the Snow & Cocoa collection!  I hope you’ve found some inspiration today, for documenting your winter photos and some fun ideas for using the Printed Vellum!

Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Rosy Cheeks (375881), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Printed Vellum (375882), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa 6x6 Paper Pad (375883), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Ephemera Pieces (375886), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Accent Stickers (375887), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375888), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375889), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Bright Thickers (375884), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Die Cut Pieces (375894), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375890)

How-to: Gratitude Mini Album

Hello, to be grateful is easy, there are so many things we are subconsciously grateful for every day, but how often do we make a conscious effort to note those things down? It wouldn't take much, just once a day we could write them down, put them out there, make them real and meaningful. I created this small Mini Album to write mine down, I can now add simple inserts and dividers too, and over time it will be a small reminder of how grateful I am of our life together as a family.




I used a variety of patterned papers from Maggie Holmes Gather collection and cut them down to 6x4 in size, then used plain copy paper for my notes, you could use any paper here, lined paper would look great as well.

I then started adding small simple embellishments to the dividers, I plan to add photos eventually too.



You can add tabs, fabric, ribbon, anything really to bulk up your album. The most important part of this mini album though is using it to record what you're most grateful for.




Wishing you and your family well. I hope I've inspired you to create your own album and write down what you're grateful for and record it for generations to come.





Products Used: Maggie Holmes Gather 6x6 Paper Pad (375869), Maggie Holmes Gather Chipboard Stickers (375840), Maggie Holmes Gather Ephemera Pack (375841).

 

Using Black & White Photos on Layouts

Hello everyone, It's Laetitia and I'm delighted and excited to be here during Gratitude Week. For this theme I knew immediately that I wanted to make a layout with journaling about my daughter Lisa. She is 5 years old and it's such a magical time. She is in awe of the little things in life—even the simple things like a small present or little reward. It makes life 1,000 times better! It's still covered with kisses, hugs and thanks. She's so adorable.

 

To create this layout, I used my favorite collection of all time: GATHER by Maggie Holmes. I used a plain pink overlay and I mixed 4 papers in different patterns to complete the look. I kept the leather effect paper that stands out best for the center to put my picture and my black and white journaling.

 

I started with the left box by placing labels and a pretty flower and I set my photo with foam 3D. Then I wrote my journaling to the typewriter skipping a line each time to cut them into strips and I stuck with small dots of glue.

I added bulky embellishments to give a 3D effect. So fun!

Beneath the journaling, I added the title with glittery gold Thickers and a lovely red heart in polka dots. To complete my layout, I just added the foil stickers. 

Supplies: STYLE paper (375836), BLUSH paper (375822), KATE paper (375826), KINDRED paper (375821), LOVE paper (375834), Ephemera Pack (375841), Blessed accent stickers (375839), Chipboard stickers 12x12 (375840), Foiled stickers (375842), Mixed embellishments (375850), Bloom thickers (680432)

Thank You Card by Andrea

Hello there! It's Andrea, and today I want to share with you a really fun idea that you can use for your Thanksgiving dinner guests this year! I wanted to make cards for my friends and family this year for Thanksgiving...like a kind of “thank you” card for all my loved ones. I also thought it would be fun to have everyone at Thanksgiving dinner, make a list of what it is that they are thankful for. Subsequently, I combined the two ideas and decided that this year I would make Thank You cards that say thanks but also have a spot inside to write a list about what the recipient is thankful for in their life. 

For the card, I decided to use the super sweet Gather collection by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper. I love this collection because of how beautiful and versatile it is, the vintage flair that it has and also the warm, fall feel that it evokes.

For the base of the card I used the floral patterned paper, “So Sweet”. On the outside of my card, I used a cluster of fall leaves that I cut out on my die cut machine (I designed the leaves cutfiles myself). I cut these leaves out of various patterned papers from the Gather collection. On top of my leaves, I used the word “Gather” – it is a chipboard sticker from the collection and it really helps create a fun, fall Thanksgiving look to my card, along with the leaves.

At the top of the card, I used a little chipboard flag sticker that says “little moments” on it. And at the bottom of the card, underneath the word, “gather”, I did a little hand-sewing with a few zig-zag stitches to create a fun handmade feel for my card.

On the inside of the card, I used a few journaling cards (from the ephemera pack and the cut-apart sheet) for decoration. I placed one on the inside cover of the card that says “write it on your heart” – which serves as kind of directions for the recipient. This way they will then notice the blank lined paper that I stapled onto the other side of the card which is for them to use to write out all the things they are thankful for. I will of course give my friends and family members this instruction when I hand them the card too.

On top of the piece of patterned paper that I included for their “thankful” list, I clipped on a couple journaling cards, one which I stitched the words “thank you” to, and one which says “with happy hearts we gather together'. I hope I have inspired you to create some fun “Thank You” card/Thankful lists for your friends and family this Thanksgiving. Remember to make one for yourself too, to really help you reflect on all the wonderful things in your life that fill your heart up with gratitude!

Products Used: Maggie Holmes Gather Sweet Life Cut Apart Sheet (375814), Maggie Holmes Gather On Point Patterned Paper (375815), Maggie Holmes Gather Melody Patterned Paper (375820), Maggie Holmes Gather Kate Patterned Paper (375826), Maggie Holmes Gather Details Patterned Paper (375828), Maggie Holmes Gather So Sweet Patterned Paper (375850), Maggie Holmes Gather You + Me Patterned Paper (375832), Maggie Holmes Gather Happy Place Patterned Paper (375833), Maggie Holmes Gather My Story Patterned Paper (375835), Maggie Holmes Gather Chipboard Stickers (375840), Maggie Holmes Gather Ephemera Pack (375841), Maggie Holmes Gather Metallic Washi Tape (375849)

Holiday Place Cards with Snow & Cocoa

Hello Crate Paper fans!  I'm back again with some simple place cards that would work well for your next Winter themed party!

To start I chose 3 12”x12” patterned papers that would work well for the base of my place cards.  I used my paper trimmer to trim them to 4”x7” each, then used a bone folder to fold them in half. 

To create my BRRR place card, I started by trimming a piece of calendar paper from my 6”x6” paper pad. The calendar paper from the paper pad works great because you can choose which month works best for your event/ place cards and then cut it out.  On the front of my card face I added some loose netting, a hand cut December paper and a couple of tags from the acetate ephemera pack.  I then layered the pieces together and used my sewing machine to stitch them down.  I used white/gold twine to connect the polar bear tag to the small brrr tag and strung them together.  I finished by adding a gold glitter snowflake from the sticker pack.

To create my mason jar place card, I started by tearing out a page from an old book, and then used my sewing machine to stitch it to the front of my card.  Next, I filled my mason jar pocket with the tiny ephemera & sequins that come in the mason jar kit.  Lastly,  I adhered the mason jar to the right side of my place card.  On the left side I layered some snowflake die-cuts with some loose thread and foam adhesive dots.

On my last card (the Joy place card), I started by layering a hand cut brrr tag from a 12”x12” piece of Hot Cocoa paper.  Then I trimmed a small piece of burlap and layered it on top of my card.  I used a sewing machine to stitch the burlap down.  Next, I added a small piece of loose netting, followed by a small piece of book paper.  To finish up my card I added a few snowflake ephemera pieces using foam dots and a clear “joy” acetate die cut.

I hope that my post today inspires you to create festive handmade place cards for your next hosting event!

Supplies: Snow & Cocoa (SCDS-75872) – Joy Paper, Snow & Cocoa (SCDS-75870) – Hot Cocoa Paper, Snow & Cocoa (SCDS-75873) – Wonderland Paper, Snow & Cocoa (SCDS-75877) – At Home Paper, Snow & Cocoa (375892) – Wire Brush Trees, Snow & Cocoa (375886) – Acetate Ephemera, Snow & Cocoa (375891) – Mason Jar Pockets, Snow & Cocoa (375889) – Stickers, Snow & Cocoa (375883) – 6”x6” Paper Pad

Hosting a Christmas Party

The holidays are right around the corner, and if you’re hosting the Christmas party this year, I’ve got a fun table décor idea to share with you today, using the Snow & Cocoa collection.  You can personalize your place settings with several hand made items, created with the papers and embellishments from Snow & Cocoa.

I started with a place card.  Place cards are quick and easy.  I cut a banner piece from one of the 6x6 papers in the paper pad.  I wanted to embellish the card, so I used one of the snowflakes from the Ephemera pack and layered one of the cute, Gold snowflake stickers over it.  And you can’t have a place card, without including the name of your guest!  The Bright Thickers worked perfectly for adding the name to my place card.

A good table setting, always needs some fun pieces for the centerpiece.  It’s easy to create a variety of Christmas trees for your table setting, with a little bit of paper folding.  You will need to use square sheets, so you can work with the 12x12 size and the 6x6 size papers.  Start out by folding your paper 4 times…fold in half once, then open and fold in half the other way.  Then fold along the diagonal, open and fold again along the other diagonal.  For additional help, check out some of the Origami Christmas Tree tutorials on Pinterest.

It’s also fun for your guests to have something to take home from the party.  I whipped up a fun tag with one of the tags included in the Ephemera pack.  I wanted the tag to be featured in the place setting, so I added one of the cute Paper Clips to the top, so I could clip it to the mug.  I also added a few puffy stickers and the year, by cutting 20 and 16 from the Blizzard patterned paper.

For a finishing touch, the Wire Brush Trees fit right in to the table décor.  These would also be cute take home gifts for your guests.  They would be a perfect addition to add to their own Christmas decorations!

Once your party is finished, you can also incorporate the table decorations into your Christmas décor. Just add the paper Christmas trees to your mantle or a shelf, and any left over tags would be cute on your Christmas tree!

Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Wonderland (375873), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Let’s Play (375879), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Cozy (375876), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa 6x6 Paper Pad (375883), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375888), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375890), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Ephemera Pieces (375886), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Paper Clips (375893), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Bright Thickers (375884), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Stickers (375889), Crate Paper Snow & Cocoa Wire Brush Trees (375892)

Table Style with Jessy

Hello again! I'm so excited to know that this week is all about "Hosting". I really love this theme because I love parties and gatherings with close friends and family. With this theme, it is also perfect timing for me to take out my gold utensils and plates to play. Everything goes well with gold. What a perfect excuse right? Hehe. Recently, I've shifted into our new house and boy; I'm really looking forward to host family and friends soon. For now, let me share with you how I used the Gather collection as part of my table styling. 

As usual, I will go through the collection to get a rough idea of what I would like to create. After much consideration, I decided to use the Gather collection products for tablemat, plate decoration and also guest place card.  I really love the colour palettes in the Gather collection. The black & white dots patterned paper really captured my attention as it goes pretty well with the gold tableware. With that, I decided it would be great to use as "tablemat". 

I also chose the red patterned paper and cut it with flower die-cut. The bigger red petals were used at the bottom and layered with the side B pattern for smaller petals. Then I layered the flower rosette at the top to complete it. Isn't the paper flower perfect as part of the deco?

And as addition to the plate deco, I also used 2 chipboard leaves to give more texture to my styling. And placed a handwritten name place card to finish the look. Absolutely love how all the different green leaves gave so much depth and fun to my table set up too! Thank you so much for coming by! Hope that you'll have a great crafty week. 

Supplies: Maggie Holmes Gather : Moments (375818), Details (375828), Mixed Embellishments (375850), Chipboard Stickers (375840) 

A Cute Way to Use the Cute Girl Collection

Hi ladies, it'ss Laetitia and I'm pleased to present a layout using the collection, CUTE GIRL. In recent years I have become accustomed to scrapping small photos. I wanted to change it up a bit and return to the usual format.

I was happy to break my photo size habit, but wasn't ready to break my habit of using white Bazzill cardstock for the background! I began by sticking a large piece of paper with the words in black and white by planning to add full of colorful details to highlight the photo. The idea was to bring together as many elements around the photo. First I created a little volume under the picture by pasting different pieces of paper. 

 

I then added a beautiful label, tag and pretty flower paper from the ephemera pack. My photo was pasted with 3D foam to highlight it even more. I then added the little doll of the great board of chipboard and the small knot golden clip cute. After I filled the right side that was empty with Hearts, added a 3D golden heart from the HELLO LOVE collection. And finally, 2 small phrases stickers.

 

On the bottom of the photo I used the large and beautiful chipboard stickers "LOVE YOU" in black and white and I chose to go stick a colored strip of paper to contrast everything. I found this beautiful flower paper!

I hope this layout will inspire you for your next project;) See you soon!

Supplies: SISTERS paper (680495), FANCY paper (680503), SWEETHEART Paper (680492), MAGICAL paper (680493), Cute Girl Vellum (680504), Cute Girl Ephemera die-cut (680509), Cute Girl Foiled Stickers (680510), Small bow embellishments (680512), Cute Girl Chipboard 12x12 (680508), Hello Love Gold Heart (680367) 

Guest Designer: Flóra Mónika Farkas

Hi Everyone! It's Flóra Mónika Farkas here. I am so honored to be a guest designer on the Crate Paper blog. It's a huge dream come true! Must say I adore every Crate Paper collection (and must have them all), but the No.1 are always by Maggie Holmes. Love the vintage look with the beautiful patterns and soft colors. I was so excited to receive the gorgeous Maggie Holmes Gather collection. It's totally my style. Every piece is perfection. It was so easy to work with it! I had so much fun to play with the collection and here is the result.

 

Layout #1

This is the first layout. I started this project with selecting a family portrait. This was my favourite so far, as everybody is happy and smiling. I printed out in black and white as the original colors were not perfect for my project. I had an idea to place my photo in the middle and frame it.

I cut out this fancy frame with my Silhouette Cameo and added gold machine stitching around. Then something crazy came into my mind. What if I hid my journaling behind the photo and would glue round. I accomplished this idea with transparent "fishing line". I really like the result as it makes the layout interactive. 

For embellishing, I used a lot of chipboard and tiny labels. I also adhered some pieces from the ephemera pack. I like the vintage look of the Gather collection - it's perfect for family memories.

 

Layout #2

You can see in the photo my lovely niece. She is very special to us, as she is the first grandchild in our small family. I am so amazed how fast she is growing. She is already a pretty lady. I believe the Gather collection fits the best to pretty little girls. Look at the soft pink shades and romantic patterns. ;-)

 

 

For this layout I used a floral cut file designed by Paige Evans. I turned to a 3D flower, backed the layers with pinkish patterned papers and layered them. I used foam tape to add dimensions and also formed a bit the leaves for more 3D effect.

 

 

To compensate the dominant left side I used a huge portrait photo in half circle shape on the right. I minimalized the embellishing, so just adhered few chipboards on the bottom of the photo. 

 

 

 

Layout #3

My last project is dedicated to our family dog, Füli. This photo was taken in 2012 when she was few month old puppy. She brings lots of love, happiness to our life. With her personality she charms everybody.

 

 

For the base I used Crate Paper Gather Magical 12" paper. I cut out some of the hearts with a craft knife. I only cut it half, then fold it and backed it with a different patterned paper. The focus of my layout (beside the photo) is the big chipboard title. I like how the black pops out from the soft layout.

 

 

I used lots of pretty embellishments from the ephemera pack and pieces from the embellishment mix. This cute bow is my favourite. I also adore the tiny puffy gold alpha, specially that it gives me a chance to make my own sentiment.  

 

 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you liked my layouts. I enjoyed to be here! It was such a honor and big fun. Thanks for the amazing opportunity Crate Paper!