Crate Paper

Boys Rule Week! + To the Moon Layout by Marie Lottermoser

When my son was in second grade, I was a chaperone for his school field trip to the Museum of Flight. I took a group of five boys through the museum where they discovered everything from WWI aircraft to a modern day space station. The boys all agreed one of their favorite exhibits was the space center where they got to see what it would be like to be an astronaut.

I've been saving this photo of my son ever since, and when I received the Boys Rule collection which has a lot of "outer space" embellishments, I knew they would be ideal to use together in a layout.

I used patterned paper with a circular theme to represent an orbit. I traced one of the outer circles on the paper with my sewing machine using red thread. Every so often I would sew down a vellum star or arrow along the circle.

I filled the rest of the circle with chipboard planets and rockets, and spelled out 'to the moon' with Thickers. I made sure to point all of the arrows and rockets in the same direction to give the layout a feeling of actually revolving around him.

I placed the photo and journaling right in the center of the layout. I tried to break things up by doing some of the journaling directly on the photo, and the rest on a piece of white cardstock, adding a few more stars here and there.

I've been loving every bit of the Boys Rule collection, but the space embellishments just might be my favorite. I'm glad I waited to scrap this photo until I had just the right papers and embellishments to go with it!

Boys Rule Week! + Cool Kid Layout by Ginny Hughes

Crate Paper's newest releases brings to light the joys of parenthood and everything there is to being a kid - from playing in the dirt to parading military figurines, boys are an adventuresome bunch. They are packed full of energy as they jump from one activity to the next, so keeping up with them means having the camera handy at any given moment. They are a blast to photograph and scrapbooking their stories is even more fun. For this reason amongst many, Crate Paper's new collection, "Boys Rule!", is the ticket to scrapbooking them special boy occasions.

In introducing the collection, we have planned five days of total awesomeness marked by projects galore and even better, a full "Boys Rule" collection GIVEAWAY!! There's even a challenge in the mix (details to come)! To get us started is a layout from CP Gal, Ginny Hughes - we adore the smile on her little guy and her simple grid philosophy.

~

I love any chance I get to document my boy. With four girls at home and only one boy, I want to document him and all of his "boyness"! The Boys Rule line is so fun, and graphic. It really conveys the energy of having a wild five-year-old son.

In creating this layout about my little boy, I started with the black and white striped patterned paper. I love the punch that it adds to the design. I used my Cameo to cut out a circle grid from the paper. I wanted the circles to act as little canvases for decorating and embellishing.

Sometimes, a simple title say it all. I used my son's first initial and his age as the title for my layout. And yes, glitter alphas totally work for boys too!

I really like using grid-style layouts, either squares or circles. I think it's a great way to to highlight a lot of fun, random elements without overwhelming the eye. Another plus is the ease at which it is to use more than one photo given the free-flowing nature of the composition.

I trimmed a quarter inch off the edges of my patterned paper and matted it on the collection's grey/vanilla dotted diamond patterned paper. I then added the leftover pieces from the sides to the top and bottom. I like how they frame the page - the vertical and horizontal stripes lend a graphic pop that is unexpectedly playful.

I printed my photos in black & white as I didn't want them to compete with the colorful patterns of the papers and embellishments.

And there you have it - my one and only little guy and the brand new, Boys Rule! I hope to have inspired you to document the boy in your life!

 

Crate Paper Booth Projects: CHA Winter 2014

We're back today to share even more of the lovely talent that was displayed at the Crate Paper booth this past week at CHA in Anaheim, California. This first project - a shabby chic frame set created from Oh Darling - would be a dream for any young girl looking to decorate a room inspired by all things feminine. It's from our returning CP Gal, Katie Ehmann.

Having two little girls, Oh Darling is one of my all-time favorite Crate collections! I love the pink and mint with pops of sunshine yellow -- so fun! To create these frames, I started with plain wooden frames from the craft store. I chose eight different patterned paper with smaller, graphic designs for an eclectic look. Then, I cut the paper strips to size to fit the frames, machine stitched them together, and embellished. The chipboard and die cut frame pieces fit the openings of the wooden frames perfectly. I'm especially loving the resin bow, gems and super cute ephemera pack. Instead of photos, I used chipboard pieces (how awesome is that roller skate?!) to turn these into cute decorations perfect for a little girl's room!

  

I love the Boys Rule line! The colors and motifs are so much fun and are really versatile. One of my favorite Crate projects has been the chipboard frames. I loved layering them over my photo, here, and using them as the base on my title block. Another favorite is the new vellum. Stars are such a versatile design and I had fun adding the star vellum onto my page to add an extra layer of design.

 

 

Rad: The "Rad" sticker jumped out at me as soon as I saw it! I knew it would be the perfect sentiment on a card. I started by trimming a few patterned papers down to a smaller square. Then, I layered on a few stickers and embellishments and added a few paint splatters to finish it off.

Awesome: On this card, I created a patchwork background from a few different patterned papers. I cut down small squares using scissors to give the background an imperfect look. Then, I added the "awesome" card on top using pop dots for extra dimension.

Love You: Making cards from simple scraps and tags is one of my favorite go-to techniques! This card came together quickly and easily. Most of the papers and tags were left over from my Boys Rule clipboard project. I simply layered them together and sewed them into place. Easy peasy!

 

Hi: Crate offers an abundance of beautiful frames! They're great on top of photos or as part of an embellishment display on either a layout or card. Here, I layered several different frames and patterned papers on top of one another. I allowed some of the papers and frames to extend and peek through to give the impression of depth and to draw the eye inward. I added the sentiment "hi" using the lovely green script Thickers inside one of the frames. I finished the sweet card with a chipboard flower and a pink bow.

Love: I wanted to highlight the gorgeous papers in this collection, so I focused on creating a sunburst as my background. After I trimmed out all of the pieces, I layered them onto my card and sewed them into place while lifting the edges ever so slightly. I kept the rest of the card fairly simple by adding two wood veneer pieces to the top left hand corner.

Love You: The vellum shapes are ideal as embellishments and/or sentiments on a card. I chose the "love you" vellum phrase as my main focus. I layered it on top a beautiful piece of patterned paper and a pocket tab from the ephemera pack. I finished it off with a few paper butterflies.

 

Valentines is one of my favorite holidays to scrap, and Love Notes was a sure hit in my capturing this picture of my sister-in-law with her sweet family. I have an album in process for her, so this is a wonderful addition to their family life. In preparation, I had her email me a small paragraph for the page. I typed it out and printed it out in small strips. I'm really liking the trend of small print at the moment. It allowed me to fit everything she had to say onto the page. The adhesive badges are a big fave of mine from the collection, as are the chipboard pieces. They were the perfect finishing touch!

  

Crate Paper Booth Projects: CHA Winter 2014

It's that time of year again when the Crate Paper booth displays lots of beautiful projects at the CHA showroom floor in Anaheim, California. With the latest and greatest CP products greeting retailers and fans from around the world, the 2014 CP Design Team went to work creating catchy designs from the new collections. Everything from decked out clipboards to cute mini albums found a home at the booth. Check out all the eye candy— it's pretty amazing! We thought maybe you'd like to take a peek!

 

I love the Boys Rule collection! The papers, embellishments and all of the extras are perfect for documenting those precious boy memories! For my project, I wanted to create a wall display using small clipboards, photos and various supplies from the collection. I started by trimming down a few of the patterned papers and then added on my photos and embellishments. I sewed everything into place to make sure they would stay together and then attached them to the clipboards. The colors are wonderful and the embellishments give the photos the perfect pop!

 

 

A black and white typography background takes on a boost of color in this layout! Just because Boys Rule is a "boy" collection doesn't mean it lacks color by any means. Both the new boy and girl collections are composed of saturated color palettes that stand-out and bring energy to the scene, no matter the project. They're a fun bunch for capturing the joys of childhood - skateboarding included!

 

The Oh Darling collection is amazing! I love everything about it, especially all of the embellishments! I love this collection so much that I wanted to use every bit of it on my one page. To do this, I picked pieces from each embellishment pack. The ephemera and chipboard packs were loaded with yumminess. It was hard to narrow down which items I wanted to use - I LOVED all of it!

This layout is about my best friend and her sweet baby girl. Hence the title, "Sweet Girl". I used  journaling cards behind some of the main focal areas across the center of the page to anchor them. The little chipboard air balloons were the perfect item for drawing the eye upward. They also lend the page a more dimensional feel. I added a little collage along the bottom. This draws the eye downward - generating further movement. The Oh Darling collection made it super easy to create this fun, girlie page. It's one of my favorite Crate Paper collections to date.

 

Cards, cards and more cards. Wida created a whimsical assortment of cards from Oh Darling, Boys Rule and Love Notes and the best part, they're totally outside the box and fun! "Call me Maybe" is a quintessential line these days and it's reference here is super cute. The shaker box of vellum die-cuts and sequins is a clever use of both Love Notes' and Oh Darling's itty-bitty offerings. And the boy banner, what's not trendy about that?! All these cards are fab and cool!

 

 Yes, even the Love Notes gets a showing - to us, it's still very much brand new! Overlapping paper layers define Anabelle's layout, as well as an over abundance of hearts! The photos are nearly a perfect match with the color 'red' taking center stage. And we can't get enough of them cute wooden clips - Crate has created dozens of them over the years. They're addictive and have a total DIY feel which we love!

 

I was extremely happy when Love Notes finally arrived at my doorstep - it's one of those collections you have to see in-person to fully appreciate. Like always, Crate Paper delivers Valentine's Day like no other! The camera, xo's, date stamper and frames are just a fraction of the collection's cuteness factor. And considering that I'm as much a collage artist as a scrapbooker, I can't get over the variety here. Love Notes can "call me" anytime!

~