Guest Blogger: Dream Team Member Cindy Tobey
04/09/2010 at 5:00 am | Posted in fonts, guest blogger, How-Tos, product, technique | 16 CommentsTags: bird nest, Cindy Tobey, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, font, fonts, Free Font Friday, free fonts, guest blogger, How-Tos, Paper flower, product, spring, technique
Hello! It’s Cindy Tobey here, a member of the 2010 Creating Keepsakes Dream Team. Don’t you just love spring? I sure do! There are tiny buds forming and starting to bloom, bunnies are hopping from yard to yard, and my favorite, the chatter of birds outside. I’ve stopped by today to share a layout and spring themed accent that I hope you’ll enjoy!
Handmade paper flowers are all the rage right now, and I’ve used the same technique used to make spiral flowers to create a sweet little bird’s nest for my page below.
Climb by Cindy Tobey. Supplies: Patterned paper: American Crafts, Cosmo Cricket, Crate Paper, Hambly, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Jillibean Soup, and My Mind’s Eye; Stickers and paper border srtip: Doodlebug Design; Journal tag: Jillibean Soup; Ribbon: SEI; Felt: Prima; Leaves: Bazzill Basics Paper; Font: Century Gothic; Adhesive: Beacon and Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L; Other: pom poms.
Step 1: Cut a 4″ circle from patterned paper. With a pencil, sketch a spiral onto the back of the circle. Cut along the sketched line.
Step 2: Roll the paper to form a nest shape, securing with adhesive in just two or three spots as you go.
Step 3: Use liquid glue along the bottom edge of the spiral to secure it to the base. Note: The base is the center of the paper circle that you cut into a spiral.
Step 4: When the glue is dry, take the palm of your hand and push down on the nest gently, to slightly flatten it. Work the edges of the nest with your fingers to get the desired shape.
Step 5: Finally, glue pom poms into the bottom of nest.
Tip: Use whatever you have on hand for the bird eggs. Buttons or beads would work great too! You could even add dots with a marker to buttons or beads for speckled eggs!
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning this technique and will give it a try! Thanks for reading, and happy spring!
Cindy
P.S. Don’t forget to download today’s font as part of Free Font Friday! This weeks’ font is CK Weez. Download it today at Creating Keepsakes.
Special Guest Blogger: Mandy Douglass
04/02/2010 at 8:10 am | Posted in fonts, General Inspiration, guest blogger, Holidays, How-Tos, product, technique, Uncategorized | 5 CommentsTags: American Crafts, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Dear Lizzy, Easter eggs, eggs, Fiskars Americas, free font, Free Font Friday, gift bag, guest blogger, holiday, how-to, Mandy Douglass, photo tips, photography tips, ribbon, ribbon technique, technique
Hey all my favorite CK Readers! It is me, Mandy Douglass! I don’t know about you, but I am so excited for this upcoming Easter holiday weekend. Now that I have two little boys, it just keeps getting more and more fun each year. I love easter egg hunts, easter baskets, easter bunnies, and those little peeks from the tulips that will soon turn into beautiful flowers.
Last year was the first year my son, Bryson, could start to understand the whole easter egg hunt idea. So today, I thought I would share a photo tip and a ribbon tip with you from this fun new page I created about his first hunt!
The Race is On by Mandy Douglass. Supplies: American Crafts.
Photo Tip:
Bryson was just learning to walk, and he really didn’t have enough balance to pick up eggs, so crawling was his only way to get those funny looking round things! I thought this photo was perfect to use on my layout, because it captures his perspective on the easter egg hunt. There weren’t a lot of kids around to “race” him for the eggs, but the faster he got them, the more excited he was. I challenge all you CK readers to get down in the grass this weekend and get some true perspective photographs!
Ribbon Tip:
Next is a fun tip a friend taught me a while back. I often find it hard to punch through a page or get a knotted ribbon to stay in place without gargantuan amounts of glue! So here are a few steps to show you how to get that cute ribbon knot to stay in place and avoid getting sticky.
First cut a piece of ribbon about 3″ long. Then staple it to the area of the page you would like the ribbon to be.
Then simply tie the knot (I usually only tie one knot and it stays in place).
Then cut off the remaining ribbon.
Simple, huh!
Bonus Gift-Bag Topper Tip:
I decided to use the same technique on some cute treat bags for Easter. (Not only did I get a cute bag out of it, but it also gave me a great excuse to open those Cadbury Mini Eggs that have been staring at me for a week!)
To make the bag topper, I made a simple flap using Sizzix’s scallop square die cut, then I folded it in half. I added some darling egg paper from the Dear Lizzy line by American Crafts and stapled the decorated flap to close the bag and keep the ribbon in place.
Last, I made a cute little tag using a Quickutz oval die, some scallop scissors by Fiskars, and Dear Lizzy Dimensional Sticker. Then knotted it all in place!
Such an easy way to do lots of Easter treat bags.
“Hop” that you all have a great holiday weekend!
Mandy Douglass, CK contributing writer
P.S. Don’t forget to download today’s font as part of Free Font Friday! This weeks’ font is CK Day Dream. Download it today at Creating Keepsakes.
Latest & Greatest Products: March/April 2010
03/30/2010 at 5:00 am | Posted in Hot Trends, latest & Greatest, product, Uncategorized | 268 CommentsTags: BasicGrey, CK, Claudine Hellmuth Studio, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, EK Success, giveaway, Jillibean Soup, Kim Jackson, latest & Greatest, patterned paper, products, Punches, Ranger Industries, Scrapbook, scrapbook supplies, Scrapbooking, stickers, TaDa Creative Studios
While creating every issue of Creating Keepsakes, we have a blast looking through all of the new scrapbooking products, trying to decide which ones will make our Latest & Greatest column. Of course, we never have enough space for all of the goodies we’d love to share with you. So we’ve decided share a few more of the producs that sparked our imaginations from each issue here on our blog—and we’ll give you the chance to win some of the fabulous products. Let’s get rolling!
Claudine Hellmuth Studios – Ranger Industries
We discovered the amazing line of Claudine Hellmuth Studio products from Ranger Industries at CHA back in January, and shared a couple of videos of sweet Claudine demonstrating just a few of the fun things you can do with her Sticky Back Canvas. You’ll love adding texture and color to your pages with this wonderful, on-trend line of products.
Eggdrop Soup – Jillibean Soup
With Easter right around the corner, our eyes are open for bunnies hopping down the bunny trail. The adorable Eggdrop Soup line from Jillibean Soup is a perfect addition to your stash, whether you’re looking for something to jazz up your Easter pages or a simple, cute new way to add a splash of springtime to your pages.
Double-Sided Edger Punches – EK Success
A sweet daisy chain will add just the right touch of springtime charm to your layouts—and with EK Success’ new Daisy Chain punch, you’ll have a true daisy chain, punched out on both sides. You’ll love this new punch design, as well as the others in the EK Success’ new line.
Green at Heart – BasicGrey
Earth Day is on April 22, and you’ll love adding a touch of “green” to your layouts with BasicGrey’s bright and fabulous new Green at Heart line. Printed on FSC-certified paper with soy-based inks, you can have a wonderful time creating a scrapbooking layout and feel good knowing that your paper is eco-conscious.
Wow, that’s a lot of scrapbooking goodness! How would you like to win some of these products for yourself? (Silly question—of course you would.) In addition to giving away the products above, you’ll also have a chance to win the E-I-E-I-O Collection from TaDa Creative Studios, as seen on page 48 of our March/April 2010 issue.
All you have to do to win one of these outstanding products is leave a comment telling us which of our Latest & Greatest products from the March/April 2010 issue of CK (or from this post) is your favorite and why you love it by Monday, April 5. We’ll draw five random winners (one for each product shown here) on or around April 6 and announce the winners on the giveaways tab located at the top of our blog.
Have a wonderful day!
Kim Jackson, senior editor
Weekly Warm-Up: Incredible (not so edible) eggs using your scrapbooking supplies!
03/29/2010 at 1:25 pm | Posted in General Inspiration, How-Tos, product, Uncategorized, weekly warm up | 11 CommentsTags: CK, Club CK, Club CK idea gallery, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, decorated eggs, Earth Day, Easter, eggs, flocking, flowers, Glitter, glitter glue, Glue Dots, incredible, ink, Joannie McBride, Megan Hoeppner, paper crafting, ribbon, rub-ons, Scrapbook, scrapbook supplies, Scrapbooking, spring, technique, weekly warm up
Wait a minute! Do you realize Easter is less than a week away? Hopefully you’ve got that extra bit of spring in your step and you’re ready for an egg-xtra fun project! Megan Hoeppner and I had a blast using our scrapbooking supplies to decorate these adorable eggs. The possibilities are endless, and the results are super-way-dang (that’s like the ultimate in cuteness)! We opted not to dye our eggs before decorating them, but remember this is your creative time and you can do whatever you want!
Spot-on
These happy polka-dot eggs were easier to create than you might think. Megan first started by placing a glue dot onto her egg. She then dipped the egg into a small pile of flock, used her finger to make sure it was pressed in well to each glue dot, then gently brushed off the excess and repeated the process.
Absolutely Frilling
Ribbon is one of my favorite supplies, and ribbon scraps are perfect for decorating eggs. My orange egg was dyed using spray ink. Once dried, I adhered a large layer of ribbon around it, then a thin sheer ribbon over the top of the large ribbon. For the green and purple egg, I simply used Smooch ink, from Clearsnap, to create my green horizontal lines. Then I placed strips of ribbon in-between the lines. Finally, I tied a bow with the ribbon and adhered that to the top of my egg.
Rubbing me the right way
You can do so much with rub-ons! Megan created this fun spring scene using these yummy rub-ons from Hambly Screen Prints. The grass on Megan’s egg was created by painting small blades with Smooch ink. This same technique would be super cute on an Earth Day project, which just happens to be celebrating it’s 40 anniversary on April 22, 2010.
Speckles of happiness
This egg just makes me smile. When colors like these work so well together, it’s almost like they were two birds of a feather! Megan sprayed the egg with one color and allowed it to dry completely. Then she lightly sprayed the second color. Remember, sometimes less is more. Create a light mist affect by spraying from a distance rather than too closely.
Blooming with color
Oh my gosh! This egg is cuter than cute and definitely sprouting to the occasion. Nothing says spring like bright vibrant flowers. Add a little sparkle and the world couldn’t get any sweeter! Start by applying ink to create your petals. using a small foam square, dip one side into glitter and adhere the other side to the center of your flower. Hippity, hoppity for sure!
The write stuff
Everything’s better when it’s personalized! You can create these one-of-a-kind eggs for yourself and all your flock too. All you need is glitter glue and a little imagination.
I hope these techniques give you at least a dozen of your own incredible ideas. We’d love to see what you come up with. Share your projects with us in the Club CK idea gallery.
Joannie McBride, assistant editor
Special Guest Blogger: Jaime Echt for The Crafter’s Workshop
03/19/2010 at 12:03 am | Posted in guest blogger, How-Tos, product, technique | 108 CommentsTags: CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, download, font, free font, Free Font Friday, gel pen, guest blogger, inkpad, Jaime Echt, pink, Scrapbook, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, stencil, technique, techniques, template, The Crafter's Workshop
Well, helloooooo! [Visualize a royal wave.] Jaime Echt here, Queen of The Crafter’s Workshop. What a treat it is to be this week’s guest blogger.
I have some really fun projects to share, so let’s just dive right in. We’ve had a lot of snow in New York lately, so my Flurries template (TCW164) has been working double time. Now let me stop you right here and declare that I LOVE templates. No, not because my life revolves around designing the most fan-tabulous templates on earth, but I love them because I can create a piece of paper that has PINK snowflakes on it. Yes, pink! Come on, have you seen the playground lately? It’s a sea of pink! And yes, my little snow angel does indeed have a pink snowsuit (pink hat, pink scarf, and pink gloves), thank you very much. So yes, I do need pink snowflakes for my layout. And by golly, I’m gonna’ get them.
So here’s my “Frost Valley” layout. (Frost Valley, by the way, happens to be a very cool place to bring scouts, school kids, or even your family.)
Neat, huh? Are you ready for another one? The layout below uses my retro Sunburst template (TCW166), chalks, inks, pens, and my sewing machine! (And the remnants of my daughter’s hemmed pants.)
Once again I was faced with the desire to have my layout look exactly the way I wanted it to. And I’m a real stickler for color, so if the color is off, it makes me nuts! Thank goodness I have every gel pen, chalk, and inkpad known to humankind. Okay, not really, but I do love to use them on my layouts, like I did with the techniques that follow.
Here’s a close-up photo of my stitching. See? It’s not perfect.
And last, I journaled around the perimeter of the Sunburst design with a favorite gel pen, of course!
Comment to Win
Fun, right? So now I know you’re saying to yourself, “Self, wouldn’t it be nice if I had my own little Sunburst and Flurries template to play with?” Why yes, that would be lovely, wouldn’t it! So let’s do a little random giveaway to five lucky winners! Each winner will receive our 12×12 Sunburst (TCW166) and our 12×12 Flurries (TCW164). They’re two lovely templates to get us over the springtime piles of snow. To enter, just leave me a comment on this blog post by March 23, 2010. Easy Peasy.
Here’s hoping that the Template Fairy visits your home really soon. And brings you lots of lovely templates to play with!!
–Jaime Echt
P.S. Don’t forget to download a new font as part of Free Font Friday! This week, download the CK Magnificent font here!
Weekly Warm-Up: Memories Each Day
03/15/2010 at 3:49 am | Posted in organization, product, weekly warm up | 4 CommentsTags: Becky Higgins, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Elle's Studio, Jennafer Martin, journaling, Megan Hoeppner, photos, Project 365, Project Life, scrapbook pages, scrapbook solutions, Scrapbooking, Studio 5
Capturing the everyday moments that happen in your life is a fun way to record meaningful memories. Whether you call it “A Memory a Day,” “Project 365,” or another clever name, one of the best parts of this approach is you can start any day, not just January 1. Take a moment today to try some of these fun ways to capture memories, including:
*take and/or share a photo each day
*journal a bit each day
*blog a bit each day
*scrapbook a bit each day.
Check out the Project Life kits by Becky Higgins and the Elle’s Studio calendars for some products to get you started.
Project Life by Becky Higgins is a great product to help you capture memories every day.
Or check out this article and video clip of CK’s creative editor, Megan Hoeppner, who shared even more ideas on Studio 5, our local morning show in Salt Lake City.
Take a minute today to notice—and capture—the important moments of your everyday life. Your scrapbooks will be better for it!
Jennafer Martin, editor-in-chief
Choose Our Cover
03/09/2010 at 11:05 am | Posted in product, Promo | 18 CommentsTags: choices, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Jennafer Martin, Poll, ribbon, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks, voting
There’s something really liberating about having choices, isn’t there? We know it’s satisfying to pick out just the right ribbon or button as a finishing touch for our pages. So we wanted you to gain that same satisfaction from choosing a part of our upcoming special issue.
The second of four Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks special issues for 2010 is almost ready to go to the printer. But . . . it’s missing a cover. And that’s where you come in. We’d like YOU to tell us which cover to put on this issue. “But Jennafer,” I can hear you saying, “how can I choose the cover when I don’t even know what the issue’s about?” Great question! Here’s a little bit of info to help you.
In case you missed it, the first Scrapbooking Tips & Tricks special issue was all about organization. This is its cover:
Adorable, right?
This second issue is all about paper. Patterned, shaped, laced, and die-cut papers, scraps, and more—this issue has hundreds of ideas for how to use this wonderful supply in unique ways for your scrapbook pages. We asked three talented scrapbookers to create layouts for this issue’s cover, and they are all so adorable—we just can’t decide on a favorite!
So we need your help. Which one should we feature on the cover? See the covers and take our poll between now and March 15, 2010, to let us know your vote.
Thanks for your help!
—Jennafer Martin, editor-in-chief
Trend Talk: Bingo!
02/23/2010 at 11:15 am | Posted in General Inspiration, Hot Trends, How-Tos, product, technique | 12 CommentsTags: bingo, bingo cards, bingo trend, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, creative editor, creativity, Jenni Bowlin, Kristine McKay, Lori Fairbanks, Megan Hoeppner, Scrapbook, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, scrapbooking trend, Tattered Angels, technique, techniques, trends, vintage, Wilna Furstenberg
CHA 2010: Trendy Looks
02/05/2010 at 4:00 am | Posted in Hot Trends, product | 154 CommentsTags: Bazzill Basics Paper, CHA, CHA 2010, CHA trends, CHA-Winter 2010, CK, CK Flower Power, Cosmo Cricket, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, free downloads, Free Font Friday, GCD Studios, giveaway, Kiki Art, Little Yellow Bicycle, Making Memories, Maya Road, Megan Hoeppner, Melissa Frances, Scrapbook, Scrapbooking, trends
When it comes to trend spotting, the CHA show floor is a happenin’ hot spot of activity, with fresh trends as far as the eye can see. To wrap up our CHA Winter extravaganza, we want to share two of our favorite show-floor trends with you today. (Our Friday guest blog spots will reconvene next week.) Both looks we’re going to focus on are fashionably fabulous and sure to make any paper project shine. So trend trackers, are you ready to check them out? All right, let’s take a look at some of the hottest looks out there.
Look #1: Handmade Flowers
Spring was definitely in the air at this winter show. Handmade blooms were popping up all over place.
These pretty posies made from cardstock were on display at the Bazzill Basics Paper booth. We love how they fill in the open area in the corner of this layout.
The Melissa Frances booth took the flowers off the page and into the window with these beautiful flower balls. How sweet would these look hanging in a craft room or nursery?
Cosmo Cricket has an idea for dressing up a gift box in botanicals. They rolled paper rosettes from patterned paper for a bright dash of dimension.
The fine folks at Little Yellow Bicycle filled a vase with doily designs and paper-cut flower shapes. Any brunch gathering can be taken to the next level with these on display.
Look #2: Dress Forms
At first glance, it was easy to confuse the CHA show floor with a NYC runway. Dress forms were around every corner. What a wonderful way to display the latest and greatest paper lines!
GCD Studios knew how to welcome its booth guests with this lovely dress form on display right at their entryway.
Make a mini album for any fashionista in your life with this fantastic dress-form album from Maya Road.
Making Memories launched a new jewelry line this CHA, so it only seems appropriate to adorn that area of their booth with a stylish dress-form display. We loved how they draped the pattern around the shape.
These are just two of the many wonderful trends we spotted this show. For more of what’s hot, make sure you watch our “Hot Spot” column each issue in the magazine.
Comment to Win
So, what trend is your favorite right now, whether it’s from CHA or something else you love? Leave a comment on this blog post by February 7, 2010, and you could win this great prize package with new releases from Kiki Art.
Cheers!
Megan Hoeppner, Creative Editor
Free Font Friday
P.S. Don’t miss Free Font Friday! To accompany our flower trend, today you can download the CK Flower Power font for free here.
All Aboard! It’s Time for CK’s CHA Cute Booth Tour
02/04/2010 at 4:00 am | Posted in General Inspiration, product | 166 CommentsTags: booth tour, Brittany Beattie, CHA, CK, Couture Cardstock, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Cute Booth Tour, Graphic 45, Jillibean Soup, Joannie McBride, Kim Jackson, Margie Romney-Aslett, Megan Hoeppner, Pink Paislee, Scrapbook, Scrapbooking, The Girls Paperie, Unity Stamp Company
Tickets. Tickets, please. This is the CHA Express, and we’re ready to embark on the 2010 Cute Booth Tour. This CHA, each of the CK editors in attendance (Brittany, Joannie, Kim, and I) selected our favorite happy places and captured short videos of some of the booth highlights. Plus, we added one bonus booth, simply because we couldn’t resist including one more dose of show-floor bliss. So grab yourself a seat near the window, and get ready to see some of the cutest booths on the CHA block. All aboard!
Stop #1: The Girls’ Paperie, Joannie McBride’s pick
This sweetie-pie place is full handmade paper delights, including paper garlands, the sweetest little street of houses you’ll ever encounter, and a special guided tour by Ms. Margie Romney-Aslett, the creative talent behind this new line!
Stop #2: Unity Stamp Co., Megan Hoeppner’s pick
As you likely know, I’m a bit of a bird nerd. So when I saw the stuffed bluebird perched on the picket fence in this wonderland, I knew instantly that it had my vote.
Stop #3: Couture Cardstock, Brittany Beattie’s pick
One look at this amazing booth and you’ll fall in love with your cardstock all over again. This impressive location was adorned with incredible cardstock creations, including dresses, shoes, and even an Eiffel Tower.
Stop #4: Graphic 45, Kim Jackson’s pick
Step back in time with this vintage hot spot and discover the limitless possibilities for transforming just about anything from old to new with little more than a sheet of debonair paper.
Stop #5: Pink Paislee, a group bonus pick
There’s no way we could leave out this bright spot out of our Cute Booth Tour. It’s packed with handmade pizzazz. From stitched chicken wire to a charming sitting area, this place was definitely worth visiting.
Well, that concludes the Cute Booth Tour for this show. Did you have a nice time? What spot(s) captured your heart? Rather than leave your tour guide a tip, we’d love to have you leave your feedback in the form of a comment by Monday, February 8, 2010. And the tip may end up being yours, as we’re giving away a fabulous CHA prize package from Jillibean Soup to one lucky tour attendee. Check the “Giveaways” tab on Tuesday, February 9 to see if you’re our winner.
Now, exit to your left and watch your step. We want to see you back on this tour bus again next CHA.
Cheers!
Megan Hoeppner, creative editor
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