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.
Special Guest Blogger: 2010 Dream Team Member Jen Jockisch
03/26/2010 at 5:00 am | Posted in fonts, General Inspiration, guest blogger, How-Tos, Uncategorized | 11 CommentsTags: CK Dream Team, Creating Keepsakes, free font, Free Font Friday, Jen Jockisch, Layout, layouts, paper crafting, paper flowers, Scrapbook, Scrapbooking, techniques
Hi everyone! This is Jen Jockisch. I’m a first time contributor to the CK blog, and a member of the Creating Keepsakes 2010 Dream Team. Today I have a really quick and simple technique to share with you that’s fun and easy.
I love to create flowers with patterned paper, and the flowers I’m going to show you today make great embellishments for your scrapbook pages or altered items.
All you will need is a 12″ x 12″ piece of cardstock or patterned paper, a paper trimmer or scissors, a stapler and some foam adhesive (smaller foam tabs are best).
Choose your paper, then cut a strip of paper measuring 1/4″ to 1/2″ wide. Fold either end to meet in the middle, and staple. (If you want a smaller flower, simply cut your strip before you fold, making it shorter than 12″ x 12″)
Repeat this process four times (more or less depending on how many petals you want), and layer all of the pieces together, overlaping in the center. Staple together. It may take a few staples to get your petals situated where you want them.
Place your foam adhesive on the ends of the petals and adhere to your page.
I like to punch a circle from cardstock and place in the center of the flower and add buttons, brads, rhinestones or other embellishments. If you do this, youʼll want to again use foam adhesive on the back of your circle so you don’t flatten the flower.
Finally, add stems to the flowers using ribbon, patterned paper, or other fun trims.
Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great weekend!
-Jen Jockish
P.S. Don’t forget to download a new font as part of Free Font Friday! This week, download the CK Broad Pen font here!
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!
Getting in the Irish Groove
03/05/2010 at 2:36 pm | Posted in General Inspiration, Holidays | 5 CommentsTags: ApplesLovesOranges, Brittany Beattie, CK, CK Pleasing, crafts, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Disney Family, download, Etsy, Family Fun, font, free font, Free Font Friday, Martha Stewart, Paper Crafts, projects, Scrapbooking, St. Patrick's Day
Rather than bringing in a special guest blogger this Friday, we thought we’d point you to some other great sites on the web that have some fantastic projects you can create for St. Patrick’s Day, which is fast approaching. Check out these projects below, and then head to the links for more details and how-to information.
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Shamrock Boutonnieres from Martha Stewart
Cut or punch shamrocks from green-patterned papers, and then tie them together for a shamrock bouquet or boutonniere like this one from Martha Stewart.
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Swizzle Sticks from Martha Stewart
Enjoy this idea, also from Martha Stewart, of using a heart stamp to create great swizzle sticks for a St. Patrick’s Day party.
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Leprechaun Catcher from Family Fun
If you have little ones at home, they’ll enjoy creating a Leprechaun Catcher like this one from Family Fun.
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Onesie from ApplesLovesOranges on Etsy
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Shamrock Pin from Disney Family
And although you may not have suckers in your scrapbooking stash, I couldn’t resist sharing this idea from Disney Family. It’s easy to turn three green suckers into a shamrock pin that’s good enough to eat.
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—Brittany Beattie, online senior editor
P.S. Don’t miss the Free Font Friday download this week: CK Pleasing.
Scrap the Super-Fast Way! (Plus Free Font Friday)
09/25/2009 at 3:51 am | Posted in Promo | 6 CommentsTags: 4 x 6 layouts, 4 x 6 photos, Beth Opel, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes idea book, Creating Keepsakes magazine, discounted price, downloads, free downloads, free font, Free Font Friday, free fonts, idea book, Scrapbook, scrapbook pages, scrapbook shortcuts, Scrapbooking, special issue, Super-Fast Pages with 4 x 6 Photos
Hooray, it’s Friday! Welcome back, blog buddies.
Have you ever seen a juggler in action? They’re mighty amazing. The routines usually start pretty simply, with just a couple of balls, rings or clubs, but then before you know it, the performer is balancing an enormous stack of trays and plates on his nose while jumping rope on roller skates!
We all probably feel like jugglers some days, working madly to keep everything in the air while making it all seem effortless. We’re constantly on the lookout for time-saving strategies that will help us achieve impressive feats with a minimum investment of hours or exertion.
We’re juggling when it comes to scrapbooking, too—striving to document our memories in a beautiful way, yet needing to finish pages as quickly as possible. Well, friends, meet your new secret weapon: Super-Fast Pages with 4 x 6 Photos, Vol. 2.
Available for pre-order now, this fabulous special issue contains ONLY layouts made with uncropped 4″ x 6″ photos. What could be easier? Pick up your photos from the developer and get right to creating. Plus, if you order before 9/28, you’ll get the early bird benefit—10% off the retail price!
- Our Santa Visit Gone Bad by Allison Davis
Chapters are organized according to number of pictures on the layouts, so you can select a design that works perfectly with your photos.
Fresh by Emily Spahn
In addition, we’ve included tons of shortcuts to streamline your process even further.
The Birthday Girl by Suzy Plantamura
To make it even more irresistible, get a load of these bonus features:
- Clever ideas for displaying 4″ x 6″ photos
- Cool products to jazz up your pages
- Fun formulas for fast albums
- A whole section of sketches for recreating some of the dazzling layouts
See what we mean? This is your go-to resource for gorgeous pages in a snap. So get on over to our online shop and order yours today!
And don’t forget about our free font! Today, in a response to a request on our Facebook page, we’re giving away CK Cursive. Simply click on this link to download it.
Have a wonderful weekend, all you scrappy maniacs!
Beth Opel
Online Senior Editor, Creating Keepsakes
Introducing Free Font Friday
05/08/2009 at 1:25 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 23 CommentsTags: CK, Creating Keepsakes, free downloads, free font, Free Font Friday, Jacque font, Megan Hoeppner, Scrapbooking
You know how Disney occasionally takes a classic movie “out of the Disney vault” and reintroduces it to the world for a limited time? Well, you might say we’re doing the same thing, only we’re offering free fonts and we do so without the help of a magical fairy.
That’s right, folks. Today is Free Font Fridays! *Tooooot* (That’s me blowing a party horn, in case you were wondering.)
CK had a number of fantastic fonts available through another website, which were recently retired. Now, a week later, we’re excited to bring them out of retirement and offer them to you. (Yeah, it was a short retirement. They happen; just ask Michael Jordan or Brett Favre.)
Sometime in the not-so-distant future (date TBD), we hope to have our out-of-retirement fonts permanently available for purchase on our website. Until that day comes, however, we’re bringing back some of most popular fonts and offering them to you free of charge every Friday! They can be found in the downloads section of our website.
To kick this party off, we’re giving away CK Jacque. This font has a unique handwriting flair that will add just the right touch to your pages. Click here to add CK Jacque to your collection.
Important Note: Each week’s font will only be available as a free download for the week it’s being featured (Fri.–Thur.) and then back into the vault it goes (until we get it up in our store, that is). This means you need to get while the gettin’ is good and check our website each and every week for a new featured font to add to your collection.
*Toooooot* (Sorry, I’m just that excited!)
Happy Free Font Friday, my fantastic and fabulous friends!
Megan Hoeppner, Creative Editor
P.S. For instructions on how to download the fonts, please click here. Thanks!
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