You Be The Judge (April 2010)
04/07/2010 at 7:58 am | Posted in General Inspiration, Uncategorized, You Be the Judge | 3 CommentsTags: CK, Club CK, Club CK Idea Galleries, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, Fresh Face, inspiration, Joannie McBride, Layout, reader gallery, Reader Pick, reader poll, Reader's Pick, submissions, You Be the Judge
Happy April! I can’t believe how chilly it still is here in Utah. What I can believe, however, is the unbelievable talent all of our readers have! It’s such a pleasure being able to view your layouts in the Club CK idea galleries. Your layouts are always fun and inspiring, and they always brighten my day when I’m browsing for layouts or looking for inspiration when creating my own projects.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out all of the beautiful layouts in the Club CK gallery, make sure you do! You won’t be disappointed!
Today, I need your help picking the layout in this month’s Readers’ Pick Poll that will be featured in the October 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. It’s as easy as going to our You Be the Judge voting page, voting for your favorite, and doing it as many times that you want—there is no limit to how many times you can vote! Check back later this month to see if your favorite layout won.
Joannie McBride, assistant editor
CK & Me
02/18/2010 at 12:21 pm | Posted in CK & Me | 5 CommentsTags: Ashley Riley, Caroline Ikeji, CK, CK & Me, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, creative editor, design, February 2010, inspiration, Jennifer Delorenzo, Maggie Holmes, Megan Hoeppner, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, scraplift, Summer Johnson, Susan Ott
Occasionally, I set my editor hat aside and put on my teacher sombrero. One of my favorite things about wearing this particular metaphorical cap is the chance it gives me to see scrapbookers in action. I love watching students turn class ideas into their own unique creations. I’m sharing this “What makes Megan tick” moment because it’s also why our CK & Me blog posts bring me (and the entire CK team, for that matter) such joy—they illustrate how you, our awesome readers, take ideas from the magazine and turn them into projects that are all you. So with a smile on my face and my blogger beanie on my head, it is my pleasure to introduce this month’s talented CK & Me lineup.
This layout by Maggie Holmes, featured in our February 2010 issue, is the source of inspiration on our first example.
Drawn to Maggie’s ruffled border and overall page design, Ashley Riley created this fresh layout. We love how the general design of a layout can transform by simply changing out colors, photos, and themes. Great application, Ashley!
We were tickled to see how our next creative guest was motivated by this page that Summer Johnson created for our January 2010 issue.
Inspired by the colored lines on Summer’s page, Susan Ott stitched leading lines on her page to call attention to her photos. We think it’s fun to see how this page translate from toddlers to teenagers with just a few creative twists. Well played, Susan!
Our third CK & Me VIP fell in love with this design by Caroline Ikeji, which we featured in our February 2010 issue.
Following Caroline’s lead, Jennifer DeLorenzo incorporated a handwritten note on her layout. We were drawn to the way Jennifer switched out a single photo with three smaller photos. Nicely done, Jennifer!
Each of our three CK & Me featured guests will receive a CK special issue for being featured today. Congrats, and thanks for submitting!
Do you have something you’ve done recently that you’d like us to consider for a future CK & Me post? If so, please send an image of your work, the layout or project that inspired your design, and a short description of what you found inspiring to letters@creatingkeepsakes.com with “CK & Me” in the subject line. Thanks! We love seeing how you’ve been inspired by the work found in the magazine.
And as always, we invite you to leave a comment along these lines. So put on that critique hat of yours and share your thoughts about what you’ve seen in the magazine. After all, when it comes to hearing about the pages in your magazine that are dog-eared, we’re all ears. 😉
Cheers!
—Megan Hoeppner, creative editor
The Secret to Scrapbooking during the Holidays
12/03/2009 at 4:00 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 428 CommentsTags: 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges, book, Brittany Beattie, challenges, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, creativity, Elizabeth Kartchner, inspiration, Pottery Barn Kids, Scrapbook, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking
Bells on bobtails are ringing. Chestnuts are roasting on open fires. And Jack Frost is nipping at our noses. Plus, who can forget about the parties for hosting, the marshmallows for toasting and the caroling out in the snow? Whew—life is getting busy this month. Amid the hustle and bustle, we’re bound to get a little maxed out unless we have creative time to help us unwind. But some days it’s hard to find much time for thinking about the next scrapbook page when the holiday to-do list is growing by the minute.
Thankfully, the CK elves have just the item for Santa’s big, red bag. (And I hear Mr. Claus will be making a visit before the 25th this year! See below.) The secret is 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner, CK’s 2007 Scrapbooker of the Year. As the sequel to 52 Scrapbooking Challenges, this book is jam-packed with ideas to inspire your creativity. 
For example, challenge #3 is to “lift a design idea from a home-decor item,” as Elizabeth did in turning this Amelia rug from Pottery Barn Kids into inspiration for an incredible page element. I love how Elizabeth used the rug design as just a portion of her layout instead of the entire background.
"Wishes & Kisses" by Elizabeth Kartchner, as seen in "52 More Scrapbooking Challenges" (page 15)
And challenge #15 to “stick to a single color” is a perfect jump-start for creating my own holiday layout like Elizabeth’s. In fact, I might just scraplift Elizabeth’s design. It’s fabulous.
"Traditions" by Elizabeth Kartchner, as seen in "52 More Scrapbooking Challenges" (page 50)
Yes, this book is sure to be the spark for creative scrapbooking during a busy season. I’m glad I have my copy in hand! (If you still need your copy, you can order it here, where you’ll also find a link to more layouts from the book.) You can also make an e-visit to Santa and let him know the book is on your wish list. I heard that anyone who leaves Santa a comment on this post by Sunday, December 6, and lets him know what’s on her Christmas list this year will be entered to win one of three autographed copies of the book. Speaking of giveaways, remember to check here to see if you’ve one any of our past giveaways.
For more chances to win a copy of Elizabeth’s book, you can also check out the blogs from these Dream Team members and CK contributing writers:
* Mou Saha
And if you know Sara Winnick, she’ll be giving away a copy on Facebook.
I’m off to make my list now!
—Brittany Beattie, online senior editor
P.S. When you make a layout based on an item in Elizabeth’s book, we’d love to see what you create! To submit your work, read the “CK & Me” information here.
CK & Me
11/19/2009 at 4:00 am | Posted in CK & Me | 11 CommentsTags: Ali Edwards, Andrea Kuhle, CK & Me, Creating Keepsakes, creative editor, Heather Lough, Heidi Sonboul, inspiration, Megan Hoeppner, Rita Shimniock, Scrapbooking, scraplift, Shannon Blinn
There are few things our CK team likes more than seeing how you’ve taken a layout published in CK and transformed it into your own beautiful design. That’s why it’s my pleasure to bring you this month’s “CK & Me” post, highlighting a few talented readers. Check out how they’ve used projects found in Creating Keepsakes as starting points to create their own amazing layouts!
Our first example comes from Andrea Kuhle. She found inspiration in this page by Rita Shimniok, which was featured in our November 2009 issue.
Check out how Andrea took Rita’s general page design and made it her own by completely changing the colors, the theme and the accents. We’re thrilled to see the little details Andrea has added, such as the decorative pins in place of the photo turns. Nicely done, Andrea!
Shannon Blinn found reason to celebrate when she turned to page 26 of our October 2009 issue and found this photo-filled layout by Heidi Sonboul.
Taking Heidi’s lead, Shannon created a grid-based layout so she could include her favorite photos from a special moment she shared with her grandfather. Notice how she divided the image of the flaming football into three grid squares. Great page, Shannon!
Our third example comes from Heather Lough. She was inspired by the way Ali Edwards evenly spaced her photos in this beautiful layout, which is found in our October 2009 issue.
Heather stuck with the same fall theme but changed up the colors and accents for a completely unique look. The darling tree accents Heather used bring smiles to our faces around here. Fantastic work, Heather!
Thank you, ladies, for submitting to our “CK & Me” call. You’ve made our day by sharing your beautiful designs with us! To show our appreciation, we’ll be sending you a Creating Keepsakes special issue, where we hope you’ll find more ideas to scraplift.
Have you created a page or project inspired by a recent issue of CK? If so, we want to hear from you. Simply e-mail an image of the page you’ve created, along with the name and location of the specific project and issue your inspiration came from, to letters@creatingkeepsakes.com. Please put “CK & Me” in the subject line.
In the spirit of finding inspiration, we’d love to know what you like the most about this blog. Maybe it’s the Friday guest blog posts that make your day. Or perhaps the ideas found in our Weekly Warm-Ups on Monday get your creative gears in motion. Whatever it is about our blog that keeps you coming back for more, we want to read about it in the comments section of this post. After all, we aim to please. 😉
Cheers!
Megan Hoeppner, Creative Editor
Weekly Warm-Up: Top 10 Bonus
09/14/2009 at 4:50 am | Posted in weekly warm up | 6 CommentsTags: Amazing Pages, Beth Opel, boy page, charity hassel, CK, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, creativity, inspiration, reader pages, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, weekly warm up
Yikes! Is life zipping by as quickly for you as it is for us here in the CK offices? We’ve nearly reached the midpoint of September, and fall is officially here a week from tomorrow.
We hope you’ve had the chance to check out our October Top 10 issue. It’s simply brimming with super ideas, cool techniques and total inspiration.
In addition, we’re featuring some exclusive articles online that will knock your socks off. For today’s Weekly Warm-Up, we’d like to draw your attention to a Top 10 extra featuring stunning reader pages.
Back in April, we invited readers to send us the layouts they were most proud of to our “Amazing Pages” call. And wow, were we ever amazed! Ten layouts are shown in the issue, but we couldn’t stop there—check here for 10 MORE incredible pages.
To whet your whistle, here’s just a sample of the super cool layouts you’ll savor:
Hero Boy Adventures by Charity Hassel. Supplies Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper; Patterned paper: Bella Blvd, Doodlebug Design, Making Memories and Sassafras; Letter stickers: Heidi Swapp for Advantus and Making Memories.
Oh, I’ve been holding out for a hero, haven’t you? Charity Hassel’s energetic page is certain to provoke a smile. Her comic hero design is pure genius.
Go now! Check out the rest of our impressive reader pages! And then be inspired to create some amazing pages of your own.
Beth Opel
Online Senior Editor, Creating Keepsakes
Weekly Warm-Up: Inspiration Sites and Camp Crafty Challenge Winners
07/27/2009 at 8:16 am | Posted in weekly warm up | 8 CommentsTags: Amy Atlas, Anthropologie, Beth Opel, blog candy, Cath Edvalson, CK, CK Summer Camp, contest winners, Craft, Creating Keepsakes, Creating Keepsakes magazine, creativity, Decor8, giveaway, Hostess with the Mostess, inspiration, JCrew, Muse, Olive Paper, Papyrus, Polyvore, Print & Pattern, Scrapbook, scrapbook pages, Scrapbooking, Style Me Pretty, techniques, trends, websites, weekly warm up, Whimsy Press
Happy Monday, O Creative Ones!
At Creating Keepsakes we are often asked, “Where can I look to find scrapbooking inspiration?” The answer, my friends, is simple—ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE.
However, we understand that you’re probably looking for a little more specific direction than that. So today, we present you with some cool internet sites that might tickle your creative fancy.
How to use these sites? Though they cover topics ranging from fashion to party themes to general trends, look for appealing color combinations or accents or texture play or typography treatments.
We’ve highlighted a mere three in each category, which doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what’s out there. But we’ve got to start somewhere, right? So hop aboard the Inspiration Train and prepare for some major creative stimulation!
Event planning sites:
- Amy Atlas: Stunning displays of delectable treats.
- Style Me Pretty: Wedding gorgeousness with a spot-on eye for detail.
- Hostess with the Mostess: Centerpieces, recipes, theme ideas and more.
Fashion sites:
- Polyvore: Create outfits or rooms by combining products from anywhere on the Internet into a set. Anyone can be a stylist!
- Anthropologie: Funky, trendy retailer with a handmade, vintage vibe. Check out the accessories for lots of embellishment inspiration.
- JCrew: Classic duds with a twist. It’s the twist part that will stimulate your imagination.
Home decor sites:
- Decor8: Fresh finds for hip spaces.
- Creative Closeup: Must-visit destination for the self-described decor and gadget geek.
- Sensational Color: Beyond pleasing palettes, this site explores the theory of color and how it affects mood.
Stationery sites:
- Whimsy Press: Quirky designs and whimsical (naturally!) wrapping papers and cards.
- Olive Paper: An eye for green in more ways than one—you’ll love the sumptuous combinations of patterns and ribbons.
- Papyrus: Gorgeous note pads, writing papers and more.
Trend sites:
- Print & Pattern: Celebrating the world of surface pattern and design.
- Design*Sponge: Soak up the trendy finds from every possible category.
- Muse: Cool haven for the hippest looks in graphic design.
And just one more. Can’t talk trends without giving a shout out to our Paper Crafts colleague Cath Edvalson and her Moxie Fab World blog, the place for all things hip and cool in the world of paper crafting and wayyyyyyyy beyond.
Anything pique your interest? Let us know what really gets your creative motor revving. Now, there are countless web destinations that we haven’t mentioned, so if your favorite is missing, give them a shout out in your comment.
One last order of business—our Creating Keepsakes Summer Camp Crafty Challenge winners! The following ladies win a prize package such as the sample below . . . thanks to all our generous manufacturers!
Adornit - Carolee’s Creations, American Crafts, BasicGrey, Bo-Bunny Press, Chatterbox, Die Cuts With a View, Dream Street Paper, Glitz Design, Heidi Grace Designs, Imaginisce, Jillibean Soup, K&Company, Karen Foster Design, KIMemories, Little Yellow Bicycle, me & my BIG ideas, My Mind's Eye, SEI and Spanish Memories
Winners: DragonFlyScrap, McBuff, leeza 898, TimelessMemories, Gina B
Campers’ Choice: Pinecone Birdfeeders Inspired Layout by DragonFlyScrap
Editors’ Choice: “Egg Harbor” by McBuff
Best Layout Inspired by Craft: “Hippie Day” by leeza898
Best Non-Layout Inspired by Craft: “Camp Lindgren” by TimelessMemories
Best Spirit of Camp: My Camp Challenge Entry by Gina B
Ladies, click the “Giveaway” tab at the top of the blog and follow the directions…congratulations to you all!
Beth Opel
Senior Writer, Creating Keepsakes
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