Craft Secrets Linky Party . . . HURRY!!!

Hello again my friends!

I'm busy doing my inside decorating but just wanted to quickly remind you to be sure and pop over the the DECEMBER LINKY PARTY at CRAFTY SECRETS

BEFORE SUNDAY NITE (12/9/12).

One lucky player will win $50 worth of fabulous Crafty Secrets goodies and 

that could be YOU!!!

So jump right over and check it out ... you still have time!!

okay ... back to decorating

HUGS!

Darlene

Another handy little gift idea . . .

Hello blogging friends!

I'm here today to share with you a handy little gift idea I first saw done by Deb Felts (With A Stamp & A Song) over on Paper Craft Planet and couldn't wait to give them a try.

As you can see, I've made a whole basket full of them to have on hand throughout the holidays ... just in case I need a quick gift ... and of course for my hair dresser, waitresses at Bob Evans that we see each weekend and for the young teen girls in the neighborhood.  Just a little token of my appreciation!

I've tweaked the measurements a bit from Deb because the emery boards I purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply were a little longer than the one Deb created with.  So ... here we go!

You will need the following:

1. Emery Boards
2. Two sided designer paper ( I've used Graphic45 Christmas 8x8 dp)
3. Scor-Tape (you choice of strong adhesive)
4. Front embellishment of your choice (I've used a JustRite Christmas set & Spellbinder scallop circles)
5. Circle punch
6. Crimper (optional)

I have made my sleeves 6 3/4" long by 3" wide.  

By using 8x8 paper, I first cut the LENGTH (6 3/4") ... then cut it across at 6".  That left me with a 2" panel which I can use for my matching belly band.

Cut your 6" sleeve in half giving you TWO sleeves which will be 3" x 6 3/4".

Using your 2" panel, cut it into TWO 3" panels to use for the belly band.

Next you will SCORE the length of your sleeves & belly band pieces at 1", 1 1/4", 2 1/4" & 2 1/2".

In the above photo I have marked where you will place your hole punch to cut out your notch.  As you can see, it will between the two inside score lines.

 

Next you will use scor-tape to adhere/make your sleeve.  (sorry ... I forgot to take a photo of this step so I took one back apart to show you.)  You will place your scor-tape to the outside of the narrow panel then gently bring them together to create the sleeve.

  Place a small bit of adhesive in the bottom.  Gently pleat the sides and press the bottom together to adhere.  Crimp the edge, if desired.

 Lastly you will make your belly band, place it around the sleeve & adhere.  

Then you are ready to embellish to your hearts desire.  I chose to keep them simple by stamping out my JustRite sentiment onto white cardstock, die cutting with a Spellbinder scallop circle die and adhering to the front of the belly band.  You can go simple or super fancy ... choice is yours!

 

I hope you've enjoyed this little gift idea tutorial and will give it a try.  If you do, PLEASE let me know in a comment ... I'd LOVE to come see what you've created!

Here's a peek at the ones I made for my daughter to hand out to her clients with her company logo on the front.  (Hubby's idea!)   OH... and how about making them for stocking stuffers ... what fun!

Well, I'd better get busy ... still have a lot of decorating to do before my big party on the 16th (really dragging my feet this year for some reason!) and I haven't even started putting together and addressing my own personal Christmas cards!  Eeeks ... times a flyin'!

Here's a few challenge I'd like to enter into:
C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas
Charisma Card Challenge - Christmasy
 Delightful Challenges - All About Christmas
Creative Cutting Room - Anything Goes Using Graphic45
Little Miss Muffet Challenge - Tags or Gifts
Paper Crafting Journey - Any Christmas Paper Projects
PaperPlay Challenge - Christmas is Coming
Sarah Hurley Challenge - Christmas

THANKS SO MUCH for stopping by and for all your kind comments on my creations!  You have no idea how much it means to me!  God Love Ya for taking the time to brighten my day!

As always . . .

Shelly's Images Challenge

Hello my friends!  

It's time for another challenge at Shelly's Images and I'm thrilled to be your hostess this week!  Today the team is featuring Shelly's digi image called "One Last Stop" (isn't this a beautifully detailed digi!)

Please pop over to the blog and check out what my teamies have created ... they are sure to inspire you!  And, because we are so close to the Christmas Holiday, our challenge theme today is:

Christmas Is In The Air!

(Anything Christmas works!)

With all the hustle bustle of the holiday season, my time was a bit tight to I opted to utilize Shelly's PRECOLORED "ONE LAST STOP" digi image for my creation!  WOW!  What a time saver and besides, her copic coloring is certainly better than my coloring!  Be sure to check out the other PRECOLORED digi images Shelly has available in her STORE.  (FYI ... there will be more precolored versions available as time permits!)

 NOW ... I did take advantage of the fact that I could PRINT TWO of the same image and do a little 'fussy cutting' so that's exactly what I did! Can you see in the photo that I've popped Santa up?  Here's a close up ... maybe that will help!

 Oh yea, that's better!

Recipe for this creation:

Papers:  Various SCRAPS from my Christmas dp stash, red cs, hunter green cs, white cs

Accessories:  Cheery Lynn Designs B148 Holly Flourish die, Marianne LR0156 leaf die, Prima Vintage Trinkets (metal bird charm) #930035, Stickles Crystal & Green, Gold Pilot Marker (for edging), May Arts red satin ribbon, Kaiser red pearls

I know you are working on some AMAZING Christmas creations so PLEASE ... come share them with us at Shelly's Images!  OH AND BEFORE I GO ... have you checked out our 12 Days of Christmas going on RIGHT NOW?  POP on over to get involved ... you won't want to miss the fun!!

Okay ... that's it for me!  

Hope to see you at Shelly's!!

P.S.  Have you noticed my Christmas Counter (top sidebar) ... it's telling me we only have 18 Days left before Christmas!  YIKES ... I'd better get shopping!

Crafty Secrets GOODIE Box . . .

Welcome back my friends!

Yesterday I promised to share another Crafty Secrets creation I made recently after I got my tree decorated ... well, as you can see, I didn't get back into my crafting cave last night ... one thing led to another and after decorating the tree, I decorated the mantle ... of course had to vacuum & clean everything before I could even start to decorate!  So I'm FINALLY here TODAY to share this cute project with you.

Before we get started, I wanted to remind you of the 12 Days of Christmas going on over at Shelly's Images!  I was your hostess yesterday and again today.  PLEASE pop over and Write A Letter to Santa (Day 3) and also check out the cute gift card holder tutorial I shared today (Day 4).  Oh of course you'll want to play along on Days 1 & 2 events ... then pop in each day for more fun games, tutorials, challenges & FREEBIES!!  I hope I'll see you there!

OKAY ... back to today's Crafty Secrets GOODIE BOX!

This is so much fun and with the new Crafty Secrets CDs and printable products, your creativity can go CRAZY!!!   For this cute little goodie box I have used the downloadable sheets called "Christmas Dolls & Accessories" for only $2.95!  What a deal!!

You really need to check out all the AMAZING digital papers & images available through Crafty Secrets!  All links will be listed at the end of this post but please be sure to check out their **NEW** online store called CRAFTY VINTAGE GIRL for all the digital printables/downloads that you've seen me create with over the past couple of weeks!

Here's a quick overview of how I made this cute little gift item.

I have these clear boxes for my card sets in both A2 size & A6 size.  For today's project, I have used the A6 size.  I have purchased these through clearbags.com ... they come in a variety of sizes.

I've printed & cut a piece of the Crafty Secrets design paper from the DP-07 Vintage Christmas Papers downloadable collection for my backing inside the box.  The cocoa packets, marshmallows and M&M's came from my pantry.

Now to start decorating the front of the box.  The first step is to print out the Christmas Doll & Accessories Sheet onto cardstock.  I use Picasa3 on my computer for photo manipulation ... it's free online & really easy to use.  Once I printed the sheets, I got busy with my Fiskars swivel craft knife and cut out the images I wanted to place on the front of my box.

For the lower background panels I first cut a a strip of white 12x12 paper and tore the edge to look like snow.  Next I layered various scraps of CS design paper I had laying around for earlier projects (including the left over piece of holly branch).  The ran a strip of red satin ribbon around the entire box and adhered in the back.
 

The cute little dog was adhered to the box then the little girl (which her jammies on) was POPPED UP to make it look like her doggie was standing by her side.  Lastly I placed the goodies in the box and VIOLA!  A tag & bow is all it needs to become a special little treat for someone special!

Isn't she just the CUTEST!  Takes me back to my childhood when my sisters & I used to play with cut out dress up dolls for hours!!!  What wonderful memories these images evoke for me!!

A few other challenges I'd like to share this creation with are:
Flourishes - An Altered Christmas
Scrap-Creations - Anything But A Card
Loves Rubber Stamps - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes (Bonus-Gift for Christmas)
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Christmas (Tip: never throw Christmas scraps away ... they are just perfect for this sort of project where you only need a few complimentary panels.)
Tuesday Alchemy - Anything But A Card
The Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots - Anything Goes
Critter Sketch Challenge Blog - Anything Goes Christmas
 Hooked on Crafts Challenge - Christmas
 House of Gilli - Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations - Christmas
Totally Stampalicious - Anything But A Card
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - Anything Christmas
UnstampaBelles - Christmas (no stamps)
Anything But A Card Challenge #7 -  Always Anything But A Card
The Cupcake Craftroom - Anything for Christmas
 Natalie & Amy Challenge - Christmas or Winter inspired 
Oozak - Anything Goes + RED
Unique Crafters Challenge Blog - All About Christmas 


That's it for me today!  I hope you've enjoyed this little goodie box tutorial and will give it a try!
Hubby is upstairs wrapping presents ... guess I'd better go give him a hand!

Thanks so much for stopping and as always!

It's the 4th Day of Christmas at . . .

. . . SHELLY'S IMAGES 12 Days of Christmas Party
and I'm happy to be your hostess today!

I will be sharing the tutorial for this wonderful holiday Gift Card Holder using Shelly's Images PRECOLORED "One Last Stop" digi image.  I'm sure these will come in handy for you 

this holiday season.

So be sure to pop on over to SHELLY'S IMAGES for this fun & easy tutorial!
See you there!

 As always ... thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog.

And I hope you'll come back again very soon!

Crafty Secrets DT challenge & Linky Party

WOW!  Is it Monday again already?

And since it's the 1st Monday of the month, that means it's time for a new Linky Party at Crafty Secrets.  What does that mean you ask!  Well ... not only does the Crafty Secrets Design Team share their projects by linking on the post on the Heartwarming Vintage blog, but it's open for anyone to link there also. All you have to do is create a project, card, layout, home deco project or anything you want using a Crafty Secrets product, post it on your blog (gallery, etc) and link up on the Heartwarming Vintage blog.  You may be the $50.00 random.org winner, but everyone who plays will receive a $5.00 Gift Certificate they can use in our www.craftyvintagegirl.com

Over on the blog Sandy has been sharing all the amazing Christmas papers, image, stamps they have been putting together and I mean to tell you there are a TON of BEAUTIFUL things to create with!  I will share links at the end of this post where you can go to check them all out!

 This first card was created using the Retro Christmas Images & Ephemera.

The main focus of this card was created using THREE images which were brought into Word to create this little scene.  First I entered the 'Retro Frame Window' into a Word document ... next I entered the 'Retro Tree' and placed it behind the window frame and lastly I entered the 'Retro Word Merry Christmas' file in the front as my sentiment.  (Remember, these are all digital files and so easy to manipulate and resize to create a scene such as this.) The background paper, candy cane & buttons are also from this Retro Christmas downloadable set.  I have done a little fussy cutting on the buttons and popped up the candy cane for added dimension.  White satin ribbon was added to the bottom of the card and White Liquid Applique was used on the snow for even more dimension.  I LOVE how this card came together ... really easy, but looks like it took a lot of time!

Here's a close-up of the 'liquid applique snow' . . .

 

Would you like to see another?

 The creation uses a combination of images from both the VINTAGE CHRISTMAS Images & Ephemera and the RETRO CHRISTMAS Images & Ephemera sets.

I've used the same background paper as the 1st card and the other files I have used on this card are:

Retro Holly

Retro Jewel Star

Vintage Holly Music

Vintage Snow Angel Boy

Vintage Snow Angel Girl

First I brought the Holly Music file into a Word document then overlayed the Vintage Snow Angel Boy & Girl.  That created the FOCUS image for my card.  Next I printed out the Jewel Stars and Holly ... a little fussy cutting, placement on the background and VIOLA!   I did add White Liquid Applique to the trim on the angels coats and Crystal Effects to the Jewel Stars for added sparkle & dimension.

Here's a close up of the detail . . .

Please be sure to pop over to my team mates blogs and check out the fabulous inspiration they have to share with you today!  And remember ... Our Linky Party will run all week. 
  Vicki Chrisman
Michele Kovack
Melissa Bove
Rebekah Fairies  

I do have another project to share with you but so as not to overwhelm you with this posting, I will be back later in the day with that project.  Here's a sneak peek ...

Now it's your turn to share your Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage creations with us!  You say you don't have any of these products yet ... OH DEAR!  Well here are the links I promised where you can check them out and make your purchases:

Our Websites, Gallery, Store

• Our New CraftyVintageGirl Store!
• CraftySecrets.com
• Our ETSY Store
• Our Shopatron Store
• Join Us On Facebook

  For those of you who already have some of these fabulous products, I hope you will dig out your Crafty Secrets supplies and create something or find a past favorite sample you want to share and post it here this week!  Looking forward to seeing your creations and promise to be back later with another goodie to share!  If I get the tree decorated in time, I'll do a step-by-step tutorial for you!  Cross your fingers!  LOL!

Here are a few other qualifying challenges I'd like to enter these creations into:
ABC Challenge - Holiday Cards with Bling (card #2)
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes
 Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Winter (card #2)
Lady Anne's Challenge - Anything Goes
The Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots - Anything Goes
Creative Stamp Friends - Xmas (card #1)
Critter Sketch Challenge Blog - Christmas Anything Goes
 Hooked on Crafts Challenge - Christmas
 House of Gilli - Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations - Christmas 
My Craft Spot - Merry Christmas
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - Anything Christmas 
UnstampaBelles - Christmas (no stamps)

THANKS SO MUCH for stopping by and I hope you've found inspiration in my work!

As always . . .

Party at Shelly's Images!!!!

 

It's the 12 Days of Christmas Party at Shelly's Images!

Each day there's something new & FUN going on!  You won't want to miss it!

GAMES, TUTORIALS, HOLIDAY IDEAS,

PRIZES and FREEBIES!!!

All designed to help you get in the Christmas spirit and inspire you!!

So  PLEASE COME JOIN THE FUN!  

Remember this runs December 1 - 12, 2012!

What cha waitin' for???

Come on ... see ya there!

Vintage Peek-A-Boo Album

Happy December 1st everyone!

Today I have a Vintage Christmas Peek-A-Boo Album to share with you so grab your favorite beverage and a comfy seat because I'll warn you now ... this is a long post ... but hopefully a very informative one that I hope you'll enjoy and draw inspiration from!

I've been telling you about the awesome Christmas digital papers now available over at Crafty Secrets 

and the album helped me showcase just a FEW of these beautiful papers!  Here's a peek at the finished album and I will try to step you through some of the steps I took along the way in making it.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I was helping my granddaughter create a scrapbook and when we were all through, I noticed there were a few 12x12 cardboard backings in the trash from the packs of scrapbook page protectors she had used.  Of course instantly I thought of creating some sort of album utilizing these backings (can't waste good chipboard ya know).  So I set forth cutting as many pages as I could from those 12x12 boards and grabbed a couple others from my stash to get the desired amount needed.

I used a variety of openings and page edgings for each page of the album to give it depth & character.  I used squares, rectangles, scallop edge, zig-zag edge, half moon ... just anything that popped into my head!

 As indicated in the photo, I cut my page pieces 7 1/2" x 5 1/2" and using a hole punch made 3 holes to accommodate the 1" book rings that would hold my album together.

Then the fun began.  I printed out several different sheets of this beautiful paper in the patterns that I thought would work with the vision I had in my head.  I also tried to keep in mind where my 'openings' were and how that would be viewed when put together.  Once I did one side, I flipped them over and did the other side with different papers still (so many different papers to choose from on this CD!).  I used Modge Podge as my adhesive and a craft knife to cut the openings once my design paper was adhered & dry.

 Once I had each page covered with the desired paper, I started going through the various Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage stickers, booklets, printables & other ephemera I had available to embellish each page and here are a few of the ideas I came up with. 

Everything on this album is from Crafty Secrets/Heartwarming Vintage Store with the exception of the die cut tree (on page 1 which is Spellbinders), the die cut reindeer (on page 3 which is also Spellbinders) and the various colors of Stickles I used for sparkle.  

Now remember this is just ONE side of each album page ... would you like to see how each page came together?  There are SO MANY papers & images in these sets that I could have made many, many more pages!!  Here's a glimpse of each opened page of my album ... hope you like it!

Once I had all my pages as I wanted them, I inserted the book rings and tied gold & green organza ribbon as well as red & white satin ribbon to each ring.  Really gave it a finished, festive appeal.

This was SO MUCH fun to create and actually it's my very 1ST Peek-A Boo Album ... and I'm really proud of the outcome!  Of course, having these beautiful papers & embellishments available at Crafty Secrets made it easy for me!  Please be sure to pop over and check out ALL the amazing products available!  

Here are the links:

• Our New CraftyVintageGirl Store!
• CraftySecrets.com
• Our ETSY Store
• Our Shopatron Store
• Join Us On Facebook

I would also love to share this fun creation with the following challenges:

Jingle Belles - December to Remember (Anything Goes)

Inspire Me Friday - Anything Goes

Pause, Dream, Enjoy - Forgotten Stash (CS stickers found in the bottom of the drawer)

Sweet & Sassy Challenge - Interior Decorating

Sweet Pea Stampers - Gifts (this album is a Christmas gift ... ssshhh)

Wags 'n Whiskers - Christmas

Alphabet Challenge - V for Vintage
Avadares Challenge - Anything with a Digi
Broken Box Stock - Happy Holidays
Card Crafter's Circle #51 - Bearing gifts (this album is a Christmas gift ... ssshhh)
Crafty Catz Challenge - Recycle/Upcycle (cardboard backing from page protectors for album pages)
Fussy and Fancy - I Love Christmas
QKR Stampede - It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Totally Paper Crafts - Anything CHRISTMASY but a card
2 Sisters - Christmas Sparkle
Craftymess Challenge - Vintage Christmas
Little Claire's Designs - Christmas
My Sheri Crafts - Tis the Season

Are you still here?  Sorry it was such a long post but there was a lot I wanted you to see!
PLEASE stop by the Crafty Secrets Blog on Monday when we will be hosting a new Linky Party ... you could win some fabulous Crafty Secrets products!

Thanks so much everyone for stopping by and for always making my day with your kind words!

Until next time ...