Crafty Secret DT Challenge

Hello Everyone!
It's me Vicki Chrisman, posting for Sandy while she is away. I talked with her briefly yesterday, and it sounds like they are having a wonderful time. Yay! I hope she enjoys ever minute of this well deserved time away.
I'm excited to post these beautiful projects for you to see today. All made by the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Design Team.
Last week I asked to girls on the team if they would like to participate in another little challenge.
This challenge would involve creating a project of their choice, incorporating the
Artsy Alphabet, (and any other Crafty Secrets Products they choose) into their creation.
This alphabet set is such a cool set, and stamps with such amazing detail, I knew they would rock it.. and they certainly did!
Each of the girls blogs are linked below their project(s), if you would like to pop over to their blogs to see ,or read more about their projects from this challenge.
Enjoy!

Heidi Blankenship

Lisa Zappa

Liza Zappa

Pam Hooten

Marisa Grossman

Marisa Grossman

Vivian Peters

Anna Wight

Vicki Chrisman

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Wishing you all a great start to your week!

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New Stamps and well deserved get away

Hi everyone! Sandra is away doing a little business and then on a well deserved holiday in sunny Florida. Sandra and Scott will be driving down to Key West and stopping to say hi to a few stores on the way so watch for her.

Here is the first of 2 new medium stamps that have just gone to be proto-typed this one is called SM21 Snowbunnies and is so cute. I think it will be really fun to use the different expressions on the snowman's sign.

SM22 Christmas Joy started out as a small set but grew into a medium set. This set is very interactive you can decorate each ornament with the different items and I think it would be great embossed with a metallic powder.

That's all the news for now , Have a great weekend and Sandra will be back soon!

Regards

Cindy

Great Links and Downloads!

This blog post includes links to some free cool and helpful sites, templates for party hats & cones, free printable vintage sheet music, a great photo editing program, samples and more!

Scott and I just got back from the CK Scrapbook Show in Phoenix and we met so many wonderful people! I owe a BIG THANKS to my two fantastic helpers; Julie on Friday and to Cindy who helped us Saturday. Jennifer and Kim also came by from the famous and fantastic Mystic Paper Store in Mesa and bought a bunch goodies! As well we have a new store called the Tole Shop in Glendale AZ that bought stock when the show was over and they are now carrying some of our products!



Some of these links have been posted in the past but I thought I would gather them all up in a single post and add them down the side of my blog soon as well.

Here are the links!
Link to FREE Vintage Sheet Music in Sea Shore Song from Lisa Zappa

Link to Free Printable Sheet Music Sing for Joyfully or Patriotic

Link to Free Party Hats & Cone Pattern

Link to Free Printable Vintage Angel Egg Card and Poem. This was the winning card that the talented Joanne (Angelnorth) from the UK created when she enlarged the angel and shrunk the poem down and turned it into a tiny booklet. Her idea to cut the Angel from the original flowered egg, makes it work for more card themes than just Easter


Link to oodles of great envelope and box templates from Ruth including petal cards, heart baskets, pyramid boxes, Hexagonal cards and much more!

Link to Great Resources on Splitcoaststampers.com for techniques and patterns including: alcohol inking, bleached images, coloring techniques, cracked glass, slider cards, pop-up cards, mini coaster or badge holder albums and more!

LINK to a 2008 Calendar Sheet and CLICK HERE for 2009. Calendar making season is approaching again, so I thought I better include links to our FREE calendar sheets which can be printer on paper or cardstock and the months trimmed to desired size. Here is our Blank Template that works with our Calendar Stamp Set.

Link to www.picnik.com photo editing program

My youngest daughter Chelsea (21 years) introduced me to a really fantastic website I want to share with you for correcting and editing your photos really fast and it’s free! It’s called Picnik and makes it easy for you to pull photos straight from any of several photo sharing sites including Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Facebook, Photobucket, Webshots. You can also enter the URL for ANY website (your blog, MySpace page, etc.) and Picnik can pull photos from there for you to edit as well. When you save a photo, you can choose where you want it saved. She convinced me when she showed me how fast it did the automatic ‘teeth whitening’ feature on a photo she used!

* Fix your photos in just one click
* Use advanced controls to fine-tune your results
* Crop, resize, and rotate in real-time
* Tons of special effects, from artsy to fun
* Will change your photos to B&W or Sepia FAST!
* Awesome fonts and top-quality type tool
* Lots of shapes, adds rounded corners
* No download required, nothing to install

A few of the ladies on the design team have new projects on their blogs. You have to check out this beautiful baby card that that Heidi created HERE from our DT created using Baby Girls Clear Art Stamps and paper from our Pastel Paper Pad.

Vivian from our DT decorated this adorable Halloween house using one of our Sweetchips Houses, our Vintage Halloween stickers and the diamond paper is from our Earthy Paper Pad. You can get all the details HERE on her blog
Pammy Jo has posted a challenge over at Splitcoast also for people to submit artist trading cards but her little stipulation is they need to include three P’s, ( 3 things that start with the letter P). You can Check Out the Gallery HERE and get more details HERE. Here is a cute ATC that Pammy made using our Support the Girls Stamp set.

Marisa from our design team entered her first ATC card into the challenge with this pretty card using letters from our Divine Booklet (which is on sale here). You can get all the details on her blog HERE
Here is a cute candy container that Vicki from our design team altered and you can see lots more samples HERE in Our Online Gallery!

It was heartbreaking to hear about the damage that hurricane Ike has done and everyone here at our office sends their condolences and best wishes to all those affected. We have so many great customers from Texas! Scott and I toured many of the old heritage houses in Galveston a few years ago so it was horrible hearing about all the devastation.
From all accounts it looks like two of the best places anyone can donate to help out are the Salvation Army or the Red Cross. I made a donation to both and it was easy to do online.

Salvation Army Donations can be made online at http://www.salvationarmy.org/ or call (800) SAL-ARMY.
You can donate to the Red Cross Donate online at http://www.redcross.org/ or by phone at (800) RED-CROS Or, text the word "Give" to 24357 (2HELP) to donate $5.

I almost forgot that I wanted to share a peek at a new stamp set that I would LOVE to have your feedback on! It's called Winter Fun and includes Peter Rabbit with some of his animal family & friends. It's almost ready to go to the manufacture but I would love feedback on the words and font styles. Please speak up if you have any suggestions keeping in mind that this will be a 4" x 6" medium stamp set. I'm sure I'm driving our graphic artist Cindy van Koll nuts - but I want every set we do to be the best it can be and feel 100% right. Thanks for any recommendations and ideas! Please excuse the rotten photo

I wish you all a wonderful day!

Sandy Redburn

Crafty Secrets - Heartwarming Vintage

www.craftysecrets.com

www.clearartstamps.com

Store Locator

Online Shopatron Store

A Milestone, Cool Samples, See us at CK in Phoenix!

Today (Sept 9) was our 30th wedding anniversary with my fav guy Scott who is still my heart throb! I LOVE him so much and he is such a good friend, father and huge help to my business and sanity! Most of all, we know each other inside and out, the good and the ugly and we are still in love! I’ve been going through menopause, a thyroid problem , the turning 50 thing, all with a life that is too busy to do everything…so I’m thankful for our love, because if I’ve learned if I focus on what bugs me – he could really bug me! I’m sure I drive him nuts at times as well, but the most important lesson I’ve learned is to appreciate the good and positive things in your life and all those people you care about.

So my message for today (besides trying to inspire you with creative ideas) is to go hug someone you love! Actually, a happy heart really helps creativity and inspiration flow! Here we are walking down the aisle (wow check out my 70’s wedding dress!)

Scott is coming to the CK Show with me this weekend - see info farther down. Watch out - he has more of his corny jokes! Okay, Halloween inspiration is in the air! Look at all these cute projects! I adore this Halloween card that Anna Wight from our design team created with all the cool stitching! She used an image from our new Halloween Vintage Image & Journal Notes Booklets and I love the glitter along the ridges of her pumpkin. Anna has a great glitter story on her blog HERE! You should also check out this super cute Shadow box that Vicki Chrisman made using an image from the same booklet. She has all the details on her blog, plus she is doing a GIVE-AWAY

for a FREE Vintage Halloween & Journal Notes Booklet this Friday on her blog HERE! You just need to post a comment to enter and be sure to leave your contact info so she can get hold of you if you win! Vicki was just here for a visit and she has some REALLY great (and funny) photos on her blog as well
I LOVE these cute little vintage wood blocks that Pam Hooten altered! She found them in a junk store and embellished them with Halloween images and some of the journal note parts from our booklet and added papers, buttons, letters and lace! Pam has run into a glitch when she trys to post in our online sample gallery but I hope we can get it fixed fast! The bat on the wire is a great

Vivian from our design team created a really pretty Christmas card using on of the images from our Vintage Christmas Image & Journal Notes Booklets and used some of the snowflakes stamps , the Seasons Greetings and a sentiment verse stamp from our Vintage Christmas set. You can get the details HERE on her blogThis martini set that Heidi from our design team created is a hoot! She entered it into a JustRite Stampin Champion contest She also made a stunning card that she embossed in gold using stamps from our Frame It and Flourishes sets. She has all the details with close up pics from the martini set as well HERE on her blog!Marisa from our design team entered a challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com to create a card with angles and I absolutely adore this card she created using an image from our Little Dolls Image & Journal Notes Booklet! She simply layed the image on an angle over the journal part of the page that has a faux fold that looks so cool! She used paper from our Classic Paper Pad and I just love the entire color combo with the flower she added and shading! You can get all the details HERE on Marisa's blog

You can also check out the other wonderful cards people have posted with angles HERE and get the details HERE if you would like to post a card or something you create with angles.

I had a peek in the Crafty Secrets Gallery over at Splitcoast today and I'm in awe of all of the incredible samples that people have been creating with our Clear Art Stamps and our vintage images. I really like this sweet card that Melanie stamped using the fairy girl from our Fairy stamp set! I'm amazed at all the talent and you can see it all HERE!

Come See us at the CK Show in Phoenix this weekend!

Okay, we are heading off to the big Creating Keepsakes Show in Phoenix, Arizona and we would LOVE to meet you if you are coming to the show please mention this newsletter and ask for our free little GIFT for YOU! We are bringing a TON of all of our products, LOTS of great samples - literally, I wallpaper the booth in samples - so if you are in the area, I hope to meet you!

If you can't make it to the show, you can always check our store locator for a store near you but please phone first as stores sell out and we also need to update the list! we are in the process of building a NEW Website, which I'm super excited about!

Here is a link to our online Store Locator

Here is a link to our Shopatron Store

Warm regards!

Sandy Redburn

Owner

http://www.craftysecrets.com/

http://www.clearartstamps.com/

Winners for Girlfriends Give Away, Samples and More!

Hello,

I have winners for our Girlfriends Giveaway, some great samples to show you and photos to share! I loved reading all the entries and I wish everyone could win! I have 1 random winner for our large Girlfriends prize package and then I drew 2 mini winners who each won a double set of our Girlfriends Image & Journal Notes Booklets!

Beth from Alabama is the random winner of the large prize package!
Beth said: I count myself blessed with many friends but I guess my "bff" the one person that knows EVERYTHING about me and vice versa, would be Valeria. She and I met in college because we were both in the marching band at the University of Tennessee. We have been roommates, graduated Nursing School together, between us have been through so much together and although we live 4 hours away from each other and only talk about once a month, this is the type of friendship that knows no time or boundaries! Thanks for this awesome opportunity!

Your prize package includes:
1 Glamour Girls large stamp set
1 Support the Girls medium stamp set
1 Girl Time Cotton Scrap
1 Wonderful Woman Cardstock Stickers
2 Girlfriends Vintage Image & Journal Notes

I also drew 2 mini sets of double copies of our Girlfriends Image & Journal Notes to give away.

Bunnyb from Malaysia also won a set of 2 Girlfriends Booklets. She said:
My best friend is Julia and I met her in high school. We weren't friends at that time but knew of each other. Later, during university (we went to different universities) she started to blog and I somehow stumbled upon it and started following her and commenting. From there, we met up again and became best friends! :) She's such a caring and kind soul -- I'm glad we're friends!

The other random winner of the double set of Girlfriends Booklets was Deb Neerman, who said:"My best friend is my sister ... she's mad at me at the moment, but winning this gift for her should make amends! Thanks for the chance!"

This card that Vivian Peters (one of our new design team members) made is so darn cute using our Girlfriends Image & Journal Notes Booklet and that makes me so happy because I know how hard our graphic designer Cindy van Koll worked on placing the the funny jumbo cake for the lady to hold in the photo and we took forever to pick the right expression and putting it on a little fake price tag was a total last minute idea. I love the way Vivian combined the photo and journal part of the page together and her sweet little flowers add perfect dimension!
You can get more details on her blog:http://www.vivlyndesigns.typepad.com/

How about this adorable glamour girl style card that Lisa Zappa from our DT created using our Glamour Girl Stamp set. I LOVE the martini glasses she randomly stamped to create a background paper and little pearl earrings! You can get her tips and details here on her blog here at: shabbychick.blogspot.com

This adorable birthday card that Pam Hooten from our DT team created uses images from our Little Dolls Booklet and stamps from our Birthday Kids set! You can see the inside pocket that holds the little paper dolls here on Pam's Blog: http://pamhooten.blogspot.com/ and check out the photos she took of that really cute squirrel!

I also really love this card that Marisa from our design team made using stamps from our Cherish and Hardware stamp sets! The way she used the column and wrought iron Hardware Stamps to build the bench looks amazing! You can get the details here on her blog:
http://marisa-isa.blogspot.com/

Vicki Chrisman our head designer is here for a visit and we are working on some new products! We have become close friends over the years and she has been here before so she knows my family well and they all love her! I haven't been to Nebraska yet but it's on my list! Today we went back down to our little trailer we recently got and walked the beach. It's down by White Rock Beach and close to the border so we also went to Peach Arch Park (right at the USA-Canada border for a visit. Vicki has also posted on her blog here: http://vickichrisman.blogspot.com

We are sharing the trailer with my mom & dad, so they can use it weekdays and we get it weekends. I love it and think I could live at the beach! Here is a photo of Arnold (our graphic designer Cindy's husband) and mine goofing around while they were building the deck.

I do really miss my 3 daughters, Katie, Holly and Chelsea who made a trip of a lifetime to New York for a week and they get home tomorrow! I can hardly wait to see their photos and hear about their trip!

Congratulations to the winners!

Sandy Redburn

www.craftysecrets.com

www.clearartstamps.com