Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Inpiring Ideas, Samples and News!

Hi Everyone,

Our design team has been busy designing all sorts of fabulous samples! Design team leader Vicki Chrisman created this very cute layout using our Fishing Buds Clear Art Stamps set for a challenge by Taylored Expressions. You can get more details
HERE on Vicki's blog.


Look at this super fun kitchen wall hanging Vicki made using an image from our Domestic Goddess Scraps. She also made a really cute Halloween Bingo card you can see and get details on both HERE on Vicki’s blog. I love the way she used her Stickles and Diamond Glaze!


Vicki also framed a bunch of our vintage images in some sweet little gold frames like this one using an image from our Homespun Fairy Scraps. I’ve seen some really nice little gold frames like these at second hand stores and dollar stores. If they are an ugly color, you can paint them gold or cream and add a bit of antiquing with inks or chalks. You can see a bunch more pretty framed images HERE


Look at this adorable card that DT member Anna Wight created with our new Mouse Party Clear Art Stamps set! You can get all the details and see the inside HERE on Anna’s blog. You also need to check our the amazing photos Anna takes from her life on the farm!


I also adore DT member Pam Hooten’s ‘Cheesecake card’ she designed with the Mouse Party set. Check out how she paper pierced the little mousse outfit and masked the cheese to layer her cake HERE on Pam’s blog.


Look at this beautiful card DT member Heidi Blankenship designed using our Seaside Clear Art Stamp set with a bunch of Spellbinder’s Dies! This little girl image off the set is one of my favorites and Heidi rocked it on this card! You can see more details and get the list of all the dies, inks and Copic Markers she used to create it HERE on Heidi's blog.


DT member Linda Duke also loves our Seaside stamp set and she made this very pretty card as well using the same little girl but different Spellbinder Dies. I love her soft colors and the way she added glitter to make the water sparkle in the ‘sun’! You can get all her details and see more HERE on Linda’s blog

DT member Vivian Peters has also been busy creating all sorts of fabulous samples like this super cute card she made using an image from our Cooking Cotton Scraps with the cookie cutter stamps from our Sweet Stuff Clear Art Stamp set. The REALLY SAD NEWS is that our Cooking Cotton Scraps have SOLD OUT and I’m still waiting to see if we can get more printed. Boo hoo!
You have to check out all the other great cards HERE on Vivian's blog that she has created including her super fun 'off to Paris on a vacuum' card she designed with our Girl Time Cotton Scraps (still in stock)!

Marisa Groson has also been a busy posting all sorts of new inspiring samples on her blog! I adore the 3 little paper doll cards she created in different outfits. You can see the other little doll cards if you scroll farther along Marisa's blog HERE as well as see her other wonderful cards like this one she made using images from our Calendar Creative Scraps and get more details Just close your eyes when you see the totally cute card Marisa created using an image from our Cooking Cotton Scraps as it just sold out. On the other hand there are probably several stores that may have it still in stock
Here is the card using some of the Calendar Creative Scraps

I love this mini album that DT member Melissa Phillips designed and the way she used our little girl laying on the grass (from our Calendar Creative Scraps). That image is from a book I own from the late 1800’s and it just shows you, some thing will never change. I think everyone can remember lying on a grassy hill enjoying the sunshine as a child. In fact it looks like a wonderful idea at any age! You can see the rest of this pretty little album and HERE on Melissa’s blog.


I also wanted to tell you that DT member Michelle van Etten will be teaching make-n-takes and demonstrating using our Clear Art Stamps and Heartwarming Vintage Collection of images with Glimmer Mist at the Stampfest Show at the convention center this weekend (June 27 & 28) in Kissemee, Florida! Michelle will be working in Scraporium’s booth at the show and if you can make it, stop by and play! Denise from Scraporium, located in Lutz, FL just received a huge order from us.

Wishing you all lots of joy & creativity!

Sandy Redburn
Owner

Crafty Secrets

Toll Free Phone 1-888 597-8898
Toll Free Fax 1-888 597-2678
Local Phone 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave.,
Surrey, BC V3S 8R4

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street,
#436Blaine, WA 98230


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Free Father's Poem, Mouse Party Samples & Summer Fun!

Hi Everyone,

Free Father's Day Poem &/or Crown
Ideas Using Favorite Fellas Stamps
New Mouse Party Samples!
It's All About Me Challenge on Splitcoast

I have a free printable poem for Fathers Day and lots of fun samples to share! If the poem won't get larger when you click it on, you can download the poem HERE and save it as a picture file. It's a poem I scanned from 1930's card.

If you would also like to make a crown for good ol' Dad to wear this Sunday, you can get our free Funky Crown Pattern HERE!

The winners of the Party Crown Contest were Marlene Bender, Samantha Sibbet, Robin McCormack, Julie Campbell and Amber Tosh. In case you missed them, you can see each of their fantastic crowns HERE!

If you already own our Favorite Fellas Stamps and you haven't made a Fathers Day card yet, dust off your stamps and have a look at some of the great ideas HERE in our Gallery!

Be sure to click on page 2 to see all the samples! I just typed 'Fella' in the search box in our Gallery to find them. There are a few unrelated cards but lots of great ideas! I love these ties DT member Lisa Zappas created by stamping on papers from our Earthy Paper Pad. All of the other stamps she used are from the Favorite Fellas set as well.



With Summer here, I also had to show you this little fishing tag booklet DT member Pam Hooten created last year. Pam used a combo of these stamps: Fishing Buds, Hardware, Kewpies, and the 'Happy Fathers Day’ stamp she used on the front is from our Favorite Fellas set. Paper is from our Earthy Paper Pad. Go check out all the samples HERE.

I will show a bunch more Summer theme samples on my next post.


Now, look at these totally cute Mouse Party Samples! Our design team have begun to receive their sets and some of the ladies have had a chance to play! This brand new medium size

stamp set will be available to order this Friday, June 19th! You can ask your favorite store to order it in for you.

Also, Linda Poulsbo from WA won our new Mouse Party Clear Art Stamp Set on our last blog giveaway.

DT member Marisa Grosson created this adorable scene and I love the way colored the mouse bursting out of the paper! Marisa will also be posting details on her blog HERE later.



DT member Lisa Zappa thinks these might be her new fav stamp set and went on a little mouse party creating various adorable cards! Look at the way she cut out her stamped balloons and added them on this card.


Here, Lisa repeated the little mouse stamp and then gave the one in the middle a horn to toot. You can see all her cards up close and get the details HERE on Lisa's Blog!


Now, look at how cute this card would be for a little girl! ST member Michele Kovack just sent me this adorable card this morning and I know as soon as she has time she will post it on her blog HERE and tell you what colors of Copic Markers she used for this pretty effect.


Michele also created this sweet card using the Mouse Party set as well. I love the way she added the candle to the hunk of cheese as a slice of cake!


Look at these 2 sweet cards that Rimna and Marja from Sweden posted HERE in our Online Gallery HERE. You can see all sorts of great samples like the sewing card DT member Pam Hooten created.

Lastly, I wanted to tell you about the NEW It's All About Me challenge Pammyjo is hosting over at Splitcoast. The idea is to create a card using any of our products that express you! You can read more about it HERE and see the Gallery HERE. Why not join in the fun!

Here is Pammyjo's Card and I love how she recorded how she feels it defines her.

From the top of the card to the bottom....

Hot Flashes for sure and they definitely come in waves

Black..love this color with the bold contrast

Pink Breast Cancer ribbon........I was 1 in the 1 out of 7

Flowers....love to plant them, cut them, smell & enjoy

A Bra with an actual cup size......thanks to reconstruction

The pink passion hearts....a reminder to comfort my soul

Buttons, Stitching, Patterns and Scissors......I'm a seamstress

Until the next post, I wish you joy & creativity
Sandy Redburn
Owner




Crafty Secrets

Toll Free Phone 1-888 597-8898

Toll Free Fax 1-888 597-2678

Local Phone 604 597-8817


Head Office15430 78 A Ave.,

Surrey, BC V3S 8R4


USA Warehouse

250 H. Street,

#436Blaine, WA 98230
Monday, June 15, 2009

Party Hat and Mouse Party Winners!

Hi Everyone,

This is a quick post but I’ve learned a couple of lessons.

I need to say I will post in the evening and if I get it done sooner, then all the better! Today has been super crazy day with all sorts of unexpected hurdles to jump and mountains to climb.


Congratulations to the random winner of our NEW - Not Even Released Yet' Mouse Party Stamp set was Linda from Poulsbo. WA. Hi Linda, we emailed you as we need your mailing address please.

With contests - I’ve discovered it’s way too hard to pick one winner and I even asked for help!
Everyone agreed that every entry was very cool and each one inspired different ideas. As a manufacture, it's great to see samples that use lots of our product but the challenge said to use any of our product(s) in some way with our free crown or party hat pattern you can (download HERE) from the last post. In the end, we simply could not pick 1 winner, so we threw all the entries into a little box and pulled a winner – and then awarded $25.00 runner up prizes for everyone else!


The $50.00 winner of our random draw was Marlene Bender and I was so happy as I adore the Java Queen Crown she created! Marlene used stamps from our Coffee & Tea Clear Art Stamp set and the 'crown' stamp is from our Favorite Fellas Stamp Set. The paper looks like Graphic 45.
Here is a super pretty crown designed by runner up Samantha Sibbet that could have also easily won. We adored the colors she used with the little birdy tea party image from our Feathered Friends Cotton Scraps - plus her daughter looks so adorable wearing her crown!

Robin from MN was a runner up with her innovative Poker Crown, using an image from our Wacky & Wonderful Booklet (sadly this booklet is sold out) with playing cards and our little stamp logo which looks like she punched and glued to real poker chips.
We also loved this fun glitter crown that runner up Julie Campbell created using paper from our Earthy Paper Pad, our Sexy Little Number Stamps and she cut a couple of crowns from our Radiant Paper Pad. It looks like Julie also used a sticker from our Wonderful Wonderful Women Stickers on the Lady's head.
Runner up Amber Tosh was the only entry who used the Party Hat Pattern (link in last post) and we totally loved her cute hat with the satin trim and top, pom poms, the chipboard # 5 and the cute kids she cut out from our Homemade Image & Journal Notes Booklet. Amber also used paper from our Classic Paper Pad and the red check is from the Earthy Pad.

We all fell in love with this adorable photo of Ambers daughter wearing her party hat!

So many hundreds of people have downloaded our free patterns I had to ask our graphic designer Cindy van Koll to repost the patterns with an unlimited download HERE.

Thank you to each of you who sent in an entry and to all of you who love our products and subscribe to this Blog and/or condensed Creative Ideas Newsletter!
Wishing you joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn
Owner
www.craftysecrets.com

Our Online Store Locator
Our Shopatron Store

Crafty Secrets
Toll Free Phone or Fax 1-888 597-8898
Local Phone 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave., Surrey, BC V3S 8R4

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230

Monday, June 8, 2009

Crafty Secrets DT Challenge, Prizes, New Mouse Party Stamps and More!

Hi Everyone!

Birthday DT Challenge Samples & Enter to Win $30.00 Gift Certificate!

Today is our Design Team Birthday Challenge and our DT ladies have created some fantastic samples you can check out on these links below!

Also, DT member Anna Wight is hosting a blog giveaway for a $30.00 Gift Certificate, which the winner can use for any of our products and we will also pay the shipping! To enter just leave a comment on Anna’s Blog HERE (aka Sweet Miss Daisy) and Anna will pick a random winner tomorrow.

Please click these links below to see all the birthday samples our design created!


Anna Wight – Party Girl Card


Vicki Chrisman – Cupcake Box & Party Crown

Lisa Zappa - Lisa is posting later tonight


Pam Hooten – Pretty Gift Box & Card


Heidi Blankenship – Birthday Girl Card

Marisa Grosson - Happy Birthday Garland

Vivian Peters - Girlfriend Birthday Card

Michele Kovack – Martini Magnet Set & Chandelier Card

Linda Duke – Birthday Flower Girl Card

Melissa Philips – Birthday Gift Tags

Michelle van Etten – Birthday Layout

Enter Your Party Crown or Hat to Win a $50.00 Gift and Links to Patterns!
We are also hosting a Party Crown/Hat Contest and we will be giving away a $50.00 Gift Certificate on June 15 and 2 runner up prize packs! So far no one has entered but I hope lots of you will join in the fun and use our Free Tiara, Crown Pattern or Party Hat Downloads to create a party crown or hat. Just email your crown or party hat photo to sandy@craftysecrets.com I will post the samples and winners on June 15th.

Here is a sample that DT member Vicki Chrisman whipped up last night using the Tiara pattern, with an image from our Girlfriends Image & Journal Notes Booklet and paper from our Radiant Paper Pad.

If the patterns I've added below don't enlarge for you, please click HERE to download the Tiara and Crown Pattern from Yousendit.com . This is a new link as last weeks went over 500 downloads! The pattern works great on our 6 x 12" papers (because they are thick) but will work with any paper or cardstock 12" long. Simply print the pattern on plain paper and cut it out to use as a template to trace on.


If you would rather enter a Party Cone Hat, HERE is the link to our Party Cone and Party Hat Pattern, which was posted last year on our website and here is a hat sample that DT Member Lisa Zappa created using paper from our Radiant Paper Pad, image from our Seasonal Booklet and a Mini Chipboard Frame (19 pcs).

Win This NEW Mouse Party Stamp Set!
Speaking of parties, we are also working on a bunch of new Clear Art Stamp sets for the CHA Show next month and we just got the proofs back for a new Mouse Party Set and I have an extra one I'm going to give away! This totally cute medium size set won't be available until next month but one lucky winner will get one when we choose a random winner also on June 15th. To enter to win this fun stamp set just leave a comment HERE on this blog.
Thank You Texas!
We just got home last night from the Great American Scrapbook Show in Texas and we had a great time and met many old and new friends! Everyone was so friendly and they loved the Make-n-Takes Vicki Chrisman taught and all the fabulous samples our Design Team have created. I will post photos and info about the CHA Wholesale Trade Show and the Craft Super Show we are attending next month in Orlando Florida.

Wishing you all lots of joy & creativity!

Sandy Redburn, Owner
www.craftysecrets.com

Our Online Store Locator
Our Shopatron Store


Crafty Secrets - Heartwarming Vintage Co
Toll Free Phone 1-888 597-8898

Toll Free Fax 1-888 597-2578
Local Phone 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave., Surrey, BC V3S 8R4

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230

Monday, June 1, 2009

Party Crown & Tiara Pattern, TX Show Cards, My Office Make Over & More!

Hi Everyone, .

First of all I need to tell you about our big party next week – PLUS give you these links to our free
Tiara Crown Pattern and our Free Paper Crown Pattern (prefect for Fathers Day) and past links to our Party Cone and Party Hat Pattern as well!
I hope you will get creative with the party hat patterns and join us next week to see some great samples from our design team and the chance to WIN some fab prizes!

PLEASE – send me any Party Hat, Crown or Tiara you create to be entered to win a $50.00 Gift Certificate. Deadline – June 15/09


Here is the link to download our free Tiara Crown Pattern our Paper Crown Pattern
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/695170830/19ab6ffb681f09ed5eae253eb735ce44

Here is the link to our Party Cone and Party Hat Pattern, if you didn't get it before.
http://www.craftysecrets.com/newsletterprojects/partyhatdec2007/projects.htm

We are leaving for our biggest retail show of the year tonight; the Great American Scrapbook Convention and I want to share some photos of our two Make & Takes which will be held Thursday and Friday from 2:30pm – 2:50pm.

If you CAN’T make it to the Make & Takes, designer Vicki Chrisman has plenty of Clear Art Stamps and Heartwarming Images you can play with at our Booth! Here is the link to the show info.

For the free make & takes at the on site Pavilion at the GAS Show in Texas, I designed some quick cards that combine images from our Heartwarming Vintage Collection but there is also space inside where you will hand stamp your own choice of sentiments from our Coffee & Tea Clear Art Stamps set on Thurs or our Bird Lovers Clear Art Stamps set on Friday from 2:30 to 2:50. Here are the samples


The images above are from our Girlfriends Images & Journal Booklet and the card (1 of 3 other samples) is from our Birds & Botanical Booklet.

Here's a photo from our last show of Theresa Unrau who was demonstrating at the Puyallup Stamp & Paper Arts Expo in WA. We had a great time at this show and really enjoyed meeting everyone!


I took this photo just before the doors opened at the Portland Stamp & Paper Arts Festival in April. This was our first time doing this show and it was wonderful! I LOVE Portland and the people there!
Also, I promised to show you samples of my office make over and I’m so embarrassed about this - but I promised, so here is the BAD BEFORE SHOT. The most silly thing about this is my positive thinking sign ‘Everything is Perfect’ – far from it, but this looks really bad as it was in the middle of the move with drawers pulled out and stuff everywhere. Our middle daughter Holly moved out and saved my life from ‘clutter hell’! I moved the old storage cupboards into her room and plan to sell all this ASAP! I need to stop buying old stuff!

Now that was really bad, but this is really great!
I am now in office heaven and it feels so much better! I pinned up a photo of this furniture as my dream office and 2 weeks later I walked into a liquidation store and found it all marked down 75% off!

Yes, I still need to decorate but for now it just feels good to breathe!
Thank you to everyone who wrote and called with thyroid advise. I feel way better already!
Wishing you joy & creativity,
Sandy Redburn
Owner
Crafty Secrets - Heartwarming Vintage Co.
Toll Free Phone or Fax 1-888 597-8898
Local Phone 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave., Surrey, BC V3S 8R4

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230