Friday, January 29, 2010

CHA Photos, Blog Winners & Giveaway for 4 New Stamp Sets!

Hi Everyone,

I'm back from CHA and thrilled with the response we had at the show! This post is mostly photos and short on text as I'm throwing a retirement party for my husband tonight! Leave a comment to be entered to WIN the 4 NEW Small Clear Art Stamp Sets posted at the end of this post!

My camera charger died, so I borrowed photos from Vicki and Julie - who both worked their butts off at the show and did a fantastic job!!!
This was going into the convention center


Here is a photo of our booth at the CHA Show. I will show some photos from our booth at the Craft Super Show later this week.



Here is the Make-n-Take Queen, Vicki Chrisman and some store owners making shadow box fairy cards. So many stores ordered Vicki's new Shadow Box Dies!!! They kept saying they were the hit of CHA! I will get a list of stores and post it ASAP that ordered the die(s).

The grids didn't fit in the CHA Booth, so no 'Fairy Garden Arbor' as I hoped but our revolving cupcake display was a hit!

Here I am in the middle with the talented Vicki and Julie, who were both so very Fantastic & Fun!

Now for the winners - (computer couldn't get signal at our hotel to post) The random winner Gabriela # 26 won our the Greetings from Wonderland and Mermaids Stamp Sets!

Gabriela said...
Darling jewelry armoire! Congratulations. The Seasons Friends set is so very beautiful. I'm secretly coveting it.
January 19, 2010 8:03 AM

Here is the random winner Debbie K # 184 won the Seasonal Friends and Cupcake Party Stamp Sets

debbiek said...
Oh, the projects are just wonderful. Love the new sets and am THRILLED beyond words that Ms. Vicki came up with some fabulous new dies! So fun!!!!
January 19, 2010 6:32 AM


Okay, here are 4 NEW small Stamp Sets. Leave a comment and we will do a random draw for these 4 sets this Tuesday.

SS ll is Message on a Bottle.
It's a 3 x 4" set and the center come off he bottle, you can stamp the label on and lots of word combinations! Will post available date this Tuesday.


SS 12 Ladies Hat Club is a super fun small set with 4 cute hat ladies and lots of fun words! Their hats will be great to color and I love the mini tag and expressions "How Old?' $29.95 plus S&H. Will post available date this Tues

SS 13 Price Tags is a great set for creating cool price tags or No. Cards. I've been saving these old vintage numbers for ages and love the style! Will post available date this Tues.


Finally, SS 14, Twinkle Stars has a great mix of retro stars, background stars, a shooting star, nativity star, star border and smiling moon and star. These will look great with glitter, embossing and colored inks! Will post available date this Tues.


I also need to thank the rest of our Design Team and everyone else for all their hard work! Some of these ladies you may not see but they all play a BIG part in our success! Of course to our graphic designer Cindy van Koll for her amazing work, to Jessica for holding down the office, to our head shipper Shelley, book keeper Karin, to my husband Scott, my daughters and my parents for all their help and to all of you who continue to encourage and support us - Thank you so much!!!
Okay, gotta run but I will be back to show you some very cool samples soon!
Wishing you joy & creativity
Sandy Redburn
Owner

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

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

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


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Winner, Plus New Alice in Wonderland & Mermaid Stamp Sets!

Hi Everyone,

I leave today for both the Craft Super Show and the CHA Trade Show at the Anaheim Convention Center, so I’m going to be brief and show mainly pictures, which is the best part! We wish everyone could win but for the first CHA Giveaway for Office 101 and Party Cat Stamps, Random.org picked #184, so Jean is the winner!

Jean said... These are just so much fun!! These would be so much fun to work wit.
January 19, 2010 5:40 PM


Here is our new Greetings in Wonderland stamps! They are a large 6 x 8" set with 27 separate stamps. Available to order after CHA. Artwork is from 3 antique versions of the book with lots of cool changes, new parts and fun words by Cindy van Koll. She even made small hearts to fit on the queen's fan and squeezed in my fav: 'A man's home is his castle' and 'Until the Queen arrives'. Eventually there will be a 'Tea With Alice' stamp set!



Julie Campbell is coming to work in our booth at the shows, so I sent her one of the stamp proofs and she created this fun card. Our DT leader Vicki Chrisman will also be at both shows and managing our make-n-takes.

DT member Michele Kovack created this wonderful card
DT member Marisa Grosson designed this card in with a pretty yellow palette. Love the pearl on her crown and the detail on the watch!

I have 3 samples to show you by Lisa Zappa. I love the way she altered this book and added a Queen of Hearts playing card!


Here is the queen with the knave of hearts and Lisa said she added red Fun Flock to give him a velvet pillow!

Check out the Tweedle Dee & Dum boys on this cute card by Lisa
These are our new Mermaid Clear Art Stamps, a large 6 x 8" set with 20 separate stamps and lots of amazing detail! Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win this set and Greetings from Wonderland. Random winner will be announced Jan 27, 2010



Here is another very pretty card by Julie Campbell using the long mermaid stamp


I love the way DT member Michelle van Etten altered this 3D landscape Shadow Box with an ocean theme and added the mermaid stamps!



Here is another side of Michell's Michele's Shadow Box card

Okay, don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in this giveaway. The next post and giveaway will include a few more surprise stamp sets and a 3D Altered Fairy Shadow Box Kit, designed by Vicki Chrisman!
Wishing you all joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn
OwnerCrafty Secrets

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

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

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230
Monday, January 18, 2010

CHA NEW Stamps # 2 Giveaway for Seasonal Friends and Cupcake Party!

Tonight I'm showing 2 more new stamp sets that will debut at the CHA Show that you can enter to WIN just by leaving a comment on this blog! They fall into the ‘pretty’ category and I adore how they turned out! Yesterday’s post (see HERE) was more altered and a little wacky but we love mixing it up and creating totally different styles. Tomorrow I will post our Greetings From Wonderland and Mermaid Sets and Giveaway! On Wednesday, see some surprise sets and the chance to win them and an Altered Fairy Shadow Box Kit by Vicki Chrisman!

Months ago, I showed a variety of images and asked for votes. Some of those are ‘still in the works’ but several people loved the 2 seasonal ladies and asked for a set. It took ages to find 2 more ladies and then our graphic artist, Cindy van Koll, did her magic so they go together. Here is the final result
!
SL24 Seasonal Friends is a large stamp set 6 x 8” with 4 art deco style ladies in seasonal settings. The 4 sentiments are on banners, so you can use them separately. There is a little bird in each scene. Images are just over 2 ½” x 3” and banners are over 2 ½” x 3/4". I hope they get bigger when you click on the image!

I'm so lucky to have such a talented design team! They just started getting some of the new stamp sets and are going full tilt to create wonderful samples to send to the CHA Show! Look at this super pretty card DT member Michele Kovack created with the ‘spring’ lady.


I love the way Michele used Flower Soft on the tree branches and her cheerful colors make me want spring to come even more! This stamp set should be available in about a week. She also sent me a very COOL Alice card tonight from our Greeting From Wonderland set, which I will post tomorrow!


Lisa Zappa has been a busy girl creating more samples, this time with 2 of the ladies from our Seasonal Friends stamp set. I like the way she altered this image on the old Bingo card, adding a Tattered Angels Chipboard 'Font Frame' with letter F, sheet music and trims.

Here, Lisa decorated a clear plastic 'Spa gift bag' that would be so pretty to give as a gift to a friend. Again, there is that pink-robins egg blue color combo with a bit of yellow that makes me happy! I think in the middle of winter, when it's cold and wet these colors convey sunny happiness to everyone and they go great with the floral paper from our Classic Paper Pad!


Here is the back of the bag with 2 pieces of paper laced up corset style!


Okay, SL27 Cupcake Party may be one of my most favorite 'pretty' stamp sets we have ever done! I also have EXCITING NEWS - we are doing a die with AccuCut to match the bird, label, heart, butterfly and cupcake wrapper! This will be so pretty with the damask design stamped in different colors on plain white paper, or die cut from printed paper!

Die cutting is fast, so the die would be fantastic for weddings, birthdays, showers and other events! If your store carries AccuCut dies, they will often let you cut for free if you buy the paper from them. The stamp set and die are so new, they are sending them to our hotel, so we can do cupcake make-n-takes at both the retail Craft Super Show and the CHA Show. We will also have a revolving cupcake display - 5 layers high. I will take photos!
There are 26 separate stamps on this large 6 x 8" set with lots of mix & match words and little flourish designs you can stamp curled around them. The cupcake template stamp would use an enormous block, so Cindy split it in 2 and added small marks so you can easily line it up and stamp it together twice. The die fits it and will cut a fancy edge with tiny holes and diamonds but if you can't use the die, simply cut along the top edge with a pair of decorative scissors.

Imagine black on pink paper, red on white, brown on cream - very classy! Words: Happy Birthday, Cupcake, Sweetie, Congratulations, Kind, Wishes, Thanks, Showers of Happiness and Girlfriend. Glue name label to front, add the bird (1 3/4" x 3"), butterfly (over 3") or heart to the tops. This set will work fabulous for cards as well. Whew, can you tell I'm excited?

I also wanted to show you what the wonderful Splitcoast ladies have been up to. We've been so busy, I haven't been posting the challenges and I just saw all 14 of the stunning birthday cards for the last challenge and had to post the Gallery HERE! This is the host Darlene Pavlick's card she created using one of the chipboard Postcards from our Buds & Blossoms Kit. Click HERE to read the funny hints for this weeks challenge by Pammy Jo.


Lastly, as I've been showing so many pretty things tonight I had to take a photo of the surprise my husband Scott brought home for me today. It a jewelry armoire and it looks old and slightly shabby in the nicest way, but it's new and he found it at Liquidation world for $117.00. The top lifts up and has a deep velvet box, there are 2 side cabinets that open to hang necklaces and bracelets and there are 2 velvet lined drawers. I love it and him because he knew I would adore it. But he deserves the present because he has put up with my crazy hours.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered to win the Seasonal Friends and Cupcake Party Stamp Sets! Also, come back tomorrow night to see 2 more sets and enter again! Random winners announced Jan 25, 2010


Wishing you all joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn
Owner
Crafty Secrets



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

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

USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230
Sunday, January 17, 2010

CHA NEW Stamps Giveaway for Office 101 & Party Cats Plus - Wacky Animal Scraps!

Hi Everyone,

Starting today, each time I show some of the NEW Stamps Sets or Scraps HERE we are releasing for CHA, you can leave a comment and be entered to win those stamp sets! Today I'm showing you Office 101 a medium Clear Art Stamp Set and a large set called Party Cats, plus our New Wacky Animal Creative Scraps! Scroll to the bottom to see the next GIVEAWAYS Listed.



We will draw a random winner this Wed, Jan 20/10 for these items.
All you have to do is post a comment here on this blog. You can tell us what you like and think about the new sets. Or if you are coming to either the Craft Super Show or the CHA Show, please tell us which show? We will have make-n-takes at both shows and lots of fun new samples!
We are also bringing a list of stores who order from us and posting it at the Super Show.

Office 101 is a fun interactive medium size set (sug. retail $14.95 USD) with 25 separate stamps! Yep, 25 because we kept some of the words separate like Dear, Secretary, Co-worker, #1, and Boss. You can ink the retro phone on its own or with the cord and silly phrase "I've used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead". Several phrases will fit on the typewriter. The words Escape, Ooops, and Door #2 fit on the long computer key button. I love the push pin and 'Important' office clip! The computer bug, secretary and flying pig turned out adorable and the big typewriter keys spell TGIF! (our only new set available Jan 20/10)
Some of you may remember one of our long time DT members Lisa Zappa, who left the blogging world but is still going to play on our Design Team and create when she has time. Lisa loves the new Office 101 set and designed some really fun samples using a combo of the stamps, our Paper, Domestic Goddess Scraps and a few of our Daisy Dots Office Stickers with Spellbinder dies, ribbon and trim. She used Copic Markers to color the stamps.

On this cute card, Lisa used the Office 101 stamps (available Jan 20/10). Red check paper is from the Earthy Paper Pad, blue diamonds from the Pastel Pad, lady is from Domestic Goddess Scraps, paper clip from Office Daisy Dot Stickers.

This hilarious card would make a great card for a co-worker! Office 101 stamps used (available Jun 20/10). Java queen lady is off our Domestic Goddess Scraps, red dots and yellow paper from Radiant Paper Pad, pointing hand is from our Office Daisy Dot Stickers.



Look at this cute clipboard she made using the Office Stamps with the 200 year calendar and diamond paper from our Classic Paper Pad. I love the way she stamped across the bottom of the clipboard and added the red pom pom trim!


I will show the file folder she created another time. At the beginning, on the first card I showed, the yellow and dot paper is from the Radiant Paper Pad, RUSH paper clip is a sticker from Office Daisy Dots, RUSH paper is from the Earthy Paper Pad.



Okay, the next new stamp set included in this blog candy giveaway is called Party Cats! This large Clear Art Stamp Set has 35 separate stamps, which I think this is a record for us! With a suggested retail of $24.99 it works out to 0.714 per stamp! I had so many cute cats from an old book I own (first published in 1879) I didn't think Cindy, our graphic designer could fit them all on. Not only did she use most of them, she fit on most of my cheesy expressions and my singing fish! (1"H) You can build and join images into borders, have the cats pull the wagon and create fun cat parties on cards, stamp cute note paper, party decor and more! Piano cats are 2.5" W, Cat on bike is 2.25"H. No samples yet, until our talented DT ladies get them. Available after CHA.

Lastly, here are our NEW Wacky Animal Scraps! printed on cardstock 8 x 19"L and scored in the middle with 23 separate images (sug. retail $3.50 USD). Nine of the images are from our old Wacky & Wonderful Booklet, which sold out last year. We just got these and our Altered Fairy Scraps back from the printers and they are available for stores to order now and will be in our Shopatron store this Wed, Jan 20/10. No samples made yet, as our Design Team ladies don't even have them!

Be sure to come back to see more New Stamps Sets and enter to win them! ATT: RETAILERS - Please contact us to get our CHA Show Special - even if you can't make it to the show!

Monday evening, Jan 18, I post 2 more NEW Stamp Giveaways for: Seasonal Friends and Cupcake Party!

Tuesday evening, Jan I9 will post 2 more NEW Stamp Giveaways for: Greetings From Wonderland and Mermaids!

Wednesday, Jan 20, before I leave for the shows, I will post some more NEW (surprise) Clear Art Stamp Set Giveaways!


Wishing you all joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn
Owner

Crafty Secrets
Visit Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store Here

This Blog: http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com
Our Website: www.craftysecrets.com

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


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


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

Thursday, January 14, 2010

New 3D Shadow Boxes and Altered Fairy Scraps for CHA!

Vicki Chrisman's New 3D Shadow Box Dies
Wedding Keepsake - Using # VC102CD Landscape Die
Our New Altered Fairy Scraps
Cindy van Kolls Luminary - Using Landscape Die
Links To Our Design Team Blog Hop
See us at CHA & Craft Super Show

Hello Everyone,

I'm so happy we can finally show everyone Vicki's wonderful NEW Shadow Box Dies and our NEW Altered Fairy Scraps! TODAY is our Design Team Challenge to show you some of the creative possibilities! Please click on the links farther down to see creations from our DT ladies participating today.

I met Vicki Chrisman back in 2004 over the internet when she fell in love with our first vintage product, our Heartwarming Vintage Cuts. We quickly became close friends and she has been creating samples, teaching classes and supporting Crafty Secrets for so long - she feels like family. So, it gives me immense pleasure to show you the results of her idea to create 3D Shadow Box card style dies! Our graphic artist, Cindy van Koll helped design and fine tune the patterns and AccuCut manufactured the dies. Both the # VC101SJ Portrait and VC102CD Landscape style will be available to order at CHA at 25% off! Plus we will have them in Kits at the Super Craft Show. The AccuCut catalog page below shows the portrait style. * Note: The dies won't be available online until Feb.

Both the dies have a center shadow box style ‘stage’ to showcase a multitude of creative themes and styles. You can create photos keepsakes, 3D cards, shaker boxes, altered art and dioramas! Look at this beautiful keepsake Vicki created for her cousin using the Landscape die, our Classic Paper, French Mail Stamps and a Card Sentiments Stamp.


Here is it closed and tied with a ribbon.
Ta-Da! Here are our NEW Altered Fairy Scraps, which will be available at CHA and the Super Show! The sheet is 8 x 19" and folded in the center. We added lots of fun bits and pieces so you can alter your own photos as well. We even have a grouchy girl with a 'Party Pooper' sign to hold. These sheets work so great with the dies! Suggested retail is $3.50 USD.


After brainstorming all the creative possibilities I realized you can cut 3 or 4 of the 'top center frame' pieces from either die to create luminaries! You can just glue a piece of vellum to the 'window' opening This is one our graphic artist, Cindy van Koll created using 3 from the landscape die. I took these photos late tonight, so the lighting is bad but it really looks pretty with the little flickering battery tea light I placed inside it!

Here is another side and you can see how Cindy made a love balloon by using the the heart on the first sheet of the Fairy Scraps. She also cut out the tall heart and Hello sign for the little boy to hold and used flower punches, gems and glitter for extra charm. I have to tell you; Cindy started out saying she didn't really like 'altered fairies' too much and I was so picky about everything I wanted to include - I drove her batty. I got Vicki to make the wings and hats which were scanned but it was Cindy who created these sheets with about a billion Photoshop layers and she rocked them! I haven't counted yet but there are LOTS of pieces!
This photo came out way too yellow but hopefully if you click it on it will get larger so you can see all the pieces she used off the sheet. The gold crown the kitty is wearing is pre-jeweled, so she simply added a bit of gold glitter. The papers used were a mix from our Pastel Paper Pad.


Okay, now you need to visit the blogs of our DT members who are participating and have created some fabulous samples for you! I'm sad that Linda and Flo can't join us this time but they will be creating soon!

Vicki Chrisman - Team Leader & Creator





So, stay tuned because I have more surprises, some great giveaways and more NEW Clear Art Stamp Sets! I will be posting a few more times before we leave for the Craft Super Show Jan 22 & 23 in Booth 513 and in at the CHA Show (wholesale only) Jan 24 - 27/10 in Booth #1986. Plus - we will have cool make-n-takes at both shows!

Wishing you all joy & creativity!
Sandy RedburnOwner
Crafty Secrets

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

Crafty Secrets Head Office
15430 78 A Ave.,
Surrey, BC V3S 8R4
USA Warehouse
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 98230
Friday, January 8, 2010

CHA Preview, Release Date & Blog Prize Winner!

CHA Sneak Peek Reveal
Design Team CHA Special Blog Hop Preview Date
Gift Certificate Winner

Hi Everyone,



Check out just some of the fun new Clear Art Stamps and Heartwarming Vintage Scraps we have for the CHA Show! Plus, scroll down below to read about our BIG Surprise and DT Blog Hop Release Date!



Our talented DT Leader Vicki Chrisman came up with a fantastic design idea and we’ve teamed up with AccuCut, who will release Vicki's 2 VERY COOL DIES at CHA which are designed to work with our New Altered Fairy Scraps!!! Our BIG RELEASE DATE is set for next Thurs, Jan 14/10 at 10:00 AM (central time). I can hardly wait to show you how creatively fun and versatile these dies will be and what our talented Design Team has created! We will be selling kits – but I will also start a list of stores that order the dies as well. Many stores will let you use their dies for cutting as long as you purchase the paper from them. You are going to LOVE the multiple ways you can use either of these dies and all of the creative possibilities - which will also work for almost any theme!!!

We have a winner for the last blog candy giveaway we did. Congratulations to # 8, Maureen Morton! I asked our office manager Jessica to choose a random number and it was a great surprise to find out that Maureen loves mermaids so much that she even has the word ‘mermaid’ in her email address! So, of course Maureen chose this wonderful NEW Mermaid Clear Art Stamp Set as her special gift as well as our Summer Time Image & Journal Notes Booklet.
This set will be available at the CHA Show, as well as several other I will be introducing before the show! Mermaids is a large 6 x 8” stamp set with 20 separate stamps so you can use the large words together or separately. The mermaid on the top left is 2 x 3” and the one on the top right is 3” W. The larger seahorse is 1.5” H to give you an idea of sizes. Faces are so important to me and all of these have beautiful faces!


Wishing you all joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn
Owner
Crafty Secrets
Toll Free Phone or Fax 1-888 597-8898
Local Phone 604 597-8817

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

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