No S&H for 2 More Days, More Giveaways, Stitched Paper LO, Canvas Bag, Altered Suitcase & More!

Hi Everyone,  Wow, the year flew by - can you believe it's almost 2012? I have some very cool samples to share and links two more giveaways

Our ShopHop Sale with Splitcoast will end Dec 31 at 12 midnight so there are still 2 days left with free S&H and extra gifts with orders as described HERE.  Some of you asked to see the free pendant and necklace colors (with orders over $20.00). You can see a green, brown and black in the photo below with the 1” round & square glass blanks and silver plated bails. I don't have these for sale, they are just a bonus thank you gift.

Okay, now on to some inspiring projects!  Check out this wonderful Spring layout DT Leader Vicki Chrisman stitched up with a photo of her niece and using papers from CD # 2, Creating with Vintage Illustrations. You can see the details on Vicki's Blog on how she stitched on her paper and added the whimsical banner across the top using our Artsy Banner Stamp Set and swirly butterfly lines. The vintage flower bouquet is such a favorite of mine it's included on the green paper and this sample is a good example showing how you can print the 12 x 12" papers smaller and add to plain cardstock.

 DT Member Julie Campbell just finished this pretty canvas bag to hold her knitting supplies using a paper and the artist palette illustration on CD # 2. You can get the details and enter Julie's Blog Giveaway to win this CD!  Just leave a comment and she will announce a winner Jan 1/12.

 DT Member Jan Hennings also has a Blog Giveaway for CD # 2. you can enter.  Look at this cute bird Jan created using paper and images from CD 2 with paper clips for legs.

 You are going to love all the fabulous tips and creative ideas that artisan Carol Turner provides on her inspiring Blog The Polkadot Closet

 Carol re-vamped this vintage suitcase by decoupaging papers from CD #1, Creating With Vintage Patterns and I like her trick to cover paper seams with ribbon she glued on, the way she used ink to distress and the rose she added.  She also turned a plain little shelf into a charming home decor piece.

 I spotted this beautiful card on Linda Langes Blog that she designed using our Love Mail Scraps and you can see a couple of her other cards.  Linda also entered the Shabby Tea Room Color Challenge that we are sponsoring.  You can enter samples using any supplies, you just need to use the suggested color palette and add a link to your blog or gallery. You have until Jan 1/12 and the winner will get a $25.00 gift certificate and a CD!

 Wishing you joy & creativity

 Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
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This Blog: http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com
Our Website: http://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
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Blaine,WA 98230

Our ShopHop Sale Specials Dec 26 - 31 and Shabby Tea Room Samples!

Hi Everyone,  Happy Holidays & Welcome to our Splitcoast ShopHop Sale! 

Here's our Specials, plus we are sponsors for the Shabby Tea Room today.  Their DT ladies have created fabulous samples and they 2 ways to win CD # 2 and a $25.00 Gift Certificate with a great Giveaway and you can enter their challenge!

Here's a link to our Store Sale!

One free pendant & necklace will be included in orders over $20.00. They are round or square clear glass blanks and come with a silver plated bail you can glue on the back after you add an image.  DT Member Heidi Blankenship created this sample using an image and words 'Vintage Girl' from our Mini Creative Scraps.  The free necklaces are coffee brown, sagr green, white or black. Please specify in the message box when ordering if you have a preference on round or square and necklace color and we will do our best to match but necklace colors are limited to more white than others.

The bail on this sample Heidi made is slightly different but you can see how the glass has a bit of a dome shape so it seems to magnify the image.  You can use any clear glue to add images or photos. We've used Diamond Glaze, glue sticks, Zip Dry, even a glue pen around the edges works great to stick an image to the glass.  I will show more samples in my next post.

 

Look at the fabulous samples DT Member  Debbie Marcinkiewicz created below and you see all the details on her blog.  Debbie just happens to also be the Shabby Tea Room Host. 

Everyone used something from our CD # 2 Creating With Vintage Illustrations and and you have to see the great samples the other 'Shabby' ladies have created!  

Fran designed a New Years Hat   using paper and images from CD #2

Charlene made a Tussie Mussie using the French Candy Container Template 

Melissa made a Resolution Wish Box,  she also has a Giveaway for our CD's

Sheri designed a pretty Card using pretty papers and images off CD 2

Cindy made a beautiful floral clutch purse using the purse template on CD 2 

Plus - another way to WIN is to enter their color challenge and post a sample HERE to be entered to WIN our CD #2 and a $25.00 Gift Certificate. You have until Jan 1, 2012 to enter and add a link to your blog and you don't even need to use our stuff.

I will be back this week with more inspiring samples and ShopHop Sale News!

Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store
Join Us on Facebook!

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

Tips for Using Our Vintage CD's, More Bird Cards & Crafts by DT & Link to Giveaway!

Hi Everyone,

I have more fabulous Birdie samples to show you this time by our DT Ladies , plus - some tips & links for using our Vintage CD's, a link to Vicki's Giveaway, a great Christmas bird theme tutorial and a peek at a NEW Bird Stamp Set! Our vintage birds are so popular we have birdies on several products and everyone always asks for more. I love this little fairy nest with the bird & fairy boy DT Leader Vicki Chrisman made using our Altered Fairy Scraps.

Vicki is having a great Giveaway on her Blog for a My Book Calendar and she decorated this one using papers and images off our CD's.

Here is the 'My Book Calendar' you can win and customize. Leave a comment on Vicki's Blog   by next Wed, Dec 21/11 to be entered to win on.

I always love the altered wall art projects Vicki designs and this one using our Birds & Blossoms Booklet looks so great with the broken clay pot nest she made using a glue gun, moss and mini eggs.

I may have gotten a little carried away with birds on CD 2 as I had Cindy, our graphic designer turn them into about a dozen 12 x 12 papers, 6 B&W files, png files you can layer, plus a couple of fun templates.  Here are the birdy papers included on the CD.

This pillow below was created using one of the image files from CD #2 reduced to an 8 x 8" size and printed on fabric. You can purchase fabric printable sheets at several craft & scrapbook stores but you can also print images on fabric by ironing it to freezer paper!  Freezer paper is like wax paper but it only has wax on 1 side you iron onto cotton fabric. Here is a link to a great tutorial by Monique at pocketfulwhimsy for a photo pillow she created of her kids using freezer paper. You could use the same method with images from our CD.

Look at this great card DT Member Gini Cagle made when she reduced this image but you could also use both roosters & chicken images to create wall art or a pair of pillows for your kitchen. You may have image editing program on your computer but a few people have called or emailed who own older computers wanting to know what program to use to resize the large images on our CD's and our free Printables.  Adobe Photoshop Elements is super popular and is included on more computers and even some printers now. Costco just had it for $49.00 but there are also several free programs! 

Paint is a free program on many PC's but you can also download Paint.net a free image editing  program (just click on green their button)  It has over 1000  4* reviews with way more features to allow you to resize, crop and even layer images, plus I love that it has unlimited 'un-do', if you don't like your changes.   If you have a Mac you can use iphoto which is similar. Gimp is another free program you can download, plus there is Picasa from Google and other free image editing programs you can read reviews about Cnet.

I showed this beautiful card DT Member Linda Duke created recently but I wanted you to see the before and after B&W Birdie Darling and other B&W images included below. Oh my - I also adore this one!

Ooops, it looks like I squished the image as it's really 12 x 12" but can be reduced to 8 x 8", 4 x 4" etc. These are the other B&W bird files on CD #2

Here are the different color png bird files which include a couple of journal cards and birds you can layer over paper as they are png which means they have a transparent (not white) background. You can also go hybrid - print them and cut out for projects.

There are also a couple of templates shown above with a 3D standing robin and 2 birdy seed packages which are fun to fill with candies or money.  I showed this apron Vicki's friend Gabby made last time but now you can see the egg image she used above with a bit of ribbon.

Now onto some projects using our Bird Stamp Sets.  DT Member Michele Kovack created this striking card below using our Bird Notes Set and I love how she colored the birdies on the branch, a popular stamp on this set.

I've always wished for a stamp with a branch of birds with flowers you could color. So you can see part of a draft of a new bird set below we recently finished.  Yes, we are still working on NEW Clear Art Stamp designs - they will just be distributed by another company. I'm currently working on licensing arrangements and will give you NEWS ASAP. This is just a corner of the new set that will be called Sing For Joy. I just adore their faces and had Cindy add the blossoms and leaves. Do you like it?

 I've always adored this artsy layout Michele made with her daughter Courtney years ago using the birds and squirrel on our Fairyland set. She simply cut text print leave shapes and inked around the edges.

DT Member Pam Hooten made this sweet card using a stamp from our Love You Mother Set and look how she stamped extra apple blossoms to cut out and add.

DT Member Heidi Blankenship used one of the bird and flower images from our Best Buds Postcard Kit on this postcard made from a cream coasterboard so it inks and stamps beautifully as you can see here how gorgeous it looks stamped with the set included in the kit.
This tag is also beautiful.

DT Member Julie Campbell decorated this wonderful birdy 3D Shadow Box using our Altered Fairy Scraps except the nest in the middle is from the Birds & Botanical Booklet. You can also see a postcard Julie decorated here on her blog.

I can't remember if I ever showed this cool altered piece that DT Member Jan Hennings created using the Birds & Blossoms Scraps but I like all the colors and nest. Jan also stamped on fabric with our Bird Nites stamps and had her muslin bags featured in Sommerset Life.

Look at this beautiful card DT Member Debbie Marcinkiewicz created with the Little Blessings Scraps. Debbie also hosts the Shabby Tea Room Challenges and we are the Sponsor Company for Dec 26th, the same day we start our Shopatron SALE with our companies at Splitcoast!  Most of our items are already on sale but there will be some new items, specials and free shipping Dec 26 to Dec 31/11.

Here's another birdy on sheet music paper from CD # 1 which DT Member Victoria Warren-Mears used to decorate an journal composition book. This would make a great inexpensive gift. I also like this layout with the birdy page from CD # 1.

This isn't birds but I wanted to tell you about the fabulous Christmas cards DT member Tammy Roberts just posted like this one for her mom using our Christmas Image Booklet. You can see the other cute card here on Tammy's Blog. 

Lastly, I want to show you a great tutorial by past DT Member Lisa Zappa on how she created a background paper with our Birdie Clear Art Stamps using Spellbinders Nestabilities round & scallop circles dies to make Christmas ornaments, name placecards and a candle wrap. She stamped the sheet music with a border from Artsy Banners and names stamped with ABC Top Hat. You could easily change the colors and even stamps to create any theme table setting. They look like they would also make fab coasters if you sealed the tops.

PS -  We still have some Single Sided Scraps left which are marked down to $1.99 each in Easter, Girlfriends, Travel and Wacky Animals

Wishing you joy, creativity and a very Merry Christmas! 

If you missed our new free Santa Printable Gift here is a link.

Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store
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This Blog: http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com
Our Website: http://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

Sparkle Winner, Thanks are Due and Samples with our Vintage Birds!

Hi Everyone,  

I posted the winner for our Sparkle Challenge on Splitcoast earlier today and then got carried away with all the samples I wanted to add to this post - which is packed full of inspiring birdy samples!  Congratulations to # 15 Leanne Pugliese. I was going to host a new challenge but we are working on 4 new products & everyone is busy with Christmas coming, so we will take a break.

I wrote down all the names - minus mine and DT ladies Vicki & Victoria which left 18 other entries. My mom walked in the office and picked #15 (her birthday) and then I did the random.org anyways as I had it on my computer screen and it also picked 15, so congrats Leanne who decorated these cute Altoid tins to hold a little cash gift for her nieces.

The regular ladies who have been hosting the Crafty Secrets Challenges at Splitcoast have been doing it for - years literally and I owe them all a HUGE THANK YOU!!! This last post was the 200th Challenge and they have created so many fabulous samples you can see in their galleries below that have inspired 1000's of people. Plus visit the Gallery Here to see all the Entries!

Darlene (aka akronstamperdpk) has been taking turns hosting for years and as this is a 'Bird Theme Post' I picked this card from Darlene's Gallery to show you using an image from our Christmas Booklet as I like the way she added the 3D snow and embellishments.

How about this beautiful card by long time challenge hostess Marcy Talbert (kiddielitter) at Splitcoast.  I love the way Marcy colored this image and the sentiment from our Fairyland Stamp set to match the pretty paper she used.

Lori Lynn Washburn has also been a regular hostess for Crafty Secrets Challenges at Splitcoast and I adore the way she used a birdy image from our Little Blessings Creative Scraps with our Rose Stamp in the background. 

Joanne Allison (aka angelnorth) has also helped host the CS challenges and a regular contributor. I picked this cool sample from Joanne's gallery because I love the way she wired it all together and colored the stamps from our Bird Notes and eggs from Farm Chicks Stamps.

 Cynthia (aka stampinAK) has also helped host and is a regular contributor to the challenges and I picked this great inked and stitched card from her gallery using our first ever and still very popular sets Bird Notes.

Karen Wallace has been a regular contributor to our Challenges at Splitcoast and has made some fabulous samples. I picked this cool B&W card she made with our Birdies set because I love the contrast and the way she got the branch stamps to join up.

Elizabeth, (aka: I love rubber) has been a long time contributor to our Splitcoast challenges and has created some fantastic samples like this one with the ever popular 'birds on branch' from our Bird Notes Stamp set.

Marlene (aka: cards4u) has also been a long term supporter and past Guest Designer and I picked this cute band-aid tin she decorated with our Feeling Yucky stamp set. You gotta love the crying duck, especially with Glossy Accents on the tears!

Pammyjo was a regular contributor to many of our CS Challenges and we miss her and wonder what she has been up to.  So Pammy if you per chance read this, please email me so I can send you a little holiday gift. Here is a peek at Pammy's gallery where I found this pretty card with an image from our Birds & Botanicals Booklet (also on our Bird Scraps).

Okay, I will be back later this week with some more fabulous Birdy samples from our talented Design Team Ladies - but I have to share this very cool post DT Leader Vicki Chrisman posted and a link to the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Giveaway she is hosting where you can see very cute Christmas cards she created with our Retro Christmas Cuts.  Also see the great digital vintage layouts and the BIRDY APRON Vicki's friend Gabby created with egg image from new CD # 2! 


Here is a link to see a bunch more beautiful birdy theme samples in our Splitcoast Gallery using our products.  Note: our Bird Cotton Scraps are sold out if you spot samples.

 No time to add all the links as I'm hosting a big party for my 3 year old nephew but I will come back and add the rest later.  Update: Party was a great and links added.

Wishing you joy & creativity

Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store
Join Us on Facebook!

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

Quick Christmas Card Printable Instructions, Plus Sparkle Challenge Details & More!

Hi Everyone,    

I'm back with some Quick & Easy Christmas Card Instructions using our Christmas Creative Scraps that DT leader Vicki Chrisman designed. You can also read about (and join in) the Sparkle Challenge I'm hosting over at Splitcoast, where a $50.00 random winner will be drawn next Monday. Here is a peek at the Gallery so far.

So many of you have ordered our Christmas Scraps I thought these sheets would be great for quick card ideas. You can simply click the images a couple of time to make them jumbo and save them to a picture file.

Vicki made these cards last year before our CD # 1 Creating With Vintage with Patterns was available so she just used random red & green papers. If you own our Christmas Scraps you may likely have papers that will match.

Vicki used our on sale Snowbunnies Stamp set to decorate the envelopes and inside of her cards and stamped another card with this cute set posted below

 

Look at the way DT Member Linda Duke used White Liquid Applique on the same cute girl off the Christmas Scraps on her card below last year. It looks like Linda also stamped her background with the Christmas music stamp from our on sale Vintage Christmas Set.

Her is the cute card Vicki did with the Snowbunnies stamps. This color combo is so popular now for Christmas. It has a fresh retro appeal with the polka dots and wave.

 

Here are 2 more adorable cards DT Member Michele Kovack created last year with the same stamp set.  Hey - Michele is still in the running for the Best Blog Contest and it's now between her's and 1 other Blog. You can vote for Michele HERE

 

I also wanted to tell you about the cool digital scrapbook album DT Member Victoria Warren-Mears has been creating using our two CD's, #2 Creating with Vintage Illustrations and  #1 with Patterns. You can see more pages here on Victoria's Blog. 

Lastly a silly photo of my mum & I at a brunch celebrating Scott's & my dad's birthdays on the weekend. We all wore moustaches to tease my nephew who has grown a jumbo one and not shaving until his finals are over. Aside from the moustaches I'm amazed at how much we look alike as I get older. Good thing she is beautiful!

PS - I'm going to show you some beautiful birdy projects on my next post.

Wishing you joy & creativity

Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store
Join Us on Facebook!

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