Sunday, January 30, 2011

Peek at New Idea Postcards, Little Boy & Girl Stamps & Prize Giveaway!

Here is a peek at the new Promo Display Postcards we are getting printed for stores to display!

We will be including postcards with retail orders as we get more printed. The first in this series will show ideas for our Farm Chicks Stamp set. We will also also have a Tea With Alice Postcard and they are all full color on both sides. Please leave a comment to say what Idea Postcards you would like to see the most, or tell us what you think of our new Little Boy and Little Girl Stamp Sets (scroll down to see)!

I will get random.org to pick a $40.00 gift certificate winner this Wed, Feb 2/11

How about an Idea Postcard created with our Art Blooms Stamp Set (available Feb 2/11), like this beautiful card by DT member Linda Duke?  Of course you can go HERE to Linda's Blog and get the details but we thought it would be great to have actual photos featuring different projects with some tips and ideas for popular stamp sets. 


Look at this pretty card DT member Pam Hooten created with our Art Blooms set. You can see details HERE on Pam's Blog.


Also, check out the 3D detail on this wonderful card DT Alumni Member Marisa Grosson here created with Art Blooms



Do you want to see Postcards featuring our Floral Stamps such as the Sunflower set, like this card that DT member Michele Kovack createdWe won't be able to list every step on the Postcards if we show multiple samples. So, do you want to see multiple ideas with tips or just directions for 1 featured project?


I've wanted Little Boy and Little Girl 'Dick & Jane' style stamp sets for ages and we finally have both in 2 NEW medium size Clear Art Stamp Sets that will be available Feb 4/11.  Lots of stores are ordering these new stamp sets right now during our Online Show Trade Show Special, so please tell your fav retailer they can order them now!

SM36 Little Boy is a 4 by 6” Clear Art Stamp Set with 17 separate stamps. Charming and nostalgic, this set is perfect for creating cards and projects for all the boys in your life. Create scenes with a boy flying kite or an airplane, playing with a ball or pulling a wagon. The little frog and playful pup are perfect additions to any scene. "Every puppy should have a boy" says one of the four sentiments included in the set. There is also grass and flowers you can stamp and a dashy dot lined border you can use to create lined paper. Available Feb 4/11. Click the image to see it larger. (available Feb 4/11)
  



Look HERE at all the cute samples in the Heart Challenge Gallery over at Splitcoast that Marcy is hosting!  Yikes - they still have our old Christmas banner ad.
We have to get that changed!



I will be back tomorrow with a bunch more inspiring samples to share with you, including a cool idea from DT leader Vicki Chrisman and a link to a great resource site! Don't forget to leave a comment on what Idea Postcards you want most, or tell us what you what you think about these 2 new stamp sets!

Wishing you joy & creativity!
Sandy Redburn

Owner
Crafty Secrets

See Our Store Locator
See Our Online Shopatron Store

Toll Free Ph 888 597-8898
Toll Free Fx 888 597-2578
Local Ph 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave;
Surrey BC V3S 8R4

In The USA
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 9823
SM37 Little Girls is a 4-inch by 6-inch medium Clear Art Stamp Set with 18 separate stamps. Filled with vintage charm, these images will inspire special cards and all sorts sweet projects for the little girls in your life. The girl standing is 2.75” high and can catch butterflies, hold a balloon, or stamp a bouquet of balloons. The other girl can kneel by the kitten, by the picnic basket and hold the sandwich (or cake), the bird, present, flower or her doll. There are so many sweet vignettes to create. "Such a delight with a heart so warm and a smile so bright", says one of the three included sentiments. The dainty scallop border is perfect to complete projects.  Available Feb 4/11

Monday, January 24, 2011

NEW Farm Fresh Scraps and Farm/Chicks Stamp Samples, Blog Prize Winner & More!

Hi Everyone, today I'm showing...

New Farm Fresh Creative Scraps
Down on the Farm & Farm Chicks Stamp Samples
Winners Name for Alice in Wonderland Giveaway
Splitcoast Challenge You Can Join
What Debuts Next??

I hope you all had a fun weekend!  I don't know about you but there was a lot of football and food happening in our house this weekend and I feel like I over loaded on both! 

This post got delayed today - but I'm so excited to show you our NEW Farm Fresh Scraps, actually just finished now and on their way to the printers! I have to admit when we first started these I wasn't loving them until Cindy van Koll (our graphic designer) and I spent an afternoon brainstorming silly phrases, sayings and puns with a farm/chicken theme and we came up with a bushel of fun sayings, which inspired a crop of new ideas and she did her Photoshop magic and now this is one of my new favorite sets of Creative Scraps! Click on the image a couple of times to see both 8 x 19" sides larger.


Seriously, if you knew how many bits, layers and cutting going into each set you would understand they are a labor of love! Also, to those who say they don't want our Creative Scraps to be double sided, please know - the price didn't change when we started printing on the opposite side, you now just have more images to choose from - plus the versatility to use each image double sided for tags and decor pieces you hang, or add to a window in a card or page. The sheet folds to 8 x 9.5" to hang and the fronts have complementary backs. 

The samples below were created with images I emailed a couple of our DT ladies last night who had time to whip up something so you could see some samples. The actual Farm Fresh Scraps will be available and start shipping the first week in Feb. Getting product produced in North America offers this extra advantage - no waiting foroversea shipments!   Besides the superior quality, it's also the reason our Clear Art Stamps are manufactured in the USA.

Look at this cute card DT leader Vicki Chrisman created with "I Dig Farm Boys!" Hey - she lives on a country road in Nebraska and her husband does looks young for his age (lol as Vicki would say).

Vicki also whipped up this adorable layout using the image "You Grow Girl , sweeter every year" from the Farm Fresh Scraps. I also love the 'Farm Girl' and 'Dairy Fresh' buttons she made. She used the check border and chicken wire stamps are from our Farm Chicks Stamp set .
 

Look at this fun card DT member Julie Campbell made using the 3 ladies from the Farm Fresh Scraps! We just finished the other side of this sheet today and it now has a RX prescription for a Girlfriends Pedicure and a chicken soaking her feet. A window frame in a card would allow you to see both sides.


Julie also created this very sweet card and I love the colors she picked, the jute, lace, buttons and inked edges!  The other side of this image has a cute young couple gazing out across a field with their doggie, so you can use either age couple on the Farm Fresh Scraps.


Here are our Down on the Farm Clear Art Stamps. We released this large stamp set early and you may have seen them already but we have so many new guests and they go perfect with our Farm Scraps!


This is such a cute birthday card that DT Member Michele Kovack designed using our Down on the Farm Stamp set. Michele also used the cowboy boot from Provo Crafts Country Carnival cartridge on Shrinky Dink Material and it looks so cute with the brown jute. You can see details HERE on Michele's Blog.



Look at this cute scene DT Alumni Member Marisa Grosson created with various stamps from the Down on the Farm Stamp set.  You can see the details HERE on Maria's Blog.


Here are our Farm Chicks Clear Art Stamps and they were also released early


DT member Mary Hamer created this cute decor piece using the chicken stamps from our Farm Chicks Stamp set and I love the colors she used to color them.


You may have seen some of these wonderful cards DT Alumni Member Lisa Zappa designed when she received the Farm Chicks stamp set but they are so cute I'm showing them again in this country theme post.


I really like the way Lisa combines so many stamps from a set to create little scenes like this little hen party!


On this card, Lisa stamped the large egg multiple times and made a nest with some raffia. The chicken wire stamp looks great stamped on paper and aged with some distress ink


I just love this card, which DT Member Pam Hooten created using the Farm Chicks set! Look how she restamped the rooster and popped him and the little banner stamp up.


For any of you feeling intimidated by the great coloring on all the samples above, I want to show you how cool they look stamped in plain black ink, accented with a red marker.  DT leader Vicki Chrisman stamped all of these fun tags using the Farm Chicks Stamp set on manila shipping tags and embellished them with scraps of paper, ribbons and buttons.

This little chick running is one of my fav images on the Farm Chicks set and look how different she looks in pink & black with the little party hat stamp, or in country colors.


Okay, Congratulations to #5 Lana, the winner picked by random.org for our Alice in Wonderland Blog Prize! who said:
Sandy I absolutely love these new releases!! I can not pick just one!! Look forward to seeing what else you come up with your DT is fabulous!!

Okay, you have to go check out the challenges at Splitcoast in our little forum!  Last week Pammy Jo asked people to try and use any of our produst to create something with 'Just 1 Layer' and there are some fabulous samples you can see HERE in the Gallery!

Then this week Marcy Talbert is hosting a challenge and her clues are posted right HERE.  Come join in the fun!  I will post the gallery link next week.

I will be back this week with some more wonderful surprises and ideas!

Wishing you joy & creativity
Sandy Redburn

Owner
http://www.craftysecrets.com/

See Our Store Locator
Shop Our Online Store

Toll Free Ph 888 597-8898
Toll Free Fx 888 597-2578
Local Ph 604 597-8817


Head Office
15430 78 A Ave;
Surrey BC V3S 8R4

In The USA
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA 9823

Saturday, January 22, 2011

New Floral Stamp Sets & Samples, plus More Floral Ideas!

Hello everyone,

I'm back and I have so many wonderful projects to share with you today!  I got a bit carried away because I wanted to show a bunch of my favorites floral samples. We have 2 new floral theme Clear Art Stamp sets that will start shipping the first week in February - SL38 Art Blooms and SM35 Floral Art.

SL38 Art Blooms  is a 6x8” large Clear Art Stamp set with 41 separate stamps that are so much fun to color, stamp in different colored inks, or try paper-piecing! You can create single flowers, bouquets and floral scenes adding the 1.25” butterfly and 2”W bird. There are multiple styles of flower heads, buds, decorative leaves, stems, curly vines and berries! The larger flower heads work well for paper tole style projects, with the largest flower 2” wide. The words Smile, Bloom and Grow are separate stamps. You create tiny or build large designs from wild funky art in a rainbow of colors to beautiful pastel floral art accented with a shimmer of glitter. Made in USA from high quality photopolymer. Available Feb 2/11


Look at this pretty card DT member Heidi Blankenship designed with the Art Blooms set, stamping all the flower pieces in pink ink and shading the edges.


Heidi also created this pretty card using the Art Blooms stamps and stamped the background with our Floral Vines Small set.  You can see step by step photos HERE on Heidi's Blog.


I love this card DT member Michele Kovack designed using the Art Blooms Stamps and how she added the butterfly stamp and depth with green shading on the stem. You can see details HERE on Michele's blog.


DT member Pam Hooten designed this beautiful card with our new Art Blooms stamps and I love how she stamped the bird and flowers and added them popped up for dimension. You can see the details HERE on Pam's Blog.


DT leader Vicki Chrisman created this beautiful card HERE with the Art Blooms set and the flowers look so pretty cut out and added to her frame, accented with a bit of glitter.


Vicki also designed this fabulous Flower Pin by stamping flowers from the Art Blooms set on circles of muslin fabric and tissue that she made into a flower pin with a rhinestone center. You can get all the details on how to create these  HERE on Vicki's Flower Pin Tutorial!


Okay, now I have a second new floral set to show you! 
SM35 Floral Art is a 4 x 6” medium Clear Art Stamp set with 4 separate stamps. The 2 large floral images are taken from antique art history books and have been lovingly restored. The detail on both of the designs is exquisite and great for coloring, or simply stamped in a variety of ink colors. For a different effect try stamping metallic gold ink on solid cardstock, using resist inks. You can stamp either design randomly to create background papers or as a focal image on a card. The stamps “Hello” and “Dear Friend” are 1” long. Made in USA from high quality photopolymer.  Available Feb 2/11


I have a couple of samples to show you using this set that I've posted before in case you missed them, and both are stunning!  Click on the photo to see in detail this gorgeous frame DT Alumni Member Marisa Grosson created by stamping the one top stamp from Floral Art randomly on a wood frame. You can see the 3D flowers she added and color details HERE on Marisa's Blog .


Here is a fabulous card that DT Member Michele Kovack designed using the top stamp from our new Floral Art set and the stamp 'Hello' for a Faux Tile Tutorial she created for splitcoaststampers.com HERE, 


Now I wanted to show you a few fabulous stamping ideas DT leader Vicki Chrisman sent me using our other medium floral sets SM31 Rose and SM33 Dahlia! Look at how Vicki used the Rose stamp set to create background paper. She will be creating a future layout with this but I wanted to show you how versatile stamps can be 


Here Vicki used our SM33 Dahlia stamp to randomly stamp tissue paper. The great thing is it looks good on either side and you could create tissue paper in any theme for a gift bag.



Then Vicki took the same Dahlia stamp and randomly stamped on a plain white photo mat to create this stunning classy frame to hold a special photo of her son and his fiancee. See detail HERE on Vicki's past blog post.


Vicki also jazzed up some little gift boxes by stamping the Dahlia stamp on pink paper and adding a bit of glitter and sheer ribbon.  So, I encourage you to use your imagination and think of all the possible surfaces you could decorate!  Plus - the great thing about clear stamps, besides seeing exactly where you want to stamp, you can can also bend them to stamp a curved surface or over an edge.


I also have a link HERE to 5 Fantastic Flower Samples which DT Members Heidi (SM31 Rose), Marisa (SM32 Poppy and SM33 Dahlia), Michele (SM34 Sunflower) and Linda (SM31 Rose) created with our 4 medium Flower sets we released in the summer.

Plus, look at this beautiful card below that  Beate Johns from spitcoaststampsers.com created and also had a red rose published ine new Copic catalog. Beate has created several video tutorials using our stamps and the list HERE at the end of this post  along with several other great videos from other talented designers!


A few DT ladies didn't receive our new floral stamp sets as we had limited proofs to start but they got busy and created some wonderful samples with a floral theme I also want to show you!

Look at this pretty garden fairy keepsake frame DT member Julie Campbell created using a combination of images from our Altered Fairy and Garden Scraps! You can see the details HERE on Julie's Blog.


DT Member Flo Texeira from France designed this stunning botanical theme album with so many beautifully detailed pages you can see HERE on her blog.  You can click on the English translator button on the far right side



Flo used a large assortment of our Clear Art Stamps and images from all of these products!




DT member Mary Hamer created this very pretty album with a floral fairy theme using a combination of Creative Scraps from Little Blessings, Birds & Blossoms and Sew Nice.  You can see more pages HERE on Mary's Blog. Note: not all the vintage images are ours.
On this page below in her album Mary used some vintage sheet music that will be on our new CD - Creating With Vintage Patterns and she changed it from black to pink and printed it on white cardstock.  I hoped this CD (the first of 3 in this series) would be ready next month but it looks like it may take a bit longer as I keep adding more patterns and we will also be  featuring templates and projects on these CD's.  I will keep you posted on the progress.


Please come back on Monday to see the debut of our Farm Fresh Creative Scraps and a collection of fantastic samples using our Farm Chicks and Down on the Farm Clear Art Stamp sets!  If you haven't entered our GIVE AWAY for a Free Tea with Alice Stamp Set and 2 sheets of our Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps, you can enter just by leaving a comment HERE on this Wonderland Blog Post and a random winner will be announced Mon, Jan 24/11

Wishing you joy & creativity
Sandy Redburn

Toll Free Fax 888 597-2578
Local Ph 604 597-8817
Head Office
15430 78 A Ave; 
Surrey
BC V3S 8R4

In The USA
250 H. Street, #436

Blaine, WA
98230

Friday, January 21, 2011

Floral Post Samples Delayed until Sat, Jan 22/11 PM

Hi Everyone,

Due to a little flu bug and house guests I will do the big Floral Post tomorrow afternoon (PST). I have so many samples and links and just have to join them all together. 

It will be worth it!  Here is just a little peek of the new sets but come back to see all of the stunning floral theme samples I have to show you tomorrow!

SL38 Art Blooms - starting to ship the first week in Feb


SM35 Floral Art a beautifl medium set starting to ship the first week in Feb


Plus I have many more inspiring samples using a varieity of our floral theme products!

Kind regards
Sandy Redburn

OwnerToll Free Ph 888 597-8898
Crafty Secrets

Toll Free Fx 888 597-2578Local Ph 604 597-8817

Head Office
15430 78 A Ave;
Surrey BC V3S 8R4

In The USA
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA
98230

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

See New Alice in Wonderland Tea Scraps & Stamps, Samples and Giveaway!

Hi Everyone,

I'm thrilled to show you our NEW Tea in Wonderland Creative Scraps and Tea With Alice Clear Art Stamp Set!  Plus - I have so many really cool samples to share!!! Both of these items will be available the first week in Feb. Our Online Trade Show is running NOW for retailers until Feb 2/11 in our new online wholesale store. Retailers have to register to buy wholesale but please tell your favorite store we have great Show Specials.

These are the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps!  Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of everything so far? We will announce a Random Winner Mon, Jan 24/11 for 2 sheets of the Scraps and a Stamp set!


SL39 Tea with Alice is a 6x8” large Clear Art Stamp set with 29 separate stamps.  These whimsically vintage images will be just your cup of tea as you create the perfect “un-birthday” card or scrapbook page.  The largest image in the set is a very cheerful Alice, at 3.50 x 2”.  The story characters, along with many small accent stamps and sentiments, such as “it’s a very important date” and “it’s an un-birthday party”, are perfect for creating scenes on your projects.  Have even more fun by adding dimension to your images—pop them up or try some paper-piecing!  Many of the characters can “hold” things like the tea tray, cake or teapot—anything you can dream up! Clear Art Stamps inspire creativity with detailed vintage designs & images crafted in the USA from high quality photopolymer.


DT Alumni Member Lisa Zappa really went wild and created so many fabulous cards with this set. She loves bright fun colors which work so well with the whimsical artwork style.  You can see our other set Greetings From Wonderland HERE if you're not familiar with it.  I adore the mouse and rabbit Lisa used from the new set on the card below. You will see the characters on this set are all designed so the can hold various items.


Look at how cute these cards are done with the 2 Alice stamps, which are 3 and 3.5"H. The larger Tea Pot is 2.5" and the matching cup is 2", both perfect for paper piecing (in rose paper) or colored.  Too bad the rose paper is from our Radiant Paper Pad we just sold out of.



This is a fun wacky card with 4 different characters Lisa stamped.


On this card, Lisa stamped the Court Jester and then stamped the tray of tarts
and the birthday cake to sit on his head and sit between his legs.


How fun is this card! Love the colors she used on the Mad Hatter and the red glitter and hearts turn it into a perfect Valentine!


Here is the cute mouse again and I love him straddling the teacup!


Okay, now I have a few great samples by DT leader Vicki Chrisman who created this layout using a new Accucut scallop die. The Tweedel Dee boy, the Bingo card and Alice on the far right corner are all off the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps (available first week in Feb). I love how Vicki cut out Alice and she appears to be looking into the layout.


I can't show the entire card below as it's part of a class DT leader Vicki Chrisman is teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in TX for us in June but I do want to show you the super cute button she created with an image on the Scraps and the new BUTTON MAKER from www.EpiphanyCrafts.com  Vicki is going to be doing a tutorial next week and showing some really cool ideas for using this great little gadget!


Vicki used a Maya Road Memory Box to create this adorable keepsake box with images from the Wonderland Tea Scraps. Words and frames are from the Tea With Alice Stamp Set.


DT member Julie Campbell designed this super fun collage card with the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps and created background paper by stamping the small cup randomly on buff cardstock and inking the edges.  The word TEA and the frame are separate on the stamp set.

You can see more photos and a great card 'It's All About the Shoes' Julie created with our coming soon Wizard of Oz stamp set HERE on Julie's Blog.


Lastly, look at this card DT member Pam Hooten created, very muted compared to the bright colors.   It looks so pretty and feminine and that is one of my favorite things about  stamps, that you can change the entire look just by choosing a different color palette and embellishments. I adore the paper Pam used paper piecing her teapot and the doily, plus the way she added eyelets to her stamped sign and ribbon. You can see close up photos and details HERE on Pam's Blog!


Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win 2 sheets of our Alice Scraps and the Tea with Alice Clear Art Stamp Set!

Don't forget to come back and see our new Flower stamp sets debut this Friday, Jan 21/11

Fri, Jan 21 – SL38 Art Blooms and SM35 Floral Art Stamps, Plus - Flower Tutorial 

Then Monday, Jan 24/11 see our new CS16 Farm Fresh Creative Scraps, along with SL37 Farm Chicks and SL35 Down on the FarmNext week there will be more NEW Surprises!

See Monday's Wizard of Oz and Wonderful Pig post HERE

Sandy Redburn
Owner
Crafty Secrets

http://www.craftysecrets.com
Visit Our Store Locator

Visit Our Online Shopatron Store

Toll Free Ph 888 597-8898
Toll Free Fx 888 597-2578Local Ph 604 597-8817
Head Office
15430 78 A Ave; 
Surrey BC V3S 8R4

In The USA
250 H. Street, #436
Blaine, WA
98230