My Fairy Grad Mother Story, a Notebook Tutorial, Gift Boxes and Challenge Link

Hi Everyone,  I have some great samples and links to share as well as a little story to tell about the incredible day I had yesterday being a 'Fairy Grad Mother' at the Princess Project Event which has helped 100's of less fortunate girls be totally outfitted for their upcoming graduation for the last 6 years. Many of these girls come from foster homes or their parents are struggling and out of work and it was so incredibly moving to see how they all became a fairy princess for the day and were so excited and appreciative!

My sister Wendy told me about it and we both volunteered this weekend helping with set-up and training on Saturday and on Sunday we were each assigned a girl to help outfit with a dress, then pick out shoes, jewelry, a purse, shawl and then take her to the makeup and hair studio they had set up on site. Then they have photos taken and are given a goody bag. The entire thing is run by volunteers and several people and companies donate all of the items and their time. Two of my daughters still had their grad dresses and donated them. The event has grown to include girls from several areas.       I was assigned the sweetest girl who was utterly amazed with everything she received. There were many happy tears and smiles and I want to volunteer every year! I'm posting the story in case anyone is inspired to do a similar event in their area.

I wanted to show you this a pretty notebook style memo pad below and have you check out  DT Member Kathy Clement's Tutorial to Make Your Own Memo Pad.  She printed paper designs from our Typography CD3 and explains how she printed on canvas paper and stitched it up in no time at all.

We are sponsors for the 613 Avenue Create Anything Goes Challenge and DT Member Darlene Pavlick is also on their design team and she created this pretty card using our Victorian Floral Easter Eggs.   You have to check out the link and see the other cute samples made with our Easter digital stamps

 DT Member Diane Hover created these gorgeous little gift boxes and gift tag using paper from Illustrations CD 2 on the bottom box and the quilt paper from our Sew Decor CD #7 on the top and the tag is from our Birds and Blossoms 4 page digital set. You can see the boxes and all the details on Diane's Blog - Nellies Nest.  NOTE: We found about 40 sheets of the old Single Sided Birds and Blossoms and they are on for $1.25.

A Reminder - Our March Linky Party and DT Challenge is coming up Mon., March 2/15 plus we are having a Spring Fling Giveaway so come back to check out the samples and DT Tutorials and be sure to enter the Giveaway I will post.

Wishing you joy and creativity  
Sandy Redburn

Visit Our CraftyVintageGirl.com  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

We're featured in 2 Books , New Items Added and Coming!

Hi Everyone,

I was thrilled to receive 2 new books in the mail from artist Marie Browning who used some of our stamp sets in them. Marie is the best selling author of over 30 craft books with over 2 million books in print! She lives on Vancouver Island and I've been lucky to get together with her at shows and she loves our stamp designs and created some wonderful samples in her new books Brush Marker Magic and Pencil Magic!  These books are filled with an array of coloring tips and techniques and are just $9.95 on amazon.

Marie used both Clear and Digital Stamp Sets and now the most of the Clear Sets have sold out but all our Digital Stamp Sets can be printed and colored with markers or pencils, plus the designs are larger and can be re-sized.  In the Brush Marker book Marie used our Dahlia Stamp Set, the Rose and Sunflower Stamp Set as well as Button Up Digital Set and Home Sweet Home Set.In the Pencil Magic Book Marie made cards with our Scarecrowm Tin Man and Lion from our Wizard of Oz set, which are all available now in as a Digital Stamp Set and I love that the designs are larger but you can re-size, flip and edit them.

We found some Dahlia Clear Stamp Sets but they are almost sold out, so the link above won't last too long.  I have the Digital Dahlia and Rose Stamp Sets ready to upload but I came across an amazing Dahlia etching in an old book that I want to add and decided to do it for our Rose Digital Stamp set as well. In fact here are several Digital Stamp Sets we are working on right now that I'm adding some bonus designs to.

I found more packages of wood knobs in 1 of our show boxes and I've marked them all down to $1.50 which is a great deal for solid wood knobs. They are 1.5" wide with 6 knobs per package and holes drilled. You can use KS

 They can be painted, stained or decoupaged and you can see a decoupage tutorial I did here.

Here are some of the knobs that Vicki Chrisman decoupaged images on from our CD #3

Look at this adorable card DT Member Member Ginny from Polly's Paper made using our Farm Fresh Creative Scraps.  I like how Ginny used some of the printable paper from our Halloween CD and made it work perfectly for this country card.

Our Farm Fresh Scraps have really charming images country style images and they are all on sale for $1.95. Some people hate that they are double sided but they use to be single sided and cost $3.50. Plus you can use them as double sided tags or in window cards.

We also found about 35 sheets of SINGLE SIDED Birds and Blossom Scraps and they are on sale for $1.25.

 Look at this adorable card by DT Member Michele Kovack she created with our Bedtime Kids Digital Stamp Set. I'm really happy with the way this 55 piece set turned out and our DT have created so many great samples!

Our New Printable FREE GIFT when you place an order in our CraftyVintageGirl.com store is this set of pretty pastel papers. Just add them to your shopping cart for free until March 1/15.

  Finally, I made a little Sale Sign with the new lower prices.

 PS - Congrats to #9 Sierra who won our February Linky Party and a big thanks to everyone who joined in and posted the 23 fantastic samples! Sierra won the Valentine Kit plus any large set as a bonus and everyone else received the free image and paper, plus a bonus Spring Printable Set.

Wishing you joy and creativity Sandy Redburn

Visit Our CraftyVintageGirl.com  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

February Linky Party Winner, DT samples and SALE

Hello, Friends!

I'm just popping in very quickly today to announce the winner of our February Linky Party.  We had some great entries this month, and it was exciting to have some brand new players join us as well.  Many of you used the free downloadable images to create beautiful projects, and I thought I would share a few here as inspiration.  But before I do that, I know you all want to know who won this month!  Drumroll, please....

...and the winner is: #9!!!  Sierra Winters!  Sierra used our sweet Valentine girl image to create a lovely little gift box:

Isn't it darling?  Sierra, Sandy will be contacting you with a code you can use to receive your prize package: the entire Vintage Valentine Digital Kit, and if I know Sandy, she'll throw some other yummy goodies in there, too!  Sierra has a lovely blog called Sierra's Gift: My Place to Share and I'm sure she'd love it if you stopped by to pay her a visit!  Thanks for playing along, Sierra!  We hope you will become a regular participant in the Linky Parties, as we just love your work!

Now, for some Design Team Inspiration.  I think everyone I know is hunkered down in their crafty space waiting out this stormy, cold winter.  I know I have been...and I would truly have cabin fever if it weren't for my crafty goodies. 

Kathy was guest designer at Word Art Wednesday last week where she shared this cute card made from the Homemade Vintage Booklet.  Sandy generously sponsored the challenge there last week.  Don't you just love these rascally boys in their chef's caps?  They look like they are ready to stir up some fun!

DT Member Sheila made this beautiful card using images from our Digtal Birds and Blossoms Creative Scraps.  Now that these are digital, you can size them any way you need them, which gives you so much more versatility. 

 Ginny made this fabulous card using images and papers from our Typography CD.  I just love the way she's layered all the different papers and used a doily to make those chickens just pop off the page!

 Using our Victorian Easter Eggs as a card focal is such a great idea!  Dar added some sweet details and a little light distressing to make this gorgeous card!

This card from Diane is like a much needed dose of springtime!  She combined our wild roses digital paper with this cheeky bird from Birds and Blossoms Scraps.  Adding that crown and gorgeous handmade flower along with the cheery bow and pom poms really makes this card a winner! 

 I always love Shantaie's fresh approach to vintage.  This adorable tag is just loaded with texture and fun embellies.  She used our Digital Valentine Kit and fun little calendar pieces from our Calendar Seasonal Scraps.

This divine shabby chic card from DT Member Melody uses layers and layers from our Love Mail Scraps.  I love the light distressing and hand made roses on this pretty, pretty card!

If you're looking to add some new supplies to your crafty stash, you might want to check out the amazing sale Sandy has going on in the store right now.  Take a look at all the goodies that are on sale!

Many of these items are the last ones available, as Sandy moves out of her warehouse and goes completely digital.  There are so many wonderful products available here, and if you're like me, you'll want to stock up!  Make the most of your indoor time and create something beautiful to lift your spirits.  Before you know it, spring will be here!

Thanks for stopping by!

On behalf of Sandy Redburn, I wish you joy and creativity!

Cheerio,
Kathy Clement/DT Leader, Crafty Secrets

DIY Banana Art, Creative Love Ideas, Free Printables, Our $2.95 Image Booklets

Hi Everyone, I'm excited to share some fun ideas today like my 'banana art', which I saw a couple of years ago and finally tried it for the first time yesterday. It's much easier than I expected and so fun for leaving love notes and doodles. Bananas will never be safe in my house again! I have a little tutorial as well as other ideas and links for expressing love - plus a reminder you have 1 week left to enter our Feb Linky Party (with free Valentine printables for players) and Image Booklet photos.

Decide on a design you want to use in words, an image or both. Take a piece of paper and press it on a banana to get an idea of how big you can make your design, keeping in mind you can have words or a design wrap around the banana.  Print it out or freehand draw it on white paper. Cut it out and tape it securely to a banana as shown below. Tip: if you decide to freehand, you could write words or draw right on the banana - but I can't write this pretty (it was originally from a 1800's valentine) and I always thought it's what I would use if I ever got a tattoo. Instead I opted for a banana tattoo!  

Gee, mine doesn't really look that secure but I used shipping tape to tape it down and all of the design was flush with the banana skin. I used the new Cherish Digital Set which will be added to our online store by morning  and on introductory special for $7.95. The digital sizes are larger than the Clear Cherish Stamp Set.

Then use a needle or safety pin to carefully poke tiny holes through the paper all along your design. You can see some of my pin holes in the photo above. I lifted the paper away twice to check progress. The photo below was taken as soon as I removed the paper, so it doesn't take long to start oxidizing and turning brown.

As you can see below the pin holes get darker and eventually become black after a few hours. I should have taken another photo but I'm impatient and went up to my office. It took me about 15 minutes to complete the design, it was easier than I expected and now I want to play with bananas!

 I first saw the banana tattoo idea a couple of years ago on Instructables and they have a great video and did this cool Cat in the Hat which any kid would love to have in their lunch box.

I also love this Marilyn banana by Stephan Brusche but you would have to peel her 'skirt' up just before serving.

Below is my previous List of 32 Creative Ways to Say I LOVE YOU which I revised and have  adding some links.  #2 Photofunia is amazing and free! ; #5 My Banana Art Tutorial ;
#6 Post It Note Template-Tutorial ;  #10 Apple Voice Recorder Free App ;  #12. Iron on Transfer Tutorial  ;    #13. Love Coupons in Our Digital Valentine Kit ;  #16 Dry Erase Love Frame Tutorial ;  #17 Ten Reasons to Love You Free Printable ;  #20. Vellum Candle Wrap Tutorial ;
#23 Art Magnet Tutorial  ;   #24 Love Theme Food  ;  #29 Mini Heart Album  

I'm adding this older Free Printable Valentine Wish Card here as so many of the links were no longer valid from the 2011 post. Just click it on until it gets as large as possible with the left side of your mouse and then right click on it to save to your computer. For personal use only please. 

 DT Member Darlene Pavlick designed this cool collage card for a vintage challenge using our 4 page Bird and Blossoms Digital Download. This is such a popular seller we need to create more bird printables!

DT Member Sheila Rumney made this pretty spring friendship card also using images from our Digital Birds and Blossoms 4 page Download.

DT Member Diane Hover made this fabulous set of Valentine  cards for a friend using our Digital Valentine Kit and the best part is she won't ever use up her favorite image or paper, she can make them every year!

 If you are not aware, I'm going digital and selling off all printed stock and it's all further marked down including all 9 titles of our Vintage Image and Journal Notes Booklets now $2.95 and as I had 3500 to 5000 of any title re-print at different times I have several cases of some titles and can offer great quantity discounts on cases of 144 of a single title. Duh - after all these years I finally pulled them apart and took photos of all of the 32 inside pages fanned out.

This is Birds and Botanicals Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ01

This is the Childhood Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ02

The Homemade Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ03

 Here's the Summertime Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ04

 

 This is Little Dolls Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ05

Girlfriends Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ06

 

Here's the Halloween Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ07

 

This is Christmas Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ08

 Lastly, the Seasonal Image and Journal Notes Booklet - HIJ09

 Whew - finally at the end but please take time to check out our Febuary Linky Party and DT Challenge if you haven't. It runs for 1 more week, there are some fabulous projects, plus you can download free Valentine images and paper if you join in and I'm adding extra goodies to the prize pack!

Wishing you joy and creativity
Sandy Redburn

Visit Our CraftyVintageGirl.com  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

All You Need is Love for the February Linky Party and DT Challenge

Hello Friends!

Welcome to the Crafty Secrets February Linky Party!  This month we're throwing a virtual Valentine Party and you are invited along as our guests of honor!  Create some cute Valentines for friends and family,create a romantic layout, or make “off the page projects”for home décor. Incorporate music or words to a song somewhere in your project.  (Songbirds would work here,too!) You do not need to follow this theme to play along, but it's always fun if you do.

Before we get to the fabulous projects that the team has prepared for you, I have some great news to share with you! Sandy Redburn, owner of Crafty Secrets has been doing some cleaning in the warehouse and found some items that she thought were out of stock, and then she got out her red pen and slashed tons of prices in the Crafty Secrets online store.  Take a look:

I don't know about you....but I feel a shopping spree coming on!  LOL  Now, on with the Linky Party!

We have a special Guest Designer this month.   Our dear friend, and former DT leader, Vicki Chrisman  created these elegant Valentines using papers and images from our Vintage Valentine Digital kit.  Ooo-la-la!

Chocolate and Valentines day go together like love and marriage!  That's why Darlene Pavlick created this gorgeous candy box using the Vintage Valentine Kit. Dar will show you how she made this pretty box in the tutorial on her blog.

 Diane Hover put on her thinking cap and designed this really fun Valentine Party Hat that would make a great  decoration for your Valentine table. Diane has a fun tutorial showing you how to alter a grocery container into a great project like this.

 

Elizabeth Lincoln supplied the musical entertainment for our Virtual Valentine party. She combined our Party Cats digital stamps with the Vintage Valentine kit.  This darling concertina card is loaded with fun details, and Elizabeth's tutorial will guide you through the steps so you can make your own.

Sweet romance and lovely layers will have you falling in love with Ginny Nemchak's vintage Valentine made with load of our beautiful Creative Scraps and our Pastel Papers. (Watch for the digital version of these lovely papers coming soon!) She has a fun Snap Guide tutorial that will show you step by step how she created all those luscious layers!

Gloria Stengel used beautiful images from our Birds and Botanicals booklet and our Be My Valentine digital stamps to create this soft and pretty Valentine. Gloria will be sharing the tips and techniques she used to make this soft, pretty card.

DT Leader Kathy Clement   (that's me) altered a wooden heart frame using images and papers from the Vintage Valentine Kit.  This would be so pretty on the mantle or table. I have a step by step tutorial showing how she put this wall hanging together.

I am in love with these adorable kraft treat bags that Melody Clement created with images from the Vintage Valentine kit.  Melody will show you how to make these darling little treat bags on her blog.

Michele Kovack used the pretty musical note paper from the kit to alter these Jelly Belly Boxes.  How cute are these?  I love the sequins! I can't wait to read Michele's blog and find out how she made these!

 

This striking black and red Valentine from Shantaie Fowler was made with our beautiful Heart to Heart Digital Stamp set.  Isn't it classy? Shantaie always shares great creative tips in her blog posts.

Sheila Rumney's soft romantic Valentine uses images from our Birds and Blossoms Creative Scraps and our Be My Valentine Digital Stamps.  I'm sure Sheila will be sharing a look at how she created this beautiful card.

Owner, Sandy Reburn has a great TUTORIAL on creating a Dry Erase Board Digitally and has 2 different samples using the CD 3 Creating with Typography and this gold frame from CD #1 Creating with Vintage Patterns she used here.

Now, we have a Valentine present just for you!  To encourage you to play along in this Linky Party, we are giving you one of the beautiful papers and a printable image from the Vintage Valentine Kit.  Simply click on the image to make it full sized, then right click to download to your computer.  You do not have to use this image in your project...you can use any Crafty Secrets goodies you have in your stash, and create any kind of NEW project to play along. 

One lucky participant will be randomly selected to win the entire Vintage Valentine Kit.  Our Vintage Valentine Digital Kit contains everything you need to create fabulous Victorian, Retro, or Vintage Valentine Projects.  Loaded with 9 papers, 2 printable sheets of full color images, 2 sheets of printable shabby chic tags, ticket strips, cupcake liners and heart toppers, 2 styles of party invitations, and lovely frames,and so many more wonderful elements...you can create beautiful Valentine projects to your heart's content!  Many of the papers in this beautiful collection are great for use year round, too. And, if you already own the Vintage Valentine Kit, we will be happy to let you select any other digital products of equal value. Here's a peeky at the prize!



Now it's your turn:


Create a NEW project of your choice featuring ANY Crafty Secrets product and link it up to the blog no later than 11:59PT, Sunday, February 15th.  You do not need to follow this month’s theme to play along. If you do not have any Crafty Secrets goodies, check the FREE DOWNLOADS located on the  Crafty Secrets blog.  Be sure to link to the Crafty Secrets Blog inyour post, and let us know what Crafty Secrets product you are using in yourproject.  We'll announce the lucky winner on this blog on Monday, February 16th.

Well, I don't know about you, but I am blown away by these fabulous design team projects!  We'd love to hear from you in the comment section below, so take a moment and leave us a little note.  We can't wait to see what you make!

On behalf of Sandy Redburn, I wish you joy and creativity!

Cheerio,

Kathy Clement/DT Leader, Crafty Secrets

LINK YOUR PROJECT HERE: