Heartwarming Vintage Inspiration with Crafty Secrets!

Valentine Printables, Ideas, Samples & Vintage Valentine $5.00 E-Kit!

2012-01-27T03:43:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I have details on our New Vintage Valentine $5.00 Download Kit , (which took forever to create) our 2012 Free Printable Valentine Gift for you - plus links to 4 past years of Valentine Printables (at the end). Also some great samples, and if you missed it, a link to my List of 32 Creative Places to Say I LOVE YOU! .

You can order our NEW $5.00 Vintage Valentine Downloadable Kit now (free S&H) and we will start emailing them Friday afternoon. This kit grew as I had so many fun images I wanted to include! You get all of the pages shown below and the only item missing is the envelope template. Plus the download will include inspiring samples (see some farther below)!

Click each image to see them larger. High res files at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) means you can print small to jumbo sized images! That's the best part of digital - it's so versatile. You can print on any medium and change the size.

Here are the 5 paper designs in the kit. I wish Valentines was farther away so we could make a Valentine Clear Art Stamp set. Please leave a comment if you want clear Valentines stamps like the page below? There are 2 Digi Stamps in the Kit and we couldn't fit all on a large stamp set -so which do you like best?

Look at these gift pretty tags & card backs

Then there is a Valentine Postcard front & back, a coupon, a digi stamp and the 2 hearts can decorate napkin holders, party crackers and a host of projects.

Here are 2 cute cards or invitations and I adore these little animals but the artwork was badly colored and so fine I don't know if Cindy can turn them into stamps but I know ladies who love our Bug's Life and Bunny Stamps (like Sophie, Elizabeth, Marcy and others) have all asked for more animals stamps.

We had to include a cupcake wrapper and some little hearts to dress them up. I've seen cupcake wrappers printed on paper, with hole punched edges and turned into tiny lamp shades for mini party lights. We made it big enough so you can use decorative scissors to trim the edge if you don't want to bother cutting the scallops out.

Here is a second party invitation set up to print 2 on 8.5" x 11" paper.

Finally, this cute little cupcake girl who can be a card, invitation or a centerpiece for a table.

DT Leader Vicki Chrisman started creating some samples but I am so sad to say after just losing her dear mother last week, her much beloved dog Aly passed away yesterday. That dog was like Vicki's shadow and followed her every move. Vicki wants to take her mind off her sorrow and has been busy creating more samples that we will add to the Valentine Kit.

Look at the cute banner she made with images from 1 of the image sheets and 2 papers.

Here are 2 tags, perfect for tying on gifts and Vicki added one to a jar of chocolates. There are all kinds of containers to fit every budget and you can quickly re-purpose recycled containers by adding some paper, ribbon and a cute tag. Raid your supply stash for embellishments from buttons, broken jewelry, lace, glitter, little flowers found at craft, dollar and thrift stores. Fill with edible treats or package pamper items like mini travel soap & lotion.

Vicki also used used some of the tags to create this little memory album by gluing a piece of ribbon across the back. of 4 tags printed on cardstock.

How adorable is the layout she whipped up with her son Jared & girlfriend Kate. There will be more samples posted on the blog and our Facebook page and we would love to see photos of what you create if you order the kit you can post any projects on our Facebook page.

Okay - now for our Free Printable Valentine Gift just left click the image below until it gets as big as possible and right click it to save to a picture file. It's huge enough to use on a scrapbook page. Please remember our Vintage Printables Gifts are for personal use only. Someone was trying to sell them.

This image will also work great to transform a plain box into a special Valentine keepsake or gift box. Print the image above on paper or cardstock, cut out the heart and trace the shape on 2 pieces of chipboard or heavy cardstock. Paint or cover the bottom and sides of the box with complimentary paper and glue the the image to the top heart shape and attach to the box as shown.

I'm not sure if Lisa Zappa re-vamped an old chocolate box or made one for this sample she made a few years ago but I love her fun colors and crepe paper. The word Love is from our Cherish stamp set is part of one of the digital stamps in the Valentine Kit 'To Show my Love', from an 1800's Valentine and if I ever got a tattoo it would be this LOVE lettering.

Here are the other links from past years with a Valentine-Love theme.

Valentine Poem & Angel Link

Cute Puppy

Victorian Roses Card

Valentine Postcard

Also look at this cute card Michele Kovack created using a month from our free printable 2012 Calendar download. The image is from our Calendar Scraps which are on Clearance Sale for $1.50 as only 7 months work this year but there are several fabulous seasonal images

Here is a pretty little card by DT Member Viola Mahr using an image (jar) from our Homeade Booklet and the small cutlery from Kitchen Classics Stamps. Paper is from CD # 1.

I still have to hook up my new printer and give the results, hopefully this weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sandy Redburn

Crafty Secrets

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Surrey, BC V3S 8R4

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Vintage Valentine Ideas, Giveaway Winner, Best 12 x 12” Printer under $198.00

2012-01-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Aaarrgghh… DELAY due to computer grief but I'm back with some fun Valentine ideas and samples to share and the low down on best 12 x 12 printers if you scroll down. My fav was $198.00 but when I clicked this link today it was only $189.79 – amazing!

Also, congratulations to random.org winner # 162 Corrine Ann who won our $30.00 gift certificate! There were 162 comments with so many fantastic suggestions – so THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for all your great ideas - I've already started working on 3 new sets - Children, Garden & Music!

I get so excited and want to show everything but there is so much I have to split it into 2 posts as it was making Blogger freeze and not work at all! I also got an idea yesterday (after so many of you asked for Vintage Valentines) to do a Digital Valentine Download for $5.00 bucks and it put me behind. It took ages to round up all the images & ideas for Cindy and I found stuff I forgot I had. It takes 100's of changes so this is just a little preview. I will post more details next week and this Digital Package will be available next Wed, Jan 25 with sheets of paper, valentines, tags, some digi stamps and a cute template!

I will discuss the large format color printers before I start showing all the valentine ideas. So many of you have asked about printing the 12 x 12" papers and illustrations from our two CD's, #1 Creating With Vintage Patterns and CD#2 Illustrations . I wanted to find the best deal for price and quality. Amazon is my fav place to read reviews and and I only looked at printers under $500.00.

Canon won for the highest reviews and low price and Epson came in 2nd place. What I learned is people buy based on reviews but newer (and often superior models) don't have as many reviews so the highest rated is a 2009 model and one of the newest printers that Canon introduced last year only has 30 reviews but everyone is as happy or more so, plus it's better technology and is less $$!

Read all the details, look at features, warranties and if on a budget consider a refurbished model from a reputable seller.

I believe the ix6520 Canon Inkjet Printer is the winner hands down for low price, 4.5* reviews, excellent quality & easy to use features. It lists for $229.00 but Amazon.com had it for under $200.00 and the link gives the current lowest price (which fluctuates) as low as $189.79. I bought this printer 2 days ago after talking to the Canon office. It only uses 5 ink tanks with smaller droplets giving superior coverage. Some of the older models use 8 ink tanks. Plus it's one of the newest models at this price point to print up to 13" x 19" and can print on different mediums. I promise to test mine out on cardstock, canvas, vellum and transfer sheets and post results for this printer

The other 2 printers that got great reviews are listed below. My TIP: Decide which printer you like the best and check Ebay to see if any reputable sellers have a better price. I found mine with free S&H and bought a 3 yr warranty for $32.00 but need to drive across the border to pick it up. Geez - I guess I'm a traitor as I never even checked amazon.ca as we are only 30 minutes from the USA and drive down so often.

Canon Pixma Pro9000 Professional Large Format InkjetPrinter has 161 reviews with a 4.5 * rating on Amazon but the list price is $499.99, on sale as low as $328.00 from other amazon affiliates. I also saw new models for less than $300.00 on Ebay but stick with a seller with excellent feedback. This model may print better (I have no idea) but the reviews & price of the ix6520 won me over.

Epson C11C655001 StylusPhoto 1400 Large Format Printer has 152 reviews with 3.5* average, It lists for $399.00 , on sale $328.31 and prints up to 13" x 19" with 6 color ink - but so many people complained about quality issues with plugged nozzles.

Okay , now onto Valentine ideas and samples! Many of these samples I have were made by DT Leader Vicki Chrisman because she has been with us since the beginning when we came out with our very first vintage product - the Vintage Cuts in 2004. Over the years she has become a dear friend so I'm very sad to say Vicki's mom had a stroke and passed away. Her funeral was today and you can leave condolences by the link above. Her mom, Evelyn got to celebrate her 90th this summer. She was the best and my heart aches for Vicki and her family.

Here is an old photo mat Vicki altered with a photo of her mom & dad using our Valentine Stickers. You can see a bunch of other sample when you click on the link.

Have you ever made a folded paper fortune teller? This is one Vicki made years ago and decorated with our Valentine stickers. Add personal messages and this would be a fun project for kids as well. I love the scallop edges!

Look around second hand stores or maybe you saved an old chocolate box you can decorate but any container will do - it doesn't have to be heart shaped you can add hearts. The box by Vicki has a tag using our Cotton Romance Scraps on sale for $3.99 (the edges fray so nice).

Here is an idea of what you can fill your box with, cute cards all ready to give to a busy friend, or save your favorite valentines in a treasure box. These cards were created with an combo of our Stickers, Cotton Scraps and Seasonal Booklet.

Here's an adorable card by Lisa Zappa with Romance Cotton Scraps & our Cherish Stamp Set

Lisa also created this card with the Cherish set and you can see a bunch of samples here

Our website Gallery is messed up so I've added over 500 samples to our online Shopatron Store and you can see all the LOVE THEME SAMPLES HERE! by our Design Team. I encourage you to go back and look at any products you may have bought in the past if you are looking for ideas as so many samples that have been added!

These are Valentines I didn't add as they use a combination of stamps in Cherish, Cherubs and Love Mail Stamps. The way Vicki created contrast is simple and lovely

Here are more with different papers (sorry don't have paper brand) but I LoVe the punched flower idea glued to the swirls. No fancy coloring, just add a little bling.

Here a card by DT Member Michele Kovack and Click HERE to see the adorable snow card she made with our Winter Wishes Set! Michele used our Cherub set on this card

Recycled glass bottles and jars are great to dress and hold flowers or store stuff and our Mini Vintage Scraps are perfect for mini jars. They look great under a glass dome cabochons (we will add 1 to every order until Mon as an extra gift as we don't sell them). Just cut any image, photo or words to same size and use a clear dry glue to adhere to glass dome and glue it to a jar or bottle. You can always seal an image with Diamond Glaze and if you let it dry and repeat you can create a raised dome affect. Vicki sent me the sweet Button Flowers

If you click on the photo you will notice my little ink jar looks stained and cloudy but came across this amazing idea and recipe from Lucy at her Craftberry Bush Blog and you have to check out how she turned these mason jars to cool blue with some food coloring and glue! I am so going to make some pink glass jars for Valentines! Lucy has so amazing ideas like this wire Heart Wreath!

I will show more valentines projects next week as Blogger is not behaving! I'm also going to report on great places to get 12 x 12 prints & scrapbooks printed next week.

Have a great weekend!

Sandy

What do You Like? Giveaway, Previews and Oldies but Goodies!

2012-01-17T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm finally back with some preview drafts of Stamp Sets and CD # 3 Creating with Vintage Typography, plus a $30.00 giveaway for your opinion and feedback. I mentioned it briefly in my last post and was asked to post any specifics, so I will below and add the other previous entries to this draw and announce a winner this Friday, Jan 19/12.

We will continue to create some NEW CLEAR ART STAMP SETS while we create our Digital Art Stamp line and find a company to licence our products. What do you think of this preview of our Sing for Joy Clear Art Stamp Set? It includes 20 separate stamps with 2 branches of birds, extra flower blossom & leaf. This is still a draft so time to make changes if you see anything. Click on to see larger

I also have a large collection of owls in a mix of adorable to artistic - am I too late? Have we missed the owl train or are they still popular? Do you like owls and if so what style?

I've been collecting old patriotic images for awhile and when I bought the cute Uncle Sam Soup Kid below he inspired this fun patriotic set but now that it's done I think my favorite is the lady we added who can hold the flag or sparkler. This set, SL47 American Beauty will include 20 separate stamps.

See how much better the same set looks above than the first draft below? We tossed out Uncle Sam and the screaming chicken and the vintage lettering added above makes it way cooler. I just wish I could find Vintage Canadiana so we could do a set for Canada.

I have a thing for little dressed animals but please tell me if you like these types of images? I have every animal possible from frogs, elephants, dogs to mice.

Do you like really detailed designs best or simpler styles like Mr & Mrs Kitty below?

Or do you like simpler styles like Mr & Mrs Kitty below? I have a bunch of cute animals in this style below - except I always get Cindy to fix the weird eyes and we change as many things as possible to make everything better, unique and ours.

Here are some images that were slated to go on a Forest Fairy set but I just got 2 adorable houses in a shoe and a teapot shape, plus an old antique book with pixies & elf's, so these will now be split into 2 sets.

How about a Garden Fresh stamp set with vegetables, garden tools, and old shed or garden gate? Also, how about a canning a preserving set with jam labels and fruit? What artwork do you like better, detailed etchings, or line art like these whimsical fruits with faces - or both?

What is you favorite theme and what would you like to see us create - Clear Stamps, Digital Stamps & projects on CD's, printed Color Scraps ??

Here are a bunch of pages that will be on CD # 3, Creating With Vintage Typography. We still have a bunch more work to finish on this CD as there will be fonts you can install, weekly & monthly calendars, greeting card verses & graphics, forms & ephemera, alphabet flash cards, sheet music, theater and much more.

Here's some Barber Shop papers that are going on a Men's Theme CD. I love the way these papers turned out and now we just need t5o add a set of moustaches!

I decorated these bottles with our French Label Stickers years ago and recently found a CD with 100's of photos of older samples and a bunch of really great ones. I've added over 600 samples to our Shopatron Store and have more to add using Stickers and Vintage Cuts and old Alpha Booklets (see below)

Plus there were samples featured in our Get Creative and Get Round Booklet I will be adding. This album below was from the dollar store and Vicki added alpha letters and the date no.s from our Boys Alphabet Booklet on SALE now for $1.95

Lastly, I want to share a link to DT Member Julie, Campbell and her inspiring life quest to learn more about her heritage and family. Here stories are always so inspiring and you can read them HEREhttp://avintagechic.blogspot.com/2012/01/just-little-time.html

PS - CD 3 and New Clear Art Stamp Sets are not available yet but I will post updates

Big Hugs Sandy

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

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Blaine,WA 98230

Stamping on Tiles Tutorial, Feel Better Winner and 2012 Agenda

2012-01-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

I have an inspiring tutorial for stamping on tiles with a cool set of coasters by Darlene Pavlick and an art studio stamped tile by Vicki Chrisman who just did a canvas! We also have a random.org winner for our Feel Better Giveaway. Congratulations to # 8 Jennifer Abbott-Scott and to all of you wonderful ladies for all your great cold remedies! It sounds like everyone had this rotten cold so the tips were perfect! If anyone knows Jennifer the winner, please pass on the news as there was no contact info.

Darlene used our SL15 Sweet Kids Stamp Set on these lovely coasters and you have to click on the photo to see the details. Dar actually stamped this set back in 2009 but I thought of them when DT Leader Vicki Chrisman sent me a tile she stamped and wanted to show you how versatile & creative this technique can be.

We want these Tutorials to be Fun & Do-able, so they are set up as a handy printable jpg file. You just need to click on the page until it gets full size and save it to a file location you view and print from.

Here is the Art Tile that Vicki stamped with our Art Studio Set by simply using Brown StazOn Ink if you click on the above link you can see her other 3 background samples & OVER 500 SAMPLES Added to Our Online Store this week!

Many items, such as our Clear Art Stamp Sets now have between 4 to 6 samples. Our website needs to undergo some renovations so our Online Store and our Blog will fill in

The variety of creative possibilities today is amazing and we've found we have a wide gap of readers from new crafter's & stampers to seasoned veteran's and I have SO MANY GREAT IMAGES -

Please tell us what you want to discover, learn, buy, do, see in themes & styles the most! A $30.00 Gift Certificate will be awarded next week in the name of research!

As many of you know we live in Canada and it’s becoming more difficult to operate the business when most of our sales are shipped from the USA. I thought we might have had a deal with a great company to take over so Cindy & I can focus on designing but sadly I found out today it didn’t happen – so I’m going to hire extra help and also continue to scout out the right company to take on our products. So that means we will continue with the NEW Clear Art Stamps we’ve been working on – which I'm really excited about! Many designs will also be part of our new Digital Art Stamp Collection and there are currently some licensed products in the works as well.

In a nutshell - this means the SALE and FUN will continue and we thank you for your support & patience!

Wishing you joy & creativity

Sandy Redburn

Look What I Found! Feel Better Giveaway, Calendar Idea & Gift

2012-01-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the long absence! We have been organizing and doing inventory and WOW - I found some great stuff! Plus, everyone here has been off sick and now I have the worst cold and most runny nose I can ever remember - so I thought we should do a Feel Better Giveaway! Just leave a comment and tell me what your favorite medicine, feel better food, or cure is for a rotten cold? Sudafed is not helping at all! I will draw a random.org winner this Thurs, Jan 12 for a free set of Feeling Yucky Stamps, Feel Better Stickers, plus one of our CD's (the winner can switch to any items worth $30.00 if they like).

As many of you know we live in Canada and have a tiny warehouse we rent in the USA. We store extra stock at another warehouse as our place is so small and I found some great stuff like a case of 244 Mini Vintage Hangers and more Mini Embossed Frames from Tattered Angels discontinued ivory chipboard! Everyone loves these cute hangers as the clips are adjustable and you can hang anything from photos, mini wall art, give as a gift with a card attached, or use with our Chipboard Outfits for extra cuteness!

Here's a photo of the Embossed Chipboard frames below that DT Leader Vicki Chrisman created for a make-n-take at the Great American Scrapbook Convention last year using a mix of our Birds & Blossoms and Vintage Photo Creative Scraps. The ivory chipboard is sprayed with Glimmer Mist and the 3D embossing really pops when you use a sponge to add a little brown ink to antique with. We split up the big packages and sell the frames in 12 packs for $2.95. and the Alphabet set with 36 letters & inner frames for $1.95 (because most people don't care about the alpha part).

When Tattered Angels discontinued a bunch of great products that worked well with our images I bought a full skid load mainly of their albums because I love the ivory color. We still have some left but they have been super popular. I bought over 500 of the Garden Albums as it's my fav and you can see a sample album Vicki created here and how the pages pull open. The embossed frame she used isn't included but they will work for any theme and Garden Albums are only $5.75. You can see other limited chipboard stock here.

I also found some packages of Tattered Angels Mistable Printed Crepe Ribbons. You can custom color this printed crepe paper with their Glimmer Mist and then form it into ruffles, bows, flowers and garlands to add to your creations. Each package includes two 2" wide x 20" long pieces in 4 unique designs. Regularly $6.49, on sale for $3.25

We also found some Earthy Pads! These were the most popular seller and have been sold out for over a year but we found 2 cases that had been labeled wrong. Regular $9.95, sale $7.95

We also found some some Divine Alphabet Booklets and for $1.95 they are a great deal!

Look at this sweet card DT Member Pam Hooten created using a journal notes paper from CD #2 and the Thanks a bunch sentiment from Sweet Kids Stamp set

Last of all our Calendar Scraps have been marked down to $1.50 from $3.50 as you can't make an new calendar year with them - but you can still use all the wonderful seasonal color images and the Free Printable 2012 Calendar on our website.

You can see each page in detail of this great calendar Vicki created when she used all the large images from our Calendar Scraps and then couldn't use the small text calendar on the opposite side - so she used our free one. You can see other great DT Calendar projects Here!

We are still including a free gift with orders, which gets better the bigger the order but always a gift!
I will be back this Thurs with a cool stamping tutorial I think you will love - plus our agenda for 2012!

Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what makes you feel better when you are sick? Di you have a favorite food, medicine, flu shots, something you do when you feel sick or get a cold? I will announce a Feel Better winner this Thurs, Jan 9/12 along with our agenda for 2012 .

Wishing you joy & creativity

Sandy Redburn

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

2011-12-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

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
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

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

2011-12-26T00:16:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

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

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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!

2011-12-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

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 Feel Better 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 & Blossoms 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!

2011-12-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

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

Blog Winner, Christmas cards, Tutorial, Ornaments, Mini Album & Sparkle Challenge

2011-12-06T05:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, I loved reading all your comments on what you love to create most, so I'm posting new & past cards, ornaments and mini albums today.

I have a random.org winner for the $50.00 Giveaway, #64 Donna from TN who said her favorite things to make are wall hanging trimmed with beads or pendants. I’m so happy Donna won as I’ve seen her post comments for years.

Look at this fabulous Christmas card DT Member Linda Duke created and she has a video tutorial here on her blog showing how she made it using 2 copies of an image from CD #2 with Spellbinders dies.

DT Leader Vicki Chrisman used our on sale Born to Fly Stamp Set to make Christmas Fairies and paper pieced their outfits and hats with papers from CD #1. You can see the other cute fairy card and details here on Vicki's Blog

DT Member Julie Campbell also has some cute fairies here on her blog she created and used our Altered Fairy Scraps for one. I also came across this pretty Christmas card Julie made last year using an image from our Christmas Booklet and on sale Seasons Greetings Stamp set

I also came across this Christmas album past DT Member Flo Teixara created and she designed so many spectacular mini albums you can see here in our Gallery. I couldn't find this Christmas album on her blog but I did see this cool Country Farm Album she made using Farm theme Stamps & Scraps

The tiny gift bag, present, wreath, stocking and cinnamon stick logs are those little details that make her albums so special.

Here is a cute tree decorating idea that I came across from a few years ago when past DT Member Lisa Zappa got a great deal on a bunch of old Bingo cards and decided to decorate her tree with them. She used our on sale Vintage Christmas Stamp Set

Snowbunnies on sale stamps used on this one

Here is Lisa's tree decorated with all the bingo cards she did as well as from friends she sent bingo card to decorate and mail back.

This is a cute ornament idea by DT Member Heidi Blankenship to use wire, punched snowflakes and buttons you can buy in bulk, glued around images from our Christmas Scraps.

I spotted this very cute cheese ball snowman with a recipe on Julie's blog; Less than a Perfect Life of Bliss and had to share her fun idea.

I'm hosting the challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers this week to create something with SPARKLE using any of our products - you can even use any of our free printables like this Printable Vintage Santa on my last post,

or the Retro Santa from last year, or Christmas Angels from year before - but it doesn't have to have a Christmas theme. You can add sparkle with gems, paints, pens and any glitter products such as German Glass Glitter, Stickles, etc. I will get random.org to pick a $50.00 winner next Monday, Dec 12/11.

Use Code: CSSC200

Please come and join in the fun here!

Tomorrow I will be posting some Quick Christmas Card Printable Tutorials sheets using our Christmas Creative Scraps as so many of you have ordered them lately!

PS - If you are wondering why we are having the BIG SALE on all our Clear Stamps and many of our other products you can scroll back and read previous blog posts or read HERE.

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

Our 2011 Vintage Christmas Printable, Giveaway, SALE & Digital Art Stamp Update

2011-12-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to have a cool vintage Christmas printable image for you this year and I'm excited with how cute it turned out but no matter what I did it won't enlarge big enough, so for now here is a link to it on Yousendit.com
Note: I've just come back and updated the link as it only works for 500 downloads and it was maxed. I also added a sample I made below.

To enter our $50.00 Giveaway just leave a comment on this post and a random winner will be announced this Mon, Dec 5/11. Please tell us your fave thing to create?

Here is a sample I made. I'm always testing stuff but hardly ever sit down and make finished samples anymore so this was fun. I printed the image twice and cut out Santa and the snow on ledge and used foam squares to stick them on. I used Gold Ice Stickles, a bit of green glitter and some snow crystals. I got a little carried away with the Stickles and sprinkled on some snow crystals while it was wet. I ripped paper off a cardboard box for the backing and found the stick on my sundeck. Green leaves are Maya Road stick pins.

We have been working this week on turning our Clear Art Stamps that are all ON SALE HERE into png files to become Digital Art Stamps. Many of you are deeply sad but I'm so excited because I often felt frustrated at how small the images became to fit onto the stamp set sheets - but the Campbell's Soup kids 1.5" stamps can be up to 5" tall digitally, the silverware up to 7"! The images will be re-sizable but the huge size offers so many more possibilities, easy to color, use on scrapbook pages, cut out and layer, print on fabric, I could go on and on! We are also working on NEW designs and I'm bursting with excitement and will share ASAP!

SALE NEWS: I asked our shipper to include an extra gift of gold peel off stickers with every order. The Apple and Pear Note Pads and Brass Frames with bails have all sold out. So far the only Clear Art Stamp Sets to sell out are Serenity Prayer and our Calendar Set.

The Calendar was a pain to stamp and will be much better digitally with big cool vintage numbers, days, weeks, seasonal images and printable templates in various styles. For now you can always print our complimentary 2012 Calendar on light color paper or cardstock and cut the months out and mat for mini calendars.

TIP:Look for the old CD plastic cases you can flip up easel style to hold 6 double sided cards, or stick the current month in a plastic CD case and add a strip of magnetic tape to keep it on the fridge - clean & clutter free!

I want to tell you about a great little tutorial that DT Member Michele Kovack has posted on her blog for turning inexpensive metal craft jingle bells into pretty embellishments.

I loved her colors like the pale blue and cream frosted ones.

Look at the cute card she created and added some of her glitter frosted snow bells

Michele is also in the running for Best Blog Contest at the Blog Guidebook and there is a link on her blog but it's last day to vote. You can also scroll through pages in her gallery of over 200 fabulous Crafty Secrets projects she's created using our stamps and images like this beautiful fairy envelope gift bag she designed using our Born to Fly Stamps. Yes - we still have these as Clear Art Stamps but we also have some really exciting plans for when they become digital!

Plus, you can see another cute card HERE on DT Member Pan Hooten's Blog using paper from our new CD for a fun 'Glitter Challenge'.

Next week I will be hosting a challenge over at Spiltcoast and posting another $50.00 giveaway , so be sure to enter each week and you could win a bunch of stamps before they disappear. Actually we still have a lot of stock to sell, so don't get too worried, the sale for many items will last for a while.

Remember, I love to hear your feedback and suggestions and I read every one.

Wishing you joy & creativity

Fun Vintage Christmas Creative Ideas, Links to Santa Printable & Game, plus Sale Update

2011-11-30T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

It’s been crazy here with our Big Sale! With over 200 orders we ran out of CD 2 but our big shipment of CD’s is due to arrive today! We also have the balance of our last stamp order starting to arrive so we still have tons of stock and the sale will be ongoing.

With so many new visitors I wanted to show some previous Christmas projects. Our Chipboard Houses can be decorated in any theme but Christmas houses are perfect for adding photos inside as they lay flat for storage. DT Leader Vicki Chrisman has created several but this one with our Christmas Stickers looks so cute on her Blog with photos of her family, plus you can also see her pink candy house.

Look at this cute wreath DT Member Pam Hooten created last year by tying old cookie cutters to a white plastic doily and adding our Christmas Scraps. Also see Pam’s pretty ‘love card’.

Past DT Member Lisa Zappa was a guest last year and did a great tutorial on making pinwheel ornaments using our Christmas Scraps for this Christmas Post and she also used some to make a cute garland.

Lisa also stamped these cute Christmas Gift Tags using our Little Chef Stamp set which are on sale for $5.99

Tanya Ilnicki used one sheet of our Heavenly Christmas Stickers to create all these pretty cards and gift tags. See a pretty Floral Card on her blog

The way Past DT Member Marisa Grosson used Flower Soft on the Christmas tree is perfect for this ornament she made using our Christmas Postcard Kit and see how she stamped the back of her postcard. You can also see the cute Baby PC and how she Fun Flocked the cats on her Halloween postcards here on Marisa’s Blog

DT Member Julie Campbell has such a heartwarming Christmas story you can read about this layout she created here on her blog. Image is from our new CD # 2.

This link goes to the Cute Big Santa printable and a Rebus Christmas Game I posted last year and I will add this years freebie on my next post. The link also goes to our DT Calendar Challenge and our 2012 Printable Calendar. If you have ever made a calendar using our annual one I would love to post a photo!

Look at the fun recipe card album DT Member Jan Hennings created using papers from CD #2 on one of our Wood File Folder Albums. Ooops, I just went to link and we need to make up more and add them here.

This is what I mean about having the freedom to print from our new Creating With Vintage Illustrations CD on fabric or canvas sheets or iron on transfer sheets. DT Leader Vicki created this pretty pillow but you could iron an image on a T-shirt, apron, etc. You can also see the stunning digital layout Vicki made HERE on her Blog

DT Member Victoria Warren-Mears is loving the new CD for her digital scrapbook layouts and just finished this adorable Halloween LO using papers and frame from CD #2.

Lastly, I wanted to tell you about the great Admiration Challenge that Marcy Talbert is hosting over at Splitcoast to draw inspiration from other people posting in the Crafty Secrets Gallery to create a sample. It’s open to anyone to post, you just need to include the CSSC199 code. This is the card Marcy was inspired to create and she used our Christmas Joy Clear Art Stamp Set.

I also love this idea Marcy had last month to make treat bags with candied pecans for all the teachers at school and stamped a sentiment from our Thanksgiving stamps.

I will be back later this week with a new Christmas printable gift for you

Wishing you joy & creativity

Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets
Check Our Store Locator
Visit Our Online Store
Join Us on Facebook!

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

More CD 2 Sample Peeks, Sale Details & Vintage Printable

2011-11-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I’m back with fabulous new samples from CD 2, Creating With Vintage Illustrations, also details on our Sale starting on Black Friday Nov 25, and a previous Thanksgiving Past Printable if you want to make place cards for the table, a quick card, mount it on a stick for a plant pick or use 2 double sided in a centerpiece.

To get the BIG image go Here to our Website

Here is the Discount Pricing on other items besides our Clear Art Stamps. If you missed my explanation and discount pricing on the stamps you can read it all HERE. Sale start this Friday, Nov 25 until supplies last. To get good pricing I have to print in large quantities and usually get between 3500 to 5000 of each item and re-prints are faster on some, so quantities vary - but this sale should last for awhile! The only 2 items NOT going on sale are our CD's and Creative Scraps. Some items are marked down less than others. Wholesale half price to stores.

Vintage Cuts in 12 styles, reg $1.99, will be $1.75

Vintage Cardstock Stickers in 29 themes, reg $2.35, will be $1.99

Vintage Image & Journal Notes in 9 Booklets, reg $6.75, will be $5.75

Homespun Cotton Scraps only 5 themes left, reg $5.75, will be $3.99

Vintage Postcard Kits in 8 themes, reg $12.95, will be $11.95

This is one of 8 sample preview sheets showing some of the 12 x 12" jpg files. You can size them to fit on 8.5 x 11"papers and print on various mediums. Hopefully it will get larger when you click it on

Here is another sample preview sheet on the CD but this one is showing some of the png files. The png files mean that they are cut out around the edges, in the center of frames etc, so they work great to easily layer embellishments, lay frames over photos, etc. If you don't do any digital you can still print images and use them.

You can see 2 fun samples using the French jointed doll on CD 2 HERE on DT leader Vicki Chrisman’s Blogs and also HERE on DT member Julie Campbell’s Blog.

DT Member Pam Hooten created a couple of great samples, doing one in a stylish sewing theme tag by shrinking this 12 x 12" paper and another 12 x 12 " with a sewing quote.

Pam also used a Tim Holtz Dress Form before she saw these 2 cute last minute Dress Templates that will be on the CD. They will be fun to dress up with pattern papers, ribbon belts and jewel buckles. Plus, they will fit in with the shoe and purse templates!

Here is the Teacup Template Pam used and we included a small sample of each project on each of the 14 templates on the CD for handy reference, so Pam's will be on the sheet.

DT Member Heidi Blankenship used this image on the CD to create a stunning card you have to see HERE on her Blog. She says she was inspired to try Linda Dukes tip for using baby oil with her Prisma color pencils and you will see it looks like it worked great!

This is Linda's 2nd video tutorial this week showing how she created the pretty roses (Spellbinder's) The card was already colored but I love the 3D silver embossed edge she shows how to do. Here's a link to Linda's other video.

You can see 2 digital layouts DT member Amy Teets created HERE on her blog with papers and embellishments from the CD including this page below and a Christmas LO.

Here's a pretty Christmas card DT Member Jan Hennings created by shrinking an image on the CD and using 1 of the papers. She added a Tattered Angels Frame she covered with glitter snow

DT Member Tammy Roberts made this pretty standing teapot card pictured small on the template sheet below. You can see it better HERE on her blog and see how she cut butterflies from one of the papers on the CD and added them.

DT Member Victoria Warren-Mears created this adorable digital layout using one of the papers, a frame, tree. border,birdie journal card, eggs and a button off the CD. Victoria's beach layout is also featured as a sample on the CD.

OUR BIG SALE STARTS THIS FRIDAY. CD 2 Creating With Vintage Illustrations arrives this Friday as well but if you pre-order it we will include a free Image Booklet with every CD 2 order until midnight Friday.

Wishing you joy & creativity

BIG Changes & Sale, CD 2 Promo Week & More!

2011-11-21T05:36:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone, finally here, Blogger has been a nightmare, see note at end.

I’ve been holding off posting until I made up my mind and I have - Crafty Secrets is going to change our Clear Stamps to Digital CD’s and ALL our stamps will go on SALE starting this Friday! Why? my husband Scott retired last year and I need to simplify our life. “With over 200 stamp sets and over 100 printed products it’s time to clear the clutter and make room for some exciting new changes! As the Clear Art Stamps sell out, they will be grouped into themes and sold on CD’s which will include inspiring samples, new images and printable papers.

We have a home office here in Canada but 90% of our orders are filled by our shipper from the little warehouse we have in Blaine, WA. We’ve run out of space but I still have so many ideas and images! I’m hoping to find a company to license some of our colored printed items such as our Creative Scraps which are such hot sellers and some of the papers from our 2 CD’s, so please spread the word!

The SALE on Clear Art Stamps starts this Friday in our Shopatron Store while supplies last. Maybe a company will want to license some Clear Art Stamp Sets, but for now the sale will run until the stock sells out.

Large Clear Art Stamps originally $24.99 on sale for $19.99
Medium sets reg $14.99 on sale for $12.99
Small Clear Art Stamp Sets reg $7.50 on sale for $5.99 starting Friday!

We have a large amount of stock in some stamp sets, less in others. Wholesale will be half of the sale price to stores.

I will post the SALE prices on our printed items here on the Blog this Wed, Nov 23. My goal is to transform the business before Spring so we only have CD’s or licensed products and we can move to a smaller house - but I have 1000’s of some of our printed items.

WHY DO DIGI STAMPS? Imagine if you were to open a stamped image in a digital file and make it different sizes, be able to print it with perfect clarity on any medium, plus have an array of inspiring samples to browse through with links to the designer, read tips and tutorials, etc. With new digital stamp designs we won’t be limited to size any longer, so we can have jumbo size images, include inside verses for cards and background stamps, or have an image pre-stamped in 3 different colors to choose from and even include printable color papers in themes to suit the stamps!

Okay, now onto CD 2, Creating with Vintage Illustrations! I’m super excited about this CD and with over 200 files it’s a super deal for $15.99 but if you can’t wait until this Friday and want to pre-order it NOW, we will include a free Image & Journal Notes Booklet (just state what title in the message box in our Shopatron Store or we will send a Christmas Booklet). We should have the first 100 in stock this Friday, 1000 more to follow. Ask your fave store to order it in for you. Here is the cover!

Here is the inside cover and the CD included is attached in a clear plastic sealed sleeve inside. Try clicking it on and hopefully it gets larger. Some of the info has been updated on the inside as there are 117 jpgs, 95 png files and 14 templates.

This week during our CD 2 Promo our DT ladies are posting an array of super cool samples! We only have 5 Templates on CD #1 but we have 14 on CD 2 including a folding purse Cindy designed and a high heel shoe by designer Terri Heinz!

Look at this beautiful image DT member Linda Duke colored off the B&W image from the CD and she has a video Tutorial showing how she did it on her blog! Linda made a mistake and has everyone listed today I searched for this sheet music cover for ages and finally bought it but it was so damaged I had Cindy, our graphic designer, add a frame. I think it would be fabulous colored and printed on canvas or iron on fabric for a pillow (just remember to reverse the image so the printing isn’t backwards).

DT leader Vicki Chrisman is learning how to do digital layouts and I think he did an amazing job on this sweet one. Check out her story and see her cool rooster canisters she Mod Podged with images from the CD. Plus see Vicki’s the rooster card and also DT Member Michele Kovack’s great rooster card both created from our Farm Chicks Creative Scraps

I adore this Thanksgiving card that DT Member Debbie Marcinkiewicz posted and it’s too bad the CD wasn’t ready in time but this image would also make a neat wall kitchen plaque. NOTE: the label across the front was added to the image. Also see Debbie’s celebrate card she created using CD # 2.

DT Member Julie Campbell created this wonderful layout for her family scrapbook using one of the vintage frames that will be on CD 2, Creating with Vintage Illustrations. You can see the details and read the inspiring story here on Julie’s blog and see the other lovely layout Julie made HERE and you have to check out her post on her visit to Carmel! I adore Carmel CA and loved all her photos and story!

Our graphic designer Cindy van Koll did an amazing job on all the files on CD 2 but I love this Family Tree she rebuilt from a tree in an antique story book and the separate PNG frames you can add to create your own family tree. She was sweet and made me this layout of our family.
I need to learn digital instead of bossing her around with “add this, make this smaller, move this”. I just ordered the new Photoshop Elements 10 from Costco on SALE for $49.99 with the rebate coupon valid until Nov 27/11. What a deal!

DT Member Gini Cagle created this pretty invitation using an image from CD 2 and added part of a Dolly Tea Invitation and border also included.

I will be posting sample sheets this Wed showing the files included on the CD. It’s been so long since I’ve done a post I have some catching up to do and will be posting other samples with and without using the CD this Wed and Friday.

I wanted to tell you about this weeks challenge over at Splitcoast that Joanne North is hosting to use a ‘pin’ in a project, any pin, real or stamped and straight pin, an embellished trinket pin, a tiny diaper-style pin, even a stamped pin if you have our Sew Special or the Card Sentiments Clear Art Stamp Sets.
Look at the beautiful Christmas Card Joanne made and you can see the gallery HERE and join in and add any sample you may have created or are inspired to using any of our products. Just be sure to add the # CSSC198 to link to the gallery.

Lastly, if you want to make a special Thanksgiving card and you own our Seasonal Booklet it includes this image that DT Member Tammy Roberts used to HERE make this lovely card with our Thanksgiving Stamp set which is already on SALE HERE. Also, look at this pretty birdy card Tammy created!

I will be back Wednesday with more samples will post preview sheets of CD

BIG SALE STARTS THIS FRIDAY. CD 2 Creating With Vintage Illustrations arrives this Friday as well but if you pre-order it we will include a free Image Booklet with every CD 2 order until midnight Friday.

PLEASE TELL ME – What do you think about my decision? Difficult but it feels right to me.

PS - sorry for the delay! this took forever as I had an Internal Server Error bX-7sd12g with message: "Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Had to install Google Chrome and Blog This, which took a zillion trys and until it finally let me in and re-paste the post.

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

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250 H. Street, #436
Blaine,WA 98230

Vintage Christmas Crafts, Cards, Tutorial, Challenge & Links to Printables!

2011-11-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We are off to set up at the Puyallup Antique Show (1000 booths) so I’m tardy with my post as I’ve been sorting mountains of old postcards, books, magazines and other ephemera to sell. Next week we are at the CK Scrapbook Show in WA.

You may have seen the cool Wood Spoon Albums that DT Member Michele Kovack designed with her Halloween and Christmas spoon albums but now we have a tutorial you can print out to follow as well. Just click it on big and save it. Plus see the awesome rooster card Michele just posted!

If you are getting in the mood to start some Christmas projects, DT Member Jan Hennings is hosting a ‘Anything Christmas Challenge at Splitcoast and it never closes so you can post Christmas projects there anytime, you just need to add the code CSSC196 to add to the gallery. Check out this very cute Kleenex Box Darlene Pavlick did for it with our Vintage Christmas Stamps. Darlene found a tutorial HERE.

DT Leader Vicki Chrisman used our Born To Fly Stamp Set to create Christmas Fairies for an ad and look at how cute they turned out! Papers are all from our CD #1

The birdie ornaments Vicki made with the discontinued Tattered Angels embossed frames we sell were so popular I wanted to show you the Christmas ones she did last year in case you missed them. She used images from the Christmas Scraps

Look at these adorable chipboard Christmas stockings Cindy Bears from Australia sent me photos of using our Christmas Creative Scraps.

This is a card DT Member Julie Campbell created last year with our Christmas Booklet. When I saw it again I wanted to show you how sweet it was. Also, look at this beautiful little layout Julie just posted also!

I have one more pretty Christmas card to share from last year by DT Member Linda Duke but I have so many Christmas samples I will be showing this month! Linda used our Seasons Greetings Stamps with a Spellbinders die. I just love the winter muff fluff she added!

You can also see Christmas samples HERE in our Online Gallery. It’s stopped working for some of our DT ladies but still has some adorable projects.

Here are the link to our 2010 Christmas Printable Santa and it was also a DT Calendar Challenge and a bunch of other inspiring samples.

NOTE: We just put our Calendar Scraps on SALE Half Price as the calendar won’t work for 2012 but the images on the opposite side are wonderful and we have our Free 2012 Printable Calendar you can always use.

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

CD #2 Samples, 3 Winners, Sew Special Ideas & Christmas Fun Tomorrow!

2011-11-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

If you recieved our monthly newsletter rhis morning you saw my plan was to do a Christmas post fist and tell you I would announce 3 winners at 6 pm. I hope you haven’t been here checking – I’m always a little behind but the Christmas Fun is coming tomorrow! I had to come back here and add a bunch of links to the sewing projects. Here are the 3 winners and some sample peeks from CD 2. Then I have some fabulous Sewing theme projects to show you!

I got caught up today in making test samples from all the cool Templates we will have on CD #2, so I just asked my husband Scott to quickly pick 3 names from all the entries and here is his winner’s list:

Congratulations Ladies! I wish everyone could win but – there are more giveaways coming!

Carmen L cal8007

Carole Miller

Arty Marti

This CD will be for personal use only but the designs can be licenced. In fact I hope a paper company will want to license papers from our first CD # 1 and this CD and print them!

Our graphic designer, Cindy van Koll did an amazing job again on all the pages! There will be a fantastic array of themes and creative possibilities for printing on a variety of mediums! You will be able to create albums, cards, pillows, wall art, and so much more with ideas on the CD and Blog. Here are a few of the templates.

This one makes a cute basket but today I had Cindy added a funky handle to it. There will also be a plain white template you can print on the pattern papers.

There will be boy & girl Dolly Dingle dolls you can print on fabric and stuff to make them into pillow dolls 10” tall, cute jumbo cards, or shrink smaller.

A box template that folds into a house.
There is also a great background page with this house on it

Family tree pages. Most of the pages are 12 x 12" (like CD #1)
but can be sized to print on regular 8 x 11" paper

Several pretty floral papers. I had to reduce these samples as we've had problems with 'internet image theft'. Be assured every file on the CD will be 300 dpi resolution.

This stitched rose paper is one of my favorites! DT Leader Vicki Chrisman stitched
and aged the paper and Cindy added the script and roses

Some fun B&W Illustrations and frames

Here is one of the sewing papers

Okay, now I have some fabulous sewing theme projects to share with you!

Look at this very pretty card Beate Johns from Spitcoast designed using our

Sew Special Stamp Set and Beate did a great step by step video tutorial on how she created it as a 'Tunnel Card" as you can see on the inside photo posted below

Here is the link to watch Beate's video

She is a fantastic step by step teacher!

I've wanted to do an sewing blog post since seeing this fabulous idea that Sarah from Vintage Figments created in 2 mini domino albums she designed and she used Cream Shrinky Dink Plastic to stamp on. She is so sweet she gave me this cute album and everyone who has seen it has been amazed at how detailed the stamped images stayed after they shrunk down! ** If you know any, I've been looking for a good supplier of 'cream sheets of Shrinky Dink Plastic! She said she just used her heat gun to shrink all the stamped images tiny and my head keeps seeing buttons, flowers, birdies....sigh.

She used a combo from our Sew Special Stamp set and Material Girl Stamps, with images from our Sew Nice Creative Scraps on the inside. Also, check out the adorable Recipe Domino Album Sarah designed using our Little Chef Stamps and What's Cooking Stickers and her Recipe Binder Book she made using our CD #1, Creating With Vintage Patterns after helping DT Member Vicki teach the class in TX at the Great American Scrapbook Show last June.

I also wanted to show you this beautiful keepsake box that
Lana Edwards decorated with our Sew Nice Creative Scraps.

There use to be a clock inside it but Lana couldn't get it to work so she turned it into a little memento box for sewing ephemera. See the details HERE on Lana's Blog and the box friend Darlene Pavlick also created. Tomorrow have a another Christmas project by Darlene!

I will be back tomorrow with a Christmas Post!

Also, if you are in the area, please come see us at the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Show , Nov 11 & 12 in Bellevue, WA. PS - We will have CD # 2!

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

CD # 2 Giveaway, Facebook Winners, Great SC Tutorial by Beate, New Samples and a SALE!

2011-10-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay with this post (technical headaches). The good news is we’ve almost finished CD #2 and I’m so excited about how fantastic it turned out I’m celebrating and giving a draft to each of the 5 ladies who submitted envelope gift bags on our Facebook page – plus 3 more random.org winners will be picked this Wed from the comments left on this post! We are also having a great SALE on some discontinued Clear Art Stamp Sets! See details below

It was so hard picking a winner but we felt Sylvia Cink Hildman’s Halloween Treat bag (below) was so cute and we loved all the photos & details she posted on her blog. You can see the other cool submissions here on our Facebook page.

Rita Barakat - Altered Fairy and Birds & Blossoms Scraps
Cynthia Olheiser - Girlfriend Creative Scraps
Michelle Hodges - Birds & Blossoms Creative Scraps
Michele Sanders Ciola - Halloween Creative Scraps

Look at this adorable card that Beate Johns created using a technique called a ‘Suspension Card’ with our Winter Wishes Clear Art Stamp Set. You can see a step by step by step previous tutorial on Splitcoast she did using this same technique.

I love the colors Beate used and the sentiment she stamped from our Winter Wishes Stamp Set. She makes fantastic tutorials and videos!

Elizabeth (I love Rubber on Splitcoast) has also been creating some fabulous cards with our new Winter Wishes set like this pretty snowflake card. Look how she added Glossy Accents to the snowflake, sentiment and the snowball. I love how she designed it so you can untie the snowflake and use it as an ornament.

Here is another card Elizabeth created using the same Winter Wishes stamps and she added small black rhinestones for lumps of coal large flakes of glitter snow. She doesn’t have a blog but you can visit ‘I love rubber’ Splitcoast Gallery and check out some of her unique card creations.

I like the way DT Member Heidi Blankenship created her own paper by printing roses on our CD #1 layered over the sheet music. Then see the sentiment charms she made using our Mini Frames stamp set with sentiments from Grand Greetings.

Okay, here is the low down on our SALE! We are discontinuing 9 of our Clear Art Stamp Sets to make space. There are 3 large, 3 medium and 3 small sets. This is the first time have discontinued any stamp sets but with over 200 sets and all the other products we need more space. We will also discount the wholesale price for stores, so you can let your favorite retailer know.

The 3 large sets are $14.99 each, saving $10.00 and include Thanksgiving . This is an amazingly detailed set but we’ve had 3 sets in the last 2 months with an issue with the large top left stamp so I’m going to discontinue it. Please know if you ever have a problem with any set not stamping great – please contact us and we will replace it! Great quality is one of our trademarks!

I love the elegant style of this Cupcake Party Set but it bugs me that you have to stamp the cupcake wrapper twice to create a full cupcake wrapper. It’s on sale for $14.99 and it’s a large 6 x 8” set.

This is an older set and it’s never been a big seller. I think maybe people prefer to have ready to stamp frames but this is a versatile set and Frame It is on sale for $14.99

Rosy Wishes has never been a big seller yet it has some really pretty stamps. It’s on sale for $7.50.

There are several alphabet stamps sets in the industry and Adore Alphabet has never been a big seller but it’s a deal for $7.50 while supplies last.

Party Queen is a older medium size set and it’s cute and fun but I would like to have a more funky party queen set, so it is on sale for $7.50

Twinkle Stars hasn’t been a big seller so it’s on sale for $4.50 while supplies last

I love this design on Floral Vines but we had to reduce the artwork to fit on a small set making it harder to color. It’s on sale for $4.50

I love this little bashful pig but a few people said she or he looks like a weird naked pig – so Wonderful Pig is on sale for $4.50. If we gave her a little ruffle skirt would you like her more?

Lastly, I bought too many of these cute Apple and Pear Mini Notepads (like over 700) so I'm are putting them ON SALE for $1.50 – PLUS we will include a free Apple with every order we send out for the next month (unless you specify Pear on the memo section in our Shopatron Store). If you want to buy a 20 or more I can sell them for $1.00 each.

They each come with a paper clip (mixed clip colors) and a little mesh fruit bag and I think they look like a little piece of art on my telephone desk.

They look cute displayed in this little fruit box but come packed flat in a bag for easier shipping. Some of the wood stems may break off but you can easily fix it with a drop of glue.

Don’t forget to leave a comment here on this post to be entered to win a draft copy of our new CD #2, Creating With Vintage Illustrations. They just won’t have the fancy label or sample ideas. We will have the fancy packaged ‘real’ CD’s in about 2 weeks. I will show more sample pages in my next post as I ran out of room here.

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