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

What I'm Bringing to Sell at the Portland Antique Show and Decoupage Flower Plate

Hi Everyone,

Gee, what was I thinking when I said I would be back with photos yesterday with so many things going on!?  I'm back with a bunch of photos of items we are taking to the Portland Antique Expo Show but first I want to show you the new decoupage plate I made. I used 1 of the 4 images from our Floral Art Prints but I wanted it larger, so I just changed the dpi to 200 and it made it almost twice as large.

 You can see my last Decoupage Tutorial where I did a couple of plates and wall switch frames. Look for flat plates rather than curved deep plates.

 I didn't take photos of all the paper stuff in books, postcards, prints etc - but trust me there is tons and in every price range from old rare to must go cheap! I will take a bunch of photos at the show.
 Okay, can anyone think up a cool idea for these black wooden stamp handles?  I bought a bunch and 2 years later still have them - so I'm selling them but I'm not sure what to charge??

Wood cabinet plus I have a full box of old bottles.

I bought these in Paris and found out they were used to hook your shopping bags on and you hold the round tube handle.

Here is my Mikasa dishes in the Precious Pattern.  I saw the tea cups and saucer on replacements.com for $24.95 each.  This is a 6 pc set with platter, bowl, cream, sugar, salt and pepper shakers. Not sure how much to ask but can start at $495.00 and lower price on Sunday if I still have them.

I bought a huge Dolly Dingle Collection from an estate sale and have about 90 of these jumbo sized Paper Dolls. Now that we have them scanned at high resolution I can sell the originals which should go for between $8.00 to $25.00 for the really old ones.

The lady was such a fan she belonged to the Dolly Dingle Fan Club and this was included with the paper dolls. I checked prices and saw between $10 to $45 range but will sell these for $9.95 in hopes it all sells and I don't bring anything home.

Some calling cards from a salesman's book. I'ts a beautiful little book and can you imagine sitting in your parlor picking out your calling cards to give out to prospective beaus?

I would love to hear your thoughts on my printable calendar idea? I'm going to try and sell the original for $125.00 as I think I paid that much with shipping.

One of many rolls of wallpaper.  I can't sell my really fabulous wallpaper books 

from the 1800's yet as we haven't been able to get good scans of the pages.

I have a bunch of vintage fabric pieces like this old chenille

I bought these pieces from France and hope there will be people at the show that will pay $25.00 for a piece of antique fabric.

More chenille.  I'm tempted to keep but no where to use it.

 You can see more letterpress photos here and get our 2014 Free Printable Annual Calendars. I know - I got carried away collecting these cool old alphabet printing blocks.  It's hard to believe these are what they had to use to print text with!

I'm getting rid of a bunch of stuff but the books are the hardest,  There are so many I just can't part with, like the poems and children's books. Some have so many pictures it would take forever to scan them all so I have a zillion little post it notes. My dream is to have a wonderful library with cozy chairs so I can drink tea and read old books like these lovely rooms!

 I hope to see some of you at the show but I know know many people live too far away so I will take a bunch of photos and do a link on my Pintrest Flea Market and Show Board  where I linked to my Paris and Boston Flea Market adventures. 

Hugs

Sandy

See Our  CraftyVintageGirl.com Store
 Our Online Shopatron Store  (sorry No digital downloads)

Visit us on Facebook with over 5700 Fans!  
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

Decoupage Vintage Birds Tutorial and How to Edit Images

Hi Everyone,

I'm back today with 2 tutorials and I said I would use Paint, a free image editing program that's pre-installed on many windows based PC computers. It offers a great way for beginners to learn how to crop, re-size and change printable papers, images, digital stamps and photos.  If you don't have the Paint program you can download the upgraded version Paint.net for free.  I came back and added a quick cheater way for #2 at the end.

  Tutorial #1
First I will show you how I used Paint to print papers from our CD 2, Creating With Vintage Illustrations to decoupage on 2 plastic plates and light switch covers.

I went to my CD 2 Folder and opened the Papers and clicked on one of the papers I wanted to use and opened it with the Paint Program. 

Instead of repeating myself, please scroll down to read my mini tutorial near the end of this post on how I used the Paint Program to crop, copy and paste to re-color parts of our printable Fairy Bridge Cards download.

 Flat surfaces work best unless you working with a super thin material like tissue. These plastic plates are perfect as they don't have hardly any curve. Look around your house for boring or ugly flat surfaces to decoupage. Dresser tops or drawers, stools, small tables, trays, wood boxes and more.  Dollar stores, flea markets and thrift stores are filled with inexpensive possibilities!

I printed all my papers and images on inexpensive 20 lb (75 gm) copy paper and I use generic compatible ink from www.InkFarm.com  or www.InkGrabber.com  Just give them your printer model and you can save a bundle on ink. Be sure to use compatible ink made for your printer model.  

I didn't think the middle pattern paper looked that great when I tested them together on the wall, so I printed a floral paper (from CD 2).

If you have a inkjet printer you need to set the ink so it doesn't run when you get it wet.  When coloring digital stamps I've printed I often just use my hair dryer to heat set or leave the image for a day before coloring it. But with decoupage I know I'm going to get the paper really wet, so then I go in my garage and give any printed paper 2 sprays with Krylon Matt Sealer first.

Here's my first plate, which I ended up gluing 2 plates together and did the light switch covers but I'm not sure if they are too much??? Please tell me what you think.  We have so many outlets on our telephone desk I thought this might look good but are they too 1980's?

Tricks I learned - Lay your plates and switch covers down on the back of your printed paper. Use a pencil to trace the inside hole and around the outside of the light covers. Cut your paper larger, outside the line so you can fold it over the edge. You can trace on some scrap paper to test how much extra paper you need. My light covers were more curved and needed at least 1/4". 

Use a blade to cut the center traced area out out of the light switch covers.  I snipped a bit off the corner tips so they folded over better.  Decoupage one piece at a time. I used a foam brush to spread the gel medium all over each surface and painted it on the back of the paper I wanted to attach. Use your fingers and a damp sponge to press out any air bubbles. Don't rub too hard.

Here's a close up after of plate #1 and the switch covers.

Here's our telephone desk from farther back. I was trying to match the colors on the glass cupboard

My second plate I did.

You can tell I'm in love with this paper Cindy made for CD 2 with the nest, birdies and eggs.  Here's a link to when I used it before 3 different ways and in 3 different sizes printed on canvas, on paper for a card and small for a 1" pendant. I cropped the little bird again from the top corner of the paper and pasted him closer to the nest for the card. Then I cut him out of the canvas, attached him with a bit of glue and gave him a twig perch.

TUTORIAL # 2
This is a quick little tutorial showing how you can use the Paint Program to color over the text on our Fairy Bridge Tally Cards, a new Printable for $1.99 - but they are also our Free Gift this month when you place an order in our online www.craftyvintagegirl.com  
Store. This method shows how you can color over certain areas.  Scroll to the end to read the FAST CHEATERS METHOD.

Don't worry - they don't have the red printing, I just used this sample. First, open the file with the Paint Program.  Then go to VIEW and click on the ZOOM icon to see everything closer.

Then click on SELECT and use the EYE DROPPER to pick a color. I used the background beige color. Then click on a brush and pick a size. I used the Marker brush with the largest size to color over the printed bridge tally lettering on the first card.

Then click SELECT  again and COPY and PASTE the colored box over the other cards.

Then you can keep pasting the same colored box you have copied.  If you make a mistake just click on the first BLUE ARROW on the top to go back.

See it's easy!  Just be sure to SAVE your file with a new name (so you still have the original if you want to use them with the text).   Note: Paint usually saves as PNG but you can click on the little drop down menu to save as a JPG file.  

To type and journal on your new blank cards you can click on SELECT again and click on the TEXT 'A' Box and use your mouse to make a text box where you want to start typing to journal on your cards.

FAST CHEATER METHOD:  I came back and added these You can simply crop a white box or copy a cropped piece of paper using Paint and COPY it,  then open this file with Paint again and PASTE it over the area you want to cover. See samples below I cropped and also made a box using the SHAPE Tool.  I just don't know how to color inside the box except for the method I showed farther above using a brush. I bet there is a way with the Paint Bucket Tool. If anyone knows, please leave a comment and explain - thanks!

Please leave a comment and tell me if this tutorial was helpful or any questions you may have?

Thanks and don't forget to come back this Monday for our week long Linky Party and Design Team Challenge with 2 NEW Members and a NEW FABULOUS GIVEAWAY! 

Sandy

See Our  CraftyVintageGirl.com Store
 Our Online Shopatron Store  (sorry No digital downloads)

Visit us on Facebook with over 5700 Fans!  
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 9823

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Wishing you joy & creativity

 Sandy Redburn
Crafty Secrets

Check Our Store Locator
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