Monday, July 1, 2013

Giveaway, July Linky Party, 2 New DT Members & DT Challenge!

Welcome to our week long July Linky Party and Design Team Challenge and I'm happy to announce 2 New Design Team Members - Kathy Clement and Elizabeth Lincoln! Come see all the great projects our DT ladies have created and we would LOVE for YOU to join in and add any sample you have created (see linky spot at the end).

Also be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win our Great Giveaway for our new Garden Style Digital Stamps and 10 of our Printables or Papers! Winner announced next Mon, July 8/13. Also Kathy and Elizabeth both have Giveaways. Happy Canada Day to all our Canadians!

Vicki Chrisman Design Team Leader

Melissa Bove

Kathy Clement Kathy has a Giveaway!

Elizabeth Lincoln Elizabeth has a Giveaway!

For our Giveaway, besides getting to pick 10 of our Printable Papers or Images
the winner will also recieve our new Garden Style Digital Art Stamp Set Set. It has cute art deco garden ladies and fun sayings but what makes it really special is the jumbo re-sizeable pieces like the 7"W dragonfly, the 6" aprons, 5"H umbrella, the 5.8"H boots or 4.7"H garden gloves! They are large enough to make into cards or cute gift tags. Watch for some fun samples coming soon from our Design Team Ladies.

I wanted to tell you a little bit about our talented 2 New Design Team Members. Both Kathy and Elizabeth have been long time fans of Crafty Secrets and we are excited to have them join the team.

Here are a few samples from Kathy Clement's Blog I wanted to show you. She goes all out and often decorates matching envelopes for her cards and includes great tutorials. You can get all the details on this cute card on Kathy's Blog and her envelope tutorial.

You can get the details here on this sweet birdy card

Here's a fun sewing collage card and envelope by Kathy

Elizabeth Lincoln is a member at Splitcoast and has a gallery she posts in there and is planning to have a blog in the Fall. She says she loves our stamp designs so much she's bought a printer and is determined to learn how to use digital stamps so she can play with some of our new designs. The detail and imaginative style she adds to her cards makes them really special.
You can get the details on this pretty card Elizabeth created with our Sing For Joy set

I love how Elizabeth added the big daisy and the background she made for the cricket from our Bug's Life Stamp Set and roadster from the Car Classics set (now digital).

Elizabeth card used a Bird from our Bird Notes set which is digital now and the pink paper is from the Pastel Pad and now a Printable Paper.

Below you can see how re-sizing our digital images and papers is handy when you want to create different projects. Did you see the 2 Digital Tutorials I did last week using Paint? One is on decoupage and the other is changing colors and adding text.

Okay, now it's your turn to add any sample you have created using a Crafty Secrets products. Everyone who enters receives a $6.00 gift card for our www.craftyvintagegirl.com online store and 1 random.org winners gets a $50.00 gift card.

Don't forget to leave a comment here to be entered to win our new Garden Style Stamps and 10 Digital Papers or Printables.

Sandy

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Friday, June 28, 2013

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

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

See New Birthday and Fairy Printables, Pretty Garden Cards and Links to July 4 Freebies.

Hi Everyone,

I have a bunch of fabulous things to show you today! New Fairy Bridge Cards which are our Free Printable Gift with online orders and see our wacky Birthday Card/Invite/Tag Printable perfect for girl friends! Plus, links to past Patriotic Vintage Freebie Image and Sheet Music if you want to make decorations. * A Great Giveaway will start Mon, July 1 st for ten of our new Printables and a NEW and my Fave Stamp Set reveal!

Our July Linky Party and DT Challenge is the first Monday each month which means it falls on July 1 st this year and runs all week. We will have 2 NEW Design Team Members - so you have to come check it out and you can also add any sample you have created and win stuff.

I bought this vintage Fairy Bridge tally set years ago because I adore the cute art deco style fairies and colors. I couldn't decided if we should offer them cleaned out but the lettering style is lovely and... maybe you play bridge? I decided to leave them as a single $1.95 Printable Sheet and I will show you tomorrow how easy it is to also remove all the lettering. We have so many beginners I will use 'Paint' a free image editing program installed on many PC computers. Gimp is popular for Mac users.

Paint.net has more features than Paint, so I would say to download Paint.net from Google if you have neither. Photoshop Elements is amazing , I swear the clone and healing tool have a brain and know what I want to fix and magically repairs it.

Next, I want to show you our New Birthday Dreams Printable set with 2 Digital Download Pages designed so you can create a fun card or change it to a Party Invitation and create a gift card.

Here is Page 2 which has the other greetings for creating a Gift Tag and Party Invitation

Here's a sample I made quickly to show how you can easily layer repeated images using pop dots or foam adhesive. I like the colors and sassy fun style.

My watercolor attempt below was my motivation to order some Inktense Watercolor Pencils after I saw the stunning garden theme cards DT Member Michele Kovack has created lately! Michele is very talented at coloring but samples I've seen by various people make me think these will work better for me than Distress Markers (which I'm disappointed with).

Here is Michele's Carrot Card created with our Vegetable Garden Digital Set and you can see details on her blog

Here is her 3D Lettuce Card. Look at the cool green color! Details on Michele's Blog

This sunflower is from our Flower Garden Digital Stamp Set and the Paper is from our Garden Papers. Details here on Michele's Blog.

Here is a great idea from DT Member Rebekah Fairies to using the green veggie theme to create a 'Money Pocket' to pass on some green in $$ bills!

Lastly, a very sweet card by DT Memember Sheila Rumney showing off our Sweet Stuff Digital Stamp Set. I really like how she used the piece of lace and old envelope

I almost forgot, I did some decoupage plates and light switch covers using CD 2. I will show details tomorrow with the little tutorial

See you tomorrow
Sandy

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

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This Blog: http://heartwarmingvintage.blogspot.com
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Toll Free Phone or Fax 1-888 597-8898
Local Phone 604 597-8817

Crafty Secrets Head Office
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Blaine,WA 9823

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

More 99 Cent Printable Paper Sets and Pretty Cricut Flower Cards!

Hi Everyone,

I have more Printable 99 cent Double Paper Sets to share today plus some pretty cards by Cindy, our graphic designer. On the weekend she received a Cricut machine from a friend who was gifted a new model and she tested some of our new printable papers.

Also, if you missed yesterdays link, we are sponsoring Word Art Wednesday this week and you can post samples and possibly win the $40.00 gift certificate! Just click on the link to see what the DT ladies have created and get the details

First, we have some embossed papers. This one is 208 Embossed Pink and Yellow
I'm always a little amazed at how 3D and cool embossed printable papers can look and we use no name compatible inexpensive ink!

The set below is 209 Embossed Yellow and Green Floral. Yellow is a hard color to nail down. You don't want it to be too limey or bright. We went with a sunshine shade but you can alter the hue to match your project digitally. See how I did below.
I would LOVE to know what programs you have and use on your computer? Not everyone has Photoshop Elements but there are free editing programs and some are often pre- installed on computers. Here's an article I did with links.

This set is 209 Embossed Yellow and Green

This set is called 210 Embossed Gold. The page on the right side is from an antique wallpaper book I bought from England. Each page is embossed with a thick paste. The book is so old I wondered if English ladies ordered it for their castle walls or fancy homes?

The next 2 paisley designs are among the first papers we ever did. Both were adapted from antique fabric and I flew DT leader Vicki Chrisman (ok, this was so long ago Vicki was our entire Design Team) up here to Canada to help us with the paper. First, 211 Brown Paisley

Vicki hardly knew Cindy (I still can't believe she flew here from Nebraska) but we had talked by email and phone a bunch and were so excited. Vicki got all teary eyed when she saw the how this set came together and we joked that this first paper was the 'crying paisley'. 212 Earthy Paisley and Stripe

Vicki flew home a week later and made this layout by printing the papers as we still didn't have the actual Paper Pads in stock. It was the only thing I ever had made in China and the paper was so thick they were heavy. I didn't want to ship 12" pads so we designed the Pads Pads in double pages 6" x 12". 3,500 x 4 styles = 14,000 Pads to sell. We are almost sold out but I like the versatility and free shipping of digital better!

Here's a page from the Seasonal Album I showed yesterday that Sherri Sieman's created a few years ago using the Earthy Paisley Paper and our Sweet Kids Stamp Set

This 213 Classic Damask and Stripe is a timeless set that works for greeting cards, wedding layouts and pretty, feminine projects.

Here is 214 Classic Pink Damask and Scene. The pink paper is from our old Classic Paper Pad and the other lined page is new.

What's coming next week? Some fun chenille printable papers like this set below and more surprises!

Here's a zoomed in piece of the paper you can click on to see the stitching and fabric detail. I actually bought a bunch of old chenille, lace, wallpaper and fabric, scanned it and Cindy transformed it into papers that we printed and my dear friend Debi came over and sewed pieces of paper together to created the quilted patterns. There are more coming next week that were in our Pastel Paper Pad.

I adore this sweet layout DT leader Vicki Chrisman created using some of the quilted chenille paper.

I photographed Cindy's pretty flower cards on my sundeck and thought they looked at home among my flower pots.

Here's a close up showing the vase, butterfly and sentiment from our Garden Flower Digital Stamp Set. The purple and green paper are from Printable Garden Papers. You can see the Cricut flower design she used farther below and each card looks so different using various papers.

This is a 3 step tiered card but it's a little hard to see the folds

Here's another shot where you can see the folded steps a bit better. The photo from the side keeps loading sideways on the blog even after I shrunk it super small. Papers are from our Garden Printable Paper Set. Sentiment from Garden Flower Digital Stamps.

Here's the last card. I forgot to ask Cin how the centers were cut from some of the petals but I assume it was done with the Cricket. These would all make great birthday, anniversary or feel better cards.

This shot shows how you can really use almost every part of your paper and how many flowers you can cut. The paper used was one of our new 99 cent sets 203 Rose Swirls Printable Double Paper Set.

I will be back next week with a Giveaway and more paper, plus I'm planning on getting crafty and making something to share.

Till next time, wishing you joy & creativity
Sandy

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