It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas:

 Last Minute Inspiration from our Design Team!

Hello, Friends!

Can you believe we are just 15 days away from Christmas?  I bet your homes are all looking cozy and festive in preparation for the Big Day!  If you're still trying to get Christmas tags, cards, or presents ready at the last minute, our fabulous design team has some great inspiration to share with you here today!  

Michele has used the tiny dots paper from Retro Christmas Digital Paper Kit to make this elegant Pink Poinsettia Card.  She layered the dots paper with a panel from our Merry Christmas Vintage Scraps and I love the soft effect this created. 

 

When you're short on time, these Vintage Scraps are a fabulous resource for cards, gift tags or Christmas tree ornaments.  The double-sided Merry Christmas Creative Scraps can be best described as wonderful vintage to adorable retro. This is a colorful collection of Christmas themed images and sentiments. The sheet includes 22 great images printed on a medium weight cardstock. We still have some of these available in the online store, and best of all they are on sale!  

 

So many of us give and receive gift cards or cash gifts during the holiday season, and it's always nice to have a way to "dress up" the gift.  Ginny has a great idea for making a pocket card that is stuffed with adorable tags.  The images are from our Creating with Retro Christmas CD, and the pretty blue and white papers are from our Creating with Vintage Patterns CD.  I love the way the pops of red in the clothespins, flowers and burlap string pick up on the cutie pie image!  This little project really is "snow much fun!"

 

Sandy has reduced the price on the Retro Christmas CD, as well as on the Vintage Christmas CD.  She has also created a super bundle deal where you can get both the Retro and Vintage CD's at a special low price.   These are such great resources to add to your crafty stash as they contain dozens of beautiful digital papers, templates, card sentiments, printable images, ephemera and more!  You simply choose the paper or image you want to use and you can print it out on your home printer, sizing items just the way you like.  Or, you can use them to create digital layouts, Christmas letters, e-cards and more!  Even though the price in this photo says $26.75, the actual sale price for both CD's is only $22!  

 

 Both CD's have great Christmas tags and Post Cards that allow you to make an almost "instant" card.  Michele  used some of the tags from Creating with Vintage Christmas to make this super sweet vintage Christmas card.  I love the rusty jingle bells tied onto that gingham bow!

I think interactive cards are soooo much fun, and I just love this great Pop Up Box card that Shantaie made using beautiful papers from the Creating with Vintage Christmas CD.  This would be so pretty displayed on a Christmas mantel or side table.  The snowflake stamps are from our Vintage Christmas Digital Stamp set and Shantaie cut them out with her Silhouette machine.   This is such a stunning project, and I hope you'll pop over to Shantaie's BLOG to see how she put it all together. 

 

 

If you haven't seen our Vintage Christmas Digital Art Stamps yet, you will want to check those out in the store.  They are gorgeous!  This has been one of our most popular clear acrylic stamp sets for years, but now that we've introduced them in Digital format, we think you are going to love them even more!  The images are now considerably larger than in the original set, giving you lots of options for larger sized cards, layouts and mixed media projects.  And, you can have them in your hot little hands as soon as you order them, as they come via a digital download. No waiting!  You can order them now and get your craft on today!  How great is that?  There are 18 images and sentiments in this beautiful vintage set.

 

Shantaie also created this pretty Vintage Santa tag using a lovely Santa image found in our Seasonal Image and Journal Notes booklet.   I love the way she used a gold foil doily to frame our jolly Santa image, and that white poinsettia is the perfect accent piece!  This festive tag would look great hanging on your tree, and would make even the smallest gift really special!

 

You can find our Seasonal Image and Journal Notes Booklet ON SALE HERE along with the rest of our Heartwarming Vintage Booklets.  These are such gems, and contain beautiful vintage images, journal notes, and sentiments.  They would make fantastic stocking stuffers at their clearance price of just $2.95 each!  Or get a bundle pack containing 9 Booklets for just $19.99!  

 We get so busy making everything ready for the holidays that we often forget to take a moment just for ourselves.  Sheila reminds us of how important it is to refresh our own spirits by creating beautiful moments in this soft, feminine digital layout.  She used digital papers from our Creating with Vintage Christmas CD along with her own beautiful photography.  Wouldn't this stunning project make a great screen saver on your computer?

I love to hang handmade Christmas ornaments on the tree, and these cheery tags Ginny made with our Retro Christmas CD would be fabulous tree ornaments!  She used the tag images from the CD along with pretty papers and the result is very merry, indeed!  You can find all the details on her lovely BLOG. 

 

Sometimes, a card is so special it is a gift all on its own, and this shimmery, sparkly card Ginny made combines papers and images from both our Retro Christmas and Vintage Christmas CD's.  I love the fresh color palette and pops of glitter, don't you?  You can read all about how she made it HERE on Ginny's Blog. 

 

Wow!  What amazing projects from the team!  It makes me want to break out my Crafty Secrets supplies and get my craft on!  Since we have our house on the market, it's been challenging to create, but I have some goodies that I'll be sharing here soon.  

In the meantime, I'd love to invite you to play along in our December Linky Challenge and Blog Hop. We have a beautiful digital paper and image for you to use in your creation, or just use any Crafty Secrets goodies that you have in your stash.  Create a card and link it up on the Crafty Secrets BLOG by midnight PT this Sunday, December 20th, and you could be the lucky random winner of a $25 Digital Shopping Spree in the Crafty Secrets online store.  You can find all the information HERE.  

I'll be back next week to announce the winner...and to share more inspiration from the team!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you were inspired, found some great last minute Christmas ideas and some great gift giving ideas, too.  If so, I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below.

On behalf of Sandy Redburn, this is Kathy Clement/DT Leader wishing you JOY and CREATIVITY!

Cheerio,

kathy

October Linky Challenge Winner!

Hello, Friends!  Fall has fully arrived here in North Carolina where the skies are a brilliant blue, the air is crisp and the leaves are starting to fall from the trees.  What a glorious time of year!  It just makes you glad to be alive!  I'm popping in today to share the winner of our October Linky Challenge and Blog Hop, share some news and some wonderful samples from our fantastic design team.  First things first: announcing the winner of the Linky Challenge and Blog Hop!

I put all the numbers into Random.org and the lucky winner of the $25 digital shopping spree this month is #2: Sierra Winters from Sierra's Gift.  Sierra created a sweet primitive style tag using one the images from our Seasonal Vintage Image and Journal Notes Booklet.

 

Thanks for joining the fun with us this month, Sierra, and congratulations on your win!  Please contact craftysecrets@telus.net with your e-mail address so we can get your shopping code to you.  Thanks to everyone who played along!  I loved each and every project, and was so happy to see some new people join the fun.  The next Linky Challenge and Blog hop will be held on Monday, November 2nd, so be sure to tune in, get your free digital download and take another spin at winning that $25 digital shopping spree!

Our design team has been busy making all sorts of wonderful goodies and I have a few to share with you here today.  Get ready to be inspired!

With Halloween right around the corner, I know many of you are busy getting ready for parties and trick or treaters.  The team has put together some very cute Halloween projects that you might want to add to your last minute preparations.

What could be more fun than a pair of frightfully fashionable Witch Shoes?  Our Creating With Vintage Illustrations CD has a wonderful shoe template that you can print out onto cardstock, cut and assemble.  It's a super easy project that would make a great decoration for your party table.  Using the papers from our Jumbo Halloween Digital Download with the template makes short work of this fun project. You can find all the info and lots more photos on my blog, Kathy by Design. 

 

No one loves Halloween more than our Ginny Nemchak!  She has been blowing us away with all the spook-tacular projects she's made with our Halloween goodies!  This fun Halloween Stocking tree uses papers from our Creating with Vintage Halloween CD and images from our Halloween Digital Scraps.  Wouldn't this be adorable on your Halloween table, or a great way to hand out candy to Trick or Treaters?

 

Ginny used the Halloween CD again when she made this spook-tacular Halloween ornaments.  She loves Halloween so much that she actually decorates a tree for her living room.  These tag ornaments would also be super cute strung together as a banner!  Take a peeky:

 

I love the orange Halloween trees, don't you?  If you'd like to take Ginny's Halloween tour of her home, you can find that link HERE.  She has loads of great ideas for decorating your home for Halloween ghouls and goblins! 

Diane Hover created some spooky cute Halloween Party Shakers using our Creating with Digital Halloween Papers and Digital Halloween Scraps.   I think there will be a "whole lotta shakin' going on" when these arrive on the party scene!

Darlene found a way to add Halloween fun to a most unexpected household item!  Take a look at this cute tissue box cover she created using images from our Halloween Printables and our Halloween Digital papers. 

 

That should be enough to get your creative juices flowing with ideas for Fright Night!  Now let's move on and see what other members of the team have been up to!

Look at this gorgeous watercolored rose that Michele Kovack made using our Roses Digital Art Stamps! I can't get over how beautiful this is!  She's sharing it today on her blog, so be sure to pop over and get the details on how she made it.  I know I'm going to! 

 

Our Creating With Vintage Illustrations CD is loaded with papers and images that can be used year round.  Look at the gorgeous Digital Layout Sheila Rumney created to celebrate the beauty of fall. Sheila has such great, easy to follow tutorials on her blog, so if you are new to digital scrapping, you'll want to be sure to stop by and read how she creates all these gorgeous digital layers.

 

I have one last sample to share with you along with a little tip for organizing your crafting scraps.  Some time ago, I decided that when I was cleaning up the aftermath of a project, I would use paper clips to bundle together scraps of paper, images and ephemera that worked well together.  I use a plastic storage bin and toss them in there.  Then, when I need a quick card, I pull something out of the bin and put it together.  It means that scraps that would otherwise lie around gathering dust get used, and it's all really organized.  I put this fun "Forget Housework" card together in about 20 minutes.

 All I had to do was add some ribbon and a couple of die cuts.  If you feel like you are drowning in scraps, you might want to take an afternoon and a package of paper clips to create your own little scrap bundles!  The scraps on this card are the black lace paper from our Halloween Jumbo Download,  Pink Stripes and Pink Polka Dots from our Radiant Digital papers, the Eiffel Tower is from our Mini Vintage Scraps,  and the image is from our Girl Time Homespun Cotton Scraps.

With the changing of the seasons, we have some changes happening at Crafty Secrets, too.  We have 3 design team members who are stepping away from the team for various reasons.  I'd like to thank Darlene Pavlick, Teresa Horner and Melody Clement for all the wonderful projects, team spirit and support they've given to Crafty Secrets during their time on the team.  We've been so inspired by their beautiful work and wish them well as they move on to new adventures.  I hope you'll take a moment to wish them a fond farewell below.

Sandy Redburn has been busy moving and getting settled into her new home.  I've been in touch with her, and know that she's working on some great new coloring pages as well as more fantastic vintage printables that she'll be sharing here soon.  Moving house is such a huge job, that I told her to just focus on that, and I'd handle the blog and daily duties for her.  I hope she comes back soon though!  

Don't forget that Crafty Secrets now offers FREE SHIPPING on all US orders of $35.00 or more.  We are still trying to empty our our warehouse and move ever closer to providing all digital stamps, papers, printables and kits for our crafty friends all around the world.  Take a tour through the online store and you'll find some fabulous closeout bargains there!  With Christmas sneaking up on us, it's a great time to stock up on stocking stuffers and gifts for your favorite crafter!

We'd love to hear from you and know what you're currently working on so don't be afraid to leave a comment below.  

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

Cheerio,

Kathy Clement

Design Team Leader, Crafty Secrets

Father's Day Goodies, Frogs in Love and DT Samples

Happy Friday, everyone!  I hope you've had a healthy, productive week with room for a little fun thrown in, too!

Father's Day is just around the corner, and if you and/or your little people are planning to create something special for Dad, I have a new product that you are going to love!  Our "hot off the presses" Father Digital Download is filled with fun vintage images you can use to create birthday and Father's Day cards, layouts, mini albums and keepsakes for good old 'DAD'! There's a mix of 12 images and words on this printable page.  It prints out clear and crisp (300 dpi jpg. file) and can easily be resized to make large or small projects.  Best of all, you can use it again and again...just print from your home printer!  Many of the images actually appear to be 3-D embossed images, and there's a great range of themes from silly, to cute to sincere.  It's perfect for any masculine project you might need to make.

Darlene used the wonderful lion image and made a card that's fit for a king!  She'll be sharing this on her blog, Dar's Crafty Creations on the 11th, and you'll be able to get all the details there.

 

Sandy has a great free gift this month.  Just place an order online, and add this brand NEW Retro Father's Day card to your cart for free.  I think this is such a cute (and easy) design!

 

 If you need more inspiration for Father's Day or masculine cards, you can find them HERE .  

I'm super excited about our new Frogs in Love Postcard and Gift Tag Printable Set!  Oh, goodness...they just make me grin from ear to ear!  In fact, as soon as I laid eyes on these whimsical images, my fingers began to itch, and my creativity went into high gear.  

I "toadally" love the fact that these digital prints come with a post card.  It makes it so easy to create a layered card like this one.  My base paper is taken from Creating With Vintage Illustrations. I know I say this all the time, but our CD's are a wonderful resource for anyone who is limited by space or by budget.  Each CD is crammed full of gorgeous images, papers and ephemera.  Card making has never been so easy! You just pop the CD in your computer, choose the paper, image or ephemera you want to work with and print it out on your home computer.  Easy peasy!

I found that these froggy images were addictive, so I made a couple more cards...because I was having too much fun to stop! I think these would make such darling engagement announcements or decor for a bridal shower.

 This sassy Ballerina Toad just makes me grin from ear to ear!  Wouldn't it make a great thank you card for your child's dance teacher?  Or a birthday card for your favorite little ballerina?  Or a great gift tag...yeah, I'm kinda in love with Frogs in Love! You can read all the details on how I made these fun cards on my blog, Kathy by Design.

Here's a look at the entire 2 page set.  You can order it HERE.  And since it's an instant download, you can have it in your hot little hands today! 

 

Our design team has worked up some great samples to inspire you right before the weekend.  Diane made the most gorgeous tags with our Pastel Papers and Love and Romance Vintage Cuts.  They are truly shabbylicious! You can get all the details on Diane's blog, Nellie's Nest.

   

Lilacs are blooming in many parts of the country, and Teresa celebrated them by making some beautiful cards!  She combined papers from our Creating with Vintage Patterns and our Creating with Vintage Typography CD and then added card focals using our Flowers Printable Sheet Download.  The details on these cards are just beautiful, and you can read all about them on Victorian Paper Queen.

 

 Just look at that sweet bluebird with the sunflowers on Teresa's second card.  I'm swooning!

 

With school coming to a close, many of us are giving little gifts to thank all the people who work so hard to give our children a bright future.  Ginny made a beautiful card using our Birds and Blossoms Creative Scraps and papers from Creating with Vintage Patterns and Creating with Vintage Illustrations.   You can read all about this lovely card at Polly's Paper Studio.

 

I don't know what you have planned for your weekend, but I hope you'll find a little time to be creative.  Our June Linky Party is in full swing, and we'd love to have you join us for the fun!  We're celebrating the fellas in our lives this month, and the blog is loaded with tons of inspiration.  You can find a free digital paper and stamp to download and then enter your project with the Linky tool.  Did I fail to mention there's a fabby prize package?  You can check it out HERE. 

And if you haven't visited our online store in a while, you are in for a lovely surprise!  We've had a facelift!  Everything is looking fresh as a daisy, and the new search tool is really fast!  Come on by for a visit and see what's new, what's on sale, and what you can't live without!

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

Cheerio,

Kathy Clement

Design Team Leader, Crafty Secrets

New Etsy Store, Great Giveaway, CD 3 Arrived, GASC in TX & More!

Hi Everyone,   *** Ooops, I posted the wrong link to our July 3 New Animal Stamp Giveaway in the July 8/12 Monthly Newsletter.  This is the correct link!

I will do 2 Giveaways and draw one on random.org from the correct link and 1 winner from all the people who entered here today (July 8).  Sorry, I didn't notice I had the link from last month and didn't update it.  Both winners can choose 2 large sets and 1 medium or the same amount in any of our products.

I have a great Giveaway and exciting News!  We have a New Etsy Store with a 10% Off Coupon valid until June 2 and as usual all orders include a free gift. We still have our Shopatron Online Store but many have asked for Paypal and Etsy works great for Paypal and for International Orders, as well as some of our new items coming soon.  Simply paste this code in CRAFTYSECRETSNEWETSY  at checkout to get the 10% off in our Etsy Store.  Valid until June 2

 

To celebrate we have a Giveaway for the following items: 

(or pick any $51.95 value in products)

1  CD # 3 Creating With Vintage Typography

1 American Beauty Stamp set - perfect for 4th of July projects

1 Summer Image & Journal Notes Booklet

1 Summer Cotton Scraps

1 Queen Bee Stamp Set 

 Just leave a comment here on this blog post and a random.org winner will be announced early Tues, May 29 when we head off to the GASC - Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, TX.  

CD 3 has arrived and our shipper sent off a huge pile of pre-orders today!  

Vicki Chrisman is coming to the GASC Show again to do demos and make & takes and these fun 4th of July tags will be one of the make & takes using our American Beauty Stamp Set. We are looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones! 

Vicki and I are also teaching this Wood Art Journal Album at the Makeathon on Wed., May 30. using designs from CD 3 with our Art Studio Clear Art Stamp Set

Look at these adorable tags DT Member Pam Hooten made for her granddaughters pre-school grad and you can see the keepsake tin she decorated HERE on Pam's Blog

DT Member Julie Campbell created this special layout of her great grandmother using a frame and paper from CD #2, Creating with Vintage Illustrations.  Julie has such fantastic family stories.    I love how 3D the frame looks! It makes me so happy when things work and that was our hope that the printed frame would still look 3D embossed and it does! 

 Julie has also been busy adding to her journal and I love the way she is adding a funky artistic flair and her hand lettering with doodling.  See more pages here on her Blog.

DT Member Marilyn McIldoon has been busy working on a Bingo card mini album using every color scheme and featuring vintage ladies (not ours).  I love the way she used our French Mail set on her blue card

On this card she used our Down on the Farm Stamp Set to stamp Country Girl, the barn and rooster.  You can see more cards here on Marilyn's Blog

Jan Hennings used CD 3 to create some great new cards including this one and see the others on Jan's Blog and enter her cool giveaway for a Bind it All and O-Wire on June 3.

I'm in love with this beautiful card that Sophie La Fontaine made using our Garden Girls Clear Art Stamp Set. Not only are the colors so pretty but look at how she stamped the entire scene with the tree, fence, water can, spade and sentiment!

We had fun at the stamp show in Puyallup WA last week and and I wanted to take a bunch of photos but my battery died in my camera so I only have a couple from setting up. I had to snap a photo of this card Vicki Chrisman made as I love the way she stamped the Queen Bee  wings on vellum and stuck them up on her card.  Ooops - I meant to link all the products to our New Etsy Store this time and did them all to our Shopatron Store (from habit) and just went back and changed them.  We still need to add Cotton Scraps

We've finished 2 NEW Stamp sets and I'm just waiting for the proofs.  A Large set called Pixie Dust and a medium called Fairy Wishes.  There are several others in the works including the Button Set - so many thanks to all of you for your great suggestions!  My only problem is I want to include everything and there isn't enough space!

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into our Giveaway (value over $50.00)

Please tell me what store do you like better Etsy or our Shopatron Store??

Check out our new Etsy Store! 

Wishing you joy & creativity
Sandy Redburn

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 9823

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

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