Free Sheet Music, Patriotic Stuff, Sports Car and News!

Hi Everyone,

It is so HOT here in Surrey (we are right beside Vancouver, BC) it's like an giant heat wave and it's supposed to continue! This is my patriotic post as Canada Day is July 1st and Independance Day follows on the 4th with lots of celebrations! If any of you own our Seasonal Booklet and are making cards or decorations I have some inspiring samples below to share that designers Lisa Zappa and Vicki Chrisman created!


I also wanted to do a free gift for everyone to play with and I thought some old sheet music from my collection would be fun. Just click on the image to make it large and then right click your mouse on the image and save in your picture files. You can then open your picture file and print it in any size on paper or cardstock and use it to embellish cards, banner flags, table place cards, scrapbook pages and more!

I’ve included America the Beautiful but Canada is so young I couldn’t find any copyright free sheet music, so I’ve added some pretty sheet music that everyone can use (we have TONS of global readers) to create and play with! Hey – email me any cool projects you create or add them to our online Gallery, so others can see them!

Here are 2 great cards I love that Lisa Zappa from our design team made last year.
She used 2 images from our Heartwarming Vintage Seasonal Booklet, plus some of our stamps and paper. She created the star paper by stamping red and navy blue stars from the "French Mail" set on glossy white paper, and then distressing it by putting a creamy caramel Stampin Up ink pad directly onto the paper. The faux anchor turns & round eyelet embellishments are from the Card Sentiments set. Other paper is from the Earthy Pad

Vicki Chrisman made this cute banner, card and tag also using images from our Seasonal Booklet. At first I didn't even recognize that the paper was ours! The scallop edges really add a decorative touch and create a perfect spot to hold the ribbon.

I think she is going to post some details on her blog on how and what she used but all the images are from our Seasonal Booklet and the red paper is from our Radiant Paper Pad.

There are 3 Canadian images in our Seasonal booklet and I was going use them and make 3 little pennants but I got three great offers today I couldn’t pass up! I was talked into going to garage sales in the morning with my mom, riding around in a 350Z sports car in the afternoon and a BBQ pool party later. So I never got mine made but you can see how cute the images are here.

We did score some great deals at the garage sales. My fav was an old silverware set with the lined wood box for $10.00 and a stunning cutwork tablecloth & napkins for $1.00!

Here is the cute sport car (my ride today) that my husband Scott is selling. He has imported a couple of these cars in the past as a hobby to re-sell but I think he would love to keep this one! It's like brand new. I’m posting his ad here on my blog just in case someone wants to buy it – before he gets too attached to it!

FOR SALE!

2007 Nissan 350Z Grand Touring Roadster

2007 Nissan 350Z Grand Touring Roadster.
Daytona Blue with heated black leather seats, 300 HP, Tiptronic automanual transmission, Brembo brakes, Traction control, LID Xenon Lights, Bose 6 CD.,tinted windows, 1 owner, immaculate condition and fully loaded. Only 2300 KMS! Balance of full factory warranty. $38,500 NO G.S.T. Phone: Scott C) 604 617-3055 H) 604-572-0488

You also have to check out our online Gallery here to see all the cool samples our design team has been creating like this one with little 'inchies' by Anna Wight! Anna also has a little online store here and sells a bunch of our stuff! If you go to the top of this blog you can see links to all of the other talented ladies on our design team, except Janel doesn't have a blog but her link goes to her online gallery on our website.

In my next post I will introduce you to Marisa our talented guest designer for July. We will also be getting our new Image & Journal Note Booklets back from the printers and will have more blog candy give-aways! Plus - I will give you a peek at some of our NEW stamp sets coming!

I hope you are all having a fun weekend!

Sandy

Crafty Secrets
Home of the Heartwarming Vintage Collection
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Scrapbooking, Stamping and Paper Arts!

Stamp Challenges, Calendar Cards and Diaper Cakes!

Hi Everyone,

This is a quick post to show a couple of fun ideas.

I wanted to post this last week but I had download issues with my camera. You should be able to click on any hotos to see the details larger.

The girls at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ have been creating challenges for using our stamps and any of our other products with different themes each week. Last week there was a challenge to create a card with a theme that you had marked on your calendar. I had my girlfriend Marianna's birthday marked down and thought it would be fun to create a card for her using our FREE Calendar downloads the home page of our website www.craftysecrets.com . Please note that the 2009 calendar page will be added today or tomorrow to the site. Lots of people create the CD calendar or desktop version from our Get Round and Get Creative books and start mid year and add 2008 & 2009 months.

Remember those old advertising calendars that businesses use to give out with the tiny calendar pages stapled together? Well I cut the last 6 months from our free 2008 calendar page out and inked the edges, stapled them together and used a hi-lighter on June 15th, her birthday on the first page. I used our double sided paper from the Classic Paper Pad to make the card and 2 way tape to attach the mini calendar. I hardly ever play and make samples and it was so much fun, I'm thinking we should schedule a 'play day' once a week here in the office! First we have to finish the 4 NEW Image & Journal Notes Booklets we are working on but they are almost done and I will post a peek very soon!

My friend Marianna is a cat lover and she use to be a hairdresser and cut my hair for years, so I knew I wanted to use the 'Kitty Haircut' image from our Childhood Image & Journal Booklet! Then I used a Sakura Clear Gelly Roll Pen to go over the scissors and hat pin but I kept doodling and got a little carried away because these pens are so much FUN and they add sparkle without any crunchy messy glitter!

I also got a little carried away with our stamps and used several from a variety of sets.

Hello, Wishes, the swirls and To and From are off our Mini Memories set. The crown and little flourish line (under June) are from our Altered Art set. Happy Birthday is off our Sexy Little Numbers stamp set. The hat pin and the sentiment I stamped inside the card are from our Greetings & Sentiments set. I love the poem and how delicate and clear it stamps!

You can see the other cards that people created in this 'calendar event' challenge here. Plus, the girls have posted a NEW challenge HERE. on Splitcoast. I love the new current challange - this week it's SUMMERTIME and I LOVE the cards everyone has been creating! You can see them here in the SUMMER GALLERY You can also use this link craftysecrets to see a big bunch of cards and keepsakes talented people have posted on Splitcoast!

Don't be afraid to post anything you have created on our website gallery HERE or on Splitcoast! Samples are the best way to share your talents and spread inspiring ideas!

Here is an adorable card that Darlene who issued the Summertime challenge created

I had to also show you this adorable cake my daughter Holly whipped up last night for a Baby Shower she is attending this weekend. She's never made one of these and put it together so fast I was amazed at how darn cute it turned out! Here are some links for seeing more cakes and how to make one:

http://www.plan-the-perfect-baby-shower.com/diaper-cake.html

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf26393346.tip.html

Here is a link to our Store Locator

Here is a link to Shopatron

Happy Summertime!

Sandy

Our Favorite Fellas Contest Winners and Photos!

We are back from Texas and I have 3 WINNERS to announce tonight for our Favorite Fellas Contest Entry!
The $100.00 Gift certificate (and free S&H) goes to Pammyjo for her King of the Castle Candy Card Box! We loved how she creatively used our stamps and paper! She wasn’t very happy with her photo but if she sends us new one, I can switch it.

Here are her notes and the supplies she used to create this cute box, which she is going to fill with her husband’s favorite candy

I used a 2,4,6,8, box (from Stampin Up) made it look like a castle using the ticket stamp from the Journey Clear Art stamp set (Crafty Secrets) to make it look like blocks. The castle top is using the SU spiral punch. Everything is sponged in Going Gray SU ink. I added a few dots of gold glitter to his crown. I made the robe collar and free handed banner using the Radiant Paper Pad (Crafty Secrets). I used the tie from the Favorite Fellas Clear Art stamp set(Crafty Secrets) to stamp on a piece of paper from the Radiant paper pad. I stamped the ‘fellas’ face and colored it using colored pencils.

Only 3 people were brave enough to enter this contest - can you see my sad face? All the other entries were really great and we decided to award a $25.00 gift certificate and free S&H to Marlene cards4U who entered these 3 great cards!

Notes & Supplies from Marlene:

When I was growing up my mom had an antique store in our home. I have always had a heart for vintage but never thought about bringing it into my stamping. This is a fun adventure of starting a new collection of ribbon, buttons, paper etc.
Supplies: Favorite Fellas Clear Art Stamps and Earthy Paper Pad (Crafty Secrets)
Brown CS - DCWV,
True Thyme, Black CS - SU!
Parchment CS
True Thyme Ink - SU!
Antique Linen, Old Paper Ink - Tim Holtz
Buttons - JoAnne's, Ribbon - Bobbin Ribbon

Tie Gift Bag - by Marlene
This is a gift bag. You could also make it into a card with the fold on the side. It is your basic shirt card with a horizontal slit at the top on either side with the corners folded in. The tie is the FREE TIE PATTERN reduced. The piece of brown CS is 5 1/4'' x 7''. This could be attached to anything from a brown lunch bag to a gift bag in need of being recycled.

Supplies:

Favorite Fellas Clear Art Stamps and Earthy Papers – Crafty Secrets
Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink – Clear Snap
Misc: Brown CS, Brown Brads, Bag, Ribbon (attached from inside)

Marlene also emailed us this cute apron card she created!

King of the Grill - by Marlene

Supplies:
Red Check paper and baked beans image from Earthy Paper Pad and King stamp from Favorite Fellas set - Crafty Secrets
Parchment/ Black CS
Versafine and Old Paper Ink
Black Brads Black Ribbon

Joanne (angelnorth) sent in the this handsome card below

and included some helpful tips

King 4 the Day - by Joanne (angelnorth)

Supplies: Favorite Fellas and Adore Alphabet Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets, Versamark, Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, Adirondack Ink in Cloudy Blue and Stonewashed by Ranger. Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, Classic circle Nestabilities, nail art gem, detail gold embossing powder, gold gel pen, eyelet, gingham ribbon (Bazzil).

Tips: Place your Nestability die over your folded card base so that you leave enough to form a reasonable hinge for the card. Cutting the crown out after embossing and colouring with a gel pen gives a tiny bit of dimension and nail art gems are the perfect size to add a bit of bling for the crown jewels! I used partial inking of three of the stamps in Favorite Fellas to make the sentiment (the only one that might not be obvious is THE which is the first part of the word THEIR from the 'boys and their toys' stamp). Using a gold gel pen to outline the lettering gives a special finish to the sentiment. I stamped Happy Father's Day (from the set) inside the card but this would work for a birthday card, too!

The random WINNER of the $50.00 gift certificate (and free S&H) chosen from the BLOG ENTRIES for posting a Favorite Memory of their Dad or a Farther figure is # 9 Maren, who said:
My favorite memory is having my dad and step dad walk me down the aisle on my wedding day. I was so blessed to have them both there and it symbolized how important they were to me in my life. I felt so supported and loved by both of these amazing men!

There are so many great funny and sentimental posts and you can read all of them HERE.

Here is a photo from our booth at the Great American Scrapbook Show in Texas. We got back home yesterday afternoon and although I'm tired, I'm still feeling the excitement and happy vibes from meeting and talking to sooo many great ladies at this show!

Vicki Chrisman came to the show to demo and

you can see a bunch more photos on her blog here. Not only is Vicki talented - she is a hoot!

Larger Printable Image & More Cards, Altered Game and Pixie Jar!

I wanted to do a quick post because I have more to share

* A Larger Free Printable Image for Fathers Day
* More Great Samples from Joanne Allison!
* Pam Hooten’s Tic Tac Toe Game
* Vicki the Pixie and her Altered Fairy House
*** DON'T FORGET to enter our contests HERE!

I wanted to let you know we now have bigger and better images for the FREE PRINTABLE FELLA IMAGES. The two I posted yesterday were too blurry, but they are larger now thanks to our graphic designer Cindy! She enlarged them, so the quality will be better when reduced. Printing them off the web, they won’t be the same quality as in our image books but they look pretty good

Just put your mouse over the images and click on the left side of your mouse, then when the image is larger, click it with the right side of your mouse and save the postcard and then save the poem to one of your picture files, or on your desktop. Later you can open each of them and print them on paper or cardstock. You can use almost any picture program to size the images to print them smaller or larger in size, depending on what you wish to create.

Here are some other great samples with descriptions and supplies from our May guest designer Joanne Allison from England!

Adding something to your card that has an element of surprise or secrecy can be a great way to make it even more special for the recipient. On this card for my mum, I made a little 'booklet' for the front that has a picture of me on my first ever holiday (aged six months or so) and a little bit of journalling inside. A simple photo turn keeps the booklet closed.
Supplies: Clear Art Mini Memories stamp set, Radiant Paper Pad and Seaside Memories stickers (all from Crafty Secrets), Tim Holtz Distress inks (Old Paper and Weathered Wood), SU! antique copper Hodgepodge hardware, jute garden twine

I can never remember which things I picked out when we're having friends over for dinner and I'm planning a menu. These jumbo clips make a cute alternative to scrappy bits of paper as bookmarks and you can do a whole selection of designs with just one stamp set! I just picked three but the coffee cup, beer glass, turkey, rooster and bread basket all fit the little chef's tray too so if you're planning a banquet, you can have a different clip for each course!
I gave my fish glittery scales with a Spica glitter pen and added a cherry on top of the dessert with a dot of dimensional paint. You can spray the clips with sealant to make them more durable in the kitchen.

Kitchen Clip Supplies: Kitchen Classics (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets),
Nestabilities Classic Circle die, alcohol markers, Prismacolor
pencils/OMS/stump, large brass paper clips, Brilliance Graphite Black,
Adirondack (Sunshine Yellow and Stonewashed), Clearsnap chalk ink (Dark
Peony), Spica clear glitter pen, dimensional paint, spray sealer.


This little girl is adorable and I thought it would be fun if her hammock really did swing in the breeze as she dreams! The aperture is cut with the largest of the dies in the Nestabilities Classic Oval (Large) set and the image is stamped on an oval cut with the next size down. Two silver threads attach the image panel to the card base so the hammock is free to move gently - let's hope she gets her heart's desire!

Supplies: Sweet Kids and Mini Memories Clear Art Stamps and Pastel Paper Pad (Crafty Secrets), Brilliance Graphite Black, Tim Holtz Distress ink (Vintage Photo and Antique Linen), Clearsnap Chalk ink Creamy brown (to sponge edges), vintage lace trim, grosgrain
ribbon, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, silver thread, nail art gems, chalk, white gel pen, Nestabilities Classic Oval Large

Check out this adorable Tic Tac Toe Game, that Pam Hooten from our design team altered! One of Pam’s favorite past-times is going to yard sales, flea markets and antique shops to see what she can find to alter and use in her paper crafts. She bought this one at a flea market for $2.00 and jazzed it up with images from our new Image & Journal Booklets and paper from our Radiant Paper Pad.

Pam traced the hearts and X game pieces and cut out the squares that went on the board first, then painted them with Vintage White Acrylic Paint. She glued the images on her game pieces and paper on the board with Mod Podge. Once dry, she sanded all the edges with a file. She sealed everything with a coat of Mod Podge and used E6000 glue to add the rick rack, buttons, ribbon and spool feet. You can also check out Pam's Blog HERE and see the ATC Holder she just created!

Vicki Chrisman from our design team has been busy creating little fairy people from vintage and new photos and then adds fun stuff like wings, crowns and party hats. She created so many, she had to make a fairy house for them to live in. Vicki added these butterfly wings from our Earthy Paper Pad to a photo of herself - (from MANY years ago) and turned herself into a pixie here!

She’s a dog lover, so then she had to alter photos of her dogs and if she keeps going, I think she will soon have a fairy village! You can see her fairy house and other fairies here on her blog.

I’m have to tell you a little secret... we are working on 4 new image booklets and one is called Little Dolls and it will have some fairy kids you can alter! All 4 new booklets will be available later in July and the 3 other titles are Halloween, Christmas and Girlfriends! They are turning out better than we dreamed and I'm sooo excited!



I’m looking forward to meeting some of you next weekend at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington Texas!

If you can’t find our products, please check our Online Store Locator Here, or ask your favorite retailer to contact us!

You can also find our products online through Shopatron Here and either a store near you or we will fill your order.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sandy Redburn
Owner

Win a $50.00 & $100.00 Gift Card in Fav Fellas Contest & Giveaway!

Hi Everyone,


I have so many things to tell you about, I made a list of Quick Highlights

Enter Our Fav Fella Contest and Win a $100.00 Gift Certificate!
See More Free Give-Aways and Blog Candy Here!
Print Our Free Men Images and Tie Template for Fathers Day
Check Out These Great Cards & Ideas for Men!
Visit May Guest Designer Joanne Allison’s Blog!
Come See Us at the GAS Show in TX June 6, 7 & 8th

Enter Our Fav Fella Contest and Win a $100.00 Gift Certificate!

Fathers Day is coming June 15 and I wanted to share some fabulous ideas and encourage you to enter a card, layout or keepsake you may have created, or you may now be inspired to create to honor your father, husband or other father figure in your life. You can WIN a $100.00 gift certificate from us to spend on any of our products! Please email all projects to: contest@craftysecrets.com



The winner will be chosen from best design and use of our products. Please list what supplies you used and some simple tips, in case other people wish to re-create it. The entry deadline is June 9 and a winner will be announced that night.

You can also enter here on our blog to Win our FREE Blog Candy Giveaway! You just have to post either a favorite memory you’ve had with your father, or tell us a great idea you have for celebrating and honoring Dads on Fathers Day here at the end of this blogpost. Make sure you add your email or check back to see if you’ve won!

Plus – Vicki Chrisman is giving away an adorable altered fairy she created HERE on Vicki's blog. Each day she has been adding extra goodies, so you can make your own altered fairies using photos of your kids - or add wings and a party hat to your pet! Vicki has used the wings from our Earthy Paper Pad and party hats and crowns from our Radiant Paper Pad.



You can Print Our Free Men Images and our Tie Template for Fathers Day on June 15, or use either of them for a man's birthday.






The Big Fish and Golf image are part of a page from our Wacky & Wonderful Book and I'm sad to say it's almost all sold out, so I'm posting it here free because our design team has made some great cards I want to share below.



Later this year we are doing a Men's theme Journal & Image Notes Booklet and these images will go into that book.

This TIE TEMPLATE is a free printable that our graphic Artist Cindy whipped up today as I thought it would be fun for kids to decorate for Dad, or use on a scrapbook page. You can print it onto color cardstock or pattern paper and add photos of dad, messages of love, stamp on it and all sorts of fun embellishments. Simply cut your tie out and add ribbon to tie around dad's neck. Gee - you could make ties for all the men you know and if you have some yellow paper, make them 'King for the Day' crowns to wear as well!

Just put your mouse over the image and click on the left side of your mouse, then when the image is larger, click it with the right side of your mouse and save the tie image and then save the poems to one of your picture files, or on your desktop. Later you can open each of them and print them on paper or cardstock. You can use almost any picture program to size the images to print them smaller or larger in size, depending on what you wish to create.

Our contest will close on June 10 and I will announce the winner for the blog entries and projects submitted. If you have more than one project or Fathers Day idea you can post extras!

Check Out These Great Cards & Ideas for Men!
Our talented design team has created a smorgasbord of samples perfect for men. Some of these are birthday cards but they they could easily be adapted into a Fathers Day card. Iwas going to try and link to our online gallery but the samples were under too many different searches. If you type in: Favorite Fellas, Father or Dad in the search bar you will be able to get more details and see other great samples!

Many of them are created with our Favorite Fellas Large Stamp set shown here and I love the way this set turned out and how versatile it is! The inside comes out of the TV so you can add whatever you like, plus the #1 comes out of the trophy cup as well, in case you want to add something else.

This cute tie card was created by DT member Lisa Zappa when she stamped our tie stamp on six different paper pattern scraps from our Earthy Paper Pad. She also matted it on Earthy Papers.

This would 'tie' in great if you used the big printable tie template and also made a tie for

Dad to wear.

I love the way Pam Hooten from our design team stamped this card. Stamping images on cardstock pieces is a great way to help guarantee the success of your project. If you mess up, you can simply stamp a new card.

Pam also did an amazing job here lining up our diamond border to stamp 4 in a row. If something doesn't look right, you can always add a button!

You can also draw a line down the center of your acrylic block with a fine tip permanent marker, or score a line and use the line as a guide to line your long stamps up straight.

Anna Wight from our design team really captured

the radiant colors with the fun image on this card! The image is from our Wacky & Wonderful Book and we literally only have a couple left and it will be sold out (boo-hoo) - but this is one of the free printable images in this post! The paper is from our Radiant Paper Pad.

What man who loves fishing hasn't dreamed of this kind of catch!

Everyone LOVES this fun card Linda Duke created using one of the guy stamps from our Favorite Fellas stamp set, paired with paper and the shaving ad from our Earthy Paper Pad.

The shaving cream is actually Liquid Appliqué from Stampin’ Up and it's totally 3D!

Linda used Prismacolor Pencils with her baby oil technique to color her guy. I HAVE to get her tutorial posted ASAP on how she uses the baby oil to blend her pencils. It's very cool!

Lisa Zappa also created this Auto Log Journal, which think is such a cool idea for a gift! She found the notebook in the $1.00 section at Michael's. She loved the black diamond design that it looks like a racing flag and combined it with stamps from the Favorite Fellas set.

She stamped the car on an oval frame sticker from the Altered Office Sticker set, and she also used the OK, Paper Clip and pointing hand sticker. She used an old vintage map from an old road atlas that she paid .75 cents for at a junk shop. She stamped "Auto Log" with our "Adore" Alphabet stamps. She also added 3 'file folder tab stickers' from the Altered Office stickers and wrote "Mileage", "Tune-Ups" and "Oil Changes" on each one.

The same stamps used above, were also
used here by Michelle Wooderson from our design team to stamp this quick fun birthday card and envelope using our Favorite Faellas stamp set.

This same ideacould easily be turned into a Fathers Day card if she used the Happy Fathers Day stamp from the set, or some of the other sentiments.

Julie Ebersole is a past alumni member of our design team and she created this card last year that I wanted to share with you as it was buried so far into the gallery, you may not have seen it.

Plus the

'Lean Mean Swinging Machine Golf Guy' is the other free printable image in this post!

I ve the paper blocking Julie did using papers from our Earthy Paper Pad

Visit Our May Guest Designer Joanne Allison’s Blog! Joanne is from the UK and as our guest designer this month, she has created several WONDERFUL cards and vintage paper crafts using products from our Heartwarming Vintage Collection and Clear Art Stamps. I adore this sweet baby card she just created with a faux quilt design! You can get more details - plus see more fantastic samples on Allison's blog here at http://angelnorth.blogspot.com/

Come See Us at the GAS Show in TX June 6, 7 & 8
If you are coming to the Great American Scrapbook Convention next week you have to come by our booth and see all fantastic samples we are bringing, plus come meet our design team leader Vicki Chrisman and check out her daily demos, see the truck load of products we are bringing, and create our 3 great projects that will be offered at the Make-N-Take area at the show across from our booths 418 & 420. If you come to the show - tell us that you want our Texas Freebie to get our little gift with any purchase and if you spend over 25.00 you will also get an extra gift!

See Us in Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion and Stampington's Stampers Sampler Magazine!
I’m thrilled to announce we are now advertising in Home Companion and Stamper's Sampler Magazine! I’ve always loved both these magazines and the incredible, inspiring projects and articles they both continue to publish with every issue. Our first ad is in the current issue of Home Companion and we’ve had a tremendous response! We also have an ad coming out in the next issue of Stampers Sampler and their Stampington online store stocks some of our products.

If you wish to find our products please check our Online Store Locator Here, or ask your favorite retailer to contact us! You can also buy our products online through our Shopatron Store Here and either a retail store near you or we will fill your order.

You can also always come browse 100's of samples in Our Online Gallery Here

Heartwarming Wishes!
Sandy Redburn
Owner