Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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

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

Friday, December 2, 2011

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

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

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

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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

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

Chirstmas Postcard-Flower_softMarissa-web

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.

ThanksgivingTreatBags2011_by_kiddielitter

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

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

More CD 2 Sample Peeks, Sale Details & Vintage Printable

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