Paper Crafter's Library

May Arts Week: Day 5

Andrea Walford — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:48:40 +0000

Welcome to Day 5 – our final day of May Arts Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog! We’re so excited to partnering with May Arts to showcase their stunning ribbons. I don’t know about you, but here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to have May Arts as an Invited Sponsor. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

Every day this week we’ll be sharing fantastic projects featuring May Arts ribbons created by both the May Arts Design Team as well as the Paper Crafter’s Library Designers/Educators. At the end of this week, two lucky winners will receive their choice of FOUR rolls of ribbon from the May Arts website. One winner will be drawn from all the comments left either here on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog or the Paper Crafter’s Library Facebook page , and one winner will be drawn from all the comments left either on the May Arts Blog or the May Arts Facebook Page. Remember, each comment you leave is one entry, so be sure to visit every day not only for the great project ideas, but also to enter your name into our give-away.

About May Arts

May Arts Ribbon was founded in the early 1980’s in Riverside, Connecticut. The original products were high-end silk flowers imported from Taiwan, which were decorated using quality ribbons. The decorative ribbons proved so popular among customers that the business gradually evolved into a dedicated ribbon wholesaler.

As a family-owned and operated business, May Arts began a long-standing tradition of quality, affordability and exceptional customer service. We are dedicated to carrying on this same tradition by offering high quality products at competitive prices. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff is always happy to answer your questions or to assist you in placing your order.

May Arts carries a wide selection of quality ribbons to choose from; such as grosgrain, silk, satin, burlap and a variety of prints and patterns. All inventory is held in stock, so we can ship orders out right away—typically the same day.

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

The May Arts website is their wholesale site for online and brink and mortar retailers. We’ve linked to it so that you can easily view their entire product line in one place. There are numerous places where you can purchase May Arts Ribbons including many local scrapbook stores as well as online stores. Two of the online stores that carry the biggest selections that we are aware of include Amazon, who carry the complete May Arts Ribbon Line (plus you can qualify for free shipping). Click on the link we provided and it will take you to our May Arts Ribbon Search Results. To find a particular ribbon, go to the May Arts website, find the name of the ribbon and color and then enter that into your Amazon search results. Please note that through Amazon you’re buying by the roll. Most other online and local scrapbook stores sell May Arts Ribbon by the yard. One of the online stores that carries a great selection is Ribbon Carousel.

May Arts Designer Project

Our Designer Today is Vera Wirianta Yates. You can see her picture below, but first, here is a little more about Vera:

Hi, my name is Vera Wirianta Yates. I was born and raised in Indonesia but been calling Texas home for the past 17 years. I am married to a wonderful man who understands & supports my obsession with papers & stamping and I am mommy to 2 spoiled pugs. I fell in love with paper crafting not long after I moved to the States. Started with scrapbooking and branched out to card making soon after. I love teaching scrapbooking and card making classes whenever I get the chance. In the serious world, I work in accounts payable, and in the fun world, you can find me crafting in my room whenever I can. I’ve been very blessed and lucky to have my works published numerous times in Paper Crafts magazine and recently won their 2012 Stamping Royalty. You can check out my works on my blog: Ling’s Design Studio.

Apron Card

Hi everyone. This is Vera from Ling’s Design Studio. I am so excited to be a guest here today to share my project as a May Arts team member.

My project for today is a shaped card and as much as I love using my Silhouette machine to make shaped cards, this time I want to show how you can make a shaped card without using a die-cut machine and using ribbons to dress up the card. Here’s a look at my apron card.

You can use this card just like this or you can also use the pocket of the apron to tuck in a gift card.

To create this card, here’s the supply list:
– White cardstock
– Patterned paper (I used The Paper Studio Tiny Polka in Yellow & Lime Tonal. I’m sorry, I cannot recall the maker of the green white polka dot paper, as I was grabbing it from my scrap stash).
– Bazzill Basics Clover Leaf Dotted Cardstock
– May Arts Sheer Dots Ribbon JD46
– May Arts Cotton Stripes Ribbon 385-58-46
– The circle stamp is from Papertrey Ink Tag Its # 1 Set)

And, here’s the step-by-step instruction:
1. I started with a regular folded card and then I used my oval cutter as a template to draw two curves on the card. You can use a regular oval template or plate as well for the curve. Cut along the curve line.

2. Adhere patterned paper to the front of the card and cut following the shape of the card. Note: if you want to add the neck wrap for the apron, adhere the ribbon to card first before adhering the patterned paper to the card.
3. Cut a rectangle from patterned paper measured 3” x 2.75” and cut a curve at one end of the rectangle using a circle cutter. Adhere ribbon to the back and fold the ribbon every quarter of an inch to create the pleat look.

4. Cut a strip of ribbon and adhere to the top of the card. I cut it where it’s long enough to be tied on the back of the card.
5. Cut a small square measured 1.25” x 1.25”. Corner round the two bottom corner.

6. Stamp image and adhere ribbon to the back of the square, just like on step 3. Adhere square to card.
7. Punch a strip of patterned paper with scallop punch and adhere to the top of the card.

And that’s it you’re done and you’ll have this apron card. Here’s a pic of the finished card again, this time with a gift card tucked in.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Thank you so much for stopping by here and have a blessed day. J

Vera

Paper Crafter’s Library Designer Projects

Today’s free video tutorial once again showcases how much a pretty ribbon can add to a card. In today’s card I paired the Pink Twill/Stripes Ribbon (Chevron pattern) with the gorgeous Doodle Deux product line from Prima. The chipboard letters for the greeting were embossed with Black Twinkle Embossing Glitter from Wow! Embossing Powders (next week’s spotlight company).

Download the pdf handout here.

You can watch a video on how Andrea created this Glittery Hi card here.

In addition to the card above, I’ve also created a Paper Crafter’s Library member exclusive mixed-media project – a set of three mixed-media canvases I’ve called the “Bloom Canvas Trio” (original isn’t it? LOL). In the first picture below you can see the three canvases together, the remaining pictures show you a close up of each individual canvas. The stems of each of the flowers are the May Arts green Leaf Ribbon, while the largest of the flowers come from the May Arts Wired Flower Ribbon, which I either left plain (the cream colored ones) or dyed using dye-based inks and stains. All the papers, flowers and butterflies (both large and small) are Prima Products, the crystal swirls are from Zva Creative and I once again embossed the chipboard letters this time using the Black Glint Embossing Glitter from Wow! Embossing Powders.

There is a video tutorial and handout for this project available to our Paper Crafter’s Library members.

So there you have it! Day 5 of our celebration of May Arts! I hope you have enjoyed all the projects that our design team and May Arts design team have created for you.

A Bit About Paper Crafter’s Library

The world of paper crafting is HUGE! Whether you are a beginner, or you’ve been creating for years, the sheer number of different products, tools, techniques and project ideas can be overwhelming. After spending 6 years helping thousands of paper crafters around the world become more successful in the creative space through her series of kits, digital tutorials and online classes, Andrea Walford began looking for a new approach to education. In 2011 she launched Paper Crafter’s Library – the first, and still to this day, only website that provides an all-in-one learning solution for paper crafters. With almost 800 videos currently in their library and 4-5 new videos added each week, Paper Crafter’s Library offers comprehensive training on products, tools, techniques, and project ideas. From beginner through to advanced, whether your interest is in stamping, card making, scrapbooking, creating 3D items or altered art – you’ll find all the resources you need to navigate the world of paper crafting in ONE place, organized and indexed so that it’s quick and easy to find.

Be sure to sign up for our free email newsletter which features weekly video tutorials. For more information about Paper Crafter’s Library and how we can help you take your paper crafting to the next level, check out the Benefits of Becoming a Member.

May Arts Ribbon Give-Away

To enter to win 4 rolls of May Arts Ribbon of your choice, please leave your comment below. Also, be sure to stop by the May Arts Blog when you see the Paper Crafter’s Library post published for another chance to win, and tell them Paper Crafter’s Library sent you! Winner will be announced today at 4pm EST!

May Arts Week: Day 4

Andrea Walford — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:49:00 +0000

Welcome to Day 4 of May Arts Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog! We’re so excited to partnering with May Arts to showcase their stunning ribbons. I don’t know about you, but here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to have May Arts as an Invited Sponsor. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

About May Arts

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

May Arts Designer Project

Our May Arts Designer today is Jen Shears. You can see her project below but for now, here is a little more about Jen:

My name is Jen Shears and I’m thrilled to be a Prima Ribbonista on the May Arts blog team!!! Working on the May Arts blog has been an amazing experience! I’ve been ‘crafty’ as long as I can remember- card making, scrapbooking, sewing- a little bit of everything! I’m married to a wonderfully supportive man, Cory, who encourages me in my creative outlets. I have a 7 year old daughter, Hadley, who enjoys creating right alongside me! I am mainly a stay-at-home-mom; although I do work one day/week as a dental hygienist. Besides crafting I enjoy gardening, photography, boating and anything resembling play!

Scrapbook Page

Jen here from May Arts and I’m excited to share a couple of projects with you today! My first project is a scrapbook page- and a current one at that!

I started with Core’dinations cardstock (the Jenni Bowlin red & black line) as my base. I sanded it to reveal the big polka dots & then picked out a rainbow of ribbon! I’ve used the following May Art ribbons (from left to right):

-sheer box pleat in red
-1/2” solid/wrinkle in red
-3/8” grosgrain in red
-5/8” sheer ruffle edge in orange
-1/2” solid/wrinkle in orange
-1/2” woven burlap in yellow
-3/8” double faced satin in yellow
-3/4” twill stripes in yellow
-1/2” solid/wrinkle in parrot green
-5/8” satin scallop edge in parrot green
-1” satin grosgrain edge in olive
-1/2” solid/wrinkle in olive
-3/4” twill stripes in light blue
-1/2” solid/wrinkle in light blue
-1/2” woven burlap in navy
-5/8” sheer ruffle edge in navy
-5/8” textured lines in lavender/light blue
-1/8” velvet in purple

For my title I used American Craft Thickers- and that bit of rainbow paper is from the Core’dinations paper stack cover! The stamp is from Pink Paislee with grey ink. I’ve also used some of the new DCWV chalkboard paper for my journaling area. Using a light colored prisma pencil, it really looks like a chalkboard! I tied some ivory burlap string around the whole strip.

I started with a little over 6” of each, ran a bit of adhesive across my page to lightly tack them down, and then followed with machine stitching. For some added detail & security I machine stitched around the whole border.

After I trimmed my ribbon off the bottom of the page I had a rainbow of scraps, so I put those to work for a quick card!

I didn’t have room for all of them on the card base, so I chose enough for a fun rainbow. I machine stitched them in place & tied some black burlap string around the panel. A stamped sentiment finishes it off!

Thank you to Papercrafter’s Library for inviting us today! And thank you for your time! I hope you’ve been inspired!

Paper Crafter’s Library Designer Projects

Now you can see a few projects created by Tracy here at Paper Crafter’s Library. First off we have a video tutorial for a beautiful ribbon key chain Tracy created using May Arts Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon. With the simple addition of a ribbon clasp and some charms and crystals you have a quick, easy but gorgeous little gift you can give someone.

Download the pdf handout here.

You can view a video on how to create this ribbon key chain here.

We also have a video tutorial on this adorable pair of dollar store flip flops which Tracy turned from ordinary to extraordinary using May Arts Ruffled Ribbon and Wired Flower Ribbon. Such an easy way to dress up a plain pair of flip flops for that special little girl.

Download the pdf handout here.

You can watch a video on how Tracy created the embellished flip flops here.

Our last project – a Paper Crafter’s Library Member exclusive is this stunning Embellished Throw Pillow shown below. Tracy embellished a simple white pillow using the May Arts brown Leaf Ribbon to create the vines, and then an assortment of Prima Flowers in earth tones on the vines.

There is a video tutorial and handout for this project available to our Paper Crafter’s Library members.

So there you have it! Day 4 of our celebration of May Arts! Be sure to stay tuned for tomorrow’s post with more great projects and another free video tutorial!

A Bit About Paper Crafter’s Library

May Arts Ribbon Give-Away

May Arts Week: Day 3

Andrea Walford — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:04:10 +0000

Welcome to Day 3 of May Arts Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog! We’re so excited to partnering with May Arts to showcase their stunning ribbons. I don’t know about you, but here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to have May Arts as an Invited Sponsor. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

About May Arts

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

May Arts Design Team Project

Our next May Arts Designer with her lovely project is Karen Baker. You can see the fabulous project below but in the meantime, here is a little bit about Karen:

My name is Karen Baker and I’m a graphic designer by trade, wife, mama to two energetic young boys, and always a crafter at heart.

I like to expand my boundaries by experimenting and showcasing the capabilities of each stamp set I pick up. I’m quite fond of the clean and simple design style, which you can see on my blog The Bald Dragonfly.

I’m lucky to have the title of stamp illustrator as well! I hope you enjoy the project created below especially for Paper Crafter’s Library.

Father’s Day Ties

Chevrons are really on trend these days in fashion and the crafting industry. May Arts offers a variety of fresh and cool colors in their 382 collection: striped twill that features the chevron pattern. I teamed up the citrus green color (382-34-46) with a paper cutting die in the shape of a tie (I used this one from Wplus9) to create a fun, 3-D card perfect for any man in your life.

I started by adhering ~2.5 inch length of ribbon to the same size piece of double sided adhesive, being careful to only remove the secure backing from one side of the adhesive. Then I ran that through my die cutting machine, as well as a piece of cardstock. I also ran a small piece of ribbon through the machine, utilizing the top portion of the die only, as well as making sure that my ribbon laid in the opposite direction.

Once I had the pieces cut, I took a carefully took a lighter to the edges of the die cut ribbon to remove any frayed edges. I then adhered the larger portion of the die cut ribbon to the cardstock after removing the backing from the adhesive-this gave the die cut ribbon more stability. Then, I formed the 3-D portion of the tie by adhering the small portion of the die cut ribbon to the larger portion with a 3-D foam square.

I finished the card by attaching the tie to a trimmed length of May Art’s black twill (FN10) and then securing that to a trimmed piece of cardstock. Here’s a quick tip to get even angles on both your pieces: cut the ribbon and cardstock at the same time! I secured both pieces to an embossed card stock panel, stamped a sentiment, and then glued that all to my card base.

I plan on making a few of these cards in different color schemes and giving them as a set. You could even mix and match solid ties with patterned ties, as May Arts offers a wide selection of solid colored twill as well!

Paper Crafter’s Library Designer Projects

Today we’ve got a number of different projects created by our Paper Crafter’s Library Designers featuring several different kinds of May Arts Ribbon.

Our first few projects feature the Netted Ribbon - I absolutely LOVE this stuff as it can be used for SO many different things.

First up, we have a video tutorial for this “Mom” card created by Tracy – Senior Designer/Educator for Paper Crafter’s Library which features both May Arts Netted Ribbon and Ruffled Ribbon to create the focal strip across the front of the card.

Download the pdf handout here.

You can view a video on how to create this Mom card here.

Part 1

Part 2

The next two projects are both mixed-media pieces which I created. The first one is this Just Be You Canvas. In mixed-media, texture is key – with any art journal page or mixed-media canvas you see there are always tons of textural elements incorporated into the piece. In the canvas below I started by covering the entire canvas with Tim Holtz Terminology Tissue Paper using my Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte. I then used that same medium to apply my May Arts Champagne Netted Ribbon over the entire canvas, directly over the Tissue Paper. Because the netting has so many wide open holes, you can see the tissue paper beneath, giving it a really dimensional effect. I’ve included two close up shots below as well so that you can see what the netting looks like on the surface of the canvas.

In addition to the May Arts netted ribbon, I also used May Arts Black Baker’s Twine as an accent around my focal point greeting – this was also adhered using my Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte.

The second mixed-media project I created, which I do have a video tutorial for you is for this “Soar” Art Journal Page. I followed the same process for creating my background as in the canvas above – I started by covering my pages with the Tim Holtz Terminology Tissue Paper, and then used a May Arts Turquoise Netted Ribbon over the entire 2 page spread. Other fun details on this page include the embossed edge on the page which uses the Wow! Verdigris Embossing Powder.

For details on my thoughts behind this page, please visit my blog: http://andreawalford.com/art-journaling-soar-art-journal-page-video-tutorial

Here are a couple of close-ups of the page:

As I mentioned above, I have a video tutorial for this art journal page – I just want to warn you though – it’s long – about 40 minutes, broken up into two parts. Art Journaling is NOT a fast process, or at least I am not a fast art journaler. I do talk you through the creation of my whole page rather than simply fast-forwarding and dubbing in music simply because I remember when I was trying to learn how to art journal, I wanted all the details I could get.

Part 1

Part 2

Our last project for today is a Paper Crafter’s Library member exclusive created by Tracy featuring the May Arts Black Ruffled Ribbon. In this project, Tracy uses the ruffled ribbon to create intersecting sections of ribbon in order to hold photos or other memento’s on the board.

There is a video tutorial and handout for this project available to our Paper Crafter’s Library members.

So there you have it! Day 3 of our celebration of May Arts! Be sure to stay tuned for tomorrow’s post with more great projects and another free video tutorial!

A Bit About Paper Crafter’s Library

May Arts Ribbon Give-Away

May Arts Week: Day 2

Andrea Walford — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:44:46 +0000

Welcome to Day 2 of May Arts Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog! We’re so excited to partnering with May Arts to showcase their stunning ribbons. I don’t know about you, but here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to have May Arts as an Invited Sponsor. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

About May Arts

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

May Arts Designer Project

Our May Arts Designer today is Leah Farrar-White. You can see her project below, but before that, here is a little more about Leah:

Hello, I’m Leah. I recently moved back to my hometown after 20 years. My husband, Howard, is a Senior Pastor for the United Methodist Church –we live right across the street. Absolutely no commute what-so-ever. We have two children, 9 year old Sophie, and 7year old Dow. They are both idea filled and very creative! I have always been an all around artsy person. As a girl my main focus was Drama, Dance and Music. In the past I have worked for Theaters, taught Drama and Speech and creative workshops of all types. I actually met my husband at an audition for a musical. I have participated in or taught many a swing choir class! Yes, soooo Glee!

Then came the Visual Art. Like a lot of people, I didn’t connect to this side of Art until later in life. It started with Sophie’s birth and scrapbooking. It then bloomed to all sorts of creative outlets. I love to quilt, knit, stitch, make cards, scrapbook and alter items. (etc.etc.etc) When I create, I love to use repurposed items and vintage-Antiquey-barginy-finds in my projects. Buttons, paper and fabric? Yes!!! and YES!!! and yes, again!!! oh and Ribbon. It makes me giddy. I have not met a May Arts ribbon that I did not LOVE. I am looking forward to sharing my ideas and videos with you!

Cards Galore

Let’s make a card…or 2, or 3…

Everybody loves the ease of a card sketch, with the outline of the card in front of you, you can just glue and go! Well today is your lucky day, here is a card sketch along with a few card samples and a video for inspiration.

This sketch is versatile; adapt anyway you want or keep it as is! Drop everything and go create!!!

Here is a video to show you how to create the first card….Enjoy!

Paper Crafter’s Library Designer Project

Now, below you can see some projects created by Tracy- Senior Educator/Designer here at Paper Crafter’s Library.

In the card below Tracy used some of the gorgeous May Arts Chevron Patterned Ribbon (called Twill/Stripes) to create an award ribbon as her focal point, on the card shown below. We’ve filmed a free video tutorial on how to create the card which you can watch below.

Download the pdf handout here.

You can watch a video on how to create this Way To Go card here.

Part 1

Part 2

In the scrapbook page below, Tracy uses May Arts Chevron Patterned Ribbon (called Twill/Stripes) to create the ribbon border on the bottom of her page.

There is a video tutorial and handout for this project available to our Paper Crafter’s Library members.

So there you have it! Day 2 of our celebration of May Arts! Be sure to stay tuned for tomorrow’s post with more great projects and another free video tutorial!

A Bit About Paper Crafter’s Library

May Arts Ribbon Give-Away

Trendy Tuesday – Denim

colleenharshaw — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:23 +0000

Trendy Tuesday – Denim
By Colleen Harshaw

This week I have chosen to focus on projects using denim. Denim is one of those themes that I have noticed pop up here and there, without really coming to the forefront of the ‘trends’ list. When I began doing my research, I realized how many denim products there really are available in the crafting market, and I became convinced that we are going to be seeing more denim inspired projects. The manufacturers wouldn’t be making these products if nobody was buying them, right?

Denim lends itself to many different themes. It can be used for western, shabby chic, masculine or vintage themed projects. It gives a great sense of texture to projects, and let’s admit, who doesn’t have a favorite pair of comfy, beat-up, ripped denim jeans? Don’t you just think of happy, cozy things when you see faded and frayed denim? These types of associations evoke feelings that can really add to the experience of the recipient when they are given one of your creations.

I have selected some projects from blogs and online galleries to share in order to show you how you can use the denim products that are available to you.

This first card shows a piece of denim that has been cut into a heart. Fabric papers, usually available in 12 x 12 sheets, are becoming more and more common. These fabric papers are a lighter weight than traditional fabrics used in sewing, and they can be cut with many of the ‘crank’ type die cut machines that are out there (for example, the Cuttlebug). See the list of products towards the end of this article to learn where you can purchase fabric paper.

An alternate to fabric paper, is plain and simple fabric. Use an old pair of worn out jeans (my 10 year old son has a pair that are going to make their way to my scrap room….SOON) and manually cut out the shapes you need using a template. Your template could be made using a die cut or a punch. Then just trace the shape onto the denim and cut it out with fabric scissors.

Card by Debbie Carriere for mftstamps.com
Photo courtesy of splitcoaststampers.com

In this card below, Julie has used old denim scraps to create rolled flowers and trim.

Card design by Julie Masse of stampinwithjulie.blogspot.com

In this card, the denim has been cut into shapes to mat the main image and to create heart shaped trim. The denim paper used is from a My Mind’s Eye paper pad called On the Bright Side.

Card by Julie Masse for The Cat’s Pajamas

In this sample, narrow denim ribbon is used to create a clever woven border along the bottom of the card. Don’t those colors just scream ‘summer’?

Card created by Ann
Photo courtesy of splitcoaststampers.com

In this sample (below), the denim was used on a school themed card. Rather appropriate, wouldn’t you say? This is the same paper used above, from My Mind’s Eye……it’s called On The Bright Side.

Card by Joanne Basile for mftstamps.com

Next, I have a couple of scrapbook layouts to share with you……

Layout created by ‘motherload’
Photo courtesy of splitcoaststampers.com

Created by ‘skrapaddict’
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

This wearable ribbon was created as a Father’s Day gift.

Joanne Basile for mftstamps.com

I love this next project. This is a great example of how you can decorate a journal or a smash book. Smash books are another really popular trend right now. We will talk about them another day!

Created by ‘scrapgoo’ of scrapgoo.blogspot.com
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

OK, after seeing all of those adorable samples, you want to know where you can buy these products, right?! Well, here comes the list!

Now, I don’t have any photos for these products, but I do want to mention some products from Close to My Heart (CTMH). They have a paper packet called the Pemberley Paper Packet which contains an assortment of patterned papers, including one called Outdoor Denim. They also carry Outdoor Denim ink pads and matching cardstock too. If you happen to have a CTMH consultant, this is another option for your denim themed purchases.

Next, we have ribbon, available from Stampin’ Up! I would guess that you could find some denim inspired ribbon or seam binding at your local fabric store too. I don’t have a fabric store located close to me (sigh), so I have not hit the pavement to search it out myself….

3/8 inch denim jean ribbon from Stampin’ Up!

Next, I have some paper lines to share with you. Once I began really looking, I was shocked at how many manufacturers are producing denim themed papers! The choices are endless. I found many good options on the websites scrapbook.com and twopeasinabucket.com.

Genuine 12 x 12 Collection Pack – By Authentique Paper
Photo courtesy of twopeasinabucket.com

Genuine Bundle 6 x 6 Paper Pack – By Authentique Paper
Photo courtesy of twopeasinabucket.com

Simple Stories – Summer Fresh Collection – 12 x 12 double sided paper – denim
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

Echo Park – Little Boy Collection – 12 x 12 double sided paper – Denim and Lizard
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

Bo Bunny Press – Double Dot Designs Collection – 12 x 12 double sided paper
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

Now, here is an example of the fabric paper that I mentioned above. As I said, it is becoming increasingly popular, and I have purchased it at Michael’s, although not in a denim pattern. This denim fabric paper is available at scrapbook.com.

Canvas Corp – 12 x 12 Fabric Paper
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

Next, I have an example of denim ribbon. You could always make this yourself with denim scraps from an old pair of jeans.

Maya Road – Trim – Frayed Edge Pleated – Denim
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

I also found some denim embellishments to share with you. These embellishments are available in several different shapes besides the rectangles shown below. You can also purchase square, circle and flower shapes.

FabScraps – Metal Embellishments – Mini Frames – Denim Rectangles
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

I even found denim colored embossing powder!

Clearsnap – Donna Salazar – Embossing Powder – Denim
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

…..and denim color wash spray……

Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Adirondack Color Wash Spray – Denim
Photo courtesy of scrapbook.com

Below, you will see some denim and wood buttons available on both twopeasinabucket.com and scrapbook.com.

Indigo Bleu Boutique Flair – By Pink Paislee
Photo courtesy of twopeasinabucket.com

Lastly, I have a couple of examples of letter stickers.

Denim Clear ABC Let Freedom Ring Stickers – By Pebbles
Photo courtesy of twopeasinabucket.com

Fresh Goods Denim ABC Stickers – By Pebbles
Photo courtesy of twopeasinabucket.com

So, as you can see…there are a lot of denim options out there. You don’t have to be experienced with a sewing machine to use denim. There are many faux denim and denim paper choices as listed above. I really like this trend, and I can’t wait until I can sneak those old jeans out of my son’s room and get crafting!

Welcome to May Arts Week

Andrea Walford — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:02:42 +0000

Welcome to May Arts Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog! We’re so excited to partnering with May Arts to showcase their stunning ribbons. I don’t know about you, but here at Paper Crafter’s Library we’re ribbon lovers – you’ll find ribbon on almost all of our projects – which is why we’re so thrilled to have May Arts as an Invited Sponsor. You haven’t seen ribbon until you’ve seen May Arts Ribbon – they offer a multitude of different colors and styles of ribbon to suit any preference and taste – and all of it, top quality!

About May Arts

Where to Buy May Arts Ribbons

May Arts Design Team Project

To start off the week, we have May Arts Designer Charlene Driggs. You will find her project below, but first here is a little bit about Charlene:

Hi! My name is Charlene Driggs. My husband and I live in the Tropical South with our little Havanese, Bentley. We have two grown sons, one lovely daughter-in-law and 2 adorable (of course!) grandchildren.

My favorite paper art projects are gift sets. I love to take ordinary everyday items and turn them into something beautiful using papers, ink, lush ribbons and other embellishments. My style would probably be considered eclectic as I enjoy a variety of styles. My current favorites are Clean and Simple (CAS) and romantic vintage.

I am humbled and honored to be a part of the amazing May Arts Design Team,and the Rubbernecker Stamps and the Sparkle N Sprinkle Design Teams.

Thrifty Gifting Altered Notebooks

As the Prima Ribbonista at May Arts Ribbon, I’m so honored to be sharing with you today on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog. I love all things crafty but my main love is paper crafting. Whether it’s altering an existing product or starting one from scratch, it’s all good. I also love to save money on my paper crafting hobby (habit!) whenever I can.

Gift giving is fun but it can also be costly, so when I’m out at the craft or department stores, I’m always on the lookout for things that can be altered. I picked up a supply of plain notebooks a while ago. I love to keep these in my stash ready to be altered for thrifty gift giving. Using a few beautiful papers, some embellishments and gorgeous May Arts Ribbons, I’m going to show you how you can turn this:

Into this:

There are many adhesives available for this type of paper craft however; I like to use Tombow Mono- Multi because it allows me a few extra seconds to move my papers around to make sure they’re straight. I chose the soft paper line called 5^th Avenue by Melissa Francis. I love the soft vintage color pallet in this paper pack.

I like to gather an assortment of ribbons, embellishments and letters together as I tend to create as I go rather than having an exact plan. I try to pick up embellishments whenever I see them on clearance even if I don’t have a plan to use them right away as I’ve found they always get used or shared with a friend.

I chose May Arts 5/8” Crochet Lace (361-58-10), ¾” Velvet in a lush soft pink (PV-34-17), 3/8” Black Velvet Ric Rac

(WR10 ) and for the flower, I used May Arts 3” Black Bias wide Cut Satin (KK10) to compliment these papers beautifully.

To create the flower, I used a pattern by Pins and Needles, May Arts 3” Bias Cut Satin and a candle to curl the edges. I simply followed the directions using the provided pattern, and then added a few pink beads from my collection for the center.

After creating my flower, I cut and measured my papers, then attached them to the notebook front using Tombow Mono-Multi. Next, I layered May Arts Crochet Lace, Pink Velvet and Black Ric Rac ribbons using strong double sided tape over the seam created by the two papers I chose. A strip of narrow double sided tape and some string pearls from my stash covers the top seam. The flower was attached using Crystal Effects as I want to make sure it doesn’t come off during use. A metal lock and Key by Dear Lizzy/American Crafts adds another touch of pink to the color scheme.

The Grunge letters by Tim Holtz (picked up at a local overstock store for $2.99!) were pressed into a black ink pad then attached with double sided tape. For the pen, I just rolled up a narrow strip of the designer paper and shoved it into the pen barrel.

That’s it! A useful, elegant, gift thanks to May Arts Ribbon. Thanks for joining me at Paper Crafter’s Library. I hope you’ve been inspired to create your own “Thrifty Gifts”! You can find Charlene here: Charlene Driggs, May Arts Ribbon Prima Ribbonista

Paper Crafter’s Library Designer Projects

Now, below you can see some projects created by yours truly (Andrea – Creative Director & Founder of Paper Crafter’s Library) and Tracy- Senior Educator/Designer here at Paper Crafter’s Library.

In the card below I used some of the gorgeous May Arts Chevron Patterned Yellow Ribbon (called Twill/Stripes) as an accent to Prima’s Sun Kiss Collection which I used to create the card shown below. We’ve filmed a free video tutorial on how to create the card which you can watch below.

Download the pdf handout here

You can watch a video on how to create this Sweet card here.

In the card below Tracy uses May Art’s Baker’s Twine to create the tail on her kite.

There is a video tutorial and handout for this project available to our Paper Crafter’s Library members.

So there you have it! Day 1 of our celebration of May Arts! Be sure to stay tuned for tomorrow’s post with more great projects and another free video tutorial!

A Bit About Paper Crafter’s Library

May Arts Ribbon Give-Away

Project Newsletter Makeover Challenge – Wonderful Friend

Andrea Walford — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:19 +0000

Welcome to the Makeover Monday challenge. Every Monday, as part of our project ideas newsletter we’re going to make over one of our own older cards, showing you how easy it is to use existing designs (your own OR someone else’s) as inspiration. This week Tracy has designed this “Wonderful Friend” card.

Your challenge – as with our previous Makeover Monday Challenges – is to use our piece as inspiration and make it into a card, scrapbook page, or other project. You can use the layout, the colors, an element you like…it can look like our piece, or nothing at all like our piece. We want to see where YOU take this. This challenge is strictly a “work from your stash” challenge.

As a newsletter subscriber you will have received a link to a private web page, from which you can watch the video tutorial. If you didn’t receive the video tutorial link then please be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com. In order to ensure you don’t miss any more of our Makeover Monday Challenge video tutorials, please be sure you sign up for our FREE email newsletter from the top right sidebar of this blog. Please note that the video tutorial will be available for general viewing for one week only – and then will be moved into our library for our members only

Every Monday, here on the blog, we’re going to post the original picture, and the made over picture. You will have ONE week to upload your challenge piece. Instead of a weekly prize though, we’re going to award a prize monthly. So for each week you participate and each project you submit – you will get one entry into our monthly draw. On the first Monday of each month – we will announce one challenge winner, who will be featured as a guest designer on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog as well as our Facebook page. As a guest designer, we’ll feature your biography, some of your favorite paper crafting projects and we’ll link to your blog.

Our inspiration piece, shown below, is an archived project from the Andrea Walford blog.

Here are the details on how you can participate in the Makeover Monday Challenge:

A new Makeover Monday Challenge video tutorial will be emailed out to newsletter subscribers every Monday (so make sure you are signed up). Then, here on the blog, we will post a picture of our inspiration piece and made-over project along with an Inlinkz button for you to enter your project. Here are the details:

Work from your own stash to create a project based on the inspiration project provided – you can use any products you would like, and make any type of project you like – card, scrapbook page, album, 3D item etc.
Post your project on your blog, in your gallery or on any other photo-hosting site (such as photobucket or flickr).
Click on our inLinkz button below to add a link to your project for our challenge
You will have until 7am, Monday, May 21st to add your link to the list to be eligible to win. And you can enter as many times as you like.
For each project you submit, your name will be entered into our monthly draw. The winner will be announced on Monday, June 4th.

Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing your projects!

Technique Thursday: Embossed Metal Chipboard Embellishment

Andrea Walford — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:10:42 +0000

This week on Paper Crafter’s Library’s Technique Thursday Tracy embellished a chipboard element, with dry embossing on a foil sheet covering the chipbopard element. Then she coated the embossed piece with two different colors of Acrylic Paint, showcasing the Embossed Metal Chipboard Element Technique.

For those of you unfamiliar with Technique Thursday, this is where we create and feature projects for our Club 52 online class (our year-long technique club), which our Paper Crafter’s Library members also access as a free benefit of their membership.

If you’re interested in checking out what we’ve covered so far, you can look at our Club 52 page. If you’re a technique junkie and would like to learn new techniques (as many of them are ones we have created), or revisit old ones – you can still sign up from this page – you’ll be able to access all 36 weeks we’ve done so far, plus the remaining weeks, and your access to the classroom will last for 15 months.

If you are not already receiving our weekly email newsletter, make sure you take a minute to sign up from the top right sidebar of our blog. Every Monday we create an exclusive project with a video tutorial for all of our newsletter subscribers and Paper Crafter’s Library members. So make sure that you sign up now, so that you don’t miss out!

Art Journaling: Life The Life Art Journal Page Video Tutorial

Andrea Walford — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:42:31 +0000

Today I thought I’d pop in and share an art journal page I created for my personal blog www.andreawalford.com – my place to share my mixed-media work. I use my art journals for a lot of different things – exploration, experimentation, reflection….The beauty of art journaling is that you don’t really need many special supplies above and beyond what you likely already have if you’re a paper crafter who enjoys working with different materials and mediums.

I’ve filmed a video tutorial that you can watch from www.andreawalford.com that shows you how I created this page. Now keep in mind, this is a relatively simple page- I usually like to add more layers, more 3D elements, more texture, but those types of pages are hard to film because they take way longer to create.

Design Team May Projects – Ezlie Perez

Ezlie Perez — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:36:13 +0000

Hello there! It’s another month and I have some fun projects to share with you along with a fun technique using a Versamarker and chalks.

The first project I made is a neutral baby card. On this card I used my Versamarker as an adhesive for my chalk. Not only does this help the chalk go where you want it to go, but it also intensifies the colors. I love that. I hope you enjoy the video tutorial and try out this fun and easy technique.

My second project is a great one because it can be made in minutes! These are fun clothespins that are also magnets. I don’t know about you, but I always have artwork and papers from my kids school that I want to put on the fridge, but my magnets are not always strong enough. But with these clips, it makes it easy to hang different work from the fridge as well as adds a nice decorative element. An added bonus with this project is you can use up some of your smaller scraps or that one flower you may have left from a package.

I hope you enjoy this quick video tutorial for this fun project.

My final project is a bonus project, so there is no video tutorial for it. It is a scrapbook layout that I got to use stamps, washi tape, twine, and sewing. I was even able to use some of my die embosslits from Stampin’ Up! that I’ve had just waiting to be used. I hope you like this layout. It is a different way to get 3 photos on a layout. Having the middle photo smaller, popped up on dimensional adhesive, and having a wider photo mat really makes it stand out.

I hope you’ve been inspired by these projects. Feel free to check out my blog for more inspiration by me. Thank you for your support and happy crafting!