Paper Crafter's Library – Page 20 – A world of creativity at your fingertips

Featured Company: Graphic 45

We are happy to bring you this week’s Featured Company: Graphic 45. We are so excited to be featuring them regularly on Paper Crafter’s Library!

Graphic 45 Designer – Lori Williams

Our Graphic 45 Guest Designer for this week is Lori Williams who is part of the 2014 Graphic 45 Design Team. You can see Lori’s fabulous project below, but first, here is a little more about her:

My name is Lori Williams and I’m a happy fun loving southern girl from Western North Carolina, USA. I am honored to be a design team member for such an amazing company, Graphic 45. My background is in Metals/Production Crafts but I’ve always worked with various forms of mediums. I started working with paper and scrapbooking when my oldest son was born and I’m happy to say, I’ve come a long way. My style is one that is clean yet very detailed and I love to create handmade flowers and embellishments.

I have two adorable little boys, Cole and Will, that have stolen my heart, along with our Wheaten Terrier, Finley. There is never a dull moment in our household, that’s for sure. I enjoy reading, cooking, spending time with family and believe it or not…. pushing myself in Crossfit. My goal in life is to be better today than I was yesterday and to make sure I pay it forward.

You can find me on my blog, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Time to Flourish Snowman Friend

I have a thing for snowmen. If you looked on my Christmas tree you would figure it out as it’s loaded with snowmen ornaments. I thought I would give it a whirl to try to create my own little snowman friend, and I love, love, love the way the turned out.

His head was molded with paper clay over a styrofoam ball, then painted and glittered up…can’t forget the glitter. The January papers from a Time to Flourish Collection from Graphic 45 had that snowman blue color I love, so I added that for his hat and his matchbox body. He really was a creation that just seemed to come to life the more I worked with him. I hope you love him as much as I do.

Supplies

Graphic 45 Products
A Time to Flourish 12 x 12
-January Flourish
-January Cut Apart
A Time to Flourish 8 x8
-January Flourish
A Time to Flourish Solid and Patterns 6 x6
A Time to Flourish Stickers
A Time to Flourish Chipboard 2
Graphic 45 Staples
Kraftboard Altered Art Match Box

Other Products Used:
Suncatcher Connie Catcher Crystal
Zip Dries Glue
Dries Clear Glue
Xyron Glue Dots
Styrofoam Ball
Spray Paint: Bronze
Distress Marker: Black Soot
Distress Ink: Vintage Photo and Applicator
Fairy Dust Glitter
Paper Clay
Ribbon
Jinglebell
Score Board

I would like to extend a warm thank you to Lori for sharing her fabulous project with us! Please take a minute to stop by Lori’s blog and of course the Graphic 45 blog to check out all their amazing creations! Be sure to leave a comment on this post to enter to win the Graphic 45 collection listed above.

Trend Watch – Year in Review

We’ve seen a lot of great trends on the blogs this year. And the subjects of the trend watches are very different each week. But when I look back on the trends from this year I can see a lot of trends that are still very popular. In this post I picked ten trends from the past trend watches that are still trendy. I’ll show you a picture from our trend watch this year and a new example of the trend in use!

1. Gold
Especially in December gold is a really hot topic. It’s just really sophisticated to use on your Christmas cards, but also works for a lot of other cards. Personally I like to use the warm golden colors on ‘thank you’ cards.

Last year we started the year with a lot of gold in our trend watch. So in this year in review I’ll start with it too. This gold tipped feather from Donna Mikasa is still very beautiful!

gold-tipped-feather-jan2014 Gold tipped feather card by Donna Mikasa image source 3 umbrellas

On the next card Tasnim from Altenew used a beautiful emobssing powder on her stamp to get this amazing gold color on her card.

gold-lacy-scrolls1-altenew Congratulations card by Tasnim, image source Altenew

2. Shaker Cards
I’ve never seen so many shaker cards as I have this year. And I have to admit: I love them too. It’s just great to have a little ‘interactive’ element on your cards and who doesn’t love to shake it.

shaker-jjbolton_lovequotes1 Card by JJ Bolton, image source Ribbon Girls

And while we’re talking about shaker cards I don’t think I can skip Paulina from Pretty Pink Posh. She organized a huge blog hop all about shaker cards this year. And this great Christmas shaker is also made by Paulina.

shaker-PPP-mamaelephant1a Merry and Bright by Paulina, image source Pretty Pink Posh

3. Liquid Texture
A lot of great stencils have been released this year and when you love to use embossing/texture paste that’s a great way to add a little bit of depth to your card.

texture-yellow-flowers-289x300 Card by Charlene Bopp, image source Charlene’s Studio Ink

Jennifer McGuire has shared some amazing texture paste techniques throughout the year. She also has great ways to add color to the paste.

texture-090414-Crafty6-Jennifer-McGuire-Ink Crafty friends by Jennifer McGuire, image source Jennifer McGuire Ink

4. Transparencies
The transparencies are a part of the shaker cards, but you can use them in many other ways. A very versatile product that can create a beautiful effect.

vellum-Natalie-Strand-Vegatablog-Vellum-Card Rainbow Ombre Birthday Wishes card by Natalie Strand, image source Vegatablog

Vellum is still very popular and gives a nice muted look to your background, but it’s also good to give your text message a little accent.

vellum-laura-IMG_4433 Seasons Greeting’s by Laura Sterckx, image source Making cards is fun

5. Watercolor
Watercolors are great for creating backgrounds or coloring your images. It’s a technique that has gained a lot of popularity this year. But why would you expect different? It’s just great to play around with some colors and you can create lots an lots of different effects with it.

watercolor-Newton Challenge_Chrissie Card by Chrissie Tobas featuring stamps from Newton’s Nook Designs, image source Harvest Moon Papiere

Oak Leaves by Eva Dobilas, image source For the love of Life

6. Coffee
Coffee is a subject that was pretty popular this year. There are a lot of new stamps with beautiful coffee images. And it’s even a great subject to play with some sentiments.

Card by Amy Kolling, featuring stamps from Clearly Whimsy Stamps, image source Stamp-n-Paradise

And there are even some fun coffee dies!

Latte Thanks by Shari Carrol, image source Shari Carrol

7. Cute Clips
These clips are great to add little accents to your card. There are a lot of different shapes which go from clean and simple to pretty and intricate.

clips-youreperfect card by Jules Hollis, image source Inspired Jules

My friend card by Inge Groot, image source Stampin’ Cards and Memories

8. Sequins
We’ve seen a lot of sequins in the shaker cards but they’re also great to use as little sparkling accents on your projects.

sequins-rainbow Card by Elise C., image source Whimsipost

sequins-leighpenner-IMGP9532
Happy Birthday by Leigh Penner, image source To the Full

9. Stencils
A great way to get your hands dirty, but also a great way to create backgrounds! You can use them with texture pastes but they work great with ink too.

Card by Pam Sparks, image source Expressions with Heart

stencil-15661714411_cc222c0bdd_b Merry Christmas by Heather Pulvirenti, image source Witty Title Here…

10. Focal Point Greetings
Last but not least; focal point greetings. Great for CAS-cards and even one sentiment can give you a lot of options! Use different colors, heat embossing or add a little image and you can make a completely different card.

FPG-julia-alterman A Friend by Julia Altermann, image source Just One More Card

Even if you only have one word to say:

FPG-yana-smakula-2014-hero-arts-cheers-2sw Cheers by Yana Smakula, image source Hero Arts

I hope you enjoyed this little year in review! – Lucinde

PCL Member Highlights

I wanted to show you a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of some of the projects that were released to our members these past two weeks. We’ve put together a sneak peek you of just a few of the video tutorials & pdf handouts our members received during the weeks of December 15 – December 26 .

Each week at Paper Crafter’s Library our monthly members can expect to receive access to a minimum of 5 exclusive videos each week. Typically members receive upwards of 25 exclusive videos each month. In planning for our projects we ensure that we cover a range of project types so that there is something for everyone whatever their interest or preference – whether it be card making, stamping, scrapbooking, altered art, mixed media, 3D items, templates, techniques etc. Projects range in difficulty level – so there will always be projects in library for whatever your paper crafting “level” whether you are a beginning paper crafter, or a more intermediate paper crafter.

Highlights these two weeks:

An art journal page
A scrapbook page
A treat holder featuring the Envelope Punch Board
Altering wood veneer embellishments using embossing powder
MDS video

Did you also know that Paper Crafter’s Library members also receive free access to our online classes? Read about all the perks of being a Paper Crafter’s Library member you can visit our Benefits of Membership page HERE.

Merry Christmas!

All of us at Paper Crafter’s Library would like to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!

MerryChristmas2-12252014

Winner of the Graphic 45 Give Away

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Graphic 45’s guest designer Keri Sallee for sharing such a wonderful project and to Graphic 45 for their generous give-away of their collection shown below.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…….the winner is……Kathleen Spaeth!

Congratulations Kathleen! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “Graphic 45 Winner” in the subject line of the email, and then in the email itself, be sure to include your full mailing address and phone number.

Join us next week when we feature another great company!

Featured Company: Lawn Fawn

We are happy to bring you this week’s Featured Company: Lawn Fawn. And this week we are giving away the Snow Day stamp set and coordinating Lawn Cuts. (Details at the end of the post.)

Simon Says Stamp Designer – Chari Moss

Today we welcome Chari Moss. We are so excited to have her showcase her work today on Paper Crafter’s Library. You can see Chari’s fabulous project below, but first, here is a little more about her:

My name is Chari and I am a designer with a background in Architecture. I live in the mountains of NC with my always comedic husband and our sweet miniature dachshund Penny. I love stamps, paper, polka dots, crisp autumn air, photography, yummy food, movies with my hubby and snuggles with Penny. Clean lines and happy designs are just my style.

Merry and Bright Card

I was inspired to create a snow globe card using the snowy paper in the Snow Day collection. And I thought the cute little snow bunnies would be perfect to place inside the snowy wonderland. I used the stitched circle die along with the stitched hillside and forest border dies to create my winter scene and added in the bunnies and tree. The stitched snowflakes are cut from silver glitter paper and I created a banner for my sentiment which creates a sort of base for the snow globe.

Here’s a close up of the card.

SUPPLIES
Snow Day collection (Lawn Fawn)
Snow Day stamps (Lawn Fawn)
Forest border die (Lawn Fawn)
Stitched Hillside Border die (Lawn Fawn)
Small Stitched Circle dies (Lawn Fawn)
Large Stitched Rectangle dies (Lawn Fawn)
Stitched Snowflake dies (Lawn Fawn)
Splash ink (Hero Arts)
Beanstalk Green ink (Simon Says Stamp)
Cobblestone ink (Simon Says Stamp)

We hope you have enjoyed today’s feature. We want to extend a sincere thank you to Chari Moss for her fabulous project and Lawn Fawn for sharing their company with us. Be sure to visit Lawn Fawn to see more of their products and their blog for some inspiration!

In order to enter the give-away to win the prize shown above, please leave us a comment in the comments section of this post. The winner will be announced next Wednesday.

Happy Crafting!

Trend Watch – Simply Elegant Christmas Crafting

Christmas Eve is just a day away, and while I’m sure many of you have all of your crafty projects done, if you’re anything like me, you just might be in need of some inspiration for quick projects that you can whip up before you leave or the company arrives! Today’s post features some elegant, yet simple Christmas cards that just might save the day for your holiday mental block! (If your projects are all done, then just sit back and enjoy these great cards!)

Sarah’s card is certainly Clean and Simple and has such a great elegance to it. The silver glitter mat adds a nice touch of sparkle.

Christmas Blessings by Sarah Gray, image source Funky Fossil Design

This great card by Darnell is gorgeous in its simplicity! I really love how she offset the trees just slightly on the black background to give them a shadowed effect.

Blue Christmas Pines by Darnell Knauss, image source djkardkreations

This thank-you note by Maile has a great dimensional effect with the branches behind the sentiment and the enamel dots in the front. I could see a smaller version of this design making great place cards for your Christmas dinner!

Christmas Thank You by Maile Belles, image source simplystamped

All of the features of Mary’s card come together so nicely. I like the embossing folder she chose for the background and the button and bow on the tree. The card is so festive and not at all overwhelming.

Merry by Mary Fish, image source Stampin’ Pretty

These tags by Virginia look so complicated; her use of different inks with the same stamp gave such a gorgeous dimensional effect! What a treat it would be to receive a package with one of these tags tags on it.

Evergreen Tags by Virginia Lu, image source Yes, Virginia

Dawn’s Joy to the World card is so much fun. I love the Glimmer Paper that she used to create the letters that spell “Joy.” There are so many words that could be spelled easily with a simple alphabet die set to make up a quick (and beautiful!) card.

Joy to the World by Dawn Olchefske, image source DOstamping with Dawn

Nancy’s beautiful card is so simple and striking. I absolutely LOVE the Nativity stamp and the way she featured it with Copics. I’m sure the coloring with Copics took quite a bit of time to do, but they really allow the stamp to stand out.

Christ is Born by Nancy Krueger, image source Happy Heart Studio

This bag and tag by Angie might help you wrap up that last little something. I like how she used patterned paper to dress up a bag, and made a tag to match. Everything coordinates so well!

Merry Christmas Bag by Angie Kennedy Juda, image source Chic ‘n Scratch

Thanks for stopping by today’s post. Hopefully these cards have inspired you to whip something gorgeous up before your holiday celebrations! Merry Christmas!

Winners of the Heartfelt Cards 2015 Online Class

I just wanted to take a minute to let everyone know that the Keep It CAS-ual tutorials will resume in the new year.

I also wanted to remind you that Paper Crafter’s Library recently released a new online class – Heartfelt Cards 2015. With the release, we were also giving away 2 spots to this class.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…….the winners are……Kristen and Bente!

Congratulations Kristen and Bente! Please check your email as we will be in touch with you regarding how you can access the class.

Last Day to Save $5 on Heartfelt Cards 2015 Online Stampin’ Up! Card Class & Enter The Giveaway

I just want to post a quick reminder that today is the last day to save $5 off of the registration fee for the Heartfelt Cards Online Class. This is our most technique loaded class yet! With 30 different card ideas each with a video tutorial – at the sale price of $25 it works out to less than $1 per video tutorial!

*We are giving away 2 spots to the Heartfelt Cards 2015 Class – to enter to win please leave a comment in the comments section of this post – please note if you register for the class and then are chosen as a winner, your registration fee will be refunded* Winners will be announced on Monday, December 22nd here on the blog.

To see a sneak peek of the cards in this class please watch the video below:

Paper Crafter’s Library is excited to announce that our next Stampin’ Up! focused online card class – Heartfelt Cards 2015 – is now open for registration!

Over the course of two (and a bit) weeks we’ll be making 30 different cards EACH with a video tutorial and a beautifully designed PDF handout. The theme of the cards will be love, friendship, wedding and/or anniversary and “for you” cards. While many will be perfect for Valentine’s day – there will be many more that will carry you throughout the year whenever you just want to show someone that you care.

This class is filled with LOADS of different techniques including:

techniques using framelits
creating a shaped shaker card
patterned paper techniques
4 different stencil techniques
combining dry embossing and heat embossing
emboss resist
multi-colored heat embossing
watercolor techniques with dye ink refills
coloring paint with dye ink refills
creating a custom marbled ink pad using dye ink refills
masking
repurposing stamp sets to a different theme
and more!

Although you’ll be making 30 different cards – the cards are created in sets in order to help you maximize your stamp sets. Each set is centred around a Stampin’ Up! product or cluster of Stampin’ Up! products (including stamp sets, stencils, framelits and patterned paper). There will be 6 sets of four cards each and one set of 6 cards. Cards will range from clean and simple to arty.

Please note that although this class uses Stampin’ Up! product, the card designs and techniques are pretty EASILY adapted to stamp sets from your other favorite companies.

*** Online classes are FREE to Paper Crafter’s Library members (click here for details about membership) ***

Your registration comes with LIFETIME access to all Heartfelt Cards 2015 videos & PDFs.

Class Type	Class Dates	SALE Price
Self-paced	Jan.5, 2015 to Jan. 19, 2015	$25.00 (regular $30.00)

* a $5 discount off the regular price of the class is being offered if you sign up by Sunday, December 21st, 2014.

Supply List

In order to fully enjoy and participate in this class you will need access to a computer and high speed internet. A full supply list will be emailed to you prior to the start of the class once you are registered. The main products used for each set of cards is listed below:

Set 1 (4 cards): Around the World, Just Sayin’ and Groovy Love stamp sets. Optional: World Map stamp set, Word Bubbles Framelits
Set 2 (4 cards): Hearts Framelits, Sweet Taffy DP
Set 3 (4 cards): Work of Art stamp set
Set 4 (6 cards): You Plus Me stamp set, Stacked With Love DSP Paper Pack (from Occasions 2015 mini catalog); Optional: #Hello (also used in Set 7)
Set 5 (4 cards): Cheers to Love, Bouquet Toss stamp sets, Gold Embossing Powder. Optional: Apothecary Accents framelits, Modern Mosaic embossing folder
Set 6 (4 cards): Confetti Celebration DSP; Optional: A Dozen Thoughts Stamp Set
Set 7 (4 cards): Hearts and Stars Decorative Masks. Optional: #hello (also used in Set 4)

Please note that in many cases substitutions can be made and supplies adapted if you don’t have the exact thing we used. So please DO NOT feel like you need to purchase everything used to be able to participate in the class.

Class Content

Please note that all lessons, PDF handouts, and videos are provided in English. At this time, videos are not subtitled or captioned. You will need high-speed internet access in order to properly view the videos.

Refund Policy

Because this is digital content – in most cases class fees are non-refundable. If however you have paid for the class and are unable to access the classroom, please notify us within 7 days of registering for a full refund.

*** If you are a Paper Crafter’s Library member please do NOT sign up for this class as the projects are included in your membership ***

Once you have registered please keep your eye on your email inbox for an email for us with further details on how you will access the class information. You should receive this email within 24 hours of your purchase. If you do not see an email in your inbox please check your spam folder. For questions please email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com

PCL Member Highlights

Highlights these two weeks:

An art journal page
A scrapbook page
A couple treat holders
A couple Christmas ornaments
Melted crayon technique
Shaker tag
Merry Christmas home decor piece
Altered paper clip
MDS video