Paper Crafter's Library – Page 30 – 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! And this week we have a Time to Celebrate collection prize package give-away. Details will be at the end of this post.

For those of you unfamiliar with Graphic 45, we’d like to take a minute to re-introduce them to you.

Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company— owned and operated by a mother and her two daughters.

Diane Schultz—Designer and CEO (aka mother)

“I’m passionate about being creative and eager to make it possible for others to find their creative voice. My background includes stints as a designer for, McCalls, Simplicity, Vogue/ Butterick, Mattel Toy Company and a host of other jobs that each, in some way, led me to what I do now. At 45 I went back to school and got my degree in graphic design— I named the company to celebrate that achievement.”

Aimee Filimoehala —Director of Operations

“I wear a lot of hats and love it that way. Business, marketing, operations, etc. have made me a pro at multitasking (aka juggling‑figuratively and literally). When we launched Graphic 45 in 2008 we had no idea what was in store, working together as a family has been an amazing journey that we all feel so grateful to be apart of.”

Charee Filimoehala —Director of Customer Service and Social Media Coordinator

“I joined the team in 2009 and haven’t looked back…what a life-changing experience this has been. I love working with and around creative people and products (not to mention I like my co-workers quite a bit). I spend my days working with our friendly stores and talented design team…the occasional trip somewhere warm is pretty nice too.”

Together we create vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920’s and 30’s – with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that’s both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album or home decor project.

Graphic 45 Designer Annette Green

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

Hello, Annette Green here. Formerly a graphic designer by trade, I’ve been a work-at-home mom for the past 16 years. I spend every single day creating something either for design teams or for classes which I teach here in Florida. This is my second year on the Graphic 45 design team and it’s truly a dream job. I’m a mother of a beautiful, artistic teenage daughter and wife of 22 years to my husband Paul, and owner of a sweet shy Sheltie named Suki. We live in Melbourne, not far from the famous Cocoa Beach in sunny Florida. When I’m not creating, I’m enjoying a good workout, cooking and baking, reading a good book, and spending time with friends.

An Eerie Tale Altered Birdhouse

I have a thing for birdhouses. They can be themed and whimsical and show off all kinds of character. I like to change out my home decor according to season, so I decided I would make a Halloween-themed birdhouse this year. With wonderful Graphic 45 products like the new “An Eerie Tale” collection, plus their metal Staples and few other craft store products, I was able to create this fun and slightly spooky birdhouse for my home. Now I can’t wait for Halloween!

You can watch a video on how I created this altered bird house below.

We hope you have enjoyed this fun creation from Annette Green. I would also like to extend a warm thank you to Annette for sharing her fabulous project with us! Please take a minute to stop by Annette’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.

Karen

Winner of the WOW! Embossing Powder Give Away

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to WOW! Embossing Powder’s guest designer Marion Emberson for sharing such a wonderful project and to WOW! Embossing Powder for their generous give-away of a collection of WOW! Embossing Powder products – Box Canvas, Silver Bells Embossing Glitter, Seafoam White Embossing Powder, WOW! Melt It, WOW! Foil Trays, WOW! Large Rose Silicone Mould and WOW! Ring Blank.

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

Congratulations Caroline! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “WOW Embossing Powder 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.

Karen

Trend Watch – All Tied Up in a Cute (Paper) Bow

Hello everyone! I just love putting cute little bows on my cards and sometimes they even look like I intend them to look. Even thought I can’t tie a perfect bow every time, I can get off the hook with cool bow dies that help create perfect bows every time. I can also coordinate them with whatever color I want as you can make the bows out of scraps you already have. As I was looking around the internet I found ladies who created their own perfect little bows with dies, stamps and even their own templates. I can’t wait to show you what I found and share some inspiration with you!

Laurie created this super feminine bit of bling bow with her Cameo machine. She says she loves how she can change the size of the bow depending on the project she is working on.

card by Laurie Willison photo courtesy of Soapbox Creations

Bows can fit with the look of several styles of cards. This one is used for a more masculine looking card and it looks just great. Vicki used an envelope board to create this bow and she has a tutorial here.

card b Vicki Dutcher photo courtesy of A Walk Down Memory Lane

I love the classy ornate look of this card and bow combination by Aly. She used a template for her bow that you can find here.

card by Aly Dosdall photo courtesy of It Happened Like This

And if one bow looks awesome as as focal point, look how cool multiple bows look on this multicolored card by Melania.

card by Melania Deasy photo courtesy of Melania Deasy: Create. Love. Happiness.

I love how fun this card is. It could be great as a birthday card as well. Fun die cuts and a little decorative paper show off the cuteness of this bow tie die.

card by Becky Fleck photo courtesy of Scrapbook and Cards Today

The collage-style card that Melissa created is so awesome and looks great with this huge bow.

card by Melissa Phillips photo courtesy of Crate Paper Blog

This card is such a beauty in slate grey. How clever of Keisha to use the bow as a holder for her banner.

card by Keisha Campbell photo courtesy of A Bit East-Coast

I know some of you are already working hard on your Christmas crafts so I couldn’t resist adding this lovely glitter bow card by Debby. It is so elegant.

card by Debby Hughes photo courtesy of Lime Doodle Design

Bows can also jump off your page and end up in a banner. This is just adorable. And Dina created a template for you to use here.

project by Dina photo courtesy of Honey and Fitz

Of course bows look great on gifts. When I saw this next tutorial by Charlet, I just thought it would be perfect for little presents that coordinate with cards you make. She includes a template to make this bow here.

Project by Charlet photo courtesy of Charlet’s Website

The cuteness factor can also be ramped way up by making a shirt front card like this adorable creation by Sheri.

card by Sheri Gibson photo courtesy of Paper Crafty’s Creation

Or what about these two adorable little bears. They truly are squeal worthy. The bow works to make the boy bear as well as the girl bear incredibly sweet.

cards by Joni Andaya photo courtesy of Papell with Love

Below are some bow stamps, papers, dies and embellishments that I found.

Featured Artist/Designer: Melissa Chipperfield

Today we’re thrilled to welcome Melissa Chipperfield. Before we show you Melissa’s project, let’s get to know her a little bit more…

I think my love of stamps began somewhere around the year 2000 when some of my college friends introduced me to scrapbooking & card making. Two years later, I met a gal who was pretty passionate about card making and her enthusiasm was contagious! I am now the owner of too many stamps to count (I’m afraid to…)! I’ve tried my hand at different design styles over the years, but finally settled on clean & simple design. I love the challenge of designing something really simple that delivers a message in a creative way! Often times, I like a little humor thrown in for good measure. Many people know me from CASology, my clean & simple challenge blog. It’s there that I find loads of inspiration for my CAS addiction!

I am a registered dental hygienist, but am currently only working one morning per week while I stay at home to raise our four children (ages 10, 7, 4 & 1). My other passion is photography and you won’t find me leaving the house without a camera! I share both my cards and photography on my blog.

Today, I thought I’d share a card I made with Unity stamps, one of my current favorite stamp companies! Many of my cards use simple texture, dimension & color to add interest to a white background and this card is a good example of my typical design work. The sentiment was actually the inspiration for this idea.

I simply die cut two clouds from white cardstock and two clouds from metal sheets before layering them together & popping them up with foam dots.

Supplies
Stamps: Unity
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Other: Add a Little Dazzle metal sheet, Simon Says Stamp chevron clouds dies, foam dots, silver sequins

We hope you have enjoyed today’s project courtesy of Melissa. Be sure to stop by Melissa’s blog to see even more of her beautiful work (and let her know we sent you). You can also find Melissa on Pinterest and Bloglovin’.

Have a great day!

Karen

Featured Company: Wow! Embossing Powder

This week we are thrilled to welcome WOW! Embossing Powder! In today’s spotlight you’ll learn more about WOW! Embossing Powder, see a fantastic project by Marion Emberson and have the opportunity to win a collection of WOW! Embossing Powder products – Box Canvas, Silver Bells Embossing Glitter, Seafoam White Embossing Powder, WOW! Melt It, WOW! Foil Trays, WOW! Large Rose Silicone Mould and WOW! Ring Blank (details at the end of this post).

About WOW! Embossing Powder

WOW! Embossing Powder has been established as a brand since May 2006 and has grown dramatically since then. We are rapidly becoming very well-known and respected within the craft industry. We pride ourselves on our fast and friendly customer service, and personal touch each and every one of our customers receives. We are the largest manufacturers of embossing powder in the world, therefore are very pleased and proud to offer crafters what we believe is the best product available at a great price.

WOW! Embossing Powder offer over 160 different colours of embossing powders: Embossing Glitter, Metallic, Puff and Ultra High to name a few collections. WOW! also sell embossing pens, stamps, silicone moulds and stamping accessories.

WOW! Embossing Powder Designer Marion Emberson

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

I am a wife to Ricky and mother to Jamie (24) and Luke (21). I have an incredibly supportive family and this has enabled me to pursue my love of creating.

I came to this industry 11 years ago, by opening my own UK store, what started off as designing and hand painting children’s furniture, I soon got in to using stamps and embossing powders on my commissions, this then lead to a love of scrapbooking and this is where I am today.

I work part time for WOW Embossing Powders as a Creative Consultant, designing and creating projects for their retailers and consumers. Working with such a brilliant product is no hardship and the possibilities are endless.

I hope you enjoy the projects that WOW have to share with you.

WOW! MONOGRAM CANVAS

If youʼre anything like me, then youʼve got a tonne of buttons in all sorts of colours, but never the right colour !! Here Iʼm going to show you how to change those buttons and get exactly what you want. The Box Canvas is perfect for this project as itʼs so sturdy, thereʼs hardly any ʻgiveʼ in the centre, therefore, no sag !! and it stands up really well even with weight on it.

Hereʼs what we used:

WOW! Box Canvas
WOW! White Twinkle, Silver Bells and Seafoam White Embossing Powders
WOW! Melt-It Powder
Versamark Ink Pad
WOW! Foil tray
Wooden Peg
WOW! Heat Tool
Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Chalk paint
Cardstock
Ribbon
Adhesive

Hereʼs how we did it:

Apply paint to the WOW! Box Canvas using a baby wipe, this gives a very soft paint effect allowing the canvas texture to still show through.

Cut a letter or shape from cardstock and use that as a template on the canvas. Draw around it lightly with a pencil.

Divide buttons up, into three piles. One by one push buttons onto VersaMark ink pad and sprinkle with WOW! Embossing Powder.

Do this for all three colours. The opaque powders will completely cover the colour of the button. Shake off the excess and heat set one at a time, holding button down with a pin.

When they are all covered, position them on the canvas, before sticking them down with Glossy Accents. I added ribbon to a few buttons.

To add a bit of dimension to the monogram, put one teaspoon of WOW! Melt-It along with a pinch of Silver Bells Embossing Glitter, or any colour you choose, into a foil tray. Stir, then heat from underneath.

Once all molten, drip onto non-stick craft sheet.

These take seconds to set. Adhere on top of buttons.

You’re done!

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

In order to enter the give-away to win the prize listed above, please leave us a comment in the comments section of this post. One winner will be announced next Wednesday on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog!

Karen

Winner of the Fancy Pants Designs Give Away!

I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Fancy Pants Designs’s owner Jodi Sanford for sharing such a wonderful project and for her generous give-away of a collection of True Friend products.

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

Congratulations Elaine! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “Fancy Pants Designs 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.

Karen

Trend Watch-Maps

Maybe you are ready to document your summer travels, maybe the anticipation is still building, or maybe you’d like to send a note to a family member that lives much too far away. Whatever the case may be, this week’s Trend Watch post is for you! Many paper crafters have been finding ways to work maps into their projects, and I think there’s a fun assortment of projects for today’s post.

There are so many different directions (pun intended!) that a person could go with these kinds of stamps and dies.

This card by Ann shows a great way to highlight a part of the map with sponged ink. It matches the sentiment so well!

You Color My World by Ann Schach

Alanna made this cute map with a stencil and distress inks. She mentions adding a heart to the state where the recipient lives.

Miss You by Alanna Moses

This card by Lauren uses a cute set from Stampin’ Up and highlights the location for both the sender and the recipient. I really like the background paper that looks like waves; it adds such a neat little touch.

Always Thinking of You by Lauren Winemiller

Here’s the stamp set she used and a coordinating set that’s also available from Stampin’ Up.

Map It Out from Stampin’ Up

Greetings From from Stampin’ Up

This Wish You Were Here card by Deb is such a fun way to say “I miss you!”

Wish You Were Here by Deb

Lynnette’s adorable card makes me wish we could “Travel by Map” as the Muppets often do.

Happy Trails by Lynnette Kauffman

Deb and Lynnette’s cards feature these stamps and matching dies from Lawn Fawn.

Lawn Fawn’s Wish You Were Here

Lawn Fawn’s Wish You Were Here Too

Maile used brand-new dies and stamps from Papetrey Ink to create this beautiful card.

Home is Where the Heart Is by Maile Belles

The “These United States” stamp and die sets from Papertrey Ink were just released and could be use to make cards for so many different purposes!

Papertrey Ink’s These United States Stamp Set

They offer small sets of a few neighboring states, so you don’t have to pay for all 50 states at once.

Papertrey Ink’s CA and NV dies

This card by Laura features some great stitching, die cutting, and embossing. Her streets of Paris card is so much fun!

Follow Your Heart by Laura Craigie

Our very own design team member, Jennifer, created this card using some map paper. The die cut fits so perfectly with the paper.

Home is Where the Heart Is by Jennifer Rzasa

Evey’s card makes me want to go out and collect as many maps as I possibly can for all of the crafty possibilities! If you’re on the hunt for some maps, consider your local chamber of commerce or state welcome rest areas. Both locations often provide free maps.

Valentine by Evey

This project by Kelsie Ann could be adapted to any number of situations. She created this map for her husband for their first anniversary.

Personalized Photo Map by Kelsie Ann

Martha created this incredible board book for her daughter with her Silhouette Cameo. The way the maps nest inside one another is SO neat!

Personalized Board Book by Martha Clyde

There were so many products and projects available related to maps, it was hard to pick only a few! Here are a few more fun map-related products from Simon Says Stamp:

Map Washi Tape

Ali Edwards Geotag Stamps

Prima Marketing Street Map Stencil

Hopefully you’ve been inspired to go make your own map-related project! Remember, as the bumper sticker on my dear friend’s car says, “Without Geography, You’re Nowhere!”

by Laurie Davenport

PCL Membership Highlights July 28 – August 8

Today we 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. So the sneak peek you see below is a snapshot of some of the video tutorials & pdf handouts our members received for the weeks of July 28, 2014 – August 8, 2014.

Each week at Paper Crafter’s Library our monthly members can expect to receive access to a minimum of 5 exclusive videos each week – totaling around 20 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 advanced paper crafter.

Here’s a sneak peek of the Allium art journal page that Michelle shared for our members. I just love the unique way that Michelle created her text background!

Other highlights these two weeks:

Watercoloring
Resist technique
Using background stamps as patterned paper
Creating you own stencil
Some cards from our Flower Patch 2 Creative Inspiration Collection

Read about all the perks of being a Paper Crafter’s Library member you can visit our Benefits of Membership page HERE.

Featured Artist/Designer: Donna Mikasa

Today we’re thrilled to welcome Donna Mikasa. Before we show you Donna’s projects, let’s get to know her a little bit more…

Hello! My name is Donna Mikasa and I’m thrilled to be here as a guest designer. I was born and raised in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I’m married to my high school sweetheart and we are the parents of two grown daughters. I’ve always been involved with paper crafting and discovered rubber stamping after a friend showed me heat embossing—remember your first time?—and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I started my blog in 2009 because I wanted to join a Hero Arts blog hop. Five years later, I’ve made numerous friendships with stampers worldwide who share the love of card making, which is probably the most rewarding aspect of this hobby.

I am currently on several design teams: CASual Fridays, AEI{heart}U Challenge, CAS(E) this Sketch, and Tag You’re It! and I try to get a little inky every day. I consider myself a “technique” stamper and currently I’m obsessed with watercoloring, either with Distress inks or my new love: Peerless Watercolors.

My projects today involve Distress inks on background stamps. You can use this technique on any background stamp, but I chose stripes for a clean and simple look.

Rainbow Watercolor Background

1. Ink striped background stamp with three colors of distress inks in “rainbow order”. Begin with Mustard Seed in the middle, add Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers on each side.

2. Lightly mist the entire surface of the stamp.

3. Press watercolor cardstock on inked surface, using your hands to insure even inking.

4. Lift up cardstock. Some colors may have blended, giving you a third color.

5. Use a heat tool to dry or let air dry.

6. When completely dry, trim to desired size, or die cut tags.

Thanks For Everything Card

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock
My Favorite Things Striped Background stamp
Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers Distress inks
Water mister bottle
Savvy Stamps Thanks Script Die
Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold and The Happy
Archival Black ink
Avery Elle New Moon (black) heavy card stock
Tombow Mono Multi Glue
Scotch Permanent Adhesive Dot Roller
Studio Calico black acrylic stars

Tags

Supplies:

Paper Smooches Tag Stitched die
Mama Elephant In My Heart stamps
Archival Coffee ink
Lawn Fawn Natural cord

We hope you have enjoyed today’s project courtesy of Donna Mikasa. Be sure to stop by Donna’s blog to see even more of her beautiful work (and let her know we sent you). You can also find Donna on Flickr and Instagram.

Have a great day!

Karen

Winner of Laina Lamb’s Give Away

Last week we had Laina Lamb as our featured artist and she graciously offered a give away of one the stamp sets and dies that she designed (shown below).

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

Congratulations Carla! Be sure to email us at customerservice@papercrafterslibrary.com to claim your prize. Please be sure to put “Laina Lamb Give Away 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.

Karen