Author Archives: CraftKatie

Quick Scrap: a little tag for those flowers you’re giving to someone special

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How about a new category of projects: the ones that take you 30-60 minutes from start to finish, for those unexpected invitations-for-tonight or the little something you want to send someone on impuls. Let’s call those… Quick Scraps!

In fact, I actually created a new blog post category for them, check it out in the Category menu on the home page: if you click on it, you’ll see all of my Quick Scrap projects in one neat list – this will make it easier for you to find some inspiration if you’re in dire need of a quick idea! 😉

And here’s a new one for you: this little project will help you personalize the bunch of flowers you’re giving to someone – by creating your own tag to write a special message for them! It’ll take you 15-30 minutes at the most.

Hope you’ll take some inspiration from the video! – please like/subscribe & leave a comment if you like 🙂

And yes, those were some genuine Dutch tulips 🙂 (with some hyacinths on the side)

Explosion of Joy – a springtime explosion box

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Don’t you love spring? The days are finally lengthening again, birds are coaxing potential mates to their side by singing to their hearts’ content, early flowers are blooming in happy colors and the sun is already tentatively testing the strength of it’s rays. I think God designed springtime to be an awesome reminder for us that their’s always New Life waiting for us after a period of death – no matter how long the winter in your heart may have lasted.

An explosion box is therefore an especially fitting springtime project: it’s literally an Explosion of Joy!  🙂

Enjoy the video – please like if you do & feel free to leave a comment! And – there’s a tutorial available in my Etsy shop!

 

 

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Retro project: Decoupaging a breakfast set

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You don’t just have to use wood or cardboard for decoupaging: you can also do table ware! 🙂

I’m calling this a retro project by the way because I created it a couple of years ago, way before I had my blog. So I thought I’d dust it off and show it to you now – better late than never 😉

1. Remove the top (= patterned) layer from the napkin
2. Glue it onto the plate.
3. Add a second layer of podge to set and finish it.
4. Bake in your oven, if your particular podge requires it. The podge that I used required me to bake them, which I haven’t filmed, but took about 30-40 minutes.

Of course you will have to use special dishwasher safe mod podge; ask your local craft store to help you find the correct version.

Porcelain podge

 

 

 

 

 

 

For this project I did two breakfast plates, a coffee cup and a little wooden teabox, with only two kinds of napkin.

Anyway, this is just to give you some inspiration and ideas, hope you liked it.

(My apologies for the shaky cam parts!)

Welcome to my new “home”!

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Hello and welcome every one!

To all new visitors I extend the warmest of welcomes! I invite you to subscribe to this blog if you like, or leave a comment! You will always get a reply.

To those that have followed me here from my previous (WordPress) blog address, a warm welcome to you too, I’m sooooo happy you found the blog’s new home! Hopefully you’ve already renewed your subscription here, but if not, here’s how and why you can do it:

Become an email subscriber*: you can do so at the top of the sidebar of the home page, where it says Subscribe via email.

The main reason to subscribe would be that you would automatically receive an email notification every time a new blog post is up, which is a very convenient functionality.

Note:

  • If you were already an email subscriber to my blog Creator’s Image at the old web address, then your subscription has already been automatically migrated to this new site. Which means you do not have to renew your subscription – just sit back and relax 😉
  • If you were a follower of my blog Creator’s Image (i.e. those of you who clicked the Follow button instead of filling out an email subscription) at the old web address, then your subscription has also been automatically migrated to this new site, but you won’t receive any email notifications of new blog posts anymore – since that functionality was technically not possible to migrate. Instead, you will only be able to see new posts in the WordPress Reader, unless you become an email subscriber, which I think would be far more convenient for you. Therefore I invite you to subscribe again.

So to all previous blog followers but not email subscribers: click here to renew your subscription on the homepage (top of the sidebar).

So, what happened?
Why did the Creator’s Image blog move to a new web address?

Well, since my father died a couple of weeks ago, I’m thinking a lot about life, my job, how I spend my time, in short, about the future. I guess the death of a parent does that to us: it makes us contemplate who we are, what we want and what we’re “here” to do.

So I’m pondering many topics and one of them was this blog: after almost exactly one year of blogging, I suddenly felt the urge to prepare for the next step. I’m not even sure myself what exactly that next step might be, mind you, but nevertheless I felt I could at least expand my web options. This way I could, in the future, for instance add a webshop, or a download page for my tutorials, etc.
To be able to do all that, I was going to have to migrate this blog from a free online blog service (i.e. WordPress) to a self-hosted site.

Which brings me to another change: I wanted the new site to have a .com address; however, creatorsimage was unfortunately already taken. This meant I had to be pragmatic and implement a small name change. I put some thought into it, and am now very happy and proud to present:

Creator’s Image Studio

I’m very excited about this! I feel this keeps the original name intact while at the same time highlighting the creative and artistic aspects of what I do. As a bonus, it also accomodates for the educational component, that is, the workshops I intend to develop in the not-so-far-away future. This way Creator’s Image Studio stands for both an artistic studio and a place of learning.

Migration stuff
The only thing I have not been able to move over to the new Creator’s Image Studio blog, are all of the likes people gave several of my posts in the past. A pity, but to my knowledge there was no technical possibility to do this.

So, feel free to like every post you appreciate, for I will have to start all the way from scratch with my page rankings in Google searches, and liking my posts will help with that  🙂

As soon as everything is settled in (I’m still working on some blog migration stuff behind the scenes), I’ll start posting new blog content again. This should hopefully take no more than a week or so. You’ll know when the dust has settled when the first new post after this one is up!

So, thank you for your patience and your subscriptions, comments and likes. Please stay tuned!

And here’s li’l ol’ me – with both my Christmas mini and micro albums, check them out while waiting for me to finalize moving this blog 😉

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A cute little all occasions photo booklet

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This little booklet is a cute alternative for a card: you can add little tags to write a personal message, and even add some photos or other nice pictures. So, Happy Birthday, or Happy Any Other Occasion! 🙂 It’s also a great alternative for using your scraps – next to, for instance, making scrap mats or other kinds of scrap decorations.

Of course you can make your own little booklet quite easily, feel free to come and get some inspiration from my tutorial for mini booklets if you’ve never made one yourself.

Anyway, here’s the video – P.S.: don’t forget to hit the like button underneath it! 😉

DCWV - Serenity 4

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Forever Memories: a keepsake mini

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This is a mini album that I created in remembrance of my father, who passed away very recently. I’ve since filled it with pictures of my dad, which makes it a true keepsake. I’ve called it Forever Memories.

I used DCWV’s Immortal Love paper to decorate. Although this paper stack was probably originally designed with a romantic theme in mind, I found it is also perfect to remember a loved one who passed away.

You can read the eulogy that I wrote and spoke at my father’s funeral here, should you be interested; there’s also a Dutch version available here.

Thank you for liking & subscribing, feel free to leave a comment.

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A lovely gatefold pocket card

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This cute little gatefold pocket card went straight into the altered gift box I showed you in my previous blog post. I designed it myself, using Graphic 45’s gorgeously colorful Bohemian Bazaar design paper, on hot blue cardstock. You’ll also see some of my scrap mats again, in fact, this card is the end result of the project I was actually working on in my scrap mat tutorial, so check it out!

Thanks to its multiple pockets, this gatefold card will also serve great as a gift card holder as well.

For a tutorial on how to make this gatefold card, check out this blogpost here.

Thank you for liking and subscribing, and please let me know what you think!

 

In the video I mention my tutorial on how to print text on small tags or scraps of your design paper, you can find said tutorial here.

Note on video quality: Most of my videos are 720p; the rest is 540p. If you don’t get one of these resolutions while viewing the video on this blog but instead have to make due with some rather unsharp videos, you should be able to adjust video quality by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the video player, and selecting your preferred quality. If you don’t have the gear icon, then click the Youtube sign, also in the bottom right corner of the video player. This will take you directly to Youtube, where you’ll be able to change the video quality with the gear icon after all. Hope this helps.

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Colorful Art Gift Box

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A nice way to give someone a gift card of their favorite shop, is to hide it inside a gift box. And of course we crafters take the opportunity to alter said gift box!

Take this one for instance, it’s a cardboard box – perfect for altering. I chose DCWV’s The Colorful Life design paper, which basically consists of prints of very colorful paintings by Donna Estabrooks.

This paper is beautiful enough not to need any further embellishments, so I only did the lid – just a little 🙂 . Of course I inked around all the edges for a beautiful finish, using Tim Holtz’s Black Soot distress ink.

Well, check out the video, and then try one yourself – not only will it make a great gift for someone, it’s also very easy and fairly quick to create!

 

Note on video quality: Most of my videos are 720p; the rest is 540p. If you don’t get one of these resolutions while viewing the video on this blog but instead have to make due with some rather unsharp videos, you should be able to adjust video quality by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the video player, and selecting your preferred quality. If you don’t have the gear icon, then click the Youtube sign, also in the bottom right corner of the video player. This will take you directly to Youtube, where you’ll be able to change the video quality with the gear icon after all. Hope this helps.

How to decoupage a candle

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You may have heard of decoupage or napkin technique. It’s a fun way to alter objects, usually made of wood or paper mache. But did you know you can decoupage a candle as well? It’s the same technique, except you’re using special, flame-resistant candle podge instead of regular podge.

You can check out some examples of decoupaged candles in my blogpost on Easter decorations, for some inspiration. Meanwhile, here’s a tutorial on how to decoupage your own candle – and let’s make it a Valentine’s Day version this time, why don’t we 🙂
So enjoy the video and have fun experimenting!

 

Please feel free to like & subscribe and leave your remarks and questions in the comment section below!

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Valentine’s Day gift idea: Cute little tea basket

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For some Valentine’s Day inspiration, here’s a little photo shoot of a cute wooden tea basket that I altered. Photos only (no Youtube) so I guess it’s kind of a Blog Exclusive 😉

I altered the tea basket with some pieces of napkin – and a little paint. Very simple, fairly easy to make and, therefore, ideal if you want to create a great gift but don’t have enough time to start a Multiple Days Craft Project (capitals intended – we’re all doing some seriously hefty projects from time to time right).

The color scheme that I chose for this tea basket is perfect for Valentine’s Day, or any other romantic occasion. Of course you don’t have to use it for tea: you can fill it up with all kinds of neatness and romantic knick-knacks you can come up with. For instance, simply put some sweets for your Sweet into it 🙂

By the way, you want to take the time to work meticulously and with attention to detail, even with a fairly quick & simple design such as this one. For instance, I used more than one piece of napkin here, but can you honestly point out the seams between the pieces…?

… I thought not 😉
So, no matter how simple a design may be: always pay attention to these kinds of details, for it will make a difference.

When it comes to finishing touches, especially with rounded edges, nooks, crannies and other ‘precision stuff’, I don’t go near decoupageing: too difficult to get it done near-perfectly, it’s messy and it’s hard to correct if you make mistakes. In these cases, paint is my best friend!

Like this handle…
…and the top edges of the basket. I mixed that warmer, darker red color on the edges myself, by the way, adding more hints of dark colors to the handle’s bright red until it was just so.
Because the decoupage technique gives you the opportunity to create great projects relatively quickly, it’s also fairly easy to expand your project. Just use more of those awesome napkins that you picked, and make one or more companion pieces.
Like I did with this candle! Just in case you didn’t know that you can in fact decoupage a candle just as simply as any wooden object, I will show you how to do this in my next post.

So stay tuned for my upcoming video tutorial on How to decoupage a candle!

Stay crafty, and may God bless you all!

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Tutorial: How to make a double circle paper closure

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Lately I’ve gotten some requests to do more tutorials, which was very encouraging and which inspired me to share this design with you all.

For an interactive element in my Little Miss mini album I designed a special paper closure, that I’m calling Double Circle Closure. In this video I’m using design paper from DCWV’s Immortal Love stack, which would also make it a great Valentine’s Day card or interactive element in your Valentine’s Day mini album – just a tip…;-).

It may take a bit of practice, especially since I’m eyeballing the whole thing so I can’t give you any measurements, but I hope you’ll get the idea. I apologize in advance for the lighting, since I filmed at night and didn’t have a so-called “daylight lamp” or any other kind of photo lamp. Anyway, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, simply use the comment section below. I usually answer within 24 hours.

By the way, feel free to use my design on any of your projects. Whenever you decide to share these on your blog, Youtube, Facebook or any other website or medium, please do mention my name (Katja), the name of my blog (Creator’s Image Studio) and please share the link to this blog. Thank you!

Note on video quality: Most of my videos are 720p; the rest is 540p. If you’re not able to get 720p or 540p  while viewing the video on this blog but instead have to make due with some rather unsharp videos, you should be able to adjust video quality by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the video player, and selecting your preferred quality. If you don’t have the gear icon, then click the Youtube sign, also in the bottom right corner of the video player. This will take you directly to Youtube, where you’ll be able to change the video quality with the gear icon after all. Hope this helps.

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Super-sized birthday card

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Having done several mini and micro cards & booklets, I figured it was time to go in another direction and create a super-sized card! 🙂 It’s a Happy Birthday card, created with DCWV’s Serenity paper and measuring 17×25 cm (approx. 7×10 inches). It has three pockets, which hold two photo mats plus an “actual” birthday card – from a local store. Of course I used my scrap mat technique as well, on the front pocket.

Enjoy the video!

Have you ever created a super-sized card or other project? Please tell me all about it in the comment section below! 🙂

Don’t forget to like & subscribe, so you won’t miss future projects 😉

DCWV - Serenity 4