Author Archives: CraftKatie

Baby shower gift idea: altered mini drawer chest

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I was very happy to do one of my altered drawer boxes again, my second one actually, because they’re cute, look lovely and are easily made. I bought it in one of our craft stores (in the Netherlands); it’s made of plain wood and its size is 8x8x3 inches (20x20x7,5 cm).

This time I used Romantic Nursery design paper to alter it into a baby shower gift, so it’s completely different from my first one. It still amazes me how much a simple change in color and style can lead to a difference of day and night for the same object! A difference I find utterly enjoyable by the way, for this way one object can please many different people and can be made to fit a multitude of occasions – and moreover, it inspires creativity!

 

So here’s the video, including a little “how to” information, enjoy!

Have you ever altered a box or some other object? How did you do it?

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Poetry birthday card “Mariposa”

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A birthday card of my own design, using the gor-ge-ous Mariposa design paper stack by DCWV – the paper I also used in my recent Keepsake mini album.

There are two poems in the card, one of the front, one inside a flip tag. Both are printed of course, as is the tag containing the birthday wishes.

By the way, I tend to view designing a card the same way I approach creating page layouts for my mini albums, and this card is no exception. I guess it’s my personal style 😉
Take a look, and see what I mean 🙂

What kind of particular personal style do you have when it comes to creating your cards?

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Condolences/Sympathy wallet card

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Recently I found myself in the unfortunate position of having to ponder the question whether or not it’s okay to craft a sympathy card. Would it be considered an annoyance, an act of inconsiderateness, or would it be received as the small, unique expression of well-meant sympathy it was intended to be? I decided to take the risk and go for the latter, and did my utmost to make it tasteful, warm and heartfelt. And I’m glad I did, for it was well-received!

The design is a familiar one that I have used a couple of times before, as you can see here and here. But I chose it anyway because it’s just the perfect little wallet for photos or small notes that a person who has just lost a loved one might want to keep inside the card, to carry with them easily.

I always use double-sided design paper for this type of mini wallet, so that both the inside and outside of the pockets aren’t simply white but show matching colors and patterns. This particular 12×12 inch sheet is called “Sunset”, by Creamotion.

Front: I deliberately wrote “With sympathy” by hand instead of typing or printing it, because I wanted to ensure a very personal feel.

The card is held closed by a belly band, kept clean and simple. The “With sympathy” part is actually a flip tag, tucked into the front corner pocket. On the inside of the tag I wrote my personal message.

The mini wallet holds six black cards, to hold photos, notes or to write down some cherished dates and memories. I created tabs for two of them, using the black pearlescent sheet of the Gemstones paper pad.

Flip open the paper wallet and two more pockets appear, holding one notecard each.

And finally, the backside of this little wallet, mirroring its front. 

 

Have you ever created a sympathy card? What design and color theme did you choose?

 

Peek-a-boo baby shower card

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This dreamy Congrats-On-Your-New-Baby card is 8×8 inch (20×20 cm) and created with DCWV’s Once Upon A Time design paper. As you may have noticed from my other card projects, I like to combine them with actual postcards. In this case, a postcard that I bought at an art museum – which adds to the dreamy atmosphere I was aiming for with this design, imho.

As you may have guessed this special card is entirely of my own design and harkens back to my very first scrapbooking project, a 2013 calendar.

So check out my 3-minute video – which includes a little paper walkthrough of the gorgeous Once Upon A Time 8×8 inch stack!

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Envelope purse made of paper

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This envelope of my own design reminded me of a real purse, so I baptized it envelope purse  🙂

I’m still not done with my beautiful Serenity paper and once again it hasn’t let me down! So I’m glad I still have some of it left for small future projects.

Wanna see more Serenity paper projects? Check out my Timeless Memories mini album and my Serenity double pocket tag card!

DCWV - Serenity 4

Commemorative keepsake album “Butterflies & Stars”

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My friend commissioned a mini album and she wanted something special, a true keepsake, easy to put between other books (so no dimensional embellishments and extra protection for the pages) and last but not least: incorporate a two-fold theme of butterflies and stars (for personal reasons).

Some commission! 🙂 So, I came up with a new design, taking a little bit of inspiration from both Kathy Orta and a lady calling herself Angelwings14100 on Youtube. Of course I personalized it, creating a unique design by adding my own style, interpretation and of course some original design elements.

Above: One of my original design elements; I created a charm element that incorporated both my usual little Handmade token and the the dual theme of the album, in this case Butterflies & Stars

Here’s the Show & Tell video of my Keepsake album:

And here’s the links to the inspiration videos I mentioned:

Looking forward to you letting me know what you think!

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Paper walkthrough: Flora & Fauna by K&Company

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This is truly a very lovely paper that reminds me of a walk through the park in spring with lots of grass and flowers, trees and birds – and their little eggs! I know it’s autumn now, but with gray, wet skies covering the Netherlands I like to think ahead and picture next year’s spring in my mind! 🙂

As its name suggests, its theme is all flowers, plants, birds and butterflies, although it also has one sheet of music & poetry – couldn’t tell you why for the life of me, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. Maybe there’s someone reading poetry in that park, accompanied by someone playing a soothing melody on the piano…..

Click here if you don’t see the video below.

Flip card in Red

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This is a cute little flip card I made in a lovely red color scheme, ideal for Valentine’s Day or any other love & romance theme! It has two flaps that close with magnets and its last “page” has a little pocket.

Well, ’nuff said, let’s go to the two-minute video!

By the way, you can find the tag card I’m referring to in the video here.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think! 🙂

Double pocket tag card + a little tutorial

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Here’s a double pocket tag card of my own design, using DCWV’s beautiful Serenity design paper. I included a little How to – so if you want to try and create this tag card yourself, simply pause the video and freeze the frame with the template I show you. Adjust measurements to your own liking, and go for it! 😉

I created it to use as a birthday card, but you could also use it as a great mini album insert!

Though I love creating all of my projects, I found that creating something of your own design adds just that little extra pizazz! 🙂

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

DCWV - Serenity 4

Large pockets & tags card + bookmark – “Mediterranean”

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Ah, those beautiful last days of summer… In the Netherlands summer has been short but sweet, with the early September sun trying its best to still give us a little warmth. So before we have to say goodbye to summer definitively, we can take one more look at it and celebrate its vibrant colours with this cheery birthday card!

It’s turned out rather large (A5), has a strong blue (think Mediterranean Sea) for its base and sports several tags and pockets. And, as a special bonus feature, there’s a bookmark too! An actual one, not a digital one – just adding that for the young people reading this and wondering what a paper bookmark might be… 😉

Here’s a little photo shoot I did. The design paper I used is by some nameless Dutch brand, it has no title of its own but I’m calling it Mediterranean. Because it looks……. Mediterranean – but then again, you’d already figured that one out yourself, had you not? 🙂

Front – setting the Mediterranean tone with a sunny flip pocket:

Inside the flip pocket is – of course – a tag. I will personalize it by printing some birthday wishes onto it and who knows, I may even do some stamping!

Inside – Summer landscape on the left, sea-themed pocket on the right, with a dolphin tag hanging from a gold-colored brad and a blue ribbon along the border of the pocket. The pocket holds a bookmark, with a quote from a well-known Dutch literary writer. The quote reads something like: “Good literature has the ability to make us see through another person’s eyes.”

Back – Two matching side-loading pockets with identical dolphin tags/photo mats. On the other side of the tags is room for journaling, or for writing some personal messages to the recipient.

What colors do you associate with summer? And with what craft project are you saying goodbye to this year’s summer season? 

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Timeless Moments mini album “Serenity”

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Counting by the number of mini album blogposts I’ve published you’d think this mini album is my sixth. However, it was actually my third, but I wasn’t able to publish this post until the recipient had actually received it as her birthday gift – which has only been the case since yesterday, so here we go! 🙂

DCWV’s Serenity paper is particularly gorgeous imho and therefore I was extra pleased to be able to use it for a mini album!

Above: DCWV’s Serenity paper stack consists of 24 stunningly beautiful designs.

My mother commissioned it for her sister in law, my aunt, and I did my best to create something special for her.

I took most of my inspiration for the construction of this album from Kathy Orta’s Timeless Moments album. I set myself the added task of incorporating a number of different so-called bonus projects into the album, by which I mean different kinds of fold-outs, micro booklets or special wallets. All of these can be filled with photos or journaling or other treasured memorabilia. And there was another “acryllic tag” in this album as well, just like the one I used on the cover of the Ancestry mini album – only this time I attached it to the inside of the cover!

So, please enjoy the video and feel very free to let me know what you think!

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

DCWV - Serenity 4

Cinch mini album in a box + some of my favorite tools

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My first ring-bound mini album, using my brand new Cinch binding tool! I designed a custom-made box around it too, which makes it very nice, tidy and compact, and easy to keep in your bookcase.

The paper is gorgeous by the way (what else is new 🙂 ) – it’s Prima’s Madeline design paper, and I used both the A4 stach and the 6×6 inch pad.

I’m very pleased with the result, but of course I learned a lot too while creating this ringed album: what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do… Just check out the video and see what I mean 😉

In the video I’m also showing you some of the tools I use by the way.

For this album I was partly inspired by Kathy Orta’s build-a-page design,
and also by Ginger from My Sisters Scrapper for the page insert at the back of the mini album.

What are your favorite tools for paper crafting? Let me know in the comments section below! 🙂

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