Quick & Easy Card Tip!

Posted on November 24, 2019 by CraftKatie

#stillintimeforchristmas 🙂

If you’d love to create your own Christmas cards and don’t know how, or simply don’t have the time to spend several hours on only one card, this week’s post is for you!

The concept is so simple that I felt I couldn’t even make an entire video around it. So, in this blog exclusive, I’m basing my idea on two of my earlier tips: 1. Digitally designing your own patterns and layouts, and 2. using a printed picture instead of design paper.

This week’s project combines those two tips. I first designed a digital collage around a baby girl theme. For this I always use collections of digital elements I purchase from designers, and then combine these elements into unique collages with an app on my iPad, in this case PicCollage. You could also use other apps, or work with Powerpoint on your PC.

I then have my digital collage printed at a professional photo printing service. You could of course also print it yourself.

The final step is to mat the picture onto a nicely colored double card.

Easy peasy! 🙂

I did mine up as a baby card, but this would of course also work perfectly for Christmas!

Quickscrap Project: Springtime Tag / Bookmark

Posted on March 9, 2019 by CraftKatie

Spring is coming, and although it’s still howling and storming with raging winds and rain here in the Netherlands, I already pruned my apple & pear trees and the first daffodils are blooming in my garden 🙂

So, time to take my Celebrate Spring collection by Studiolight and create something happily colorful. I created a relatively large tag, using some papers, diecuts and cut-aparts. The butterfly is a Prima butterfly made from white fabric, which I sprayed and inked myself.

Since this tag was going to function as a bookmark, I made sure to keep everything as flat as possible. The only little bit of dimension I used was near the top edge, since that would be sticking out from a book 🙂

And since it would also go with a birthday gift to my friend, I gave it a birthday theme on both sides!

Fancy more of my under-1-hour Quickscrap projects? Click here, where you’ll find them all!

Cosmic Valentine’s Day Card

Posted on February 14, 2019 by CraftKatie

So I sent my mom a Valentinescard because my dad, her great love, not only passed away five years ago, but would also have had his birthday today, Febr. 14th. He loved the beauty of the stars and the galaxy, his garden and all things technical. All of which I incorporated on the card.

With special thanks to by_marina_gridasova who gifted me the paper!

Low Budget Quickscrap Tip: Close-ups of Your Own Projects

Posted on January 11, 2019 by CraftKatie

This week I’m sharing a project tip on this blog exclusively, so no Youtube video this time. If you’d like to peruse the other (over 40!) blog exclusives I’ve offered so far, click here!

So, the tip I’m sharing with you today belongs to what I’ve dubbed the quickscrap category, that is to say projects you can finish in 1 hour or less. Perfect if you’re in a bind and absolutely need a card or a gift pronto! And as an extra bonus it is super low budget.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve taken pictures of all of the craft projects you created thus far – and if you haven’t, start doing that right now! For the only thing you really need to create a lovely and most importantly superquick card, is a nice close-up picture of one of your own projects. And by close-up I mean: no background, no borders, just the details of your project. Crop the picture (digitally or physically) if you have to, to make it so.

Step 1

Print the close-up picture on photo paper. Crop it if that’s necessary to get a 100% close-up without backgrounds or borders.

Step 2

Get some nice folded cardstock and accompanying envelope from your stash.

Step 3

Glue the picture onto the front of the card.

Step 4

Cut off the excess of the card if that’s needed to perfectly fit your picture.

And you’re done!

How easy was that! Let me know in the comment section and have fun upcycling your old projects! 🙂

There’s more where that came from! For my other quick photo card tips, check out this post and this post. And for all of my low budget tips, click here!

Don’t forget the Birthday Sale in my shop! Because my birthday is January 11th, I’m celebrating it with you all by offering you a 40% discount on all of the tutorials in my shop, from January 11-13th!

Combining Painting & Decoupaging

Posted on October 12, 2018 by CraftKatie

In previous blog posts I’ve shared several of my decoupaged projects in which I completely covered an object with napkins or rice paper. Think bonbon boxes, candles, porcelain ware and even shoes and a lampshade!

In today’s project I’d like to focus on a slightly different way of decoupaging, that is to say, not covering your obhect entirely but very intentionally only parts, covering the rest with paint. The trick here is to decoupage first, perhaps going against your instincts to paint the object first instead.

The reason is that decoupage papers (rice paper or the top layer of paper napkins) are so thin that any kind of paint color will shine through. The only color you can actually cover your object with before decoupaging, is white. All others will NOT work.

So, first carefully tear your selected pattern from the napkin or rice paper, decoupage it onto your object, then paint carefully in between the patches. I always cover my decoupage projects with either mod podge or some other kind of sealant after.

And there you go!

Hopefully you enjoyed this blog exclusive tip. Check out the pictures below for some examples.

By the way, I’m also including some free video tutorials at the end of this post in which I’m decoupaging two different objects, in case you’d like to watch the technique. Enjoy!

And here’s some decoupaging technique videos:

Gift Idea: Upcycled Jewelry Box

Posted on February 11, 2018 by CraftKatie

Sometimes that accessory you buy comes in a small jewelry box. My recent such purchase sported the name of the shop on its lid, but apart from that the box had a very nice antique bronze color, which inspired me to re-use it as a gift box.

So I thought I’d share this idea with you today, for this is the perfect little quick scrap gift idea, which you can finish in about 15 minutes (tops). Simply alter the lid, covering the shop’s name or logo, by decorating it with some design paper, a brad, and some embellishments.
It’s very easy to do, it’ll cost you hardly any time at all, and you’ll have a uniquely customized gift box for your present. 🙂

BewarenBewaren

Monochrome White Micro Chest

Posted on September 24, 2017 by CraftKatie

If you’d like to order a customized micro chest, please check out my Showroom of Luxurious Boxes & Gifts.

In this week’s Blog Exclusive post I’m sharing an altered micro chest. You’ve seen me do these before, as nursery decor pieces and as gift boxes both feminine and masculine.

This time I was asked to add a micro treasure chest to one of my customized 100% photo explosion boxes, with the added challenge to work in only one color, creating a so-called monochrome project: white. So I painted the chest white, then matted it with some white wood texture paper that I embossed with a wood pattern first. Finally I created some faux leather strips from white cardstock. I’m quite pleased with the effect, and with the surprisingly different shades of white that are – apparently – possible.

Have you ever created any monochrome projects? Do you like them at all? Please share your thoughts in the comment section underneath this post!

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Decoupaged Wooden Pencil Box

Posted on February 10, 2017 by CraftKatie

This week a blog exclusive project, so no Youtube video 😉 .

I find that sometimes it’s quite refreshing to vary your techniques, it avoids a rut and it gives the opportunity to create something for someone who may be familiar with papercrafting but not decoupaging.

I had just such a case on my hands, so when I decided to gift a colleague a nice wooden pencil box for her coloring pencils and markers, I decoupaged it with napkins instead of decorating it with scrapbooking paper. She was completely taken by surprise for she had never even heard of this technique and wanted to know everything about it 🙂

The box itself was white, with a plain wooden lid that had The Pencil Box printed on top of it. I used an antique gold colored napkin for the lid without painting it white first, so the words on the lid would come through and remain visible. I decorated the top right corner with some flowers,…

… and the lower left corner with a fussy-cut napkin flower, to which I added several colors of glitter glue.

Napkin decoupaged all around, including the back of the box.

I embellished the front with a satin ribbon, through which I had put a crown brad first.

I left the insides of both the box and the lid plain.

And last but not least, I painted the bottom burgundy, but since that left the surface slightly sticky unexpectantly – as would decoupaging it with napkin – I matted it with a piece of design paper in coordinating colors instead.

In short a relatively quick-to-make gift idea, especially for paper crafting recipients who’ve seen it all – except not 🙂

BewarenBewaren

How to make Christmas Cards (Beginner’s Level)

Posted on December 15, 2016 by CraftKatie

Several people have told me they wish they could make their own cards (Christmas or otherwise), but that unfortunately “they have no experience”, “they wouldn’t know where to start”, or even the infamous “they are not creative” – which I do not believe is true for anyone.

So in this blog post I’m sharing two beginner’s level cards, to hopefully inspire you and to encourage you to “just do it”. This is an extra blog post, apart from the regular weekly ones, so no video but a blog exclusive 🙂

How to make these cards – in three easy steps

1. Buy a set of colored cards & envelopes. This way you won’t have to do any cutting and scoring of cardstock, and your card will automatically fit into its perfectly matching envelope.

2. Cut three pieces of decorative paper to fit the card; one of them will be the inside of your card so choose one solid pattern to enable you to write or print and/or stamp a message on it. If you’re not sure how to figure out the right measurements for matting, check out my free, easy to follow video tutorial on matting:

3. Glue these decorative mats onto the front, back and inside of your card, and you’re DONE! 🙂

Backsides

Three more optional steps, after step 3

4. Cut a journalling spot from a piece of colored cardstock and glue it onto the mat inside your card. This way you can use a patterned paper after all (instead of a solid). You could also add a ribbon or some strips of paper behind the journalling spot for some extra highlights.

Die-cut labels make perfect journalling spots; you can also cut a rectangle or square with a paper trimmer or craft knife

5. Add a small decoration to the front of your card. In my case I only added a gold-glittered bow to the top edge.

Done!

Papers used: Kris Kringle collection by S.E.I.

So I basically only matted three sides of my card, and my main concern only was which decorative papers to choose! 🙂

I hope this post was helpful to some of you to get started and go create your own Christmas cards!

Please click the like button before you leave 🙂 – and see you next blog post!

Four Summer Cards with Studio Light

Posted on June 16, 2016 by CraftKatie

I’m a big fan of the Dutch brand Studio Light, which offers, among many things, several lovely 6×6 inch pads which simply consist of different patterns within a certain (combined) color theme. These pads don’t have posh collection names, but are simply numbered 01, 02 and so on. These themeless and therefore relatively neutral pads offer the special opportunity of creating projects with which you could combine almost any embellishment from any collection.

The following four, happily colorful cards I created with Studio Light pad nr. 05, combined with several different embellishments and some cutapart tags and labels from Panduro and Scrapberry’s.

Card 1 – Summer Day

I stamped the inside with 6 different stamps:

Card 2 – Enjoy Your Special Day Continue reading →

Celebrate Spring with a Garden Journal Card

Posted on June 8, 2016 by CraftKatie

For this double card I used Bo Bunny’s very lovely Garden Journal paper collection. I embellished with flowers (& leaf) by Scrapberry’s and Prima Marketing, and a gorgeous Garden Journal brad in the center of one of the flowers.

The words “Dikke kus” on the front of the card are Dutch for “Big kiss”, which I die-cut from the design paper with a sentiment die by Crealies.

I matted the insides as well, and created a spot for writing a personal message from one of the solid design papers.

BewarenBewaren

Summer is coming! Two cards to celebrate!

Posted on May 20, 2016 by CraftKatie

This week I’m actually posting from beautiful Gran Canaria (one of Spain’s Canary Islands just off the southern coast of Morocco), so I’m at least really feeling summer’s Promise of Bloom 🙂

Because of my holiday there will be no video this week, but I will share two very Summer-spirited cards with you.

My tip for you this week is one of Affordability & Frugality: the design paper you’re using does not have to be expensive, nor of ‘Brands of Renown’ so to speak, for you to be able to create some lovely cards!

For instance, the paper I used here was somewhere in the obscure dollar bin of a very affordable (and therefore not the hippest) line of shops in the Netherlands. So the paper may be brandless, but applied well it is able to remind us of a festive summer garden party nonetheless!

So, don’t skip everything that has no brand worth mentioning, but go treasure hunting and see what you can come up with! For some inspiration, check out the other projects that I created with paper lines belonging to those Cheap & Brandless Ones… 😉

Enjoy, and see you next week!

Card 1: Two bi-fold doorlets, held together with a bow

Doorlets opening up to the journalling spot inside – on which I wrote a personal wish to my aunt

Card 2: Tri-fold card with magnetized closure

Opening up to a journalling spot inside. Just like card 1, this card can stand on its own when opened.

Creator's Image Studio

Sharing the inspiration

Category Archives: Blog Exclusive

Quick & Easy Card Tip!

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Quickscrap Project: Springtime Tag / Bookmark

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Cosmic Valentine’s Day Card

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Low Budget Quickscrap Tip: Close-ups of Your Own Projects

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Combining Painting & Decoupaging

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Gift Idea: Upcycled Jewelry Box

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Monochrome White Micro Chest

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Decoupaged Wooden Pencil Box

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How to make Christmas Cards (Beginner’s Level)

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Four Summer Cards with Studio Light

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