by Richelle Naegle
It’s been a while since I have had the chance to craft, and there have been so many new craft products released that I have been dying to try. I am starting this week with a couple scrapbook pages and some super simple cards with the help of a couple of the Doodlebug Design collections. In both projects, I went with scrapbook kits. These are my favorite solutions for creating paper projects because, in one convenient pack, you get everything you need.
by Richelle Naegle
Every once in awhile I run across a product that I just fall in love with immediately. Well, I fell in love with pretty much the entire product collection by PhotoPlay. I’m not sure how long they have been around, but I don’t think it’s been very long; I just found them recently. The collection that I saw first was O’ Canada by Becky Fleck. The moose and the other adorable animals made me take a second look and research to find out where I could get this collection. I soon found that I loved all their paper collections and I thought our customers would love them too! To make it easy to get the entire collection we have made exclusive PhotoPlay scrapbook bundles for each of the collections we carry. Most bundles will include a 12″ x 12″ Collection Pack, a set of die cuts, a stamp set, and a die set. Sometimes the bundles have different products, it just depends on what is released with each set. The bundles offer you a convenient shopping solution and a better price!
by Richelle Naegle
Have you seen the NEW Happy Jig collection from We R Memory Keepers in action, yet? If not, you need to get on that, ASAP. When I was at the CHA show this year, the Happy Jig was quite possibly my favorite new tool. The way it works is you use the wire-bending tool kit to bend wire with the use of a pegboard to make into fun and interesting designs.
The kit comes with various sized pegs, a base that has a bunch of little holes in it, wire crimps, a booklet with designs, and three lengths of wire to get you started. I highly recommend picking up a few more colors of wire or try the multi-packs, like Colored and Neutral. These designs are addictive to make, so you’re going to want plenty of wire!
by Richelle Naegle
This year at the CHA show we found a bunch of great products. Some are new and some are just new to us, but nonetheless, we are super excited about all the new product lines we have been adding to our inventory!
We will start with Spellbinders. We know many of our customers love Sizzix dies, so we decided it was time to bring in more options from some of these great collections, such as Flower Garden by Sharyn Sowell. This collection features intricately cut dies so you can adorn your cards with blossoming paper flowers. Some of our other collections include Sew Sweet by Tammy Tutterow and Elegant 3D Vignettes, which features 3D cards that have multiple beautiful layers. Don’t miss out on my favorite die types, the Die D-Lites. These simple die sets make it easy for you to create wonderful cards, scrapbook embellishments, and more! We have fun themes, like pizza, Sketched Flowers, a Hip Llama, pandas, dinosaurs, succulents, etc. The fun and playful side of me likes this new March collection, The Perfect Match. If you like the whimsical side of life and “punny” cards, you will love that collection (by Debi Adams).
by Richelle Naegle
Last month was the CHA 2018 show (which is now called Creativation), and this year there are a lot of great new products coming out! I can’t wait for you to see them all. Simple Stories is one of my favorite paper lines, and I love the new Carpe Diem planners that are coming out in May. You should follow up on that later!
The first collection you are going to want to check out is the Always & Forever! This is the perfect paper collection for a wedding; it features black and white floral prints as well as a great selection of embellishments that will perfectly enhance your layouts.
This next set gives you the opportunity to scrapbook all about yourself. The I am. . . collection was designed for yours truly! If you are like me, you spend a lot of time spending your scrapbooking time on projects about your kids. We are so busy with all the activities they do, and the only time you show up in the scrapbook is when someone else takes the camera at a family vacation or event, and then you’re in the picture for once.
Above is a scrapbook layout I quickly created using I am… Now, all I need are a couple of pictures of me. This collection gives you the chance to add more of you to your projects!
by Richelle Naegle
Valentine’s, or as I like to call it, the big heart day, is almost here. One of my new year’s resolutions is to stop being a papercraft slacker! This year, I am going to get my holiday crafts done early, starting with my Valentine’s paper craft projects. If you need some help meeting your goals, whether they are related to crafts or not, you should download our free SVG files.
Valentine’s Greeting Cards
For this first card, I used my Silhouette CAMEO 3. The overall size of the card is 4.25″ x 5.5″, and I found the cute puppy at the Silhouette Store. The design is called Love Dog w/ Balloon. I cut the image out at about 3.5″ tall, from the bottom of LOVE to the top of the heart balloon.
by Nathan Baker
‘Tis the season of giving and we know plenty of generous crafters. Most people are willing to give, we just are all so busy. We get caught up in day to day life, and we often don’t find the time to seek out opportunities to give. That’s why we decided to give you a quick breakdown of some of our favorite causes. Research can take time, and this will ease that burden. If you like doing crafts for charity, then these will be matches made in heaven.
Just as you’d suspect, there are different types of organizations with different needs. Before we get into that, I’d like to suggest visiting a nearby retirement home and having arts and crafts time there with the residents. Giving our time to those who need companionship is one of the most charitable and rewarding things we can do.
Making Crafts to Donate to Charity?
If you want to donate completed projects, then below are some fine options to consider. Our readers are typically machine crafters, and many of these charities are looking for crocheted and knitted goods. We suspect that many of you have these skills in your arsenal! If you can believe it, even I know how to knit and purl.
We did think of one fun way for you to use your Cricut machines: if you’re planning on donating a kid’s white t-shirt to a shelter, you might as well put a fun design on it first with Iron-on. I’m sure you have plenty of your own solutions for designs, but maybe try one of our free SVG files. Download links located at the bottom of this post).
by Richelle Naegle
It’s time to prepare for Halloween; everybody knows the best thing about Halloween is the treats! At least, that’s what my kids tell me. So today, I thought making a few quick and easy Halloween treat bag projects would be fun.
Silhouette 3D Open-Sided Halloween Favor Box
The first thing I did was get my Silhouette CAMEO (have you seen the new Pink CAMEO 3?) out and search through their Silhouette Studio until I found these cute Ghost boxes. They are called 3D Open-sided Halloween Favor Box.
I cut them out out at 11″ tall, which allowed me to cut two boxes from one 12″ x 12″ sheet of patterned cardstock. The banner spells “Boo,” but instead of O’s, I substituted googly eyes. I think that modification turned out great
At CraftDirect, one of our favorite brands is Simple Stories because of the way they make paper crafting so much easier. We had very high expectations for this fall release, and they did not disappoint! Is that any surprise?
You will be inspired to make unique scrapbook layouts, heart-felt greeting cards, decorative photo frames, and don’t forget your Carpe Diem planner projects. Save on the new Simple Stories Fall 2017 collections with the online leaders in crafting. Here are the new product lines we are so excited to announce:
by Richelle Naegle
I’m sure you have seen my posts about the New Tim Holtz Halloween Dies. 2017 Sizzix Halloween Dies is a great year for Halloween Dies!! Oh my, these are all so amazing! Okay, so I finally got my hands on a couple of them because they are literally flying off the shelves. I would highly recommend pre-ordering them if you want them; they seem to go out of stock as soon as they arrive.
I decided to make Mini Halloween Things projects because I think this may be my favorite die set from 2017. I love the Mini Halloween Things Thinlits. They are perfect for making fun little cards to go with treats, creating quick tags, or adding an embellishment to a photo frame. If you are like me and you enjoy giving away treats to friends around Halloween, you can add a quick note with a fun die-cut piece using this die set. If you want to add a cute little note to them, these would perfectly embellish a gift tag.