CM Party Project

For the past couple of months, Creative Memories has been selling "Party Project" kits.  Once you purchase the kit of "ingredients," you can follow the instruction sheet given to complete a quick and easy album/display/card set.  The January/February Party Project, "P.S. I Love You," featured a set of 24 note cards and postcards.  Tackling this project was the perfect way to unwind on a Friday night.  Here are my kit components...

Also included was a silver metallic pen (not shown above).

Following the instruction sheet was a breeze! Everything was included in the kit, even adhesive foam squares, which means I didn't even have to take out my tape runner.  Each card was simply designed, using a combination of epoxy stickers, die cuts, and title stickers.

I love the gems that this kit came with!

The folded cards were so easy to complete as they were all preprinted.

So I kept rolling along, and it took me about an hour and a half to complete all 24 note cards.  At $35, this was a great value.  All the note cards came with envelopes, and I had leftover foam squares and epoxy/gem stickers to use on other projects.  Although most of these cards were themed around Valentines Day, some of them can be used for other greetings as well.  It was definitely a successful evening of crafting!

January Workshop Recap

A group of 5 of us had a great time "Cricut-ing" on Sunday... For this month's workshop, Bliss brought out her Cricut and gave us a little tutorial for successfully creating layered die cuts.  Our first step was to choose our image by flipping through the guide books of her many Creative Memories cartridges.  The number of colors in the sample image indicates the number of layers the image would involve... We wanted to stick to an image that has 3-4 layers.

Bliss gives an intro to today's workshop - she's such a great teacher!

I found my image of choice... I was instantly drawn to the envelopes with hearts.

Once we selected our images, it was time to turn the Cricut on and learn its different functions!  In my experience, it's always best to do a test run on scrap paper.  This also allows us to gauge the size of the image, as it's hard to determine the best size from the sample page.

 

This is Brenda's Cricut.  Bliss has the Cricut 2, which has a touch screen.

Brenda sends her three colors through the machine. 
It can do multiple images on one sheet, which is perfect for workshops!

I always have some difficulty selecting my colors for the layering, as you're never sure how the end result will turn out.  I stuck to basic colors for my image, and let the Cricut do the rest of the work...

 

 

Then it was on to assembling the cards, so we could swap at the end of the workshop.  We ended up with a nice variety of 6 six cards. Yay!

 

 

Looking forward to more creative projects in 2013... Got any ideas?  Comment below, and we'll see if we can incorporate your ideas into one of our upcoming workshops.  Join us every 3rd Sunday!

Designing for a Themed Party

Last month, a good friend asked me to help her with creating invitations for her dad's retirement party.  The theme/inspiration was Charlie Brown.  Once again, thanks to Storybook Creator 4.0, I was able to pattern the invitation after a similar layout online.  To create Charlie Brown's famous zig zag, I used one of the edge cutters and a filter to complete the "Peanuts" look.

Fonts used: "Peanuts," "Joyful Juliana," and "Peanuts Gang Ding"
(yup, that's Charlie Brown)

My friend's family also wanted guests bring memories of Glenn, so I created an assortment of journal cards in SBC as well.  These worked out nicely, as guests were asked to share their words about Glenn during the party.  I'll also be incorporating these cards in an album!

My final contribution was to create a label for the favors.  In SBC, I sized the graphic so it fits nicely on an Avery 5160 mailing label. A quick and easy way to put that finishing touch on any type of favor...

Oh, and here's a shot of the centerpieces that my friend came up with... So cute and how perfect! 

  

It was definitely an honor to be a part of the day's festivities.  I can't wait to put together the album of this event.  Stay tuned for another post!

Awesome Album Sale

It's back!  Creative Memories is kicking off 2013 with another album sale. From now until January 21, save 20% on traditional albums and pages, PicFolios, Quick Albums, and hardcover Storybooks (or product credits).  And if you place an order before January 8, you'll save 30%. This will be the best sale of 2013, so take advantage of it now!

Happy New Year!

Many blessings to you and your family as you welcomed in 2013... May the new year be filled with blessings, adventures, and new ways to inspire you! 

I was recently inspired by a Christmas gift from a friend.  She and I both love stationery items; she had shared how she recently explored products on Paper-Source.com. On the site, they have a tutorial for making your own envelopes in various sizes with liners.  This allows you to create an envelope from any paper you may have on hand, including printed, vellum, or even washi paper.  On Christmas, I was so excited when I received the templates for creating custom envelopes, along with some gorgeous paper!  This would be the perfect New Year's Eve project...

My auntie and I got to work right away after dinner.  We started by choosing our envelope size (A2 = 5.5"x4.25") and paper.  We decided to go with Creative Memories' 12x12 platinum shimmer paper.  Lovely!  CM's tool kit came in handy for this project as the precision scissors were sharp and easy to maneuver around our outline.  The embossing tool also worked out perfectly to help us score the folds for the envelope flaps.

 

After we cut out the liner from beautiful piece of vellum, we used our favorite tape runner with frosted segments to adhere the liner in the envelope.  Then after carefully folding at the creases, it was time to adhere the envelope's flaps together... our envelope started to take shape!

 

 

 

Overall, I was quite pleased with our handiwork, even though we had to do the cuts by free hand.  It was great to combine the templates from another company with the paper and tools of Creative Memories.  I can't wait to make more!