Crate Paper | Kid's Party Decor

Are you ready to party?  I've got you covered with some fun party decor ideas, using the Cool Kid collection from Crate Paper.  It's quick and easy to create customized party decor for your little guy, using patterned papers and embellishments from Cool Kid.

I started my party theme with a star shape.  Stars are always a great icon for boy themed anything.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut five large stars from a mix of patterned papers included in the Cool Kid collection.  On two of the stars, I added the words Happy Birthday, and cut it all out together.  You could save the positive letters from the phrase and find another way to use them in your party décor.

Next up, I grabbed the mason jar from the CP Craft + Office Storage collection.  I knew it would be perfect for a cute star wand display for the birthday table.  The mix of stars looks so fun in the mason jar, and they can also double as a take home favor for the kids!  And if you want to save them for yourself and use them on a layout with the birthday photos, just attach them to a small wooden stick, with a bit of washi tape.  Once the party is over, you can remove the stars and save them for your project.

You can’t have a party, without cupcakes and fun cupcake toppers.  There’s a great mix of die cuts in the Cool Kid Ephemera pack, that you can use to create your own cupcake toppers.  I used the same technique for the cupcake toppers, that I used for the stars in the mason jar.  You could also add some extra embellishing to the Ephemera pieces to customize them even more.  I added a star paper clip to two of the toppers.

I finished off the party décor with a cute party hat!  I found a party hat cut file in the Silhouette Store and cut it from the Brothers patterned paper.  Just use a bit of liquid adhesive and washi tape to secure the edges of the party hat.  The cut file included a topper for the hat, but you could add a pom pom from the craft store and an elastic band, so your party goers can wear their customized hats.

Party themes are endless, with all of the Crate Paper collections that are out there!  If you have a little girl, the Cute Girl collection would be perfect for your party décor.  I hope I’ve inspired you to make your next party one to remember!

SUPPLIES USED:

Purchase scrapbooking supplies from the Scrapbook.com Superstore!
 

Oakley Avenue | Changing Colors

I am having so much fun with my Oakley Avenue collection from Pretty Little Studio!  I have a new layout to share today, using the Leaf Pile cut file from The Cut Shoppe.  The collection and cut file were perfect with the photo I snapped, of a fall leaf that was found on an afternoon walk.

Instead of cutting the full background cut file, I just cut three individual leaves.  Then I backed each one with various papers from Oakley Avenue.  I knew I wanted to layer my photo over the leaves in the background.  Then I used a mix of the Breezy, Rusted, Golden and Vibrant letter stickers for the title, as well as the Firewood Alphas...which are my favorite!!

Once I had the title finished, I embellished around the photo with a mix of wood veneers, cut aparts, die cuts and a flair button from the collection.  I also decided to add a bit more leaves to the layout, so I fussy cut several from the Leaf Love patterned paper.  After placing the leaves, I noticed that I had ended up with a heart shape!  So I decided to machine stitch around the design to help define the heart shape.

Do you have a favorite from the collection?  Mine would definitely be the Firewood Alphas and the Fall Away Arrows!  You can grab your favorites over in the Pretty Little Studio shop!

Pink Paislee | Diagonal Canvas

Angles can be used to add a lot of interest to your projects. I love to use diagonal lines on my layouts, but it’s also fun to create a diagonal look on your other projects. I used a mix of patterned paper strips to create a diagonal design on an 8×8 canvas that would look great displayed on the wall.

I’ve got a step-by-step tutorial to share with you, showing how easy it is to create this canvas.

Step 1: Use your paper trimmer to cut a variety of paper strips. The manufacturer strips at the bottom of the 12×12 patterned papers are perfect for this step.

Step 2: Use a liquid adhesive or Mod Podge to cover your canvas. I used a foam brush to add the adhesive and only coated one half of the canvas at a time so I could add the patterned paper strips before the adhesive had time to dry. Start your diagonal design by adding your first strip along the diagonal of the canvas.

Step 3: Once your first strip is in place, start adding the rest of the patterned paper strips that you cut. Place them right up against one another so the canvas doesn’t show through.

Step 4: Once all of the paper strips have been added and your adhesive is dry, use a pair of scissors or craft knife to trim the excess paper from the canvas.

Step 5: Now that your diagonal design is finished, grab some coordinating embellishments and decorate your canvas.

This project can be altered in so many ways to fit your home decor and it’s a fun technique to try on your layouts too!

Oakley Avenue | Hello Boots

I probably wear flip flops about 90% of the year, but I also love a cute pair of boots!  My two current pairs of boots, are high boots, but I decided to buy some ankle boots...that are really cute and were on sale, which makes them even better!  And of course, I had to snap a photo of them, and what better collection to document the photo, than my Oakley Avenue collection from Pretty Little Studio!

I really love the Cross My Heart vellum paper, so I cut a large circle on my Cameo to use in the background of the layout.  I added a bit of adhesive to the vellum paper, where I knew my photo would cover it and then stitched around the outside edge of the circle with my sewing machine.  For the title, I mixed the Orchard Words Die Cuts with the Firewood Alphas.  

I always like to embellish around my photo, so I also added the Love word from the Love Fall Acrylic shapes.  And I really wanted to work in some of the pretty Fall Florals stickers, so I made a cluster on the left hand side of the photo.  From there, I used a mix of the die cuts, stickers and Golden sequins to create a diagonal, scattered design on the layout.  I finished with a line of the Fall In Love Vellum Tape down the right hand side of the layout.

You can check out the full Oakley Avenue collection on the Pretty Little Studio website!  It's perfect for your favorite Fall photos and can be used with everyday photos, too!  If you're creating with the collection, I'd love to see your projects, so make sure you tag me on Instagram at ashleyhorton75!

Crate Paper | Gift Wrap

This past week, the Crate Paper Design Team shared fun ideas for customizing Gift Wrap.  I "wrapped" up the week with a cute Gift Bag and Tag, using the Gather collection from Maggie Holmes.  Making your own Gift Wrap adds a personal touch to a gift, and it can be easier to whip up your own instead of making a special trip to the store.

I used some of the pretty patterned papers and embellishments from the Gather collection, for my gift wrap.  Using a collection you have on hand is a great way to customize your gift wrap.  The Gather collection or Cute Girl collection is perfect for female themed gift wrap or you could use the Cool Kid collection for male themed gift wrap.

The 12x12 papers in the Gather collection can be used to wrap small packages, or you can create a gift bag like I did, using a cut file from the Silhouette Store.  Once the design for my bag was cut, I used some of the Gather Stickers and Ephemera pieces to decorate the front of the bag.  I machine stitched along the center of the two leaves from the Ephemera pack, before adding them to the bag.

I also thought it would be fun to create a tag to go along with the gift bag.  The Gather Ephemera pack includes so many fun pieces and there are several tags.  You could also cut your own tag, if you need a certain size, that’s not available in the Ephemera pack.  I layered some of the other Ephemera pieces over the tag, and thought it would also be fun to add a bit of fringe to the tag.  I cut one of the patterned papers from the 6x6 paper pad to fit behind the tag, then I cut it with a pair of fringe scissors to create the texture.

I love that there are so many possibilities for personalizing your gift wrap, with the Crate Paper collections you have on hand.  And if you’re creating a customized gift wrap for a fellow scrapbooker, I’m sure they would love to incorporate products from the gift wrap into their own projects, once the gift has been given!

Tinsel Town Collection!

I know we've still got to get through Halloween and Thanksgiving, but when it comes to Scrapbook Collections, things have to show up ahead of schedule!  To help get you in the holiday spirit, my new Christmas collection called Tinsel Town will be coming to the Pretty Little Studio shop soon!  Pre-orders will take place October 18th-30th.  I thought I would pop in today and share a few sneaks with you!

Lots of fun die cuts!  You can never have too many die cuts, in my opinion!!  And here are a few of my favorite patterned papers that will be included in the collection.

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

REINDEER GAMES

 TRIM THE TREE

This collection will also include flair buttons, stickers, sequins, wood veneers, acrylics and more!  So make sure you head over to the Pretty Little Studio website on October 18th to place your pre-order!!

Pink Paislee | Hello Happy

Hi there!  First off, let me say that I'm so sorry my Blog has been MIA.  Let's just say that I think it would be easier to write code for NASA, than to get a scrapbook Blog reactivated!!  SO, after dealing with the problem for weeks, I decided it was time to just create a new Blog address and kick the other one to the curb.  I will be posting new content here and all of my older Blog posts can be found on this new Blog address.  I hope you'll add the new address to your Blog reader, so you can keep up with things around here.  :)

This week on the Pink Paislee Blog, the Design Team is sharing projects on my favorite season of the year...Fall!  I just had to use the Cedar Lane collection for this layout.  It's one of my all time favorite fall collections, and I've been hoarding it since last year...and still have some left over to save for next year!

I used a white cardstock background for the layout and also cut the leaf from white cardstock. I love the tone-on-tone look with the contrast of the pops of color from the patterned papers. I trimmed three patterned papers from the collection to layer behind the leaf cut file. I placed the die cut in the center of the layout and then stitched around the edges with my sewing machine to add texture.

I wanted my photo, title, and embellishments to be clustered and layered over the leaf die cut, so I placed my photo in the center of the design first. Then I used the gold and silver Thickers from the collection for my title. I love that you can shape these foam Thickers and I was able to curve the words around the leaf shapes. I didn’t want to cover much of the patterned paper and leaf design, so I created a couple of embellishment clusters around the photo and used one of the fun arrow embellishments from the collection above the title.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration today to go all out for fall on your next layout! If you’re out of the Cedar Lane collection, grab some of your other Pink Paislee collections and create your own fall color scheme by pulling out teal, yellow, pink, and brown papers. Then incorporate a fall-themed die cut and you’re all set!