Hi everyone. My name is Vera Wirianta Yates. I was born and raised in Indonesia, but I've been calling Texas home for the past 18 years. I started my journey in paper crafting back in 1997 and been an avid scrapbooker (although I am way, way behind on my scrapbooking) ever since. Soon after, I branched out to card making and I love both crafts equally. You can find my work on my blog Ling's Design Studio.
When it comes to card making, my designs tend to be clean and simple, yet detailed. For today's post I'd like to share my love of ribbon. Many times we use ribbon to make a bow, but all the projects I'm sharing here today showcase the different ways to use ribbon.
On 3 of the cards, I used the ribbon to create wreath. It's very easy to do. Simply cut a circle and then cut another circle inside the first circle to create a ring. Then cut 1-2 yards of ribbon (the length really depends on the size of your wreath and the width of the ribbon). Wrap the ribbon around it until the ring is completely covered and you have a ribbon wreath.
Another fun thing to try is making a ribbon sculpture. Here is my ribbon fish card that was published previously on Paper Crafts Practical Solution. This card is one of my favorite cards and I am sure you can see why. :)
Last but not least, ribbon adds an extra detail that makes your project feel complete. For my apron gift card holder, I could make the apron without the ribbon, but I think the ribbon add that extra texture and make it more like the real apron. What do you think? Isn't playing with ribbon fun?
I hope my projects sparks your creativity and get you to play with ribbon more. And I'd like to thank SEI for having me as a guest. I really appreciate the opportunity. Have fabulous day everyone.
Hi there! My name is Kristin Tweedale of rukristin papercrafts. I'm a blogger and independent shop owner with a passion for telling my story and helping others to do the same. You can find me at rukristin.com, where I offer storytelling and memory-keeping inspiration and workshops.
I'm very excited to be sharing one of my favorite projects with the SEI blog today, a DIY flip-down mini-album from a visit to Chicago last summer.
I love creating travel mini-books, and I’m usually guilty of making at least 3 or 4 for every trip I take. Wanting to tell the story of one crazy day in downtown Chicago, this book was created using only photos, journaling cards, a sheet of patterned paper, adhesive, and a pen.
This book came together in less than an hour, and could easily be replicated several times over for thoughtful, but easy gift albums.
This DIY mini-album technique is my absolute favorite right now. These flip books are super interactive and are always a favorite when guests come to visit. I love that I can make a full album using just supplies from my stash, and I really love that I can create the mini-album work for the specific story I’m trying to tell. Because I’m deciding the size of the album, I can make it as long or as short as I need to and fill it with as many or as few photos as I have.
Thanks very much for stopping by today. Let's be internet friends! Catch up with me during the week at rukristin.com or on instagram and twitter using the handle @rukristin. Thanks again to the great folks at SEI for having me today!
Hi! I'm Diana Fisher and I'm happy to be guesting here at SEI for today. I am an avid scrapbooker and currently design for Pink Paislee, Imaginisce, Lily Bee, Samantha Walker and am one of the blog coordinators for Scrapbook Circle kit club. I have a wonderful husband, a six-year-old son and am the Marketing & Brand Director for Next Step Education Group. Between my day job and my love for papercrafting, my days are filled with art and creativity. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to work with some amazing people and share that with you! Check out my blog, Design by Diana here.
I love this paper from SEI and have been hoarding it for quite a bit now. There are so many occasions coming up this spring where I'll need to bring a little gift — and who doesn't love sweets. I made this box using a cut file and my Silhouette Cameo. It was really easy to assemble and the ribbon closure is such a sweet option.
Here's my tip for all of you making these window gift bags and boxes: Do you have left over packaging from your embellishments? The clear sleeves? I cut a small square from mine and use it as a cover for the window on my gift bags/boxes. It looks professional and keeps you from having a second bag on the inside to hold the treats. I filled mine with chocolate covered cherries from Trader Joe's — yum!
Thanks for checking out my window gift bag. Maybe I've inspired you to try this out next time you need a small gift to give. Or maybe even for baby and brida showers. Making a few dozen of these would be fast and easy!
Hello, my name is Angi Barrs and I am so honored to share my SEI Guest Designer project with you all today. I really love the Mirelle paper collection and cardstock stickers. The colors are so vibrant and rich. It is the perfect collection to make projects with.
I love to make gift sets. The one I made today features 1 card and 3 gift boxes.
The card features some mesh ribbon and a beautiful butterfly embellishment. I used my die-cutter to make the boxes. Each box is “dressed up” with the Mirelle cardstock stickers.
You can place shredded paper and snack goodies in each box for gift giving.
I also had an oversized wooden box just lying around the house. I added more of the cardstock stickers to the box.
This box would be great to display at a party, shower, or crop night for your crafty friends.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my project. A super huge thanks to the SEI team for letting me hang with them today. I am a big fan of their paper collections.
My name is Tanya. I'm from Ukraine. I started papercrafting 2 years ago and today it's my real love and passion. I adore creating cards, altered projects, and mini-albums. I especially love creating mini cards... to work with a very small area is a great challenge for me. Last month I started to create layouts and it is also a very inspirational process for me right now.
I show all my creations on my blog www.diaryofcards.blogspot.com. As I said, my love is cards. A few of them were published in CARDS magazine. When I recieved my designer's parcel with it, as a gift I got amazing papers and die cuts from SEI! That was when I became familiarized with this amazing brand!
I adore using many small details and many, many, layers in my creations! So, today I'll show you two spring cards and one bright box with these techniques. :)
Here's a small secret of creating a craft card with white painted circles: At the hardware store, I bought some special stickers for furniture. They have a self-adhesive base and stick loosely, like washi-tape. I taped some of those dots in rows, all covered with white paint. Then I peeled off the circles and covered the card with another layer of paint, to get an interesting effect. :)
I love creating for Valentine’s Day! I recently created these cards for a few special people in my life.
You may recognize the patterned paper from the Promise Me collection. I used the beautiful map paper from my 6 x 6 paper pad. The smaller scale of these pads works great for card makers.
On this card, I wanted the map details to shine, so I was sure not to cover too much of it up. I added a few layered elements using a hot trend right now – wood grain. I used the Woodgrain set from Waltzingmouse Stamps. I think it adds something a little unexpected.
A lot of times I get my inspiration from sentiments included in my stamp sets. Take this next card, for example.
I was inspired by the “completed by your love” to create a card that would appear as if the heart was cut out from a piece of wood or tree. And, here’s something I like to do when I’m crafting. I keep a small basket on my craft table and put in it leftover pieces of die cut paper or trims that I didn’t end up using on a card. Then, when I’m in the middle of a project, I dig around in my basket to see what I can find that would work. It’s a great time saver! The aqua scalloped border on this card was in my stash already and I simply added it on my card with some red polka dotted washi tape!
If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll take the time to make a handmade card for your Valentine. Whether sweet or sappy, it will surely be appreciated by the ones you love!
Since my last visit, I opened up a little hot chocolate shop right here. This time of year I am one busy elf, and still have one or two gifts to finish up. So just incase any of you are in my shoes, I thought I'd share 3 FAVORITE LAST-MINUTE gift ideas.
LAST MINUTE gift idea #1: A Bottle Full of Desk Goodies
I love an assortment of desk supplies as much as I love a plate of homebaked holiday sweets (and I do love that). Put together an assortment of awesome pens and pencils, a frivolous eraser, a quality sharpener, and a few sticky notes, and maybe a pretty desk calendar. I've found this to be a treat that puts a smile on gradeschoolers and grown ups alike. If your gift recipient isn't nearby, drop everything in a bottle and send it off just like that, or mail it via stocking, no envelope required.
LAST MINUTE gift idea #2: Cookies or Cookie Dough
If you have a favorite cookie, deliver it with a cute tag, or even better, deliver your cookies as dough. Shape or drop cookies onto parchment and flash freeze them on the cookie sheet for a few hours. Then pack them up in a ziplock, drop them in a paper bag, and decorate (you can download the tag above from right here) and add baking instructions. Your recipient can have fresh baked cookies for a holiday crowd or after the holidays.
LAST MINUTE gift idea #3: A Cozy Fireside Evening
One of my favorite ideas for a whole family is a fireside kit. Put together a good picture book (or download this free and EXCELLENT version of A Christmas Carol), some popcorn, cozy socks, and hot chocolate. If you'd like to pick up gourmet Hot Chocolate from our shop, I have a little coupon for you, because we love SEI fans. Use coupon code "SEIholiday" to receive 25% off your order today or tomorrow, and we'll deliver in time for Christmas.
I love making cards, and I also love sending and receiving cards, especially handmade cards - they give you that extra warmth and love, compared to a commercially printed card, don't you think so? :)
These 4 cards were made recently, using papers from the SEI Lexington Cardmaker Paperpack, which I found at my local scrapbook store. I was thrilled to find this paperpack as the papers inside were all so beautiful and versatile! Besides using these papers, I also used a variety of embellishments which were already on my table, such as flowers, gems, lace, doilies and gems to decorate the cards.
I also like to fussy-cut patterned papers with big pretty flower/leaf prints, and that was what I did for 2 of the cards, where I cut out a rose from a patterned paper from another manufacturer, and stalks of leaves from a Dill Blossoms patterned paper, an older SEI collection of papers. Fussy-cutting from patterned papers saves me the cost of buying die-cuts or chipboard embellishments, so I am always on the lookout for papers which I can fussy-cut to decorate the cards.
I hope I have given you some inspiration to make a couple of cards on your own to send to a special someone - you won't regret it. :)
Hello everyone! So great to be back at SEI lifestyle blog again! It was 3 years ago when I was a guest blogger here, and since then, I’ve been busy with my kids (9 and 12 years old) who are growing up way too fast, scrapping and making cards whenever I can, and lately I’ve been sewing a lot too, as I’ve just opened my store on etsy, selling my sewing projects.
Although I sew more these days, my first love is still papercrafting – don’t think I’ll ever give that up, so it looks like I have not 1 but 3 hobbies now – scrapbooking, papercrafting (including making cards and frames) and sewing! You can just about guess how broke I am now. LOL.
I would like to share with you this frame which I made sometime back for a friend who is also my niece’s godma. I used a wooden frame from Ikea to alter. I usually use frames that fit 4” by 6” photos as I feel these frames are neither too big nor too small to alter. The other supplies I used to beautify this frame include some older collection of papers from SEI for the borders and background of the frame, a patterned paper from the Windsor collection for the brown velvet leaves (fussy cut the leaves out), and some stickers to embellish the frame (eg the corners and the small circles surrounding the flowers and the wooden tag). The umbrella, the small cage and birds were stamped onto brown cardstock. These stamps are clear stamps from the Lovebirds collection. Love that collection of stamps A LOT.
I enjoy making frames like this one and giving them as gifts, and SEI papers are super versatile – I don’t just rely on one collection of papers as with SEI, mixing the various collections can sometimes come up with even more beautiful creations.
Thank you SEI for inviting me to back on the blog, and for letting me share my project here!
I used a clearance bin canvas and completely transformed it into a cheery and bright piece of handmade art. I covered the front of the canvas with the Crystal Icing paper which has the most lovely detail and feel to it...just like icicles really...and my photos just don't do it justice. After die cutting my bracket shape and using the B side of the Small Ornaments patterned cardstock, I began layering die cuts from the pack you'll receive in your kit and added a few more of the red rhinestones.
Here you can see the details of the paper, the washi tape and how I layered each and every die cut accent I added.
I even embellished my display stand with a trimmed section from the cardstock Borders. If you can bear to part with the cuteness when you're finished, you could make these assembly line style and use them for teacher's gifts.
What fun I had using the December Scrapbooking Kit to create my projects for you this week. You can find other mini books and crafty ideas on my blog and in my Etsy shop, I Love It All where, with the coupon code SEIBLOG, you will enjoy 15% off your purchases through Saturday, November 17, 2012.
Good Morning to you from the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Our leaves are falling, but it won't be long before Fall is a memory and the holiday season is upon us. Hi, I'm Monika Wright from I Love It All and I'm today's Pop-In Guest. Since last guest blogging for SEI, I've seen a few more gray hairs pop up and been creating paper projects featured on my blog, various design team blogs and in my Etsy shop, I Love It All.
Each year, I pick our favorite holiday photos and present them in mini books to our parents. What makes it even easier, is that I craft the mini books way before the holiday rush so that all I have to do is choose, print and insert photos, adding a few more embellishments {I am a scrapbooker after all!} before calling it done. Using the December Club SEI Scrapbooking kit, we're going to make this mini book! That's right, we're stepping off the 12x12 page and showing how you can make your kit work for alternate projects as well.
I machine-stitched down the middle of all my pages and added the green fiber just to add some festive flair. Plus, I really wanted to add those jingle bells to my project and this was one way to do it. Even by adding several die cut accents in layers, which is something I love to do, the cover is not too heavy or bulky.
Told you I liked layers.
Each page in my mini book is a somewhat different size and shape, allowing me to trim out the unnecessary "stuff" in our Christmas photos and just focus on the details as I add them to the pages. And here are a few page highlights for inspiration. Below, you'll see more die cut accents, cardstock stickers and a trimmed bit of the 12x12 cardstock borders on the right side page.
The middle spread shows how the green fiber from the Sundries pack covers up my machine-stitched binding and you get a better view of how all the layers peek out. Can't you just imagine how wonderful this will be when filled with photos, journaling and fun memories? I like to include subdue pages in my mini books as well, as this one is, allowing me to journal directly on the page if needed.
To showcase the fun cardstock tree sticker, I pop-dotted it on top of one of the journaling spots from the Christmas Quilt page. Can't wait to add a photo of my munchkins decorating the tree!
I machine-stitched three small glassine bags to my page, before stitching the binding together, but you could also staple them as well, and covered my stitching line with the gold ribbon from the Sundries pack. After adding a few journaling spots and cardstock stickers, this page just makes me smile. You should see the glitter on that white circular cardstock die cut...oooh la la!
And the last few pages. You may have noticed that I used quite a few of the rhinestones from the Sundries pack in my project today. You saw one dotting the "I" in wishes on the front cover and adorning the inside front cover die cut accent. Just another fun element that accents all the lovely gold foil and glitter in the Holiday Traditions collection.
If you've never tried a mini book project before, using the Club SEI kits are a wonderful way to begin...just dig in and do it. Until next time, wishing you all a Merry holiday season filled with lovely memories.
