Simple Stories

Cards for 2013!

Hello!  I can't believe it -  with a week left till Christmas, I am all ready for the big day.  All my shopping, baking, creating and decorating is complete.  Before you decide to hate me, let me clarify.   I am a minimalist when it comes to the Christmas holiday - I have spent way to many years stressing all the way up till the last day.  When I finally learned that this leaves me and my family in a bad mood for the most wonderful day of the year, I gave up all unneccesary committments.  Now I shop early, and spend December focusing on my family and enjoying the month of celebrations.  

I am also focusing on ways  to make the rest of the year more relaxing and less stressful....to that end,  I try to create cards for the upcoming year before I need them....I take a look at the calendar and make a list of special days and events and then in addition, create some generic ones.  I love going into the New Year with a stash of premade cards all ready to go. 

My go-to product for my cards is a years worth of leftovers from all the Simple Stories Collections!  I just can't stand the thought of getting rid of all my scraps....I love the paper way to much to do that.  So, I create cards with every last scrap of it!

Here are a sampling of the cards that are going into my card box for 2013:

Harvest Lane: 

Summer Fresh:

Happy Day:

Fabulous:

Next time you are finished with a project and ready to clean up your space....don't recycle those scraps!  Whip out some cards for your stash!

 

Guest Designer - Layle Koncar

Hi friends, Layle Koncar here!  I'm super excited to be back again this month to share a few pages from my December Daily album this year!

Add me to what I'm sure must be one of the 1,456,712 people out there using the fabulous Sn@p! album for my December Daily!  I just couldn't help myself.  They're perfect for so many things, especially projects like this one.  Plenty of room inside for lots of pages and embellishments and who doesn't love all of the great inserts included in the albums, especially the page protectors?!

I decided to keep the cover pretty plain and simple this year.  I'm a big kraft fan, so I love that you have the option of leaving the cover 'raw'.  I misted it with a little bit of white Mister Huey's mist, covered a chipboard star with glitter and then used some Sn@p! letter stickers for the year.  Finished it off with a thin strip of Sn@p! red chevron and called it good.

I love the divided page protectors included in the Sn@p! albums and the Sn@p! cards designed to fit, especially the ones I used on these pages - 

I guess you could call me a minimalist when it comes to scrapbooking - I usually like to keep things pretty simple.  I'm addicted to white backgrounds - pretty much all of my layouts these days start with a white background, so believe me when I say I'll be using ALL of the notebook paper-style inserts included in the Sn@p album, like the ones I used on these pages - 

So there you have it!  So thrilled to be playing along with a December Daily again this year.  This year marks the 5th year for me.  One of my favorite things about pulling out our Christmas decorations at the beginning of the month is looking through the past year's books and reminiscing about the holidays, our family traditions, and the general hustle and bustle of the season.  We have 2 boys - a tween and a teenager - and even THEY love to flip through the books every year.  If that's not worth doing it, I don't know what is!

I'm committed to finishing again this year, so there's lots more to see of my book.  Drop by my blog, take a peek and say hi; I'd love to have you!

 Happy Holidays to you!  

Merry & Bright

Jill here with a two-page layout to celebrate Christmas in style! I'm bringing back a favorite Christmas collection for my post today - the 25 Days of Christmas. I loved the black in this collection with traditional Christmas colors and it happened to match my daughters' dresses from Christmas last year. Every year we take a lot of photos of them in their pretty Christmas dresses so a layout with a lot of photos was exactly what I needed.

As seen in the November/December 2012 issue  of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

My embellishements are minimal with some simple layering of snowfkakes in different textures - transparency and wood veneer.

Supplies:

25 Days of Christmas Collection Kit - #1700

25 Days of Christmas 12 x 12 Fundamental Cardstock Stickers - #1702

25 Days of Christmas 12 x 12 Expression Cardstock Stickers - #1703

 

Day 2 - Simple Stories & Helmar Adhesive Blog Hop

This is Emily Pitts with my Simple Stories/Helmar USA adhesive swap project. Inspired by the 450 Quick Dry Adhesive, I went out and actually bought some glitter glass to see how well the adhesive would work. I was seriously impressed. Apply a nice thick layer of the glue on the clothes pin.

Pour a generous amount of glitter over the clothespin and press gently then shake excess glitter off and let dry completely. It was so easy. And that adhesive holds the glitter like nothing else. Amazing!

I had a plan for these golden clothespins.

My taste in Christmas colors doesn't run the traditional red and green. I decorate in bright pink, lime green, aqua, orange, silver, gold, and a touch of red (my house looks kind of  like Dr. Seuss showed up and decorated). So can you guess what line I used for my Christmas wreath? Yes, Sn@p! works perfectly around my house. I made a clothespin wreath by adhering strips of the Sn@p paper to the clothes pins, I used the 450 Quick Dry Adhesive for this as well, just not as thick a layer of glue.

Finally, I made my little Merry Christmas sign and used the Quick Fix Adhesive Runner as insurance to keep my letter stickers in place. This will be an outdoor wreath, protected, but still, one can never be too careful. Also, a nice thick bit of liquid adhesive to attach my measuring tape to the sign and I'm all done. Attaching the sign to the wreath was easy, I just used the clothespins to hold it in place. I glued the tulle bow with the liquid adhesive as well. It's not going anywhere.

So there you have it, a bright and cheery Christmas wreath, made without any Christmas themed papers. Isn't it happy?

Products used:

Sn@p! Core Collection

• Sn@p! Stickers–Typeset (#4021) 

Sn@p! Life Collection

• Sn@p Life Basics 6x6 paper pad (#2823)
• Basics Cardstock Teal/Calendar (#2816)
• Basics Cardstock Yellow/Grid (#2818)

Sn@p! Color Vibe Collection

• Red Dot/Stripe (#2828)
• Green Chevron/Mini Dot (#2833)

P.S. In case you're interested, I used two packs of 36 clothespins and had 4 left over. I used a 12 inch wreath form and painted it white.

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I created this fun festive banner, perfect for decorating for the holidays.  This banner took a lot of gluing and so I used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.  Boy, does this stuff stick and dry fast too.  I glued patterned paper around my spools and well as using the glue to put my snowflake flowers together.  I made this banner using the Handmade Holiday Collection. This banner is not going to come apart at all, so I can enjoy it for years to come.

Simple Stories Supplies Used:

Handmade Holiday Collection: Handcrafted #2077, Dec. 25 #2706, Blue Stripe/Music #2719, Tis the Season #2708, Green Holly/Notebook #2718, Flash Cards #2709 and 3x4 Sn@p Cards #2726

Helamar Supplies: 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

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For my project today I wanted to create a gift that could be used year-round.

Photo frames make great gifts, but I wanted to make something a little different where the photos could be more inter-changeable. So I made an altered clothes pin. These aren't your normal sized clothes pins, they can be purchased at the craft store and they are free-standing wood clothes pins. 

I used the Helmar 450 glue, or as I like to call it... Hot Glue In A Bottle to adhere the paper to the wood and then the ribbons. I used zap dots for the hearts and sentiment. 

There you have it! The perfect gift that is ready to give and use for any photos year -round!

 

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Jill here with a "Winter Wonderland" home decor project using Simple Stories' "Handmade Holiday" collection and Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. The main piece is a flat 5 x7 canvas and I chose to create a neutral piece using the kraft, cream and white in the collection. I had a chipboard ornament that I drizzled with the Helmar Quick Dry Adhesive and then sprinkled on shaved ice glitter. I then added scraps of pretty lace and pearls to tie in the theme. I also used the Helmar Zapdots in Black to add some dimension behind the snowflakes.

{Prizes, Prizes and Prizes}

We would love to give away more prizes this week!! Be sure to like the Simple Stories facebook page and the Helmar Adhesive facebook page and leave comments on the Simple Stories blog as well as the Helmar Adhesive blog for your chance to win a wonderful prize pack!!

2 Day Simple Stories & Helmar Adhesive Blog Share

No scrapper can do without adhesive but for the Simple Stories/Helmar adhesive blog swap, I tried to think of the different adhesives and their uses. 

Of course you can't go past the 3D foam squares for adding dimension - I especially love using then with the Simple Stories stickers! I even cut some squares smaller to use with the smaller Typeset letters. The Quick Dry Adhesive was perfect for adhering my fabric accents and buttons  and lastly, the Dodz Adhesive Dots inspired me to try something different. I simply adhered them to my layout and added crystal glitter over the top for a subtle effect. They are the perfect size also to fit into the dots on the Sn@p Bubbles patterned paper! 

Facebook PageThanks for looking! 

Simple Stories Sn@p Products Used:

• #2806 Sn@p Bubbles patterned paper
• #2837 Pink Chevron
• #2802 Sn@p Life Fundamental Stickers
• #4020 Sn@p Letter stickers
• #4021 Sn@p Typeset stickers

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Today as part of the Helmar Adhesive blog hop, I'd like to share the cover of my Document Christmas album.  After some indecision on my part, I couldn't decide between the red and the brown binding, I've finally come up with a simple design that I love. 

I'm using Simple Stories' Handmade Holiday as the base of my album's design, and then I'm mixing in bits and pieces from my stash to add hints of black, silver and gold.  Given that, I thought the black and white striped ribbon would be a perfect accent for my cover.  I used Helmar's Quick-fix Permanent Adhesive Runner to attach the ribbon as well as the doily and the snowflake to my cover.

The snowflake was cut using my Silhouette Cameo and I misted it with Studio Calico's Mister Huey Shine to add a pretty silver sparkle to my cover.  If you turn the album to just the right angle, you can see how it really does shine.

I like the keep the covers of my mini albums rather flat since I store them on the same shelves as my other scrapbook albums.  So, to adhere the decorate flair button to  my album I removed the foam adhesive backing that it originally came with and used Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive instead.

This worked out perfectly since the Quick Dry Adhesive is a lot stronger than the foam adhesive the button came with.  I'm pretty sure that little flair button is now on there to stay!  Thanks for letting me share my album cover with you, and a big thank you to Helmar for the great adhesives they gave our team to work with!

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For my project, I used almost every type of adhesive Helmar gave us to work with! For gluing my pages, I used the EZ Dots roller. It rolls on easily and is very sticky so I didn't need to use much at all!
I used Crafty Foam Tape for the "Be Merry. Be Bright." banner across my page- I love that I can cut as much as adhesive as I need. I also used 3d Foam Squares to give my main photo and the star accent near my title more dimension.

I created a paper bow using foam squares to keep the bow loops propped up- it's great so it doesn't get smashed when you put it into a page protector. Last, I added in a few metallic pearls but I always find that I end up pulling off their adhesive backing- this is where the Quick Dry Adhesive works wonders! Just a small dab on the back and they are stuck down for good! Thanks so much to Helmar for the chance to work with such quality products!

Supplies Used:
Handmade Holiday Collection Kit #2700
Handmade Holiday Simple Basics Kit #2724
Handmade Holiday Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers #2702
Handmade Holiday Expressions Cardstock Stickers #2703

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I made this Printer's Tray and I used the Quickfix Adhesive Runner to affix the background papers in the tray.

Then to add dimension I used the Zapdots Black Square 1/4" pop-up adhesive to make stickers and elements pop off the tray. I love these little dots and have used them on every project I have done the last month!

Thanks Helmar for sponsoring the Simple Stories team!

Kay

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I love adding embellishments to my gifts so I decided to make some paper bows using Simple Stories Handmade Holiday collection and Helmar Adhesive.

I created 2 different sized bows because I wanted a smaller one for a tag.  The basic steps are quite easy. Please pop over to my blog (Me & My Thoughts) to find out how I made these.

Larger Bow

I used patterned paper strips of various lengths, bending them & adhering the ends together with some Quickfix Permanent Adhesive. I assembled the pieces together using a brad.

Adhere the last 4 strips behind the rest and close the brad in place.

Finish by adding the smaller strip (1" x 4") to the center (just put some adhesive on one end and form into a circle shape). Put a glue dot on the brad and then press down the center piece.

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Smaller Bow

Assemble the exact same way as you did the larger bow.  This bow is about 1/2 the size of the larger one (measuring approx. 3" in diameter) so it is also be a great size to use on a card. 

(my blog shares all the measurements)

 I used some Zap Dots by Helmar to add some dimension to the snowman & "Cheer" stickers.

Supplies:

Simple Stories

• Handmade Holiday 6x6 paper pad | #2701
• Handmade Holiday Fundamental Cardstock Stickers | #2702
• Handmade Holiday 12x12 paper - Handcrafted | #2707
• Handmade Holiday 12x12 paper - Bluestrip Music | #2719

Helmar Adhesive

• Zap Dots
• Quickfix Adhesive Runner

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and I hope you have fun making some bows of your own!

{Prizes, Prizes and Prizes}

We would love to give away more prizes this week!! Be sure to like the Simple Stories facebook page and the Helmar Adhesive facebook page and leave comments on the Simple Stories blog as well as the Helmar Adhesive blog for your chance to win a wonderful prize pack!!

Happy 12/12/12!

{Happy 12/12/12!  This day comes only once in a century...how are you celebratiting today?}

How about attending a once-in-a-lifetime scrapbook event where you get to create your own 12/12/12 album with all our SN@P! goodies...in a paradise location like Maui, Hawaii!  It sounds like a dream right - but did you know that at this very minuate 24 very lucky scrapbookers are doing just that on the beautiful island of Hawaii in an exclusive 12/12/12 SN@P! class taught by the inspiring Stacy Julian!

 

But just becuase you're not in Hawaii doesn't mean you can't still have fun and make youre very own 12/12/12 SN@P! album.  Stacy's inviting everyone to join in on the fun with her super-cool online 12/12/12 class that lets you join in on the fun at home...it starts today and there's tons of fun things planned all day that you won't want to miss. Stacy fell in LOVE with our colorful SN@P! system with binders, pages, pockets, stickers and more - and this entire class is geared around creating a year-in-review SN@P! album that's all about you.  Stacy has put together an AMAZING project that you will LOVE creating with our SN@P! goodies..

And as a special little bonus to all our Simple Stories and SN@P! fans - we're sharing these super fun exclusive SN@P! downloads that we created just for the 12/12/12 class members.  Its full of fun new journaling cards and snap page additions that you can trim and insert into the SN@P! pocket pages or adhere to the journal pages...have fun and enjoy these extra little SN@P! goodies...

Wishing you the BEST 12/12/12 wherever you are!

{12/12/12 FREE DOWNLOADS}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sn@p! x Handmade Holiday

Hi everyone! Yuki here with another Christmas project used the Handmade Holiday collection to share with you! I love the traditional Christmas color combo, red and green, but I would like to add fresh color to the ordinary color scheme. Then I have decided to mix with the Sn@p collection this time!

With Fresh Turquoise:

With Sweet Pink:

With Happy Yellow:

With Cozy Orange:

With Beautiful Multicolor:

Supplies Used:

Handmade Holiday 6x6 Paper Pad #2701

Handmade Holiday 12x12 Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #2702

Handmade Holiday 12x12 Expression Cardstock Stickers #2703

Sn@p! Life Basics Kit #2822

Sn@p! Life Basics 6x6 paper pad #2823

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my projects.

 

Day 5 - Simple Stories & Core'dinations Cardstock Blog Swap Week

Welcome back for another day of Core'dinations and Simple Stories goodness! The combination is perfect isn't it? For my layout I used the oldest trick in the book--paper tearing! I know it is not very high tech, but with Core'dinations, the simple act of tearing paper has fabulous results! Remember to tear towards yourself to reveal the gorgeous Core!

I tore several sheets of the Tim Holtz Distress Core'dinations and matched with Simple Stories Handmade Holiday it adds a very homespun look! Next I wanted some stars to twinkle across my page so I punched several from the Core'dinations Gemstones collection.

And for the small yellow stars, I ran them through a paper crimpler to give them a corrugated look.

Punches, crimpers and tears! You don't need high end gadgets for great looks when you have beautiful Simple Stories and Core'dinations papers to work with!

Supplies Used:

Core'dinations Tim Holtz Distress Cardstock

Core'dinations Gemstones Collection Cardstock

Simple Stories SN@P Life Collection Teal/Calendar #2816

Simple Stories Handmade Holiday 12 x 12 Fundamentals Stickers #2702

Simple Stories Handmade Holiday 12 x 12 Expression Cardstock Stickers #2703

Simple Stories Handmade Holiday December 25 #2706

Simple Stories Handmade Holiday Handcrafted #2707

Simple Stories Handmade Holiday 3x4 SN@P Cards #2726

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Are you frantically making cards in every spare moment?  It's time to get those season's greetings into the mail...  Why not make things easier on yourself with a simple design and some fun materials.  We were really happy to swap some Simple Stories for Core'dinations Cardstock, especially at this time of year when cardstock is a staple for making cards.  I particularly love the Tim Holz Kraft-Core because it distresses beautifully and provides a kraft colored inside for easy handwriting.  It also compliments our Simple Stories Handmade Holiday collection perfectly.

I used one of my old McGill flower punches and some of the Core'dinations cardstock to make this flower.  Then I shadowed it with another flower of the same size using some of the Handmade Holiday 6 x 6 patterned paper.  Next, I added a Handmade Holiday cardstock sticker ornament for the center.  The Christmas banner sentiment was cut from another piece 6 x 6 patterned paper.

I simply cut a 4.5 x 12 inch strip of Karft-Core cardstock, scored and folded it, and then added the embellishments. The patterned paper is from the Handmade Holiday 6 x 6 patterned paper pad and the tiny Merry Christmas sentiment is from the 12 x 12 fundamental cardstock stickers.

I just love the Handmade Holiday advent calendar numbers and wanted to make "25" the focal point of this card.  A little bit of twine tied around the pop-dotted numbers completes the "handmade" look.

The popcorn garland is too cute for words, so I added just a bit to provide a little more interest to this simple card.  Hope you have all of your cards ready to mail soon.  Only 18 more days left until Christmas...

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Day 4 - Simple Stories & Core'dinations Cardstock Blog Swap Week

This week Simple Stories has teamed up with Core'dinations cardstock for a week long blog hop. I was sent the Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Collection and paired it up with the Harvest Lane collection from Simple Stories.

First up is a card that I used a trio of colored cardstock as a background for my focal point.

I cut the large label with a Spellibinders die template and then ran it through an embossing folder. Then I lightly sanded the paper around the edges to bring out the lighter inner core.

My next project is a set of quick bookmarks that I made for each of my children. 

The bookmarks were cut using a Papertrey Ink die and then I embossed the upper portion of each one. Then I added the polka dot paper and the scalloped woodgrain sticker. Lastly I die cut a letter for each of my kids, added a bit of glitter and some bakers twine.

Simple Stories Products

Harvest Lane:

Made with Love #2608

Harvest Lane 12x12 Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #2602

Splendor #2606

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Hi, all! Yuki here with a small gift box and a card using the Handmade Holiday collection from Simple Stories + the Core’dinations collections.

I have received Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress collection, Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic collection and The Chocolate Box collection from Core’dinations.

I created this small gift box with a sheet of Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic collection using my cutting machine then decorated with the papers from Handmade Holiday collection. I used Tim Holtz & Ranger
Distress collection for the flowers on the top.

I chose Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic collections paper for the card base and layered The Chocolate Box collection paper.

Supplies:

Simple Stories:

Handmade Holiday- 6x6 paper pad

Core’dinations-

Tim Holtz & Ranger Distress collection

Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic collection

The Chocolate Box collection

I hope you enjoy this week of Simple Stories + Core’dinations!

 

 

Day 3 - Simple Stories & Core'dinations Cardstock

Brilliant colors of cardstock and kraft paper - what more could I ask for?  These are both staples in my scrapbooking stash and I was in Heaven when the Kraft Core Nostalgic Collection arrived at my door.  It is the perfect combination of both cardstock and kraft paper.  Coordinations and Tim Holtz teamed up to make this amazing paper and I love it! 

All the jeweltone cardstock colors in the paper pad were the perfect match for the Harvest Lane papers from Simple Stories.  I combined them to create this layout documenting 25 years with my fabulous husband. I love the distressed edges that I acheived just by using an emory board on the paper edges...how fun is that kraft paper peeking out?

This fun cardstock is now on my list of favorites!