Simple Stories

Summer Gift Packaging Ideas

Summer is around the corner and it is time to get ready for birthdays, barbecues and summer bashes.  Instead of spending money on a lot of expensive gift packaging, why not use the three R's of Conservation: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle?  Reduce the amount of packaging in your life and the world by reusing bags and giving them a facelift with materials you have lying around the house.  I still had some of the gorgeous Summer Fresh collection that I wanted to use up before I break into the Brand New I Heart Summer collection.

I thought is would be really fun to create this large star that would frame the fun tag.  I created the two sized stars with a clip art image in Microsoft Word, printed them onto plain cardstock and then cut them out to be traced onto the patterned paper.  I know, very old school right?  Then I added some hand stitching around the red star.

The tails of the tag were really easy to create and then trace onto the back sides of the patterned paper for easy cutting.  I then layered and glued them together with my Xyron Mega Runner.

These tags were so much fun to make.  All of the elements in the Summer Fresh collection are so bright and bold and look wonderful against the beautiful burlap patterned paper.  I got out my old Fiskars Apron Lace punch to make the red border on the bottom of the tags.

Foam tape is a great way to add dimension to the cardstock stickers in the Summer Fresh collection and to give the fun window box effect on this tag.

 

Summer Fresh Collection:

12 x 12 Fundamental Carstock Stickers

12 x 12 Expressions Cardstock Stickers

Sunshine/Happiness

Easy/Breazy

Burlap

6 x 6 Patterned Paper Pad

 

Stay tuned for the gorgeous Simple Stories I Heart Summer collection which was just received by our design team....

 

Happy Monday!

Pagemaps 7 Year Anniversary and Simple Stories

Happy 7th Anniversary, PageMaps! The design team  here at Simple Stories is so excited to join PageMaps in its month-long celebration, and all the party details can be found HERE. Simple Stories participated in the "On The Border" challenge with Lynn Ghahary, where we had to use three border designs on our project, along with this PageMaps sketch for inspiration.

It's Kellie here today and this was a really fun challenge! I love sketches they make doing layouts a snap!  For this layout I used Simple Stories newest collection"I Heart Summer".   It is an awesome collection, I am in love with the fun bright colors perfect for all those summer layouts!

Instead of using 3"x3.5" photos I used two wallet sized photos.  I love the SN@P! Cuts they are so cute! I used the heart one as part of my title. 

To finish the layout I added some stickers and brads.  This was a fast and easy layout to do and we'd love to see what you create with this same challenge and there is a great  prize package of our newest release, "I Heart Summer!" You can join the challenge HERE.

Products used:

Simple Stories I (Heart) Summer

Sn@p! Cuts #3225

Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #3202

Decorative Brads #3226

Layered Stickers #3228

 

 

Simple Stories & Therm O Web Product Swap-- Day 6

Welcome to Day 6 of the Simple Stories & Thermo Web Product Swap! We’re so excited to team up with Thermo Web and use their amazing line of adhesives to share some inspiring projects with you this week.

Thermo Web is also posting projects using Simple Stories products this week, so be sure to head over to their blog and check it out!

Shellye along with you this Saturday!  I love Therm O Web's products and use some sort of their adhesives almost daily! I'm a dimensional girl, so I especially love the Foam Squares and Thick Zots...but recently I've found myself using more and more of the thin Zots for things like buttons and heavier objects such a resin pieces. 

Today I have a couple of things to share!  In our packs we received the iCraft Dots, which include 1.5 and 2" round double-sided adhesive circles.  The examples on the front of the package show them used with rolled paper flowers...that led me to wonder how well they would work with fabric flowers?

I made this card several days ago and it's still holding beautifully!  I used a 1.5" ribbon by May Arts to create the posey-style flowers.  Start out with a tail in your dominant hand and begin turning the ribbon while you wrap it around the center.  Once you have the size you need, simply adhere to the iCraft Dot of choice.  I did use a bit of fabric glue between some of the layers so that it wouldn't raise up.

 

To the backs of the butterfly stickers I applied a ZOTS Singles.  The design was then attached to the cardfront using the Sticky Dot Runner.

Simple Stories Products:Vintage Bliss- 6X6 Paper Pad; Bingo Cards/Stripe Paper; Chipboard Stickers; Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers

Therm O Web Products: iCraft Dots; Sticky Dot Runner; ZOTS Singles

 My next project was created with my scrap room in mind.  It's a functional magnet board where I can post notes and reminders.

To the back of the calendar sheet (Cocoa Daisy paper by Simple Stories) I adhered the 1.5" iCraft Dots and then attached to the magnet sheets.

Next, I removed the foam tape from the back of the SN@P Flair button and attached a magnet to the back with a ZOT. 

I layered on the fun embellishments with either Thick or Thin ZOTS.  The beauty of ZOTS is that they have a super hold!  And instead of punching holes at the top for the ribbon hanger, I used several Thin ZOTS to attach the ribbon to the back of the chipboard. 

Simple Stories Products: SN@P-Flair Icons; Decorative Brads; Chipboard Stickers; Typeset Stickers; Teal/Calendar Paper; ColorVibe Yellow Chevron/Mini Dot Paper

Therm O Web Products: iCraft Dots; Sticky Dot Runner; ZOTS and ZOTS Singles

That's all from me today, please head on over to the Thermo Web blog  and check out what their Design Team has created using their adhesives and our Simple Stories products!

A Quick Gift Bag with Vintage Bliss!

Do you ever find yourself searching for the perfect gift bag when giving a gift? I know I do, sometimes they are too small, sometimes too large, and often, I just don't like the theme of the bag. Why not solve the problem by picking up a few blank gift bags and creating your own! 

I picked up a few blank colored gift bags and decorated one up with some Vintage Bliss. This gift bag was a little smaller so the 6x6 pad worked out perfectly! 

Add some ribbons & embellishments and you are ready to give the perfect gift in the perfect bag! 

 

Products Used:

#3001 Vintage Bliss 6x6 Paper Pad

Simple Stories & Petaloo Blog Hop - Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the Simple Stories & Petaloo - Blog Hop!  We’re so excited to team up with Petaloo to share some inspiring projects with you this week.

We’ll be giving away a great Simple Stories prize package at the end of the week, so be sure to play along and check back on Sunday to see if you’re the lucky winner!

Here are the different ways you can play along –

1. Like Simple Stories on Facebook
2. Share this blog post on your Facebook wall and tell us you did on our Facebook wall
3. Follow Simple Stories on Pinterest
4. Comment here on our blog or on Facebook

Petaloo is also posting projects and giving away prizes, so be sure to check out their blog and Facebook  page, too!

The project I did for today was a cute little watering can and cupcakes for Mothers day.   I loved working with the flowers and ribbon from Petaloo.  The colors are awesome and the quality is great!  I used Vintage Bliss for the cupcake liners and embellishments on the watering can.  The watering can was made out of  The Take a Hike paper line.  I cut the cupcake liners and watering can out with my cutting machine.  I ran the cupcake liners through my paper crimper.  Then I took two new white socks and rolled them to get the swirled look and pinned them together.  I then pinned the flower on top.  I glued the cute little ribbon around the top of the cupcake liners. I decorated the watering can with a bouquet of flowers and the adorable embellishments from the Vintage Bliss collection.

 

Now go create something fun with Simple Stories and Petaloo!  Enjoy the rest of the Blog hop.

Head on over to the Petaloo blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their embellishments and our Simple Stories products! They’re also hosting giveaways as well, so what
are you waiting for – head on over! 

Check in again with us tomorrow for more inspiring projects from Simple Stories & Petaloo! 

Simple Stories Products used:

Vintage Bliss: Decorative Brads #3026

Layered Stickers #3028

Teal Chevron #3018

Yellow Grid #3019

Pink Floral #3020

Take a Hike: Brown Wood #2516

Petaloo Supplies:

Frosted Roses- Blue/Greens

Dahlias- Teal/Aqua

Fancy Trims Shades of Teal

Mini Daisies Red/Fuchsias

Simple Stories & Petaloo Blog Hop – Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the Simple Stories & Petaloo Blog Hop! We’re so excited to team up with Petaloo to share some inspiring projects with you this week.

We’ll be giving away a great Simple Stories prize package at the end of the week, so be sure to play along and check back on Sunday to see if you’re the lucky winner!

Here are the different ways you can play along –

1. Like Simple Stories on Facebook

2. Share this blog post on your Facebook wall and tell us you did on our Facebook wall

3. Follow Simple Stories on Pinterest

4. Comment here on our blog or on Facebook 

Petaloo is also posting projects and giving away prizes, so be sure to check out their blog and Facebook page, too!

Wendy here today to share up my project using those sweet flowers from Petaloo + Simple Stories Vintage Bliss.  They held hands and flowed in a beautiful union in this project.  I'll confess I don't normally use florals on my projects but this project has turned into my FAV for the year. Yep, I just might be converted. Ha!

Mother's Day is just around the corner!  So, my source of inspo is my mother for this project. These photos are some of my favs from her early days. She is 73 now and just as rockin' sassy, sweet, and independent but always classy and holding her on as a lady.  Love her.

Now on the creative tidbits & pics for my project, "I Just Call Her Mamma"....

I used LOTS of layers, alchohol inks to distress, powders, glitters, sandpaper, Gesso, mists, watercolors, and stamping to re-live the mood of the photos.  I even used a hammer on a few pieces. This project is not for those not wanting messy hands but fun was had and mission accomplished.  

My project started as a blank 12x12 handmade paper in white as my "canvas" to unfold this story.  I wanted to portray my mother's elegance, loves, and just timeless beauty.  She is always so lighthearted, positive, and resilient and I captured this in the embellishment details and light mood of the watercolors.

I confess the antiquing of almost each item that was rather "shiny" took time to sand, age, and distress but I'm in love with the overall effect.  I thought well on my color palette of the Petaloo flowers along with the soft tones of the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss collection.  

I've always loved cameos and vintage typewriters.  So, I played these into the mood along with the theme, "I Just Call Her Mamma". Truth. She is a lady of many talents along with sewing quilts by hand and sewing clothes.  I incorporated the safety pin, threads, and buttons for these attributes of her.

My mother is such an amazing green thumb! On her 5 acres at home, there is just a wealth of flowers.  I always remember beautiful flower beds when living at home and to this day, she is still devoted to maintaining immaculate flower beds.  So, rightly, I brought in some flowers from Petaloo in these soft tones to play on this attribute.

 This project would not be complete without a tribute to my mother's A.MA.ZING soul food cooking. Everything she cooks is phenomenal. So, rightly, I incorporated this into my project.  

I know there many details in this project but each represents lots of depth and meaning.  The mini light bulbs I distressed with alcohol inks and powders. In our family of four, these reflect how my mother has always shined with beautiful light to me in faith, devotion, honesty, love, and just her glowing presence loved to all.  She was a devoted wife to my father for 49 years of marriage (upon his passing from cancer in 2005).

Last but now least, love the label accents in the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss collection that are perfect for adding those special touches of journaling in just the right spots.  You'll also see many of the new addition to the Simple Stories collection, the lovely brads, throughout this project.

I hope you enjoyed my project!  

I have included the supply list below with the Petaloo and Simple Stories Vintage Bliss collection product used.    You can check out the full supply list over on my blog here. 

Simple Stories:

Vintage Bliss Collection - 

    6x6 Paper Pad

    Expressions Cardstock Stickers #3003

    Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers #3002

    Decorative Brads #3026

    Sn@p Stamps - Snapshots #4023

Petaloo:

Spring Darjeeling Collection -

    Dahlias  Teal/Aqua #1467-405

    Mini Daisies Red/Fuschias #1466-404

    Mini Daisies Teal/Aqua #1466-405 

Head on over to the Petaloo blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their embellishments and our Simple Stories products! They’re also hosting giveaways as well, so what are you waiting for – head on over!

Check in again with us tomorrow for more inspiring projects from Simple Stories & Petaloo!

Simple Easter Banner

Hello everyone! It's Gail here today to share a cute Easter banner that I created. The gorgeous color scheme of the Vintage Bliss line are perfect for Easter projects, take a look:

 

I had some chipboard banner pieces in my stash that I covered in the Vintage Bliss dictionary paper (by the way, the Simple Basics papers are so perfect for backgrounds).

After sanding the edges and flicking a few spots of mist over, I got busy creating my "eggs" for each one. They were made simply  by tracing three egg shapes, folding and stitching down the centre. Here's a closer look at a couple:

I also pulled out the cardstock sticker and added some embellishment here and there.

I should also mention that the "eggs" were cut from the 6x6 paper pads. The smaller pattern designs were perfect!

Since Easter will be here before we know it, I think I finished this banner just in time to hang up and enjoy and get ready for that Easter Bunny's visit!

Thanks for popping by the blog today!

 

 

Vintage Bliss Supplies Used:

#3002 Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers

#3001 6x6 Paper Pad

#3019 Dictionary

Home Decor with 24 Seven

{Simply Creative}

    Hi all, it's Kellie here today with an altered project.  Simple Stories makes it so easy to do home decor projects.  I love the new 24 Seven collection and the fact that it cordinates so well with the Snap collection too.  I had a frame laying around that I have been really wanting to use...

  I punched out a bunch of photos to put around my frame, I used my 2"x2" punch. 

I used a sheet of the grey dot paper as my base.  Then I used a half of sheet of  "snapshots" from the 24 Seven collection.  On the bottom half I used "6x12 Page Element" from Sn@p Life.  I filled the poloroid squares with journaling cards from 24 Seven.  To finish it off I added a few stickers from Sn@p Life and cut out the words "24 Seven" with my cutting machine.

I hope you enjoyed my home decor project!  Have a great day..

Products used:

24 Seven Snapshots #3104

24 Seven 3x4 Journaling cards #3110

Snap Color Vibe Grey Dot #2838

Snap Life 12x12 Fundamental Cardstock Stickers #2802

Snap Life 12x12 Calendar Cardstock Stickers #2803

Snap Life 6x12 Page Element #2815

 

 

Take a Hike: One with Nature

Hello All!  Wendy here to share up an altered project for you today!  

I always love the vintage and eclectic and this printer's tray from 7 Gypsies just spoke to me along with the Simple Stories Take a Hike collection. I love the tone of the distressed tray along with the color palette in this collection.  My soul screamed...a perfect pairing.  Truth.

Take a Hike is a previous release from Simple Stories and just about perfection for all things outdoor-sy, masculine, and "simply" capturing the beauty of nature.  

You can still grab it up at your fav online spots for scrapbook product and/or local scrapbook store.

My inspiration behind this project....

My boyfriend absolutely loves the outdoors...fishing, even spear fishing, yep. I promised to take him deep sea fishing next month since I live along the beautiful coast along the Gulf of Alabama in Orange Beach.  I feel more outdoor-sy pics to come....

So, in this project I wanted to capture his love for the outdoors, skiing, hiking, the beautiful mountains of Salzburg, Austria, bringing in the rustic, all along with the beautiful scenes of nature in his part of the world.  

I went with black & white photos for uniformity and to keep the photos as a key piece to the project.   I wanted to keep many of the cubby holes in the tray just the natural wood and only used about 2-3 colors of pattern paper and/or patterns not so 'busy' to keep the tray from being 'overwhelmed'.  Also, in using the 6x6 paper pad from the Take a Hike collection, the patterns are smaller in scale than the 12x12 size and I love this for working with mini projects and altered projects.  If you didn't know that...daily food for thought. Ha!

Without further ado..."One with Nature"

I played on the scenes you find in nature...the mini fawn was found in the children's toys section of a store. The fishing embellishments are actually dollhouse miniatures.  The trees are from train track landscape scenery. These simple touches added just the punch to my project that I was looking to capture.  

Randomly thinking "out-of-the-box" brought a lot of interest, texture, movement, and just the random to my project, "One with Nature".

The hanging latern is attached with a screw inside the cubby hole.  A little "elbow grease"/sweat is needed here. :)

I love to cover multiple sections with one photo cut to size of the tray pockets.  This adds a neat and unexpected interest to the project.

I love the mixing of different tones of wood and metal - i.e. wood veneer shapes, metal vintage finds, metal quote plaques, and mini wood letters.

Also, this would make an excellent birthday gift for hubby, boyfriend, male friend or a great Father's Day gift that can be displayed!

Hope you enjoyed my project!

Supply List:

Simple Stories

Take a Hike Collection:

6x6 Paper Pad

Fundamentals Cardstock Stickers #2602

Expressions Cardstock Stickers #2503

Other

Letterblock Printer's Tray - 7 Gypsies, Trees - Woodland Classics - Woodland Scenics Forever Green #TR3565 N, HO, O Scale, Fishing Accessories & Rabbit - Mayberry Street Miniatures, Wood Veneer Shapes - Studio Calico (birds, letters, bicycle), Fawn - Safari Ltd, Metal Phrase Plaque & Hanging Screw - Advantus - Tim Holtz, Metal Dome Studs - 7 Gypsies, zGlossy Accents - Ranger, Glue Dots - Glue Arts - Extreme Tac Adhesive Squares, Mod Podge - Matte, Metal Wheel - Local Vintage Store.

Valentine's Wallet Card and Treat Bag

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Guiseppa here to share with you some fast, easy projects using Scor-Pal and Simple Storie's Sn@p Collection.  I love Valentines Day, not just because it's fun to express my love and appreciation for those special people in my life, but because the projects are so fun to make.  

I will admit...I have never used  a Scor-Pal and I was so excited to get to use one.  So, I took a trip to the Scor-Pal website and found a couple of tutorials.  I made the Criss Cross Photo Wallet and the Goody Bag.  

I decided I wanted to turn this photo wallet into a card.  I still had a picture inside, but on the other side I added a little sentiment.

If you haven't been on the Scor-Pal website...there are loads of fun and creative ideas.  I hope you have enjoyed my post and don't forget to be checking back all week to see Scor-Pal and Simple Stories ideas!

 

 

Simple Stories Supplies Used:

Sn@p Collection:

Green/Elementary Notebook #2819

Stickers Typeset #4021

Stickers Icon #4018

Color Vibe 6x6 Paper Pad #2824

Pink Dot/Stripe #2836

Basics 6x6 Paper Pad #2823

Sticker Labels #4019

3x4 Cards Snappy Days #4008

Stickers Typeset #4021