Papercrafts and Planners – Page 2 – Crafting a beautiful balance of creativity and productivity

Hello Fall

August 14, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Finding Time to be Creative

If you are like me you have dreams of making beautiful cards, gift boxes, gift bags, tablescapes, party decor and all the things that look easy on Pinterest. You want to make people feel special by giving them something you made yourself.

The problem is time is at a premium. When you finally find the time, you don’t have the supplies on hand, or you need a tutorial, or inspiration. You either spend a lot of time searching online for the perfect project, or you need to shop for the supplies, sometimes both.

If this sounds like you, I have a solution.

A Box Full of Creativity

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How would you like to receive a box of fun projects with the hard parts done for you? All you need to do is open your box, click on the email, and follow the directions.

The Hello Fall Creativity Box has the supplies to make four cards, four gift tags, and one gift bag, including an 11 piece stamp set. Your first box will include a black ink cube and mini adhesive. There will be instructional videos for every project.

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Hello Fall is the first creativity box, but the Nothing But Treats Creativity Box will be available soon.

Something for the Planner Gals

There are also Hello Fall Planner Kits available. Right now the kits are available for the Big Happy Planner, Classic Happy Planner, A5, and Traveler’s Notebook. Each kit has the same theme and stamp set, but the projects are adapted to the planner styles. The planner kits also come with a black ink cube, mini adhesive, and a video with suggestions on how to use the supplies.

Below is a video showing how I used the kit to decorate my Big Happy Planner.

More Available

My shop is new and will be expanding each month. I have had a request to add some ready made items to my shop, so there will be a few of those available also.

If you are ready to check out the shop, simply visit the Creativity Box Shop and have a look around.

Please feel free to ask any questions below, or email me at papercraftsandplanners@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by,

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Fun Stampers Journey Catalog

July 21, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Over 300 Pages of Inspiration!

I was able to attend the Fun Stampers Journey Convention this year, so I had the 2018/2019 Inspiration Book and Catalog in my hands a few weeks before it went live.

The wonderful thing about the convention was getting to see, and use, some wonderful new products. It was really hard to stick to my budget!

Take a Look for Yourself

I filmed a flip through of the new catalog highlighting some of my favorite new stuff. Because of the size of the catalog I filmed two videos.

Part 1

Part 2 Get a Copy for Yourself

I will send catalogs to the first five people who email me at papercraftsandplanners@gmail.com. You can also purchase one for yourself on my FSJ site.

Stay tuned for lots projects made with the lovely new products I’ve purchased. I hope you get lots of inspiration from the new catalog.

Blog Well Retreat

June 13, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Training in Dallas

I first heard about the Blog Well Retreat from Rebecca at Rebecca’s Roadmap . I decided to take the leap and invest in my business. It is always a tough call when deciding how much to invest on your business before you are turning a profit.

I hadn’t yet met Rebecca in person, so deciding to share a hotel room was also a part of the leap I took. I figured I would either form a new friendship or need to find another hotel room on the fly. Fortunately, I made a great new friendship and no one needed to call 911.

Katie Horner

The event was run by Katie Horner of Blogging Successfully. I was not familiar with Katie, but I would now highly recommend checking her out. After I returned from her retreat I joined her Blog Connection group. I have not had time to delve into all of the training yet, but I’m already loving the support from the other members.

Katie’s experience was invaluable. She has been there, done that. I will be processing, and implementing, all of the information she shared for a long time.

Other Speakers and Sponsors

These ladies weren’t just speakers, they were mentors. They each had so much to share.

Robin Smith of Be Social Get Success shared her wisdom with “dazzling visuals that increase engagement and help you be known.” I will be changing/improving a lot of my images, especially on this blog, because of the information she shared.

I was able to get some one-on-one time with Robin, and we worked on improving my blog. The improvements will continue.

Sandy Lawrence of Perceptive Public Relations impressed with “success practices with press releases.” Sandy primarily works with writers (yes, a blogger is a writer too), and I had several “ah ha” moments as she spoke.

Cynthia Charleen of Dallas Organizing found the location, and helped organize things locally since Katie currently lives in Mexico.

The kind gentlemen at Innovation Finances allowed us to use their space in the Intel Bank building. It was a lovely building and we had plenty of room to spread out.

Accommodations and Dining

Rebecca and I stayed at the Highland Dallas, and it was impressive. The entire hotel looked like a fancy take on ranch life. There was cowhide on the elevator wall, and all of the wall art symbolized ranch life.

The Restaurant, The Knife, was all about the aged beef. We had a bacon sampler, a cheese plate, steak, and a little dessert plate. I do not normally splurge on a meal like that, but it certainly was an experience. I am certain I have never eaten bacon from Spain before.

Final Thoughts Before Heading Home

Rebecca and I wanted to share what we learned at this great training. We filmed a video, and I think it was as much for us as anyone. It helped us organize our thoughts a bit before heading to our prospective homes.

Watch this video if you can get past the driving- home- soon looks, and a bit of rambling.

The learning, and friendships, will continue for a long time. If you have been considering spending money on training to help with your business, just do it! This won’t be the last time I spend money on training to help move my business, and life, forward.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you will hang out a bit, and don’t forget to sign up for email notifications, and my monthly newsletter.

Card Making with Specialty Die Cuts

June 7, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Designer Frames

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This set of die cuts turned out to be a lot of fun to work with once I learned a few tips and tricks. It is a very versatile set to help you make cards that look like you spent a lot of time on them.

Helpful Tips

My first attempt to use the Designer Frames Die set was not successful. The frame is very thin and I had a hard time keeping everything straight as I adhered it to the card.

I did a little searching, asked a few questions, and soon it all came together for me. Below is a video tutorial with the tips that really helped me.

Ordering Info

If you are interested in any of the items I used to make these cards, simply click on the links below. Many of the items I used are on the retirement list which means they are discounted, and available while supplies last.

Designer Frames Die Set

Through the Year Paper (polka dots)

To You Stamp and Die Set Bundle

To You Stamp Set Only

Color Burst Pencils

Unfortunately the Mystic Romance Paper I used (floral with yellow background) sold out as I was finishing this blog post. If there is an item you want, please do not hesitate to order as things are going quickly.

Thank you for visiting my blog! If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I would love to hear from you.

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One Sheet Wonder Cards

June 4, 2018 · Leave a Comment

What is a One Sheet Wonder Card?

One Sheet Wonder Cards utilize a cutting pattern for your printed paper. I typically use a 12 x 12 sheet of double sided, printed paper. There are other cutting patterns for 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and 6 x 6 paper.

The idea behind one sheet wonder cards is they allow you to make many cards from one piece of printed paper. The should go together quickly. Don’t take a long time coming up with designs, just go with the pieces you have just cut out, and add some solid colors, and some stamping.

Here is the pattern I used to make my cards. It may look complicated to cut, but I will show you how in the video below.

Getting the Most of My Printed Paper

The Fun Stampers Journey retirement list has been published and the retirement sale is going on until the end of June. All of the printed paper in my stash is on the retirement list. That means I need to get serious about using it up.

Not only do one sheet wonder card use up printed paper so you can make room for the new, it also makes the best use of that paper. Very little of a 12 x 12 piece of printed paper is wasted.

Cards

The first cards I made from one 12 x 12 will be nice additions to cards I keep handy for different occasions. Both sides of the patterned paper coordinated with each other, which is helpful. I only made 7 cards because I used several pieces on the cards.

For the second set of cards I picked a more challenging piece of paper. The two sides of the paper did not really coordinate with each other. It allowed me to get some very different looks to my cards. I still have lots of paper that is cut and ready to go to make more cards.

I probably overthink my designs, but I tried to make them as quickly as possible which a great perk of this type of card.

Below is a video of me making some cards to give you an idea of how easily you can make some lovely cards. Please forgive my head in a few shots and the excessive hand movements. I needed to speed up this video because it would have been nearly 40 minutes long!

Links

Here are links to products I used that are still available. Things are going fast on the retirement list!

Mystic Romance Paper on the retirement list and selling at a discount

To You Stamp Set

To You Stamp and Die Bundle

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