I {heart} Crate Paper - Guest

I reserve a great big spot in my heart for Crate Paper.  I adore Lisa and think she is one of the most creative designers out there.

When I had an opportunity to Guest for Crate, it was like coming home and of course I couldn't reply to the email fast enough to say YES.  Of COURSE.  I would LOVE to.  I've been sitting on my projects for a bit as the mid-release came out, but I can now share some of the crafty I've been up to.

I was sent Story Teller and Pretty Party.  Initially I would expect to be immediately drawn to Pretty Party for my design work, but it was Story Teller that ended up on the projects I created for the blog post.  Here's a bit of what I came up with:

Morgan spent a rare day flouncing around the house in one of my dresses recently, and we had fun with a fun fashion show which of course included photo taking.  As I was looking at her in the pictures, she seemed like a little senorita, so inspired by that flavor, I wanted a more vintage/tuscan theme, and the Story Teller line matched perfectly.

The background was trimmed with my Cameo and trimmed ragged which was also inspired by an italian villa and broken cobblestones, etc.  Does that make sense?  The floral pattern, obviously, goes with the theme as well.  And I've been obsessed with doilies so I had to add some from my stash too.  

Morgan looks so pretty in these photos.  ::sigh::

Something I've noticed in the evolution of my style is how I've embraced hand-journaling.  It began partly for speed, because I tend to be a slow crafter and to type and print journaling just adds more time.   I've come to like how it looks though, especially when it's underlined, so I'm proud of myself for sticking with it.  My kids are going to want to know what Mama's handwriting looked like.

This next layout utilizes the Story Teller line as well and a jumping point was the chipboard elements. I loved that bike and the polaroid frame.

Even though I liked the design as it was, I wanted to add some fun details to it, so I used the alpha sticker sheet to make an alphabet border.  I wanted it to be a bit tone on tone and didn't want it to stand out too much, and I like the texture it added to the layout.  Stitched right over it to hold it down, too.  

After two layouts, it was time to come up with a card, and this time Pretty Party made her debut:  

I love how Crate Paper does woodgrain, so I wanted that to be prominent.  I liked the chipboard elements so paired the flowers with the butterfly on this card.  it was easy to add a few patterns and a border sticker, and to top it off with a sticker sentiment.  

I adore working with Crate Products, I think they are so ME, so was honored to guest for them this week.  I hope you've had a chance to work with these products!  You should have seen some of these in Studio Calico kits if you subscribe.  I hope you've also seen the mid-release but I have to tell you something.....  I heard a rumor about the theme of the summer release and OH MY.  I can't wait to see what's in store!

Have a great weekend!  After multiple days of blog posts I need a moment, lol!

Davinie