New Design Team Member: Jeannie

My name is Jeannie DeGruccio. To tell you a little about me, I am a mom, I have 7 kids, ranging from 19 down to 3 years. My hubby and I have survived, so far through 22 years of marriage.  I have been Scapbooking/Stamping /Paper Crafting through it all.  I started crafting as a young mom to decorate my home on a very tight budget.  From there I got into scrapbooking and card making and moved onto various forms of art and crafting as the trends changed. Today I have over  20 years of crafting experience. .  If I had to describe my style, I would say that I am a whimsical paper crafter.  I love bold, bright, cheery and cutesy type things.  I can DO any style, but I do default to my whimsical style when I am given no boundaries. I am in love with crafts of all forms.   Paper is my passion, my therapy.  Cards, scrapping, home decor?  I love it all.  I have never met a piece of paper I can't tame! I do not feel I have more talent than the person standing next to me, I just feel like I am not afraid to try new things and techniques.  Now, I say enough talking, let’s get crafting!  Agree?? 

New Design Team Member: Brittany

Hi! I'm Brittany and really excited to be on the design team! I'm a Minnesota girl, I've lived here all my life, though I really want to move to somewhere a little warmer, -20 degree winters really aren't my thing. I have one crazy kiddo, Gavin, he's 5 1/2, and we have a fur baby named Cha-chi, a cat who weighs almost as much as my kiddo. I've been crafting all my life(I'm more than a little artsy) but didn't get into paper crafting until Gavin was born. I got a scrapbook kit as a gift right after he was born and the paper bug bit me hard, I'm happily addicted to all things paper crafting.

Farewell Project: Clothespin Candle Holder by Scrappy Canuck

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I joined my first design team here at CropChocolate!  I have met so many supportive and amazing ladies through the CC community, and it has be an honour to represent such a great company!  Although my time on the team has come to an end, I look forward to continued sharing and laughing with all of you here at CC, and can't wait to be inspired by the new team.

I have to admit that I really struggled to come up with an idea for my farewell project.  Somehow, it felt like it should be some amazing, "over-the-top" showstopper!  Oh, the pressure!  But one of the really neat things I have learned about myself this last year is that I am really not an "over-the-top" crafter!  In fact, it is simple details that I have come to enjoy sharing with all of you, in the hopes that they will be beautiful enough for you to want to try, but simple enough that even a novice crafter would consider giving it a go!  

So today, I thought I would share with you a project that was inspired by a recent pin I can across on Pinterest in which the crafter used a tuna tin and some clothes pins for a planter.  I added some beautiful Echo Park Times and Seasons paper, some MM Paper Reverie bling, a bunch of Distress Ink and Stain, and changed the purpose of my little creation.  By day, it's a great little container for some of my tools, but by night, it's the perfect candle holder!  Functional and sexy - what's not to love!  Here's how you can create one too!

Materials:

- Short container such as a tuna tin - I actually used a tea canister that I cut down to 1" tall.  Just make sure that the container does not flair out.

- Wooden clothes pins - I needed 19 to complete my project, but the number will depend on the circumference of your container. See the tutorial for information on how to determine how many you will need.

- Paper - this is a great project to use scraps as you will only need thin strips.  I used Echo Park Times and Seasons

- Liquid adhesive

- Optional products for embellishment including Distress Stain in Picket Fence, Distress Ink in Walnut Stain, twine or jute, bling such as the MM Paper Reverie gems and brads (Metallique)

Instructions:

Step 1

If needed, cut your container down to approximately 1" high.

Step 2

Place the clothes pins all the way around your container to determine the number you will need.  Take them off the container, and set the container aside.

Step 3

Optional - I applied two coats of Distress Stain in Picket Fence to the front and back of each pin for a whitewashed effect.

Step 4

Cut strips of paper to match the long side of each of your pins (2 per pin as you will see the inside as well).  These measured 5/8" X 2 6/8" for my project, allowing a border around each side so the Picket Fence Stain could be seen. 

Step 5

Making sure that the Distress Stain is dry, use a liquid adhesive to apply the paper strips onto your pins.

Step 6

Cut a 1 1/4" strip of paper that is long enough to cover the circumference of your container.  Use a liquid adhesive to apply to your container.

Step 7 (insert "Clothespin 7")

Use one of your pins to clamp the overlap of your paper closed until it has had time to dry.  

Step 8

Apply the rest of your clothes pins and embellish as desired!

Thank-you to CropChocolate for giving me the opportunity to craft with and for you this last year!  I hope you will continue to stop by http://scrappycanuck.wordpress.comevery now and again to see what I messes I continue to conjure up in my crafty space!  Take care everyone!

New Design Team Member: Julie aka Scrap Happy

(Side note from Amber: I love this "in action" picture! :))

"I've been crafty as long as I can remember, making many needlework projects, baskets, Hardanger, until the house was full.  I began scrapbooking 4 1/2 years ago when we had to clean out my parent's home (my childhood home) to move my father into an assisted living facility after my mother died.  I found boxes and boxes of pictures.  I decided I wanted to make my father a small scrapbook so he could have some memories of my mother and their life together to look through whenever he wanted.  Well, that first scrapbook turned into 2 for my dad, and I haven't looked back since.  I also get great joy out of making cards and am beginning to dabble in altered art and mixed  media.  I think I discovered CropChocolate.com in April, 2009, so I've been on-board pretty much since the beginning.  I've seen lots of changes in this company -- all of them customer oriented.  I am a huge CC fan!

My favorite project made using CC products are these wooden blocks I made back in March, 2012.  The paper is from MM Dilly Dally and so are all the embellishments. I cut the letters out on my Cricut.  The blocks came from a friend who's neighbor burns wood.  She's my source for all sorts of blocks.

I am very excited to be on this design team!  It is humbling when I see the great projects posted on this site.  There is so much talent here.  I am honored to be a part of it."

Guest Designer - by Belle - Beaded Necklace

I was very honored to be asked to be the guest designer for June!!  As soon as I knew it had to be a summer project the idea of a necklace flashed in my mind and here is what I came up with….
What you will need:  
            1- 12x12 piece of cardstock, I used Echo Park Playground Monkey Bars
            1- 6x6 piece of cardstock, I used Echo Park Holly Jolly Stocking are Hung
            Some kind of glaze, I used Distress Crackle Paint Clear Rock Candy.

            Because I wanted to see the ‘crackle’ I also used Distress Ink Walnut Stain and Spiced Marmalade
            Some kind of ribbon, I used a cream ribbon I had and dyed it with Alcohol Ink Citrus
All of the above were purchased at Crop Chocolate (except the ribbon which is from my stash).
You will also need:
            Glue, metal ruler, cutting mat, craft knife, paint brush, skewer sticks
Let’s get started…

On the back of your 12x12 piece of cardstock mark at 1 inch across the top and bottom, on your cutting mat with your craft knife cut diagonally from the bottom corner to the first mark on the top of the sheet, discard that piece.  Continue cutting but now every other mark alternating from top to bottom with the end result being long triangles.

Do the same with your 6x6 piece of cardstock but your mark should be at ½ inch instead of an inch.

Take a skewer stick and one of your larger triangles, with the wrong side facing up, and start rolling on the skewer.  Make sure it is tight and centered.

When you get close to the end put some glue along the tip and continue rolling.  Keep rolling the glue around until the tip is stuck and covered.

Do the same with your smaller triangles

I used a piece of cork I had to stick all my skewers in to dry.

Next, with your paint brush and glaze…

Seal all your beads.  I applied two coats.

While your beads are drying you can prepare your ribbon.  

Since I dyed mine with alcohol ink I had a few more steps…

Determine the length you would like your necklace to be and then allow for a lot of knotting (I doubled what I thought I wanted my length to be).  Then in a glass jar I put a little water, what I thought would be enough to cover my ribbon, squirted the alcohol ink in the water, mixed and dunked my ribbon in.

I used and extra skewer stick to mix with and to get a tie dyed look on my ribbon I squirted more alcohol ink on the ribbon while it was in the water.  Let it soak up the color and when you like the way it looks (remember it will look darker when it is wet) take the ribbon out, rinse and dry.  I threw mine in the dryer to speed up the drying.

I wanted to see the ‘crackle’ on the beads so I inked them all.  The large beads have Distress Ink-Spice Marmalade and Walnut Stain while the small beads just have Walnut Stain.

Ok, now, I never really mentioned anything about how many beads to make…I just knew I wanted two sizes and just started making beads.  I let the number of pieces I could get out of each piece of cardstock kind of decide how many I would do and if I didn’t use them all well, I would have some beads for another project.   
String all our beads on your ribbon in the order you want them.  Space them to your liking but remember the knotting will require a bit of ribbon and leave longer piece and the ends so you can tie in on.  Knot on both side of the first bead and then after each of the rest of the beads.

I had two smaller beads left so I used them at each end for a little extra somethin’.  My necklace ended up being about 32 inches.  I think that makes it very versatile, it can be worn long or doubled up…
Thanks for taking a look at my summer necklace project and if you try it please post some pictures so I can see your interpretation…I love it when everyone shares their projects!!

Farewell Project: Family Tree by JeepMama

CC Products Used:

Echo Park For the Record

My Mind’s Eye So Sohpie

Echo Park The Great Outdoors

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Walnut Stain

Echo Park Victoria Gardens

My Mind’s Eye Lime Twist Fly a Kite

Bo Bunny Vicki B

Fancy Pants metal frame collections

Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Walnut Stain

Making Memories Lush Brown Ribbon

My Mind’s Eye Stella & Rose

Making Memories Paperie Greenhouse Srticker Alphas

Making Memories Dilly Dally Embellishment Box

Celebrate It Occasions Décor Flowers

Non-CC Products Used:

Wood & a handy husband

Mod Podge Matte finish

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint

CloseToMyHeart Alpha Stamp – Felicity & A Typeface

May Arts vine ribbon 

Directions:

Have handy-husband cut out wood shapes

Sponge Ink color on edges of all tree bases

Die Cut tree trunks & canopy 

Mod Podge tree trunk & canopy to one another & wood shapes

Cover base with desired paper

Stamp Last name on cardstock, cut to shape of frame, tie long ribbon thru frame

Apply name stickers to tree canopies

Tie Last name plaque onto tree canopy

Mod Podge word stip to base

Embellish with vine ribbon & various flowers

New Design Team Member: Kathy (clayton528)

Hi! I'm Kathy (clayton528).  I live in a small suburb of Des Moines, Iowa with my hubby and daughter.   

In addition to being a wife and a mother, I'm also a 2x cancer survivor with my first diagnosis happening when my daughter was 3 weeks old.  

My first introduction to scrapbooking was at a Creative Memories party about 14 years ago . . . one look and I was hooked! You can look at the size of each of my scrapbooks and know exactly what year I started. :)  Since then, as I have watched the scrapbooking industry grow and change by leaps and bounds, I've seen my own style grow and change.  But no matter how much my own style has changed, I find it hard to embellish my layouts before I journal . . . remember, with Creative Memories you were taught to journal 1st, then you could embellish (at that time it was stickers). 

One of the reasons I got started in  scrapbooking was to remember.  Scrapbooking not only helps me remember who I am and where I've been, but also the "who & what" that has helped me become the person I am today.  I like to fancy myself as being part student, part artist, part historian, part writer, and part . . . well, let's not say what else I fancy myself as.

Here's one of Kathy's favorite projects:

Farewell Project: Altered Tin by Moon

My farewell project was inspired from the tin I altered.  I received a lot of comments on the flowers on top, so I decided to do the project based on that.

The supplies I used were my craft mat, a sponge paint brush, paint tray, Bazzill paper flowers (I used red on the original tin, but I am out of red, so I used green in the pictures).

I used the black and white flower pack from Michael's but bought at crop chocolate, Tim Holtz Rick candy crackle paint, Making Memories Gold paint, Tim Holtz old paper ink, Ranger liquid pearls, Making Memories accent pieces.

First thing I do is pull out the flowers I want to use (you need at least 2 flowers here for each completed flower you will make), and ink them up with my ink pad.

Then let them dry.

Then I hold the flowers by one petal, and paint it pretty heavy handed with the Tim Holtz Crackle paint (Rock candy).

This needs a while to dry, at least a few hours or even overnight.    I prefer overnight, so I don;t mess with them while they are still tacky.

When they are dry, take each individual flower, and scrunch it up in your hand.  Then straighten them back out again.

Now it is time to add the gold accents.  A dryer paintbrush works best.  you want to randomly go over the flowers with the gold paint, and let them dry.  Once dry, stack the flowers, at least 2 on top of each other, and glue them together in the center.  My original plan making these was to use Making Memories accent pieces for the centers of all 5 flowers.  After assembling the flowers, I discovered that they worked great on the bigger 2 flowers, but for the smaller 3 flowers, I needed something else.    I reached for my liquid pearls by Ranger.  They made the perfect centers for the flowers.