We have made some wonderful connections with manufacturers in the year and a half that we’ve been open, and American Crafts is one of our favorites. They are always so generous at CHA with the products that they donate for product matching and their retailer giveaways are beyond generous. this month we’ve teamed up with them to offer TWO reveal night giveaways of {my forever favorite} Craft Fair line from last year.

Just leave a comment before midnight on Sunday March 14th {when the new kits are revealed!} and we will draw two names to win a huge assortment of Craft Fair goodness. yes, you read right, TWO OF YOU will win a pile like the one above. That pile is almost $100 of yumminess people and it goes so perfectly sprinkled in with the March kits!!

Good Luck and don’t forget to join us tomorrow night at 8pm pacific for our reveal night chat where we’ll be giving some more AC away as we count down to the reveal of one of my alltime collection of favorite kits.

Happy Saturday!
xo

 Ever get stuck in a rut?
Or how about you just don’t feel very creative?
It happens!
One of my favorite things to do to help get myself out of a rut is to scraplift myself!
{it’s easy and totally legal!}
I pull out an old album or 2 (which is always fun to look through anyway!) and start going through my old layouts.
I don’t go too far back because some of my old layouts are just plain hideous!
But I do go back a couple of years because I am trying to get myself out of the rut of the same ole layouts I have been doing recently.
I’ve got a couple of examples for you!
I made this layout for the February gallery
using the Skylark & Passerine kits.

I made that layout after finding this next one in an old album.
I used the same basic design and theme for my newer layout.

 I might need to do one of these “love” layouts once a year.
They would be fun to look back on after a while!
_______________________________________
Here is another example.
This funky layout is one of my favorites from a couple of years back.

I used it as a jumpstart to create this next layout using the Skylark kit.

I hope this tip helps you out the next time you get stuck in a rut or need a little boost of creativity!
Have a great day!
:)

I am a big fan of the handwritten letter, although to be honest i have been a bit horrible at sending thank you notes lately. So, last night i made a digi leatterhead with the new HoneyChurch kit {so i can send a few out this week} and decided I love it so much i’d share. simply click the image below and you can download an 8.5×11 version for yourself. use it for letters. notes. or you can even scrap a page or two.

please note this is a pdf file so you will need adobe in order to download and view.

happy wednesday!
xo

As some of you noticed earlier Jessi’s shipment to the great white north {canada, eh?} was caught up in the postal jail called canadian customs this past month. That combined with the holidays meant we were a bit late in getting her gallery updated with her amazing creations.

however! as you can see her art is amazing this month, make sure you check out her gallery which is live and especially her beautiful secret garden album. the stitching on that canvas slipcover is just SO wonderful!

and don’t forget to come back here tomorrow night, or the next morning if you’ll be off gallivanting for the new year change as we post the new january kit sneak peeks and announce some amazing news about Kenner Road in 2010. I promise you won’t want to miss the news!

Happy {almost} 2010!
xo

*** contest is closed ***

Today {before i begin explaining the process of how i created my vintage tannenbaum tree} i have a surprise. I saved one last kit to giveaway to one lucky reader, such as yourself. consider it a little treat from me & kenner road to thank you for your continued support and to thank you for coming here so we can share our passion for vintage things & pretty paper.

to win, make sure you post a comment telling us what your favorite tree trimming memory is before midnight on december 6th. i’ll draw a winner on december 7th from all of the comments and post that person’s name here, on the 7th. and, because we’ve had a lot of prizes go unclaimed lately {seriously!!} the winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we’ll redraw a new name and the original winner will forfeit the prize. and of course, our international friends are always welcome to enter. ;)

now, to enter to win remember to leave your comment at the end of the post. until then… let’s get to trimming this tree!

Supplies used : tannenbaum kit {alot of these elements are vintage and you can certainly substitute the paper and elements as you choose if you don’t have the kit}. craft wire {i used two sizes – 20 guage copper & 32 guage silver. both of these are widely available in craft stores}.

tools used : scissors, edge distressor, hot glue gun, foam squares, dry adhesive, zip dry {wet adhesive}, butterfly punch, pinking shears.

step 1 : attach your vintage sewing bobbin to the vintage tin with hot glue. just a little is needed.

step 2 : create four tiers of wire tree branches.

i like my branches to look very homespun so perfection has no place on my tree. i simply cut a 2 foot piece of wire and and then created a branch by wrapping the wire together. i also left a small loop {see picture above} in order to create an end that wouldn’t allow my mini ornaments to fall off.

after wrapping the branches i attached each branch by wrapping one end of the wire around the bobbin and then wrapping the other loose end the opposite way. i create four tiers of three branches doing this and had each tier of branches get slightly smaller in length so that the top row was smaller than the bottom.

this is a good look at what your branches will look like before you add your ornaments. isn’t he cute? you’ll notice i added a small piece of the 7gypsies gaffer tape to the bottom to just add a little color. we’ll be adding the bird next :)

step 3 : add your bird tree topper.

i backed my two bird cutouts with the red gaffer tape so that the plain side wouldn’t show when i stacked my birds on top of my tree. then i added a white tab {that i stamped with a kenner road stamp} and applied them to my birds with mini foam squares.

then i put three mini mercury glass beads on the white enamel pin and glued the pin to the top of my bobbin. before gluing i used a kraft knife to push a small hole into the wood so the glue and pin end would have a reservoir to rest in. you will have to hold this in place for a few minutes while the glue dries.

after the glue dries, attach your birds together using mini foam squares in between so that they pop out a bit. then you can slightly bend each tail end and each head for a bit more dimension.

this following picture also shows the ribbon and jute cording wrapped around the pin & bobbin. this will be the very last thing you do AFTER you create all of your ornaments as this is all of your extra ribbon & jute cording and you’ll want to make sure you use what you need to for your ornaments first. i’ll remind you about it again at the end ;)

step 4 : create your ornaments.

for these last steps i’ll give you basic instructions for the ornaments that you might have questions for. most of these are very easy to understand just by seeing the images but, please note i saved every single scrap of paper, tissue, etc as i was creating. i love adding these smaller bits back into other pieces {as you will see} and hope some of these ideas help you see that even the smallest bits & pieces can create beautiful things.

also, i did not back all of these ornaments with the red gaffer tape but you certainly can if you choose to, it does add a finished look and makes the ornaments pleasing for both sides, but there is some intricate cutting required with some of them do to the punch-outs, etc.

punch out the butterfly center and use a 1/16″ hole punch to punch a hole at the top and bottom of the center of the butterfly. thread your enamel pin through one hole at the bottom, thread on two white snowflake beads and thread through other hole. secure the pin with gaffer tape on back and add ribbon.

take your butterfly punch-out from the previous piece and attach to the front of the domino with a mini foam square. wrap a piece of ribbon around each side {attaching with dry adhesive} and tie at top. then add loop for hanging.

fill mini glass bottle with rhinestones and glue button to top for lid and wrap wire around center with long tails at each side. cut out two center squares of large bingo tag and punch 1/16″ holes at the “0″ in “30″ and the “6″ in “60″. thread wire tails through and coil ends into spirals, this will hold the wire in place.  attach garment pin to hang.

punch butterfly out of the two square piece you cut from your previous ornament and staple a mini staple in the center. apply to crown with mini foam square and wrap ribbon around top and loop to hang.

attach wire to key and thread two mercury glass beads and one snowflake bead before creating loop and twisting ends back round wire to close.

attach domino and mini word ticket that has been trimmed and edged with pinking shears. add garment pin to hang.

this one’s my favorite :)

i created a blanket stitch around the milkcap by first creating 1/16″ punched holes and then threading the wire in a simple blanket stitch. it took some patience and a little time but looks so cute. when that was finished i added a row of 5 snowflake beads for some dimension by threading them on wire and then attaching to the back through the punched holes. add some ribbon to the top to hang.

distress edges of large tag. create a small rosette by pleating the crepe paper {about 4′-6″ is all you need} that has been doubled by folding lengthwise in half. attach a button threaded with jute cording to center of rosette and attach garment pin to hang.

pleat a 6″ piece of crepe paper to circle tag and attach with dry adhesive. type or hand write a favorite holiday saying on the manila tag your trim came wrapped on and trim into a simple banner, attach with dry adhesive.

attach top tag to bottom with a mini foam square making sure to line up hanging holes. type another festive word and attach to top of top tag. thread a mercury bead on the flower’s stem and thread through a 1/16″ hole punched at bottom of large tag. coil end of flower stem to keep the bead on. attach garment pin for hanging.

stitch another pleated 6″ strip of crepe paper and trim ends with pinking shears. attach to pear tag and top with another trimmed ticket saying and enamel pin. attach garment pin to hang.

wrap domino with wire and create loop for hanging. apply trimmed ticket remnant to top and attach trimmed crepe paper edges as desired.

attach another piece of crepe paper to skinny tag and trim bottom edge into banner points. add button threaded with ribbon and another festive word saying. hang from ribbon.

create gaffer tape ribbon and add bingo circle and festive typed greeting. hang from garment pin.

wrap bottle with wire and create loop for hanging. add gaffer tape to bottle and jute cording and fill with half of the remaining flower stems.

attach vintage dennison label to tag. thread remaining mercury glass beads and attach to tag by threading through two 1/16″ pu8nched holes on each end, secure in back. slide remaining flowers through and use garment pin to hang.

type “believe” on last vintage dennison label and attach to glass bottle. glue remaining snowflake bead to bottle {glue so snowflake edges poke into bottle} and use garmnet pin to hang.

step 5 : wrap remaining ribbon around top of bobbin and display.

i hope you enjoy this kit just as much as i have adored creating it for you. please remember to leave a comment to enter the giveaway and i hope you have an amazing holiday season filled with good wishes and lots of holiday cheer!