Taniesa Vlasak | The Crafty Pickle

Happy National Cardmaking Day!

Published on October 5, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi Pickle Pals!

Are you celebrating National cardmaking day today? I am having fun pulling out kits, stamps, and embellishments I have been meaning to get to for a while now but just haven’t had time. So today is for me. I plan on creating some cards for some special people in my life. I hope you are encouraged to do the same. There is nothing like receiving an actual handmade card to brighten someones day especially in our digital world.

I wanted to do something for all of my readers and friends today so I am having a Close To My Heart sale all this week starting today 10/5/13 until next Sunday 10/13/13. Spend $25 in retail product get 5% off your order, Spend $50 in product get 10% off, Spend $75 in product get 15% off, and spend $100 or more get 20% off your total order!!! In addition to the sale if you spend $50 you can get this adorable stamp of the month for only $5!

This sale includes ALL CTMH product not just stamps so if you have been waiting to buy the organizers I have shown now is the perfect time to save some money! To recieve your discount please browse my website HERE and then send me an email to TaniesaVlasak@gmail.com with the subject of CTMH Sale and list your item number and description. List the Paypal email that you would like me to send the invoice to, and make sure to let me know if you want to add on the stamp of the month for $5 additional (For orders $50 or more).

I hope you all have a fun cardmaking day!!

Happy Crafting!

Fun October contests & Challenges going on now!

Published on October 1, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi there Pickle-Pals!

I thought I would drop a quick little post telling you about two awesome challenges that are going on for the month of October!

First up is the Whimsical Twist Fall Texture challenge ***Runs 9/30 through 10/11*** You could win a gift certificate to the Whimsical Twist shop! Check out the inspirational layouts posted by some of our design team on the blog post HERE.

Also, Die-Namites is sponsoring Creative Scrappers Sketch challenges for the month of October! you could win some awesome Die-namites dies of your own! Make sure to check out their site HERE!

Lots of fun for the month of October (and there is more to come too!)

Dont forget that the Whimsical Twist December Days class starts TODAY! 3 months of festive fun that you will definitely not want to miss! If you purchase one of the 4 december days kits offered in the shop you can get your class fee reduced to only $10! I am super excited to share the kit I have designed (Merry & Bright) very soon! Stay tuned to my blog, Instagram, and facebook for some sneak peeks! I have some really fab ideas for all you christmas crafters out there!!

Happy October everyone! I am so excited for this Fall season! I hope you are too

Happy Crafting!

Merry Everything!

Published on September 27, 2013September 27, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Happy Friday crafty friends!

Today I am excited to share with you two of the newest release Die-Namites dies in action! I am using the Beautiful Bow die and the Pine Bough die.

These both are so fun to work with and I can think of lots more projects that I want to use them in but I am still working on making my 2013 christmas cards. Here is the photo of the card I put together using these two fabulous dies.

I used a brown glitter glue for the pine cones as well as sprinkled on some additional gold glitter on some of them. I took two colors of red cardstock for the bow cuts and layered the darker color on the bottom to give a shadow effect. I also used some foam dot adhesive to pop the bow up from the pine bough’s. I love the added dimension of the wood grain cardstock.

I have to say this latest release is by far my favorite. I just love Christmas paper crafting! I hope this inspires you to try some of the beautiful christmas dies we have in the View the new arrivals! now!

Happy Crafting!

Project life Re-Organization.

Published on September 25, 2013September 27, 2013 by Taniesa48 Comments

Hi Friends!

I know a number of you have had a lot of questions regarding how I am storing my project life cards. Instead of writing out a long post I made a little video that hopefully will answer some questions and let you see what’s working for me right now.

Here is a little video on how I am organizing my project life and pocket style journaling and filler cards. I am using the medium Close To My Heart organizers which you can see by going to my website HERE <—- that will take you right to the organizers.

The dividers that I had made for my organization were
Pink
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green/Teal
Blue / Aqua
Purple
Gray
Black and white
Brown and Kraft
Multi Color brights
Multi Color muted

Month/Day
Ledger
Numbers
Journaling prompt
Quote filler
Symbols and shapes
Seasons: winter spring summer fall (holidays are in with the season)
Birthday/celebration
Travel
School & Kids life
wedding
Love/hearts

If you have any questions please post a comment, I am happy to answer anything that I can.

Thanks for watching and I hope this has helped you with a few organization ideas of your own!

If you are wanting to puchase the CTMH cases you can visit my CTMH website at www.thecraftypickle.ctmh.com
******Edited to include a link to the divider cut file I made and used in this organizing video and posted on my blog awhile back: Click here for the dividers. The folders that I used were directly from the silhouette store (Design ID #43761)******

It’s beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!

Published on September 20, 2013September 19, 2013 by Taniesa30 Comments

Welcome to our
NEW RELEASE BLOG HOP Die~Namites Dies has just released 32 new Fall and Christmas themed dies!

We are sooo HAPPY that you have chosen to join us for the event, September 20-22, 2013
Our theme is…
“It’s beginning to look A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!”
As you are hopping along be sure to
leave a little love on each of the Design Team blogs.
Make sure to leave a comment on the Die~Namites Blog for an entry to win the Grand Prize of a
$50 Gift Certificate to Die~Namites Dies along with
5 ~ $10 Gift Certificates.
You will receive additional entries for Liking us on Facebook,
Signing up for Email Notifications.
So Let the HOP Begin!

I have been working on my christmas cards since July, but I am nowhere near finished which was good because I absolutely fell in love with the new holiday release from Die-namites! For today’s card I am using the Pine Wreath die. I love the intricate details of the pine, something I definitely could not achieve with a digital cut or punch.

I began by cutting 6 shapes out of two different colors

I started with the full cut on the bottom and layered pieces of the die that I had cut apart on top filling in the empty spaces to add more fullness to the die. I used a Zig ball point tip glue pen. I chose this adhesive because its not too messy but easy to get into fine lines and not dry too fast.

After layering all the greenery I made another cut out of red cardstock and cut the birds from the shape.

I attached them using the same glue on top of the green cut that I started with.

I glued the wreath to a white card (A2) and rounded the corners of the card. I attached some red gem dots (Recollections from Michaels) to make the berries around the wreath.

Then I added some silver polka-dot washi tape around a stamped sentiment on the bottom. It was super simple but I love the results!

What new release dies are your favorites? Be sure to keep an eye out on the die-namites blog for lots more holiday inspiration!

Now for more Holiday Crafting fun! Hop on over to Dunja Dücker’s blog! If you got lost along the hop the order is:

Lisa Tottle

Taniesa Vlasak *you are here*

Don’t forget to comment along your way to win one of 6 awesome prizes!!!

Happy Crafting!

Happy Friday! Let’s get ORGANIZED!

Published on September 13, 2013 by Taniesa10 Comments

Hi Everyone!
I am on to my next organizing endeavor! this time tackling labels, tags, stickers and other project life supply goodness as well as my Die-namite dies!

Here are some before photos. First is my labels, tags, stickers, etc… that I use primarily for Project Life.

And here is the drawer I had all of my Dies shoved into.

What a mess! So I headed to Target (I love Target!) and in the office supply section I found these little gems!

Now I am focusing on these small ones but there are lots of different size accordion files… you could use different sizes to organize different supplies. These coupon size files came with a little notepad. I took that out to lessen the bulk.

I created some mini file folders. The first i created using my silhouette…. but I needed to make quite a few, and maybe I was a little lazy, so I just cut the cardstock to size, scored it, folded it, and put a tab on it.

Then I separated everything into like item piles. A couple of tips to mention. You want to remove any unnecessary excess packaging, this adds extra bulk and sometimes will prevent the item from fitting.

You also might want to cut down strips of labels to just the label and not the product name or bar code. If you want to retain the info just write on the back with a slick writer.

For the folders in the sticker, tag, and label files I created one in each to put the items that were loose in, I didn’t want them falling in between the divided sections

For the die cut file, I made an individual file folder for each die, also when I use the die I cut a couple of extra shapes and put it in with the die, that way if I just want to grab a cut and not pull out my machine i have it right on hand.

And here is some end result photos. I really am enjoying this system, I love that everything is right at my fingertips. For now I am storing the files in the black box I picked up at target seen in the photo, but as I reorganize my IKEA Raskog, I might transfer them over.

I hope this provided you with some organization inspiration. I have a pretty big project I am working on next and I can’t wait to share with you all SOON!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Die-Namites September Sketch and Dare using the Love Heart die & the Wild and Free collection by Glitz Designs.

Published on September 5, 2013September 5, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Welcome to this months Sketch Challenge and Die~Namites Dare!

Every month a new sketch will be introduced….

the sketch can be interpreted as a card, layout or altered piece!

You need to use at least one

Die~Namites Die in your creation.

You have until the last day of the month to post your creation on your blog,

with mention of the

Die~Namites Die used and a link back to the Die~Namites Dies blog.

Link your blog post, using Inlinkz, to the Die~Namites Die blog.

A random winner will be chosen from eligible participant

for a $25 Gift Certificate to

Die~Namites Dies.

Here is this month’s sketch…..

Today I’m showing my take on this month’s sketch challenge and dare! Mine is just a little bit different from the sketch but I am sure you will see how it worked for me. I thought out of the box with this one and decided to incorporate the sketch into a project life title card.

The die I decided to use was an obvious choice given the sketch. I went with the Love Heart die.

For this particular project I didn’t want the word to show in the project so I overlapped it with the week title by tucking the strip of Glitz patterned paper in the loop of the L. I replaced the flower embellishment with a Glitz designs rhinestone and some enamel dots by My Minds Eye. For the ribbon dare portion I took some black ribbon and silver embroidery floss. I stitched a little arrow onto the ribbon and stapled it to my card using the Tim Holtz Mini Attacher. All of the printed paper used is from the Glitz Designs Wild and Free 6×6 paper pad.

And here it is incorporated into my project life layout.

Here is the right side.

The bottom right card in the photo above was from the digital glitz collection. I used a Ali Edwards 4×6 outline brush on top and the journaling. It’s hard to see from the photo but the upper right card says Movie Date on top of the Glitz designs heart washi tape.

I think everything came together quite nicely. I was a little stuck with this particular week for a while so using the sketch really helped inspire me to get this layout completed!

I am LOVING the new Glitz Designs Wild and Free collection! It’s so bright and colorful with some fun basic patterns that go with everything. Right now you can get this collection and all sorts of fun papercrafting candy at Whimsical Twist for 25% off through September 30th! Use Code AUTUMN25.

Happy Crafting (and Shopping)!

Monthly Die-namites sketch challenge and dare!

Published on September 2, 2013September 2, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Happy Monday Die-Namite Die Cut fans!

Up on the Die-Namites blog today Lynne is introducing a new monthly feature!

Our Sketch Challenge and Die~Namites Dare!!!Every month a new sketch will be introduced.The sketch can be interpreted as a card, layout or altered piece!

You need to use at least one Die~Namites Die in your creation.

You have until the last day of the month to post your creation on your blog, with mention of the Die~Namites Die used and a link back to the Die~Namites Dies blog. Link your blog post, using Inlinkz, to the Die~Namites Die blog.

A random winner will be chosen from eligible participants

for a $25 Gift Certificate to the Die~Namites Dies

Here is this month’s sketch…..

This months Dare is to use Ribbon in your creation!

Want to learn more and see how lynne interpreted the sketch into her project? Head over the the Die-Namites blog!

Happy Die-Cutting and creating!!!

Creating a Sequin Station for your craft space.

Published on August 30, 2013August 29, 2013 by Taniesa12 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I am revisiting a previously posted idea a few months ago that I used for small embellishment storage. Ever since I purchased the sequins in the whimsical Twist shop I have been HOOKED on sequins and use them on a lot of my projects. Getting in and out of the little baggies was getting to be a little bit of a pain so I thought back to that organization blog post I had done, You can see that original post HERE. I thought that it would be nice to have one set up just for sequins so that’s just what I did.

Here is what I used. First a K-Cup storage spinner (I got mine at walmart for about $24 but I have also found the same size on Amazon HERE) and a package of Diamond brand mini condiment cups and lids (I got mine at a grocery store in my area, safeway, for about $3)

I emptied all of my sequins in each cup keeping the colors separated, depending on your collection you might want to combine certain colors or shades of the same color.

Super simple and inexpensive. It takes up very little space and makes using them and clean up a breeze because you’re not dumping the sequins out on your table. The added bonus it looks really pretty out and makes me happy when I look at all the fun color!

Suggestion for those that are going out shopping for your kcup holder, I took one of the mini cups with me to make sure it fit well. There are holders out there that are just a bit too small to hold the cup so to be sure, test it out before you buy it.

Don’t forget to stock up on all the great color sequins that is currently in the Whimsical Twist shop and check back for more fun sequins that will be in the shop soon! While your there don’t forget we have an awesome sale on all your Basic Gray favorites too!!

I hope you enjoyed this organization inspiration!

Have a Whimsical Weekend!

Sketch challenge accepted!

Published on August 28, 2013August 28, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Happy Wednesday everyone!

On Monday you might of seen the sketch Lynne Forsythe posted on the Die-Namites blog. If you haven’t please hop over there and check out the beautiful creations that are already up from Lynne and Peggy!

Here is my take on the sketch. I changed it up just a little to work for me.

Today I am working with one of the latest die releases by Die-namites. The Summer Basket.

I was a little challenged by this die. Not exactly sure how I was going to use it even though I love it and think its beautiful. The detail in it was so pretty that I didn’t want it to get lost in the project. I decided to layer and add color with copics. Here is a couple of shots where I sketched some lines separating the flowers from each other and the basket, and where I cut it out.

Here is when I assembled the background cardstock, the die cut, and the cut-apart floral portion of the die cut.

I cut the background paper in a circle shape and adhered that to a pretty aqua doily. Lynne’s dare was to use fabric in your project. I don’t really have any fabric laying around so I did the next best thing and got some thin yarn and added that around my circle, in a button bow, and the string for the pendant.

The pendant was made using a punch by EK Success. Background paper is from Studio Calico.

I love playing with a sketch when I am lacking my own creative inspiration. Sometimes its just enough to get my creativity flowing. I also love it when it helps me get out of my comfort zone and try new things. Make sure you check back here every 1st Monday of the month for that month’s sketch and dare!

Happy Crafting!