Taniesa Vlasak | The Crafty Pickle

Back to school: Lunchbox notes with a bit of Die-namite Die cut flair!

Published on August 15, 2013August 16, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Have your children returned to school yet? My little one did yesterday, started the second grade. One of the things she looks forward to the most at lunchtime is seeing what note or treat I have packed in her lunchbox. Today this cute little tag was Tied around some celery sticks and I hope it makes her smile!

Here is a look at the little tag:

The Die-namites die I used was the Die-namites wide vase.

I cut the wide vase die out of white cardstock (120lb) and colored in with bright copics. I then stuck strips of washi tape on white cardstock and glued the washi covered cardstock to the back of different sections in the flower and vase. I attached foam dots to the back to pop the flower up from the washi covered tag.

Then to finish off the tag I added some doodlebug adhesive rhinestones inside the flowers. I stamped a “happy” phrase and added some black lines around the tag and a little message.

Its a really simple use of such a fun die, Try dressing up little notes with a fun Die-namite die cut for whoever you might pack a lunch for!

Happy Crafting!

Let’s GO! Playing with October Afternoon.

Published on August 12, 2013August 16, 2013 by Taniesa2 Comments

Hi Fellow Scrapbookers!
Today I am bringing you a layout featuring some of October afternoon’s Travel girl collection. I Have been going through some old photos as of late and I had always been frozen by the idea of needing to scrapbook chronologically. Because of this I didn’t get much scrapbooking done, especially for my two boys who in this layout were 4 and 5 but now are 13 and 14. I finally gave myself permission to scrapbook photos that spoke to me in that moment. I can always arrange the pages in albums in whatever order they need to be later. If you have that holding you back too, let yourself scrapbook something from yesterday or 5 years ago, whatever story you want to tell today, tell it.

Enough of my pep-talk… I absolutely LOVE the Travel Girl Collection that October Afternoon created. Even with the softer colors I still thought that it would make a great first flight layout for my boys. Here is the finished layout;the retro feel of the collection is so fun! I used some American Crafts foam thickers for the “Let’s Go” title and the rest of the embellishments are from the OA Travel Girl collection.

There are all sorts of fun Travel girl items in the Whimsical Twist shop right now. Click HERE to see all sorts of adorable pieces from the collection! Make sure you also check out all of the wonderful pre-orders that just went up in the shop!

I hope you all enjoyed our first Blog hop and challenge last week. I am excited to announce the winner of the $15 Whimsical Twist Gift Certificate! Congratulations Angi Barr! Please e-mail Whimsical Twist for more details. You can visit Angi’s blog HERE!

We also have several winners from our blog hop that were offered by our design team members. Be sure to check back though the blog hop to see if you are a winner! The winner from TheCraftyPickle.com writes “What a gorgeous layout, I love how you have done the sun! Thank goodness for this blog hop other wise I would have missed great crafty ideas!” Thank you so much Veronicalee1981 for your sweet comment and for joining in on the Whimsical Twist Blog Hop! Please email me your mailing address so I can get your goodies out to you!

That’s all for today! Hope you all have a FABULOUS week!

Die-Namites Premier Blog Hop!

Published on August 9, 2013August 16, 2013 by Taniesa38 Comments

Welcome to the “Premiere” Die~Namites Dies Blog Hop.

We are so happy that you have chosen to join us!!!

Our blog hop will be from August 9th ~ August 11th.

Along the way, you will see creations by our Die~Namite Design Team using the LATEST release of Die~Namites Dies.

The Die~Namites Design Team Members will be sharing with you

how they made their pieces through video and picture tutorials.

Each of the Die~Namites Design Team Members

will have a secret word…..on their blogs.

Collect all the words, make sure to leave a little love,

to find the secret phrase this will give you one entry into our prize drawing. You will receive additional entries for Liking us on Facebook Signing up for Email Notifications.

We will be awarding one Grand Prize of a $50 Gift Certificate to Die~Namites Dies and 5 ~ $10 Gift Certificates to Die~Namites Dies.

So enough about the logistics…. LET THE HOP BEGIN….

If you have arrived here from Lisa Tottle’s blog you are in the right place. If you have just arrived in the midst of our Blog Hop please head to the Die~Namites Blog.

Hope you enjoy the “Premiere” Die~Namites Dies Blog Hop!!!

Today I am sharing a quick Project Life weekly title card tutorial using the Flowering Branch Die as well as showing a few of the NEW Die-namites dies! Be sure you collect my secret word at the bottom of my post and leave a comment, I would also love if you would follow TheCraftyPickle as well so I can share even more Die-namite inspiration with you!

My secret word is: IN

Thank you so much for stopping by TheCraftyPickle!

Now head on over to Dunja Dücker’s blog to continue the “Premiere” Die~Namites Blog Hop!!

Crafting with Kids: A fun little notebook project!

Published on August 7, 2013August 7, 2013 by Taniesa2 Comments

Hi Die-namite Friends!

This is our last week of summer vacation. Full of school shopping and last minute fun things before we get back to routine. Today was a at home day so my 7 year old daughter wanted to do crafts. We decided to decorate one of her new notebooks. We chose her favorite new Die-namites Die, the Funky Flower die. and some of her favorite colors of cardstock.

she picked out some bright washi tape, sequins, glitter, and thickers. We started with a primary grade notebook that I covered in two coats of gesso. We used a bright green and bright pink for the Funky Flower. I fussy cut the center flower part out of the die cut and layered onto the green flower.We took CTMH Liquid Glass and filled the inside of the flower and then added Tim Holtz new distress glitter in the flower. For the final touch we added three small flat yellow pearls for the flower center.

It is very bright and a little bit loud, but so very Taegan! Why not get your kids involved in dressing up their own school supplies to make them different from anyone elses in their class!

Wishing all of you a fabulous school year ahead!

Whimsical Twist Blog Hop! Water Park FUN!

Published on August 5, 2013August 16, 2013 by Taniesa31 Comments

Welcome to Whimsical Twist’s first challenge! We thought it would be a lot of fun to also have a Blog Hop to celebrate our first challenge! How does that sound?

During the Hop you will be visiting blogs from several of our fabulous design team members. You will find so much inspiration on the way, that your head might explode!

The hop will start at the Whimsical Twist blog and end at Lisa Wilkinson’s blog. If you are just joining in, be sure to go to the Whimsical Twist blog to start. If you get lost along the way, just look at the list below to get you hopping in the right direction.

And you can’t have a Blog Hop without giveaways and this one is no different! In order to be entered into the giveaways, you will need to be sure you leave a comment on each blog on the hop. Whimsical Twist will also be giving away a $15 gift certificate to the shop to one random hopper! We will be announcing the winners of our giveaways on August 12th, so be sure to watch for the announcements.

Without further ado, let’s get this celebration started!

Our first challenge is inspired by summer! The photo below is our inspiration / mood board

I knew the perfect photos I wanted to work with for this challenge. These are some water park photos I came across a few days ago with my boys, 4 years ago. It’s hard to believe these boys are going to be in 8th grade and a freshman in high school in just a couple of weeks!

I used papers from Elle’s Studio and Simple Stories for this layout. I added in some different washi tapes for the border on the side of the photos to tuck into.

All of the sticker letters and accent stickers are from Simple Stories as well. I added some Liquid Glass from CTMH for the letters spelling WATER to give it that wet look.

I misted the top left corner with Mister Huey’s in the color Desert over a mask and then I accented with some of the beautiful sequins you can find in the Whimsical Twist Shop. I also used a mask and some ink to create a bubble confetti background on the bottom using CTMH Lagoon ink and then layered with some of the same beautiful sequins from the shop. The two colors I used are Pineapple and Caribbean. I adore these beautiful sequins so much, I think I may even use them more than my enamel dots! To adhere the Sequins I used the same Liquid Glass that I used on the title letters.

Now for something a little fun! As I said before, you will see giveaways along your hop today. I am giving away a set of project life cards that I made especially for our giveaway! Below is a little peek at some of the cards included. I am also including a little bag of sequins, a sample of all the colors offered in the Whimsical Twist shop! All contained in this little 4×6 case perfect to use as a project life on the go or journaling kit for your purse! Make sure you comment on each of the blogs today in order for a chance to win!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog! You should have arrived from Ashley Hamm‘s blog and now you are heading to Charissa Miller‘s blog, but if you get lost along the way, here is the hopping order.

Lisa Lahiff

Alexandra Polyzou

Sandi Pressley

Amanda Johnson

Ashley Hamm

Taniesa Vlasak (you are here)

Charissa Miller

Kimmie Rishebarger

Sharm Nidyanandan

Laurie Danielle

Lisa Wilkinson

Happy Hopping!

Happy New Release Day!

Published on August 1, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Those of you that haven’t seen the new Close To My Heart products have got to stop whatever you’re doing and go look! So many beautiful new products I can’t even stand it! Here is a sneak peek of some of my favorite new releases from this new idea book/catalog:

This has to be my new favorite alpha stamp set! I love that it is sized to store with my other CTMH sets now too!

Check out some of the adorable new sets!

Check out one of the new mini stamps CTMH is offering for under $3!

For all you Cricut lovers out there, here is one of the amazing new cartridge packages!

And a look at CTMH’s take on smash type of journaling/scrapbooking collection “My Crush”

Wearable art? Yes, Please!

And you all know how I love my CTMH Organization. Here are the two new small organizer foam inserts! One for daubers and one for the mini ink squares.

What would a new release day be without some sort of fun special to get you going! from now until Aug. 15th I am offering 10% off all orders! To receive the discount you must email your order to TaniesaVlasak@gmail.com along with your mailing address and email address you want a PayPal billing to be sent. You can view all the new products HERE or go to http://www.thecraftypickle.ctmh.com.

I hope you enjoy all of the new products as I have!

Happy Crafting!

Dress up your packages with die cut accents!

Published on July 30, 2013July 30, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

Hi Die-Namite fans!

Bringing you an idea today to step up your gift giving with one of my favorite Die-Namites die cut shapes, the Grassy Cattails.

I Love using solid color wrapping paper or in this case plain kraft mailing paper. This allows for the decorative card or tag to really shine. I decided to tie up my package with pretty pink ribbons and a tag created using the Grassy Cattails Die-namites Die.

I cut two of the shape out of kraft cardstock and then colored in with copic markers. I added a bit of glitter pen accent. I wanted the backing of the die cuts to be slightly transparent so I took white vellum and my copic markers, I colored a section of the velum with the green copic in two different shades for both.

I then attached the die cut shape on top of the velum using just a little bit of liquid adhesive. I cut around the shape which went really quick. I glued the die cuts and the flowers down with some glue dots and tied it up with some velvet ribbon to the package.

Wouldn’t you love to receive a gift like this? It’s such a simple yet stunning way to dress up your gifts. Surprise your next gift recipient with a die-namite wrapped gift!

A simple card for the upcoming holidays

Published on July 25, 2013July 25, 2013 by Taniesa2 Comments

Hi Friends,

Today I have a quick card for you that will take no time at all to make and easy to mass produce for your christmas card list. I am using the Berry Flower Die-namites die for this card. This die on its own has a beautiful spring/summer look to it and I have used it in a previous card project. Today, however, I thought I would take this die and see if I could put a holiday spin on it. Here is the Berry Flower Die:

And here is my finished card:

What’s Christmas without a little sparkle? I took my red glitter copic pen and added some sparkle to the flower die cuts and the green glitter copic pen around the edge of the white iridescent card. I stacked the three floral die cuts together and secured with a brad and then fanned them out. I put a large glue dot on the back of the cluster and stuck it to a band of green glitter cardstock.

To finish of the design I added a few ink splatters at the top right corner and at the bottom corners.

The card probably took less time to make than picking out a store-bought card. I hope this inspires you to hand make some cards this holiday season!

Have a very fairy Christmas: My first Christmas card for 2013

Published on July 17, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Ho Ho Ho, It’s hot outside here in sunny california but I am feeling the Christmas spirit in my craft room that’s for sure.

Today I have a card project for you! I am starting on my christmas cards now so that when November rolls around I will have them all finished and ready to go. I also like making a bunch of different cards instead of mass producing the same ones.

I found this Penny Black Holly Fairy stamp for 50% off when I was shopping months ago and I knew I wanted to use it in my holiday crafting. I think she makes the perfect christmas greeting! Here is the stamp I purchased:

So adorable, right? I stamped this image using my Momento black ink pad because I planned on using copic markers to color the image. I am VERY new to actually coloring with copic’s, up until now I have only done the most basic of things. I am looking forward to taking some classes in the future and learning shading technique. Copic markers really are so much fun to use.

Here is the finished card:

I started with layering the colors on the stamped image until I was happy with the shading and color. I took my wink of stella clear glitter brush marker and added some glitter here and there as well as my Copic Spica Atyou clear glitter pen for finer details. After all the glitter was done I took some Close to my Heart Liquid Glass and added a layer of that to the snowglobe, the holly wings, the hair holly and berries and the bells hanging from her waist. I did add one additional layer of the liquid glass on the snow globe so it would give more dimension.

For the card base I took a piece of shimmer white cardstock and rubbed it gently with some broken china distress ink. I layered some snowflake lace paper from KI on top of that. I used foam pop dots to attach the fairy to the card and added my sentiment flag at the bottom. a few rhinestones gave the final touch.

One card down and about 54 more to go 🙂

Have a fairy awesome day!

Project Life mini for my 2013 December Daily…

Published on July 16, 2013July 16, 2013 by Taniesa2 Comments

I love the concept of December Daily started by Ali Edwards, and Journal your Christmas by Shimelle Lane. 2012 was the first year that I took part in a christmas mini album and I love the idea of having a mini album to bring out every year for our family and friends to reflect on past holiday memories. I have to say that it was just a bit overwhelming to keep up with the actual album (as you saw in yesterday’s post) so this year I am going at it Project Life style. I had been thinking about this since last year. “Should I just do December Daily in my regular Project life album?” “Should I just make a christmas album and add to it every year?” “Do I forget the idea altogether and continue on doing what I had been doing in traditional scrapbooking?”

Today I finally made the decision that I will indeed keep a mini album for every year to come out when the holiday decorations come out (I think it feels more special that way) and with the christmas mini kit reveal on Becky Higgins Blog today it got me even more excited about my decision. I will do my December Daily/Journal your Christmas album in a Project Life mini album.

Here is a peek at the new Merry & Bright mini kit collection that will be hitting store shelves this October.

There is a number of mini album colors that will work perfectly, I am still undecided on which I will choose. Decisions, Decisions. All of the following albums are available on amazon now.

I am in the process of taking my leftover christmas papers and cutting them down to 3×4 and 4×6 to make it easy to grab as fill in pieces in the album. I will be showing you a bit of how I plan on organizing myself to do my christmas album this year in another post. I plan on making this year as SIMPLE as possible so that I stay on track and don’t get overwhelmed like last year.

How about you? Are you changing up your christmas album process this year? Do you have any helpful tips to survive the christmas documenting process? I would love to hear from you!

Looking for more project life inspiration? As always, I am linking up with The Mom Creative who shares her album every week and links up with several other talented project lifers.