Taniesa Vlasak | The Crafty Pickle

Stretch your supplies: Letter stickers.

Published on May 6, 2013May 7, 2013 by Taniesa16 Comments

What If I told you that you never had to buy colored letter stickers again? You would think I was crazy and continue to load up on a rainbow of colors, right? Well, while I was scrapbooking this weekend I realized that the only sticker letters I really ever needed to buy was white and black, and even black is optional.

I was looking for small orange letter stickers for a project life card title, and I was really frustrated when I couldn’t find any that was the right kinda orange. Then it dawned on me… why couldn’t I take white sticker letters and color them with my markers? So I gave it a whirl and it turned out perfect! For the letters below I used Jillibean soup: Alphabeans, I have also used the Basic Gray: micro letters on another layout and they turned out the same.

I used an orange and a yellow copic marker. I didn’t want them to be a flat orange but kinda blended looking. I also wanted one word darker than the other. I just colored right on the sticker sheet, easy peasy!

I loved how they turned out only I thought it needed just a little more pop for this particular journal card, so I took a thin black pen and outlined the letters so they would be just a little more defined and stand out from the card. (see photo below)

Now, you don’t have to use Copic markers for this. I am positive you can use your water based markers although they might not blend as well. If you do not own any copics or do not want to invest in copics what I would recommend is buying THIS bic permanent marker set. The colors are lovely and with the alcohol base it won’t leave streaks. You could even blend a ombre look to your letters by layering the same color or different colors if you wanted. The Bic markers come in 8, 12, 24 and 36 pens per set. You can also use sharpies, CTMH alcohol based markers, promarkers, etc… the bonus is you will have markers on hand to use for other projects. You won’t have to worry if you have the right color letters to match your layout. Just buy a bunch of white letter stickers in the font you love. Or mix up fonts and make them all the same color.

*Edited to include a sample of different markers*

Giveaway Time!!!!

I haven’t had a giveaway in a while and I would love to put these fun markers into the hands of some lucky papercrafter. Here is what you need to do to win.

1. Become a follower of this blog if you aren’t already (little gray button on the lower right hand side)

2. Leave a comment with your name and location. If you have any tips on how you stretch your crafting supplies I would love to hear that too.

3. Stop back by this Saturday May 11th when I will post the winner.
Good Luck and Happy Crafting!

Project Life Week 13 and 14: Feeling a little bit colorful.

Published on May 6, 2013May 6, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

Happy National Papercrafting month!

This Saturday was National Scrapbook Day and I was fortunate enough to get a couple of weeks done in my project life album thanks to my sweet husband who kept all our kids busy.

WEEK 13:

I had in my head that I wanted to create a rainbow layout for my week thirteen. I had been thinking about it for a couple of weeks. When I went to print my photos I realized that I was going to need to put in an insert of some sort as I didn’t have quite enough room. I am pretty happy with how the monochromatic rainbow look came out.

for the first page and half of the insert I did redish pink though lime green. For the Title card I used letter stickers by Amy Tangerine and I stamped and embossed the number 13. I felt it needed a bit more pop after embossing so I hand stitched around the numbers.

The second half was aqua though purple. I found that I was seriously lacking purple paper so I took some purple cardstock and stamped a cute arrow background with white ink. (every piece of patterned paper used in this week was all different, 19 different patterns!)

I was excited that I got to use my latest fab find, a cursive typewriter! I used it to make the “Father & Daughter” Tag.

WEEK 14:

For week 14 I didn’t have a ton of photos. My husband and I went out to dinner one night and I took a “to-go” menu when we left. I incorporated a lot of that into my layout, which made it more fun.

For the title card, I used a piece of cork paper. I pierced a hole and stuck part of a Doodlebug pushpin though a post-it-note type paper. The post-it was a sketch from the Silhouette online store as well as the letters. I LOVE using the sketch pens on the silhouette. I then took a piece of yellow lined scrapbook paper I had in my stash, used a notebook style border punch along the side and then crumpled the piece into a ball. I flattened it out and stamped the dates. I used a large silver brad to mimic the look of a thumb tack.

I used some basic gray and studio calico stamps for the title part of the card above and *gasp* my own writing. I am still having a hard time with journaling in my own writing and not using the computer all the time. However, I know my children will more than likely want to see moms writing over computer font’s in the future.

For the card below I edited a photo that didn’t come out so great but still wanted to use. I used a bokeh filter which made it look a little more dreamy. It worked out beings it was breakfast for the girls and light was spilling in from the window behind them (with both on their ipads no less LOL)

This next card was so FUN! I incorporated a QR code into the page so that it can be scanned and go to a video on YouTube of my niece chewing gum for the first time. Pretty funny stuff. No journaling could do that one justice. I see myself using these QR codes more often!

Whew! That’s all the photos I have for you today. I feel really good that I got a bit more caught up. I was also able to do a couple of cards and some pages in my December Daily album. It was a very busy yet productive weekend! I hope you all enjoyed your National Scrapbooking Day as well, no matter how you spent the day.

Happy Crafting!

Project Life Week 11 (St. Patricks Day week)

Published on April 21, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

I am chugging right along, well slightly “behind” but not too much that I feel overwhelmed. Currently I am working on week 13 and a mini project as well that I am hoping to share this week but for today, week 11, St. Pattys week!

It was a fairly normal, not much going on week so I picked a few things to spotlight that could really of fit in any week.

For my title card I did a few cuts on the Silhouette and kept it fairly simple. I stamped the dates in gold. I did add some glitter pen accents. My favorite glitter pens of all time are the Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pens. I usually have several of the clear star pens on hand as I use that one the most. It is perfect for adding a little (or a lot) of sparkle in just the right spot. If you haven’t checked out jetpens.com take some time out to peek at the wonderful pens they have. They offer pretty good pricing and fast shipping. I have always had awesome luck with them

Did I mention I love washi tape? 🙂 I included a little on this weeks layout and my favorite had to be the movie night card. The flim strip worked out perfectly.

I have been doing more and more cluster embellishing as well. I love the dimension it adds but not a ton of bulk. all of the stuff I layered was flat except the enamel dots…. Oh how I love those adorable enamel dots!

For an afternoon date my husband and I got pedicures. Was a nice treat beings that sandal weather is upon us again. I stamped “his” and “hers” in gold but I embossed the word pedicures in gold directly on my photo. I think it came out just right. If you do this you want to make sure that you are moving your heat gun around quickly as to not burn your photo.

For our little St. Pattys Day tradition the kids leave their shoes out the night before the 17th and the leprechaun comes and leaves treats in their shoes. This year Taegan got different kinds of gold wrapped candy and some gold $1 coins. She was a very happy girl!

Because I didn’t have a ton of photos I did add in a few things to fill in the spots. A homework photo of my daughter doing her normal homework routine. A photo of a popular show that my middle son and I watch together faithfully, and a week in review which I don’t do often. I think that is always great to have some photos or ideas of things that you can fill in the gaps for those weeks when you are just a few photos shy of a two page layout.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Happy Crafting!

A Simple idea to help with Project Life.

Published on April 18, 2013 by Taniesa11 Comments

I know there are a lot of free digital templates out there for Becky Higgins Project Life page protectors, I love those for scribbling notes in. However, I found that when I sat down with my photos for the week, I start by sorting my photos in my album on top of the page protector because I need to move them around and visually see how they will fit. Moving the album on and off my desk got real annoying so I tried just having the page protector out in the open to pop down on my desk to stay until I finished arranging and embellishing. This worked out far better! I only had a problem of the page protectors sliding around everywhere because I wanted one of each of the plastics out to decide which to use.

So here is what I did to solve my problem, its such a simple idea I had to share! I took those page protectors (one of every design, A-J) and slipped in a solid color piece of cardstock (you could even slip in grid or plain cards if you wanted), I put the corresponding letter in the upper left hand corner with some old sticker numbers I had and hooked them all on a large binder ring. I keep this on a hook that is on my Raskog cart from Ikea that way I can easily grab it and decide what design I want to use.

Super simple right? It made a big difference for me though and now I am branching out to add more PP styles and inserts in my album. Maybe this little tip will help you too!

Happy Crafting!

And the organization continues…

Published on April 14, 2013January 22, 2015 by Taniesa14 Comments

Here I am again, sharing my organization for the little things now. I have been sorting, purging, organizing my scrap space. It seems like a never ending job. My order from Close To My Heart finally came in though and I was armed with new organizational supplies to get things together! My goal this last couple of months is to really streamline my supplies to have them take up as little space as possible beings I am working with a limited space in my Loft right off the master bedroom. You have seen my boxes from CTMH holding my project life cards, my 6×6 paper pads, and my washi collection…… ahhh washi, I love you so! So without further ado let me share my wood veneer and sequins storage!

This is my before photo how I sorted my ever growing wood veneer collection. It started with an embroidery floss box and then added a container I found at the dollar spot at Target. Not a bad storage idea I was just running out of room, they felt really squished, and I was just got happy how it looked.

And here is my after. I was able to fit a few different designs per box as they hold quite a bit, I put like items together. I still have some growing room for more as well.

What you see here is the Close To My Heart Small organizer, The foam insert, and 4 sets of the craft boxes to go inside. I love how I can take out the box I want to work with and not have the entire thing on my desk.

Adorable right? So then once I completed this I thought of other things I could organize in the same fashion…. Buttons, Brads, Little die cuts, Flair, a little mix of everything in one box to carry ALL your embellishments. Of course I only had one more case and my sequins collection has started to get out of hand so you can guess what I did…

Same exact idea with the wood veneer. Now I only have to take the box that I will be working with to my table instead of having all of them out. I have all different sizes of sequins in the same box as it is so easy to poke around and find the one I want.

As soon as I get all of my supplies in order and my scrap space the way I want it, I will definitely do a little tour. I hope this helps you with ideas to sort your supplies. You can purchase all the CTMH container supplies I have shown today and in the past posts from your local consultant or directly from my website here. If you have any questions about the storage I used here or any of my other storage solutions please let me know. I am happy to help in any way I can, *** I am no longer an active CTMH consultant but keeping things at a hobbyist level. If I can help you get supplies you need just let me know.***

Happy Crafting!

Project life week 9 and 10

Published on April 13, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

So I didn’t have a lot of photos for either weeks 9 or 10 so I thought I would just combine the two weeks into one spread. I think it came together pretty well. I anticipate that this might happen again though the year. Its nice to know I don’t have to try to cram in a bunch of extra stuff to fill up a two page spread just for the sake of doing a two page spread every week.

For the title card I got the idea from an instagram photo I saw using this studio calico “&” card. I went to try and find it again and I couldn’t so If someone knows who had used this same idea please let me know so I can give proper credit. I loved the look and thought it would be perfect for a two week title card. I used similar colored embroidery floss to do the arrow stitching. I stamped the dates in gold ink and used the little yellow stickers from studio calico for the week 9 and week 10 title.

I am one of those girls who needs her cup of coffee first thing in the morning before anything else. Once my alarm goes off I go straight to the coffee maker and then wake the kids. I wanted to stay simple with my photo and figured no journaling was needed beyond “6am”. I love these little wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico and Freckled Fawn (I pulled hearts from the two different packs I had).

So this week we had quite the shake ordeal. We ended up having to go to McDonalds several days (and more than one McDonalds as well) just to get my little girl her shamrock shake she had been wanting so much. It was pretty funny when you think about it but the frustration that we went though in the process was NOT fun!

So there is my week 9 and 10. I am starting to feel better being more caught up. I figure I will always be a couple of weeks behind but thats ok, thats caught up enough for me. It’s when I get more than a month behind that I start feeling more pressure and stress.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Happy Crafting!

The quest for the perfect white pen.

Published on April 13, 2013April 13, 2013 by Taniesa2 Comments

I think every scrapbooker, mixed media artist, carmaker,and paper crafter has asked the question, “What is the best white pen out on the market?”. I really think it depends on the user. Some prefer bold lines while others want fine polished lines. I thought I would do a little experiment for those of you out there that are shopping for a good white pen. My hope is to save you from making a bad purchase and wasting your money and directing you to a white pen that you love.

Lets start out with the pens that in my opinion are junk for a paper crafter

These three pens didn’t even show up on black cardstock at all. The sharpie is oil based which is why I gave a thumbs down, their water based paint markers are some of my favorites.

The first set of pens I would consider for detail work and journaling. I have found that I reach for my signo and my extra fine tip sharpie the most. The soufflé pen has a cool dimensional feel to it once dried. The distress marker and zig chalk writer would be a nice option if you are doing a chalkboard kind of effect.

The second set here is more bold and I think better for large lettering or white ink needs on a larger scale. The Elmer’s painters marker was a little iffy for me. Came out kind of watery as took longer to dry. The galaxy marker is just okay as I felt it wasn’t sharp enough in the end

So there you have it. I am sure there are white pens out there that I haven’t tried. If you have a pen you LOVE and it isn’t mentioned here I would love to hear about it! I hope this helps you decide what the best white pen is for your crafty projects.

Happy crafting!

Project Life: Week 8

Published on April 10, 2013 by TaniesaLeave a comment

For this week’s PL spread I tried to stick to just the Studio Calico Feb. Project Life kit however a few pieces of the Doodlebug papers from their “Take Note” collection sneaked their way into my album. I couldn’t help myself, I love those bright colors and they were prefect for my middle son’s birthday! I can’t believe he’s 13 already *Sad Face*

See what I mean, Bright and cheery and FUN! I got the 6×6 paper pad from TwoPeasInABucket

This card came from the Studio Calico PL Feb kit, I was going to use it for week 7 but it was a bit too dark for the layout I had. I like the contrast of the dark woodgrain to the bright color around the title card. I stamped the “happy birthday” phrase as well as the dates in CTMH “White Daisy” ink. This was my first time using this particular white ink pad and I was really pleased, Going to have to try it on some chalkboard paper next I think!

I had a few little photos that I wanted to include but did not want them to take center stage of my layout. I used my “PicFrame” app on my iPhone to create this little collage of photos then numbered them using the Sn@p sticker letters in aqua. I stamped the numbers and wrote in the description of each photo. Short and sweet. I am not fond of my handwriting but I do like that it is fast and easy and I had too many weeks to catch up on to spend time fiddling with the computer.

To write on my photos I use a slick writer. I LOVE these pens and recommend any project lifer have this in her toolbox. I used the black pen here but the Amy Tangerine color slick writers are so pretty as well.

Does he look sick to you? Me neither! I don’t get many photos of my teenagers so this one was definitely going in the book! Again, I used the slick writer fine point on this photo as well.

I am in love with cluster embellishing lately. Its so much fun to dig around in my little bowl of snippets and whatnots to put together an adorable card.

You can probably tell how much I love little sticker alphas throughout this layout. All the sticker letters used are exclusive from studio calico kits over the last three months. The little derby car is a download from the silhouette store.

So there is week 8 all wrapped up! I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Week 9 and 10 coming soon!

Happy Crafting!

Project life catch up!

Published on April 8, 2013 by Taniesa1 Comment

So I was doing pretty darn good keeping up for the first 6 weeks, but then life started picking up speed and before I knew it I was 4 weeks behind. I haven’t really been stressed out about it because I keep pretty good notes and take lots of photos (mostly on my iPhone) and I use an app called project 365 pro. Its super simple, sends me a reminder to import or take a photo daily and because of its simplicity I have been able to stick with it. I also have a grid card in my project life album for every week and every so often I will jot a note on the grid card so when I go to complete the layout it jogs my memory.

This past week or so I have been able to catch up though week 11, with week 12 almost complete. I thought I would share my week 7 with you today, Valentines week was a lot of fun and very busy for us.

This was the first week I used any type of insert and It worked out perfect. I love the Becky Higgins envelope inserts. worked perfect for a valentine card my husband gave to me. I used a piece of 6×6 patterned paper in the back

I am in love with those little enamel dots! They are so much fun and add a nice texture to the layout. Clustering little embellishments has also been my new fun thing.

This week we ended up getting a new washer and dryer (our washer and dryer both died within a week of each other) they were MUCH bigger than our old ones and for a large family this is a very good thing! I had one more picture that I wanted to include but no room and It seemed silly to use an insert for just one photo. I had a package of CTMH Flip flaps that I had never used and thought I would give it a try. I saw how some of Becky Higgins design team members used flip up page protectors in their albums last year and always thought it was adorable. I stapled a little tab to the inside edge of the flap that says OPEN.

I used another card from my Studio Calico kit behind the photo on the front so that the back of the photo wouldn’t show. After trying this out I definitely became hooked on these cute little 4×6 page protectors. You simply remove the paper covering the adhesive strip and line it up with your page protector. These little cuties come in a pack of 15 for $3.95, a total deal if you ask me. They also have other sizes, I just found that this one works best for project life. If you want to see the CTMH 4×6 flip flaps click HERE.

So thats my week 7 spread! Be sure to check back as I will be showing my album weeks 8 – 11 throughout the week!

Happy Crafting!

I know, I’m at it again…..

Published on April 3, 2013January 22, 2015 by Taniesa2 Comments

I PROMISE this week I will be posting a few weeks worth of my Project life spreads (I am really excited to share them with you too) but for today I am doing a product spotlight for the Close To My Heart Large organizer.

You have seen my posts on how the medium organizer is PERFECT for project life card organization (if you haven’t check out my past post I am still giving away a set of organizing tabs for every medium case ordered until the 19th). You also may of seen my Washi Tape organizing solution using the CTMH Small organizer (best solution I have found that works really well for my tape ~~obsession~~ collection) But now I have to share an idea that I discovered totally by accident. It’s kind of a funny story…. So I am a fairly new consultant for CTMH and during my first month as a consultant I sold some cases for project life organization via my website ( http://thecraftypickle.ctmh.com). I saw only the large and the small on the website so I assumed the case I had for my cards was the large. So my lovely customers ordered the cases and while they were in route to them I discovered that the medium cases were the ones they wanted and they were out of stock *OH NO* I felt so completely horrible that I made such a mistake. I contacted these kind ladies and explained my situation and told them rather than have them go through the hassle of shipping back to CTMH waiting on a refund or an exchange and having to absorb MORE shipping charges that I would just purchase the cases from them and refund all shipping fees. This left me with two lovely large organizers. I figured that I would just use them for stamp storage. Goodness knows I need to get my stamps under control. While this worked out pretty well for my stamps (Its actually very ideal for CTMH stamps, they fit PERFECTLY) its not quite what I wanted. I am still contemplating using Kinsey Wilson’s stamp organization system she did for hers (check it out here: http://kinseygirl.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/09/acrylic-stamp-storage.html ) So I was brainstorming how to use them beings that I am still working on reorganizing my scrapbook loft. I ended up finding the perfect solution and goes perfectly with the other organizers as I use them all for Project life. my 6×6 paper pads! Take a look!

I am still not completely happy with the dividers I am using, Going to play around with the cameo and see if I can make something prettier but for now these get the job done. I have them organized by manufacturer except for christmas themed ones as I had so many of those. You could be extra fancy and use the dividers made to fit this case by CTMH (they are quite pretty) I Just haven’t got my hands on them yet.

These Large organizers stack with the medium and small organizers perfectly, they have a little grove in them so they fit without sliding all over the place. I have mine stacked in a trio when I am not popping the medium one in my ikea cart for use. (they all fit in the popular Ikea RÅSKOG cart as well, I will post photos of this on my instagram)

The large organizers just got back in stock and I am so excited because some of you have been waiting for yours. I hope this 6×6 paper storage idea helps you gain control of your cute little paper pads like it did mine. If you would like to order one please contact your CTMH consultant or order from me here: http://thecraftypickle.ctmh.com/Retail/Products.aspx?CatalogID=164 (this link takes you directly to the organizers)

Happy Crafting (and organizing)