Eleven with Celebrate!

My oldest child turned 11 in January. I don't know how this happened. It's so true what they say though...you blink and they've grown. I remember wondering each day if that day would be the day he rolled over, sat on his own, slept through the night or walked and now he's so independent and only 5 years away from DRIVING!!!! He is a joy and a pain all at once ;).
I punched out and cut out stars for a garland and backed it with a contrasting paper.

Jakob has a special friend who he begs me to hang out with ALL the time (especially on snow days). Too bad Bobby's school is in the city and they don't usually have as many snow days as we do out here in the country. They have a blast when they get together. From gaming to bowling, jumping on the trampoline to building snowmen it's never a dull moment with these two.

Bobby's mom is one of my dearest friends and she took Jakob and Bobby out to eat where Jakob got a sweet FREE dessert for his birthday and then they were off to Nickle City where they played arcade games. Jakob sure is spoiled, but he makes me proud to call him my son too ;).
I used bit of paper from the Genuine Collection for behind the stars and my journaling block.

These dudes have a rockin' time together!!! I'm so glad that Bobby enjoys Jakob's company just as much as Jakob does his.

The element stickers have the greatest sentiments!
Supplies:
Celebrate Collection
laughter paper
happy paper
rejoice paper
element stickers
detail stickers
Genuine Collection
true paper
washi tape from washi washi
star punches
i-rock

Faux Soldering With Diction Stickers

A happy hello from Auth-orized Educator Jennifer Priest! 

I am so excited to share a fun trio of canvases I created with assorted Authentique Paper collections. I totally love love LOVE the "Elements" & "Diction" stickers from each of the Authentique Paper collections, especially the new sets that include alphabet stickers, such as the "Elements" 12x12 Stickers from the Celebrate Collection. The words are fabulous for cards, layouts, and more but the size, colors, and fonts also lend themselves beautifully to altered and vintage style projects, like these canvases I created:

I created a series of videos to walk you through the process by which I created the canvases and the "faux soldered" accents on each one. The "Elements" and "Diction" word stickers are the finishing touch!

I recently learned how to create soldered jewelry for the very first time and I love the look but I don't have all the supplies at home to create pieces for myself. I knew the Epiphany Crafts Round 25 tools would be perfect for me to create my own faux soldered "glass" charms and it would be much easier than working with real glass. With real glass, adhesive has to be limited because the intense heat from the soldering iron will make it bubble and burn, damaging the image under the glass. The Authentique Paper "Elements" and "Diction" stickers I love so much would be a no-go for use with soldered glass pieces, however, they work beautifully with the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio.

Additionally, I chose paper from Authentique Paper's Free Bird Series because the smaller scale of the patterns is perfect for working on small, detailed projects, such as the 4x4 gallery stretched canvases I created, as well as working with tools like the Round 25 Shape Studio by Epiphany Crafts.

With the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio I found that I could add stickers and small bits of ephemera, like a tiny dictionary paper diecut, to my epoxy without fear of them burning. I layered the Authentique Paper "Elements" and "Diction" stickers onto paper from the Blissful and Free Bird Series while the paper was in the "view-finder" area of the Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio, placing the Bubble Cap on top to create the epoxy shapes. 

Then I rolled the edges of the Round 25 shapes in ColorBox Pigment Ink and then dipped them in Clearsnap embossing powder. I set them with a heat tool, holding the Round 25 shape with a pair of pliers to avoid burning my fingers. The result is very much like a soldered glass jewelry piece!! The stickers are magnified by the Bubble Cap, adding the effect of more depth between the stickers and the paper. 

I added the faux soldered elements to the canvases I had decoupaged with dictionary paper to create a totally custom accent for the wall in my master bedroom. Who knew that we could "solder" with Authentique Paper Collections, Elements Stickers, and some basic scrapbooking supplies?

Supplies:
Blissful Collection,  Free Bird Series Patterned Paper by Authentique Paper 
"Elements" Stickers from the Celebrate and Journey Collections by Authentique Paper
Round 25 Shape Studio and Bubble Caps - Epiphany Crafts
Dictionary - Merriam-Webster
Smooch Spritz, Embossing Powder, ColorBox Pigment Inks - Clearsnap
Heat Gun - Marvy Uchida
Glue Gun - Ad-Tech
Leaves, Beaded Sprays, Trims - hydrangeahippo.etsy.com
Diecut - Silhouette
Paint - Delta, Folk Art
Collage Pauge Decoupage Medium - ilovetocreate.com
Canvases - Art-Alternatives





Thank you for joining us today! Wishing you happy creating,


Jennifer Priest
hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com

Tutorial in Loyal

Hi there!!! Misty here with a sweet little tutorial using Authentique Paper's newest collection LOYAL. Coming soon to a scrapbook store near you. Super yummy prints and it can be cute, manly or anything in between. Enjoy!!!

EDITED TO ADD THE FRINGED FLOWER CENTER DIRECTIONS

 12" length of paper

 rolled and glued at the end

smashed

Have a great day!

The Sense of Smell

WARNING: This is Bret... I was asked to write today's blog. This is not full of frill and projects. Just a little something from my heart about the importance of quality...

Of the five well-know senses, I would not say the sense of smell is my most keen. Oddly, this business has renewed my sense of smell and the way quality can not only be seen and touched, but smelled.

I grew up in a small town where the sweet aroma of orchards and gardens were overshadowed by the stench of pollution from one of the largest steel mills in America. My grandfather and two uncles worked at the mill. It was strange attending the family's outdoor-summer-dinners, harmonizing the sweet smells of my grandmother's home cooking with the gross smell on the skin and clothes of the men that spent their days at the steel mill.

To top it off, my father was a chemist for a refinery plant that sold pitch to makers of aluminum. I probably took years off my life playing with liquid mercury and running up and down the railroad tracks near his plant inhaling who knows what?

My dad would come home every night smelling like creosote oil and coal tar. I think I probably worked more on "not smelling" things, than I did "enjoying smells" when I was young.

One of my best friends had a father who owned a mink ranch. As a very young boy, I would help on the ranch and even make a little money on odd chores. As a teenager, I split summer work between the mink ranch and a local chicken farm. The smells emitted from these two animal plants were, at times, unbearable.

There was one very good thing that came out of my time at the mink ranch... the free mink oil they would allow me to have. I would use the mink oil on my baseball glove, often spending hours working it into my "mitt." I would place a baseball in the palm of my glove, wrap it to "break-it-in," and sleep next to it.

At about the age of 10, baseball was becoming my passion. The smell of mink oil, mixed with leather, was the first smell I associated with success. It became an obsession - a superstition. I believed the time I put into caring for my glove made me better.

I became an all-star, played in three little league world series', watched my brother win a World Series title as a pitcher, went on to play college baseball and tossed in a year of professional ball, where I quickly learned baseball was meant to teach me more about life.

When I was asked to get behind the formation of Authentique Paper and we started building the business and printing papers, I quickly remembered how much I missed the smell of paper. I love going to the printings of our papers and soaking in the unmistakable smell of the print-shop we use. The smells have been there for over 100 years. The sons and grandsons who run this business grew up around printing and understand this smell. Our paper mill has also been at it for over a hundred years. Their papers are amazing and have the smell of quality as they are loaded into the presses.

I have heard that some of the papers released into the industry actually stink (the smell... not the designs... okay, maybe a little bit of both). I didn't hear of this during my first stretch in the paper-crafting industry. Now, at a time when others are cutting back on quality, we have emerged with custom paper textures and finishes. As a result, many people have reached out to us thanking us for our quality. They even tell us they love how our papers smell. The first time I heard this, I was a bit surprised, but I have come to discover what they mean. The combination of poor paper quality and ink just doesn't work. We don't do things that way.

I find it amazing how smells can instantly create emotion and link our minds to memories. If I were open a bottle of mink oil today, it would transport me back a few decades to the baseball field where I learned to chase my dreams and stabilize my fears.

So, while I've had a love-hate-relationship with smells since childhood, and don't rely on smell as my sense-of-choice, I certainly don't want to create papers that stink (in any sense of the word). I don't like the smell of cheap things and neither do you.

Bret Cornell

President

Authentique Paper

Sweet Baby Boy

Happy Monday everyone! It's Emily here today with a fun little project that I made over the weekend.

My neighbor recently asked if I could make a mini album to store photos of her sweet baby boy. As soon as she asked me to make it the only thing in my head was MIRACLE! I just love this sweet collection, and since I am always scrapping photos of my daughter, this was a nice change to get to make a little boy album.

The inside is full of tags and journaling spots that have all been stitched in. I just love all of the colors in this collection and that I was able to bring them all together with all of the fun ribbons on the side.

This was a different type of project for me, I usually try to make more "chic" projects with my Authentique paper, but I wanted this one to be cutesy since it was for a baby. Needless to say, my neighbor LOVED it :-)

Thanks for stopping by today!

♥ Emily


Products Used:
Authentique Paper- Miracle: Baby Boy Collection
Sweet Stamp Shop- Sweet Alpha Doodles, Furry Friends Forever
Really Reasonable Ribbon- Brown Wrinkled Ribbon, Satin w/Scalloped Edge Parrot Green, Satin w/Scalloped Edge Ivory, 3/8" Tornado Blue Satin, Curly Sparkling Trim White, Bliss Pearls
Copic Markers- 0, B00, G24, E25, E33

Tickled Pink

Hi there!
It's Tifany from Ink Blots by TRD and today I wanted to share with you a mini album I created using Authentique Paper's Uncommon collection.


Even though in person I am not a "girly" girl...in paper crafting I love fun pinks (grounded with neutrals, of course) and beautiful florals.


The Uncommon collection is beautiful for scrapping anything - from weddings to heritage pages to ladies-only events - but it is also perfect for those sweet little ones that just leave you "Tickled Pink".
{The cover was created easily by using some of the Icons and Tabloids die cuts.}


I created this mini album to show off pictures of my "little" girl (now 8 years old) in the first year of her life.
{The interior pages were created from one 12x12 sheet of paper using a meander-type method. I adapted the meandering a bit to suit my needs.}


Each page has a slot for a tag where I can add another picture or just some journaling about that precious first year.

But I couldn't just stop with a mini album...


I created this card from the Uncommon collection (the papers used on the card are from the 6x6 Bundle).


I love the combination of the various pinks with that beautiful cream and grey.

And I love how the die cuts (from the Icons) work so seamlessly with the collection and allow for a quick but special sentiment on a card.


Thanks for stopping by today!


Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill (French Vanilla);
Patterned Paper: Authentique Paper (Uncommon - 6x6 Bundle);
Die Cuts: Authentique Paper (Uncommon - Icons, Tabloids);
Twine: The Twinery (Blossom);
Trims: (Various ribbons, twill, and lace);
Pins: Maya Road;
Other: (Chipboard);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

AUTHENTIQUE PAPER: A Genuine Snow Day

Hello Authentique fans! Heather here, with a layout incorporating both the Genuine Collection, and some of my favorite Free Bird Collection "B" sides.

A few weeks ago, the Northwest had a pretty large scale snow and ice storm. Overnight, seven inches of snow fell. Probably not a lot for most places in the US, but in our neck of the woods, the snow and ice pretty much shut down cities. The beginning however, did make for some pretty cute photos of my little girl.

I knew when I saw the Genuine Collection, I wanted to incorporate some of the papers with these photos. I loved how the Friendship paper had snowflake-like stitching.

I backed all of the photos with Natural from the Genuine Collection. I also added a phrase from the Genuine Elements, as well as some of the Genuine Tiny Type (also on the Elements sheet).

The Free Bird papers helped to make the perfect snowflakes. I looked through the whole collection, and settled on solids from Fair-Weather, Endless, and Comfort. And one large background snowflake using Genuine's True. 

 Adding a little bling helped to make the snowflakes stand out against the background paper.

And one final Genuine Details sticker to set off one of the miniature photos.

While I do love paper collections by themselves, don't be afraid to mix and match! And if you need some fantastic color additions, check out the various solids that all grace the back of those Free Bird papers! They really are fun to add to your favorite Authentique collections.

Supplies Used: 

Genuine Collection: Friendship, Natural, True, Elements, Details

Free Bird Nest Collections:  Fair-Weather FBS120, Endless FBS115, Comfort FBS107

Additional Supplies: American Crafts Thickers, Teresa Collins Bling, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink

Celebrate with the Ultimate Card

I am excited to share a tutorial with you today. I made a card like this on my blog last week and had a lot of positive feedback, so I thought today I'd share with you how you can make your own.  

I have named this card "The Never Ending Card."

The original pattern for this came out of a book called Very Mary Stationary.

To start you will need 4 pieces of paper.

3 pieces all cut from the same paper will form the base.  The dimensions of those papers are:

4 1/2" x 10 1/2"

1 1/4" x 1 3/8"

1 1/4" x 3 1/2"

The other paper you will cut from Decorative Paper and the dimensions are:

4" x 4"

Take the longest piece and from the left short edge score lines at 

1) 1"

2) 1 3/8"

3) 5 7/8"

6 1/4"

Fold along the score lines and you are creating a box.  Put adhesive on the outer edge of the 1st scored section create the box shape.(see next picture)

Here is what it looks like, I like to decorate the front before assembling, I find it easiest to do it in this order.

For the tabs you will take the shorter pieces of paper and score them at these increments.

The 3 3/8 paper, score from the left at the 1 1/2" mark and the 1 7/8" mark.  Fold on the score lines and adhere to the card middle left.  This just acts a barrier so the inside card does not fall out.

For the 3 1/2" paper score from the left at the 1" mark and the 1 3/8 mark.  Fold on the lines and adhere the longer end to the inside center right.  To make the tab open or close, either use adhesive Velcro or some sort of reusable adhesive.

For the card enclosure you will need on piece of paper that is 4" x 10 3/4".  Score this paper at the 2 1/2" and 6 1/2" marks.  Fold the shorter panel up to create an pocket and then fold the other score line to create the card.  Embellish as desired.

Here is the completed card front.  You can see that I used a Card Candi for my tab and underneath I used the Tack it Over and Over glue.

 Here is a close up of the card front.  Don't you love the Celebrate Papers?

Here is the card enclosure.

The card enclosure opens up to reveal a pocket inside..

...inside the pocket is a matching gift card holder.

Here is a close up of the gift card holder.  I just love the floral print on the enjoyment paper.

Here are the different pieces side by side.  

Isn't this a great card?

It really is easy to make, if you have any questions regarding how to make this..feel free to ask me.

I have been enjoying working with the Celebrate line and I hope you enjoyed my card today.

This has been Jeannie from The Polka Cabana with today's post.

Supplies used:

Authentique Papers - Celebrate

Craft Work Cards - Card Candi

Sizzix Die

Grafix Arts - Shrink Film