Creative Memories Custom Album Covers

Today is the last day to order some Creative Memories core products.  Album Coversets in certain colors, pages & page protectors and tape runner refills are included in the Last Chance Order which ends today, July 31st.  If you need to order any of these items you should try to order early in the day as the servers often get overloaded when there are high volumes of orders.  You can find the Last Chance Order items HERE.

August 21st will be the last day to place any orders for items that are still available on the website.  The websites will shut down after the 21st.  Some album coversets (primarily specialty coversets) are not part of the Last Chance Order group so you could order them in August but you will not be able to order pages to go with them (if you have extra pages on hand you are all set).  There are alternatives to using Creative Memories pages in the coversets and I have ordered some samples to try (I'll let you know what I think...).

You can create custom album covers and order them through the Digital Center until September 23, 2013.  Click HERE to go to the page on my CM site that explains how to make a custom album. 

I thought I'd share photos of the custom album covers that I have made.  I think these are my favorite albums of all!  The simplest type is made by simply uploading a photo and having the cover made with your photo.   This is the album I made for our son and daughter-in-law for their wedding (multiple copies for parents too!).

This photo of the gates from a churchyard looking toward the ocean on Grand Turk is from the cruise we went on a couple of years ago.  There isn't a cruise ship in the photo but it was one of my favorites from the trip.

This album is the last full photo cover album I made.  This photo was taken on our trip to California a couple of months ago (sorry, I just realized that I forgot to pull off the bar code sticker and it is after dark and too late to take another photo).

In addition to using a single photo for the entire cover there are templates on the digital center that allow you to drag and drop a few photos into the design.  You create the cover in the digital center without using software but you are limited to simply dragging and dropping your photos and can't change the layout.  I never made an album using these templates but there are some very nice ones.  You can add text and have choices of fonts and styles on the digital center.

If you use the StoryBook Creator software, you can also create your own cover and order it by uploading directly from the program to the digital center.  This is a cover that I made with some flower photos that I have taken.  I added some patterned paper to the background and created my own grid for the photos.

This album is simply a favorite piece of digital paper (from the Peacock digital power palette).  I was very happy with the way it turned out and it was so quick and easy to do.

The final album was a little more complicated to make.  When we go on vacation I take a lot of photos and one year in Italy I became obsessed with the variety of doorknockers and started photographing all of the different styles.

I made this page with a white background as part of the Layout a Day challenge in May (the prompt was the lead pipe in the game of Clue so I went with 'metal" as my theme).  I simply deleted the text and added a background paper that suited the colors in the photos. 

If you decide to try making one of these albums my CM ID is 82352282 (you might need this when you register on the digital center).

While custom covers for hardbound photo books are common I have not found another company that makes custom albums for paper scrapbooking.  I hope that another company might start doing this since Creative Memories is exiting this line of business.  If you know of a place where you can make custom album coversets like these please leave a comment.

It's hard to believe July is over already - I am sure August will fly by as well.  Have you done all of the projects you wanted to do this summer?  I know I have a long way to go to catch up with my list!

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Creative Memories Bankruptcy - Important Closing Information

Creative Memories is in bankruptcy and they are winding down the current business.  All Creative Memories consultants will be released from their contracts at the end of August and the ordering websites will be shut down.

Here are the important dates you should know:

This Wednesday, July 31, 2013 is the last day to order album coversets, pages and protectors and tape runner refills through the Last Chance Order offer.  These items will be manufactured to fill the orders and could take weeks or months to ship.

You can find the Last Chance Order page HERE on my CM personal website.

If you need to order anything I would not wait until the last day as the servers have often been overwhelmed by large sales and you may have trouble placing an order.
 
The Creative Memories albums were one of the main reasons I got involved as a consultant and yes, I will miss them too (I have stocked up a bit for my personal use).

The last day to order from my CM personal website is August 21, 2013.  Items are available "while supplies last" and some popular items have been sold out.  There are still some coverset colors and designs available while supplies last that are not part of the Last Chance Order (but you will not be able to order pages/protectors for these after Wednesday).  All Rewards Club, Host and other Product Credits must be used by August 21st.

Four of the exclusive Creative Memories Cricut cartridges are still available, Be Young, Divine Wedding, Reminisce Accents and Stork's Delivery.  You can find them HERE.

Digital Artwork will be available for sale until August 21, 2013.

Digital Center orders will be accepted until September 23, 2013. 

The software programs (Memory Manager and StoryBook Creator) will continue to function but you will not be able to upload projects to the Digital Center for printing after September 23, 2013.  You should make sure that your programs are up to date and back up all of your Memory Vaults, Projects and Artwork.

Important information including directions on how to backup your digital programs and content are in the complete Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for Digital Software, Artwork and the Digital Center Products which you can download HERE. 

Please leave any questions in the comments below so that I can answer them for others to see as well.  I will be sharing more information as it becomes available (updates or changes).  If you have a local consultant, please contact your consultant for ordering and questions.

I do have some information about alternatives that I will be using once the current Creative Memories is finished.  They plan to launch a new party plan company in November but very little information is available about that right now. 

I wanted to keep this post short and to the point to be sure that everyone is aware of the deadlines - but I had to add a photo for those of you who are not Creative Memories users.  The day lilies are plentiful this year - some of ours grow right next to the garage so I see them everyday.   What's blooming in your garden?

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Quick Custom Gift Bag

Whenever you give a gift, it is nice to personalize the wrapping.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to decorate a plain gift bag.  I made this gift bag to go with the hexagon birthday card - staying with the red, white and blue color scheme.

The basic blue bag is from a big box craft store - they often go on sale 3 for a $1 so stock up with an assortment of colors when you see a good sale.  I cut the red shape from the Cricut Artiste cartridge (it is on the shift key of Accent 4 on page 33).  I cut the shape at 5 inches and then cut a second shape from the ivory cardstock at 6 inches.   As you can see, it is not a perfect shadow but it works well enough for this purpose.  The letter "N" is cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge at 4 inches.  It is the decorative layer from page 56.  In just a few minutes you can cut and assemble the monogram for a personalized gift bag.

You may remember from my last post (HERE) that the card I made was a non-standard size (6 1/2 x 5 inches).  I did not have an envelope to fit that size so here is a quick and easy way to avoid making a custom envelope.

I took a standard envelope for a folded 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper (Staples calls this a greeting card envelope) and sealed it.  Then I cut one inch from the side and punched the edge with a ribbon slot punch (if you don't have this punch, two punched holes made with a regular paper punch will work just as well).

I threaded the ribbon through and tied a bow.  This worked because I would be giving the card in person.  If you need to mail the card you could cut the end and then use washi tape on the sides to decorate and seal the envelope.

I slipped the card into the gift bag and allowed it to hang by the bow.  This also decorated the bag a bit more.

 Do you have any tips to share for quick and easy gift wrapping?  

When I was rounding up some of the Christmas in July sales I forgot to mention that Blitsy is celebrating Christmas in July with a huge assortment of sale products.  There are all sorts of goodies from Tim Holtz, Sizzix, Ranger, Spellbinders, Basic Grey, Cropper Hopper, Stampendous, 7 Gypsies, and many more.

 

If you haven't already joined Blitsy (it's free and fast), please use my referral LINK to register.  Once you are registered, you can get your own link and refer friends and family to earn store credit.  Thank you for helping me feed my craft supply addiction by using my LINK!

Creative Memories is winding down and there are just a few days left to place a "Last Chance Order" for album coversets, pages and protectors.  You can see the items available in the Last Chance Order category HERE on my CM personal website. The last chance orders must be placed by July 31st.  Traffic to the site will most likely be extremely heavy so don't wait to the last minute if you need to order any of these items.  All other items are available while supplies last until August 21st and then the websites will be closed down.

I'll be posting more details about the end of Creative Memories including some helpful information for users of the CM digital programs.  I am still sorting through some of the information that was provided today and will post as soon as I can be sure I have everything clearly stated.

 I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend.  After a few rainy days, we are expectign some nice weather today - Sunday looks a little more unpredictable!

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Hexagon Birthday Card

 

Hexagons, hexagons and more hexagons.  It seems that this six sided shape is everywhere these days.  I have lots of hexagon projects coming up to share on the blog.  Today I thought I'd show you the card that I made for my neighbor's birthday.

We share a love of hexagons that started with these Creative Memories hexagon shape makers many years ago.

I stamped the hexagons with the Honeycomb stamp set  - you can find it HERE.

I stamped lots of hexagons in red and blue and used my punches to cut them out.  These punches were discontinued quite a while ago but you may be able to find a similar punch or cut the shapes with a die cutting machine.  I find it tricky to stamp on the shapes after they are cut so the punches worked best for me.

I originally planned to make an A2 sized card and I tried lots of different layouts for the hexagons. They were a bit large for the card but I finally came up with a design I liked.  I adhered all of the hexagons to the card front keeping a even "grout line" between the shapes.

I stamped the "Happy" sentiment in the lower right corner and heat embossed it - with disastrous results (I must have overheated the embossing powder and it "melted" into the card).  When something doesn't go as planned - think recovery!  I decided to trim the card front and create a matted image for a larger card.

It was lucky that I was working with straight lines for hand trimming - I don't like to cut complicated shapes by hand but this was "doable."  When I had the matted  hexagons done, I created a card base to fit them.  I started with a 5 x 7 card but the proportions didn't work well so I ended up trimming it to 6 1/2 x 5 inches.  The two mats are 6 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches (ivory) and 6 x 4 1/2 inches (dark blue).

The sentiment for the inside of the card is from the Perfect Fit Birthday set and you can find that set HERE.

I used the Martha Stewart "Cherish" punch around the page set for the inside mat, starting with a piece of cardstock 5 x 3 1/4 inches (there is a chart packaged with the punches that gives the proper dimensions for the punches to work out evenly).

The embossing mistake was a good thing - I like the final card much better than my original plan!  The red, white and blue color scheme was chosen for the July birthday (which was actually earlier in the month, closer to the 4th).

Christmas in July

The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show "Craft and Connect" took place this week in Las Vegas.  New products are introduced at the show and nearly every company has been sharing "sneak peeks" on blogs and Facebook pages.  Buyers are busy ordering for their stores and must make room for the new products that will be arriving soon.

With all of the new products coming out, there are lots of "Christmas in July" sales and other promotions going on right now.  Be sure to check the websites of your favorite companies, local shops, online stores and blogs for some great offers.

There are quite a few new products from Silhouette including glass etching kits, printable cotton canvas, glitter packs, pen holder, a pink dust cover for the Cameo, stamping starter kit, stamp material and special mat, adhesive kraft paper and adhesive cardstock.

Silhouette America is offering a 40% off sale on most items (including the new products) until July 29th.  Just use the word "EXCITING" when you check out.  The sale does not include machines, download cards, downloads, subscriptions or gift cards. This sale code can also be used to upgrade to the Designer Edition of the Silhouette Studio Software so it would be only $30 to upgrade and gain the additional design features and the ability to cut SVG files with your Silhouette machine.

Lettering Delights is having a special "Christmas in July" sale too.  All Christmas products are just $1 - 2 until July 31st.  Click HERE to go to the site and see all of the festive designs!   You can use the code "FifteenOff" to get $15 off a purchase of $45 or more.

This Friday, July 26th is the last day for the  Lettering Delights  special offer I wrote about at the end of June.  The huge new collection of 380 cut-its called "Stringbeans" can be yours for FREE if you spend $45 between July 12th at 12:01 a.m.and July 26th at 11:59 p.m. (Mountain Time).

You do not have to spend the $45 all in one purchase - all of your purchases until the deadline will accumulate towards qualifying for this massive freebie.

You do have to have a  Lettering Delights  account and be logged into that account when you make your purchases so the purchases can be credited toward this offer.  Once you spend $45, the Stringbeans will be automatically added to your library.

If you enjoy digital scrapping, Sassy Designs is another site you should know about.  There is a special sale until Friday (tomorrow) and digital paper packs are only 25 cents (normally $3.99 - a 94% savings!).  The sale is scheduled to end promptly at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, July 26, 2013.  You can find the paper section of the site HERE.  Be sure to look around at all of the other offerings - but fair warning, there is a lot to look at!  I found this site a couple of years ago, looking for Wizard of Oz papers - check out "Emerald City" HERE.

I hope you are having a great week - we have been enjoying the somewhat cooler weather.  Family things have taken a priority this week but I did manage to get into the craft room for a little while.  I am curious - do any of you have a fondness for hexagons?  Do you also like honey?  (just kidding!)

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Heat Wave breaking - time to catch up!

We have had extremely hot weather here in the Northeast (and I know many of you in other places are also experiencing a very hot summer).  The humidity was so high that it was hard to find energy to do much of anything!  This week is predicted to be more typical - still in the 80's but not nearing 100 like last week.  I hope you are staying cool wherever you are!

I thought the cool tones of this digital image that I made from a photo might be a welcome sight this morning.  I'll explain how I did this in another post.  Do you do any canning?  Did you recognize the old-fashioned jars?

Several people asked for the Herbade recipe from the cafe at Fruitlands Museum.  I posted it in an answer to a comment but I will add it here too.

Here is the recipe they gave us for the "herbade" - it makes quite a lot!  You could probably make a half recipe of the herb mixture so you wouldn't need to used it up so quickly.  We just finished ours this weekend and the herbs had gone a bit mushy so I strained them out.  The flavor was still very nice.
1 cup chopped basil
1 cup chopped mint
1 cup orange juice
1 cup simple syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
(simple syrup is made by dissolving one cup of sugar in one cup of water - bring the mixture to a boil and then let it cool)
The herb mixture should sit for at least one hour.
Next, use a container that is about 1.5 liter (they served it in a large carafe) and add 1/3 cup of the mixture, fill half of the container with lemonade and half with gingerale. I used fresh squeezed lemon juice for the mixture and used the Paul Newman brand lemonade for the last step.
Add a few lemon slices as a garnish to make it look pretty!
I hope you like it - we thought it was very refreshing and not too sweet! 

I have a few reminders to share about sales that are ending soon - some today!

Craftsy has extended their summer sale.  Classes are up to 75% off - some are priced at just $9.99.  The sale ends at midnight tonight.  If you haven't taken a class before, you might want to check out one of the free mini courses just to see what they have to offer.  You can find the free classes by clicking HERE and scrolling to the bottom of the page.  I have found these classes to be quite good - so far I have tried quilting and sewing topics but there are also quite a few classes on cake decorating, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, cooking, etc.

There is a Christmas in July sale on the Cricut site.  I have received a couple of emails and one says that the sale will end TODAY at NOON (Mountain Time).  However, another email stated that the sale runs through July 24th...so I am not sure which is accurate.  Digital Cartridges are 25% off, there are some physical cartridges on sale for $9.99, several machines are offered at sale prices and there are lots of accessories offered at very low prices.

If you are a cake decorator (even if you don't use the Cricut to decorate) the cake tools set for only $1.99 (originally $29.99) might be of interest.  There is also a cover for the Cricut cake that would fit a regular Expression machine for $1.99.  There are also a variety of Gypsy, Yudu and Your Story items at very low prices, end caps for the E2 and plush Cricut toys.  Click HERE to go to the sale page and see all of the bargains.

It's almost time for the first ever True Scrap Kids event, coming up next Saturday, July 27th.

On July 27, crafty kids AND their parents can

• LEARN fun new skills…
• CONNECT with other Future Crafters of the Universe…
• INTERACT with incredible instructors in a state-of-the-art web classroom, LIVE…
• CREATE fun and unique projects, from mini-albums to day books to stationery sets…
• AND HAVE TONS OF FUN!

If you sign up by July 25th you will get a discount of $20 off the event price.  Click HERE to get all of the details about the classes and instructors and to register for the first ever True Scrap Kids.  Be sure to read the descriptions - I don't have a kid at home but I signed up because the classes sound so good!  There are five sessions

 

You (and your child) will get full admission to five classes, LIVE entry to the pre-event PJ Party, unlimited access to class recordings to view at your convenience, and chances to win prizes.  These events are lots of fun because everything is LIVE and you never know what might happen next.  You can relive the True Scrap Kids experience over and over again with the recordings (or catch up if you miss part of the live event).  Click HERE to read more details and sign up.  I hope to "see" you there!

It was too hot to do much outside last week.  Before we know it we'll be complaining about the snow!  I hope you have a crafty and happy day!
 

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Birthday Week - Armordresses and Bargains

Thanks to everyone for all of the nice birthday wishes.  I enjoyed reading all of the messages in the comments, on Facebook and in my email. 

It's been a busy week since my birthday and I have lots to catch up with here on the blog.  My sister and brother-in-law arrived on my birthday.  While my family was visiting we went to the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA.

This museum has an interesting assortment of collections.  Fruitlands was the site of the short-lived utopian community that Bronson Alcott (father of Louisa May Alcott who wrote Little Women) and Charles Lane attempted in 1843.  The farmhouse has been preserved and there are several other buildings including a Shaker Office, Native American Collection, and an Art Museum with a large collection of Hudson River School Landscapes and 19th Century Vernacular Portraits.  You can read some earlier posts I have written about the museum by clicking HERE.  I wove the chair seat in the photo above at one of the hands-on exhibits in the Shaker building.

The Cafe at the museum serves delicious locally sourced food and we really enjoyed the "herbade" (we asked for the recipe and I've already tried it at home).

Lunch was served in this elaborate tent (also used for events like weddings).  The view is amazing.

The interior of the tent is elegant with shirred fabric and chandeliers.

It was a hazy day but we still had a nice view of the mountains in the distance.

One of the remarkable features at the museum is the outdoor sculptures.  As we approached the Fruitlands farmhouse I could see these dress shapes.

The dresses were made of metal and very cleverly designed.

It was interesting to see how the look of the drape of fabric was achieved with metal sheets.  The artist is Alicia Dwyer.

If you look closely at this dress you can see the vine that has started to grow out of the neckline.  I wonder how the dresses would look if the plants continued to take over.

These dresses are one of the entries in the Art in Nature sculpture competition - you can see some of the other entries HERE.

It was a hot day but we enjoyed our visit.  The climb back up the hill is eased by rides in the "Gator" (this photo was taken on another visit last fall).

I have some birthday money to spend...here are a few ideas...

Washi tape anyone?

While I was at Costco last week, I did my usual cruise of the aisles and found these sets of washi tape from Scotch.

There are fifteen rolls in the box and my store had two different assortments.

Here are the details and the great price - about $1.25 per roll.  These sorts of things tend to disappear quickly so if you are interested check your store ASAP.  I did buy some tape and the quality is very similar to the washi tape I bought in Japan-town when we were in San Francisco (for a much higher price).

Not sure what to do with Washi tape?   Monica Bradford has done two "scrapinars" on Washi tape and the replays are available to inspire and teach you.

You can find the first class HERE,

...and the second class HERE.   These classes each include an instructional video with lots of techniques and the follow up question and answer session from the live scrapinar.  You can watch the videos as often as you like when you purchase the class - the links do not expire.

The exhibit of holiday ribbons was already up in our store.  The colors and patterns are amazing.  I often take the wires out of the edges of these ribbons to use pieces of the ribbon on cards or other projects.

Best of all is the price - less than 15 cents a yard!

Looking for a Cameo?

I noticed that the Cameo is for sale at a great price on Amazon - at the lowest price that I have seen advertised for this great machine.  I don't know how long this deal will last - it could sell out quickly.

The only thing better than a good price is the chance to win a machine for FREE - and SVGcuts is giving away a bundle including a Cameo, the Designer Edition software and a gift card for files.  You can enter through Facebook HERE. 

Finally, there are some great sets of digital papers and embellishments included in One Buck Wednesday at Jessica Sprague this week.  Here is one example - just look at all you get for $1.00 - today only.

Lots to do today - I have projects piled high and need to take photos so I can share them here.  Have you been crafting much lately or are you busy with summer activities?

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