Suitcase Project by Lilly Sanchez

Hey guys, it's Lilly Sanchez here, welcome back to the blog. I have another super fun crafty project to share with you - a suitcase created using the new beautiful Truly Grateful collection and a few of Paige's cut files!

I am so loving all the colors in this collection. So many amazing fall vibes. I came across a super easy tutorial for this suitcase on YouTube and had to recreate it. Using some thick chipboard I created my base for the suitcase to make it sturdy and long lasting. I then wrapped it with plain white 110lb cardstock for extra sturdiness. 

Now on to making it all pretty, the front and back of the suitcase are matted using my favorite paper from the entire collection - the beautiful plaid Paper 02. For my side panels, bottom panel, as well as the inner back panel inside the suitcase, I used Paper 05. The exterior top panel is the grid Paper 06 and I also used it in the inside of my suitcase as well as a liner. The outside closure flap is using the floral side of Paper 02, I feel as if they go together so well and complete the look.

To accessorize it a bit more I added some mint green trim, a Layered Butterfly cut file and used one of the Wooden Buttons from the collection.

For decorations I used the Floral Die Cuts as well as the Ephemera Die Cuts. I didn’t go crazy layering but I still think it gave the project a super cute look. The pumpkin die cut brought everything together and was just enough to give the suitcase a nice pizazz. I finished it off with some Puffy Stickers, gave my suitcase a pretty handle, and tada!

A perfect way to send goodies and happy mail to friends and family.


Thank you guys so much for stopping by and always showing my projects so much love. See you next time. Happy crafting!

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers, embellishments: TRULY GRATEFUL; Cut files: Layered Butterfly by Paige Evans

Location: New Jersey, USA / Instagram: @craftingwithliller / Facebook: Crafting with Liller
YouTube: Crafting with Liller / Pinterest: Crafting with Liller

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Wheel Mini Album by Stefanie Ried

Stefanie Ried here and today I'm sharing my first mini with the new and beautiful Truly Grateful collection. A few weeks ago my daughter was given a turntable. There were questions on it with answers. This inspired me to create a similar mini album which you have to spin so you can see the pictures.

I cut out the big circles with the We R Memory Keepers "Circle Spin & Trim". The size is 7½" across. This is very easy to do and I cut out the window as well. I reinforced both plates so that the album is stable enough. Between the plates I have sponge rubber used as spacer so the bottom disc can also be used with the thicker wood buttons and Thickers.

I wanted to decorate the top disc with the Floral Die Cuts. For this I used white cardboard and painted the background with brush pens. After that I glued all the beautiful flowers, leaves, and stickers on it.

For the lower disc I used the colored rainbow Paper 08. I was so happy that in this new collection there is a similar paper. It fits perfectly to my mini because I have immediately the matching fields to decorate with photos and stickers. Then you don't have to measure anything anymore. It makes it so easy.

Here are some pictures from the album:

Here is a video to see how this came together:

 Many thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, stickers, embellishments, buttons: TRULY GRATEFUL; white cardstock

Blog: steffiried.blogspot.com / Instagram: @steffiried / Pinterest: @steffiried / Facebook: stefanie.ried.96 YouTube: Steffi Ried

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Hello Sunshine Layout by Kelly Daye

Hello friends, it’s Kelly Daye here with a new layout using the new Truly Grateful collection and it’s all about our dog Buddy.

I started by cutting Paige’s Flower Heart cut file on my Silhouette Cameo 3 from white cardstock. Then, using the Outline function in Silhouette Studio, I cut a background just a whisker bigger from Paper 08. Once glued together, a beautiful rainbow of color peeks through. So pretty! For something more unexpected, the heart falls off the edge of the layout. Time to add the pretties! I started with the Floral Die Cuts, adding them inside and outside the cut file. Bright yellow mini doilies from my stash provide a sunny backdrop for the flowers. My photos are framed in Paper 09 and the butterflies are fussy cut from Paper 05. Did you spot the ephemera near Buddy’s photos? They’re from the gorgeous Ephemera Die Cuts. The copper foiled script on the pumpkin says, “Grateful”, and I surely am.

My entire layout is a heartfelt message to our dog Buddy.  Sadly, we said goodbye to Bud, Buddy-kins, The Budster in 2010 and I still really miss him, his wagging tail, and big heart. Honestly, I got a bit teary at times working on this project. Scrapbooking can be good therapy, can’t it? The birdhouse/clock, from the Ephemera Die Cuts is pretty adorable and helped tell this part of my story. I wanted it to look like it was hanging from the title and hand stitched a few chains above it with gold metallic thread.  ‘HELLO’ is also from the die cuts and ‘Sunshine’ is from the Epoxy Stickers. For an interesting border, I taped the branding strip from Paper 19 to the top of the layout and chained stitched a row of sequins below it. Don’t throw those strips out ladies! They can still add a pretty detail. To finished it all off, I used Prima - Pastel Dreams watercolors to dab a few puddles near the edge of the heart in a tone-on-tone fashion. Finally, I used a couple of the epoxy dots from the Wooden Buttons, hearts from the Mixed Embellishments, gold Stickles, white Nuvo Crystal Drops, and a few more sequins here and there.

Big hug for all our pets today, thanks so much for being here!

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers, stickers, embellishments: TRULY GRATEFUL; white cardstock; sequins; Prima - Pastel Dreams watercolors; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo 3; Cut file: Flower Heart by Paige Evans

 Location: Edmonton, Canada / Blog: Kelly Made It / Instagram: @kellymadeit / Facebook: Petals Daye / Pinterest: Kelly Made It

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Giverny, France Folding Hearts Mini Album

I've finished a new mini album using my brand new Folding Hearts Mini Album cut file and Truly Grateful collection, documenting our day in Giverny, France - the house and gardens where Claude Monet lived and painted his beautiful waterlilies.

Here is a video flip through so you can see how this album looks when turning the pages and hear a little bit about how it was created:

Once the embroidery was finished, this album came together so quickly - in just a day!

I love how the album can be opened to create a multidimensional project, or squashed up into a heart-shaped book. The ribbon ties it all together into a pretty bow.

I started by cutting the two covers (at about 4") from the purple floral Paper 02. I then spent 4-6 hours embroidering over the designs using matching colored thread. I use all 6 strands of DMC embroidery floss. I used two different kinds of stitches: mostly a backstitch and little French knots here and there. You may notice in the photo below I spelled Giverny with an E, Giverney. It wasn't until after I finished taking photos and doing flip throughs and filming that I realized I had spelled it wrong... I was going to keep it, but after sleeping on it I decided to fix the mistake. Except in this photo ;)

For the title I chose colorful letters from the Puffy Phrase Stickers - so I'll use this sheet like a regular pack of Thickers since I took away some of the letters from the words they come in. For "FRANCE" I did the same thing with the 6x12 Stickers - I cut letters ransom-style and will use this sheet of stickers for this purpose of making a colorful mini alphabet moving forward. I machine stitched the title over a piece of a Journaling Spot and trimmed the bottom edge with scalloped scissors before adhering it to the cover.

To make the paper beads for the tassel charm I watched this video by Pink Paislee Design Team Member Lisa Fonseca. I made so many! They're addicting to create! I have a handful of them left to use on a different project. Once I finished making paper beads from Truly Grateful patterned papers, I went through my craft stash and found a few charms, beads, and pearls to add to the mix. Then I strung them onto three strands of pink string and added Wooden Buttons back-to-back on each one. I looped the strands onto a jump ring and added it to the blue grosgrain ribbon that ties the album together. Love the finishing touch this handmade paper beads dangling charm adds.

I cut four papers for the inner pages shown in this order: Paper 11, Paper 05, Paper 04, and Paper 03. I used Picasa to create tiny photo collages and placed square photos into a new 4x6" Adobe Photoshop document to keep them 4" square, and then uploaded all of my pics to Costco. I get lots of requests to show how I print my pictures so small. I need to do this still!

On this left side I added a plethora of 1" photos and placed a Floral Die Cut on top, leaf from the Floral Die Cuts below, and a "so amazing" Sticker. I also added sequins from the Mixed Embellishments but I see that one fell off and that pink one is a stray lol. On every page I machine stitched around the edges to add texture and help secure elements in place.

I traced the heart onto this 4" square photo and trimmed it out to create a full-page photo. I added a few embellishments for a fun detail.

On this right side I placed "LOVE" letters from the Stickers with a little mushroom Puffy Sticker inside the "O". I used journaling directly from my blog post recap about the trip and printed it at point 8 in my favorite font, Remington Noiseless, trimmed into strips, and glued in place with liquid adhesive.

On this bottom heart I layered a bunch of Floral Die Cuts and tucked in a cute photo of Jane. Anywhere I could add a photo I tried to do so because I had so.many.photos I wanted to include.

Here is the 2nd of 4 pages.

On the left side I added a photo, two flower halves from the Floral Die Cuts, and a "yes" Epoxy Sticker.

For the top and bottom sections, I needed a way to add more photos (always!) so here is my solution: I traced hearts onto my printed 4" square photos, rotating the heart top and bottom side up, and cut them out. I glued photos back-to-back and then machine stitched across the tops or bottoms to create lift-up (or down) flaps. I used gold thread to machine stitch around all the edges of these hearts.


Three 1" square photos, more Floral Die Cuts, and another Epoxy Sticker dotted with a heart Puffy Sticker complete this section.

Here is the 3rd page!

I wanted to place the photos on the sides instead of the top/bottom so after tracing and cutting two photos into sideways hearts, I trimmed them in half so they will still fold along the seam. I added three Wooden Buttons along the bottom curve of this section.

On this photo section I added a heart Puffy Sticker to the white space at the top, two flower Puffy Stickers at the bottom, and trimmed out sentiments from an Ephemera Die Cut and Journaling Spot.

In the top section I added a whole lot of Floral Die Cuts - I mean, if you can't use all.the.flowers in a place filled with flowers, when else?! :) I tucked in a photo of flowers into the flowers.

In the bottom section I added a lot of journaling strips and punched a scalloped border from a colorblocked Journaling Spot. The "grateful" is fussy cut from Paper 17. I used light purple thread to machine stitch around all the hearts in this page.

The 4th and final page!

For the left and right sections I used Floral Die Cuts trimmed in half so they will fold up along the seam. I added journaling strips below.

On the right side I also added a couple wood veneer flowers from the Mixed Embellishments.

For the top I repeated the back-to-back photo flap technique and used copper thread to machine stitch around all these edges.

In the bottom section I still had a bunch of photos I wanted to include to I created an accordion flip up which is held closed by flowers machine stitched in place and tucking the photos under the petals.

I adhered a piece of a Journaling Spot with a gold "Wonder" printed on it to the top to create a little flap to pull it. To create this photo strip I placed clear washi tape across the photos and then zig zag stitched through them, folding it up accordion style. I added stickers here there to the photos to embellish.

And the back cover finishes it up!

I love how this book stays open when placed flat. And I love how quickly it all came together.

I hope you are inspired to make one of these albums too!

Grab my Folding Hearts Mini Album cut file and Truly Grateful collection and get to gettin'!

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, stickers, embellishments, die cuts, sequins, wood veneer: TRULY GRATEFUL; Ribbon: American Crafts; Font: Remington Noiseless; Embroidery floss: DMC; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Cut file: Folding Hearts Mini Album by Paige Evans; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo 3

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