Tara Chaussee's Blog Posts

07.24.19

Hi everyone! Summertime is definitely the season to get outdoors and experience nature! There is nothing more satisfying than living for a few days without all of the comfortable conveniences of home-LOL! 

With the release of the new Simple Stories Happy Trails collection, I knew I had to create a camping mini showcasing the colorful woodsy patterns and outdoorsy sentiments. I covered different  chipboard pieces with the fun patterns and made the front and back covers in the shape of a camper. 

Each page features layers of paper, stickers, chipboard and bits & pieces along with some of the journal cards. This collection is so full of the most adorable details including some of the cutest mosquitos you will ever encounter! The page fronts have tons of space for photos and journaling along with a flip feature for even more mementos!

The back of the pages are equally as cute with a pocket filled with journal card tags and another with a band that holds an additional pull-out card. These pages, too, are stacked with more of the stickers, bits & pieces and sentiments! 

So take a hike and then document your trip in the great outdoors with this super fun collection that is perfect for all of your camping adventures!

You can see this mini in all of it's amazing detail by checking out the video at my YouTube channel!

Supplies
07.09.19

Hi everyone! Father's Day may be over but if you are like me, you have some leftovers of the paper collection you used for cards and other Father's Day crafts. Everybody could use a super cute tool caddy for their desk or workbench and I used my extra paper scraps to make this winning tool caddy that is made even more useful with a lazy susan base underneath so it easily turns!

The lazy susan base, which is four inches square, was bought on Amazon. There are other sizes available as well but I thought this would be a great size for the caddy. The sides and bottom of the caddy were put together from heavy chipboard before being covered in the bold and bright patterned papers from the Simple Stories 'Dad Life' paper collection.

The caddy holder is three inches square and almost four inches tall which is plenty big to hold a large assortment of tools. After covering the chipboard sides with the playful patterned paper, I layered on a couple of picture frames along with the charming shape and sentiment stickers. I used lots of foam adhesive too, for extra dimension!

For added pizazz, I topped off the base with colorful brads and added in matching enamel dots on some of the embellishments. The frames, on two sides of the caddy, are open at the top so the pictures can easily be slipped out and changed for lots of variety.  

This caddy is not only adorable but useful as well. Any dad would love to be able to look at and use this every day! You can see this caddy in action and also check out how to make one of your own on my YouTube channel!

Supplies
06.24.19

Hi everyone! Our loved ones are always gone too soon from our lives but with the new 'Heart' paper collection from Simple Stories, you can preserve all of those wonderful memories. This collection is full of gorgeous, soft colors and beautiful sentiments and images to commemorate those we miss.

I couldn't not make a mini album to show off this fabulous collection full of blooms, stars, hearts and gold accents! Plus, I recently took a Coptic stitching class by Paige Taylor Evans and needed to make a Coptic book to keep the lesson fresh in my mind. This adorable mini has chipboard covers and five multi-tiered 'signatures' that will hold a ton of photos and mementos with lots of interactive pull-outs, flips and even some hidden pockets!

No somber colors here- just a spectacular mix of colors and patterns to happily reminiscence about your loved ones. The shine of the metallic gold accents are the perfect highlight for all of those joyous memories! All of the stickers, chipboard, washi tape and decorative elements layer together  beautifully.

To match the lovely metallic accents of the collection, I used a gold metallic thread for my stitching. You can see some of the pretty Coptic stitches here on the spine. I also wrapped my paper tassels with the same thread for even more shine!

Visit my YouTube channel to get a closer look at all of the beautiful details of this splendid paper collection and see more pages of this mini album! 

Supplies

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