Happy Halloween!!

We hope your Halloween is filled with fun times, sweet treats, and happy people!

Last Minute Halloween Cat Mask

Hi Everyone! Laurie here today with a fun, easy project for your last-minute Halloween costumes. I don't know about you, but I'm always running around at the last minute looking for something to wear when I answer the door on Halloween to hand out candy.

I was able to put this cute cat mask together in about 15 minutes using my silhouette and SEI's amazing velvet paper. The paper is fuzzy with a durable backing that is soft enough to wear on your face all night long. Gotta love that!

Even if you don't have a die cutting machine, you could easily make a mask like this freehand. The cute velvet paper is quite forgiving and is the perfect material to bring out your inner animal! A tiger, a zebra, a lion -- the possibilities are limitless! If you're running out of time before trick or treating, this is a great quick project. Give it a try; I bet it'll turn out BOO-tiful!

Laurie

Forever Layout + Thanks 2014 Design Team!

Today we're sharing the last project from our 2014 design team. Isn't this a great masculine layout created by Elizabeth? We love how she use elements from the October scrapbooking kit, to make a layout about her husband.

Tomorrow we will feature the first project from our 2015 design team. But, first please take a minute to thank our 2014 design team...

APRIL JOY HILL: Blog & SEI Projects
ELIZABETH HELLUM: Blog & SEI Projects
JOY DICKSON: Blog & SEI Projects
KATHY MARTIN: Blog & SEI Projects
SARAH WEBB: Blog & SEI Projects
THUY BUI: Blog & SEI Projects
TYRA BABINGTON: Blog & SEI Challenge Projects

Holiday Craft Kit Giveaway!

It's giveaway time! This month, we're going to let the winner choose which Club SEI November kit they'd like. Both kits are fun, festive, and full of goodies. Which would you pick? Maybe the paper-crafting kit with wreath kit, tag kit & gifting ideas or would it be the card-making kit with holiday card ideas galore?

To enter, just follow the simple directions below. You can enter using your e-mail or facebook. It will ask you to leave a comment. Please remember to do that. There is also a bonus entry. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sweet Layout

There's a couple of new collections out. One of the new ones is called Furry Friends and it is just as adorable as it sounds! I couldn't resist digging in right away!

My inspiration for the page were the chipboard circles. Circles are currently popular for pages right now so I decided to put them to use. I cut each one in half, but did not make the halves equal. This way I could play around with the element and have different sizes to choose from.

I built on the circle theme by using the pearls as well as some flair from the ephemera packages.

The finishing touches were the title and the yellow stars, both from the Noteworthy collection.

I hope you enjoy using this falls new collections!

Many thanks to the SEI team for a wonderful opportunity and a fun term!

Sarah

Fall Scrapbook Layouts

Here are two more lovely autumn layouts by Elizabeth. She used the Autumn's Smile collection from the Club SEI October scrapbooking kit.

We love how she grouped the leaves, paperclips, and little pieces of twine for details. This kit has so many fun textures with the glitter elements, jute ribbon, textured paper, and foil. Didn't Elizabeth do a great job of layering these elements?

Elizabeth and Sarah each have one more layout to share this month. Then it will be time to say good-bye to our 2014 design team. Haven't they done a wonderful job?

Holiday Cards from Club SEI's November Kit

Can you believe all the Christmas stuff already in stores? Crazy! We love Halloween & Thanksgiving. So, it seems like a shame to hop right to Christmas.

But, if you are making your own holiday cards, now is the perfect time to get started. Just imagine having them all ready to mail the first week of December. You could have the rest of the month to enjoy the season without worrying about cards.

If this sounds great to you, we've got you covered with the November card-making kit. This kit is seriously fun! There are all kinds of techniques to try.

Learn unique ways to fold cards to create fun holiday designs, including trees, a present, a santa suit, and more! You will love how interactive these cards are.

Oh, did we mention that club members will also learn how to use a music module? Yep! That's right! For the first time ever we're including music modules. :) Check out all the goodies in this kit...

So, if you're ready to get your holiday cards made, sign-up for the Club SEI November card-making kit now!

Thanksgiving Dinner Treat Containers for Place-setting

Thanksgiving in Canada is in October. We always have a big family dinner with too much food and little gifts on each of the dinner plates.

I had so many fall leaves cut out from my card and gift bag set, that I decided I would add them to the little gift containers for Thanksgiving dinner.

Each one is created using a 6x5 pieces of patterned paper. I created a tube and the adhere the ends in an offset manner. I then decorated each of the little gifts. Each has the first letter of the family members' name. I could easily make them more generic, but then the gift inside would also have to be general.

I add candy, stickers, jokes and little toys inside. It makes for a lot of fun and lots of conversation.

I hope I've inspired you to create something fun for you next family dinner!
Sarah

November Club SEI Paper-Crafting Kit

Are you ready to get into the holiday spirit? It may be a bit early for some. But, November is the perfect time to start creating for the holidays.

Club SEI members can make this festive wreath to greet visitors. With a wreath base and pre-cut leaves, this comes together in a snap!

The tag kit included in the November paper-crafting kit is perfectly packaged in an fun little box full of all the goodies needed to make gift tags or a unique advent.

There's also a large tag template for a creative way to wrap small gifts. For larger gifts, how about making your own gift bag or box?

So, if you're ready to get crafting for the holidays, sign-up for the Club SEI November paper-crafting kit today!

Dimensional Fall Scrapbook Layout

Elizabeth has some amazing fall layouts to share for her last month on our design design team. We just love what she did with the Autumn's Smile collection from the October kit!

First up is this lovely layout of her daughter. The layers, textures, and dimension she put into this layout are perfect for autumn. What's your favorite part?

Happy Halloween Banner

Halloween is almost here. We love it. The decorations, the candy, the costumes and the not-so-ideal lighting for pictures ;) So today, I decided to put one of the big corrugated cardboard banner pieces to use and create my own halloween decorations.

Cut files are really popular and that's what made this project so easy. I cut out the title, spiderweb and spiders for my project.

For a little detail, I added some twine from some of the spiders to the web. The spiders are all adhered using foam dots. I also added a little gold and white mist along the way to give the banner more depth.




Finally, the shiny purple letters from the Pembroke collection were perfect for spelling 'happy'.

Happy Halloween!
Sarah

2015 Design Team Announcement

Thanks everyone who applied for our design team this year. With so many talented paper-crafters, it's always a hard choice. But, we are so thrilled that these five ladies accepted our invitation. Please give a warm welcome to SEI's 2015 Design Team...

Jennifer Davis
 • I enjoy working part-time at my local library (I love books and reading!) while my daughter is at school.
• I live in Northern Wisconsin and can't imagine living without the change of seasons...love fall and winter, bring on the snow!
• I've worked in the paper-crafting industry for 8+ years and I can't imagine not having it be a part of my everyday life.
• I am a very quiet and reflective person but love sharing about my life in written form by blogging or sharing photos...and yes, sharing in my scrapbook albums!
• I am so thankful for the opportunity to create and share my love of crafting by being on the SEI team of designers this year!


Kelly Holbrook
• My name is Kelly Holbrook, I am 35 years old, and am from Homer, MI.
• I have been married for 14 years, and am a stay at home/homeschooling mom to 5 awesome kids.
• I have been scrapbooking since 1998, but really became interested in 2002 when my twins were born.
• I would consider my style mostly clean and simple with a touch of eclectic. I go back and forth between subtle backgrounds with lots of layers, and white cardstock with lots of small details. I also find myself going through phases based on what the trends are.
• In my 'spare' time, aside from scrapbooking...I also enjoy knitting, photography, and drinking lots of coffee!


Laurie Danielle 
• I went to art school and studied sculpture, installation, and site based work.
• I have worked as a professional theatrical costume designer.
• I love to garden and can my own jellies, sauces, and pickles.
• I almost never use a paper trimmer when I craft -- I'm scissors all they way.
• I love crisp fall weather - a warm sweater, a cup of hot tea and time to play with my craft supplies is my idea of perfection!


Piali Biswas
• I live in Robbinsville, New Jersey. I’ve been married to wonderful husband for 17 years and together we’ve two adorable girls of age 13 and 9. I also have a cute puppy named KOKO.
• I've been prapercrafting and blogging since 2009.
• I love all things handmade! Stamps, papers and dies are my favorite things!!
• I also enjoy quilting, jewelry making , baking, cooking and driving!!!
• I'm so honored to be on SEI Team.


Stephanie Kensy
• Hi! I’m Stephanie. I live outside of Philadelphia with my wonderful husband, Jon, and our Siamese cat, George.
• My career is in editorial and content marketing. I have written and edited articles for health, parenting, fashion, and home and garden publications.
• I love to make all types of paper crafts—cards, mini albums, party invitations, home décor, you name it! I tend to create projects in a clean and simple style.
• When I’m not crafting, I enjoy trying out new recipes, biking, and spending time with family and friends.
• About 10 years ago, I was invited to a Stampin’ Up! class. I took that first stamp to ink… and I’ve been hooked on paper crafting ever since!

You can look forward to another year of wonderful projects, thanks to these ladies. We will begin featuring their projects next month. Until then, make sure to thank our 2014 team for all their work. :)

Pretty Fall Gift Bag and Card Set with Leaves

Cut files are hot right now. They are a part of so many projects and there are so many to choose from. SEI sent me a terrifc cutting file featuring leaves. This was perfect because I love fall! I love the colors, the crisp air and thick warm sweaters for fall.

I decided to pull out a variety of patterned papers that would fit into a fall color scheme and create. I cut out all sorts of leaves and then drew white lines around the edges of all of them. I found the white line really helped the leaved pop off of my projects.

I added a few foam dots here and there behind different leaves to help maintain the dimension and the visual interest on both the card and the gift bag.

As you can see, I used gold in the base of both items and built out from there.

The 'thankful' sentiment stickers is from last year's Think of Me collection.

I hope that I've inspired you to mix up the collections and create something around the fall theme!

Thanks for visiting!
Sarah

September Challenge Winner: Thank You, Tyra!!

It's time to announce the winner of Tyra's last challenge for SEI...

Congratulations, June S.! You won the September "Fall Fun & Back-to-School" challenge!! Please send us and e-mail so we can get your gift code to you. :)

Don't you think Tyra did an AMAZING job with the challenges this year? We have absolutely loved having her on our design team! Please take a minute to leave a comment and let Tyra know you appreciate her coordinating all the challenges & creating such inspirational projects.

Fall Gratitude Journal

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing my final project using the September Papercrafting Kit and as part of the SEI design team.

The colors of the September kit were perfect for a fall project, so I tried to think of something for Thanksgiving and that's when I thought about creating a gratitude journal that I can fill out during the month of November. Not only did I want to have a journal specifically for what I am grateful for in celebration of Thanksgiving, but my first baby is due sometime in November, so I wanted to have a journal ready for me to start writing in.

For this journal, I added a pocket to the front cover, for any ephemera that I wanted to keep.

I cut up cardstock to different sizes because I love having mini albums and mini books with different sized pages. I think it adds so much interest to a book. I also used elements from the envelope kit including the binder rings, so that I am able to add more pages to it when necessary.

I finished off my journal with an envelope as the back cover for any additional ephemera that I wanted to keep.

I think my first entry into my gratitude journal should be that I am so thankful to have been a part of the SEI design team. It has been an incredible experience and I have had so much fun playing with the awesome SEI papercrafting kits this year! Thank you for letting me share my creations with you and for all of your support this year! :)

April Joy