January Ideas

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already! Tomorrow starts the new year, and with that comes a sense of starting over, starting fresh and setting lots of goals for the upcoming year!

Here are some title ideas for you to use in January:
*Auld Lang Syne
*New Year's Eve
*New Year's Day
*Out With the Old, In With the New!
*Happy New Year!
*Let's Celebrate
*Winter Wonderland
*Let it Snow!
*New Year's Resolutions
*Winter Fun

Christmas is over already????

So all the family is gone, the presents have been opened, and the food has been eaten...can it really be over so quickly???

Well...at least all those scrappers out there get to relive all the memories by creating those beautiful layouts! I had the privilege of working with Scraptacular's January kit and it is so chock-full of scrappy goodies that I LOVED creating my layouts. Here's some sneak peeks of what you'll find in the kit...

Some of my favorite Quotes and Sayings for the Holiday Season..

Season's Greetings!!!

I would like to take a moment to share with you a sampling of my favorite Holiday quotes, sayings, and what have you. I wanted to share these with you as they have rung true to me many a time and seem quite fitting for this Christmas Eve!

~~~

Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you…Thinking of you this holiday season!-- T.A. Barron

Love the giver more than the gift.-- Brigham Young

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart... filled it, too, with a melody that would lastforever. - Bess Streeter Aldrich

If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away. - Unknown

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. - Unknown

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!” Amanda Bradley

A snowflake is Winter's butterfly. ~unknown

"Holiday magic starts from within.~ Dove Milk Chocolate wrapper"

"Miracles aren't limited to the Holidays~ Dove Milk Chocolate wrapper"

"Your presence is often the best present.~ Dove Milk Chocolate wrapper"

"The most vivid memories of Christmases past are usually not of gifts given or received, but of the spirit of love, the special warmth of Christmas worship, the cherished little habits of the home." ~Lois Rand

~~~

To finish, I thought that I would share with you this Layout that I did of my sister-in-law and nephew.

May peace, love, joy, and the wonder of the Holiday fill your soul!

~Amy

Last minute gift card holders

Gift cards are a popular gift for Teachers, Hair Dressers, Postal Carriers and all those "hard to buy for" friends. Instead of giving a plain gift card, why not create a custom holder to present it in? Its a great way of showing that you went the extra mile to personalize your gift. Gift cards come in all different shapes and sizes, and don't forget about Gift Certificates!

So dig out those scraps of paper, ribbon remnants and embellishments and let your imagination run wild. The recipient of your gift card will thank you.

Here are just a few examples of how you can make your gift cards extra special this year ;)



Have a safe and happy holiday ;)

Make your own gift bags!

It's that time of year!! Gift bags are in huge demand!!

I always have packs of plain kraft bags on hand for presents throughout the year. I very rarely buy gift bags anymore!

I spritzed some Maya Mist through a piece of plastic canvas on this bag. The tree is cut out of a piece of Webster's Pages paper. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I added some Stickles to the tree too.

Layouts!

I know we are into December now, but I wanted to share some layouts with you using the November kit of the month. I did not design for this month but bought the kit because I LOVED the look of it! And let me tell you, I was not disappointed! Here are a few layouts I made using the kit. I did add some of my own embellishments, but Beth carries several of them also in her store. If you didn't purchase this kit yet, and still have fall photos to scrapbook, get it! It's jam packed for the price.

A Little Treat....

Are you ready to count down to Christmas with a sweet treat??? i made this simple advent countdown calendar in about an hour and it will make a wonderful gift to give with some of our favorite muffin recipes. i will be back with the recipe holder next week, so check back for that! this is made with a very inexpensive muffin tin and the Collage Press Joyride collection papers and delight thickers (which are my new favorite- go grab some in the Scraptacular store today!!!)

here is what it looks like sitting on my craft table....




i cut 24- 2 inch squares, rounded the corners, added 2 pieces of magnetic strips and put the numbers on the front....




add a sweet treat in each mini muffin cup and you are ready to countdown.....


hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and this post finds you celebrating the season with the ones you love (and maybe with some chocolate, too...heehee)....

Welcome Our December Guest Designer...

Heather Garl!

Here's what the super-talented Heather said when we asked her a little bit about herself:

My family and I live in Temple, PA and I don't want to ever leave good old Berks County if I can help it. My husband, Joe, and I have been together for 8 years and we have four growing girls {ranging from 12 to 3} who keep us very busy!I started scrapping when I was in high school (early '90s). I was racing go-karts very competitively at the time and collected the weekly racing newspaper. When the stack became too large to store, I cut out the articles that were important to me, added some racing photos, a couple wrist bands, tickets, and my first scrap books were born. I still remember the days of printing graphics from the computer and cutting them out!I love to try new techniques all the time, but I come back to the basics most of the time. I love creating paper pieced embellishments and any type of flower. I'm addicting to following creative blogs and participating in challenges and contests.If I'm not scrapbooking I'm usually reading, cheering or coaching the kids at soccer games, helping at a church function, or hosting a game night at the house.

You can check out Heather's work in her gallery on our website as well as on her blog, http://scrapbookingsmiles.blogspot.com/

Here's a few of her awesome layouts from our December kit:

Please stop over on the forum to chat with Heather and our other DT members!

Eye Candy!!!

Just to make sure everyone gets into the holiday spirit...let's check out some EYE CANDY from Scraptacular's gallery and see what projects and layouts everyone's been working on. If you need some inspiration, then this will definitely get you in the mood to SCRAP!!!

Thanksgiving is over ALREADY????

So, Thanksgiving weekend is over and it's finally...Cyber-Monday? Guess I never realized how much of a big shopping day today is (and there are DEFINITELY some great deals to be had)! While some of you were participating in a shopping marathon otherwise known as "Black Friday" (which now starts on Thursday), others of us were getting scraphappy at the Scraptacular store. What a wonderfully relaxing way to spend the day after Thanksgiving!

I, personally, got SO MUCH done throughout the day and got a chance to "play" with the new Earth Love line from Cosmo Cricket that has arrived in the store. Many of the papers and embellishments coordinate very well with the Nutmeg line. So, check out some of the layouts I created using Cosmo Cricket's yumminess...

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful holiday. Who doesn't love a day dedicated purely to the idea of being thankful?

We crafters are a particularly appreciative bunch, and don't we just love to show our gratitude in crafty ways? We'll take any occasion to put our creativity on display :)

This year, my guests will be greeted at the door with this cute little "Thanksgiving" sign, and it was so fast and inexpensive to make that I wanted to share it with you.



I purchased an unfinished wooden sign from my local dollar store and picked out paper in elegant fall colors. I cut one piece of wood grained patterned paper and glued it to the surface of my sign.

Next, I cut 4 squares of paper in 3x3", then glued them down, leaving a space of about 1/2" all the way around them. I outlined each square with gold stickles and then set it aside to dry.

While it was drying, I got out my Slice machine and cut out some leaf shapes in a 3" size. I used Helmar Liquid Scrapdots to attach them to my sign and give them the dimension.

Finally, I attached a cardstock sticker to a scrap of the woodgrained paper, attached it with Scrapdots and then outlined the word "Thanksgiving" using the gold Stickles again. Attach a piece of coordinating ribbon as a finishing touch and you're done!

From everyone at Scraptacular, we wish you a safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving day.

Fall Fest Crop Winners!

Thanks to everyone who came by the message board to participate in our Fall Fest Crop!

Here are the winners:
Challenge #1--asarasota
Challenge #2--scrapbookingsmiles
Challenge #3--BarbP
Challenge #4--Rebecca in MI
Challenge #5--Cher K
Challenge #6--raysmommy
Challenge #7--scraplady
Challenge #8--scrapbookingsmiles
Challenge #9--raysmommy
Challenge #10--my2xys
Challenge #11--datatar
Challenge #12--raysmommy
Challenge #14--scraplady
Challenge #15--Bibi
Challenge #16--scraplady
Challenge #17--amgrassi

Game Winners:
Eye Spy--amgrassi
Scrappy Concentration--my2sxys
Fall Word Scramble--scrapbookingsmiles
Pick a Card--Cher K
Scraptacular Trivia--raysmommy

Make and Takes:
Altered Clipboard--Cher K
Product Packaging--Rebecca in MI

And last but not least, the Grand Prize Winner is:
RAYSMOMMY!!!

And a close second is Cher K!

Congrats to the winners!

The Crop Is On!

It is not too late to join in the fun over here...



the designers have outdone themselves with fun challenges, games and make and takes, but the members are WOWing me, as well... here are just a few of the pages and cards you can find being made for the challenges!

This one was so unique and i was drawn to it right away! Barb has used a doll house template for the border and it just looks like it fit there perfectly! the page is just stunning! Join her in Challenge #1 using a non-scrappy item on a page!



Heather has made this fun card using packaging for the Make and Take using recycled packaging. what a creative idea!



This page is so inspiring to me. Judi has made it for the Thankful Challenge #2 and it blew me away when i saw it!



Cher has done a beautiful job with the Card Challenge #5. She mentioned she was a card maker and i can tell... these are wonderful!



and look at this lo by Julie! it is so soft and pretty! i love how she choose a lo and created something so special and unique from it in the Gallery Challenge #17!


please come and join us and if nothing else stop by and be inspired by all the talent these ladies have!

Fall Fest Crop underway!!!

So the online Fall Fest Crop at It's Scraptacular is well under way in the Forum. The Design Team has concocted LOADS of challenges, make-n-takes, and games! There are TONS of prizes to be won. Every layout submitted earns you a point towards the TWO GRAND PRIZES!!!

What's been going on so far??? We've got a Bingo game of Scrapbooking Manufacturers being played all week, a Posting contest, wonderful ideas for Fall-themed layouts, and CHALLENGES (with prizes attached to EACH one)!

The Challenges are great ways to get started on those layouts. We've got a Bingo Challenge:



and checkout what our member "datatar" created using the diagonal with brown cardstock, ink, free space, 3 pieces of patterned paper, and something red:



There's a Scrapbook Play challenge where you can create a layout using something that's "nontraditional". Dana used a pine cone...



Barb used a template from a dollhouse she's making...



And Heather used a bumblebee made out of Perler Beads....



There are challenges and games being added everyday...and lots of fun conversations...come over and join in the scraptivity!!! It's going on until Sunday, November 15th, at 12 a.m. EST.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween friends. Were you one of the lucky ones to get this months Scraptacular kit? Or, have you purchased the Pink Paislee "Twilight" papers? If so, here's a quick little project for you...



My children think its fun to "trick or treat" at our house. At the end of the night, they come strolling up the walkway, ring the bell and say "Trick or Treat Mommy!". I always try to have something a little special for them as a reward.

Each year, I make up a little goodie bag for each of them, and this time around I used the Pink Paislee "Twilight" papers as goodie bag "toppers". All I did was cut the patterned paper into 4x8 pieces, then fold it over like a greeting card. I decorated each topper using coordinated Pink Paislee Stamps. I pulled out my "Slice" die cutter and made that cute little pumpkin and attached it to the card with Helmar Liquid Scrapdots for some fun dimension.





Bag toppers are a great way to use up those left over scraps, and you can easily make them in just a matter of minutes. Suprise your little treat or treaters with something extra special tonight ;)

Basic Grey Love

i have been having so much fun working with new Basic Grey! before you know it the snow will be falling and the holidays will be here, so make sure to run over to the store and grab some of these new papers (and some of those "delightful" thickers why your at it!!)....
here is one of my dt pages...





look for all the design team pages in the DT Gallery and Monthly Kit Gallery soon :)

Silhouette

Do you ever Silhouette your pictures for your los? You know, just grab a pair of scissors & cut out the person or image in your picture. I know, I know, who wants to cut up their wonderful picture that they have taken. But, I think it creates a fun effect. I do not do it very often, but I do it from time to time. So far, I've liked the way they have turned out. Here are a few los that I have done over the years of cutting up my pictures & using silhouettes:



The firetruck in the center. I didn't like all the background that was in the picture. There were houses & cars & some people I didn't know. So, I just cut them all out.



I cut my girls out for the back of mini albums that I did for my mom & mother in law. I drew a flower in between them for a fun added effect.



Here I cut out my parents fishing & their huge catches. I didn't want all the other stuff in the pics, I just wanted the focus to be on the fish that they had caught.



On this one, I cut out the butterfly up in the right corner. It is my daughter poking her head out of one of those wooden figures at the zoo. I actually popped it with foam adhesive & it kind of flutters. It doubled as an embellishment.

So, that is my tip or suggestion. Why don't you give it a try & see what you can come up with. Post here or in the forums or gallery so we can see your creation!

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend!
Anneliese, October GDT