Scraptacular Scrapbook Store

Summer scrapping!

2011-07-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hello! Hope you are trying to stay cool with the heatwave that is hitting us. Just wondering if you know what is Cool and Hot, hot, hot at the same time.....

The July KIT!!!

It is absolutely fabulous for all those Summertime photos as well as your Everyday ones!!

Have a wonderfully HOT Thursday!!

~Amy

Towel Animals (and some layouts)

2011-07-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got back from my very first cruise....and I'm HOOKED! It was so much fun visited 3 different places and not being stuck in one place for 7 days. The food was AMAZING and I even got to try es-car-go (yup - snails) and conch (you know...the meat from that huge shell)! I love trying new things and going to new places.

We travelled on the Carnival Pride and visited Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Freeport in the Bahamas. There was SO MUCH fun stuff to do on the cruise ship...favorites were the trivia contests, the piano bar, and the evening shows performed by the ship's dancers and singers. One of the highlights each night was coming back to the room to find a different towel animal...

a seal

a turtle?

a gorilla

(this one was the coolest...it took us a few minutes to find it)

an elephant

and a puppy dog

Before leaving for the trip, I had some free time to scrap some layouts. I always post my layouts to Two Peas in a Bucket. After posting, I got some feedback about the glare on my pictures (which I'm completely irritated with but I've tried several different settings on my camera and I can never get rid of it).

Well, this comment from a fellow scrapper suggested that I take pics outside with natural light. I tried it, and the difference is amazing! So glad someone was willing to give me a suggestion to this annoying problem.

Making rosette flowers.

2011-07-10T06:15:00.001-07:00

Morgan did the Odyssey of The Mind program and then competition this past year - she loved it and was so proud to get her huge ribbon! I used My Little Shoebox "City By The Bay" pp - LOVE that brick pattern pp!! Also, I wanted to emphasize the ribbon she got, so I wanted to add a rosette flower. But I had no die to make one, and I also had no score board, so I kind of came up with a way to make one anyways. I made a quick video tutorial on how you can make one.

Whose got the May Kit?

2011-05-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the May kit...tons of Pink Paislee and October Afternoon! Here are some of my layouts....

National Scrapbooking Day Activities???

2011-05-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

So....what did everyone end up doing for National Scrapbok Day? There was a Friday night and all-day Saturday crop at the Scraptacular store that I went to and scrapped my heart out. Here's some of the layouts I got done...

I'd love for you to leave a comment about how you celebrated the day and link up any projects/layouts that you worked on!

those imperfect moments

2011-05-04T04:45:00.001-07:00

do you scrap the good, bad and ugly??

i love to scrap even the sad and bad. they are all memories, and looking back they usually make you giggle!

i used the april kit, a nuts about sketches sketch and a prompt (#28 cry baby) from scrap that baby to do this page!

tfl!

New product!!!

2011-04-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

There's so much new stuff at Scraptacular...I had to snatch a ton of it up! Check out my layouts using To the Moon from Fancy Pants and the new Playground line from Echo Park. They are SO colorful and have such great matching embellishments!

yay for april!

2011-04-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

i think this is one of my favorite pages!!!

it shows my love of the distrezz-it-all and pop-dots!!!

i cut 3/4" strips of the striped paper, distressed and

fanned to create my "rainbow"

tfl!!!

what i did with the march kit...

2011-03-26T10:33:00.001-07:00

the march kit was super fun to work with!!! i wasn't even assigned to design for march, but i had to have the kit!!!!!

so here are some of the pages i did...

gavin and a lollipop

the tilted frame mirrors him in the pic!

love how this turned out!

a 2 pager i used an owl from my stash!

my little gavin & me

can you tell i loved the banner paper??!!??

tfl!

New from My Mind's Eye...

2011-03-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Have you checked out the new Stella and Rose line from My Mind's Eye? The Scraptacular store has a lot of these BEAUTIFUL papers and I couldn't resist scarfing some of it up and using it for the precious pictures of my niece, Addy.

These papers are so pretty they inspired me immediately...

March Kit Inspiration...

2011-03-19T04:28:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take a few minutes to post some layouts I've created using the March kit. I still have enough goodies leftover to make several more layouts, but I wanted to share what I've done so far.

The 3 Bugs in a Rug stuff was great because of the pastel/neutral colors and I felt like it went with a lot of different types of pictures. I also loved the butterflies from My Little Shoebox and used it as an opportunity to embellish my Martha Stewart 3-in-1 butterfly punch. I've been obsessed with putting butterflies on my pages lately!

2 pager of fun!

2011-02-19T02:26:00.000-08:00

a birthday layout!

i used an old pinkng deco edge scissor on this one! the butterfly is created with 2 hearts.

when is the last time you did a 2 pager? hope you inspired to do one now :)

tfl!!

I'm so excited ...

2011-02-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

... to be the February guest designer for Scraptacular! I want to thank Beth and the Scraptacular design team for giving me the opportunity to work with this month's kit and show my creations along with theirs. This kit is full of fun patterned papers and embellishments, and I'm having a great time working with it. If you haven't checked out the design team'swork this month with the kit, make sure you scroll down below to the Blog Hop post and follow the hop!

Now for a quick intro:
My name is Barb Prendergast, and I started scrapping six years ago when my husband gave me my first digital camera and I found the scrap supply aisle at Walmart. My favorite subjects are my family which includes my husband, four adult children (three of them married) and six beautiful grandkids. I'm a former newspaper reporter/editor and public relations manager; currently I substitute teach part-time in area schools.

The February kit is so versatile! Here are my creations using the kit (with enough left over for a couple more layouts and some cards)

I used my Cricut, Spellbinders Excalibur and an EK Success border punch to create a few accents, as well as some little buttons and rhinestones from my stash.

I cut into the patterned paper and slipped my photo mat underneath the heart and flourish motif; the floral accents were fussy cut from one of the other patterned papers in the kit. The journaling spot was cut with the Cricut and the title with Cuttlebug dies.

I used a few buttons and flowers from my stash and die cut the circles and journaling spot with Spellbinders dies; also used some puffy paint to connect the buttons and again, I cut into the papers to slip my photos under the owl. I used a sketch from Nuts About Sketches as inspiration.

The borders from My Little Yellow Bicycle are so much fun to use! I topped one here with a strip of that cute birdie-printed paper and the pom pom trim. The buttons, tiny alpha and pink flower were from my stash; I used the patterned papers in the kit and various dies to cut the little blue flower, the bird and journaling spot. Here's a close up of the bottom cluster:

The sketch is from My Sketch World.

I punched out circles from the paper and used some rick rack to make little flowers for this layout. The felt fish were cut with a Cuttlebug die, and I had fun with a border punch too. This is another Nuts About Sketches sketch.

I used the other MLYB border here, along with a new Grands label die from Spellbinders, that bird die again, and some flowers, bling, alphas and rub ons from my stash. I also stamped a pattern on the bottom of my white cardstock.

Thank you for looking! Be sure to check out the Blog Hop below!

stopping by with a quick "hi"

2011-02-16T06:19:00.001-08:00

a little "hi" card that is... created with the fun February kit!!!

make sure you scroll down a post to find all the fun links for the blog hop...so full of fun and inspiration and a chance to win not one, but TWO of these kits!!!

Welcome to the Scraptacular Valentine's Day Blog Hop

2011-02-14T03:32:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the Scraptacular Valentine's Day Blog Hop!! I am so glad you are hopping with us on the very "LOVE"ly day!!

This is your first stop on the hop, but make sure you follow the hop all the way through. There is so much to see and maybe a prize or 2 along the way. You have until the end of the week to hop to each of our blog and come play along with us for a chance to win the BIG prize below!

The blog hop is full of inspiration all based on this beautiful February Scraptacular Sketch created by Liz Chidester....

and here is the hopping order~
Scraptacular Blog <--- you are HERE

Lisa

Liz

Julie

Ilene

Liese

Tiffany

Beth

Amy

and if you come to the message board and check in after you have visited and posted on each blog you will have a chance to win the BEAUTIFUL February kit!!!! just look at it...

you can still purchase one HERE and use it to scrap all of your lovely photos from this month :)

and if you play along with us there is a bonus drawing for ANOTHER FEBRUARY KIT...who doesn't love TWO chance to win????

have fun hopping and i hope to see many of your beautiful designs with this sketch, too, on the message board!!!
have a day full of memories, moments, inspiration and LOVE :)

HERE is your next stop.....

it's almost valentines day!!!

2011-02-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

yes LOVE day is almost here! you are going to need a place to put all those pretty valentines you get, right?? well grab your kit and a clementine box....

yoou can leave your box as is. i sprayed one of the doilie's with the strawberry chalkboard glimmer mist, and the box with the black...

like so...

i used the colors from a leftover birthday decoration to make something pretty to pu in the box... (you know i love to recycle!!)

added all my paper and mm bling words from the kit and i have a very pretty valentine holder!!

hope you are inspired to recycle this valentines day!!

don't forget to join us for our blog hop!!!

tfl!!

We're going to have a BLOG HOP!!!

2011-02-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

We're going to have a BLOG HOP!!! Yes we are!!!!

Hop(e) to see you there!!!
~Amy

scraptacular saturday!

2011-02-05T03:16:00.000-08:00

i LOVE this febuary kit soooo much!!

here is a valemtines card i made using the kit and a pinecone press slider card *the red alpha is from the scraptacular store, and bling is from my stash*

isn't this cooool!!??!!

and here is a page i did. i cut the canvas tag to make it a journaling spot. i sprayed strawberry chalkboard glimmer mist with a mask onto the page too.

tfl!!

Fun Book Review journal

2011-02-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is a project idea I have made several times over the years for gifts. I think it's a perfect idea for someone who loves to read and you can personalize each journal to the recipient or current crafty trends.

For this idea you start with a composition journal and craft on the covers. I used bright colors and created a flower batch with some cute owls looking above on this cover. I think it looks so fun!

For the inside I usually keep the design very simple, but I still cover the inside covers {and the back - no pictures of the back two}. The time consuming part is the stars....I like to use a star for the "rating" system, but it's only a single star. So I have to stamp each page 15 times! Yes, I do stamp every single page {only the front}. You could use any small stamp design for this....great way to personalize again. One trick that I do for lining up the stars without have to count down six lines every time...I figure out the spacing {usually six lines between each stamped row} and I stamp on a scrap piece of paper, then I slide the scrap paper behind the journal page making sure the first line is in place, then stamp on the three lines as seen through. It makes it a thoughtless process and then I can watch TV while I'm stamping away.

Another book review gift I made for my aunt....some fun Sassafrass prints...love all the ORANGE!

scraptacular saturday trend watch

2011-01-29T01:50:00.000-08:00

the prize ribbon, it is very popular right now! i made this one, and it was a lot easier than uyou would think...
1. 2 12x1 1/2 strips of patterned paper, use scallop punch on them. accordian fold, glue ends together to make a circle.
2. 2 2" circles. glu one to the top and one to the bottom
3. add person decoration to top circle (i used the tea pot)
4. behind attach 2 3x1" ribbon tails

this mini book is a gift for my daughter, her dollie & me birthday tea party is today at 2!!
tfl!

It's Your Day is in the store!!!

2011-01-24T14:40:00.001-08:00

here is a fun new page i created with some of the fun new fancy pants "It's Your Day" in the store....

make sure to check these fun papers out HERE :)
i hope you all find something to celebrate today!

MySpace (My SCRAP Space...)

2011-01-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd take a few minutes to share my "new" scrap room and how I've organized all my goodies. There are still more things I'd like to do (like hang a rod to display pages, etc.) but this is what I've got so far...

It's a small, narrow room...but it's all mine! You'll see my workspace up against the left wall (I got a scrap table for Christmas). I have purple baskets with all of my most frequently used tools, adhesives, current pictures that I'm working with, some current magazines, and embellishments all around my workspace on the table. At the far end of the room is a stack of Iris bins that I can pull out as drawers, a cabinet hiding less frequent used items, and a small shelf displaying more embellishments.

You'll see on my scrap table I like to have easy access to all of my Basic Grey embellishments.

On top of the cabinet I have three bins where I can stand up most of my Thickers and alpha stickers. This is great when I want to peruse through and find the perfect color and font for a layout.

On top of the small shelf I have various containers with embellishments inside (these two hold thread for stitching, Dew Drops, and flowers).

Under the shelf I have my travel rolling cart where I keep all of my monthly kits in the bags. I also have plastic file folders that are sorted by manufacturer (you'll see my folders for October Afternoon, My Mind's Eye, and Pink Paislee).

Under my table, I have finished projects sorted into bins labelled with the names of the albums they will go into (Right now I am working on albums for my nephews Aiden and Evan, and my niece Addy).

The Iris drawers are next to my scrap table. Each drawer holds a different type of embellishment...

3-Dimensional stickers...

flowers....

and chipboard. (Those are just a few)

Above the Iris containers is another plastic bin with three drawers where I keep all of my punches (which are mostly border punches)...

And on top of all of those drawers is a desk organizer that holds all of myStickles and mists. I like this because I can easily see all of my colors and grab what I need easily!

Inside the cabinet, I keep items that are used less frequently...my Slice, a container filled with stamping items, Close to My Heart organizers that hold all of my brads and eyelets, etc.

Hope you enjoyed checking out my space...I'd love to hear about your organizing techniques! Leave a comment and give me some tips!

Driveby....

2011-01-16T12:32:00.000-08:00

happy saturday!! happy new year!

2011-01-08T03:53:00.001-08:00

i've missed posting for a couple weeks! we've been hit with a lot of snow and for some reason that triggers the boys asthma!

are you over christmas, want to scrap somthing fun, but have lots of stuff left in that baggie from your scraptacular christmas kits??? why not mix some of your other supples in and recycle that christmas kit!!!

this page was done with leftover papers from the father christmas kit, and other stuff from my stash!
i hope you are inspired to keep using those holiday kits!

Layouts with the Fabulous January Kit!

2011-01-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

When I received the absolutely FABULOUS January kit in the mail to design with, I was honestly stumped. I did not have any pictures ready that would "fit" for a Wintery theme. Then I thought.."A-ha!" I do NOT have to do Winter at all! :)

So think outside that box when looking at a kit and see where your imagination takes you! :)

~Amy

did you see this kit???

2011-01-04T07:37:00.001-08:00

this January Monthly Kit is in the store... i love the colors....

you can find the kit HERE <--- click

here is one of the pages i created this month....

make sure you check out the message board this week for a fun challenge and more inspiration!!

The December Scraptacular kit...

2010-12-30T05:44:00.000-08:00

is NOT just for holiday pictures!

Scrapping OFF the page...

2010-12-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here's an altered wooden "purse" by Kaiser Craft. Can't get enough of the fun/whimsical Crate paper line.

scraptacular saturday!

2010-12-18T12:01:00.001-08:00

happy saturday before christmas scrappers!! i am especially happy here, it has been a crazy couple of weeks for us! my bab y boy turned 2 on wednesday the 8th, the day after he started up with asthma. by wednesday the 15th we were in the hospital, he had pneumonia in his right lung :( we are home now, and he is still fighting his sickies!

so on to the scrappies...

run out of gift tags? use you scrappy supplies! i used the father christams kit for this tag

and this is me! my very first christmas back in 1974!

tfl!

Challenge/Project of the week! ~ Skipping Christmas

2010-12-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well, not _really_ skipping Christmas, but for the Challenge/Project of the week we are!

I, the Grinch, Challenge you to create a Layout, card, project, Whoozer-Witzger of your choice. The catch?? You MUST use holiday/winter papers/Embellishments in a NON-Traditional way! No holiday pictures allowed. Remember, the Grinch is here and looking down at you from the craggy mountain top.

This is not to say that the Grinch has no spirit. Take a look at what's been created with that too-small heart!

Grinch here used the Christmas Frost kit for that Layout. LOVE the colors! Would you think that these were all "Wintery/Holiday" papers?

So let's go for it and create!!

No Christmas pictures???

2010-12-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm so caught up on my scrapping that I don't have any Christmas/Holiday pictures to scrap right now. However, the Father Time kit got me excited to scrap the holidays. So...I created a layout that will make my life so much easier when I DO have the pictures! (I'm so proud of myself for actually working AHEAD)

christmas card

2010-12-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

i made this cute card with the december father time kit.
i used the negative from the holly leaves on the die cut sheet to cut my own leaves.

i then embossed them with my qk and added amgel wings shimmerz to the leaves.

i then added glitter to the holly berries

i hope this inspires you to used some fun techiniques on your next card!

tfl!

magnetic santa banner

2010-12-04T01:50:00.000-08:00

isn't this a cute new way to use a banner!!??!! you i added magnets to the back of each and it now resides on my fridge!!!

i am cheap, so i traced the jennie bowlin banner :)

cut them out of chipboard
decorated with the awesome father time kit!!! do not miss out on this kit!
here are a couple close ups of my banner...
aren't these the cutest embellies???
i hope you are al inspired to create a magnetic banner of your own!

making ornaments with leftovers

2010-12-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

everyday in December we are working on creating ornaments, some to keep, some for our Jesse Tree and some to give away...
on December 1st we created these very simple stocking ornaments...

they are a GREAT way use up leftover paper scraps (mine are from the December kit) and what was the best part was what we put inside... i asked each of my children to write an encouraging note to someone who they thought could use one this holiday season. they quickly thought of neighbors and even a friend who has terminal cancer. it was refreshing and heartwarming at a time when children can be thinking about what they want for the holidays. they delivered their ornaments with their little notes tucked inside with a chocolate and were so excited. and the recipients seemed very thankful we thought of them. we will be dong this again next year....

Drive by....

2010-11-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

STILL creating with the November kit...LOVE IT!!!

Sketchy Monday and a peek

2010-11-29T12:08:00.000-08:00

here is the fun December sketch.....

and here is a fun card, our design team member, Amy Bender, created with the December kit using this sketch....

and here is my example with the sketch created with one of the December kits...

i hope you will give this fun sketch a try!

happy saturday!!

2010-11-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

it's chilly and windy this am i could use a cup of cocoa! for this page i used the die cut paper, but because i'm an 8.5x11 scrapper i cut the decorative edge off. used the last banner from the kit (on the sticker sheet) and here is a close up of the adorable stick pin s in the kit!

tfl!!

Gratitude Quotes for the Holiday.

2010-11-24T07:03:00.001-08:00

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward

Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture. ~Kak Sri

If you have lived, take thankfully the past. ~John Dryden

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward

Anthony Robbins said: "When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears"

Wall Hanging with November Kit Scraps

2010-11-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

This week I have a challenge for you as it was definately a challenge for me. I would like you to take a chipboard album, or any kind of “board” that is similar in texture. For me, I used an actual chipboard album that was about 7″x7″. Instead of using it as an album, I pulled a page from the album & made a wall hanging.

I used the left over supplies from my November kit.

This is a photo of our friends (& the little boys that I watch every day). I just loved the picture & decided to make it a wall hanging to give to them for Christmas.

I plan on making several of these for our parents of the girls. So, instead of one album, it has turned into several Christmas gifts.

If you decide to accept this challenge, please post in the challenge thread in the forum so we can ooo & aaahh over it!

Thanks for looking!

happy saturday!!

2010-11-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

i hope you don't miss out on this awesome kit!! so many goodies in there, and i added a LOT to this page! gavin never gets tired of a spoon and a bowl! i'm hoping santa will bring him a play kitchen this year!
i used my quick kutz oatmeal alpha for the "small boy", cut out of the back of one of the kits pattern papers.

*nitasha please email me your info again! i lost all the emails on my phone!!!!*

Layers

2010-11-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

One style of scrapbooking that I always gravitate towards is layering. The more layers, the better. Here is a page I created using Basic Grey's Pyrus line from the November Scraptacular kit. I started with a circle, and then just started piling up the square and rectangle layers on top...

2010-11-13T02:30:00.000-08:00

ok this is my favorite page i did with the kit!!!! i inked the letters with chalk ink. added an alternate paper above the top banner to draw your attention to it! and matted the last pic!

now about the food at the ny ren faire...
pic #1 an amazing gigantic pickle!
pic #2 shaved ice (strawberry yumm)
pic #3 chocolate covered cheesecake on a STICK!!! awesome!

tfl!!

ZVA Bling!!

2010-11-11T03:59:00.000-08:00

If you haven't discovered all the gorgeous ZVA goodies Beth has in the store, then you're really missing out. It can be found HERE.

I also wanted to share a LO I made using some bling I got at Scraptacular. The pp is actually vintage Pink Paislee...uh "Vintage Moon" that is LOL And the pretty pearl brads and the black velvet flowers are Creative Charms.

The journaling is a poem by John Burroughs titled "Waiting" - I managed to fit most of it in, but did cut out one stanza:
SERENE, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea;
I rave no more ’gainst time or fate,
For, lo! my own shall come to me.

I stay my haste, I make delays,
For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,
The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.

What matter if I stand alone?
I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.

The waters know their own and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height;
So flows the good with equal law
Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

Finally Fall!!!

2010-11-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Now that it's cooler outside, the leaves have changed colors, and it's FALL...I was definitely ready to scrap some Fall layouts. I love anything that is Basic Grey, so the fact that this kit included some Pyrus got me really excited!

happy saturday!!! yay for november kits!!!

2010-11-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

seriously you need the november kitchen spice kit from scraptacular!!!!

i made this adorable reicipe book with it!
i copied the recipe page i got with my kit on my printer, and cut chipboard covers slightly larger.

i covered the chipboard pages with the "word" paper from the kit.
inked and picked my embellies. used the crop-o-dial to make the holes

i used lot's of layers, added foam adhesive behind the oven mit sticker. tied it together with some ribbon from my stash, and this is what i made!

tfl!!

a new challenge~

2010-11-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

hey scrappy friends!!! i added a new challenge on the message board this week... A RECIPE CHALLENGE!! (and a little gift if you play along!!)

my challenge for you this week is to create a page with this recipe:

use these items on your page

stitching

a paper pieced item {i made a tree}

a row of embellies { i used the pretty paper made into buttons with the tools from Epiphany crafts that fit perfectly}

a tag

some glitter {alphas for me and glimmer mist}

and here is my page~

i hope you will come play with us... and this is a peek of one of the November kits, so make sure you keep checking the store to buy this very beautiful kit!!!! :)

happy halloween1!!

2010-10-31T03:21:00.000-07:00

happy halloween from the marchant family!!!!! sorry i am a day late with my post, but we are super busy this weekend with all the fun and festivities! are you crazy busy too?? here are the costumes we picked this year...

alexa blue fairy
wil spooky vampire...

gavin adorable robot!!!

i hope you all enjoy this day! don't eat too much candy!! take amazing pics you can scrap with the halloween kit!!

i also wanted to announce the winner of my saturday rak!!

NITASHA

congrats!!!!

please email me julebill3@yahoo.com your info!!

October Kit layouts

2010-10-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

Only a few days to go... I personally enjoy Halloween and all the fun it brings. It can be a challenge to decorate our home, because hubby likes the spooky, scary decorations, but I would prefer all the Fall theme items like pumpkins, leaves, and scarecrows. Again this year we have a mixed theme going on in our home.
I, also, love to dress up the girls. Lucky for us, they are not into the scary costumes {yet} but I remember wearing the spooky masks and scary the little kids when I was a teenager.
This month I got to work with the Halloween theme kit. Here are two Halloween layouts....
Love this orange background {it's my favorite color}.

And the white fence works great with this kit....

It can be tricky, but just because the paper is Halloween theme, doesn't mean it has to be used for a Halloween project. Here I used the kit to create a layout that is not Halloween theme.
What a fun kit!

halloween is almost here!!!!

2010-10-23T04:46:00.001-07:00

i'm kicking off my week to host the challenge, questions, and such with this fun halloween prject my daughter (alexa she is 7) and i made!
have you picked up the halloween kit yet?? you do not want to miss this one! as you've seen from my first post in october, it's not just for halloween!!!

now back to this cute project!

i added the cardstock and the martha stewart drippy goo punch and some qk cut numbers.

i used my 7/8" circle punch then alternated the 2 pattern papers (making sure not to line them up to match this octobers days of the week, this way we can share this for years to come!)

i put the "october 31st" sticker from the kit on foam adhesive, and added it to a pattern paper scrap, thn cut arond it with a pinking scissor.

i backed the project with a chipboard sheet from a paper pad so it would not bend over time!

alexa wants to make one for every holiday, so be on the look out for more of these!!

i hope you are insired to make one and share it with us this week on the scraptacular forum!

tfl!!

School Spirit

2010-10-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

this home school mom LOVES to come up with creative ways to take some back to school photos... here are a couple of new pages (and pictures!!) created with the October School Spirit kit...

head on over to the store, so you can grab your own before they sell out!!!!!

October Kit

2010-10-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Some layouts using the October kit from Scraptacular...

yay for saturday!

2010-10-16T03:49:00.001-07:00

hope everyone had a great week! we're getting closer to halloween,yay!!! do you know how much i love halloween?? i never dress up (i do wear a happy halloween t-shirt though lol) but i DO LOVE to decorate!! oh and i LOVE candy corn, YUMMYY!!!!!
the border around this page was punched with one of my martha stewart scallop punched. then i did a little accordian fold to each strip. i ran my atg where i wanted to place the border and just stretched it out a bit.
the houses on the botton are on foam adhesive.
i used the smaller circle of bling left over from the page i shared last week to highlight the date.

tfl!!

yay for saturday!

2010-10-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

dress rehersal!

my little guy is not a fan of things on his head, nor does love anything other than his clothes on him.

so we had a little practice, and after a little while he enjoyed being an adorable robot!!!

this page on an angle. i distressed the embossed cardstock that comes with the kit. i used the smaller bling circle and put the "R2" on foam adhesive. the words frist and 2010, and the top layered pumkin are also on foam adhesive.

don't forget to post here and be a follower for your chance to win my RAK at the end of the month!

tfl!!

October School Kit!!

2010-10-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the kits are available for sale and aren't they something?! I got to play around with the school kit and I had a total blast. I wanted to share the three layouts I made. And yes, I also got a mini out of the kit AND I still have several sheets left! Another kit packed to the brim, full of the newest, coolest products -what's not to love!

Weekly Challenge

2010-10-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

Lisa posted a wonderful challenge this week in the forum. She wants everyone to scrap their back to school pics. It is that simple!! Fortunately, I did accepted this challenge! Now my pictures don't look like typical back to school pictures, but these were taken the day that Audra started preschool. Actually, they were taken about 15 minutes before we got in the car to go to preschool.

I used the Basic Grey Sugar Rush kit that I got from the Scraptacular store, & I used a sketch from Nuts About Sketches.

If you accept Lisa's challenge, please head on over to the forum & share with us your Back to School layouts!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Crop Winners HERE

2010-10-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

yay! thank you all for playing along with us at our back to school crop!!! us designers had a blast coming up with the challenges and games and i hope each of you had fun playing along......

here are some of the random RAK winners~

word scramble~ Angela (dlew03)
double your pleasure and ATC challenge~ raysmommy
misting challenge~ Rebecca (mamakven)
word association and for the love of crayons~ Patricia (apanf)
name that paper~anazelia

and our grand prize winner... winner of TWO OCTOBER KITS IS..............

RUTH (pink) YAY!!!! CONGRATS!!!!

check back over the next couple of weeks for tons of DT inspiration from these two kits :)

make you sure you stop by the store to pick these up!!!!!

happy saturday!!

2010-10-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

yay for october! well this is my first post here on the scraptacular blog! yay!!! i'll be sharing something with you every saturday, isn't that fun!!!???

here is the first page i did with the october halloween kit, you a non theme page. i love to challenge myself to make a non theme page with every theme kit to show other ways to use your kit!!
ok so how cute is that monster???? i put some of the thickers on foam adhesive to give the title dimension. the textured cs was sanded and spritzed lightly with tattered angels chalkboard mist.

so you got this far in my post! yay!! i am so happy to be here sharing with you all on saturdays!

have a great week!

Banners with the September Kit

2010-09-28T11:04:00.001-07:00

With the rage of banners still in full swing, I would like to challenge you to do a layout with a very large banner. You can put it in any direction you like, but the flags on the banner must be at least 6″ long (or half of the page if you scrap a smaller size).

Here is my example, & P.S. I used the scraps from my September Scraptacular kit.

Also from the scraps from the September kit, I made this easy card:

If you opt to take the challenge of the "big banner," please head on over to the forum & post your creation so that we can give it some love! We really enjoy seeing what everyone creates!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous day!

Beautiful Bella Blvd!

2010-09-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Are you READY???

2010-09-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Coming next week....

Are you ready? I know I am!

Online Crop Coming Soon~

2010-08-30T07:12:00.001-07:00

we invite you to a back to school crop with Scraptacular~
join us on the Message Boards for challenges, games and maybe some prizes, too....

hope to see you there!!!!!!

Sneak Peeks!!!

2010-08-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

I LOVE to be a tease! So I'm teasing you with some sneak peeks of what's coming up in September's kit!!!

Fun challenge!!

2010-08-19T20:40:00.001-07:00

If you haven't checked out the forum, I can guarantee you're missing out! We have a lot of fun chatting there, with weekly discussion topics, challenges, and projects, so be sure to stop by! One of the challenges this month is by our very talented DT Coordinator Lisa - she challenges us to incorporate not one, but TWO banners on a LO! And the walk in the park kit is perfect this month since the stickers include a banner already made. Again, even though I didn't get to create with this lovely kit, I just had to get my hands on this Echo Park pp - Beth always picks stuff that is a total must-have for me!

Well, here is the page I created for the challenge, and another example of what you can do with this adorable kit. Even though the colors are fresh and the pp design is modern, you can still easily adapt it to a vintage photo LO! To go along with the challenge, I put the sticker banner up top, and converted the pp banner going across into more of a real banner by adding floss across the top, to give it that banner feel. Fun!

If you got the other kit from this month and not this one, don't despair :) Making your own banners is super easy! Just cut out little triangles and you're good to go! This is a card I made with the summertime kit, and I made a little banner by cutting out triangles and accenting with stickles. You don't even have to be too exact when making the triangles.

If you're wondering about making the cute cupcake, it's super easy as well - just accordion fold a little scrap of pp and glue it down. For the top, I used the mini cupcake chipboard set by Maya Road that's in the store - I just took one of the cupcake tops, colored it, and attached with foam dots. A cute little gem on top for the cherry, and viola!

mini album featuring the August Walk in the Park kit~

2010-08-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

i used this cute August kit~

and this cute mini album from the store

to create this fun and easy mini album~

make sure you grab one here to create this for yourself :)

Layout using Liz's sketch

2010-08-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, we were all challenged to be inspired by our Sketch designer Liz's latest sketch for Scraptacular. I love to see how each artist interprets the sketch and creates a layout, card or project. Here again is the sketch...
My creation...

When I use a sketch I don't use each piece so literally. For example, Liz drew a circle in the top right corner...I translated that to a sun for my layout...same basic shape but a little different. Also, when I first look at the sketch I see the light gray square and the smaller white square as layers on top of the background. However, I didn't use layers to interpret those pieces of the sketch. I added strips of green along the left and top and drew a smaller box on my background to interpret "layers" on the layout. The sketch had two small {red} circles for embellishments, I added three hearts. So we get inspired by a sketch but then we have to be creative in making it fit our layout or creative artwork.

Don't forget to add your layout to Lisa's previous post for a chance to win a RAK for her! I can't wait to see your interpretation!

Bowlin Blooms made with the Boardwalk Kit for August!

2010-08-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

I created this "Bowlin Bloom" with some scraps from the Boardwalk kit that Beth coordinated for August.

I call it a Bowlin Bloom as Jenni Bowlin herself showed me how to create the basics of these blooms a few years ago at a tradeshow. Talk about awe inspiring! Jenni is so sweet!

To create the base flower you need:
~ Three circles of paper. Can be whatever you desire, hand cut or punched, etc. About the same size would be great too!
~ Coordinating chalk ink(s)
~ A good strong quick drying liquid adhesive.
~ Stickles
~ Fibers of some fashion for the stamens. I used hemp.
~ Scissors
~ Edge Distress Tool

1- Distress the edges of the circles with Edge Distress Tool. Rough it up!
2- Snip circles on their radius. This would be from edge to center point. Think of a "Pac-Man" with his mouth closed! :)
3- Take each circle and pleat it along the center point. This will create a ruffled up jumble and sort of look like a fan. That's OK!
4- Pick out two and overlap cut ends to create a larger full circle. Glue in place and smoosh slightly.Chalk edges.
5- Using the third circle, over lap it's ends and adhere in place. Smoosh as necessary. Smooshing is fun! Chalk edges here too.
6- Glue smaller circle on the center of the larger circle.
7- Adhere desired fibers to the center flower with adhesive.
8- Cover adhesive in center of flower with Stickles.
9- Let dry and then enjoy!
10- :)

Hope that you have fun creating "Bowlin Blooms!"

~Amy

More About the August Kit

2010-08-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there! I am very excited to have been able to design again with one of the fabulous kits from Scraptacular! Beth has put together 2 beautiful kits for August, & I used this one right down to 1 lonely sheet of paper & some stickers. My kit was Walk in the Park. What wonderful colors & papers, & this is one of my favorite kits from Scraptacular so far!

Here are a few of the layouts & cards that I created with it:

Now, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the store & pick up a kit today!

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Welcome August, New Kits, New Sketch

2010-08-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

August is here. I cannot believe it. The summer is passing SO quickly and i have so many fun new pictures.Do you??? If you are looking for some fun kits to use to make them "shine" here they are~

the first kit available this month~ "A Walk in the Park"

and here is the very fun and summery "BoardWalk" Kit~ perfect for your beach pictures

and i wanted to take a moment and introduce a new member of the Scraptacular Design Team. Liz Chidester has gifted us with her amazing talent as our sketch coordinator...
here she is~

My name is Liz and I am 31 years old, married and a mother of 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls). I have been scrapping for about 11 years now, since my first child was born. I love this hobby so much, it’s safe to say it is an obsession. I am so thrilled to be the sketch designer for Scraptacular.

visit her amazing blog here

and here is a beautiful sketch she made for Scraptacular for August

leave a link here if you try this sketch (it does go perfectly with BOTH the August kits) and i will draw for a little rak from me....

look for a special place on the message boards coming soon for sketches and you can check out the design team work here

thanks for stopping by~

Introducing Lisa Wilbur, August Guest Designer

2010-08-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

hi :) i am so excited to share with you that the monthly Guest Designer this month is my good friend Lisa Wilbur.....
here is a picture of her in her scrap room

and here is a little bit about Lisa...

My name is Lisa Wilbur. I've been married for 15 years. We live in NH with our three children, ages 13, 11, and 6. I used to work full time in the accounting field until our oldest, my son, began having seizures. It took 2 years for me to realize that he needed my attention more than work did. So we went to one income and after 6 years in public school, I finally persuaded my husband that homeschool was best for our son. I started scrapbooking when I was pregnant with my daughter (middle child). What else could I do on bed rest? Then with one boy and one girl, I thought I was done. I went through surgeries and recovered well, but this left me no options for more children. I thought I was all set...after all, I had my one boy...one girl.

Then God changed me. It amazes me how many children out there need forever homes. Then my younger daughter was adopted. We had a long spiritual journey waiting for doors to open to meet our youngest. Through that journey, I was able to scrapbook everything...creating those forever memories that some people choose to forget. Now we wait, with one boy...two girls...thinking in our minds it's enough, but knowing in our hearts there's more.

I love to scrapbook and take pictures. I recently graduated to a DSLR in attempts to capture beyond what the eye can see. It amazes me how many little bugs are just waiting to be captured in a snap. Things I would have screamed at a few years back, I'm actually taking pictures of now! It's a game with my children...what will mom take a picture of now? My husband hopes I take this from competing in fairs to a career. Can't be a stay-at-home mom forever...or can I?

and here are some peeks of her beautiful work this month~

make sure you stop by her blog and to check out more of her work...

A Peek into August!!!

2010-07-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

I can not believe two things right now....

1- It's nearing the end of JULY!
and 2- The AWESOME Kit that Beth sent me to play with for August!!! WOO HOO!

Want to see a Layout that I did with my August Kit?

Hope you all enjoy this kit as much as I did!!

Have a great day!
~Amy

Nikki Sivils love!

2010-07-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some LO's with you, featuring Nikki Sivils pp that you can get in the store HERE. Nikki's pp is full of fun, bright images and colors and you can't help but have a blast when designing with them! For these projects, I used three lines: Will He B the 1, Willow Bee, and Flaming Butterfly.

July Kit Still Available!

2010-07-13T07:42:00.001-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer & keep cool in this crazy hot weather! I know we have been spending many many days at the pool just to keep cool.

I wanted to let you know that if you haven't already, you can still get in on the fabulous July kits. I was lucky enough to create with the Summer Fun kit. At first I just stared at it, wondering what I was going to do with it, but let me tell you, I used it right down to scraps, & I am still making cards w/ those scraps! Let me share with you some of the things I've done with this kit.

So, if you are interested in purchasing a July kit, what are you waiting for? Hurry on over to the store & pick one up today.
Thanks for looking! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Ruffles

2010-07-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

I love to add paper ruffles to my layouts and projects. With four growing girls in our home, most of my layouts have some form of "feminine" touch to them!

These ruffles are easy to make and add some dimension and fun to your layout.

Here are the different steps pictured together. We'll explain in detail....

First you cut your paper into 1 1/4" squares and score on both sides about 1/4" in. This does not have to be exact so just eyeball them and score each side. Fold both sides under.

If you would like a decorative edge use the design scissors on the edge after the sides are folded back. Here I used a pinky shears to give a jagged edge to the bottom. Then I ink the edges with a matching ink. Don't have to ink the top, it will not be seen.

Cut a strip of paper to be used as the top of the ruffles. Here I did ink the green pattern paper as well. Then you glue the ruffles to the back. Be sure you do not make them too far apart. You want to add a second layer to the back and not have any gaps.

Here is the view from the back as I was gluing the first layer.

Now you will add the second layer to back.

Here is the view from the back as I was gluing them. I also slide my second (back) up just slightly. This gives a more realistic look rather then them all being straight along the bottom edge.

I use a strong, fast drying glue to create the ruffles rather than tape. I've used Helmar, Fabri-Tac, and Beacon's craft adhesive in the past. They all work well. They are all similar to hot glue minus the hot and the bulking hot glue gun.

Here is another example of the ruffle design on a layout.

A New Challenge

2010-07-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

hi everyone :) i hope all of you US gals had a wonderful 4th of July. i posted a new challenge over on the boards and i thought i would share it here for all of you....

the challenge this week is to use one die cut paper to create 2 pages or projects...
here are my examples, both made with the July Summer Fun kit~

i cannot wait to see what you create....

Summertime!!!

2010-07-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else as happy as I am that it's SUMMER TIME, the weather is hot, hot, hot, the days are longer, the pools are open......the list is neverending! I had a blast last weekend at the Hamburg Hideaway and I got soooooo much scrapping done. Below are the layouts I created with the July Scraptacular kit, which is FILLED with Pink Paislee and Webster's Pages goodies...

I love how the kit includes Pink Paislee and Jenni Bowlin papers that totally go together. I used Basic Grey's chipboard alphas for dimension in the title.

I love the Dew Drops and used them to outline the circle and they went so well with the water theme. The Pink Paislee journal tags are so great for title spots and just adding more layers to the layouts. Love the stitched ribbons.

The Webster's Pages paper has such beautiful pictures on it that it's a sin to cover them up. I tried to add my pictures and embellishments around the great scenery. I also love the bling swirls that look like waves.

The BoBunny Chunky chipboard letters totally match the outline of the Jenni Bowlin diecut paper, and the Webster's Pages letter stickers are perfect for long titles since there's so many of them!

Webster's Pages + Summer = Perfection

2010-07-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what I truly believe - you're free to make up your own mind :) Beth has really gone all out with putting together two gorgeous kits with my all time fave paper line, Webster's Pages. I wasn't lucky enough to get to design with either kit this month around, but I did go ahead and buy the Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat pp and the ZVA Creative crystal swirls! I would like to share a project I made with them. This is a 12x12 canvas that I altered by cutting out the beautiful imagery from the pp. The crystals were clear until I used StazOn ink to make them a pretty matching blue. This is actually a banner of the week over at Webster's Pages right now, so check it out HERE! And while there, you can look around the photo gallery for even more inspiration on how to use your July kits.

Before I go, I wanted to encourage you to buy some extra ZVA crystal swirls to ship along with your kit. The crystal and pearl swirls look so beautiful with this pp and if you're a bargain hunter like me, then you would do so much better getting it along with the kit, since then you don't have to pay extra for the shipping on the ZVA stuff.

Some thoughts for Summer, Nature, and Inspiration!

2010-06-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

I've stumbled upon the passages below a few times each now. Each resonates inside of me for a different reason and has such inspirational qualities. I had to share them with you all. I hope that you enjoy them and can find something magical!

~Amy

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." - Kahlil Gibran

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." - e. e. cummings

"How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!" - Emily Dickinson

"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." - Galileo Galilei

"Use what talent you possess - the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best." - Henry Van Dyke

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

July Kit Sneak Peek

2010-06-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

We are 2 days away from the reveal of the July kit! Can you stand the suspense?? Once again, Beth has put together a "Scraptacular" kit! I can honestly tell you that you will not be disappointed. Of course, I can't tell you what is in it yet, but I can certainly give you a sneak peak of my creations, & tell you that I used the kit right down to scraps. I made 6 layouts & 3 cards!!!

Here is a sneak peak:

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned for the new kit details in just a few short day!
Have a wonderful day!

Camp time!!

2010-06-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Summer is here, it's camp time!!

My daughter, Macy, decided that she wanted to go to Girl Scout camp this year and for a full week!

I put off putting a care package together for her and decided at last minute that I wanted to make her a camp journal to take along.

I always have a drawer full of alterable items. I remember buying albums from Target's dollar spot years ago. I'm notorious for saying I'm going to make multiples of something to give to the grandparents and great grandparents each year. But, each year, I never get around to doing it!! So, I had a ton of albums to choose from to make the camp journal.

Over the last year, scrapbook manufacturers have been coming out with a lot of camping themed lines. Being a family of campers, I love that!! I went through my stash and gathered up goodies from Bella Blvd, Bo Bunny, October Afternoon and Jenni Bowlin and went to town on altering the album for her.

I just LOVE the Bo Bunny camp chipboard!! It adds great dimension! I added some Stickles to the pieces for my little diva!!

On the inside, I wrote a little note from the 3 of us wishing her a great time, making lots of new friends and telling her we love her and can't wait to hear about it! She loved it when I gave it to her this morning!

Before we left this afternoon, I had her write her feelings on the first page. We sent her along with some disposable cameras so we'll add pictures when she gets those back!

Adding Dimension

2010-06-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

Adding dimension to your layout can be done in many different techniques.
One of the easiest and most common ways is to use 3D foam adhesive. This layout shows two elements with foam adhesive. A select few clouds are raised up with some foam adhesive squares. The butterfly comes with a foam adhesive already attached.
Adding dimension with handmade flowers is another popular technique. This flower is created with a 1" strip of paper folded in half and rolled. This photo gives an idea of the dimension on the flower and the foam adhesive under the clouds and butterfly.

This adorable flower is simple to create! Use a flower punch on your pattern paper and roll each petal towards the back. I use the end of a paintbrush to roll my petal back and use my fingernail to "loosen" up the roll. Buttons and twine are easy ways to finish off the flower.

Some more subtle ways to add dimension are chipboard pieces, brads, and twine.

A more challenging flower technique is to roll paper strips and glue in a spiral pattern. This is a great way to add dimension and have it match perfectly to your layout.

June's Special Edition Kit!

2010-06-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you the other LO and card I made with this gorgeous kit. If you haven't gotten it yet, you're definitely missing out! BG went all out with this line, and the colors are so vibrant and rich and warm. I think the pp goes perfectly with pretty much any topic you could think of. There's reds and grays and black and white and orange and teal blue. This pp would be great for summer LO's as well, if you want to capture the heat! And of course, if you have pets, then this is the line for you - whether it be a dog, or cat, or hamsters or bunnies, this pp has them all!

And here is a super quick card, using just two little scraps of pp, a sticker from the sticker sheet that's in the kit, and letters that are in the kit. I also added a brad of my own just for a little extra dimension. Super easy!!

Scraptacular Page Design Classes

2010-06-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Scraptacular has page design classes? In fact there is one scheduled for tomorrow night, at the store, from 6-8pm. You really don't need to bring anything, if you don't want, Beth supplies everything that you would need, but if you like to work with your own tools, just bring your trimmer, scissors, tape runner, & anything else that you may personally use while you scrap.

What do you get in the class, you may ask, well, Beth always has fabulous layouts in store for you. 2 - 1 page layouts, & 2 - 2 page layouts! All for the wonderfully low price of $15.00! If you are not able to attend the class, just ask, & you can purchase the class kit.

My good friend Deb was kind enough to share her layouts with me from last months class:

Thanks for looking! & don't forgot to drop by the forum & say hello.

June 6-12 Challenge

2010-06-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, Lisa posted a challenge in the forum, & boy was it a challenge for me! She wanted us to break out the Glimmer Mist, & use a die cut sheet as a template, & spray around it so the illussion of the die cut was left on the paper. As you may or may not know, I am SCARED of glimmer mist! It is just so far out of my comfort zone. But, she issued a challenge, & I chose to accept.

Instead of a die cut sheet, I cut a circle & used it as my template. I put it down & sprayed away (biting my nails all the while). Well, I did it! I faced my fears, & used the Glimmer Mist & here is what I came up with:

Thanks for looking & have a fabulous day!

More with the Limited Ed July Kit!

2010-06-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a couple LO's I made with the limited kit. I really REALLY loved this new line from Basic Grey! BG has always been one of my favorites, and they've really outdone themselves with this one. I especially loved the warm, rich colors, and I think this is evident in both of the LO's below. Also, I wanted to point out that even though Max and Wiskers is a pet-themed line, there's absolutely no reason why you can't use it as just a regular line for LO's that have nothing to do with pets. Especially since the pp is double-sided, it makes it really easy to do that.

And here, I took the self-adhesive paper ribbon and cut it in half to create the black lacy border at the top and bottoms of the page. So easy and quick!

Meet the new Design Team Members!

2010-06-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things about the NEW Design Team Members here at Scraptacular!!

Here's Heather!!
I'm Heather Garl from Berks County, PA! I'm wife to Joe, stepmother to Samantha (12) & Casey (10), and mother to Mikayla (6) & Alexis (3) ~ yes you read that right.....FOUR GIRLS! I work side by side with my husband at our machine shop and hope one day to retire young and just scrapbook and craft! (insert laugh here) Some of my layouts and crafts are posted on my blog at www.scrapbookingsmiles.blogspot.com, but more often I use it for a family events journal.

~ What makes your heart sing in scrapbooking and creating?
I love the ME time I have with scrapbooking. My favorite thing is to look through an album, look at a layout, and just grin ear to ear or laugh out loud as I recall a memory. I hope my children have the same enjoyment in the years to come when they look back at the memories.

~ Where do you draw inspiration from?
I enjoy visited blogs for scrapbooking ideas and photography ideas. I like to take an idea from a layout, whether it is a technique, a combination of colors, or a layout sketch and make it my own. Change something to put my own touch on it. I, also, subscribe to a few magazines and my goal is to be published in each one!

~ Favorites in the industry (products, people, things like that)
Anything on SALE...LOL! I love to find a good deal! I'm familiar with lots of names in the industry and like different styles that are out there, but I like a little of each. I try not to limit my style, I'll try anything once.

~ Favorite color(s)
My favorite color is ORANGE. Favorite combinations....orange, blue, & green...brown & pink....pink & green

~ Likes/dislikes (can be scrappy/artsy, can be anything!)
I like to spend fun time with my girls, not just rushing from one event to the next. I like to read a good book or solve a tough brain teaser/math puzzle. I love to laugh! I dislike lazy, rude, nonintelligent (stupid) people.

And then we have....

Anneliese!!!
My name is Anneliese, but most know me by, or call me Liese, or amgrassi on the forum. I live in Reading, PA with my 2 beautiful lil girls, & my husband of almost 10 years & love of my life. You can find me blogging at: queen-of-the-crop.blogspot.com

~ What makes your heart sing in scrapbooking and creating? I love when I can carry my craftiness over into other aspects of my life. For example, I made a "pin the kiss on the frog" game for my daughters b-day party, & I also made her cakes myself. A Tiana cake & a frog cake. But what really makes my "heart sing" is when my daughters come into my scrappy area & say, "Mommy, can I craft with you?" That fills my heart with joy!

~ Where do you draw inspiration from? I get my inspiration mostly from sketches, but I also love my magazines, online galleries, & online crops/challenges. Challenges allow me to do things that I haven't tried yet, or would not have thought of myself.

~ Favorites in the industry (products, people, things like that): My fave scrappy things are Basic Grey papers, Thickers, Stickles, flowers, & Cats Eye inks. I'm sure there are a few others in there, but those are the things that I just could not live without!!

~ Favorite color(s): My favorite color is green, however, my favorite colors to scrap are browns & pinks. But it truly depends on my mood & the pics I am scrapping. I do all colors.

~ Likes/dislikes (can be scrappy/artsy, can be anything!): Besides scrapping, I love to read, watch movies, spend time with my girls & husband, be outside, & enjoy the wildlife in my yard. Chocolate & coffee are 2 things that I don't think I could live with out. My favorite food is German, which I don't get nearly enough. Since getting a Wii for Christmas for the family, we love playing it together. ....I totally HATE it when 2 socks are in the laundry & I don't have a matched set when I am done! Where exactly does that other sock go??

~ What else can you tell us about you? (Here's your spot to shine!): I worked as a travel agent for 16+ years prior to having my daughter, prematurely, at which point we decided I should stay home to care for her. I am now a SAHM, but do independent contractor work for large call centers, mainly Travelocity (so I am back in the travel industry), at home on my own schedule. This is an awesome opportunity, given the fact that my husband travels quite often, & I can schedule my hours around his travel schedule. In the fall, I will also be watching a little boy (18 months) on a full time basis. ....A little secret....I turn 40 this year. The funny thing is, that doesn't bother me as much as my daughter just turning 5 & starting kindergarten in the fall! I cannot stop crying over this!! It is a fact of life, something that happens to all Americans with children, but boy am I having a hard time with this!

And also Ilene!!
Hi everyone, my name is Ilene Tell and my blog is What a Bunch of Scrap! (http://whatabunchofscrap.blogspot.com). I live in DE, but I was born and raised in snowy Russia. I am married to my best friend and we have two gorgeous kids - a girl and a boy (yep, I'm lucky that I get to do boy and girl LO's!).

~ What makes your heart sing in scrapbooking and creating?
I love to create. I have always drawn and painted and I have tried out many other creative pastimes/hobbies. I also love to write. It's hard to describe what I love about the creative process, other than this need I have to do it. I fell in love with scrapbooking especially because it allows me to create art, while at the same time preserving beautiful memories. I also allows me to combine several mediums and incorportate writing as well. And it has so many pretty papers and embellies - how can one not fall in love!

~ Where do you draw inspiration from?
When I set out to do a page, I get inspired by the photos themselves. I also let the paper inspire me, so that I create something new and different each time. And of course browsing galleries and seeing all the amazing talent out there pushes me to do the best I can do each time.

~ Favorites in the industry (products, people, things like that)
I love it all. Seriously. I really do! That's why my scrap room looks more like a store than a room :) I really love Webster's Pages, Graphic45, 3Birds, ZVA Creative and Prima, Basic Greay, Maya Road, Sasafras Lass, Cosmo Cricket, Tattered Angels, 7Gypsies, and everything else. I hoard!!

~ Favorite color(s)
My favorite color is purple - I just wish I was able to scrap more with it! It seems like there are very few papers that are purple out there.

~ Likes/dislikes (can be scrappy/artsy, can be anything!)
At the risk of sounding slightly insane, I do have a button phobia. You will NOT be seeing buttons on my LO's! With the exception of Nikki Sivils Burlap Buttons...but then again, those are more like stickers :)

~ What else can you tell us about you? (Here's your spot to shine!)
I have had the fortune to be guest designer and designer for some wonderful scrapbooking companies. My work has also been accepted for publication in online and print mediums. I am so lucky to be designing for one of my favorite manufacturers, 3Birds, who sell a lot through QVC. I also get to indulge my writing passion by being a feature writer and designer for Scrapstreet, an awesome EZine.

June Kit

2010-06-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

I also had the opportunity to play with June's kit! As usual it is fantastic! I loved all the colors & embellis! I really like the sheet w/ the tags & sayings. It is like it was created to make cards. How perfect! Here is a card that I made w/ the tags & some left over paper from April's kit.

And each month we have a sketch designer who designs a sketch exclusively for Scraptacular. This month we got to work with this fantastic sketch by Liz Chidester.

This is the lo that I came up with from the sketch using June's kit.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous day!

simple recycled Garden album~

2010-06-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

i had so much fun creating with this beautiful kit this month~
"My Garden" June Monthly Kit

i had a lot of cute bits and pieces after i made my pages this month (which can be found here with the other designers work in the gallery)

i also noticed lots of these popping up in our backyard garden and knew it would be fun to use the scraps to create a little journal for tracking what happens over the next couple of months......

i added a bunch of recycled prima packaging as the base and little kraft envies that can be found in the store.... and here is the cute album i made for my middle daughter, Gracie :)

and here is a peek at the inside :) ready for my girl to add some journaling and photos and lots of pockets for anything else she wants to add in~

hope this inspires you to use your stash and maybe some packaging, too :)

Special June Kit

2010-05-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

For the month of June, Its Scraptacular not only has the regular kit but also a "special" kit that members and shoppers can purchase. I was lucky enough to create with this kit that is jam-packed with Basic Grey Max and Whisker's yumminess!!! It includes chipboard alphas, 3-dimensional rubber and felt embellishments, a sheet of stickers and borders, mini note/journaling spots, 3-D flowers...and of course all the beautiful patterned paper.

This kit is so versatile that not only does it obviously work well with pictures featuring pets, but I also used it on layouts about my new nephew and even winter pictures! On the "Just Me & My Shadow" layout, I got out my Slice and used one of their new cartridges that uploads a shadowing effect. I used the patterned paper to cut out the word 'shadow' and then picked another piece of paper for the shadow behind the letters. Love the look!!! I also used the Slice to cut out snowflakes, stack them, and create dimension.

May Kit layouts

2010-05-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

May Kit!!!

2010-04-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

here it is!!! the beautiful May kit!!!

when i received this kit in the mail i was so excited~ it looked like such a fun boy kit, but as i was playing i found a chipboard word "wish" and knew i could make a cute girly page, too!!! here is what i came up with....

and of course a fun boy page~ i could not decide which patterned paper to use so i layered and layered and came up with this~

this kit is so versatile, so make sure you grab yours before they all sell out... check out all of the design team work here
take care~

Driveby...

2010-04-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Have you checked out the new lines at the store from My Mind's Eye and American Crafts??? LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Go out and have fun!!!

2010-04-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's tax day!! Whether you've been stressing over how much you have to pay in or excited about how much you're getting back, it's all over now!! Today is the day!!

Perhaps you got a nice return and are splurging and buying that new camera you've been eyeing up!! Maybe your just thankful that it's all done!! I know I procrastinated this year and mine are in the mailbox to go right now!! What a relief!

Now get outside, celebrate and take some pictures!!

Here are some photo ops to take advantage of:

* portrait of pet
* kids upside down on monkey bars or jumping on a trampoline
* close up of flowers in full bloom
* couple sitting on a park bench
* bees sucking nectar from a flower
* child soaring high on a swing
* local wildlife, insects, birds
* ducks on a pond
* favorite outdoor plants
* children climing trees
* children holding an umbrella in a light rain

Now that you've taken the pictures, scrap them!! There are a ton of new products just in the store that would be perfect for these photos!!

Here is a layout I did of my kids on a tire swing. I just can't get enough action pictures of the kids on swings!!

Have a great day and happy snappin'!!

April's Guest Designer

2010-04-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I'm Ilene Tell and I'm so happy and excited to be joining Scraptacular's talented DT for the month of April! I have been scrapbooking or about 5 years and I love everything about it. You can get to know me a little bit better by visiting my BLOG. Thank you Beth!

You can imagine how excited I was to get the wonderful April kit in the mail. The papers were absolutely adorable with bright and cheerful spring colors. I really loved the die-cut borders on several of the sheets. I love any pp that looks like a frame and this fit the bill. I also enjoyed the pre-made titles. Way to go MME with making things easy on us! LOL

Even though this line was super cute, it was a bit of a departure away from my usual somewhat distressed style. So I wanted to share another LO I made with the kit (yep - 4 LO's and a card, and still plenty left over to make several more LO's - the kit is PACKED!). This LO demonstrates that if you have bright happy papers but want to go for a more grungy/distressed look, it's very easy to alter them to fit your tastes. I used a color spray (you can use glimmer mist or anything else) to alter the look of these papers. This one is called, "The Littlest Birds Sing The Prettiest Songs". This one is of my DD when she was first born. In fact, I used my whole kit to just scrap pics of DD. I just couldn't help myself :)

The Easter Bunny??? I'd rather have BoBunny!!!

2010-04-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

I know I keep gushing about all the new products at the It's Scraptacular, but everytime I go I discover something else and go home with more and more scrappy stuff (trust me...I really don't NEED any more scrappy stuff). My latest purchase has been the new BoBunny products. I believe they're both called "Roughin' It" and "Mamarazzi". I thought the camping theme of Roughin' It would be perfect for the pics I have from Cabela's. The colors in Mamarazzi are beautiful! Here are some of my latest creations!

Oh yeah...there are some awesome chipboard pieces that come with the Roughin' It line, also. SOOO CUTE!

April kit - a must have!!!

2010-03-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

The April kit is so springy!!! As always, it's chock full of beautiful papers and embellishments!! Wait until you see the exclusive flowers in this month's kit!!

Here is one of my creations using the kit. It's a fast, fun project for your desk or as a gift!!

Be sure to check the April gallery for other creations using this month's kit!!

Some MORE April Peeks!!

2010-03-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

I am absolutely in LOVE with the colors of the April Kit! It has been a long dreary Winter for most everyone I have heard. The life that Springs (hehe, pun intended) from this monthly kit are fab!

Take a peek...

or two!
Can't wait to show you everything in my creations!

~Amy

Another Peek into April's FAB Kit!!

2010-03-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would tease you all with a couple more peeks at what has been created with the April kit!

Can't wait for the full reveal of this kit! It is one of my favorites!!!

~Amy

a peek at April....

2010-03-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

here is a little peek of the goodness you will find in the april kit.....

it is bright and fun and springy and just beautiful!

check back for design team reveals soon~!

Just Add Water....

2010-03-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Well....not REALLY...but you don't need to add much! For those of you that have never seen the Basic Grey Card kits, they are AMAZING! Especially for people like me, who are a little creatively challenged when it comes time to make a card. I have no clue why I can easily work with a 12x12 layout and come up with a beautiful scrapbook page, but when forced to make a card I have no clue where to start.

I came across these kits at the Its Scraptacular store, and I decided to invest in a kit (only about $15.00). These kits are WONDERFUL! I actually busted it open when I had lost my scrapping mojo and it worked wonders on my "dry spell". The directions are very straight forward, all the pieces are pre-cut, and all you need to do is adhere diecuts and chipboard, add a few rub-ons and some doodling, and they look like you've slaved away on them all day. PLUS...it gets you back into a creative mode!

I tried my hand with the Marrakech kit and LOVE all the beautiful cards that I now have to give on special occasions.

Above are all the materials that were in the kit: envelopes, diecuts, 8 pre-scored cards, chipboard, rub-ons, and very clear and easy-to-follow directions. Below are some of the 8 cards that I was able to complete in about an hour. There are TONS of kits for many of their paper lines and this is actually the second kit that I've used! LOVE THEM!

Taste of spring!!

2010-03-11T19:09:00.001-08:00

Those of us here in PA are sure getting a great taste of spring this week!! We've been able to play outside, take walks, ride bikes, geocache and just soak in some sun!! I've seen many people wearing short sleeves and shorts too!! It's such a nice break from the horrible snow-filled February we've had!!

Since it's been so nice out, here are some great photo ops (many from a Creating Keepsake magazine from many, many years ago!)to capture while you're out enjoying the spring weather!

Photograph your children:
-taking a bath
-asleep in bed
-reading books
-playing with favorite toys or electronics
-timeout
-wrestling with Dad
-eating
-tying their shoes
-riding their bicycles

OR

-your morning routine (such as reading the paper)
-people wearing green (St. Patty's Day)
-your favorite outside activity

early morning dewdrops
children playing in the rain
first blossoms
easter bonnets on little girls
children carrying umbrellas
backlit raindrops on a twig
easter egg hunt
jumping in puddles
decorated easter eggs
new buds on trees
puddle reflections
new rain boots
rainbow

Speaking of spring, the Scraptacular store is just busting at the seems with new papers and embellishments!! I stopped by today and made quite a dent!! I couldn't help but quickly whip up a layout using it!! Here's a beach layout using new papers and stickers from Pink Paislee, Bella Blvd, My Little Shoebox and Cosmo Cricket.