Seven!

I cannot believe that tomorrow, it will be seven years since I first started scrapbooking! But I guess that the 20+ albums that I have are proof that this is indeed true! ;)

In honour of my seven year anniversary with this hobby that I still adore, I'm issuing a scrappy challenge with a RAK.

Create a layout using 7 ___________(fill in the blank.)
It can be seven photos, seven buttons, seven letters in your title, seven pieces of patterned paper, etc. You choose.

Post your layout in the MSS gallery by Sunday May 2nd at midnight and link it either back here to the comments on this post or here in the forum. Then from everyone who enters, I'll draw a name to win the prize.

It's as easy as that.

And here's my layout for the challenge-- I used seven flowers.



Can't wait to see what you create!

oopsy!!!

i've been checking all afternoon
for a new blog post...and it was
supposed to be me!!!! oopsy!!!

so i have a pre-nat'l scrappy day
challenge...

Use your favourite and non-favourite
colours on a layout together...
and you have to be able to SEE both
colours!!!

one can be a focal colour and the
other the accent!!!

i guess i am off to do mine!!! sorry 'bout
that!!!

oh!!! and i can't wait till saturday!!
we have some fun stuff planned!! so stayed
tuned!!!

later!!
jen

Wednesday Challenge 9

journal directly on your photo.

and if you're participating in these challenges (or have anything to say about them)... then head on over to my blog for a giveaway.

A Week of Challenges

To celebrate the upcoming National Scrapbook Day, the DT is coming up with challenges every day this week. You have until midnight on Sunday, May 2 to complete the challenges. Post your layouts to the gallery, labeled accordingly. There just might be something in store for the winners!

My challenge is simple. Scrap your avatar. Yep, that's it. A nice, easy one to get the challenges started.

Oh, and check back on Saturday as the DT will take turns hosting the blog that day. I have a great game in the works......

sales!!

i'm going through the shoppe alphabetically and marking stuff down. work for me. fun for you.

so far i've got the following discounted...

7 gypsies - everything but the mini books and binder rings are now 40% off (50% for members)

american crafts - selected thickers, papers, remarks stickers, station cards and more are now 40% off (50% for members)

anna griffin - all remaining stock now discounted 40% (50% for members)

all idea books are 40% off (50% for members). excludes magazines.

all autumn leaves products (including rhonna farrer's lines) are 40% off (50% for members)

basic grey - the following lines have been discounted by 40% (50% for members)... archaic, boxer, blush, obscure, infuse, mellow, offbeat, cupcake, porcelin (i've been spelling this one wrong all day), granola, sultry, wassail, bittersweet, sugared, urban prairie, ambrosia. also selected rub-ons.

bazzill - stitched cardstock... already 40% off is now an additional 40% off. bazzill bling cardstock and bazzill chips are also 40% off (50% for members)

all bare elements are 40% off (50% for members)

all bella blvd. - 40% off (50% for members)

all bobunny - 40% off (50% for members)

all catslife press rubber stamps - 40% off (50% for members)

all remaining chatterbox - 40% off (50% for members)

all remaining cherry arte - 40% off (50% for members)

cosmo cricket - the following lines have been discounted 40% (50% for members)... haunted, jack's world, lil' man, mr. campy, oh joy and snorkel. spinner cards are also 40% off (50% for members)

enjoy. i'll be discounting more soon.

Green!!!

Green is one of my favourite colours.
i seem to have a smidge of green on every layout!!


Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.

Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a 'greenhorn' is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.

Use green to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote 'green' products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, the financial world, banking, and Wall Street.

...with this layout, i love the accent of green alpha..
and i love layer different shades of green for dimension.


...sometimes i use bright green, to make a layout pop.


...this KI paper was awesome!!! i loved how all the different
patterns matched..



So whats YOUR favourite colour???

A scraproom update

The day I posted pictures of my scraproom here on the MSS blog, I went shopping with my friend at Home Sense and spotted these beautiful boxes. I loved the pattern on them, the colours and the fact that the red is flocked. I thought they'd make a wonderful addition to my scraproom and do you know what?

I was right.

Take a look:







So the baskets are gone. I'm using one for photos & ephemeria, one for tools, ink pads, adhesive, etc and the third one for embellishments and journaling tags.

Thanks for looking!

Get 'em while you can...

most 7 Gypsies product is now on sale.

pretty much everything except the binder rings and mini books is 4o% off (50% for Members). Been eyeing the ATC stands? Now's the time to get them!

Check it out the current sale section here.

I'm going through the shop alphabetically and clearing out a ton of stuff.

I've started the American Crafts. Selected papers 40% off (50% for Members).

Stay tuned!

weekly challenge 8

this week's challenge comes from all of us on the blog.
we eached picked an element and challenge you to use a minimum of 3 of them on your page!

Pick 3.
- turquoise
- a minimum of two patterned papers
- buttons
- a scalloped edge
- polka dots

Here's mine...

Leigh's.

Jen's

Flo's

and Nicole's is on the way.

The List

There are often times when I want to scrap but don’t have anything in particular to scrap. Since it’s just dh and I, we don’t have kids to take pictures of. This usually also means a lack of events to take pictures of, or remember to bring your camera to. Or, there are times when I have pictures that don’t relate to anything in particular. I still want to scrap them, but without an event, it’s sometimes hard to figure out what I would scrap about.

Enter The List. (sounds very mafia, no?)


I started making my list awhile back, at least in my head. There were always things/moments/quirks/thoughts I wanted to capture that didn’t necessarily belong to a specific event or couldn't be captured on camera. Whenever it would happen, I would file it away in my head, hoping to remember it as needed. Well, I have the memory of....well let’s just say I’m the girl that frequently forgets where she parked her car at the mall. Or frequently forgets what she was looking for when she walked into the kitchen. You get the point. So anyway, I started writing these things down in a notebook. Up until recently, it was always a one-way street. I’d get a flash of brilliance, write it down and then never look at it again.

Until now.

You see, I haven’t taken many pictures this year. 151, to be exact. Most of which were taken when my camera was hijacked at family events by my little cousins. So needless to say, about 80% of those aren’t exactly stellar. A lack of pictures makes it very hard to scrap. Very. Hard. So I started digging through old pictures and realized that I could combine my favourite ‘old’ pictures with ‘new’ subject ideas. Voila! Instant layout!

You may be asking what things are on my list. Well, I’ve kind of broken them up into sections. There’s a list about me, about dh, about us, our cats (yeah, that’s what happens when you don’t have kids) and then a miscellaneous list. I write things like traits about myself or dh that are either frustrating/funny/quirky, our nicknames, dreams that dh and I have, the fact that I’m so short, and just random thoughts in general. In fact, a lot of the layouts I've done recently came from The List.



I know this may not be a new concept to many of you out there, but hopefully it’s helped some of you find ideas for ‘old’ pictures. Or even new pictures, if you’re a much more responsible photographer than I am!

YELLOW!!

Yellow is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colors when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honor and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice.

Use yellow to evoke pleasant, cheerful feelings. You can choose yellow to promote children's products and items related to leisure. Yellow is very effective for attracting attention, so use it to highlight the most important elements of your design. Men usually perceive yellow as a very lighthearted, 'childish' color, so it is not recommended to use yellow when selling prestigious, expensive products to men – nobody will buy a yellow business suit or a yellow Mercedes. Yellow is an unstable and spontaneous color, so avoid using yellow if you want to suggest stability and safety. Light yellow tends to disappear into white, so it usually needs a dark color to highlight it.

Not gonna lie...yellow is my least favourite colour. I think thats because its so hard to get a really nice shade. A nice creamy lemon yellow would be nice...

i think my favourite way to use yellow is for sunshine..
this yellow is orangey, but any nice yellow would do.


its a bad photo, but i love the KI's yellow colour theory..
this photo was so fun to me, and yellow is usually happy, so
i thought it was a match.


i love using yellow as an accent for purple..



SO as a challenge for you,
next time you go to scrapbook, i challenge you
to use yellow, or your least favourite colour...

see you next week with one of MY fave. colours!!!
later, Jen

Leigh's happy, I mean, scrappy place

Well, I need to start off by saying that there's nothing quite like a week of posting DT scrap spaces to get me to clean up my space! (And it was so well timed, too! When I started cleaning up my space, I took the time to go through all my stuff and set it aside for tomorrow's scrappy garage sale at Super Scrap Day.)

Okay, with that said, here's my space. It's located in the north west corner of my basment and is close to the computer, a fact that I love.

I have some shelving units which hold my stuff...



First shelf, from top to bottom: boxes with ribbon, old alphabet stamps (wooden and foam), envelopes, cards, etc. Then some 8x8 completed albums and a basket of punches and a really long stapler. Beneath those, my 8.5x11 albums and at the bottom is my daughter's scrappy stuff in a basket.

On the second shelf, on the top shelf, I keep my acrylic stamp binders, embossing powder and some containers with buttons and other little embellishments. Beside those is a basket which holds extra adhesive, scissors, pinking sheers and my CM circle cutting system.

Below that are my cropper hoppers that hold my cardstock, the storage containers I made years ago with dividers for my patterned paper (sorted by manufacturer) and my binders that hold most of my alphas and some extra rub-ons, stickers, etc.



I sort my alphas by colour and slip them into 8.5x11 page protectors with a sheet of white paper in them. This way I can flip through the binders to find the perfect alphas for my layout. I have one binder with black and brown alphas and another for my coloured ones.



On the next shelf, I store some things in rubbermaid containers: my wood mounted stamps and ink, my acrylic paint, cardstock scraps (& my heat gun) and some older Scenic Route and Heidi Swapp chipboard letters that I can't bring myself to part with.



On my table, I keep an according file folder filled with patterned paper scraps (also sorted by manufacturer), some baskets, my paper trimmers and an IKEA organizer.



In the baskets, I have one for photos & bits of ephemeria. I try to keep the photos sorted and in chronological order, but sometimes this gets away on me. Another basket is for journaling cards and paper embellishments and the third holds tools I use often, some ink pads and adhesive.



In my IKEA organizer, I store 8x10 photos, my large ruler, smaller rulers, scissors, white cardstock and pens. There are also some notes or ideas for layouts. In the basket beside it are embellishments for layouts. In the tiny bowl are small embellisments, like pins, brads, etc.



I store my sewing machine beside my stool, under the table and pull it onto the table when I need it.



Thanks for looking!

Nicole's Space

So, here's the problem.

I've lost my point and shoot and my DSLR is currently on it's way back from Toronto after getting repaired.  So, I don't have any way to take pictures of my space. (Which, incidentally is why I haven't blogged in the past 2 weeks). 

So instead, I'll be doing my scrap space next week, and leaving you with some beautiful, inspirational scrap rooms. 

source

source

source

source

My favourite is the first one.  I love the curtains.

Happy Thursday!!

Flo's Space

My scrap desk lives in our second bedroom, which is also the office. It works well as neither takes up enough space to be in a room on its own, and I often use the computer while scrapping.

Last summer, we renovated this space to accommodate my growing scrap supplies and so that I could actually have a desk for myself. After toying with the idea of having two separate desks, we realized that it was more cost efficient to just have one long desk that spanned the length of one wall. And after scouring antique stores and not finding anything quite long enough, dh decided to just make one.

It's really nothing fancy, just an 8 foot sheet of melamine with brackets and some legs we picked up at the ReStore for $5 each. Which is great, because frugal is my middle name! The computer/"office" takes up the right side of the desk, and my scrap space lives on the left.
To the very left is my paper stash, which is in a hanging file folder organizer by manufacturer. That used to be on the desk, but it took up too much space and I didn't like how I had to stand up every time I wanted to dig through my stash. So now, it sits on an old crate that used to be in our living room, so it's the perfect height for me to go through while sitting. Inside the crate I have my albums, as well as a box I use to mist in. My plan is put casters on it, so I can wheel it out when scrapping, but I haven't gotten around to that just yet.
On top of my desk lives all my embellishments, pens, twine and journaling cards. On the very top shelf are my alphas, punches, ribbon and buttons. I also bought a cheap lamp from Ikea, which is great because I often scrap at night and need the extra light.
My favourite part of the room is the new dresser we bought off kijiji a few months back. I bought it to house my sewing machine and typewriter. My original plan was to paint it white, replace the knobs and take out the top drawers and put a sheet of wood down to turn it into a shelf where I could put locker baskets. However, when I first looked at it in person, I realized that it's in much better shape than the picture showed, and it was walnut. I felt bad wanting to paint over that. So I thought maybe I could stain it darker. But when I asked for dh's help he said that he would have to strip the entire thing if we wanted to do anything - stain or paint. And that it would take a really long time. And then he'd have to buy some special primer, and yadda yadda yadda. Have I mentioned that dh works in a spray shop on the side? Yeah. And then I did some measuring and I realized that the locker baskets I've been coveting for months are 1" too tall. So, back to square one. Which for now, means do nothing.

So there's my scrap space. It's not even close to where I want it....I have plans to put an empty frame above the dresser with wire, so I can hang layouts and photos. And I have plans to do something like this in the corner right above the dresser too. Plus I'm still on the lookout for better (and cuter!) storage options for the stuff on top of my desk. But for now, it's functional and is better than scrapping on the kitchen table! :)

marcy's space

a little bit has changed from the last time I shared my space (i thought i'd be out of this room by now... and in the loft... but, nope. still here). the floorplan has stayed the same, but some cabinets and general organization has changed. and because i was getting ready anticipating my new space... this room has spilled a little into what it will be used for next... an office/den. right now it serves dual purposes. it's a scrapbook room transitioning into an office.

anyway.

welcome to my space.

the most awkward space in the house (now that we got rid on the bermuda triangle upstairs) is the bump out. the mister hates it when i call it that. but what else do you call it? it's the jutting-out-ledge-type-thing-to-make-room-for-the-stairs-thing. anyway. i have big plans for it when this room is solely an office. but for now it's just wasted space. you definately can't reach that far back into the corner. so for now my cardstock, ledger paper, christmas papers and page protectors live here.

the closet has changed slightly from the last post. it now houses only office-related things. no scrapbooking supplies in there.



it's super hard for me to keep my work area clean. ideally i like to have only my tool caddy and a bowl of brads on there. but i also have two little containers that hold various odds and ends... hair bands and bobby pins, broken earrings i'm supposed to fix, etc.






i love this counter. it's old. i love working on a glass top (i use my slice right on there!) but it's super awkward! you really can't get anything from the top shelf in it because it's set so far back. i keep my current projects and items i don't need to get at often on there.

the bottom shelf now holds my patterned paper. i'm using my paper rack at the shoppe now. i found that i was flipping through my paper scraps (filed in a basket) more than flipping through the paper on the rack. inspired by karen russell's studio (i can't find the link to it right now though) i put my patterned paper in hanging files. the plan is, in the new space, to have pull out wooden drawers on casters under my work table so i can just pull out a drawer and rifle through paper. right now they're in the counter sideways and that drives me nuts. but oh well.

another thing i changed is that my patterned paper scraps, although still separate from full sheets, are now organized with those full sheets. so, october afternoon scraps, october afternoon full sheets, crate scraps, crate full sheets, and so on. the plan was that i could find a particular scrap easier this way... but i'm not sure. maybe the change just hasn't sunk in yet.





i still have my newest embellishments in a wire basket on the side of my counter. i liked that so much that i have a file for my new paper too. not that that stops me from hoarding though. ;)



this is the view from the closet/office. my space is right off the living room (which i love). the upper shelf holds loose embellishments (most of them in the doodlebug containers. on top of the lower shelf is my alphabets (excluding ki, making memories, american crafts and doodlebug) and a basket of stamps. also inspired by karen, i put the pages from my stamp binder in this basket. i found i just wouldn't flip through a binder. the rest of the shelf holds other stamping things (i'm sooo not a stamper!), those other alphabets, a basket of flowers, a basket of vintage paper items and other stuff.



we removed the drawers from this dresser forever ago and now use them (on casters) for under the bed storage. replaced with baskets it's the perfect place to store supplies for my other craft ventures. one basket holds label stickers. another holds book binding supplies. another ephemera. another card-making supplies. another metal tins. and so on.

my trimmer and typewriter have dibs on the top.



next to the dresser is a wooden tool cabinet. of course i painted it white. right now the top part is in storage. my little sewing station. the small drawers hold various sewing items. the largers ones hold etsy stuff and most of my punches.



so, here's where we are so far.





this other wall is probably the most different. i really needed most of the shelves of the expedit for my albums, so i needed to come up with something else for the majority of my supplies. this shelf used to be at the shoppe. i brought it home. painted it white (gasp!) and put my locker baskets in it. larger companies like making memories have a basket all to themselves. others share. i wanted to hang a grid of photos above the shelf, but i'm sure once i do that i'll change something else, so i'm just leaving it for now.







and that's it. my space.

i really would like to spend more time in it. i really would like to spread out a bit more. i really would like to get it moved into the grainery loft... but we're just not that far yet. i really would like to make this room an office/den.

but for now. it works.

(sorry for the watermarks... it was just far too many photos to change). ;)