Weekly Challenge #1

This one's for Carol...

Use patterned paper for your background.

I'll try to have challenge posts up once a week... but remember... we have an online crop coming up. Be sure to follow us on Facebook to keep up with us over at the shop.

Summer Inspiration

On vacation? Looking for some inspiration to get you scrapping? Here's what inspired us for this week's challenge:
I love the fresh mix of colours. It just felt perfect for this time of year.

Here's Leigh's layout:

And here's mine:
We'd love to see yours! Post them in the gallery if you participate so we can leave you some love.

A little mist, a little stitching and some numbers.

Another Monday, another challenge. For this month's Triple Threat, we want you to include:

- some mist,
- some stitching, and
- a number (either in your title, or somewhere on your layout).

Easy, right? So here's what Leigh came up with:
As for my layout, I'll get that posted tomorrow as it looks like I've run out of daylight for today (boo!). So be sure to check here to see my creation, and be sure to post yours there as well!

Alter your Alphas

This is the DT challenge for this week: alter your alphas. Sand them, paint them, stamp on them, whatever.... just make them your own!

Flo, in her creativity, decided to mist her alphas-- a very cool technique for those who aren't afraid of mist!



And I decided to press my pale pink alphas into a darker pink ink pad to darken them a little to match my layout. Because the alphas were flocked to begin with, it gave a cool mottled effect:



Do you ever alter your alphas?
How?

calling all twine lovers!

do you love twine as much as me? if you are, then you're in luck, as this month's featured product challenge is twine. here's what i made last week:

but my love for twine goes way back:
and if you don't have any, well pop into the shoppe or marcy's etsy and get some! then show us what you've made.

Take 5 Challenge

It was my turn to pick this week's challenge, so I want you to Take 5 - make a layout using the last 5 products you purchased. You can use any other basics as well - cardstock, mists, punches, etc.

I cheated (!!) and counted 7 products on my layout in total. I couldn't help it! There's so much good stuff in the shoppe right now, that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just 5. So come play along, and show off your work by uploading your layouts here.

pp: my mind's eye, studio calico | alphas: sassafras | embellies: cosmo cricket, studio calico

Triple Threat Challenge

For this month's Triple Threat Challenge, we chose a journaling tag, stamp and polka dots. Can you spot those items in these layouts?

Leigh

Flo

If you want to play along with us, be sure to link your layouts here.

Frame it!

Welcome to the Monday Challenge for April: Frame it!

Your challenge is to put a frame around it. Create your own frame(s) with your supplies, use products that were designed to be used as frames, create a piece of art and frame it for your home, etc.

Here's what the design team came up with for the challenge:

I had some Studio Calico frames in my stash that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. When I recently took out some of the Crate Paper paper and chipboard that I was hoarding, I thought mixing the two together would be the perfect solution.



And here's Flo's take on the challenge:



I love how she both framed the photo with that cool scalloped chipboard frame and her layout with strips of patterned paper. Very cool!

And here's a compilation of different framed projects that Jen has made:




If you decide to play along with this challenge, please post your layout in the gallery and then link it to the challenge forum-- we'd love to see what you create!

Featured Product Challenge

This week's challenge is a Feature Product Challenge, where we'll choose a specific product for you to use on your layout. I was pretty excited to work with this month's product as I pretty much use them on every layout anyway. Here's my growing collection:
Figured it out? Yep, this month we're challenging you to break out those mists! For the most part, I use my mists pretty simply - I stick my paper in a box, and mist away. I never understood how people got those perfect splotches of mist on their layouts, until Marcy posted this tutorial on her blog. Duh! But I've never really tried using mists to mask, like these layouts:

Lisa Truesdell
Kelly Purkey

Perhaps that's what I should have done with this challenge, actually. Oh well. Anyway, here's what the DT came up with.

My layout. In case you can't see, I misted the cardstock with Studio Calico White Mister Huey, and I also misted each of the shipping tags a different colour - Pink Maya Mist, Sunshine Maya Mist and Lunchtray Mister Huey.

If I'm correct, Leigh used something other than conventional mists for her layout. You'll have to ask her how she did it though :)

Jen's layout - her blue misting gives that awesome pop of colour against the pink pp.

Come play along with us! Be sure to link your layouts to this thread if you have!

Winter Sketch #10

For this week's sketch, I chose one from the March Page Maps:



And here's the layout I made with it, sticking pretty closely to the orginal, but using three photos instead of four.



If you'd like to play along with my Winter Sketches, just create a layout using one of the sketches I post. Post your layout in the MSS gallery and then link it to this thread in the forum. Your name will be entered into a draw to win a RAK from me.

And be sure to check out the challenges posted for this weekend's online crop here.

Winter Sketch #9

This week's sketch is from Page Maps (December 2010):



And here is the layout I made with it:



I stuck pretty close to this week's sketch, only adapting it to make a 12x12 layout and changing the position of the title and circle elements slightly.

If you'd like to play along with my Winter Sketches, just create a layout using one of the sketches I post. Post your layout in the MSS gallery and then link it to this thread in the forum. Your name will be entered into a draw to win a RAK from me.

AND, since I had such a positive response to the added challenges last week, I'm adding a bonus challenge for this week, too. This means that if you create a layout using the sketch, you'll be entered into the draw once. However, if you use the sketch and the following challenge, your name will be entered twice!

Here's the challenge:

Add some sparkle to your layout.

It's a little hard to tell in my photo, but when I stamped the large flourish onto my page, I'd spritzed it first with a shimmer mist to add some shine.

Okay, so there's the sketch and the challenge.

Can't wait to see what you create.

Winter Sketch #8 & a bonus

For my sketch this week, I chose a sketch made by Jennifer Gallacher at 2Peas:



Here's the layout I made with it:



I decided to rotate the sketch once and use three photos instead of four. I really liked the circles in a row and decided to include them on my layout. However, when I was putting it together, I realized that I didn't have room for a title along the bottom, so I placed it in one of the circles instead.

If you'd like to play along with my Winter Sketches, just create a layout using one of the sketches I post. Post your layout in the MSS gallery and then link it to this thread in the forum. Your name will be entered into a draw to win a RAK from me.

And now for the bonus....

As I was making this layout, I kept thinking of challenges that would go along with it. (Not sure why-- it's just how I'm wired!)

Anyway, I thought I'd post those challenges here and if you create a layout using the sketch & one of these challenges, then your name will be entered in the draw twice. Use two challenges with the sketch, and your name will be entered in three times, etc.

So, here are the challenges:

1. Mix up your size of photos. No two photos can be the same size. On my layout, the large photo is 5"x7", the centre one is 2 5/8"x4" and the third one is 2 7/8"x4".

2. Alter a premade embellishment. The little owl in the circle is MME and came in a pack of layered stickers. However, her little bow was blue and now what I wanted for the layout. So I cut her a new bow from patterned paper so she'd coordinate better with my layout.



3. Use pop dots to add some dimension to your page. Other than with the layered owl sticker, I added pop dots to my circles/heart to raise them off the scalloped circles a little.

4. Use a sentiment stamp as your title. I used the little "just for you" stamp as my title.



5. Use 2 or more punches. I used four on this page.

Alright, I think that's good. I hope you'll play along with my bonus challenges this week.

use your scraps

so this weekend i only managed one layout for
the online crop..bummer. but i did have fun
with the layout i made. i did a paper pieced
layout with only scraps. i did use a full sheet
of kraft cardstock, but that doesn't count.



i have done a few of these type of layouts, they
mostly get done as gifts though. i have 2 for myself
the one i currently finished and this other gem
thats hanging in my dining room.



how is it done,you ask??
its pretty easy...first i decide on a photo..i
like doing the photo in black and white. i find
with all the colour and shapes the photo stands
out better.

then i gather my supplies. i have my scraps divided
into colour..that way when i'm want dimension in the
grass i have all my shades of green together.

to assemble a layout like this is basically the same
as any other layout. lots of moving and shifting.
i also like the gradients in colour..(like in the grass
of the first photo). when doing these layouts i also try
to keep everything off the photo..and i try to be
careful with how much embellishment i stick on it. these
layouts can get crowded really easily, and with so much
patterns and layers, it can look like too much...
in my first photo, i do feel i am pushing the boundries
on too much stuff. but at first the roof of my house
seemed like too much open and empty space...originally
the heart was in the tree, i moved the heart and added
the pink butterflies...i think its the butterflies
doing that for me...maybe the bird in the sun?? i still
love it though...i love how it is imperfect. the lines
aren't straight.

anyhoo, i'd love to see how your layout like this turns
out! post it in the gallery..
let this be your challenge of the week!!
later, jen

Challenge 16.

A recipe challenge.

Let's see what you can cook up. ;)

Ingredients:

- 3 or more photos

- the color orange

- a photo corner

- a vertical title

- buttons

Weekly Challenge 15

I'm back with a weekly challenge for you.

Use stars on your layout!

If you're playing along, feel free to link up in the comment section!

a nsd challenge

There's a couple things I wanted to do during my hour here during national scrapbooking day.

One, was introduce the DT layouts using the May kit.

You can find the layouts here.

In particular I love this one from Jen...

I love how it's not at all heavy on the dark green and yellow colors that dominate the kit.
I also love this one from Leigh...

that banner is just the cutest!

And, my personal favorite of mine?

This one...

(Sorry that the images are cut off, but I don't have software to edit them on this computer!)
The kits will be in store and online on Tuesday!

But, that brings me to my challenge.

So... I want you to scraplift yourself!

The layout I just shared. It's a scraplift.... of myself! Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it right???
I wanted to show you the layout that I based it on... but I can't find it in the gallery. But trust me. ;) (it's a family picture with red papers in that grid format.)

Anyway....

play along and post in the MSS gallery and link back here. I'll draw a winner for a special prize (oooh) Monday morning!

Two for one

It's no secret that I'm pretty cheap, I mean frugal. I don't mind spending money on scrappy supplies and will splurge on pricier items, but if I do, then I want to get the most bang for my buck.

I love diecut papers and often prefer using them as the backgrounds for my layouts.

I snatched this Little Yellow Bicycle diecut patterned paper this past summer and finally made a layout with it:



And because I like to get my money's worth, and because I struggle with how to store these layouts in my albums, I used the back of the paper to created this layout:



Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket patterned paper (green), Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper journaling card and stickers and Pink Paislee chipboard letters, all from the Shoppe.

To see other layouts that I've made using both sides of a piece of diecut paper, click here.

*By the way, I picked the winner from last week's challenge and the winner is...... Val! (I'll leave it for you the next time I stop at the Shoppe.) Thanks to everyone who participated!

Journaling cards

I love to used journaling cards on my layouts/cards and October Afternoon's journaling cards are some of my favourites.

The other day, when I was making a layout, I thought I'd use the top right hand card from this sheet:



But, then I felt the yellow polkadots weren't the right colour and with my white cardstock background the off-white of the card didn't work as well. So, I decided to make my own.

I opened up a text box in word and made it the same size as the OA journaling card. With some more text boxes, I made a title ("Take note:"), some red journaling lines by using the "shift+-" key and then added some computer journaling, adjusting my line spacing so that it would fit perfectly. I then printed it out on white cardstock, added a strip of red polka-dotted OA pp and adhered it to my layout.

Here's what it looks like:



And how it looks on my layout:



So here's my challenge to you.... I challenge you to make your own journaling card this weekend with the online crop. It can be with the computer like I explained or you could do it by hand-- it's up to you. Post it in the MSS gallery before midnight on Sunday, January 17th and I'll give a RAK to the person who's name I pick.

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Being Intentional

In my last post, I put forth a challenge. A challenge to put aside all the things you think need to get done, so that you could spend some time with the people you love.

I took some time this holiday season to hang out with my kids.  We had a great time, however, when my laptop died, it took the pictures with it!

But, I will not leave you empty handed!

I also spent a lot of time thinking about how much I want to continue spending the time with my family.  So, I came up with a little project that will take me though 2010.

It's called "a month of sundays".

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest.  A day of refreshing, when I get "fed" and ready to go for the rest of the week.  It's also a perfect time to reflect on my life, my husband and my kids.  A time to look back on the week, and to look forward to the next.

It's also the day that I get the most scrapping done.

I bought this dayplanner kit from the Shoppe and I put it together a couple days ago. I printed off all of the pages, but I had too many of the Saturday and Sunday pages. I don't like to waste paper, so I had been thinking of a project that I could use with the extras.

So I came up with this. 

I've pre-made the album, as that works best for me, and each and every Sunday I will take time to scrap a little page (with or without photos) about how I spent time with my loved ones that week. 

It's goal setting time as we get ready for the New Year, and one of my goals is to be diligent about spending that time with my family and doing this every Sunday!

What are your New Year's goals? How does your scrapping change because of them?

Hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's Eve! See you next year!

And I'll be drawing a winner next Thursday to win a RAK from me!

Mid-Month Challenge ~ Homemade

Good afternoon!

I just spent part of my day today delivering Christmas gifts to some of our top clients (read: clients that give us lots of money). It was kind of nice to get out of the office to do that. Not to mention that one of the gifts was going to my old work, so it was nice to see some old friends. My work is all about local and handmade things, so the entire basket was full of locally made food and other such items.

Anyway, today's the 15th, which means Mid-Month Challenge day! This month's challenge was 'Homemade'. And I know what you're thinking, "isn't scrapbooking itself homemade?" Well, yes. But as Marcy put it, "let's push ourselves one step further." So, here are our layouts:

Marcy

Homemade element: button/vintage paper embellishment (also available in the shop!)

Nicole

Homemade element: 2 crocheted strips at bottom

Leigh

Homemade element: flower made from fabric and a cut out stamped image

Flo

Handmade element: button embellishment (same idea as Marcy)

So post your 'Homemade' layouts in the gallery by the end of the month for a chance to win a RAK!