Ronda's July Challenge!!!

Well ladies, today is the LAST day of July, and we are moving on to August!! Can't believe how fast this Summer has passed!! We have all been busy with our kids, work, vacations, and just everyday life stuff. And it's just a tough life for a scrapbooker when we CAN'T find the time to SCRAP!! heehee!
So, my challenge is for the scrappers that are "Time-challenged"!!! LOL!
Create a simple notecard!!! When you are in a hurry, these little cards can come in so handy!! Just create a card without making it for anything specific, then you can use it as a thank you card, birthday card, or get well soon, etc. Easy peasy!!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!! :)

~Ronda

Jodi's Make and Take!

Hi everyone... and welcome to our very first make and take tutorial! Today I am going to show you how to create a few of your own embellishments for your pages without a lot of work! I know for me, I LOVE anything handmade! Today we are making a few circle embellishments made out of materials you wouldn't think of using... very often! So here we go!

1. First of all you need to gather your materials. Here is a list: die cutting machine, or a good pair of scissors, die cut circles (I used SIZZEX), pinking shears, DMC thread, FELT, Plastic Canvas, Scrap Material, Paint (I used shimmerz... found in the store), paint brush, needle, buttons.

2. Use your die cutting machine to cut various materials into various circles. If you don't have a diecutting machine or circles... you can free hand it! I use to do this all the time! You will need about three or four different sizes. Here is my sample of THREE using THREE different materials (felt, plastic, material)

3. Use your needle and thread to sea a running stitch around the felt OR material.

4. Paint with your choice of paint! I chose shimmerz... mainly because I LOVE IT... and it dries quickly on plastic! It gives it just enough to give the white plastic canvas some color and some shimmer!

5. Layer your embellishments as shown in the picture below:

6. "Dress Up" your button by making a bow, know etc... with your DMC thread. Attach the button to your embellishment and your result is:

Here is the layout where I used these awesome handmade circles:

I decided to use a smaller circle embellie for the "dot" in the "I" for the word "chicks". With this embellishment, I also cut around the material with the pinking shears to give it a different effect. In addition, I made the photo corners out of felt by simply snipping off the corner of a felt square with my pinking shears, and cut a smaller piece out of the material (located in your kit!). I used my BIG BITE to punch a hole in both of the them, then I added a brad to make my photo corner!

I hope everyone enjoyed the make and take! Don't forget to think outside the box to try and come up with different types of material to use on your layouts! Metal and cork are also awesome products to work with! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Good Luck!

Sarah's Photography Challenge.

Good afternoon ladies! I hope everyone's Thursday has been great!

I was thinking about how much fun I am having chatting with everyone on the SO boards the other day. That got me thinking about all the new friends I have made there and all the inspiration on the site.

Then I started wondering- I know everyone LOVES to scrapbook, but what else does everyone love to do? Besides scrapbooking a few things I love to do are cook, run, garden, and make jewelry.

So my challenge is really two-fold- to learn a little bit more about you and hopefully inspire you to take photos of one of your other hobbies. I photographed my favorite flowers in my garden.

I just started gardening a few years ago and I love it! One side of my backyard is all wildflowers and the other side is a huge vegetable garden. In the front of my house I plant tulips for the spring, morning glories in the summer and mums in the fall.

All of you girls are so talented and we would love to see your other hobbies and talents! Upload your photos to the SO photo challenge thread. I can't wait to see them!

Challenge!!

Good morning everyone!!

right now I am SOO into all things VINTAGE. I LOVE buying cute vintage pieces for my home and I LOVE how there are SO many cute vintage scrapbooking items out there right now.

My challenge for you this month is to create vintage inspired page!

You can do this with you color scheme, using a sepia or black and white photo, or by adding lots of stitching and soft colors!

It is up to you how you interpret this!

Have fun and can't wait to see what you create!!

Ronda's July DT Reveal

Ok Girls, I am the last of the reveals for the July kit!! If you haven't bought yours already, I hope you've been inspired by the DT's fab work with the kit!!!

It's PERFECT for summer pages! It's so bright and fun, and you can practically use it for anything!! I had so much fun playing with this kit!!





HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!
~Ronda

Sarah's July Reveal

Wow! There were so many goodies in the July kit! I created these three layouts and still have so many leftovers. I will definitely have some more projects soon.

I love the papers in the kit because they are so bright and fun and I love the embellishments because they are so sweet. So I chose to put the fun and the sweet together to create some layouts of my daughter Frances.

The first LO My Silly Girl is a layout of my daughter being silly. She laughs and giggles all the time. She really is the happiest baby. She likes to make funny faces and when we laugh at her she just makes more. These papers were the perfect for the colors in the photos and the fun tone of the LO. I used the fabric swatch and sassafras flowers to make the flower embellishment on the bottom right. I hand cut a flower out of the fabric and then layered it with the sassafras flower from the kit. To make the brads pop a bit, I cut the prongs off with a wire cutter and then adhered them with foam tape.


My second layout So Many Reasons has pictures of my DD when she first sat up. I turned my back for a second and when I turned around she was sitting up. So I grabbed my camera off the kitchen table and starting taking pictures before the moment was over. The pictures are not perfect. They are a little blurry and there is a bunch of stuff in the background, but when I look at them I don't notice a bit I just remember the moment. It got me thinking how the little things like this make me happier than anything else. I added a chipboard heart, brackets and little accents from the addons to give the journaling and title more interest.


My third layout We Love You started off different, but this is how it ended up! I initially cut up the spinner, but then decided I wanted it whole again so put it back together. The spinner still moves too so if I get tired of "sweet" I can always change it to something else. Too bad cranky isn't on there!


This kit was so fun to work with. I will definitely have some more projects finished from it!

Anna's Challenge!

Everyone up for a fun challenge?? Don't worry, I've made it super easy so anyone can give it a try!!

Most of us grab a piece of ribbon to add that extra little ooh-la-la to cards, layouts, & wherever our scrappy hearts desire. But today we are going to think outside the box just a little & use paper instead of ribbon. That's right ladies - NO RIBBON ALLOWED! Paper is actually quite fun to work with and can be easily shaped - just like ribbon!

For this card, I punched a hole over each scallop. Next, I cut a very thin piece of paper to fit through the holes. You may have to cut it more than once to get it to the right width. I used patterned paper with lines to make my cutting easier. Then I weaved the paper in & out of the holes & stapled each end for fun. Yes, I could have used ribbon, but paper gives just the same effect. Plus, you can use coordinating papers from the same manufacturer line to take away the guess-work when deciding which paper to use in place of ribbon. Easy peasy!!
Does anyone recognize the products I used for this birthday boy card? That's right, they're from this month's Lime Rickey kit!

Here is another example. This time I used paper to make a bow. All I had to do was cut 4 pieces of paper to the same width. Then I left one piece the original length (to lay across the entire card) & cut the other pieces shorter than the one before it. I folded the ends in & glued them to the center, being careful not to smash the ends of the bow. Then I layered them & wrapped the center with a scrap piece of paper I had cut off one of the strips. Then all I had to do was glue it down & voila! My bow was done :D

A close-up of the bow

Now let's see what you do with this challenge! Don't forget to post your work in the SO gallery so we can all see your creativity :)

JODI's JULY REVEAL!

I was so super excited when my kit finally came, I literally stayed up all night to play! This kit is so FUN and so BRIGHT... the hardest part was finally picking which photos to use, because I had so MANY that would go with this kit! This kit is so easy to work with, BASIC GREY ROCKS! So here is my first layout:

1,2,3 come riding with me

I used a BIG photo for this one, because bike riding is my son's life right now... I think he would ride all day... and he's only 2 1/2! I cut out the 1,2,3 from the c.i. die cut sheet to add it to the title!

I (heart) my water baby


This was a LO of my son Josh when he was 4 months old "hanging out" in a water park! He loved this ... and so did I since I was hands free! You will notice in your kits a small swatch of fabric! I LOVED this! I use fabric a lot on my LO's... so I couldn't resist to add it to this one! I used my cuttlebug to cut out the big red heart in the title, as well as a little heart for the journalling spot at the bottom! I created a fun edge with the add on ribbon, and punched out circle for the top and bottom! I did some paper rolling (into the wee hours of the night...hehehe) to complete the frame around the photo!

Perfect in every way


This is a Lo of my daughter learning to climb the monkey bars at the park! In my journalling I talked about how no matter what she does, she always does things the "Jordan way"... and it is just perfect! I cut up the spinner card, to get more milage out of it, and I used the sweet, silly, and smart to describe my daughter. I also took the arrow for the spinner card and attached it to my layout to bring attention to the title!

Stay tuned later this month too, as I am going to be doing a fun MAKE & TAKE for you to try using the kit too!

Anna's July Kit Reveal

Hello fellow SOers! I was so excited when I got my kit because it is FULL of Basic Grey & my heart melts when I am surrounded by their stuff (seriously!). I LOVE this kit! It's is great for both boy & girl LO's, so get one & get scrappin'!!

My little Tatum is such a poser for the camera & I was saving these pics for just the right paper. When I saw this soft green, yellow & cream sheet in the kit I knew it was perfect for this LO. I layered the bird on pink paper, added a small blue brad (from the kit) for the eye & turned a heart sticker (also from the kit) sideways for the wing.



It gets so hot this time of year - too hot to even go to the park! I guess that's really the only thing about living in AZ that I don't like - the heat. But we got lucky because it was cooler than usual in June so we went to the park & I snapped a few shots. My kids love the park. Lately, I've been trying to scrap things they like to do or places they like to go.

I LOVE the bright colors on this paper!! And I thought it would be fun to shape up this LO & make it a circle to compliment the funky shape of the patterned paper. Did I mention that I LOVE this kit?!


Since it's SO hot here, we spend most of our time indoors. My kiddos love to play board games. These Basic Grey papers were perfect for this LO. I traced the arrow from a used sheet of Scenic Route arrows I have in my stash and randomly placed some circles (cut out from the same sheet of patterned paper) up the opposite side. Too fun!

I can't wait to see what everyone does with the kit! Be sure to check out the SO gallery for more inspiration :)

Abbie's July Reveal

Good morning everyone!!

July's kit is SO bright and fun and JAM PACKED!!! I completely these two layouts and project, AND an additional page that I will be showing with my monthly challenge:D

My youngest turns 1 in a couple of weeks and I thought it would fun to use the spinner card to make this page about ALL the ups and downs of life with a newborn baby:D I decided to cut my spinner card into a circle;D
And when I saw all the bright and bold colors of this kit I immediately thought of this title. I guess because of the "dynamic" part. :D
And lastly, like I told you, my son turns one in a couple of weeks and I wanted to make him a birthday hat to wear in some pictures I am going to take of him for his invite. I love how this turned out.
Well, that's it!! I hope you all have a great day and make sure to snag up the July kit if you haven't yet;D

GD Stacey's July Kit Reveal!

Stacey did an awesome creating Lo's with July's Basic Grey kit. Here are her LO's:

Lindsay's July Kit Reveals

I am so excited to share my LOs from the July Lime Rickey Kit! This kit was amazing to work with - so many bright and cheery colors!

Every two or three months I try to document the little things that make me love each child. This page focuses on what I am loving about Patrick these days and the resons I am so lucky to have him in my life:

Michael has a smile that lights up any room! The bright colors in these patterned papers were perfect for a LO about his contagious grin:

We recently got the kids their first swingset and they love it! Patrick was allowed to choose an accessory for the treehouse and he chose a telescope. I knew exactly what to do with this bird paper when I saw the kit!

My little Avery LOVES the water and has no fear! She dumps it on her head and squeals with glee! I just HAD to document her in action!

I have more to come (this kit is PACKED with goodies)! I can't wait to see what you do with the kit! TFL!

GDT Stacey Hansen

Our Guest Designer for the month of July is Stacey Hansen. Here is a little bit about her.

1. I have been scrapping for 15 years. Yes it is true I started at 18!

2. My 3 favorite manufacturers are: Sassafrass Lass, October Afternoon, and Jenni Bowlin

3. The 3 items I tend to use on all my pages are in no particular order ( I wouldn't want to offend an embellishment here) BLING, Ink, and some type of metal.

4. My main scrappy subjects are near and dear to my heart. They are my 6 kids and my amazing husband.

5. Usually my inspiration comes from songs. A lyric here a title there. I just see my life through music. That is where most of my titles and journaling are inspired from.

6. If I only was allowed to scrap with 4 items for the rest of my life I am not sure if I could do it. But here is what I would choose first patterned paper, bling, chipboard, and paint.

7. I don't typically snack while scrapping though smudged chocolate could pass of as distressing ink. I usually drink Iced Tea while scrapping. Cool, refreshing and caffeinated.

8. DO you have background noise going on while you scrap? If so, what?

9. My favorite part of SO is that I jumped right in and I felt like I fit. It is so nice to be in a place where everyone is supportive and encouraging a common obsession ( I mean craft yes I meant to say craft).

Here is her take on Lindsays Sketch Below:

July's Sketch!

Can you believe July is already here?!? Time flies!

I love to scrap all year, but find it most difficult in the summer - I am always being lured outside by the sunny weather, fresh cut grass, or giggles of my kids! If you're anything like me, you'll take all of the help you can get this time of year! Here is my sketch for you for this month. Interpret it anyway you like!

And here is my LO based on the sketch! I thought I'd share a little about myself since I am still fairly new here!

I can't wait to see what YOU come up with!