I am giddy with design team excitement!!

So excited to share some wonderful news, I've been chosen to play along on another design team, Sketches in Thyme! I just received my first "asignment", so I'll be heading down to my craft room in just a moment to get started. But before I do, I wanted to let you know about the challenge they have going on right now. Below is their sketch of the week from Creative Scrappers. You have till Nov 17th to give this great sketch a try. Link it up on their site for your chance to win a $25 Michaels Gift Card-woohoo!!! Good luck to everyone, and I'll be back soon with a report on my first completed layout! =)T

You've Got a Friend in Me

There's a new song challenge up at Scrap it with a Song. In honor of Toy Story 3 coming out on DVD (just LOVED that movie, didn't you?), their song suggestion is "You've Got a Friend In Me". I combined that challenge with a great scrap that's over at Paper Poppy Kit Co- their November sketch is so fun to play with, give it a try!! =) T

Nuts About this 2-Page Sketch!

Like many of you, I tend to be a 1-page layout kinda gal. I  am EXTREMELY editorial with my pictures, picking 1-4 of my favorite layouts that best represent the event or moment I'm wanting to scrap. I find it so much easier to scrap just a few photos on a single 12x12 canvas. But....sometimes you just can't choose, you have 6-8 photos that just HAVE to be scrapped, and that means a 2-page spread! I've had these fishing photos hanging around for a while- since 2006 *GULP*! Shawn, the creative genious over at Nuts About Sketches came up with a 2-page skecth that was perfect for these photos. And even better- Al-Marie (a NAS DT Member) has graciously offered one of her September Kits from My Paper Treehouse! I was also able to incorporate the challenge over at Practical Scrappers to create a title that made a statement. I like to create a title that has a bit of variety in the font, so for this I used vinyl Thickers for the word "fish" and then wrote "go" using my white gel pen. I think it does the trick to make a statement in a simple way. =) T

Star of the Day

Since I'm in still in full-blown challenge-mode, I decided to keep going and cross a few more challenges off the list. Below is a greeting card I made last night. I started with dimensions from Papercraft Star. Their challenge, "Simon Says make a Card" called for Base 4.5 x 5.5, Double Mat #1: cut at 3 3/8 x 4 5/8, with another color cut at 3 1/4 x 4 1/4, Double Mat #2: cut at 2 3/4 x 4, with another color cut at 2 3/4 x 2 1/2, Add Ribbon, Add Button(s), & Add Punch or Die Cut. WOW- that's a lot of elements. I then looked to Color Throwdown for color suggestions- this card needs to be in shades of Kraft, Tangerine, Red and Marine.

I started with the marine as my base, and then layered rectangles of the kraft, tangerine and red, inking up each edge with chocolate ink before it was adhered. I also "dressed up" the edge of the red piece with my spiral punch (use a punch- check!). I ran some orange ribbon down the left side, pleating a bit as I went (ribbon-check!). I heat-embossed a fillagree star in black on the red cardstock, cut out and adhered with pop dots, and then added the "make a wish" saying on the marine label. I still needed to add buttons, but everwhere I placed them just ended up looking like an afterthought. Then I had the idea to fill the star with glitter glue and place random-sided buttons inside (buttons-check!).

These colors are not ones I would ever put together without coaxing from a challenge blog, but overall I'm pleased with the card, and especially the new button/glitter glue technique. I will definitely be trying that again on a layout! =)T

A Red, Red Rose

There's a new poem up at Scrap That Poetry, and that means a new challenge for you! Read the poem "red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns and see if you're not inspired to create a lovely layout. Most of us on the design team when romantic with our projects, what will the poem inspire in you? =) T

Oh my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June:
Oh my luve is like the melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

-Robert Burns

here's my layout:

SIX Challenges in Just ONE Layout!!

If you ever find yourself in a bit of a rut, or if you're a scrapbook like a maniac like me, and just get stumped for new ideas, give a challenge a try. Yesterday I spent some time hopping through some of my favorite blogs (look over to the right for a list of a few) and wrote down all the challenges I came across that struck my fancy. It was a long list, but I was willing to give it a try. Based on the suggestions of 6 (yes SIX!!) different blogs, I created a sports-themed layout (suggested by These Are a Few of My Favorite Things) that starts with a sketch from Sketchabilities. I used a base of fabric as my background as asked by My Partner In Crafting Crime, and combined with holiday papers on a non-holiday layout per Scrapbookers Anonymous. I then embellished like crazy, adding glitter to my title fulfilling the glitter requirement from ABC Challenge, and checked off ALL required embellies as listed on "The Office" challenge at How Much Is Too Much (10 staples, 3 paper clips, ruled paper, office stickers, pen, hole punch, tape, numbers & typing-whew!!).

It was a fun way to scrapbook, and the most challenging was knowing when to stop- I still have a long list of other blogs challenging us to try their ideas this month, but I had to set a limit somewhere right? =) T