Oh Happy Day!

Hi everyone! It's Monday again, and that means I'm back to share more projects with you. I managed to get a whopping 3 layouts and 4 cards out of the Grand Adventures Scrapbook kit and add on this month. I've already shared most of my projects but I still have two left! 

This card was super simple to put together. I cut a few squares and rounded the corners. Then I stamped a sentiment and fussy cut it out. I added a Prima e-line flower from my stash by attaching it with a brad from the add on. I also used two rub ons and a bit of bling to finish the card.

I was going for a kitschy country look on this card. I tried to make it appear quilted by layering the border strips. I also drew faux stitching to add to the look. I added a flower from my stash and I used a big brad to pull all of the colors together. I used another stamped sentiment and I adhered a punched heart to add a little more interest.

That's it for me this month! Don't forget to link your layouts if you're entering the April blog scrapbook challenges. You only have a few days left.

Making My Mark

Two weeks ago, as I prepared for a trip to D. C., I was throwing a couple of books in my backpack (I have yet to join the "Kindle Klub"), when I realized I didn't have a bookmark. Sure, my boarding pass would do, but I was still in scrapping mode, and thought I could do better. I had some scraps on my desk and created the cutest bookmark with them. Then yesterday when I was deciding on what to make with the last of my Scraptastic scrapbook kit scraps, I revisited that idea and made another lovely tag. I enjoyed sifting through my fiber stash to find bits and pieces that matched the colors in that striped paper.

I cut a sturdy tag shape out of chipboard and covered it with a mix of paper scraps and stickers. After adhering everything, and before adding the fiber and brad, I brushed on a coat of gloss medium. Start to finish, this cute little project took less than 15 minutes, excluding drying time.

Here is the bookmark I made with the Great Adventures kit scraps:

Now I can be in the middle of two books (there's usually one in the car and one on the bedside table), and have my place marked securely in each. No more dog-eared pages or turned in book jackets! I'm also thinking these would make great stocking-stuffers for kids and other bibliophiles who still read the "old-fashioned" way!

Do you often have your nose in a book, Nook, or Kindle? Any must-reads?

Nothing but scraps ....

...that's what's left of my Great Adventures scrapbook kit! I have had a wonderful time using the kit this month, and it's even more fun to be able to show them to you here!

That great piece of MME "Curious" Planks paper was the perfect backdrop for a photo of my grandson Ethan feeding a giraffe last summer. The muted colors in the monthly scrapbook kit really worked well with the photo, and I couldn't resist adding a few of the fun stickers. This is what I came up with:

I also needed two birthday cards recently; I always struggle with finding paper for "the guys", but again my Great Adventures kit was perfect. I freehand cut some banners, then punched and foam-dotted some circles to create a card for a grandson:

For this card (which went to a son in law), I found a tag in my stash and ran it through my computer for the sentiment. The "notebook paper" is cardstock that I embossed with a Tim Holtz folder, then punched with a border punch and inked up:

Do you save all the scraps from your kit, no matter how tiny? I do! I just throw them in the plastic bag with the kit. They come in handy for making little embellishments and punches. Because I really wanted to use up some scraps from this scrapbook kit, I did one more layout. I even used the striped strip on the bottom of the "Cameron" paper! The design is inspired by a sketch at Creative Scrappers.

I still have a few scraps and some stickers left; probably enough for a couple of cards and, if I am really resourceful, maybe even one more layout.

Thanks for letting me be April's guest designer, Jessica; this has been a blast! And thank you to the readers who stopped by :)

4th April Challenge

Hi everyone! It's Heather, and I'm here with the fourth April scrapbook challenge. The challenge is really simple! Create a page that uses the sketch I've provided as inspiration. Twist: Use at least one circle somewhere on your page and include visible journaling.

I based the sketch and challenge on this layout that I created earlier this month with the Grand Adventures monthly scrapbook kit. You've already seen it here on the blog, but I thought I'd include it again as inspiration.

That's it! I can't wait to see what you come up with. You have until midnight on May 2, 2012 to submit your entries to all of the April scrapbook challenges for a chance at the prize drawing.

She Loves Clowning Around

Happy Monday! It's Heather again... I've been scrapping up a storm with the amazing Great Adventures kit and I have another project to share! I was really excited when I saw how well the colors of the kit matched these photos because I have been wanting to scrap them for a while. 

Jordan absolutely adored her Jojo costume from the Jojo's Circus TV show. She wore it for several years on Halloween and she also would randomly ask to wear it around the house. It was the cutest thing and it's definitely a memory I want to keep.

I got my mojo flowing by searching the web for some inspiration. I was really happy to find a sketch by Diana Fisher that inspired this page.

I wanted my layout to have a playful, circus-like feel. I used a bunch of different letters to create a whimsical title, and I added Stickles to the Doodlebug letters. The first word of the title is matted on a sticker from the book that came in the kit.

I also wanted the rub on banner to be a bit longer, so I rubbed it on cream cardstock before cutting it apart. I stretched it by adding the ribbon and brad piece from the add on. I added more Stickles to the banner and the ribbon. The rub ons went on so smoothly! I have had issues with rub ons in the past but these were fantastic.

Don't forget to enter the April blog challenges! 

An Art Journal Page

I started an art journal several months ago. It's a fun little book where I get to play with my supplies and document things that might not make it onto a scrapbook page. To streamline the process, I like to use either scraps from recent pages or leftover kit contents. The colors are already matched which is a great time saver. Playing with scraps, I'm also not as worried about using up something valuable that I might want or need later. Double bonus!

Remember that paper chain I used as a mask last week? It's found a place on a journal page, along with some scraps and stickers from the Great Adventures kit:

Do you have an art journal, smash book, or similar? What do you do with your scraps?

Wish You Were Here

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had an amazing weekend. I got a lot of projects done with my Great Adventures kit and I'm here to share two cards with you. 

I loved the sticker on the card below so much that I decided to design the entire card around it. I layered the sticker on patterned paper and cut it out with scalloped scissors. I used pop dots to give it some dimension, and I stamped with a banner stamp from the add on. I added a tiny bit of bling to the rub on to complete this card.

The next card is really simple, but I love how it turned out. I wanted to use more of the brads from the Great Adventures Add On so I hand cut three hearts and used the brads to anchor the hearts. Once I attached them, I pulled the sides of the hearts up to make the card more dimensional. I stamped a sentiment to finish the card. 

Don't forget that using your scraps to make cards is a frugal and handy way to keep cards on hand for special occasions! Heather

Paper Chain Masking

Several weeks ago I happened upon an adorable paper chain pattern, which I sketched out immediately and set aside for a future project. I thought of it again when I began to work on this layout with the photos of kids running up and down the yard. It seemed a good fit, and I ended up using it to create an interesting title block for my page. I folded a strip of paper to fit the pattern and carefully cut around the silhouette. Instead of using the chain itself on the page, I stretched it out and used it as a mask, adhering it to the paper with repositional adhesive. Then I got out my ink pad and blending tool. The Barn Door Distress Ink matched the colors in the Great Adventures kit perfectly. After blending the ink onto the mask and into the background, I added some paint splatters in yellow and blue. Only after the paint had dried did I carefully peel off the mask, setting it aside. (You'll see in a future post how I put it to use as well.)

After completing three full pages with this kit (and I layer to the max), I had a lot of scraps hanging around my workspace. I cut several flag shapes from three of the patterns and arranged them sideways on the page, leaving just enough room for journaling.

In this closeup picture of the title block, you might be able to see my letter treatment. In order to help the white letters stand out, I used a Slick Writer to add dashes on each of the letters. Then I outlined them, tracing the letter shapes as close as possible with a regular black journaling pen. Much better.

How are you doing with your April kit(s)? Are you down to scraps yet? Next week, I've got another project done with bits and pieces leftover from my kit. Stay tuned.

April Guest Designer!

Good morning! 


My name is Barb Prendergast and I am a "life artist". I live in central Illinois with my husband of 28 years, and I'm a small town girl through and through. We have four grown children, three children in law, and seven grandchildren (the newest little guy arrived Monday, April 9). I'm a former newspaper reporter/editor and marketing director. Currently I work as the school age program teacher for a local child care center. I started scrapbooking when my husband gave me my first digital camera and I discovered the scrap aisle at Walmart. I love scrapbooking because it allows me to express my creativity and use my writing and design skills, while preserving my family's history in a meaningful way. My favorite subjects to scrap are my family (what a surprise!), heritage photos and those everyday moments that otherwise might be forgotten. I am so excited to be the April guest designer here at Scraptastic!


This month I'm working with the fun and fabulous "Great Adventures" kit. It's perfect for scrapping the boys in my life! Loving everything about it -- the patterns, the colors and the cute stickers and die cuts. Today I have two layouts to show you, featuring two of my four grandsons. 


The first includes my 12 year old grandson, Ryan. He does not like having his picture taken, and when he saw my camera he said, "OK Grandma, ONE picture. JUST ONE." 

I die cut the big circle. The borders are punched circles cut in half and adhered along the top and bottom of the square patterned paper. Everything was from the kit except the button and twine.


My 6 year old grandson Cameron recently lost his first tooth. Unlike his cousin, he loves having his picture taken and was more than happy to pose for his mom:

I love the sticker book that came with the kit and used several here, along with a die cut. The star, yellow sticker and round sticker are popped out with foam dots for extra dimension. I cut the strip of tickets in between some of the sticker motifs and then adhered them back together for a little more definition. For this one, I raided my stash for those small type stickers and the chipboad GRIN -- I wanted to make a statement with my title! 


And I'm wondering if anyone else does this: I wanted to use the fair ticket motif paper as my background, but I didn't want to waste most of the paper just for that small border that shows. So ..... I used my paper cutter to cut a 10.5 x 10.5 square out of the middle and just adhered the turquoise cardstock over the resulting hole, then built my layout. Now I still have a large enough piece for another layout; and when the page is in my scrapbook album, no one will know there's something missing. 


Are you scrapping this weekend? We're visiting our newest grandson Saturday (I was there for his birth, but my husband hasn't met him yet) but I'll be scrapping tonight and Sunday.


Thanks for looking -- have a FANTASTIC week! 

My Sweet Baby Boy

Hi! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. It's Heather again, and my kids will be going back to school tomorrow. They've really enjoyed their week off and so have I, but I'm dreaming of some scrappy time. I've been focusing on hanging out my kids, so I only made one layout this week. This is the page that I created. 

I've been using my Cricut more lately because I found dust on it a while back. Realizing how little I'd used it and how much I paid for it was definitely a shock! As a result, I've been specifically looking for opportunities to use die cuts on my pages. When I saw this photo of Brandon, I knew I wanted to cut a tree out of the wood grain paper that came in the Great Adventures kit. 

Here is a closer look at the title work. I used the tiny alphabet from the Great Adventures add on to make the title longer and more visually appealing. I layered two flowers underneath the title and I added a brad to anchor it all together.

This month's stamp add on really inspired me. I haven't stamped this much in years. I really enjoy stamping on cardstock and cutting the stamped image out so I can use it to embellish my pages. That's what I did with the beautiful text filled star stamp. 

I'm off to enjoy the last day of Easter break. Rumor has it that there will be a sprinkler involved! I hope you all have a wonderfully scrappy day.

One Kit, Many Looks

Believe it or not, this page was crafted using the same Scraptastic kit (Great Adventures) that produced the layout in Thursday's blog post. I love the very different looks I can get with this one amazing kit. Here I left out everything that had red in it (even cutting the My Mind's Eye plaid so that the red stripe was absent). The result is a very calming color scheme and perfect for these beach pics of my youngest son. The candid photo on top tickles me. After a wet morning in the gulf, he's probably licking the salt off his lips!

I also love the weathered look of the background paper. It gives the page a great outdoorsy look to match my pictures. As you can see, I'm still having fun with banners. This time I combined tickets cut from one of the patterned papers with various banner shapes cut from other papers in the kit. The flags and tickets were then adhered to a bit of baker's twine from last month's Be Amazing kit and attached to the page.

Looking at this layout I'm brought back to that white sand, clear water, salt air, and the sound of the surf. Is it only April? Summer is too far away!

Great Adventure Kit

Hello and Happy Friday!

I'm back to share two of my newest layouts using the April Great Adventure Kit and beautifully coordinated add-on!

BE A SHOWOFF

The 'be a showoff' sticker for this page was just perfect! I loved the colors in this kit! I did a lot of layering with the rub-ons. Rub-ons are great to add a little bit of extra texture to a page but keep the dimension down.

Smile, Here's Looking At You

Love the grey, yellow and bit of teal of this layout. As you may know I always try to match my pictures to the colors of the kits. I did add the bakers twine from my stash just to give the page some extra texture. 

Here's a closeup of some layering I did. The word stickers are great! I know I'll be using those more and more since I have so many extra left over.

If you didn't  have a chance to see the kit yet, take a peak at it:

and here's that perfectly matching add-on!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Melanie

1st April 2012 Blog Challenge

Hi everyone! I'm up with the first challenge for April and it's going to be a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) flower challenge. Each Great Adventure kit comes with shapes from an October Afternoon Sasparilla "flower sack" pack. There are stars, circles and flower shapes in complimentary patterns and colors. The fact that they come in different sizes makes them great for piling on top of each other to create a layered embellishment. My challenge for you is to make your own layered flower, with a minimum of 3 paper layers. You may use kit contents or cut your own shapes from any patterned paper that you wish. Layer three or more shapes, in succeedingly smaller sizes, one on top the other. Finish off with a button or brad and there you have it!

Before layering the papers for the flower on my page, I inked them slightly and curled the edges of the two bottom layers. This helped the papers to stand out against each other and gave my flower added dimension. After adhering my flower layers, I punched holes corresponding to those on the button, threading and tying it on with twine from last month's Be Amazing kit.

These kinds of flowers are a favorite of mine because they are fun, whimsical, and, depending on the papers used, not too girly for boy layouts! To complete the 1st April 2012 Blog Challenge, you will need to embellish a scrapbook page or card with one or more of your handmade layered flowers, using at least three patterned papers. Then use the inlinkz tool below to submit your entry. You have until midnight on May 2, 2012 to submit your entries to all of the April challenges for a chance at the prize drawing.

Our Many Adventures

Happy Monday everyone! It's Heather again, and I'm back to share my first April project. I am SO in love with the Great Adventures kit. Jessica did an amazing job combining manufacturers this month and I love the wood grained patterned papers.

When I searched for pictures to use with my kit, I came across these photos of my Uncle with my son and they made me smile. Every time we go over to my grandparents' house to visit, Brandon steals their walking sticks. My Uncle took pity on him and made him his own walking stick. They were heading off for a walk when I took these photos.

I did a ton of layering on this page! I also used the die cut shapes and stickers all over my layout. Here's a closer view of the title piece and the cluster I created on the upper left side of the page.

Have you seen the fantastic stamp add on this month? I couldn't resist using it on the bottom of the page. I used dark black Staz-On ink to stamp on the charcoal colored cardstock.

Here's a look at the cluster under the smaller photos... I coated the top of one of the die cut pieces with Rock Candy Stickles. The rub ons worked really well on the cream colored cardstock. I rubbed them on and then fussy cut them so they would stand out a bit more on my page. 

I hope I've inspired you to dig into your April kits. Don't forget to finish your pages for the March challenges!

In The Zone

Whew...I've been in the zone lately...completely focused on the funtastic papers in Scraptastic Club's April kit, Great Adventures. So far I've completed three pages and am amazed at the different looks that can be created from one coordinated kit. The page I am featuring today, Zone Team, uses a cool chevron paper from American Crafts. I cut out a couple of zig-zag chevron strips and separated them from each other with a carefully spaced row of vertical cardstock strips on which I placed my title. Wow! Instead of getting lost in all that color, those letters really pop!

Everything on the page (except for the addition of a swimming brad) is from the April kit. 

Here's a little trick that I use to make ordinary stickers look more dimensional on my page. I love to layer them, but first I back each sticker with cardstock cut slightly smaller than the original. I arrange them overlapping here and there and use pop dots to lift some up over others for even more dimension. I love the layered look, and with the plethora of stickers in this month's kit, you can layer to your heart's content.

How do you use stickers on your projects?

the April kits are here.....

TGIF my Scraptastic friends!!!

I hope that you have all had a great week...what's everyone's plans for this weekend??

Who's scrapping? I hope to find some scrappy time, especially because here's what I'd like to be playing with....

Great Adventures Kit

Great Adventures Add-On

I Feel Pretty Kit

I Feel Pretty Add-On

April 2012 Stamp Add-On

The April kits are officially up for sale....hurry up and scoop yours up today before they are gone. There are not too many of them left.

I hope that you all have a great weekend!