Start your week off right

Saturday is National Scrapbook Day, so there will be tons of giveaways.... and some are starting today and going throughout the week. Here's some links to get you started. Good luck.
There is a cool giveaway over at sei for a beautiful storage shelf from CSN Stores. CSN Stores has everything from speaker stands to home decor to cookware!


Scrapbook Trends blog is having giveaways every day this week. 


Megan Klauer has a ton of paper she wants to send to a new home.


American Crafts and Pebbles are teaming up for a week of giveaways. Leave a comment at both blogs.


Prima has a cute giveaway, too.


Sassafrass Lass has some yummies for one lucky commenter.

My fave

This week's challenge over at ScrapTiffany is to create with product from your favorite manufacturer. Currently (yes, it does change often), my favorite is My Mind's Eye. Their paper is always beautiful and their Lush line is pure genius. For this card, I used papers from their Home collection. I just love those greens.

I knocked out a bunch of challenges with this one card. It's monochromatic for the caardvarks challenge; the sketch is from Hand Stamped Sentiments; and it uses a flower stamp from JustRite Stamps to fit their Mother's Day challenge. Whew.

DT Call

Ever dreamed of being on a Design Team? Here's your chance. ScrapTiffany is looking for a new team.

All I can say is that this experience has allowed me to grow in this hobby. It has challenged me to do my best and try new things. You've got to give it a shot, too.

Here's all the info from Tiffany:

I am looking for a few good scrappers to be part of the next, ScrapTiffany Design Team!  The ScrapTiffany Blog has Weekly Challenges that DT members will participate in.

There are several positions up for grabs and I welcome applications from everyone, International scrappers too!

This will be a 6 month position, to start on July 1, and runs through December 31, 2010.

***All DT Submissions  must be in by Midnight, (Pacific Standard Time) Sunday June 13th, 2010.  The Design Team will be notified via e-mail by June 18th. 

If you've never been on a design team before, that's OK!  Just take the plunge, dive right in and submit your application.  I'm looking for Scrappers as well as Card Makers with a variety of interests, styles and personalities.  It may be you!

E-mail the following information to Tiffany@ScrapTiffany.com with Design Team Call in the subject line.

1.    Name, Address and Photo of yourself.  I want to get to know each person as I am looking at their applications and galleries.
2.   A little information about you, who you are, and how long you have been scrapping.  
3.   Are you a part of any online communities? (2peas, etc.)  If so, please list those websites, as       well as your username.
4.    Do you have a Blog?  If so, please give the address.
5.    Do you currently Design for anyone?  Who?  Any past Design Teams?
6.    Include Good Quality Photos of the following:
    ~4 Layouts
    ~1 Altered Project

***If you are a Card Maker, please submit 5 Cards.

*These projects do not need to be new, but they should show your current Style.

If you are selected to be a part of ScrapTiffany's Design Team, your responsibilities include:

~Joining in on the Weekly Challenges, One Layout, Altered Project or Card per week, due every Sunday afternoon.

~Actively promote ScrapTiffany on your blog and any other websites where rules allow.

~Participate in weekly Blog activities, such as Tutorials, Blog Posts or Sketch ideas.

~Take well photographed pictures of your layouts, as well as closer images of details when possible.

~ As a ScrapTiffany Design team member you will receive 50% off any kits or products at ScrapTiffany.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm looking for all types of Scrapbooking Styles, so everyone is welcome to apply!  Most of our Designers were First Time DT Members with ScrapTiffany, but have since joined one or more other Design Teams.

Good Luck!!  E-mail me with any questions, Tiffany@ScrapTiffany.com

Have you started....

... making your Mother's Day cards yet? You've got a week, so hop to it. I used some challenges to get me in the Mom's Day card making mood. This one's for my Mom-in-law.

I used the sketch at Everything But The Kitchen Sink. 

At first glance, I had no clue what to do with this sketch, but it was so fun once I got started. Although that big gold rub-on gave me a fit. It's originally the size of the card front, so I needed to trim it down (and curve it, but that's a whole other nightmare). Well, running the sides through my trimmer caused parts of the rub-on to rub off onto its backing. Grrrrr. With lots of tiny movements, I pieced it back together. However, when NOT cutting them down, these Jenni Bowlin rub-ons are perfection. This card also fits the Hero Arts challenge: Mother's Day.

Just call me Jolee

.... you know, as in Jolee's Boutique Stickers?

You see, I made those lollipops myself!! I twisted up some black and white polka dot tissue paper and wound it in a tight circle, then glued it on paper. I cut that out, attached a real lollipop stick to the back and covered it with cellophane. Here's the inside and a pink lollipop:

The story behind the photo: My daughter won the lollipop from our library, so I let her eat it on the way home. She was still sucking on it when I brought her lunch to the table. I asked her to put the lollipop down so we could pray. I peeked during the prayer (because it's just so cute to see squinted eyes and chubby hands folded in prayer) and saw that she had picked the lollipop back up, but was still praying away. One of my top kajillion favorite Mommy moments.

Why a speech bubble? It's the sketch challenge over at Moxie Fab World.

I love Cath's challenges. They push me to create something I NEVER would on my own. So fun. You've got to try it.

Making Memories Jewelry

Have you heard about Making Memories new create-your-own jewelry line?

 They're giving some away every day this week over on Facebook. Just go to the Making Memories Jewelry page, become a fan and leave a comment under where they tell you to.
I won today for leaving a comment yesterday!! It's that easy, kids!

A ScrapTiffany Sketch

This week at ScrapTiffany, the challenge is to use this sketch:

This was my first time creating a LO from a sketch. Shocking, I know. Me.... a card sketch addict. It came as no surprise that I loved working on a LO with a sketch as my guide. It really does make the process quicker. It also helped that I had the entire Basic Grey Origins line to use. Yep.... the entire line. I won it from Get Sketchy. All I had to do was leave a comment. I tell you about these giveaways....... have you been entering? You are missing out.

Back on topic: I had thoughts to turn this into a card sketch because that's what I was "hired" to do on this DT. But Tiffany said I could do LOs too, so hopefully it doesn't totally suck in comparison to the scrapbooking DT members. See for yourself.

My photography skills with LOs are still pretty terrible. In person, there is much more detail and texture. That's my Puddin' Head about a year ago. The funny thing is that now she is such a clean freak with food. She wipes her mouth and hands with a napkin throughout the meal because one good clean-up after she's finished is not soon enough. 

Why don't you give this sketch a try and post your LO over at ScrapTiffany.

Now for some giveaways!!!! You are going to enter, right?

Daily Marker

In My Mind's Eye   hurry! ends 4/22

Paper Crafts Connection

Ali Edwards  HUGE! Tons of winners. Don't miss out... I beg you.

SEI only until 5pm MST

Teresa Collins go back on Wed. for another chance. Winner announced Fri.

Prima is giving away this:

Is that enough for you? Good luck! And please leave me a comment any time you win. I'd love to celebrate with you.

Scraplifting is NOT a Crime

ScrapTiffany's challenge this week is to lift a technique. I saw this video by reneejul1 (sorry, I don't know her real name) over on youtube. She shows a cool technique that I hadn't seen before: to ink your embossing folder before running it through your Cuttlebug. Reneejul1 inked the whole image, so the embossed part would stay white. I thought it would be neat to ink the debossed side of the images. And then I thought about inking just one little part of the folder for a bigger impact.

I think the sentiment "You know it's Time to Fly" is just perfect with this one little bird popping off the page in red. It's deep.... lol.

Okay, confession time. I inked the little bird before running it through the Cuttlebug, but it wasn't enough color or coverage for me. I filled it in with a marker and put some distress Stickles on top.

Try this technique out.... and then submit it to the ScrapTiffany challenge.

My very first Gypsy cut

Yes, my husband gave me a Gypsy for Christmas and I immediately uploaded all my cartridges, but that was about it. It wasn't as user friendly as I hoped, and I hadn't taken the time to sit and read or watch how to use it. I was forced to last night.
My daughter's school is celebrating their teachers next week and I had volunteered to do a banner to be put up in the teachers' lounge before they arrive on Monday. That means it needed to be brought to school today, so I wouldn't have to go their early on a day my daughter doesn't even attend school.... plus, my in-laws are in town. All this meant I had to squeeze something out last night.
Thankfully, I already had this flip-flop garland that I made for my dear friend's 40th birthday party a couple weekends ago.

I was shocked to find that none of my 25 cartridges had a single flip flop image.... so I hand-cut these babies. Since I had this and a bunch of other beach decor, the parent committee decided the teachers' lounge will have a beach theme next week :) LOL...... but I still need a banner or sign.
<> Cut the message out on my Cricut and glue it on this garland. 
But each word will have to be one piece.
The Gypsy can weld the letters together to make one whole word.
But you don't know how to use your Gypsy.
You have no other option besides starting from scratch.
(I get out my Gypsy.)

And it was easy!! And I couldn't stop giggling at how cool it was turning out. I love my Gypsy and can't wait to learn more about her :) She needs a name, too.

Sorry for the crappy picture, but it was late, I just wanted to be done, and I was behind it standing on the bar in the basement in order to get it all in the frame.

I totally dig it!!

Hey There, Cupcake

This week's challenge over at ScrapTiffany is all about CUPCAKES!! And it brought with it a little drama for me. I was excited to use my Sweet Treats cartridge that I got on Black Friday, but hadn't used yet. It has lots of cupcakes!! Well, none of the cupcake cuts would work. Grrr! I looked onto the Cricut forum to see if anyone else had this problem and sure enough.. tons did. It just took a quick phone call to Cricut, and they are sending a replacement to me. Thankfully, Doodlecharms has a cupcake on it, too.

My color inspiration came from the Happy Birthday ribbon. I've had this ribbon forever and really wanted to use it. The sketch is from Paper Crafts Go-To Sketch Challenge #1. I chose Teri's sketch, but I flipped it upside down. Fun.

So what are you waiting for? You can do the ScrapTiffany Cupcake Challenge!!! And I heard there's a prize this week, too, so what have you got to lose? Good luck!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!
I love chocolate bunnies and colored eggs and new dresses and good food. It's all so much fun! But the real reason I am smiling and overflowing with joy is because Jesus is ALIVE! He is more powerful than the death my sin (and yours, too) required, and I can't help but celebrate. He makes all things new and is the Giver of second chances (ok, so I've used way more than that.... but He's still loving me!!). I can't explain how much I hope for you to know this joy, too.

And since Easter bunnies are still fun......

Here's a close-up so you can see that the bunny is flocked. So cute!

Okay, so you still can't really tell. Just trust me... it's cute. I cut him out from Doodlecharms (Cricut cart).

I worked from the current sketch over at CPS.

This card also fits the color challenge (and the requirement to use stitching) from Embellish Magazine and Everything But The Kitchen Sink's challenge to use string. Challenge #31 over at Cricutters Anonymous was to make an Easter project with your Cricut. Done.