Saturday, April 30, 2011

Tutorial for creating a layout....with the "Madame Butterfly" April Kit

 Hi everyone, Tina here to show you all how simple it is to create a layered page with your lovely April Kit!  Don't feel bad if you have a hard time even choosing what papers to use first. I always do! That will be your first battle:)
After choosing what papers you will use, have a rough idea of a design in your head.  **TIP** I sometimes use scrap pieces of paper or old cheap cardstock to precut and arrange my layout. This way your not cutting into your pretty papers, before you know exactly the sizes, arrangement, number of layers etc. 
Once you have your papers and a design idea, you can get started. Here is my paper I will use and first layer.
I decided to cut out the scroll on the page, so the layer doesn't cover it up. Using a pencil lightly draw a line along the added layer. This will give you a guide to how much of your design needs to be cut.
Now you are ready to make your cuts. Move your layer to the side. Using a craft knife make your cuts.
When you are finished cutting around your design you will be able to slide your first layer in, under the cutwork.
I will add a second and third layer on top of this one. Another square slightly smaller than the one that's been cut and a circle. Okay now the fun part! Once you have your basic design and photo in mind, you can start playing with your embellishments.Add your photo placement and layers.
Now that you have your whole page in front of you, time to ink and distress. **TIP** You can use wax paper instead of a craft mat to do your inking. It works just as well!
Add adhesive to your layers. I used Zots and some Clear Tacky Glue.
I added some rock candy stickles, diamond dust and some pearls to my embellishments.
Added the title from the stickers included in the kit. more stickles and diamond dust around the title.
Using molding paste and the Liquid Pearls included in the kit and the beautiful laser cut Dusty Attic Dress forms. I covered the Chipboard Dress Forms. You can see the complete tutorial for this at Dusty Attic

Add adhesive to your embellishments. I sometimes use hot glue. That is going to wrap up your page...YAY!! You are finished!!


Happy Creating!
Tina  xo

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Welcome to the Scrap That! Anniversary Celebration Blog Hop!


First stop on your “hop” is this blog, so if you are here you are in the right place!  We have EIGHT AMAZING  blogs for you to visit today, each with some beautiful projects that were created using the Scrap That! May Kit "Romantic Spring".  
First of all, you will need to visit all EIGHT blogs :) There will be a randomly drawn comment winner from each blog! That means EIGHT winners will receive a yummy package of Prima goodness!  Easy so far right?
**When you visit each blog be sure you leave a comment and become a follower so we know you have joined in. **
Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to swing by our * facebook page, and LIKE us, and then head over to our *social community and become a MEMBER.  
Plus, while you are hopping you will want to be looking for the special word on each blog. (you will want to jot these down as you go along)
Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words, create the sentence and email that sentence to friends@scrapthat.
All qualifying entries  will be entered into a draw for the GRAND PRIZE, a FULL Scrap That! Paper Crafting Kit!  
TO QUALIFY:
1) VISIT EVERY BLOG ON THE HOP, LEAVE A COMMENT AND BECOME A FOLLOWER
2) GO TO SCRAP THAT! FACEBOOK PAGE AND BECOME A FRIEND
3) GO TO THE SCRAP THAT! SOCIAL COMMUNITY AND BECOME A MEMBER
EMAIL THE SECRET SENTENCE TO FRIENDS@SCRAPTHAT.CA
This month we are offering a BONUS PRIZE of some delicious Dusty Attic chipboardWe want to give a special thank you to our good friends over at DUSTY ATTIC for their generous contribution of the gorgeous laser chipboard dress form in our May Kit.
Visit their NING community and become a member, then leave a comment in the thread under Scrap That! BLOG HOP which you will find under FORUM  - “Featured Discussions”  We will draw a random winner from all who leave a comment!  A big fat pile of Dusty attic pieces might be yours!


Scrap That! is also EXTREMELY EXCITED to share with you that we are sponsoring The Color Room for the month of May!! 
If you are not familiar with The Color Room, they are a fabulous online community of over 3,000 like minded people. They inspire creativity by offering a sketch and a color palette each and every week.  They also have tons of tutorials to push you even further!  
The color palettes during May will all be created using the colors of the ScrapThat! Kits!
It's a great place to spend some time, share your art and push yourself to be more creative and confident in this craft we call scrapbooking.  
 ~  Simply upload your work to The Color Room and the Scrap That! galleries each week to be considered for a RAK or a Spotlight Feature.  You will need to use EACH color in the revealed palette.  (you can add base colors of white, cream, black, brown or kraft) Use the sketch if you like, but it is not required.
~ Resize your image to  750 pixels, and no larger than 250kb.
~  Post your project before the next Friday palette reveal.
We hope you enjoy everything The Color Room has to offer and have fun participating!
Happy Scrapping!

Scrap That! Anniversary Kit "Romantic Spring"
Main Kit

Embellishment Add-On Kit

READY?  SET? OFF YOU GO!! to the first blog which is:


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Are You Ready to Get Your Hop On?

Join us for our Anniversary Celebration Blog Hop!
We will have EIGHT AMAZING blogs for you to visit.  Each blog will have some beautiful eye candy, in the form of some AMAZING projects from our design team using the newly released "Romantic Spring" Kit! 
We also have some fabulous prizes to give away!  
The hop will start at 10 am MST April 26th and will finish at  midnight on April 28th.

Here is a Sneak Peek of what you will get to feast your eyes on during the hop!


Saturday, April 23, 2011

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! April Newsletter Posted

Please visit the homepage of our community to learn about the upcoming festivities planned to mark the occasion of our One Year Anniversary!

We have some really terrific contests prizes and some BIG SURPRISES lined up for the month of May!!  So be sure and head over there.

You will also find the names of all the lucky winners of our March Blog Hop!  Perhaps it was YOU that won?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Where Has April Gone?

It is hard believe that it is time for another Scrap That! Sneak Peek!  It seems like such a short time ago we released our hugely popular Madame Butterfly Kit which sold out in days!

We are sure that our May kit will not fail to impress.  May is our one year Anniversary Celebration and we really wanted to create a special and memorable kit to mark the occasion. 

It all begins today with this tantalizing taste of what you can expect in our May kit.  Be sure and join us for our reveal Blog Hop which begins April 26th at 10 a.m. MST!! 

Making the most of your chipboard, die cuts and bling

Vicky here posting this month's design tips...

Sometimes we buy amazing embellies but before adhering onto your project, think about if this item can pull double duty and be used for something else first. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your expensive papers and embellies...

Lace-type die cut papers - before using them, mist these on their reverse side onto a plain piece of cardstock to be used as a cool background for another layout. You can also do this with plain dollar store doilies too... just slap a few in different sizes onto plain cardstock and mist away - the result is beautiful.

Die-cut shaped papers like large scallop circles and bracket frames - trace these onto cardboard to use as a template for another project.

Fine cut chipboard and cardstock die-cut pieces - you can use these as a mask before permanently adhering to another project. Gesso will easily prime and cover any misting on the chipboard so that you can start over to match it to your new project. You can also trace around things like branches and twigs to have homemade templates using as a stencil for later on.

Chipboard with adhesive backings - keep the backings to use as masks.

Bracket and scalloped shaped mini album chipboard - use these to repeat an outer edge design on plain cardstock and create your own unique paper die-cut shapes. The hand-cutting is worth every minute for the end result.

Bling transparency backing - keep these to use the indentations as a guide to make your own homemade bling. Simply poke holes where each gem was and then place over your project. Next, mark each hole with a pencil. Using dimensional paint, put paint dots on the pencil marks. I like this better than placing the paint directly on the transparency backing and cutting around... but that is another option.

I hope you find these little tips helpful to stretch your scrappy budget and add unique features to your projects!


Monday, April 18, 2011

Scrap That! Monthly Featured Member for April

Please help us give a warm welcome to our Monthly Featured Member

Dorothy Clee!!!!

Scrap That! radomly chooses one member each month to feature at our NING community site and our blog and in return we send a yummy package of goodies out to the Featured Member for participating!
We recently sent Dorothy a set of interview questions - just like we do with every random Featured Member to get to know them better - and here are her responses!


How would you describe your scrapbooking style?
I am always experimenting with different styles.  However, I love the distressed edges, machine stitching and layering the best.
Complete the sentenceI cannot scrap without... double sided tape.  I use glue a lot be it annoys me in that I get it all over my fingers.
How long does it take you from start to finish, to complete a layout?
This can vary.  If I have an idea in my head before I start it can take an hour however I have been know to come back to a layout over a few days until I am happy with it.
What kind of camera, photo editing software, die cutting machine and photo printer do you use?
I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 camera. (One day I may venturer to upgrade to a SLR). The photo editing I use is Photoshop elements,  This program is a lot more powerful than people often think.  I have a bigshot and a cuttle bug.  Mostly I print out what I want and cut it out.  I have a Canon printer for my smaller photos and a Epson A3 printer for my digital layouts. 
Tea or coffee?
I am definitely a tea drinker.  Sorry but I don’t even like the smell of coffee.
Are you a night owl...or an early bird?
I am an early bird.  As soon as daylight hits I am up and thinking of my next project.
What is your pet peeve?
Glues. I hate glues.  It doesn’t matter what brand I get it every where.
Got blog?
Do you prefer cards, layouts, altered items or mini albums and why?
Layouts are my favourite choice.  I can get very involved in layouts.  My two boys (30 and 25) like to look at layouts where as they wouldn’t look at a photo album.  I have done alerted items but I often think that the beautiful work in them will perhaps one day be thrown out as a dust collector.  I have done mini albums for some of the family members but prefer the 12’ x 12” layouts and digital layouts are also a favourite.  I often do a combination of both digital and traditional.
What is on your scrappy wishlist?
More punches.  It never ceases to amaze me how versatile punches are.
Who is your fave scrapbooking manufacturer and why?
Now that is a hard question as there are a few.  However, Dusty Attic is probably at the top of the list.  I just love their chipboard shapes and words.
Now that you know Dorothy a bit better, stop by her profile or her blog and say hello! And remember, we may pick YOU next to be our monthly featured member!
Sending happy scrappy thoughts your way!
*Ivana*

Monday, April 4, 2011

~Scrap That! Challenge~

Good morning! Ivana here with a little challenge...
You have until the 17th to play along, and you could win an awesome prize pack sponsored by Scrap That! if you do!
My challenge to you is to create a layout, a card or an altered item using only two main colours. You can add in neutrals such as black, brown, white and cream as much as you'd like...But try and stick to two colours such as I did in the layout below :) I used teal and yellow as my colours and added in bits of brown, white, cream and black also!

To be eligible for the prize pack:

1. Create a project using the challenge guidelines above

2. Join the Scrap That! community and post your project in the Scrap That! Gallery, including 'Scrap That! April Challenge' in your title

3. Then hop on to the forum and comment below the April Challenge thread, providing a link to your project or a photo of your project as a part of your comment

4. Post your challenge project on your blog (if you have one) and mention this challenge!

You can enter as many times as you like in the next two weeks to increase your chances of winning!

Good luck to everyone who plays along!!!!

Hope you have a happy day.
~Ivana~