My Scraptacular Blog!

New Look..!

2010-03-23T02:41:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get to sleep after trying for quite a while.. so I decided to re-design my digi-scrap blog too. It seemed to take less time than the family blog.. maybe because I'd just done it once, so everything was fresh in my mind. I really like how it turned out. I used Jennifer Barrette's kit "My Heart Soars" to create the look. Here's a pic of her full kit to give you an idea of how awesome it is:

Happy Digi-Scrappin' Day!!!

2009-11-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

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What a great day to celebrate, right?? I'm so excited about the celebrations over at ScrapMatters today. There are lots of fun games, a new gigantic Collab Kit made by the amazing designers, and a 45-blogs-long Blog Train! Wowzahs!

You should have come here via Suzanne's blog. If you missed some stops, head to the SM Blog to get started!

Here's what the fabulous collab kit looks like:

Isn't it great? Don't forget it's FREE with a purchase of $12 or more this weekend only at ScrapMatters.com! When I think about the idea of "a slice of life" out of my every day routine, all I can think of is chasing my toddler around, cleaning up messes, and taking Diet Coke breaks! What's YOUR slice of life like??

This giant collab kit is full of tons of elements, and here's a fun cluster I put together for ya (image is linked to 4shared):

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Thanks for stopping by! You should now be on your way to Jen D's blog! I hope you're enjoying the ride!!

I'm at the Creative Mama!!

2009-08-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

If you remember, my friend Angie asked me to guest-host on her blog, thecreativemama.com, and write a column for her about digi-scrapping. It took me a while to get it written, but I finally did, and she posted it on her blog today! So cool! Click on the pic above to get to my post!

Chugga, chugga choo-choo!!

2009-08-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the THIRD stop on this awesome ScrapMatters Birthday Blog Train! You should have come here by way of Britt's blog. I hope you enjoy your stay here at my humble bloggy, blog!

Some of my very good friends throw a really fun 4th of July party every year. Even though it's already well into summer by then, it really helps kick off the summer barbecue and party season for us! It's a fun pot-luck and great time to hang out with friends, let the kiddos swim in the pool, and enjoy each other's company! This year was our daughter's first time going - last year she was only 10 days old on the 4th so we stayed home! We really enjoyed bringing her and letting her play with the other kids at the party! She was so cute I almost immediately scrapped pics of her from the day:

I hope you are having lots of fun backyard barbecues this summer and have a good time finishing out the ride on this amazing blog train! Look below to find a fun element cluster to make your scrapping a little easier when you get the incredible mega collab kit, A Perfect Picnic - yours FREE with a $15 purchase this weekend over at ScrapMatters!

(Image linked to 4shared)

Thanks for stopping by! Next on your stop is Maria's blog! Enjoy the ride!

Happy Birthday ScrapMatters.com!!

2009-08-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

My favorite scrapping site, ScrapMatters is TWO years old! There's going to be tons of celebrating, games, speed scraps, and FUN over there all weekend long, so you should check it out! I'm even hosting a speed scrap Sunday night! Be there, or be SQUAAARE!

If you play, you will win this CUTE paper pack:

Also, check out this really cute, HUGE mega collab kit from the designers at SM! Spend $15 at ScrapMatters this weekend, and you get this kit for FREE! (A $12 value! Awesome!) I hope you'll come help us celebrate!!

Two SUPER cute kits to try to win!

2009-07-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Over at the Sunshine Studio they're giving away both of these adorable kits!

Click HERE to try to win either kit!

Awesome SS!

2009-07-11T23:16:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun hosting my first SS! This is the LO I made this morning that I based my instructions off of. It's been really cool to see what people come up with using my instructions! To see their amazing creations, go to the gallery HERE! I'm so glad so many could join in! It made things so much more fun!

Speed Scrap tomorrow night!!

2009-07-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited to be hosting my first Speed Scrap over at ScrapMatters tomorrow night!! It's going to be at 9p.m. Pacific time.. perfect time for us West Coast Scrappers! I'm a little nervous, too! But anyway, look at this CUTE alpha you get if you join in! Aren't you excited???

Sale at the Funky Playground

2009-06-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Sarah Bennett's Products are on sale over at the Funky Playground! Everything is HALF OFF! Check it out!

First of all, I don't even like purple, but I LOOOVE this kit! That plum color is gorgeous with the green and tan. Plus, the elements are awesome!

This kit is great for beach trips, boat rides, whale watching adventures.. whatever! It's adorable!

She also just made these two packs of worn out paper mats. Who doesn't love a good worn out paper??

And finally, check out this adorable alpha - perfect for preschool graduations or end-of-schoolyear pics!!

Check out these LOs I made with her kits! CUTE, right??

Each product image is linked to the item in the store! Go check them out!!

ps: this is a one day only sale! Ends today! Go get these kits!!

Digi-Scrapping column...

2009-06-07T19:10:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine asked me to write a "guest column" on her blog about digi-scrapping. I have a couple weeks to put something together, so I thought I'd ask around for some tips. Please feel free to answer any or all of my questions!

1. If you were talking to someone who is BRAND NEW to digi-scrapping, what's the best tip you would tell them?

2. How do you find inspiration for a LO?

3. What's your digi-scrap organization style?

4. What are your favorite sites for LO inspiration?

5. What are your favorite freebie sites?

6. Where do you go to print your LOs, and do you prefer single page printing, or full book orders?

Anything else you can think of??

And the winner is...

2009-06-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

(Click above to go to the announcement on the blog..)

I got on another CT!!

2009-06-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I found this great designer Sarah Bennett through the Ikeagoddess' blog and noticed that she was having a CT call. I applied thinking it couldn't hurt just to apply.. and today I found out I got on her CT!! She just started selling at Funky Playground Designs. I LOVE her designs and can't wait to get started scrapping with her kits!! Yay for CTs!! Click on the image above to go to her blog, or click HERE to go to her store at the Funky Playground!

2009-06-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

It's OVER! I can't believe it. In one month I made 140 layouts. This was awesome! We won't know how the winners are until the end of the week, probably.. it's going to be a long week! If you'd like to see all of my layouts, go HERE.

Aside from everything, this has gotten my name out at ScrapMatters and I was approached by one of their designers to be on her CT! It's my first CT spot and I'm so excited!! Go HERE to see her blog, or HERE to see her shop!

Now back to real life!!

What I made on Thursday:

2009-05-09T09:16:00.001-07:00

I'm currently working on my Project 365 LO's, so if I get caught up on those by the end of this weekend (which is my goal..) I'll post a slideshow of them all, because it's a lot! Aaaand, I'm hoping that making them will take me from the current #7 spot in the QOS challenge to at least the top three! We shall see!!

I did FIVE yesterday!!

2009-05-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

First, this was for the NSD "Choose your own adventure" challenge:

The Speed Scrap:

Tuesday Template challenge:

Grand Theft LO Challenge:

And the Saturday Special from 4/25:

Aaaaaand.. a super late night entry..

2009-05-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep. So I made this instead.

I can't keep up!

2009-05-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Some of the girls over at SM have over 20 LO's already! So far I only have nine. I wanted to get three more done tonight, but every attempt ended in hideous disaster. I just closed PSE and will try again tomorrow. These four LO's are from yesterday and today.

At least I'm getting Emily's baby book done.

Queen of Scraps

2009-05-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

So, I'm trying to win Queen of Scrap over at Scrap Matters. So far, along with the "roll on over" LO below, I've made five LOs. There are girls that have made way more though, so I need to step it up! Hopefully I can get more done tonight!

A fun SS!

2009-05-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, it has been SO long since I last scrapped. But, Melanie convinced me to do a SS tonight on ScrapMatters, and this is what I came up with! Now I want to win Queen of Scrap.. but that means I need to do a LOT more scrapping!!

Melanie's Inspiration Point challenge.

2009-03-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

Melanie is in charge of a challenge at ScrapMatters.com called Inspiration Point. Basically, she found a non scrapbooking picture from somewhere on the web, and the challenge is to create a LO inspired by that picture. It's pretty open to interpretation.. you can just use it to get colors for your LO, do a blended photo, whatever you want. I loved the look of this photo, though, and I wanted to use the idea of the grey side and greener sides somehow in a picture. I love how my LO eventually turned out.

Here is the inspiration picture. Doesn't it look so cool?

I found this picture to work with. It's from our trip to the Sequoias last summer when everyone was here on the weekend of Emilly's blessing.

I started a new document in PSE, put the picture in, and got out some brush strokes. Then I layered a B&W version of the picture over the brush strokes in the top right corner, and then a green tinted version of the picture over some more brush strokes in the bottom left corner. It's kind of subtle, but I love how it turned out! Can you see the difference?

I really love my finished LO, too! Everything for the whole LO came from different Erica Zane kits. I love her stuff. And I think the page is so pretty!! What do you think??

Desing Star at SM

2009-03-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so there's an awesome designer challenge over at ScrapMatters.com. They're looking for new designers, and this week the contestants are uploading mini kits based on THESE great colors:
I'm downloading like a crazy person right now.. all the mini kits are free, of course. They're all so great too! So, go to Scrap Matters, sign up for their site, and start downloading all these amazing freebies!!

Back to scrappin'!

2009-02-28T22:14:00.001-08:00

I've returned! The computer problems are (almost) fixed! Peter's got all my files onto a laptop he got from his dad and fixed up.. it needs more memory, but otherwise works great! So I took it for a test drive tonight and made this cute LO! (And yes, I used the same kit in this LO as I did for my blog BG! Haha, I love Erica Zane..) The computer problems will be even more fixed one Peter builds the new computer, and installs wireless into the laptop - then I can scrap from the living room while watching TV! That will be awesome! I'm just happy that I can scrap again!

Busted...

2009-02-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Peter has been working on the computer. It's got a virus and the hard drive needs to be wiped clean. He moved all of my important files (LO's, pictures of the baby, and scrapbooking kits) to an external hard drive last night.. Unfortunately, I'm unable to scrap until further notice. That means I probably even have to miss Melanie's speed scrap tonight! I'm so bummed!! Hopefully everything will be fixed soon...

Project 365 LO's...

2009-02-09T00:36:00.001-08:00

I'm way behind on making my LO's for my Project 365 pictures. There are two reasons: 1) I have to edit all the photos still, and that's time consuming, and 2) While I do love what I came up with for my January pages, I'm not 100% sold on it. I like how simple and clean it looks, but I think it'll make for five boring weeks of LO's. I need something more to make each week stand out just a little. I'm going to keep the pictures along the top in squares, and I want to keep the calendar and tab elements pretty much the same. I'll probably use those elements all year long. February's LO's will be on a pink BG and I'll think of a new way to align the pictures.. But anyway, I need some ideas for how to make each week a little different so it's a bit more visually interesting.

Anyone have any ideas??

Welcome to my new blog!!

2009-02-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I've done it. I decided that if I really want to be on the Scrap Matters CT, I've got to get more serious about my digital scrapbooking. That means doing a lot more scrapbooking during the week (I'm shooting for around one LO per day), trying to do as many of the SM challenges as I can, and looking for tips and ideas as much as possible. I'll be posting LO's and hopefully more in the next months for your viewing, and critiquing pleasure. I'm trying to get better at this, so I may ask for advice or tips, and I plan on linking tutorials and great sites as I figure this stuff out some more! Enjoy your stay!

ps: the pic is of my most recent LO for the Road to Scrap challenge, and I loved how it turned out!

pps: do you love my blog background I designed???