Look What I Found!!!

Oh my goodness! Look what I found in my inbox - 6 amazing challenge layouts. I cannot wait to share these with you (because they are awesome). Are you ready?

Pam Casey - February Inspiration Challenge

This is wonderful - the heart and those colours are gorgeous. And isn't she a little cutie?

Leila Cassimira - February Inspiration Challenge

Look at all that texture and detail - fantastic!

Gillian Hume - February Inspiration Challenge

Here's another little cutie! Love that tree and all those flourishes.

Pamala Casey - February Sketch Challenge

Such amazing colours - and so much fun to look at!

Leila Cassimira - February Sketch Challenge

A great take on the sketch, and the design and papers are fantastic!

Gillian Hume - February Sketch Challenge

Are they not the cutest witches ever??? This is such a sweet, adorable layout.

Thank-you ladies for participating. Your work is superb, and so much fun to share.

Remember, tomorrow is your last day to send your February Challenge layouts in to me! The competition closes at midnight 29th February.

Little Shaker Cards

Hi all, Juanna here! How's everyone doing so far? Time seems to be flying by and we are at the end of February already. Amazed, wondering where time went sometimes. Earlier in the month of Feb, I participated in my first swap with some local scrappers from where I live. They called it the Artist Trading Card swap where we had to make identical cards of a certain size, in the same design and quantity based on the number of people participating. We had 14 of us so I had to churn out 14 identical cards. It was definitely quite an experience and fun too. In the end, each of us will get 14 different cards (including my own).

What I appreciated most out of this swap was the friendship forged. (: Maybe you might want to try it to with your own circle of scrappy friends. Feel free to leave a comment on this post for more information on how we did this swap.Alrighty, now let's get to the pictures and what I did with my card! I would like to call it my little shaker card.

You will need:
1. Cardstock
2. Vellum
3. Needle & thread (colour of your choice)
4. Paper Piercer
5. Sequins
6. Other embellishments of your choice

First, you will need to cut 2" by 3.5" of the cardstock and another one using the vellum. Both should be of the same measurement.

Next, with the cardstock and vellum placed on top of each other, use the paper piercer to poke holes all around. Poke holes that are close to one another. Do refer to picture for more clarity.

After doing so, you can begin to sew the cardstock and the vellum together using your needle and thread with the poked holes as your guide. Leave the top part open first, do not sew it together.

Pour some squeins into the opening of your card and then sew it shut such that sequins remain in the cardstock and vellum. Now you will have yourself a little shaker card!

You can start to embellish your little card the way you would like it. (:

Hope you enjoyed my little sharing! Thanks for popping by! (:

Adding Color to Embossed Dots

Hello friends! We hope that everyone is doing very well today! It's Leah here today and today is my last day with the fabulous Design Team here at Scrapbook Kits. I wanted to take a moment before I share my projects with you and thank Jules for having me. I've been here for awhile and have so enjoyed my time and appreciate the opportunity to have designed for this wonderful shop! So thank you!

Now today I am excited to share some cards I have made. We all know how wonderful embossing is and how it adds a wonderful extra detail to projects along with the added texture. But I wanted to show a way of using embossed dots as source for adding more color.

Here we go...
I've used the Cricut Imagine to print and cut this great birthday cake (and all the images for all the cards I'lll be showing today). I've embossed white core pink paper, sanded the dots til the white core shone through and then colored some, not all, of the white dots. It adds a punch of color and allows you to bring colors from the whole project into the background.

Here is another option. This one embossed with kraft card stock. No white core so no need to sand dots but another great way to add all that color! I love how this one turned out!

And lastly one more example, on the bottom piece I've embossed and distressed the dots but left those white because they showed up well on the brown paper. But on the top piece, I've again embossed the dots, sanded those til the white showed and then in the center only, refilled the dots with blue.

It's just wonderful what embossing can add, and then adding more color to the embossing can just add a whole other dimension of detail to your projects!

I hope you've enjoyed these ideas and again, thank you all for having me here at Scrapbook Kits! Have a good one!

Fun Boy Layout Kits!!

Looking for some fun cute boy layouts?  Well here ya go!!  Here are two great boy layouts that just scream fun!!  Lots of great bits an bobs that are just perfect on boy pages!!

"Smile " and "So Cute" - 2 single page layouts by Design Team member Erin Reed.
Included in this kit:
2 x cardstock; 3 sheets patterned paper (Fancy Pants and My Mind's Eye); 1/2 sheet Creative Imaginations die cut paper; Bella! chipboard alphas; Bella! rub-ons; Daisy D's hinges; tags; Happiness card; felt strips; Glitz rhinestone arrow; Teresa Collins brads; Twiddleybits chipboard shape; buttons; and Petaloo felt flowers.

Instructions also included.

Additional items required:
Adhesive of choice; black paint; red paint; circle template (or similar); black journalling pen; brown (or black) ink; paint brush; paper trimmer; and photos.

Erin R.
http://scraps-of-reflections.blogspot.com/

A Fool-proof Way to Improve your Photography!

That's something we all want to do, right?

But how do we find the time to fit it all in??
People are always telling me about groups & forums I can join

and challenges I can take part in, but honestly, often I don't 

have the time, and I'm sure I'm not the only one!

So what do I do?

Just not bother to try and take great photographs??

Oh no!  I happen to LOVE photography & be fortunate

enough to own some great equipment that I have been

purposefully acquired over the years.  

What I do is "stumble upon" some very good "professional" 

amateur photographers while I am blog-hopping 

scrapbooking blogs!

There are some exceptionally good photographers

out there who also happen to be great scrapbookers.

Well it goes hand in hand really...or rather it should!
Although this isn't always the case...

When I come across a blog with really good photos 

I OFTEN find that they have a "photography" page/tab 

somewhere along their navbar at the top of their blog 

or down their sidebar, and when I click that,

Hey Presto!  

All their photography-related posts show up!

I bookmark the link & set aside some time 

(often over the course of weeks) 

to read up on their "tips", the lenses they use etc, 

and this way I am acquire some non-biased information 

from someone who I know for sure KNOWS what they 

are talking about BECAUSE I have already seen that they 

are capable of taking fantastic photos!

To get you started here is a link to 

Karenika's Photography feed.

Bookmark it & take a read whenever you have a

moment to devote to improving your photography skills.

I can tell you from experience that with everything 

you read, you are bound to pick up more & more little "tidbits"

of useful information & slowly but surely you will become

a better photographer as you put each newly acquired

piece of information to the test.

Hope you found that helpful :)

Helen

1,2,3...go!

One, two, three...layouts in my inbox for the February Challenges.

Here's what I found to share:

Pauline Salomo - Inspiration Challenge

Ann Murphy - Inspiration Challenge

Amanda - Sketch Challenge

Wow Ladies! These are gorgeous. Love your takes on the challenges.

Such beautiful colours and designs.

So who else is going to join in the fun?

You have until the 29th February to send in your entry.

January's Winner Is...

Congratulations to Nicole Dorion. You are the lucky winner of the January Sketch Challenge. Those punched strips of papers, and folded strips of paper, just made this a gorgeous layout full of texture.

Please email your address details to me (scrapbookkitswithjules@gmail.com) and I will get a lovely prize out to you as soon as possible.

Thank-you to everyone who entered our January Challenges. Your work was amazing, and I cannot wait to see what you will share with us for February.

Cover it

If you have a photo that you really like but there is something in that photo disturbing you, you can either get rid of it in Photoshop or just cover it with a nice embellishment.
That is what I did on my page. I cut up a doily and simply sewed it on to the photo to cover the pillow in disturbing colors in the background. Easy - peasy


I added a second piece of doily to get balance and this is the page when finished.


Hope you like it ♥ /Petra

February 2012 Inspiration Challenge

How delicious, sweet and yummy, is this February Inspiration Challenge photo? There is so much to be inspired by - the colours, the flowers, the layers, the circular elements...

February 2012 Inspiration Challenge

(found on Pinterest via favanything.blogspot.com).

Erin Reed has used the inspiration to create a "Precious" card - how stunning!

Juanna Sia - Dear - Isn't this just a fabulous design and colours?

Kirsten Casey - Pure Sunshine - look at all those glorious layers!

Nick Knopke - Princess- Wow! Beautiful colours and beautiful flowers.

Helen Tilbury - Cherish Your Love - Just love those bright, bold colours and the design.

Annette Gearside - T42 - How precious is that photo? So darling, and so sweet.

Lisa Kamphuis - You Are One Of a Kind - such gorgeous pink papers, and look at her big blue eyes! Such a sweetie.

As you can see, our Design Team was inspired in many different ways. What about you? What inspires you the most? You have until the end of the month to create a layout using that inspiration. Please share it with us by sending the completed layout to scrapbookkitswithjules@gmail.com.

Competition closes at midnight 29th February 2012.

The lucky winner will be announced early March, and will receive a bundle of scrapbooking goodies.

February 2012 Sketch Challenge

This month, our February sketch has been designed by design team member Amy Bender. It's a great fun sketch with that banner!

Let's see how our Design Team members have been inspired:

February 2012 Sketch Challenge - designed by Amy Bender

Petra Offrel - Sweet Dreams

Don't you just love that misting?

Annette Gearside - Cherish

What beautiful colours and layers!

Nick Knopke - First Tooth

Love the bright colours and paint splatters!

Michelle Wallace - Sweet Baby

How cute are those photos? Love the borders.

Now, it's your turn. Let's see how the sketch inspires you. Have the DT used a technique or element that you admire? Well, now's the time to try it. :-)

Please send your completed layout to scrapbookkitswithjules@gmail.com.

Entries close at midnight on February 29th (it is a leap year, isn't it?)

The lucky winner will be announced early March and will receive a bundle of scrapbooking goodies.

The Last Of The January Sketch Challenge Entries...

Wow, is it me, or did January just fly past?

Time's up for the January Challenges, and I have two last Sketch Challenges to share:

Debbie Eustace - Delicious Sweet Memories

Pamala Casey - Happy Birthday

Thank-you to both ladies for their wonderful entries, and thank-you to all the other ladies who have entered January's Sketch and Inspiration Challenges. I will post the winner's name in the next couple of days. Good luck!