ScrapThat! December Kit Reveal and Blog Hop!

Welcome to the ScrapThat! December Kit Reveal and Blog Hop!

If you came here from Tracey Gregory's Blog then you are on the right track!

 We are so excited to show you our wonderfully Christmas themed December kit featuring the beautiful "Turtle Dove" Collection by Kaisercraft.

We are so thrilled to have the amazing Robin Shakoor join us as our December Guest Designer!

We have more exciting news as we welcome Tracey Gregory, our November Guest Designer, to the ScrapThat! family as an official DT member!!

So, without further ado . . .introducing our 
~ December Kit Reveal ~ "Memories. . ."

Featuring Kaisercraft's "Turtle Dove" line, this kit combines elegant  vintage images with classic Christmas colors, so whether you prefer  shabby, classic or vintage style pages ~ you can do it all with this kit!

Included are poinsettias and holiday leaves from WOC and Green Tara, multiple ribbons from May Arts, Christmas chippies from Fabscraps and more! The Prima flowers in the add-on are such a great mix of textures from neutral to blingy!

December Main Kit:

Flower Add-On $12.99

Embellishment Add-On $14.99

Paper Add-On $9.99

More details on this breathtaking Christmas Collection can be seen here: ScrapThat! Store

We are currently accepting new Kit Club Members.

For more information, complete the form on the link below:

New Subscriber

Look what Amarilys created for December's sketch challenge!

See details about the challenge here: Sketch Challenges

Everyone is welcome to participate, all entries due by December 15.

Our Blog Hop features 6 fantastic blogs from our Design Team. We have been scrapping away and
are so excited to show you our creations!
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Here is what I created with the gorgeous December Kit - be sure and check my blog later this month for details and close-ups of all my layouts!

"First Noel"
Main Kit

This is the layout I created based on Amarilys' beautiful December Sketch! The picture is of my son on his first Christmas Eve in the cutest little reindeer jumper. 

"The Best Gift"
Main Kit, EAO, FAO, PAO

This layout was inspired by my scrappy friend Frank Garcia's layout entitled "Temps" and the song "The Best Gift" (which you can find on Barbra Streisand's Christmas Album). I wanted the page to look like unwrapping a gift - the best gift I ever got, my tiny baby boy, who is about 6 weeks old in this photo.

"Joy"

Main Kit, EAO, FAO

My final page with the kit - I wanted to go with a lot of silver and gold on this page with a few splashes of colour. Everything got misted with a generous coat of gold mist too!
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Our SPECTACULAR December Blog Hop Prize is a ScrapThat! April "Serendipity" Main Kit featuring the amazing Sweet Nothings Collection from Kaiser Craft.

To qualify for this month's FABULOUS Prize you must complete the following:

* Visit each blog listed on the hop to see what each designer has created using this month's kit and sketch
 (comments are very much appreciated).

* Each designer's blog hop post will feature a word to make up a secret sentence, collect these words along the way.

* You must become a FOLLOWER of each blog along the way and LIKE us on our Facebook Page!

* Post the ScrapThat! Blinkie on your blog.

* Your final stop will be back at the ScrapThat! Chat Blog to leave a comment letting us know how much you enjoyed the hop.

*Email the secret sentence to Tracey Sabella: tracey@scrapthat.ca

(Please do NOT include the secret sentence in your comments.)

The Blog Hop ends Sunday, Dec 2 at Midnight EST

My secret word is:

Year

The next stop on the hop is:

Tracey Sabella 

Should you lose your way, here is the Blog Hop sequence:

Scrap That!
Robin Shakoor

Sandi Smith
Amarilys Doria

ScrapThat! Facebook Page

Tracey Gregory
Sarah Routledge
Tracey Sabella
Scrap That!

For your final stop to the ScrapThat! Blog please let us know how much fun you had hopping!

Remember ~ only send the secret sentence to tracey@scrapthat.ca

All of us at ScrapThat! wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas Season!

Thank you for sharing your pages and stories with us!

Let the scrapping begin!

We can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks so much for your visit to my blog today! Enjoy the rest of the blog hop and have a wonderful holiday season!

ScrapThat! December Kit Sneak Peek

ScrapThat!'s December Kit Reveal and Blog Hop is coming up on November 30th - and you don't want to miss this one - it is Gorgeous! Here are a few sneak peeks to whet your appetite - but be sure to come back on Friday for the full reveal and blog hop - and a chance to win a fabulous ScrapThat! prize!

We are thrilled to announced the newest member of our ScrapThat! Design Team. Our talented November Guest Designer

~ Tracey Gregory ~

will now be joining us each month with her amazing work!!

We are delighted that Tracey will be inspiring you each month with her amazing ScrapThat! kit creations. She resides in the mountains of the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts with her husband and children. More of Tracey's gorgeous work can be found on her blog, A Lifetime of Pages.

"I am so excited to be a part of the ScrapThat! family! I am a Christian, happily married mom of 4 children, ages ranging from 12-21, and my spoiled yorkie. I work as a RN in a long term care center which often blesses me with the gift of hearing the stories and seeing the photos of my geriatric residents as they share their histories with me. When not working or scrapping, I can be found at my daughter’s drama activities, the church nursery or working with my church’s drama team.

I would say my style is definately shabby. I love layers of distressing and lots of flowers! Mixed media is where I am eager to learn and play. I am inspired by music and color and always have scraps of paper or napkins with layout ideas scribbled on them! I am currently on DTs for Scrapping Everyday Miracles and a Stuck on U Sketches, a sketch challenge blog. I am so looking forward to getting to know you all better!"

You Hold the Key to My Heart - ScrapThat! November Kit Layout

Today, I am revealing the details and close-ups of my third and final layout with the ScrapThat! November Kit "Remember When . . ." I absolutely love the Prima Wood Doors that came with the Embellishment Add-On - but they kind of stumped me at first. So I decided to use them as - doors! - that open and reveal a picture of the cutest baby ever (not that I am biased at all).  Playing on the "doors" theme, I called the layout "You Hold the Key to My Heart" (so true - my son is the love of my life!). Here are the two views of the layout (i.e. doors closed and doors open).

I used three different papers (though only bits of two) for this layout and embellishments from the Main Kit, Flower Add-on and Embellishment Add-on. The doors/bricks are the focal point of the layout (obviously) - but it took a lot of steps to get to what you see on the finished page, so bear with me if you want the full details!

Here are the steps I took to create the brickwork around the doors:

1. Trace the Prima Wooden Doors onto a piece of scrap paper and cut out the shape - this will form a "mask" so that you can leave a void for the placement of the doors inside the brickwork.

2. Decide where on your page you want the doors. You'll need to plan your page in advance - I chose to put my focus in the lower right since the Bo Bunny Serenade paper had such a pretty design in the upper left anyway.  Attach the scrap-paper door shape to the layout with removable adhesive. 

3. Choose your mask - I picked bricks to make it look like the doors were opening out of a brick wall - but any mask you like will work. 

4. Place your mask and start filling it in with light molding paste (I used Golden brand). Don't be too perfect in this step - I did not want a perfect square of bricks and intentionally went with the offset, diagonal brickwork. Allow molding paste to dry.

5. Reset your mask and paint over the masked design - I chose black paint. It doesn't haven't to be perfectly painted - the next step will take care of any white that shows through. Allow paint to dry.

6. Reset your mask (again) and brush perfect pearls powder over the masked design - I used two colours, red and pewter. This will cover any white space left in painting and give the masked design a nice, multi-toned appearance (unfortunately, the full-effect of the perfect pearls doesn't come across in photos).

7. Remove the scrap paper door template and you now have a masked area with a void for the doors.

To attach the doors, I cut a piece of black cardstock to the same size/shape as the doors and used ribbon from the main kit to create "hinges" - gluing the ribbon to the back of the cardstock and back of the wooden doors. I then covered the back of the doors with some of the red/black patterned paper in the kit - not only does this look great, it hid the ribbon that I used to hinge the doors! Finally, I Photo-shopped my favourite baby picture of my son to include the title and printed it and trimmed it to fit behind the doors.

The last step for this layout was the embellishing! I used the tulle flowers from the Flower Add-on, keys and beaded leaves from the Embellishment Add-on and black tulle and white paper flowers from the Main Kit to create my floral clusters at the bottom left and top right corners of the doors. I also added in some fussy-cut dragonflies from another sheet of patterned paper.

That's it for my first month with the ScrapThat! Design Team. I hope you found a little inspiration from my layouts! Thanks so much for your visit to my blog today! I appreciate your visits and comments so much!

Autumn Leaves - ScrapThat! November Kit Layout

I'm back with the details and close-ups of my second layout using the ScrapThat! November Kit "Remember When . . ." This month, ScrapThat! teamed up with Sketchabilities and played along with the October 30th Challenge. I went with an Autumn theme for this layout and scrapped some adorable pictures of my son playing in the leaves in our yard in early October. Here is the layout I created and the sketch that inspired it:

When I first saw this sketch, I honestly was at a loss as to what to do with it - for those of you who follow my work, you'll know that it isn't often I do a multi-photo, symmetrical layout. But this is one of the reasons it is fun to play along with sketches/challenges - they make you step outside your "comfort zone". And I am so happy with how this layout turned out. Lots of inking and distressing (including water distressing) on this layout - I wanted the paper edges to look like crinkled leaves.

Instead of just the three squares for the photos, I created tags using some of the cardstock that came with the kit and added ribbon (also in the kit) and twine bows (twine from my stash) to the tops of the tags. I also added a doily, which I cut in half and misted/inked (doily and mist from my stash, ink from the kit).

For the floral elements, I used the embellishment add-on and flower add-on from the kit - which included the gorgeous Prima beaded leaves and paper flowers, respectively. The large flower cluster (bottom right) includes a little window from the chipboard doors that came with the main kit - I simply inked it a few times to get the nice, dark finish that goes so well with the flowers.

I added the gorgeous pearl stick pin (main kit) to the flower cluster at the top of the tag on the right.

There are actually a few peek-a-boos on this layout - but this close-up really shows one of them well. You can also see one of the brown spirals that I created using the stems that I cut off the beaded leaves - I simply wrapped the wire stem around a narrow paintbrush handle to create these neat little accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today - I appreciate your visits and comments so much!

Sisters - ScrapThat! November Kit Layout and Mini-Fan Tutorial

Today, I'm providing the details/close-ups of one of my ScrapThat! November Kit creations - from the gorgeous "Remember When . . ." Kit. This layout is based on the November Sketch (designed by Amarilys Doria). I created this layout for my sister - who has been trying to convince me for years that we should get matching tattoos of the Chinese characters for "Sisters". I'm not a fan of needles - so there is no tattoo (yet?!), but I thought this might make a nice gift for her since it is my favourite picture of the two of us.

All the items on the layout, are from the ScrapThat! Main Kit, with the exception of the chopsticks, craft sticks, embossing powder and white cardstock. I did lots of layering, distressing and fussy cutting for this layout. I also added in some Prima packaging as a photo mat - you can see  it peeking out to the left of the photo. I used a Martha Stewart Edge punch for the black paper and fussy-cut the yellow 'bracket' shapes from the Bo Bunny Serenade "Trellis" paper.

I just loved the Bo Bunny Serenade papers - especially the "Garden" paper with the red poppies - perfect for fussy cutting! I cut out and layered the poppies and then highlighted the centres with Stickles in Yellow.

Given the Asian theme of the layout - I decided to create some mini-fan embellishments (check out the tutorial below!) - I just love how these turned out!

 

I also added a pair of Bamboo Chopsticks as embellishments. I inked these with the Prima Ink that came in the kit and added some Zva Pearls to the tops of the chopsticks.

Mini Fan Tutorial
Items required:
Craft Knife//Sharp Scissors
Scoring Tool
Heat Embossing Tool
Strong White Craft Glue
Patterned Paper
Craft Sticks
Brown Ink pad (optional)
Patterned Stamp
Watermark Ink
Embossing Powder
Scrap (i.e. waste) Paper

1. Cut strips of patterned paper for the fan – for the fans on my layout, I have used strips that are 2-inches wide by 7-inches long.

2. Ink, Stamp, Emboss Sticks

• Ink the craft sticks with the brown ink (you can skip this step – but I liked the darker colour of the inked sticks). ALLOW TO DRY thoroughly before doing the next three steps.

• Stamp the craft sticks with your patterned stamp using watermark ink.
• Sprinkle the stamped area with embossing powder – make sure to tap the sticks and get all the excess embossing powder off so that the pattern will be clear.
• Use your heat tool to set the embossing.

3. Stamp/Emboss Paper

• Put the scrap (waste) paper over your patterned paper strip so that only about ½ an inch of the long edge of the paper is exposed.

• Stamp along the exposed edge of the patterned paper with your stamp using watermark ink.
• Sprinkle the stamped area with embossing powder – make sure to tap the paper and get all the excess embossing powder off so that the pattern will be clear.
• Use your heat tool to set the embossing.

4. Fanfold/Accordion Fold your Patterned Paper strip.

• Determine the width of the fold you want. I based this on the width of the mini-popsicle sticks I used – so each fold is 3/8-inch.
• Score the paper every 3/8-inch (or whatever measurement you’re using) using your scoring tool.

• Fanfold your paper – you want the ends of the fan to fold backwards so that the craft sticks aren’t exposed once they’re affixed to the paper.

5. Distress the fan (optional)

• Use your knife/scissors to gently distress the edges of the patterned paper.

6. Affix the craft sticks

• Use a very strong craft glue (Aleene’s Tacky Glue works well) to affix the craft sticks to the ends of the fan – leave a good amount of the craft stick exposed at the bottom of the patterned paper strip. ALLOW TO DRY thoroughly.

• Affix the two exposed ends of the craft sticks to one another to create the fan – you can easily adjust the width of your finished fan at this stage by adjusting the angle at which the sticks are joined.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today -I hope you'll give this tutorial a try - please leave me a comment if you do so I can check out your creation!

Pumpkin Patch - The Paper Mixing Bowl November 2012 Recipe Challenge

Where did October go?!?! I can't believe another month is over already! And a new month means a new challenge at The Paper Mixing Bowl. This month's recipe is Thanksgiving Leftovers (. . . already had my share of these after Canadian Thanksgiving in October). For my layout, I have scrapped some photos of my son from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch in October to pick out our Hallowe'en pumpkins! Here is my layout:

And here is the November 2012 Recipe Challenge that inspired it:

I had a lot of fun with this layout - using lots of different "recycled" items. I stuck with a neutral palette and started off by creating my own background using a 12x12 piece of cardboard that I cut out of a box from one of my scrapbooking kits. I peeled off the top layer of the cardboard to reveal the corrugated paper underneath and then brushed some gesso across the corrugated cardboard; finally, I distressed and inked the edges of the cardboard background with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. I recycled a piece of Prima packaging (lightly coated with gesso, distressed and inked), a tag (distressed and inked) and a page out of a dictionary (if you look closely, you'll see its the page with "pumpkin" on it) to use in my layering. I've also used some plain black cardstock and some elements from Tim Holtz's Kraft Resist papers (Kraft Resist and Kraft Resist - Halloween Haunts). Lots of distressing and inking on all the papers for this layout.  Here are a couple of close-ups of the layering.

I used a Crafter's Workshop template (Harlequin) with some Distress Embossing Ink and Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo to create the diamond Harlequin pattern on the black cardstock paper. For the banner, I added some small Halloween postcards from the Kraft Resist Halloween Haunts paper, and strung the banner using some metallic eyelets and twine (i.e. fibre).

For my embellishments, I've used a small wooden picket fence (Michael's Bargain Bin) and a Chipboard door - both of which were embossed with Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo and inked with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain. I used some Prima flowers, which I slightly altered by inking them so that the coordinated better with the layout. I also used a Prima vine - I thought this was appropriate for a Pumpkin Patch layout (i.e. pumpkin vines....) and love how it looks on the layout. The title letters are cut from the Kraft Resist - Halloween Haunts papers, distressed and inked with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I hope you'll check out the November Challenge at The Paper Mixing Bowl too!