"The Gift" Challenge

Tis' the season friends! I thought it would be really fun to start this month off, not only with a fun challenge, but also with a fun prize...or two! So let's get started.
First up, the challenge. This is "The Gift" challenge. We want you to scrap about an all time favorite gift you, or a loved one, received and why it was so dear. You can either scrap an actual wrapped gift, something Santa brought, something you gifted yourself. Or you can go the route of a gift of another sort...meaning a lesson learned, learning a skill (maybe music lessons), or your grandmother passing down her love of sewing. You get the idea. It is your layout and your "gift" to scrap as you like.
This is running from today through Dec. 17th. Please be sure to leave your links in the comments section here...and believe me you will want to....because I am not offering one Bedford Falls kit as a prize, but TWO! I thought that since this is the season for giving I would give you a kit for yourself and a kit for you to give to one of your scrappy buddies!! Or, if you have already purchased the kit then you will have 2 gifts to give! :)



The rules are pretty simple 1) Leave a link to your challenge LO featuring your favorite gift. 2) Give a shout out on your blog, or facebook, about the challenge and prize up for grabs! Simple and fun. I will choose one winner from all the entries, and get your prize out to you by the 18th so you have it in time for the holidays!
Here are the design team creations, and boy are they great! Most were done with the Bedford Falls kit.
Gretchen

Leah

Stephanie

Jill

Amy

Virginia

Diana

Kim

Michelle

I hope you enjoy this challenge! I think this is a fun prompt for the holiday season, and I can't wait to see what you all create!
Have fun!!
***Please note I will offer free USA shipping. Any International winner will be responsible for shipping fees.

Holiday Kit "Bedford Falls" up for Pre-Order!

Good morning friends! I really have to apologize for our lack of challenges here the last few weeks. I thought I had things figured out, but obviously not...LOL. Oh well, life goes on. We will be back after Thanksgiving with a fun new challenge and a great prize, since I have been such a slacker.
In the meantime I have put up the Holiday kit for pre-order, and they will begin shipping ASAP. Get yours ordered early to get a head start on all your gift and card making for the upcoming holiday.

Click here to order yours today! I hope you all have a beautiful Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

Shades of the Same Challenge

Happy Monday guys! Are you ready for a new challenge? Well, strap on your boots and get ready for a fun one! This is called the "Shades of the Same" challenge. This is going to be quite a challenge, because you have to try to keep your papers all in the same color scheme. Kind of tricky, right?!? But have no fear, while it sounds hard, once you get it all complete you will be surprised at how effective, and beautiful, one color can be.
Choose your color to evoke the emotion of the photos or mood you are wanting to convey. To me Blue evokes "cool", Yellow evokes energy. White evokes a sort of "dreamy" feel and also a clean feel. Play around and see what you get. Here is a handy website that may be of some help in choosing what color you want to pick.
This is running today through Nov. 5th. Please post your links in the comments section so we can see your beautiful work! Here are the Design Team's pieces...aren't they awesome!?
Amy

Michele

Jill

Michelle

Virginia

Diana

Britt

Also, the November kit, "Dear Diary", is now up for sale! It will begin shipping as soon as my October Afternoon papers/wild cards get here...so don't delay in getting yours ordered! I am down to only about 20 left!

Have a fantastic week everyone!!

The "Time Capsule" Challenge

Happy Monday everyone! The TV title challenge was a super fun one. I hope you enjoyed that and got some inspiration from the music and the design team.

Yesterday was a special day that happens only every one hundred years. It was 10/10/10. This got us to thinking about doing a "time capsule" layout/project about what daily life is like right now. What is the price for a car and a home? What movies and music are popular? Who is a famous athlete or actor? These are all answers that will be different at any other point in history before or in the future. So the challenge here is to document what is going on now. Something you can look back on (or family members can look back on), and get a real sense of "how life was".

This is running from today through Oct. 22nd. Please be sure to link up here so we can see your very own "time capsule". Also...on a side note...SB Trends is having an open call for Time Capsule work. So be sure to use this as a double duty Lo and share it here and submit it HERE!

Here is the DT work:
Michele

Michelle

Jill

Virginia

Britt

TV Title Slide

Keep them coming...this is fun!

The TV Title Challenge!

It's time for a new challenge and this is a really fun one. Sometimes doesn't it feel like your life could be an episode on TV? I know I for one often find myself thinking that. :) At any rate, this challenge is to use the title of a TV show as the title to your LO. You can modify it, as Jill did below in her title "Law and Dis-Order", to fit your situation, but if you do please be sure to let us know what show you are referencing.

This is running from today through Oct. 8th. Please be sure to link up your work here so I can create a slide show. I promise I will get one done this time. I know last challenge I got overwhelmed with kit making and other stuff (like soccer practice EVERY night...ugh), and completely dropped the ball. But your fearless leader is back and I will not fail you again. HA!

Ok, here are the DT creations below and they are fantastic. If you need some ideas you can scroll through the songs, there are some really fun ones there. Or you can scroll through this site for a list of TV show titles.

Britt "One Day at a Time"


Jill "Law and Order"


Michele "Parenthood"


Michelle "Dirty Jobs"


Virginia "Friday Night Lights"


Noel "Friends"

HAVE FUN!!!!

"I Gotta Be Me" challenge

Morning everyone! Thanks so much for all the great Fall Fashion trends LO's. They are fantastic!!

Today we have a VERY simple challenge for you. This is called the "I Gotta Be Me" challenge and is based around a conversation we had on the MB. One of the members asked a question about what people look for as far as getting on teams and being pubbed. I replied with a lengthy description of being true to yourself, having a style all your own and scrapping the way you like. I then went on to define the styles of all the gals on the DT and some of the members who asked me to tell them what I saw as the highlights of their work.

I think this is an important step in any sort of hobby because when you know your style, and are comfortable and happy with where your work is, it will show. And also having your "happy place" that brought you to scrapbooking in the first place is a great place to go when you feel stumped. Not that stretching your wings into trying new styles and techniques isn't fun or important, but knowing what is "you" is fun, and like having that comfy "go to" sweater in your closet...you can always count on it to make you smile.

SOOOO...this challenge is all about being yourself with your work. Just scrap your favorite way. There is no right or wrong way, it is just "YOUR" way. This is running from today through Sept. 24th. Please be sure to add your work and then include a little bit about your favorite way to scrap, we would love to hear about it!

Here are the DT examples and ideas about their way of scrapping:
Amy: Defining my style is literally impossible for me because it changes sooo much with my mood and what particular thing I am scrapping. I have found, though, that I tend to work in color schemes, and in muted tones. Bright colors really don't work very well with me, and lots of different colors make me feel like there is no continuity to the LO. After picking the colors that I want to work with, I usually from there just tend to fly by the seat of my pants! Some LOs I super plan out cause I am going for a certain look, but others (like the one I did here for the challenge!) I really couldn't tell you at all where it is going or when it will be done! Things I lean towards with putting on my LOs are strips of paper-as those give subtle colors to the LO in small amounts, and I am really addicted to my punches as I love shapes on my LOs. I also tend to either do a little painting or machine stitching on my LOs just because I need some serious texture on my LOs! :D

Noel: "When I scrap I like to start with a sketch (this is from Sketch Inspiration #122) because I am not always certain about proportion in my head. When I use a sketch is it much easier for me to scale and size features of my work. I also love to incorporate circles into my work as often as possible. I like how it softens the lines of the photos and squared "frame". As far as techniques, I almost always distress edges and ink. I am also kind of addicted to matting my photos. And one other thing I love to add to my work is stitching (either hand or machine)."

Virginia: When I scrap, I tend to stick to the same design, because it is not really my strength and I start to stress about doing a "great design" and then it ends up all wonky looking! You'll see a lot of layouts from me with a photo (or a strip of three photos) centered or off to the side. My favorite part of scrapping is the embellishing and layering, so that is what I devote most of my energy to. I love to start with a fairly neutral background (kraft, whites, pale yellows, and grays are some of my faves) and then layer with paint or mists, patterned paper in rectangles & squares, ephemera, masking tape, and punched shapes. I love to add lots of distressing with inks & painted-on mists, tearing, and shabby chic/feminine touches. You'll always find some of my own handwriting on my layouts, too. I've had my work described as "haphazard" before and you know what? It fits me. :)

Michelle W:"My style tends to vary based on what photos I'm working with or what papers I'm playing with but for the most part I gravitate towards more of a 'clean' look to my layouts. I sometimes work with sketches or use inspiration from a magazine as a springboard for my pages. Typically my layouts will have 3 photos, 1 larger than the others. I don't start out planning my layouts that way but I always seem to end up with that! I also like to print my photos with a white matte as I think it helps the photos stand out a bit against the papers they're on. And although I don't generally use a ton of 'techniques' in my projects, I almost always distress edges with some type of ink or roughing up some edges and when I can I like to add in something unexpected (like the dictionary page in this layout)."

Jill: I would consider myself to have a shabby chic style with clean lines. I enjoy incorporating ink, paint, distressing and almost always machine stitching on my layouts and projects. I find that I like a more muted color palette but scrapping with bright, fun colors (especially in the summer) is growing on me. I lean towards more things girly (makes sense with my two girls) - pink, lace, ruffles, doilies, etc. I adore using kraft cardstock as a background (love that Noel includes a sheet in every kit). It's such a great neutral to contrast other colors. I also always add a white edge to my photos in Photoshop to help them pop off my page.

Diana : "When I sit down to create a layout, I let the papers inspire me. I love to handcut designs out of the papers and include them in my layout. Sometimes I'll sketch out my idea first but my layout hardly ever looks like my sketch. Lately, I like to cluster papers and embellishments around my photos. I am also a big fan on misting and inking. I feel as if my layout is not complete unless I add a little bit of them to my layout."

Michele K: I tend to be a shabbier vintagey type of scrapper. I love the look of layers, paint, and sewing. One of the things I find to be most fun with scrapping is trying different techniques and mediums. I love the experimentation that goes along with scrapping! I've used goofy itemss like coffee grounds for various things, recycling clothing, tissue paper, and other miscellaneous household items. Today's LO uses a fun embossing, stamping, Glimmer Mist resist technique to create these butterflies.

Candice: When I start any scrapbooking page I tend to go for the bits and pieces of my stash. If I don't have any from the start of a new kit or product I tend to make some. It is in the bunches of little things that my BIG ideas come from. Layering is also a huge factor in my pages. The more layers the more fun!!!

Britt : I tend to go toward the funky. I generally start with the product in mind, rather than any specific photo. I scrap for the art of it, so the design of the product itself is what usually gets me, then I find a picture to go with it. If I use a picture at all! With no kids to scrap, I find myself doing "all about me" layouts a lot, and after so many times of seeing my ugly mug, I just gotta get a break! I find that organizing a layout around a quote/title is a great way of expressing the everyday stuff in life - the stuff we tend to overlook. I love white cardstock the best (although by the time I'm done you can barely tell it's buried beneath all of the other junk on the page!) and I'd be lost without my sewing machine - bring on the stitching!!

Greta: I really love just "winging" it. Im a no rules kinda gal

Fashion Trends Slide

Fall Trends 2010 Challenge

Happy Monday everyone! Well, we had to take a few weeks of, but we are finally back with a great new challegne for you!

Since we are transitioning into a new season we thought it would be fun to take a cue from fashion and draw our inspiration straight from the runways. Which trends speak to you? Plaid? Teal/Mustard? Black/Red? Create you piece around what you see here and share it with us. :)





This is running from today through Sept. 10th. Please be sure to add your work up in the comment section so we can find you and as always...have fun!:)

Here are the designers beautiful pieces:
Virginia

Michelle

Michele

Jill

Greta

Diana

Candice

Britt

Amy