The three R's...

Here we are. A new month, a time for all things new...
NO. WAIT. SCRATCH THAT!
It is actually a time for all things old here at MS. We are "Going Green" this month with all of our DT challenges!


We want you to tap into your inner Kermit the Frog... you know, "It's not easy being green". Hmmm... I think jokes are technically more humorous if you do not have to explain them, but too late! We are using the Kermit lingo now!!!!!!!!!!



Your first Green Challenge, ( aka Kermit's Conscience Challenge) is too dig up some OLD alphabet stickers and use them on a layout. Bonus points if you remember where you got them and how long ago.


Once you have REUSED the letters, go to the MS Store and REWARD yourself with some new letters... ah, I love the circle of life!





Here is my Layout using some THREE year old doodlebug letters!!

sketches, sketches, sketches

I am a sketch-a-holic. Sketches are a wonderful source of inspiration that are readily available. Over the last several years I have found so many different and wonderful sites that offer great sketches. Some give you a very basic outline of a layout or card just to jumpstart your creativity, while others give you a very detailed plan. The great part about sketches is that there is no set of rules. You can take one element from a sketch or use the entire thing. You can turn it upside down, you can transform a 12x12 sketch to fit 8 1/2 x 11 or even a card.

I recently made this layout using a sketch from Triple the Sketch, owned by my friend Patter Cross. This is one of my favorite sketch sites. They give you a "bare bones" type of sketch for a starting point. I used sketch #9.


I chose to keep it very simple and I stuck pretty closely to the original sketch, just changing a bit of the placement of elements.

Here is a list of some of my favorite and well visited sketch sites.....I hope that you can find the inspiration that I have from them.

Triple the Sketch
Sketch This
Page Maps
52 Sketches 52 weeks
4x6 Photo Sketch Blog
My Sketch World
Lotus Paperie (sketches and other challenges)
Prima - Build a Page

Enjoy!!

March Madness Crop!

Memorable Seasons is have an Online Crop this weekend, and it is going to be FULL of lots of fun, challenges, and PRIZES. The crop starts tonight, Friday, at 6:00 PM CST and goes thru Sunday night. Challenges will be posted at that time. You do NOT want to miss out!

You can get the information on the crop HERE. If you have never been to our Message Board, you can Register and be activated in plenty of time. Our Message Board is full of friendly, helpful members. We'd love you to join in on the fun!

Of course there will be a March Madness Crop Sale too....See you there!!

Button, button, who's got the button?

Those cute little round things that Grandma used to keep in her sewing box have become one of scrapbooking's most popular embellishments. They come in all kinds of sizes, all kinds of shapes, all different colors and are made from lots of different materials. Just look here and see all the different kind Memorable Seasons has for sale. There are basic buttons, acrylic buttons, fancy buttons as well as chipboard buttons to choose from. Just a few uses for buttons are

1. They can be used as the center of flowers.
   
2. They can be used to form borders.
   
3. They can just be scattered around your page to add interest and texture. Consider using different sizes and colors and types when you do this.
   
4. use them to cover the hole on a tag
5. use them instead of "O"s in your titles.

Have you got any other ideas for buttons? Let's talk about them in this thread.

Do you like the look of sewing buttons on your layout but don't want to actually punch holes in your paper? I learned a trick on how to get this look quickly and easily from a video at Creating Keepsakes. Watch it here.

Adhesive

The unsung hero of scrapbooking. It's kinda sad that the little guy that holds everything together gets no credit. The paper hears how pretty it is, how nicely the colors flow and how perfectly it will compliment that one certain picture. The buttons get their attention by standing tall and showing just how 3D they are. The ribbon, well, the ribbon gets to be touched. You can't just look at ribbon.

But the element that brings them all together gets no credit at all.

Over the years, I've used adhesive rollers, double sided sticky tabs, glue sticks and have come full circle back to an adhesive roller. I've used many kinds of adhesive rollers, but a friend recommended the Tombo to me. I love this adhesive in a soul mate kinda way.

I have found a way to bind the soul of my scrapbooking products to their cardstock base. Luckily, it can now be found in the Memorable Seasons store HERE.

Sometimes, though, we expect too much from our adhesives. We try to force a product meant to bind pictures to paper into a job it simply wasn't designed for. That is where these come in. Oh blessed little blobs of sticky. I've lost many a piece of DNA to these little suckers, but when they say permanent, they mean it.

Looking at my own personal stash of adhesives, I am aware that there are many ways to pull our pages together. Ways that go beyond store bought adhesives.

I am wondering, how creative you have gotten with adhering scrapbooking products?

Scraplifting

We all do it, don't we? Whether perusing a scrap magazine, surfing galleries on the internet, or seeing a friend's amazing LO at a crop. I'll bet at some point each of us has scraplifted someone's work. I myself, do it all of the time. I am so inspired by the fabulous talent in the scrapbooking world. Every time I scraplift, I file new ideas in my head and use them to create my own unique pieces later on. I think scrapligfting is the ultimate compliment you can pay another scrapper - you like their creation enough to make it again. What could be more flattering than that?

When I saw this LO of Jen's, I immediately fell in love with the simple design of it. It drew my eye instantly and I knew I wanted to somehow copy this. I love the way she positioned the title, I love how the stitching and patterned paper create a double border that frames the LO. I love the simplicity of the few patterned papers she used. And I love the bright colors she chose. When I look at this LO, Jen's choices direct me to focus on two major things - the design and the photos.

Here is my take on Jen's LO. I substituted journaling for the flowers. I kept the design simple using only 2 different patterned papers - I used both sides of one. I really wanted to copy the double border and the position of the title. I love how it turned out and it was so quick to create because I had my inspirational piece right in front of me! Thanks, Jen!

So, I challenge YOU! Find that LO that someone else created that you love, the one you keep going back to. Scraplift it and make it your own. Upload both images into the DT Challenge Forum to share with the rest of us. I cannot wait to see what you come up with!