Meet our Guest Designer for September

We would like to welcome our Guest Designer for September Tracy. She just recently won our Annual Last Scrapper Standing Contest thanks her wonderful work. So we asked her to be our Guest Designer for the month. So with that lets all get to know her better.

 Name: Tracy Rhodes
How long you have been scrapping? I've been officially scrapping for 7 years when my sister gave me a scrapbooking kit as a graduation present. Though I've always kept albums with memorabilia in them since back in my days of drillteam in high school. Of course those were just the regular sticky photo albums filled with photos and and bits and pieces of memorbilia taped to the pages from different things we did.
 What is your favorite Manufacturer to work with? Picking just one is really hard, but I guess I would have to go with Bo Bunny. Though Echo Park and Teresa Colliins are right up there. I told you one was hard to pick. I'm more interested in what the papers look like than who made them.
What is your favorite technique? Distressing! If I don't distress on a LO I end up being a bit disappointed with it and think if I had just ripped it up a little here or inked it there it would have added so much. Many times I will go back and add little tears or ink after everything is glued down, which can be difficult.
Tell us a little bit about yourself: My family and I live in East Texas, normally known for it's hot and humid weather though I think we may be turning into a desert. I've been married to my dh for 17 years and we have 3 not so little ones. Jacob is now 10 (and all into the pre-teen attitude), Austin is 6 (and as stubborn as I am), and Autumn is 4 (our little drama queen). I'm a SAHM but do work 2 days a week at my daughters Mothers Day Out.
 Tell us one funny thing about yourself: I'm a fanatical baseball mom! I don't mean that in a bad way. You won't catch me yelling at the umpires or getting in the coaches business but you could say I get a little over excited at the games. I'm bouncing up and down all through the games and I'm a nervous wreck whenever Jacob is up to bat. I would imagine it is quite comical looking. I own two blingy shirts that say "baseball mom" on them.

Here's some of her beautiful creations she made for us working with Authentique

We would all like to congratulate her on winning the contest and joining us for the month. Did you know she has also issued a really fun challenge for us this month too? Head on over to the boards and check it out.

This Week's Design Team Challenge

Hello ladies! I'm here with this week's challenge. I recently had a wonderful opportunity to go and spend some time in Hawaii on the island Oahu. It is so beautiful and peaceful there...I loved it! So with that amazing island still on my mind, I thought it would be fun to use it as inspiration for this week's challenge. When you think of Hawaii there are 3 main things we think of:
Surf, Sand, and Sun. So with that in mind, here is you challenge:
1. Surf: Use aqua as the main background color of your layout
2. Sand: Use kraft somewhere on your layout. It can be as cardstock like I did or as cardboard, as alphas, an accent, anything. I just want to see some kraft on your layout.
3. Sun: Add a little yellow. You can use a lot or a little, it's all up to you.
And lastly...one of my favorite things in Hawaii: flowers. They had gorgeous flowers everywhere. So
4. You need to add at least 3 different flowers on your layout.

That's it! Your photos don't have to be water/beach related, you just need to incorporate the above elements. Here is my layout using these elements. And of course, I had to use a photo of use in Hawaii.

Now it's your turn. I look forward to seeing what you create!

Member Crop Coming Soon!

Mark your Calendars now for our "Members Challenge Us" Crop on August 26-28th! In case you have not been with us before when we've had this online crop, YOU the members get to come up with the challenges for this crop! Here's how it works: anyone who presents a challenge (along with their newly created example to go with it) will be awarded points. You will receive additional points for every member who completes your challenge! You will also receive points for every challenge that you participate in! The person with the most points at the end is our big winner! Oh and you know that we can't have an online crop without lots of other prizes thrown in as well as fun games.

So what you need to do now is to think about what kind of challenge you want to do. Remember, you want lots of people to choose your challenge to participate in, so make it a good one! Once you have your idea, please PM me what you are planning so I can make a list and be sure that none of the challenges will duplicate each other. Then you will want to go ahead and do your example for the challenge. We will plan to list all the challenges on Friday, the 26th. Games will be played during that Friday-Sunday weekend and then you will have until that following Wednesday (the 31st) at midnight (CST) to complete and upload your layouts.

Here are some ideas to help you get started:

RECIPE Challenge
COLOR Challenge
TECHNIQUE Challenge
SKETCH Challenge
JOURNAL Challenge
AD INSPIRATION Challenge
SCRAPLIFT Challenge

These are only suggestions...feel free to come up with any other kind of challenge you wish to think up!! We are looking forward to seeing what your creative minds come up with!

August Design Team Kits

It's already the first of the month. Wow! Where does the time go?! With it being that time we've got new inspiration from the Design Team using either the Bo Bunny Liberty line or Jenni Bowlin's Haven collection. And to top it all off...Jill has these 2 collections on sale 30% off! Be sure and check them out!

Here are a few highlights from each Design Team Member.

Let's Start with Jenni Bowlin's Haven:

Telah's Inspiration:

Audrey's Inspiration:

And here a few highlights using the Liberty Line:

Tami's inspiration:

Joni's Inspiration:

Sally's Inspiration:

Be sure and check out more in the forums and gallery. We look forward to seeing what each of you create using these lines!

Impromptu Color Challenge

Hi ladies! It's Sally here. I thought with the LSS nearing the end, you might enjoy another challenge. I thought it would be fun to challenge you to use Jill's site colors/logo as our inspiration for a layout.

So your challenge is to use the colors orange, light aqua, dark aqua, lime green, and white to create a layout. You may add another nuetral such as black, cream, brown or even tan but try to keep the main focus of the layout on the above colors.

For those that complete this challenge by July 31st, your name will go into the monthly draw for a GC from Jill. I will also put those names into a drawing for a small RAK from me.

Here is my take on this challenge using MME Mabel collection:

I can't wait to see what you create!

Last Scrapper Standing contest - week 5

Wow...can you believe that we're in week 5 of our "Last Scrapper Standing" contest??

This week's challenge is hosted by me...Joni!!

Here is a link to all the detailed requirements of the challenge  .. CLICK HERE

But here it is in a nutshell...
1) Photo cannot have "faces"...(people or animals)
2) Must use at least 1 color medium
3) Must use at least 2 textiles (besides paper).

Here's my sample layout:
1) Photo of my son's shadow (his self portrait)
2) Used mist (brown droplets) and also distress ink (green).
3) Used corrugated cardboard & paper TAPE.

Please join us for weeks 5 & 6 of our contest.  We have weekly "random" winners for those who participate, even if your not "still standing" for the whole enchilada!!

Last Scrapper Standing Week 3

Can you believe that we are into Week 3 of the LSS contest already?????  The layouts submitted each week have just been absolutely amazing and the ladies have really risen to the "challenge" each week!  If you haven't yet, go check out the gallery and leave some love!

This week's challenge is brought to you by me! (Audrey)

You must use this sketch, have 4 photos, 7 stars, and red, white, OR blue on your page!  Go check out all the specific details in the week 3 thread HERE.

And just a reminder, that you can join in at ANY time for the weekly drawings!!  Hope to see you on the boards!