Adding Some Pop to Your Page!!

How could you not love this Papa Collection from Fancy Pants? It has such a great distressed masculine look. Its perfect for layouts featuring Dads. (Don't forget Fathers Day is only a month and half away!)

How about trying these two techniques to add more texture and pop to your pages? The first is by painting chipboard with multi colors. After painting chipboard a basic color try adding a second contrasting color in streaks, splatters or just on the edge of your shape. This will add texture to that plain surface.

The second way to "make your pages pop" is by adding dimension. The paper curls under the stars were easy to make! Simply wrap a strip of paper tightly around a pencil. The paper will hold the curl, and then you can adhere it to your layout.

Give it a try! We would love to see your work at AllyScraps !

It's that time again!!!

Time for Bingo Sign-ups!!

You need to go to the store here: ALLYSCRAPS and purchase your bingo card. You can buy as many "cards" as you like. After you've checked-out, choose 25 of the words listed below and PM them to Karlyn ("Darlyn" on the ALLYSCRAPS board). Please include the number she has listed with your words. Send her one set of words for each card you bought. Sometime around the 6th of May she'll start calling words. When all your words have been called you'll win the total amount of cards purchased in the form of a gift certificate to be used in the store.

I just know we're going to have a big turnout this month...no one wants to miss out on all this MATH fun!

Good luck and just give her a shout if you have any questions.

1. absolute value equation
2. algebra
3. associative property
4. axis
5. binomial
6. calculus
7. combining like terms
8. commutative property
9. complex conjugate
10. complex number
11. composition of functions
12. conjugate pairs theorem
13. coordinate plane
14. cosine
15. derivative
16. determinant
17. difference quotient
18. distance formula
19. distributive property
20. domain
21. Euler's number
22. exponential expression
23. function
24. Gaussian elimination method
25. geometry
26. greatest common factor
27. horizontal asymptote
28. horizontal line test
29. identity property
30. imaginary number
31. integer
32. intersection of sets
33. inverse functions
34. inverse property
35. irrational number
36. least common multiple
37. linear equation
38. linear inequalities
39. logarithmic expression
40. matrix
41. midpoint formula
42. natural log
43. natural numbers
44. n-root theorem
45. one-to-one property
46. order of operations
47. parabola
48. parallel
49. perpendicular
50. pi
51. polygon
52. polynomial
53. product
54. quadrant
55. quadratic equation
56. quotient
57. radicand
58. range
59. rational number
60. real number
61. recriprocal
62. relation
63. right triangle
64. sine
65. slope
66. solution set
67. square root
68. system of equations
69. tangent
70. trigonometry
71. trinomial
72. undefined
73. union of sets
74. vertical asymptote
75. vertical line test


Good Luck and have FUN!!!!!

Spring has SPRUNG! April Design Team reveal!

Hi everyone! The Design Team was feeling SPRINGY this month, and decided on a spring challenge... we hope that you will participate also! Here are the rules... make a layout with

1 SPRING theme
2 or more SPRING patterned papers
3 or more SPRING themed pictures
4 or more SPRING embellishments
5 or more SPRING colors

Do you want to see what we've done as a design team?

First take a look at Kay's Spring Beauty layout! Her layering is always amazing, and I love how she did the title too! Check out the Pink Paislee Spring Fling collection, just back in stock at the store.



Also using the Pink Paislee Spring Fling collection is Debbie's super cool Sure Sign of Spring layout! These pictures are so fun and that awesome arrow is a great way to direct the eye to the main focus photo on your page. Love these papers with a BOY layout too Debbie!



Morag used Pink Paislee too! It is so interesting to see how different layouts with the same paper can come out! Love the fun title of her unSPRING layout... what a fun twist on a subject. Those flowers are just gorgeous... and the little birdie at the top reminds us of spring even in the snow! Awesome job Morag!



Here is Trish's Green Thumb layout... don't you love all the different fonts in her title? That is super cool... also love the really pretty spring colors of this layout. Scenic Route Providence is one of the prettiest new lines out there, take a look!



Check out Kary's Skatin' N-2 Spring layout! So many bright and boyish colors with this K and Co. Rough and Tumble line of papers.... Love how Kary used them, making a really colorful and energetic page. Super cool star AND arrow!



And, here is my page.... with an owl just for Cathy! Whoooo forgot to buy Easter Shoes? using the pretty K and Co. Berry Sweet paper line! With a few owl, mushrooms and butterflies thrown in for fun!



Thanks so much for checking out our pages... hope that you'll try the challenge too!

~ Dana

New Heidi Swapp & Glitz Design

Ally Scraps always stock the latest and greatest products in store and this month is no exception. We have just taken delivery of the fabulous new Heidi Swapp lines from CHA.

3 new lines have been added Runway, Carefree and World Traveller. Check out all three lines here.

Glitz Designare a new to the store. Beautiful bling flourishes, flowers will add the finishing touches to any page. The hottest trends in rub-ons are also in. Check out more here.

How about some more inspiration?



I couldn't resist the Pink Paislee Office Lingo line. I made a little go a very long way!


Teamed up with Fancy Pants Celebrate the papers really pop on the brown background. The Fancy Pants Glitz overlay really adds the wow factor.


Do you see the little frame under the flowers? Well that the negative space around the Office Lingo die cut. Waste not, want not!



The Office Lingo die cuts provided the title for the layout. Simple.



My DD loves to dress up as a princess - as every little girl should! The vibrant papers and embellishments are from K & Company Mira collection. Distressed edges add depth and dimension to the page before layering up with more pp and stamps.



The beautiful glittery stickers are a little sparkle and glamour. Just right for any little girl!

A note for your diary. We're celebrating National Scrapbook Day on 10th May with a cybercrop! There will be loads of fun and prizes up for grabs so make sure you free up your day!

Have a great weekend.

The Forum is Back!

The Ally Scraps forum is back. All the old friends are back with it and some new ones are joining us daily. Come on over and take a look here.

Kary has such an original style - I just love the way that she adds detail and the way she can make things really POP.



This LO is really no exception - just look how she adds texture and detail. Don't they look adorable together?

Kay equally has such a distinguished style - I simply fell in love with this layout she did of her DD when she was 11.



I love the way she has used the Mira papers from K & Company. I love the mix of fonts, textured flower centres and the cute little owl - adorable!

We set a new challenge every 2 weeks. This time around it was my turn to pick the challenge. Come over to take a look here. For all those entering the challenge, their name goes into the monthly draw for a gift certificate so it is certainly worthwhile participating.

Speaking of participation. How about getting started on your Book of Me? We're normally the last people to appear in our pages so we'll be providing the prompt and inspiration.

With 4 prompts so far, it'll be easy to join in. Here's the story so far...
Prompt #1 - Life Today
Prompt #2 - School Days
Prompt #3 - Friends
Prompt #4 - Soap Box (by Arlene)

And as if that isn't enough, I'll be giving a $10 gift certificate to one lucky participant. Go check out the board for more info.

Phew! There are lots are things going on over at AllyScraps so why not pop over and say hello!

Have Fun!

Morag x

New Teresa Collins "Bella Girl" is in DA HOUSE!!

I couldn't resist using this YUMMY line from Teresa Collins-it's so girly and flirty and my two fav color combos..pink and black!!!(how can you go wrong with those colors??)
I wanted to show you a little trick/technique to make your LO's "pop"--it's really easy and really fun to do--all it takes is a little elbow grease and some pop dots!!
When choosing your papers, find one that has some fun shapes or designs that you can cut out of the paper--I found these two papers from the Teresa Collins line to use --XOXO and Crowns and Diamonds. With the Crowns and Diamonds paper, I hand cut down one line of the diamonds on the backside of the paper--I then handcut two more diamond shapes from the paper. I took my black pen and added an edge on each diamond shape to give it a little "pop"--After adding the pen work, I punched holes in each corner of the diamonds and attached some Doodlebug sugared brads. Once this was done, I simply layered one piece of the patterned paper on top of the other for dimension--
From the XOXO paper, I hand cut the large "X's and O's" from the paper, inked and doodled around the edges of the squares, and layered them on top of chipboard scrolls that I had painted and doodled on--I then added some layered flowers to the mix and in no time had a really cute embellishment that matched perfectly--

Lastly, I hand cut the angel-winged heart from the Heart with Wings paper, added it to the corner of my photo, and was done!!


This LO took me less than an hour to finish, yet looks like I spent a few on it--


Go ahead and try hancutting and layering your paper patterns onto your layouts--it's really simple, really easy to do, and can add such a dramatic "punch" to your design!! Have fun with this, and I can't wait to see what you do!!

~~Kary

It won't be long now!

The new forum is right around the corner, so hopefully it won't be long now until we will all have our little internet home back!

In the meantime, here's a little bit of Allyscraps Inspiration for you to enjoy! How much do I love this Scenic Route Grafton? Oh my gosh, the colors are so rich and fun! Perfect for boy pages, girl pages, pretty much anything! Here is my page "bowled over", and for a little bit of added fun, you see that swirls-and-circles design around the journaling block? That's a digital brush that I "stamped" on the background cardstock! I think it added a nice little touch (and it goes great with the design on the journaling card, which can be found here!).



Now, you might recall that just before the board went down, I had posted a new sketch that goes with this page! So here ya go -



Once the new board is up and running, I'll be re-posting both the current sketches and the sketch archive, and posting extended deadlines for the sketch challenges!

And speaking of the sketch challenges, here is "you are his hero" featuring Fancy Pants Papa, along with the April 1st Bonus sketch!





And last but not least, remember the April 8th scrappy challenge? The challenge was to use your computer printer for your journaling or other page element, preferably by printing directly onto your background cardstock, like I did on "future engineer", which features the fun American Crafts Celebration II:



The key is to have a page-width element somewhere under which to hide the "seam", so that you can cut your cardstock down to 8.5"x12" and run it through the printer. To print the journaling right on the cardstock, it just take a little bit of pre-planning to carefully measure for correct margins and such, so that the text is printed exactly where you want it. I also made the text "hug" the edge of the circular design elements.

We will see all of you at the "new place" soon!

- Debbie

The Blog is a hit!

The general census is that the blog is a hit! All the regulars (where we have email addresses) are keeping in touch. Not quite the same as a forum, but it's the next best thing.

So Friday is normally either the Sketch Challenge run by Debbie or the Book of Me challenge run by Morag. As the forum is down, we won't be posting the new challenge until next week. Gina is the guest host for the BOM challenge this week. She has inspired us to document an interest aspect of our lives. You'll have to watch this space to find out more...

More layouts will follow, but how about a little more Pink Paislee?



Morag has used the Round Table Scallop to create this very easy to do LO.

"I normally take hours to finish any layout - I'm just a very slow scrapper. When I saw the Fancy Pants Glitter Cut I knew it would go so perfectly with the Pink Paislee.



Before adhering the overlay, I used a background stamp to create more depth. Instead of overlaying the Glitter cut, I placed it under my 3 photos - this makes it a really easy to stick it down! Just a few Prima flowers and a little more Stickles to go with the gorgeous glitter. Hey Presto! Job done.

This was all done and dusted in under an hour - a world record for me!"



Karlyn has put American Crafts Fieldhouse Foam to good use. This gorgeous fun layout documents the family's love of water!

I love the way she has placed the birds on a journal card and she has pulled off those bright colors beautifully!



How about the gorgeous Fancy Pants felt that Karlyn has used to frame these beautiful photographs? Notice how she has layered the butterflies and flowers. Stunning.

Check out the gallery for more inspiration.

Post Script



A little gift arrived for Cathy yesterday. Morag had made some bunting for the shop using the AllyScraps colour scheme.



"I wanted to make some bunting for a long time. I thought it would be perfect for the AllyScraps shop. I couldn't resist adding a bit of fluff and sparkles - I have glitter all over my house now! LOL.


Anyway, I'm so glad that it arrived when it did - I think Cathy needed a little cheering up. She rang me today to say thanks - which was really kind of her."



So if you're in the Avon area (Indiana), why not pop into the store to have a look?

Change is in the air

Our new forum should be up and running in the next few days - bigger and better than ever. Those nasty people who have nothing better to do than waste everyone's time and hard work will not get the better of us!

So just a little while longer - we'll keep you posted (no pun intended).

How about some inspiration while you're waiting?


Allyscraps has lots of the hottest stock from the Spring CHA. This week, Morag created a LO using the latest from PinkPaislee.

"We have been experiencing very strange weather lately in the UK. During our Easter holidays, the kids had pestered me to get out the paddling pool (they adore water). I finally gave into their demands on Friday when it was quite warm. They had a whale of a time. But just 2 days later, we woke up to a blanket of snow! Very unusual especially in April.

So the kids got their wishes granted, playing in water and snowballing all in a matter of days.

I love the Office Lingo Line. It is so versatile - great for all sorts of situations. I used Close the loop as a background paper - painting around the edges for definition.

Outside the Box is really delicate and vibrant. I stamped a number border for more depth before matting my photo. I cut a fancy journal matt from Cubicle ready for my title. Various other tags and journal cards from Office Lingo Die Cuts make up the rest. There are loads on the sheet so it's really good value for money.


Incidentally - that tree is the heart die cut from the sheet just turned upside down. Finish off with some Stickles for snow and hey presto!"

Dana has used Junkitz for her Destination Disney World layout.

Notice the layered title using different letters and mediums - really funky!

Dana makes an appearance in her Epcot LO! So nice to see her in front of the camera! The bright American Crafts papers are perfect for holiday and summer layouts

And how about this adorable layout using Dream Street Papers?



I just love what Dana did with the cute little birdies on the branch. The little heart button is so sweet - a real cute touch.

We'll be highlighting more layouts tomorrow so check back soon.

Spring Has Sprung!

I woke up this morning to find daffodils peeking through the ground. The whether was gorgeous, and the birds were chirping! I love these first signs of spring.

The new Basic Grey has arrived and I must say it is awesome! I love their new Chip Sticker shapes. The Cupcake line in faded primary colors, has ice cream cones, balloons, and clowns. The Sugared, which has a ton of pink, in my opinion is their prettiest line to date. One of the chip shapes is a pink elephant, how cute!! For scrappin your little guy, you are going to love the Archaic, with names like Dirty, Boulder, and Dino.

One of the Design Team girls, Deb Gaydos, is doing awesome sketches, that have me feeling very inspired. I have the day off tomorrow, so I feel some serious scrappin going on! I'll let you know how that works out.