Keeping it Simple

I do love to create layers and layers on my projects, but sometimes it really is a case of using a more simple design to get your point across.

When we bumped into one of Lauren's school friends at the park, the girls took the opportunity to play together (they don't normally at school). The best thing was, that her friend liked to pose for the camera!

The Cottage Garden collection by Crate Paper are a wonderful mix of colours and patterns. Of course all the papers are double-sided so double the value! By sticking to a simple design, I could go mad with my flower embellishments. Flowers are one of my staple go-to embellishments when I need something pretty.

I love to add a little sugar-coating to my flowers using a Snow Writer and ultra-fine gltter. I just adore the way they sparkle. Don't forget to add some leaves to your cluster of flowers as this really helps to bring them altogether.

Why not pop into the Ally Scraps store - I spied the lovely Very Merry collection from October Afternoon *Swoon* and fabulous vintage embellishments from Melissa Frances (I need one of these Christmas Trees). There are more vintage findings from Graphic 45, Craft Secrets and gorgeous Christmas papers from Websters Pages. I hope that Santa leaves some in my stocking!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Morag x

Cookies gift book

My daughter Skylar loves to bake, and cookies are one of her favorites, so I created this little 'Cookies' booklet for her to record her favorite Christmas cookie recipes. I used the American Crafts Merriment Collection papers and stamp set and finished with some American Crafts Thickers which I sugar coated with a bit of clear embossing powder and clear glitter. It's double-sided so I added ties to both sides to hold it closed when not in use. She loves it and she can always add more pages as her collection grows.

here is the main inside:

here is the back "inside:"

Thanks for stopping by! We at Ally Scraps wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Take care,

Rae

Blog HOP winner!

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for checking out our blog in the past few weeks. It's been so much fun making some Christmas projects to share. I'm a few days overdue, announcing our Adornit Blog Hop winner, so here it is, the big announcement. We had 51 comments, thanks so much for joining in!

The winner of the AllyScraps Christmas prize pack is BethieJ. Woohoo, and big congrats. Bethie, please send me an email to allyscraps@gmail.com with your contact information, and we will get something Christmasy right out to you!

Hope to see you on the blog again soon, more fun projects coming up this week.

~ Dana

Brrr It's Cold Outside

The nights are drawing in and Christmas is only 32 days away! Can you believe it? I haven't even begun to think about Christmas shopping yet.


Oh well. I have been in a crafty Christmas mood though. I have had my eye on Eskimo Kisses from Basic Grey since I saw them on the CHA sneaky peaks. They are even more adorable in real life.

I've had this project in my head for the last 3 months, so I've been dying to get my papers and get started. The plain wooden sleigh was painted with Gesso before being covered in patterned paper. It is obviously quite tricky trying to cut out the fret work so I created a little template first.

The snowman is is polystyrene craft balls covered in Gesso and glittered. You know I have a little soft spot for snowmen!

I really wanted to include two little dickie birds on a branch - these have been created with Fimo. I'm afraid I'm not very artistic, so my shapes have to be simple.

The adorable stocking hangs at the back of the sleigh complete with tiny pom-poms.

This project was surprisingly simple to put together - the papers all co-ordinate beautifully and such a dream to use. I do have some left over and I have my eye on another project for Christmas - so watch this space!

Remember all the latest products are available at the Ally Scraps store. I have my eye on some very pretty goodies for Christmas!

Thanks for dropping by.

Morag x

Christmas banner

I have been on a banner kick lately. They are pretty easy to make and are a great handmade touch to your holiday decor. For this banner I used the beautiful Eskimo Kisses line from Basic Grey.

I wanted to give it a bit of a vintagey look so I kept it simple and added some silver accents, lace, beads and simple ribbon.

The possibilites with banners are endless. Why don't you give one a try today. Everything you need to make on can be found in the wonderful Ally Scraps store. :)

Take care,

Rae

Very, very merry!

Christmas is my daughter's favorite time of year... can you tell? Actually it's my favorite time of year too, just SO happy! I've been Christmas shopping and doing LOTS of Christmas scrapping too. Here is my latest, using WRMK Merry and Bright line of paper and embellishments. Isn't THIS paper to die for??? Love it! I did lots of handcutting here, to add dimension to the poinsettia flowers. Also used stickles to glitter it up! Letters are American Crafts thickers, roller rink in white and sprinkles in cucumber.



Here's my card from scraps... I've been very good about making at least one card from every layout this month using my scraps.



Thanks so much for stopping over! Have a great day.

~ Dana

It's beginning to Feel Like Christmas

I've been entering into the Festive spirit of late. I've just put the finishing touches to a project I'll be sharing on Friday this week. It is one of the sweetest projects I think I've done.

So in the meantime, I thought I'd share some Christmas projects I've done in the past.

I made this Vintage Christmas tree a couple of years ago from old music sheets. I had to cut strips of the paper before pinning them individually to a polystyrene cone.


The wee birdie is from Maya Road attached to a skewer. I was so chuffed when it was displayed on their blog (you could see me doing a happy dance for ages!)

Beads on long pins added a little more decoration here and there.

If you would like a sneaky peak of my project for Friday, I have put a piccie on my blog.

Be sure to pop back in though as I know Dana has something gorgeous to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Morag x

More Festive Spirit

All these pretty projects has really put me in the festive spirit.

I thought I'd share a little project I did for Scrapbook Inspirations magazine here in the UK. This little door hanger was so much fun to do, that I'm going to make one for each of us.

The snowman is made from a polystyrene ball cut into 2 before being covered in lots of sparkly glitter.

The chipboard shapes are from My Mind's Eye. The background paper isn't Christmas at all , but I did love the silver finish. You can find more Pink Paislee in the store.

Of course, there has to be a sign so that Santa knows where to stop. After printing the words onto stiff card (the font is Almonte Snow), I applied lots of ink to give it a wooden feel. Top off with a Snow Writer and more glitter for a fresh sprinkling of snow.

I hope that you've enjoyed this project. We have lots more to share with you in the next couple of days, so I hope that you'll pop back.

Ally Scraps has loads of the latest goodies in the store and can all be found here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Morag x

We're blog-hopping with Adornit!!

Good morning, and a big thank you to Adornit for allowing AllyScraps to participate in another one of their fun filled Blog Hops! This one is Holiday themed, and at AllyScraps we're feeling Christmasy as you know! So here are some fun holiday layouts and projects that we though you might enjoy.

My projects are all using the Fancy Pants Christmas Magic line of papers and embellies. I especially loved using the double sided paper strips and cards paper too. They are such easy embbellishments, just a little cutting and you're done! The rubons are fun too. See that BIG snowflake on the left side? That's just a beautiful part of this piece of Fancy Pants paper. I just cut it out, then distressed it a little... so pretty.




I made a couple of cards with my paper scraps and leftover pieces. I try really hard, especially at Christmas time to use my layout scraps to make something fun. I think these easy cards came out super, and took no time at all.





Morag has got her Christmas decoration started with this pretty wreath. She has used the timeless Home for the Holidays collection from Paperloft. Morag says she hand cut petals and leaves from the double-sided papers, before glueing them into place.


After arranging the papers around the wreath, she has sprayed the piece with Glimmer Mists and other mica-sprays. This added a little more sparkle for the holiday season!



Morag! This is just a stunning project. Thanks so much for inspiring us.

In celebration of today's blog hop, Cathy has offered up a great Christmas prize pack from AllyScraps. So, just leave us a comment right here on the blog. Tell us about your favorite winter holiday tradition... and we'll choose a winner. Post your comment by midnight on Friday, November 20th... and then check back on the 21st for the winner. Good luck and happy scrapping.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the next awesome blog on this amazing Adornit Blog Hop list!

Jenny Johnson at Crazy about Cricut and you can check out the Adornit blog too, tons of inspiration.

~ Dana

"yum" cookie gift set

Hello! I have a simple idea to share with you this week. If you are short on time, yet want to make a simple, yet personal gift for someone special, this is just for you. I purchased an inexpensive tub of cookies from Target. I then peeled the labels off and added some of the yummy papers from the American Crafts 'Merrymint' collection (scroll down to see thsi collection). I created a "bow" out of 1"x8" strips of curled paper and then added a center. I finished it off with a simple card using these adorable American Crafts stamps that I stamped onto the silver paper and then cut out. It only took about 30 minutes to complete this project and it makes a simple container of cookies into something a little bit better.

There are so many wonderful Holiday papers available at Ally Scraps! Let this be your one-stop scrapbooking store.

Take care,

Rae

Feeling Christmasy??

I know it's only November, but I've already started my Christmas shopping. Yeah, for the kids... but also for Christmasy scrapbook supplies. Cathy has such an awesome selection already. New Christmas supplies from Crate Paper, Paper Loft, WeRMemory Keepers, Basic Grey, Fancy Pants, American Crafts, BoBunny, Nikki Sivils, My Minds Eye and Cosmo Cricket... just to name a few!

So, I've been busy making Christmas layouts. Here's the first one I did. Our Christmas Card blooper photos from 2008. The girls always have SO much fun being silly, love these Christmas "outtakes". I used Cosmo Cricket's Jolly By Golly for my layout. Loved cutting out the gifts and the funny quote.



While I was at it, I made sure to make a Christmas card and a Christmas tag with my leftovers.




The paper had everything I needed for these projects, hardly had to add anything extra at all. Well, OK, a few different letter stickers were all I added. Love these little round ones from Jenni Bowlin.

Hopefully you're in a holiday mood too. If so, meet us back here on Thursday to join in on a blog hop, sponsored by Adornit, and maybe a giveaway too. Hope to see you then!

~ Dana

Let the Paper take the Lead

I am lucky enough to have a girl and a boy, so when it comes to scrapping, everything goes! I tend to be drawn to the pretty papers for girls and sometimes find it difficult to find cool boy stuff. Well not this year, there seems to be loads of cool stuff for boys.

Fancy Pants who can do no wrong in my eyes, have come up with Rough and Tumble which is just fabulous for the lil' man in your life. I love the doodled artwork on the papers and rub-ons.

I would normally load up a page with papers and embellishments, but the Oh Boy paper had done all the hard work for me. As I couldn't just put a photo on top of the paper (where would the designer in me be?) I added some depth to the background with Glimmer mist and Distress Ink. A small strip of Magic Mesh which had been cut higgledy-piggledy frames one of my photos. I added rub-ons to black card stock before cutting them out and layering over the mesh.

To finish off I added another rub-on for the title.

So why not let the paper do all the design work for your next layout?

Be sure to pop back next week when there will be more projects and we'll also be participating in the Adornit Blog hop on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by.

Morag x

"joy" frame

It's never too early to get a jump start on Christmas gifts or home decor. Handmade picture frames are a wonderful gift from the heart that will be treasured for years to come. They also add a great personal feel to your home decor.

This week I am going to share how I made this frame. It doesn't take a lot of time (I am thinking aobut 90 minutes, but it's probably less. It took me days to get everything done since I only had a few minutes here and there.), nor does it take a lot of paper.




supplies:
picture frame
several sheets of patterned paper
glue
ribbon
embellishments
chipboard letters



step 1: select several sheets of the oh-so-cute Eskimo Kisses line from Basic Grey. (I just love the colors and mix of prints in this line!) The best part is they are double-sided so you can mix it up.


step 2: cut 1- 1"x12" strip from each sheet of paper. Cut more than one of you want to use a lot of a particular piece. (I tried to keep an even mix of pink, blue and green colors using the others to fill in for a dramatic effect.)

step 3: cut each of these 1" strips to 2.75" lengths. Set aside. (I didn't measure ahead, I just randomly picked this length and width. Thankfully it worked out well for the frame I was using. You can always adjust if you need to.) I ended up needing 53 strips. But don't worry if you don't cut enough the first time, you can always add more as needed.

step 4: Fold each section and glue the inside ends together to form a loop. DO NOT FOLD. I actually rolled mine around a fat pen and then glued the ends and this helped to give a more loopy appearance. Let them dry. I highly recommend a quick-dry glue like Zip Dry for this step. It saves a lot of time.


step 5: Lay the rolled pieces onto your frame and arrange until you get your desired look. I have my loops facing upward for the top portion of my frame, and then facing downward for the rest. Once satisfied I then placed the pieces beside my frame so I would have everything all laid out to glue them onto the frame.

step 6: Glue the pieces down. I found it easiest to do this by putting glue over a section of the frame so I would glue and lay out each row separately. Leave a small area/row of the frame showing. This is where the pieces meet and the ribbon will be placed. ( I had about 1/4"). Let dry.


step 7: Glue ribbon over open space. Overlap ribbon along sides and glue onto back to make more secure.

step 8: tie ribbon bow, and finish with desired embellishments.

Here are a few more detail shots:






I hope I havve inspired you to try to make your own frame! If you do so, please share with us by linking your finished project onto this post. Be sure to stop by the Ally Scraps store and check out all the fabulous new and "old" goodies! You will be sure to find plenty of product to inspire you.
Happy creating!
Rae

soooooo SPOILED!

When I got this brand new Crate Paper line, BLISS at home this week, I was in love! It's one of my new favorite scrapbook lines... and I was so excited to get right to work using it. I made this layout of my "spoiled" daughter and her new cell phone, that I swore she wasn't getting for Christmas :).



I really like how this two-sided paper has a patterned side and a plain colored side too. I used FIVE different papers on my layout from the bliss line. And guess what?? I used 13!!! pieces of the coordinating chipboard, that must be a record.

Check out all of the new Crate Paper lines in the store, and while you're there, take a peek at everything new... there are TONS of new products, plenty to get you in a scrappy mood.

Hey, it's November, and a new month means new guest designers. We have Morag and Raechelle with us this month, members of the last AllyScraps DT. Can't wait to see what they have in store for us. Check out their stuff later this week. Enjoy!

~ Dana