Merry,Merry Christmas to YOU from AllyScraps!

Hi everyone! Hope the craziness of the season is over, and you are enjoying your family today and this week. A big Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from all of us here at AllyScraps. :)

But, before we celebrate... here's another super special winter/Christmas themed project from Linda Albrecht. I LOVE how it's a Christmas village, but it's so pretty and wintery that you could leave out all season long.



Linda used gorgeous papers from Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses collection. The figures and big snowflake are chip stickers. She used the element stickers too. Those adorable pink trees are from Melissa Frances as well as all of the sparkly mica flakes. So pretty!



Linda covered paper mache houses with patterned paper then glittered them
up and glued them to a cardboard box base. Linda! love this project, thank you so much for sharing it with us. Check out Linda's blog for even more inspiration. See you again soon after Christmas, have a wonderful and safe holiday!

~ Dana

Linda Albrecht has done it again!

If you're not in a festive mood, this beautiful project by Linda Albrecht should get you feeling MERRY! This gorgeous paper crafted stocking is filled with lots of lovely trinkets, embellished with all things things sparkly and would be such a gorgeous addition to your holiday decor.





Linda used the Fancy Pants Christmas Magic collection for the stocking. The main paper is mince pie . The scallops come from the strip sheet, and the red heel is the back of bough of holly. I love how she added bells and tinsel to make it sparkle. She also used chipboards scrolls, birds and flowers from Maya Road.

She made the stocking from chipboard, cutting the stocking shape, making the front piece wider than the back so that it would have an opening at the top for stuffing things into. The star is paper mache covered with papers, the snowman part clay and part styrofoam, there is a bottle brush tree and some Christmas ornaments tucked inside also.

Want to check out more of Linda's work? Then be sure to check out her blog, it's filled with more Christmasy inspiration. Hope all of your holiday preparations are going well, have a great weekend... see you again soon.

~ Dana

No time to scrapbook during the Holidays??

Me either! I've been having a hard time managing my gift shopping, present wrapping, house decorating, cookie baking... while still trying to fit in some scrapbook time. Want to know my "make time for scrapbooking" solutions? Well, here they are!

#1 - Scraplift!
Jana Eubank is always a huge inspiration to me. Love her designs! So, when I saw this layout, I knew it would be one that I would scraplift. Check out Jana's blog, she has lots of awesome layouts to be inspired by... or to scraplift completely. An guess what, I know that she wouldn't mind!



#2 - Use a sketch.
When I used Jana's layout for inspiration, what I didn't know what that Jana's layout was based on a sketch by Tara Thynne. Tara has a blog site all of her own, you can check out lots of sketches, right here at Capture These Sketches! We also have a gallery of sketches right on our own blog, by former design team member Debbie Gaydos, we love Debbie's sketches.



#3 - Do a little bit every day
I think my layout took 2 full weeks to complete. I know that seems like forever, but in the midst of holiday business, I feel great that it got finished. One day I did the paper layout, the next day, the title, added the picture on a different day, and the embellies and title another. Buttons like Jana's were my next addition, and then all of a sudden I was done!

#4 - Scrap a favorite picture or story
Always makes it easier to fit in scrapbook time, when I'm scrapping a picture or story that I love.

#5 - Use a new favorite supply
I've wanted to use these school papers from October Afternoon since the minute they came to my door from AllyScraps. Makes it fun to get a page going!

Want to see what I came up with? Here it is, 3rd grade school photo.



Thanks so much to Jana and Tara for their inspiration. Hope you (and I) will be able to find some time to scrapbook this week! Oh, and want to check out some brand new scrappy supplies?? Cathy has just added some to the store.

~ Dana

Counting the Days...

There are only 16 more sleeps until Christmas. Yikes! where has the time gone?

We've been counting down the days in our house and this year we'll be counting them down on a blackboard.

This mini-blackboard is a child's toy which I found in a craft store. I've decorated it with the fabulous Eskimo Kisses from Basic Grey. These double-sided papers are simply gorgeous! I love the colours and patterns.

I have to say my snowmen are very much inspired by the fabulous Linda Albrecht who is this month's Guest Designer. She creates such wonderful pieces that she definately inspired my snowman.

Unfortuately the light here is poor so you can't see all the sparkly glitter and glass bauble gems. They really are divine. The little dear is cut out of Dearly paper - I wish I had bought the chip stickers - the little girls and boys would have looked fabulous.

I made a clay birdie to sit on a branch. She is covered in ultra-fine glitter too.

I hope that we've inspired you to create something lovely for Christmas. Remember that there are heaps of lovely new goodies in the store to tempt you.

Merry Christmas!

Morag x

Holiday snowman banner!

Need a project that you can display all winter? Something that is perfect for the WHOLE season? Well, we have something to share with you. This snowman banner made by our December guest designer Linda Albrecht ceratinly fits the bill. It is so SOFT looking and full of so much detail and character. Wow, wow, wow, love it. Love the glitter, the bling, the snowmen, the colors, the mittens, the tinsel, the bling. I love every little detail. I NEED to make one of these, wonder if I can get Linda to draw the snowman faces for me?? :)









Linda used products from the Christmas Magic by Fancy Pants, including these cute rubons. The sparkle comes from Melissa Frances' mica flakes in white. Wondering what the cute mitten banner is? Well, it's a mini book from Maya Road. And the mini chipboard scrolls? Those are by Maya Road too. What wonderful use of products.

Thanks so much Linda, your project is SO inspiring. Want to check out more work by Linda, I sure do!! Here's her blog, tons more inspiration there. The best new of all is that Linda will be back next week, hope you'll come back next week too for even more Christmasy goodness!

~ Dana

December... WOW!

A whole new month here at AllyScraps! Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving. Here at AllyScraps we have lots to be thankful for. We are super thankful for Morag and Raechelle, two long standing members of our Design Team. Thank you Morag and Rae, thanks for your inspirational designs and for your positive and giving attitudes. You're both the best. :)

December brings us a fresh face here at AllyScraps. I hope that you will help me welcome Linda Albrecht, our December guest designer. Keep an eye out later this week for an amazing project from Linda, and all through the month. Here she is...



"My name is Linda Albrecht and I live in Minnesota. I have 4 wonderful
children (that range in ages from 11 to 27) and one very supportive
husband. For the majority of my life I have been a lover of the creative
arts-- everything from needle work, to painting and paper arts have
fulfilled my need to express my heart and soul as an artist.

After having children I found another purpose to be creative, for it was
then that scrapbooking became the way that I chose to preserve memories
and organize life's many memento's in a beautiful form. My love of
scrapbooking and altered arts turned into a part time career 6 years ago
when I began working for several scrapbook manufacturers.

Currently I do design work for BasicGrey, Art Warehouse and Creative
Cafe, Tattered Angels, and Melissa Frances. My work has been printed in
magazines and idea books throughout my scrapbooking career and I have
taught classes for several events."

~ Dana