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

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