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.