"Let's Play Cards" Final Hand!

All this week at KT Crafts, the Design Team is dealing out a different card challenge every day! There are way too many cards to post, but you can check them out in the KT Craft Design Team Challenge forum! Come on over and put your cards on the table. At the end of the week...see who has a "full house" of cards for future use!

http://ktcraftsmembers.com/viewtopic.php?t=3391

"Let's Play Cards" Round 4!

The DT challenge this week is to create one card and envelope (technique of the month) using the sketch below. The sketch was created by Taylor Van Bruggen of Taylored Expressions. You can check out her inspirational blog at www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/. Thanks, Taylor!

Dawn's card and envelope

Brittany's card and envelope

Barb's card and envelope



Vicki's card and envelope

Elisabeth's card and envelope

Write away!

What's all this fuzz about journaling? Many scrapbookers get a journaling block just because they think they NEED to do journaling. It's not always so.

Start with asking yourself who do you want to tell what? Sometimes it's very easy to pretend that you're talking to a friend and wants to tell what happened - write it as you would say it! Or if you want to tell your kids what they did when - write it in the same way you would say it to them.

Not all pictures needs journaling either. They can speak for themselves sometimes, then just add notes on where, when and who. That's OK.

And then there are those pictures you want to scrap, things you want to tell, but not to anyone. Or things you aren't ready to tell just yet. Make yourself a private album where you keep these layouts. Where you can write down what you feel, what you really want to say, things to remember. Make it your private diary with photos and mementos. Your secrets. I have one - I will show it when I'm ready to. Not before. And maybe just taking LO's out of it and put it in the "official" albums... The rest will remain my secrets.

Go on, write away as you please!
Elisabeth

During the lazy days of summer

you can find a lot of things to do. Not only spending time on the beach or at the pool, there are days of bad weather that can be spent other ways.

Take the opportunity to visit thrift shops, bargain shops, garage sales and other places. You will find lots of stuff to use on your scrapbooking pages, things to alter or for other crafty hobbies.

I love garage sales and flea markets - I have found they often have laces, trimmings, ribbons and buttons from old ladies' treasure chests! And some nice jewelry, too. If they are broken you can take them apart and use medallions or charms or even chains for your creations. A whole bunch of silk flowers for just a few cents...

When visiting older relatives, ask them if they would like to contribute to your treasures - it might be their trash!

Soon you'll have tons of lovely embellishments for your pages - and the best of all, it's for free or just a few cents. That leaves you with more money to spend on papers, chipboards, thickers and other necessary stuff!

Summer greeting from
Elisabeth

"Let's Play Cards"- Week 3

This week the Design Team created a Female Birthday Card using the sketch provided by 3boymom/Jan and a Hello Card using real or faux stitching. We challenge you to join us in creating these cards over at the forum. So hop on over and show us your creativity!


Sketch:


DT's Female Birthday cards using sketch:

Barb


Elisabeth


Dawn


Vicki


Brittany



and Here are the DT's Hello cards:

Barb


Elisabeth


Dawn


Vicki


Brittany



Happy Scrapping!!

July's Member of the Month

Msg board username - SherylD

Name & Family - My name is Sheryl D. and I have been married for 11 years to my fabulous husband. We have two boys aged nine and six who provide lots of photo opportunities and are the light of my life, even though they also drive me to distraction.

How I found the msg. board - I have shopped at KT Crafts pretty much since I started scrapbooking, and although I had seen the reference to a message board, I didn't venture onto it until I saw the Spring competition advertised earlier this year. When I did take a closer look, I decided that sharing my stuff didn't have to mean pursuing publication (not that I had submitted a whole lot!) and that posting on a gallery and participating on the message board could be very inspirational. I really love the little glimpses into other people's way of life too!

How or why I got into scrapbooking - Hmmm! I have photo albums going back years that contain all sorts of bits and pieces besides photos, but I suppose that the main push to start came after I started researching my family history. I started genealogy as my Year 2000 project, and I had soon collected lots of data, and in some cases photos, but it was all a bit inaccessible. I wrote some articles to try to make it more interesting, but I was stuck with what else I could do. Then one day in 2003 I was browsing through a discount bookshop and came across a book called "Scrapbook Storytelling" by Joanna Campbell Slan. Talk about an eye opener! I suppose you could say I have never looked back - scrapbooking simply ticks so many boxes for me.

How my style has changed since I began scrapbooking - Well, when I started lots of pretty florals and fibres, with lots of die cuts border and photo corner stickers. More often than not there was a high degree of symmetry, too. I like to think that things have changed a bit! I also had a great fondness for dimensional stickers, though I was rarely able to bring myself to use them. In the beginning, too, my journaling was almost always done on the computer.

My scrapbooking style now - I suppose I would like to think of my style as eclectic, but it probably isn't! I am not afraid to try new things - I would never have used acrylic paint on a layout before seeing the kind of result that can be achieved on the KT gallery, and I have experiemented with stamping and other techinques. I am also much quicker to simply alter something to fit in with a project rather than go out and buy more - I'll emboss or paint or ink alphas, for example. I like to dabble with lots of styles, though I suppose I like the results best when my layouts are quite clean, led by strong photos and great papers with a cardstock background. I would hate to end up with albums of layouts that all look exactly the same, which is one of the reasons I like challenges and page kits so much - they push me to maybe do things a little differently.

What it would take to keep me from scrapbooking - Well, obviously there are several things outside my control which would prevent me from scrapbooking: death, debilitating injury or being marooned on desert island to name three. I don't think much short of that would stop me completely - I enjoy the process too much. After all, I get to buy nice things, plan projects and play with glue and sparkly bits. I am thinking of going back to work soon after ten years as a SAHM, and that will certainly cut back the time I have available for scrapbooking, but as I always have something ticking away at the back of my mind it may just make the time I have more effective. I can't believe that I would ever choose to live with no creative outlet at all, and scrapbooking really is the complete package - as well as opening up the opportunity to connect with people around the world and be part of a great community!

"Let's Play Cards"- Round 2

Your challenge from the DT this week is to create two cards...one Friendship Card using the provided sketch and one Gatefold Anniversary card.

This weeks sketch comes from our very own Jan (3boymom on the forums).

Friendship cards

Barb


Vicki


Brittany


Dawn


Elisabeth


Anniversary cards:

Barb


Vicki


Brittany


Dawn


Elisabeth


Happy Scrapping!!

July 2nd- "Let's Play Cards"- Round 1

The DT challenges you to create two cards using the sketches provided by our own Maya/Jorunn. One must be a male birthday card and the other a thank you card. You may use either sketch for either card, but must use both sketches.





Here are the Design Team's creations using sketch #1:


Barb:



Brittany:



Dawn:



Elisabeth:



Vicki:



Using Sketch #2:

Barb:



Brittany:



Dawn:



Elisabeth:



Vicki:




Happy Scrapping!