Wishing you a blessed Easter

Wishing you a lovely and Blessed Easter.

Thanks for stopping my my weekend blog hops:

ScrapThat! April "Within Nature" Reveal and Blog Hop

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Hop into Spring Blog Hop

~ Blessings ~

ScrapThat! April "Within Nature" Reveal and Blog Hop

I'm part of two blog hops this weekend so please be sure to check out my SEM Blog Hop post where I get to share some exciting news. 

Welcome to the ScrapThat! 

April Kit Reveal and Blog Hop!! 

If you came here from 
Donna Salazar

you are on the right track!

If you want to start at the beginning or lose your way, here is the Blog Hop order:

Scrap That! 

Lynn Shokoples

Donna Salazar

Tracey Sabella 

Sandi Clarkson

Laura Gilhully
ScrapThat! Facebook Page 

Amarilys Doria 

Tracey Gregory 
Sarah Routledge 

Scrap That!!

We are so excited to share the details about our newest kit featuring brand new papers

created by Donna Salazar for GCD Studios.

 The Queen of Girlie Grunge herself, Donna Salazar, will also be joining our hop!

When you get to her blog, scroll down and you will see a familiar face - our own fabulously talented DT Leader, Tracey S., is one of 5 artists chosen to be on the 2013 Donna Salazar Guest Design Team! We are so proud of her !!

We are so thrilled to welcome the beautiful and creative artist

Lynn Shokoples

as our April Guest Designer!!!

Hi everyone! My name is Lynn Shokoples and I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I've also been blessed to join the Bo Bunny and Quick Quotes design teams this year. When I'm not scrapbooking I'm a wife, and a mom to two wonderful young adults, Nicole who's 25 and Ryan who is 20 and my new son-in-law Christopher. I'm so thrilled and honored to be a Guest Designer this month with such a group of talented artists here at ScrapThat. I love to blog and love to meet fellow scrappers, so please feel free to stop by anytime. 

Stop by and visit Lynn's blog at http://scrappyhappymom.blogspot.ca/

Now, without further ado,
 introducing our fabulous April Kit, "Within Nature"

Featuring the GCD/Donna Salazar collection, "Natural Beauty." Opening the box to this kit feels like opening your closet and finding your most favorite, comfortable clothes packed with a little bling! The colors are rich and vintage and range from elegant pale neutrals to muted pinks, to deep denim blues and sages. These are paired with textured blooms from Prima, Petaloo and more!

Take a look:

Main Kit

Embellishment Add-On

Flower Add-On

Paper Add-On

More details on this  Collection can be seen here: ScrapThat! Store 

We are currently accepting new

Kit Club Members.

For more information,

complete the form on the link below:

New Subscriber 

Look at the beautiful sketch Amarilys has created for April:

See details about the challenge here: Sketch Challenges

Be sure to also check out the details of our monthly DT challenge

 hosted in April by Tracey S. here: DT Challenge

Everyone is welcome to participate.

All entries for both challenges are due by April 24th

Something new! All winners of our challenges, including Layout of the Week, will be eligible to receive 10% off any 2012 Kits-includes Add-ons!

This April Kit was amazing to work with. It is no secret I adore working with Donna Salazar's fabulous designs. This collection is totally gorgeous "Girlie Grunge" with the earthy neutrals, greens, and blues and the girlie pinks. As you'll see with our DT Creations this kit can go in so many different directions. My first project today is a page inspired by Amy's oh so lovely April sketch. 

My niece was the sweet flower girl in Elizabeth's wedding this past October. Isn't she darling?

"Flower Girl" 

MK, EAO, FAO

In place of the single doily in the sketch, I layered paper doilies along with a doily I punched with one of my decorative corner punches. I fussy cut the cage and bird to add to my cluster. This cording is so gorgeous and unique. It is quite thick, but so soft and easy to work with. I pulled some thick handmade mulberry paper from my stash along with my Donna Salazar dies to make a few flowers to add to the gorgeous MK and FAO flowers. The kit and FAO flowers are so fabulous!! I usually do something to alter my flowers, but these are so pretty and so perfectly coordinated with the papers, that I used them straight out of the package. The flourish is from my stash. 

I have used lots of techniques on this page, so be sure to watch for my featured project post where I will be sharing all the details with close-ups. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Next up is a photo of Andrew before the wedding - contemplating his future with Elizabeth. Such a special photo and I wanted to create a special layout for it. 

"The Journey Awakens the Soul"

MK, EAO, FAO

I love the earthy organic feel to this particular paper and thought it would be perfect for this more masculine page. I have been inspired by the work Frank Garcia is doing with cording on his pages and enjoyed giving it a shot. Here's a little tip if you want to give it a try. Be sure to reinforce the point of the paper where you plan to connect the cording. Drop by Frank's blog for more inspiration. 

To get the banner effect under the curled paper, I cut flags from the kit burlap and layered with some mulberry paper flowers I created. The beautiful flower centers are from the EAO Kit. These little metal roses are just so sweet. Don't you just adore the Prima focal flower. It comes already inked, and layered with the fabulous button in the center ~ it looks so gorgeous without any altering.

I know there are a lot of creative things that can be done with the corded Prima Hearts in the EAO Kit, but I couldn't resist placing them across the page just the way they came out of the package. I'll be sharing the details of how I created the gears from scraps and my Sprightly Sprockets dies. The chipboard and title plate are from my stash. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of my close scrapbooking friends, Mandy, celebrates her birthday on St. Patrick's day. I couldn't resist using the greens in this collection to create a card for her. 

Birthday Card ~ Mandy

MK only

I used my Cricut along with the CTMH Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges for the shapes. The orange tinged flower was left from my February Kit, and I used the kit pearls for my Wonderful Wings butterfly body. (Mandy is a CTMH consultant, so if you are looking for one of these cartridges, stop by her blog for details on how to order one.) Be sure to stop by on March 8 for a photo tutorial to create my sparkling butterfly.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My husband's birthday is coming up in April, so I made him a card too. I'm not too worried that he will see his card, since he'd rather play golf than look at my blog. He's so supportive of my craft, and I wanted to create an extra special card for him. 

Birthday Card ~ Gary

MK Only

The banner flags are all hand cut and most of them stamped. The center red heart was also embossed. The flowers and leaves were cut from kit paper using Donna Salazar's Rose Creations for the flowers and Bitty Blossoms dies for the leaves. I had one little snippet of that gorgeous cording left, so I pulled it apart and tucked the curled pieces into my cluster. The chipboard and ribbon are from my stash. 

Now on to our Blog Hop Details:

Our Blog Hop features 11 fabulous hop sites including our Design Team blogs. 

We have been scrapping away and are so excited to show you our  creations! 

Two Prizes are up for grabs this month !

Donna Salazar will be drawing a winner from hoppers who comment on her blog for this amazing prize package including some of her new products from the Family Jeans collection and one of her brand new stencils.

 Be sure to check out her blog for additional details.

Next up is our SPECTACULAR April Blog Hop Prize

"Serendipity".

This kit is chock FULL of fabulous scrapbooking products including the amazing Sweet Nothings Collection from Kaiser Craft. With rich warm colors, and rustic embellishments like wooden gates and bronze cord, this kit lends itself beautifully to heritage layouts layouts.  We have included a white pen for you to use when creating a faux stitching effect.

To qualify for this month's FABULOUS Prize, 

you must complete the following:

* Visit each blog listed on the hop to see what each designer has created using this month's kit and sketch(comments are very much appreciated).

* Each designer's blog hop post will feature a word to make up a secret sentence,
collect these words along the way.

* You must become a FOLLOWER of each blog along the way 
and LIKE us on our Facebook Page!

* Post the ScrapThat! Blinkie on your blog.

* For your last stop on our Blog Hop return to the ScrapThat! Chat Blog.

Leave a comment letting us know you have

completed the hop.

(Please do NOT include the secret sentence in your comments.)

*Email the secret sentence to Tracey Sabella:tracey@scrapthat.ca

The Blog Hop ends Sunday, March 31 at Midnight EST

The prize MUST be claimed within 3 days of the forum announcement which will also be made on the ScrapThat! Blog.

~ If left unclaimed a NEW winner will be chosen ~
**Winner will pay actual shipping costs for sending the kit from Canada.**
Shipping costs will be invoiced via PayPal unless you are a kit member,
 then your prize will be shipped with your monthly kit.

Prizes won during the month will be mailed out the first week of the following month.

Due to Customs clearance, International mailings sometimes take 30-75 days to receive.

My secret word is: 

and

Next hop over to :

Sandi Clarkson

For your final stop, return to the ScrapThat! Blog 

to let us know you have completed the hop.

Remember ~ only send the secret sentence to tracey@scrapthat.ca

Thanks for following me with Bloglovin.

Happy Hopping!

Scrapping Everyday Miracles Spring Blog Hop

SCRAPPING EVERYDAY MIRACLES

HOP into SPRING BLOG HOP!

MARCH 29th - 31st

Spring is my favorite time of the year, and Scrapping Everyday Miracles is celebrating this special season!! The design team has put together some fabulous spring and Easter projects to inspire you this weekend. I hope you enjoy the hop! 

I've been invited to join the delightful SEM design team. Scrapping Everyday Miracles is such a sweet site with challenges designed to encourage us to consider our faith in our crafting, and I'm so delighted to be a part of this special team.

Thanks Nicole for this opportunity!

You should have arrived here from:
Cara

Here are the links for the hops along the way in case you want to start at the beginning or get lost along the way.

Toni
Nicole

Jessica

Tracey G.

Helen

Cara

You are here --> Tracey S.
Kelly <-- Your next stop

Christy

Elizabeth
Lisa

SEM Blog

Our Blog Hop prize is sponsored by...

Genuinely Jane Studios (GJS) manufactures small and medium sized mini-albums for scrapbooking, mixed media and altered arts in a variety of shapes and sizes. 100% American-made, our facility is located in rural, north-central Missouri and uses only the highest quality materials.  

Owned by a military veteran, and accomplished woodworker,  Mark Carosiello and a lifelong crafter, industry manufacturer’s rep, design team member,  passionate scrapbooker and altered artist, Susan Wojtkowski, we understand the craft and the crafter.

One of the first signs of spring here in ohio is seeing the crocuses popping up with their sweet, colorful blossoms. I was able to get a photo of these gems before the snow and cold descended back upon us this week. 

"Spring Time"

I created this page with inspiration from the Prima Build-A-Page Sketch:

These lovely flowers remind me of Isaiah 40:7-9, "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."

These spring beauties lasted but a day before winter-like cold temperatures and snow  returned to quickly fade them away. This precious verse reminds me that I have a God who is unchanging and is always there for me. His beauty is always present, and never fades away.

Tips and Techniques:

Fussy Cutting ~ I fussy cut flowers and leaf stems from the vibrant and gorgeous Prima Garden Party paper.

Stenciling ~ I mixed Lumiere pearl violet paint into flexible modeling paste to get this gorgeous purple  to spread over the Prima Flourish stencil.

Rayon Crinkle Ribbon ~ I sprayed several colors of mist on my craft mat and pulled this rayon seam binding through it. The color variation is subtle, but there. I simply balled up the wet ribbon and dried it with a heat tool to set the crinkles. 

Cluster ~ Since this is a Prima page, I pulled a variety of spring colored prima flowers from my stash in different shapes and sizes, along with some charms, chipboard, doily, and trinkets. I played until I found an arrangement I liked, then glued in place. 

Crystal Bling ~ The package of pearlized crystals is so perfect for this spring page, so I scattered them randomly across the bottom corner of the page. I also used a piece of a Prima crystal flourish as a butterfly trail and to tuck into the top cluster. 

Splats ~ Using an eyedropper of Dylusions Crushed Grape Spray Ink, I release drops of mist ink from well above the page to create the fun and gorgeous splats of color in the corners. 

Tulle ~ I cut rectangles of glittery tulle and wrapped with wire to create little picks to tuck into the cluster. 

Double photo ~ I printed two photos - one about an inch larger than the other. I sanded the edges and centered the smaller over the larger. 

Garden Gate ~ Isn't the vintage metal garden gate such a darling embellishment to accent the flower photo? 

Feathery Butterfly ~ I just had to include a butterfly to represent the metamorphosis and change that spring represents to me, and this pretty pink Prima butterfly fit the page so perfectly. 

Dangling Crystal ~ The photo doesn't do justice to the light that the dangling crystal picks up and reflects. I used one of the new Tim Holtz ring fastners to attach it to the page. 

I have entered this page at:

Prima Build-A-Page challenge

Word Art Wednesday

We were asked to share our answers to these two questions so you can get to know us better:

What do I love most about Spring? I live out in the country, and I love to see the rebirth of God's creation as the flowers push their way through the soil to share their gorgeous blossoms that fill the air with wafts of their amazing scents, as the trees bud, blossom, and leaf out, and as the animals give birth to their young. We have been blessed to see turkey chicks following their mamas and fawns gamboling near their sweet mothers.

Where do you live? I live in northeast Ohio out in the county. I live with my husband who supports my paper crafting and our 18 year old daughter who will be graduating from high school this spring. We also have 3 adult children and two of them are married. No grandchildren ~ yet. 

~ Prizes ~

You have several chances to win. First, I will be offering a RAK of some spring themed  and inspirational embossing folders. All you have to do is leave a comment and become a follower if you aren't already. I'll give you a second draw if you also follow me using Bloglovin. 

My Rack includes these 4 packages of embossing folders by Darice.

Brick Wall & Thank You with Flowers:

Rose Boquet & Inspiration 3 Pack

Here are the SEM blog prizes:

Our Hop into Spring Blog Hop Prize is two Genuinely Jane Wood albums!  You will receive both the dress form album and the flower album.

Here is an example of a flower album after it has been decorated!

To win this prize you'll want to leave a comment on each DT member's blog and we'll randomly choose one blog to select the winner from. All winners will be announced Saturday, April 6th.

Also you'll want to head over to our SEM Facebook Chit-Chat Page for another chance to win.. We have a fun Blog Hop Challenge for you and another great prize from Geniunely Jane Studio. (If you're not already part of the Chit-Chat page, just request an invitation, and we'll get you added in a jiffy).

Your next stop on the hop is Kelly.
You are sure to enjoy her page and sweet insights!!

Now...have fun Hopping!! Happy Spring from all of us at SEM!!

ScrapThat! April "Within Nature" Sneak Peeks

It's almost time for our ScrapThat! April Reveal.

Kaitlyn has outdone herself with this fabulous kit filled with amazing products in fabulous earth tones, blues and greens. Our designers have created some gorgeous inspiration for you and here's a little peek.

Here are a few more sneaks from my projects:

Be sure to stop back by on Friday for the Reveal and Blog Hop. 

We have a very special stop along the way with the designer of our featured

paper collection offering an additional prize this month.

The ScrapThat! grand prize is this gorgeous "Serendipity" Main Kit.

See you on Friday!

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"Enjoy the Journey" ~ The Paper Mixing Bowl Guest Designer

Spring is in the air?? Not really - here in North East Ohio the flakes are falling. Soon, the crocuses will be gracing the landscape. I can't wait!!

I am so honored to have been asked to be the March Guest Designer at The Paper Mixing Bowl. My first design teams were challenge sites, and I love a good challenge. I had so much fun creating this page with the March Recipe!!

These photos are engagement photos I attempted to take of Elizabeth and Andrew. They were so silly, so it is a good thing their wedding photographer included engagement shots as well. Here are some shots I took of them with Elizabeth's dog, Bounder. 

"Enjoy the Journey"

Now here is the Recipe I worked with:

Although only two Utensils are required, I used all 7. See if you can find them!

Wee photos

Lace

Feather

Predominately green

Something gold, 

Lucky Charm

Kiss Me - Inked wood grain over the background and edges.

I did not do the optional Journalling. 

Tips and Techniques:

Distressing ~ I distressed the paper edges and photos with my DSD Distrezz-It-All.

Flower Cluster ~ No techniques here. I arranged some pretty Petaloo flowers and leaves in the corner and tucked in some of the required elements - the lace, charm, and feathers, along with the gold glittered leaves. 

Title ~ Here you can see how tucked the Tim Holtz Word Band into my cluster. I applied green alcohol ink and knotted some sheer ribbon on each end.

Bracket Shaped Border ~ I hav a selection of neat die cut papers that I keep on hand as stencils. I liked this shape for my page so used the die cut paper as a stencil over this lovely green Basic Grey paper. I drew a pencil mark around the die cut and fussy cut the shape. I then inked the edges and hand stitched a line around the edge in black. 

Stencil ~ I laid my wood grain stencil over the bracket frame page and rubbed green distress over giving extra visual dimension into the "white" space. 

I hope you will swing by The Paper Mixing Bowl and link your project to meet this sweet challenge!!

I have entered this at
Word Art Wednesday - Challenge #72 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"Cherish this Moment" Details ~ ScrapThat! March Kit

There is just something special about a dad and his daughter on her wedding day. This photo of Gary dancing with Elizabeth is so sweet. I love the way he whispered and talked with her during this special dance. 

The ScrapThat! March kit with these Meg's Garden papers was so wonderful to work with! Beautiful fussy cutting opportunities and such gorgeous flowers!! 

If you happened to miss my exciting announcement about being named to the Donna Salazar 2013 Guest Design Team with a group of amazingly talented artists, check out my Tuesday post. 

Cherish this Moment

MK, EAO, FAO

I used Amy's gorgeous sketch:

For details on Amy's sketch challenge and prizes go here.

If you would like to play along with our March DT Challenge, check out the details here. 

Tips and Techniques:

Flower Cluster ~ The full brown roses and green open roses are included in the FAO kit while these fun prima gears are in the EAO. I added a few small roses cut from kit cardstock and Donna Salazar's Bitty Blossoms dies. The sweet yellow carnation used Donna's Carnation Creations dies. I added a Zva flourish from my stash that I cut apart and tucked here and there on the page. 

Fussy Cutting ~ There are so many fussy cutting opportunities with this gorgeous Meg's Garden Papers. From borders and frames to flowers and leaves.

Layering ~ I cut several strips of the striped papers for my layering. With the dark paper I distressed the edges and scratched the top with my Prima distress tool to soften the black. I then pleated it for extra dimension. The other layers were distressed and punched with kit pearls added to the punched strip. I topped the papers with the MK filmstrip which I only attached under the fussy cut flowers so it would lie loosely and ribbon-like. 

Distressing ~ I distressed all the edges and mats with my Donna Salazar Distrezz-It-All by Zutter. 

Title ~ I punched out the word Cherish with a circle punch. I punched a strip of scallops from some of the striped paper and cut each scallop apart. I adhered them around the circle, overlapping slightly to make the doily edge. I had a few extra crystals from my flourish, which I cut apart and placed around the edge. 

More Fussy Cutting ~ The sprays of little pink flowers were fussy cut and tucked into the cluster.

Handcrafted Flowers ~ The larger pink Full Open Rose was hand crafted using Donna Salazar Grand Peony and Bitty Blossoms. My tutorial can be found here. 

Dragonfly ~ This sweet little dragonfly by Gina's Designs is from my stash and so easy. I simply painted with rich, metallic Lumiere paints. 

Flower ~ Another of my Carnation Creations flowers close-up, and fussy cut leaves tucked into this peek-a-boo space at the edge of my paper. 

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments. 

~ Blessings ~

Sweet News!

I have some over the top, very exciting news to share with you today. If you are a regular here at my blog, you may have noticed that I enjoy using Donna Salazar's fabulous products - from her beautiful papers and wonderfully designed dies to my favorite tool, the Distrezz-It-All. I'm so happy to share that I have been selected as one of her 2013 Guest Designers. Thank you Donna and Natasha for this amazing opportunity. The official announcement can be found at the Donna Salazar Designs blog and Girlie Grunge Ning.

Here are two projects I created for the design team call featuring Donna Salazar Designs products. 

"Dreams"

Details can be found here.

"Girlie Grunge Box"

Details can be found here. 

2013 Donna Salazar Guest Designers include:

Nadia Cannizzo

Lisa Nazario-Gregory

Vivian Keh

Elena Olinevich

I have more great news. Three of my projects have been published by Scrapbook News and Review. I hope you will hop on over and check out their on-line scrapbooking magazine. 

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~

"Faith is the Strength" for SOUS Card Sketch

Our dear and sweet owner of ScrapThat! has had sadness touch her life this week with the passing of her beloved brother. I have sent Kaitlyn this card I created as a word of encouragement. Because I mailed it, I tried to created some layers and visual dimension without the thickness of my normal flowers.

"Faith is the Strength"

Inside View

I used this lovely sketch over at SOUS.

As you can see, I rotated and flipped the sketch.

Tips and Techniques: 

Lolipop Flower ~ This technique has been around for as long as I've been scrapping and still creates some lovely flowers. Cut circles in 1/2 inch increments, crinkle the paper, and glue the centers together. The sweet center is a vintage button from a tin of buttons given to me by my DH's cousin, Debbie Clapper - Thanks Debbie!! 

Color Work ~ I wanted these sweet flowers on the background paper to pop, so I used my Picket Fence Distress Marker to color the flowers. Since it is opaque, it really highlighted these sweet gems in such a lovely way

Layers ~ One of the Spring in Bloom Donna Salazar papers was die cut with gorgeous paper ribbons. I cut a strip of the pink to layer over the teal music paper and atop them all is the beautiful lace. 

Sentiment ~ I stamped this sentiment with Donna Salazar Mix'd Media Ink, then while still wet, sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heat set. I then hand cut this little banner around the sentiment and distressed the edges adding a couple pearls to accent. 

Inside ~ The December 26, 2012 Word Art Wednesday quotation by Helen Keller gives such an encouraging message. I printed it in the center of a sheet of copy paper. I then cut out a 6 x 6 inch printed square of Donna Salazar Antiquities Artistic Paper and applied repositionable tape to the back. Using a light box, I positioned the paper over the sentiment and adhered it in place. I ran both through my printer to get the sentiment on the card exactly how I wanted it. I then trimmed the piece to fit the card and distressed the edges with my Distrezz-It-All. 

Products Used:
DSD Spring in Bloom ~ Flight
DSD Spring in Bloom ~ White Roses
DSD Spring in Bloom ~ Springtime Ribbons
DSD Spring in Bloom ~ Spring Journal Cards
DSD Spring in Bloom ~ Artistic Papers, Antiquities
Zing Embossing Powder - Clear
DSD Mix'd Media Inx - Indigo
Distress Marker - Picket Fence
Inky Antics Clear Stamps - Mighty Tower
Want2Scrap Say It With Baby Bling - Pearls
Vintage Button - Stash
Cotton Lace - Stash
Word Art  ~ December 26, 2012 WAW Word Art
DSD Distrezz-It-All
Scotch ATG
Helmar 450 Adhesive
Glossy Accents
Fiskars Circle Cutter
Martha Stewart Mini Scoring Board

I pray that this card will express my heartfelt sympathies.

I have entered this at:

Stuck on U Sketches March 6 Card Sketch

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #71 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! I treasure your comments.

~ Blessings ~