How Melanie Created Her Layout

I loved this month's Dear Lizzy line...especially the "Love You" paper. Here is a little step by step on how I created my layout this month.

Step 1: Gather all the lovely goodies up.

Step 2: I liked how I laid out my pattern paper in the picture above. So I copied this and created my background. I did cut the "Love You" paper out horizontally so you could read the words.

Step 3: I start arranging the pattern paper pieces onto the heart pattern paper. I did want one word of "punched out" journaling card to stand out. So I placed a piece of the striped pattern paper behind the word "heart".  I also added some chevron arrows along the right side of the layout.

Step 4: Then I placed my photo on top of the pattern paper pieces (I forgot to take a picture of this). Next came time to use all the lovely embellishments included in the FOTM and embellishment kits.

Washi, chipboard butterfly, enamel dot

Chipboard arrows

Fabric tag and chipboard heart

Step 5: My finished layout:

I hope you liked this little step by step on how I created my layout!

- Melanie

Washi Picture Frame with Jenny

This month, I was able to use the included Washi tape for a home decor project!  I have recently started trying to redo some of our living room decor with a grey/yellow/white theme, so when I opened my Scrap Room box this month and found not one but TWO beautiful rolls of Washi tape (which happened to be grey and yellow), I knew I had to create something for my home.

I had a small canvas panel leftover from a previous project.  This canvas is only 8x10", but it was the perfect size for what I needed.  I got these canvas panels in a 3-pack from Hobby Lobby...I purchased them a while ago, but they were very inexpensive.  I used my Washi tape to cover the canvas panel, alternating strips of the yellow tape with strips of the grey tape.  No math needed...I just aligned the first strip of tape with the edge of the canvas and continued lining all the strips of tape up against each other.  If there was any extra hanging off the edges, I just folded the tape over the canvas and stuck it down really well.  I then went over the whole canvas with some Mod Podge to seal the Washi tape into place. (I've heard Washi tends to start peeling up after a while.)

Then, I had this cute little bare frame that I had picked up MONTHS ago from the dollar spot at JoAnn's:

I spray painted it with high gloss white spray paint, and that's all I had to do!  I then add my black and white photo inside the little frame, applied some Velcro to the back of the frame (so that I could change out my picture whenever I want to), and applied the small frame on top of my Washi canvas.
The end product:

I had to add a little plastic hanger on the back of the canvas, and now this 1-of-a-kind piece of handmade artwork hangs in my home for all to see.

Washi tape isn't just for scrapbook pages....use it for those personal home decor creations as well!  It's so simple and quick to use...and I totally LOVE the colors and patterns included in this month's kit.  What are you doing with your Washi?

- Jenny

Weekly Planner with Theresa

Did you notice that there's a piece of planner paper in the Elle's Studio Day to Day kit?  My ultra-nerdy inner planner absolutely squealed when I pulled this out of my TSR box:

Elle's Studio Day to Day:  Schedule

I set it aside.  And planned to pick up a white frame the next time I was out.  This baby was going on my wall!!!

Here's how it turned out - and I loved how I could sketch out my week ahead of time.  Perfect timing, as the week I got my paper was a week I spent at home.  Turns out I can't really handle a lot of unstructured free time.  LOL  This saved my sanity and kept my marriage together, I'm sure!

Want to make one too?  Easy peasy... just grab a 12x12 frame the next time you're out, and maybe some clips (if you don't have something in your stash that you can use).

Attach the clips to the bottom of the frame with short screws.  Making pilot holes is a pain, but it really does make a difference. 

Find some large brads and trim the ends off - just short enough that you can't see them when the brad is attached to the clip.

All my brads are trimmed and ready to be attached to the clips!

Brads attached.  Serves no purpose other than being pretty.  But that's good enough for me!

I write on the glass with a Sharpie and wipe it off with a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol.  You could use dry erase markers or water-soluble markers, too.  I just like that a random boybarian can't easily erase letters and make naughty words on my schedule.  *grin*

- Theresa/Savi

The March ScrapRoom Sketch... and February's Winner!

Another new month brings us another new sketch by Tammy!  As you can see, we think this sketch is wonderfully versatile:

March Sketch by Tammy Harp

"Fun In the Sun" by Brenda Carpenter

"You Are Loved" by Jennifer Moore

"Boys & Mom" by Melanie Call

"Lightning Storm" by Theresa Sovacool

Whether you follow the sketch exactly or just let it guide your photo placement... whether you layer on patterned papers or keep it simple ... we want to see how you've been inspired by the sketch this month!  Give it a try for a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to The ScrapRoom Store.  Just link up your take on our sketch in the comments below. 

And speaking of The ScrapRoom Store, we have a lucky winner again this month!

The February Sketch Challenge winner was randomly chosen to be Trish Alexander with this luscious, masculine layout... that makes me giggle every time I look at it!  What a priceless photo, and the pop of red is spot-on. 

Congratulations, Trish! Please email Tammy at admin@scrap-room.com with your real name, address, and the name of the contest you won. She'll get your prize to you right away. Happy shopping! Don't forget to link up your sketch layout for your chance to win a shopping spree next month. Good luck, and have fun with it!

- Theresa/Savi

The ScrapRoom Kits for March - and the new Project Life Kit Club!

While I may have been a little sad to February go by so quickly... having a short month means we get to see the next kits just a smidge sooner.  And with those new kits?  There's a NEW kit club being offered now:  Project Life!  *love*  So pull up a chair and your favorite coffee cup and see just what March has in store for us.  It's going to be a great month!

FOTM Kit:  Echo Park Paper Photo Freedom, American Crafts Lucky Charm, My Mind's Eye Collectable, Little Yellow Bicycle Just Because

Doubleshot Kit:  Elle's Studio Day to Day & American Crafts My Girl

NEW!  Project Life Kit

Embellishment Kit

Patterned Paper Kit

Bazzill / Cardstock Kit

Stamp Kit

Isn't it awesome?  Yeah, go ahead and go back to the top and scroll through it again.  *big love*  And that Project Life Kit Club?  You are going to love it.  We've started playing with it and wow - all the things you love about TSR kits are in a fun Project Life format!  *big big love*

- Theresa/Savi

Sneak Peek #6: Echo Park Paper Photo Freedom (FOTM) & Project Life!

"Project Life Week 9" by Aphra Bolyer

"The "Volume 1" Photo Freedom collection is a collection full of essential title and journaling cards, patterned paper, stickers, and elements. Designed to stand on its own or to mix and match with other Echo Park Paper collections, you can now customize your designs to fit your style." -- Echo Park Paper Blog

Sneak Peek #5: My Mind's Eye Collectable (FOTM)

"Seven Months" by Melanie Call

"Fresh, joyful, and vibrant, these products will have you feeling happy! Comprised of oranges,blues,greens, and yellows...this color scheme is perfect for any project." -- MME Blog

Sneak Peek #4: American Crafts My Girl (DS)

"Skipbo" by Tammy Harp

"Sugar and spice and everything nice is just the beginning of My Girl. A palette of pinks, yellows, light blue, and gray create the adorable backdrop for handwritten type and doodles of flowers, butterflies, strawberries, and speech bubbles. My Girl is a precious collection for young ladies of any age." -- American Crafts Studio Blog

Sneak Peek #3: Little Yellow Bicycle Just Because (FOTM)

"Just Be You" by Jennifer Moore

"This beautiful collection of patterned papers and whimsical embellishments will help capture those special moments, whether it's a bike ride through the park or catching up over coffee or tea. Celebrate your everyday moments with friends . . . Just Because!" -- Little Yellow Bicycle

Sneak Peek #2: American Crafts Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm (FOTM)

"You Make My Heart Sing" by Melanie Call

"Featuring an endearing assortment of charm bracelet icons - flowers, horses, hot air balloons, hearts, and arrows - Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm is a dreamland of color and patterns. Sweet pinks, aqua, yellow, red-orange and cream are grounded with a fun navy blue that make this collection charming. Lucky you." -- American Crafts Studio Blog

Sneak Peek #1: Elle's Studio Day to Day (DS)

Yeah, sneaks are earlier this month... don't you just love February?  *big smiles*

"Mama Said" by Theresa Sovacool

"We are in love with this collection-- the blues, yellows, and kraft will brighten your every day and special scrapbooking projects." -- Elle's Studio Blog

DT Inspiration: Perfectly Punched Pennants

Hi there TSR peeps! Aphra here today with a quick and easy tutorial for creating perfect pennants every time. In case you haven't noticed, I have been a bit obsessed with banners and pennants on my layouts and cards for a little while. Well, recently, I discovered a trick that makes them even easier to make. I thought I'd share it with you today.

First, gather together your supplies. A couple of square punches, any size, and some strips of patterned paper, any length but close in width to your punches

Next, you will flip your punch over and place your strip into it at an angle. Keep sliding your paper in until the two sides are lined up with the edges of the square. Then, punch.

Then, voila, you have nice even pennant edges! Here's how I used it on the left side of my Recipe Card layout.

I hope you'll give this quick and easy trick a try. If you do, leave me a comment on this post so I can see. Have a great day!

I Have 2 Winners!!!

Good morning TSR fans!! Today is the day!!! I love winner day...it just makes me soooo giddy to give prizes away! Well, this month we had 2 super fab challenges...the sketch challenge and the scraplift challenge. They were both a HUGE success! For the sketch challenge we had 24 entries, and for the scraplift challenge we had 11 entries...Wowee, right! That makes us super excited to see so much participation...thank you! Ok, ready for our winners?

The winner of the Sketch Challenge is....

Congrats Vicki!!!! And here is her beautiful layout using our March Sketch...

The winner of the Scraplift Challenge is...
Congrats Rebecca!! And here is her sweet layout...

Congrats to you both ladies!! You both won a $5 gift certificate to our ScrapRoom store! Whoot! Whoot! Please email Tammy at admin@scrap-room.com your email address and the name of the contest you won. She will in turn, email your gift certificate to you by April 2nd. Congrats again ladies, and thanks again everyone for playing along with us this month!

So, lets see...we had sneak week {check} and we announced our winners for March {check}. Hmmmmm....what's next? Oh wait! Tomorrow is the 1st of April...April Fool's Day! Is that it? Guess you will just have to stop by tomorrow to see what kind of fun we have planned...or if there is any fun planned. It is April Fool's Day, you know?

See ya tomorrow!!

Another March Challenge!

Aside from sketches, I LOVE to scraplift!! I love searching through tons of pretty layouts, and finding just one that tickles my fancy. Once I find it, I then begin to dissect the layout and figure out just what it is I like and don't like about. I scratch the stuff I don't like and add the things I do to my own work of art! And I really get satisfaction when I can look at my layout and just see glimpses of the scraplifted layout. Basically, I made it my own!

So, surprise, surprise, your challenge is to scraplift a layout from the Design Team gallery!! Here is a look at a few examples...

Scraplifted Layout--Music to My Ears by Frances, Nov 2010

NEW Layout--My Beach Babes by Aphra

You can certainly look at Aphra's layout, and see that the placement of of the pictures and patterned paper are similar. To make it her own, Aphra moved the title work to the left-hand side, which in turn she added an additional embellishment cluster to the right-hand side to give her layout balance!

Scraplifted Layout--Karate Kids by Lan, Nov 2010

NEW Layout--Love Story by Frances

Again, placement of the photos and patterned paper are essentially the same, but the location of the embellishments and title are different. I moved the title to the top of the patterned paper instead of the side, and instead of the embellishments going across the bottom of the picture, I arranged them in a cluster in the bottom right-hand corner.

If you would like to try your hand at this month's additional challenge, leave a comment IN THIS POST with a link to your layout by Wednesday, March 30th. Make sure you identify which layout from the DT gallery you lifted! Your name will then be entered into a random drawing to win a $5 gift cert to our TSR Store!!!!

Happy Wednesday and get scrapping!!

We Have a Secret! Shhhhhh...

Yep, we have a secret, and only people who are apart of our kit club know it....shhhhh!!!! But since I can't keep a secret, today I am going to let you in on part of it. First, what do you think of these layouts?

The "Egg"spert by Jenny

2011 February by Lan

Easter Egg Hunters by Melanie

Into the Woods by Aphra

A Little Birdie Told Me...It's a Girl by Sarah

What a Gift by Frances

BE QUIET!!!! QUIT SQUEALING WITH JOY!!!! IT'S A SECRET, REMEMBER?????

What you are swooning over my friends are Recipe Card Layouts created with every line from the Flavor of the Month Kit and the Double Shot Kit...no kidding! Yummo, right? Every month each of the DT girls are assigned a line to create one of the beautiful double-page layouts for secret Recipe Cards that are only given to our kit buyers! Yep, we have like our own little secret society here at TSR...OOOoooooooooo! We have a secret password, handshake, and a boo-tay dance...ok, maybe the handshake and dance is taking it a bit far, but we do have a secret password.

FYI a Recipe Card is a "card" with a double-page layout and the directions to re-create the layout being featured. These directions are detailed...with dimensions and exact placement. So, basically when you sign up with TSR you get a gallery FULL of inspiration, and like that is not enough, we give you secret access to 6 additional layouts and full detailed directions!!!

Now, aren't you just a bit curious? Well, here is a link to one of our recipe cards so you can get the full picture of what I am talking about. You can check out a sample Recipe Card HERE...look! Go check it out...you know ya wanna!

And just so you know, you can still purchase our March FOTM kit and DS kit HERE. And after you join, we will let you in on the secret password, hand shake, and boo-tay dance...tootles!