Happy New Year & a Subscription Special

I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas. I can't believe that it's over already. There is so much build-up that goes into that one day, and then it is just over in a flash. The holiday spirit extends into New Year's Day, but then it's time to get the tree and all the decorations down, attempt to get all the kids' new toys organized somewhere other than in the middle of the living room, and throw out all the leftover goodies so you can start eating healthier as we all resolve to do come January. It can all seem kinda blah after all the holiday festivities, especially with the grey, rainy weather we're having around here, but one way that I hope to keep some of that festive feeling going is to get all those photos I took during the holidays scrapped right away. I challenge you all to do the same.

One way to motivate yourself to scrap is to get new paper and goodies. And even better is to get new paper and goodies every month delilvered right to your door. If you have been thinking at all about signing up for a kit membership, January is the time to do that. I am running a New Year Subscription Special where if you sign up for a 12-month sugar or spice membership in January, you not only get your 13th kit free at the end of the membership, but you also get to pick out ANY one of the available past kits (including the Dec. sugar kit--the spice was sold out) for free along with your first kit now. If you want to get both fabulous kits each month and sign up for a 12-month combo membership, you get to choose two past kits for free. If you would like to sign up, email me at heather@scrapdango.com with your choice of sugar, spice or combo membership along with your choice of past kit(s) you would like for free and whether you want to pay monthly by Paypal or credit card. I have some fabulous kits planned for the coming months and with new stuff coming out this January at Winter CHA, there will be even more cool stuff in the kits.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and Happy Scrappin'. ~Heather

Member Monday...Sort of!

Hello Dangos!  I went to pick a layout for the Member Monday and can you believe that there were NO layouts posted in the last week?  I guess it's not that surprising with all the holiday festivities!  I didn't want to do a post with no pictures so I chose a couple of my favorite winter/holiday ones to show you!


Here's one from LisaM.  I just love how she cut the photo!

And another from Kim (karennie).  Don't you just love that rolling pin in the center?

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I am looking forward to more great layouts in the new year!

Happy Member Monday!

Good morning, everyone!

Can you believe there's only FIVE MORE DAYS until Christmas?? I'm not even anywhere near being ready and we are having my family celebration at my house this year! Eeeeeppppps!!

I know I should be readying the house and finding last minute gifts, but I have to admit: I'm stuck on the computer - looking at all the gorgeous work in the Gallery! Have you visited lately? There's some really great inspiration in there...

Like this page, from design team member Audra:

Or this awesome project, from Scrapdango member Nessa:

How about this one, from Guest Designer Amy:

I'm telling you, if you haven't visited in a few days - get over there! Leave some love!!

Happy Holidays to you and yours - I'll post more later on this week.

Lets Talk about cards

I love making Christmas cards....every person on my list gets their own card and I try to make them more personal. For me the easiest way to make cards is to;

take a 12x12 piece of card stock and cut 2 inches off one side so the paper measures 10 x 12 (keep the strip)
turn it so the paper is the 12 x 10
cut it in half at 6 inch mark and you now have two cards
it will now measure 6 x 10
fold in half and you will have a 6x5 card

take the strip and cut it every 4 inches (4 & 8) so you will have 3 pieces that measure 4x2

score at 2inch and you have fabulous little tags for your gifts






another easy trick is to buy patterned paper that you can cut images out of....like I did in mine using Graphic 45.

sometimes a little glitter is all a sticker of tag from a collection is all you need.....just add a little sparkle to them your card is ready to go!





Don't forget about your ribbon or lace....they may just add that little extra your card needs....





I hope you enjoyed my post and I can't wait to see your cards!

Member Monday

There are so many outstanding projects in the gallery right now it is hard to pick only one....but I love this one from Lisa (sharpie) She did an awesome job with the distresssing and notice how the black and white photo adds a lot of contrast! Fabulous job!

Come back on Thursday and we'll chat about cards!

Paper Strip Flower Tutorial

This fun flower is made from the paper strips on the Crate Paper Restoration papers in the November Sugar Kit. I thought it was so nice that the strips you cut off on these papers actually had patterns on them and it seemed a shame to throw them away.



Start with cutting off all the 1/4" strips from the pattern papers (I decided to do them all at once so I could save them all).


Cut the strips into 3" pieces and punch a circle from some scrap paper (this will be used as the base). This produced an approx. 3" flower. Not all the strips were the exact size so it gave it a less uniform look. You could make the strips whatever size you want your flower to be.


Start adhering the strips on the circle base forming into a flower-type shape. You can layer as many as you want. The middle where they all intersect gets a little thick if you use too many.


Punch a hole in the center with a Crop-A-Dile and insert a big brad (punching the hole takes down some of the depth in the center). Crumple your flower and ink a bit on the edges if desired. I decided to add another cricle cut from the Restoration papers to the flower before the brad for a layered look.

Now adhere to your project.

Member Monday

It's time again for another Member Monday. HB51 (I'm sorry I don't know her real name...I can't find a reference to it anywhere.) has been busy with the December design team challenges. This one is my favorite of them all. I love the row of chipboard buttons and the cute banner.

Check back later in the week for a tip and tutorial using the November Scrapdango Sugar kit.

distressing tutorial...

I really love the Thickers in the Scrapdango November sugar kit but I wanted to give them a little more of a distressed look to match the distressed look of Crate Paper's Restoration line in the kit. Here's my example project...

It's super easy to get this look... I started with picking out the letters I needed...

Then, I took a file and filed random bits of the letters...
And, the finished letters have a great distressed look...

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!! Let us know if you give it a try... I'd love to see your work!! :)

Member Monday...

We have another Member Monday for you today!! There are so many awesome layouts in the Scrapdango gallery right now... it was super difficult to pick just a few!! Here are some of the wonderful layouts that caught my eye....

This first layout is by HB51... I love that she was able to fit so many photos on this fun fall layout!! :)

This gorgeous layout is by LisaM... she totally rocked the October sugar kit on this one... love it!! :)

And lastly, we have a layout by 1scrappymom... I love all the gorgeous detail on this layout.... and how cute is their new pup!! :)

Be sure to check out the gallery to see all the other wonderful layouts!! And keep up the great work ladies... you just might be featured in next weeks Member Monday!! :)

Have a great day!!

-Audra

Black Friday Kit Sale!!!

Get Past Kits for Only $15 and $20

I thought I better get in on the bandwagon and hold a Black Friday Sale!!! I have lots of leftover kits from the past year, and I'm clearing them out to make room for a new year of fabulous kits. Check them out in the store and snatch up some great kits at a fantastic price. Currently in the store you can only pay by Paypal, but if you would like to use a credit card, you can email me at heather@scrapdango.com with the kits you would like and we can make arrangments. There are only a few of each kit left, so if there is one you see that you would like, you should grab it quickly. Last time, I did a sale like this, many of them were sold out within a few days.

Check out all the kits in the store and get them before they're gone. These make great gifts for those scrappers on your gift lists or a little bonus for yourself.

Member Monday & Blog Hop Winner!!

Well I am up for being in charge of the blog this week, and I want to thank my design team who is helping me keep this blog updated with great things for you all to see. I just was not good at updating it all the time myself, and I love seeing the fabulous ideas that they post. Anyway, I have been a little out of it the past few days because I was on a little vacation to San Diego since last Wednesday, and I did not take my computer with me, so I am trying to get caught up on Scrapdango and everything else before I host Thanksgiving on Thursday. I just took a little looksy through the gallery and found some fabulous work done as part of the blog hop challenges. There is so much inspiration there. I did choose a few that really caught my eye, so here are this week's Member Monday picks.

First, there is this one by Lisa (sharpie) that I think is darling. I don't normally like diecut things like the scissors on this layout, but these were perfect and love how she added the envelope of hair in the little cluster.

Then there is this one by Sherri (sherri_scraps). I love how she incorporated the invitation, and the big bracket and the flower are great.

Finally, I picked this one by former DT member, Lisa (pictures2pages). And it's as if she's still on the design team because this is a perfect example using the current sugar kit with the Crate Paper Restoration line. This layout couldn't be more fabulous and what adorable photos.

I hope you all had a great time with the Blog Hop Crop. The design team really enjoyed your comments and hope you all found some inspiration from our favorite things and little bits of info on us. The winner of the Blog Hop was one of my Member Monday picks:

Lisa (aka sharpie)!!!

So congrats Lisa on winning one of Scrapdango's kit. We will be taking a break from a big event for December since we know that you'll all be very busy during the month but will be back in January with another great event and chance to win a kit. Of course, we'll still be doing our regular stuff on the forums, so there will still be plenty of motivation and inspiration.

Hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving if you're in the U.S. and celebrating that this week. Many blessings to you all.

~Heather

The Basics

Basic Grey Basics that is!  I just love this line that BG came out with last year!  It is essentially some basic papers with subtle patterns like lines, grid, circles, dots and ledger.  Each of these patterns comes in white, cream and kraft.  You can do so much with these papers!  I love how you can alter them with glimmer mists or paint and get a completely different look!  Heather carries the papers in the Scrapdango store and she also has the journal spot stickers (one of my favorites!) and borders too!  Here are a couple projects I have done using them!

Member Monday!

This is my first time doing a Member Monday on the blog and I don't think I like it....it is WAY too hard to pick one layout!  So I am picking 3!  And even that is nearly impossible!  There is so much fun stuff in the gallery right now, if you haven't checked it out, you definitely should!

First up is this gorgeous 2 page layout by Amy. (AmyInKY).  I love all the colors and how many photos she fit on here!

And then there is this Restoration loveliness by Vanessa (Nessa9116).  Love, love, love how she used the little dominoes and I adore those notched corners!

And have you ever seen a happier kid?  I love these photos on Kelly's (KellyG) layout.  What a great fall layout!

Blog Hop Crop!

It's time for the Scrapdango Blog Hop Crop to begin. We have a wonderful new Design Team at Scrapdango, and we want to help you get to know them and to get some great challenges along the way and have a chance to win a wonderful prize of one of Scrapdango's awesome kits.

Now how this is going to work is that you need to follow the order of the blogs of each DT member given below. At each blog you will find a list of that designers favorite scrappy things and a few fun facts about them as well. Your challenge is to use 5 of those scrappy things in your layout and incorporate 2 of the fun facts as well. You get 1 draw for using the 5 favorites and 1 draw for using the fun facts. If you do this for everyone's blog...that is a total of 12 draws!

Once you have completed the challenges, you can provide a link to your project by posting a comment here and/or posting it in the Scrapdango forum. All projects are due by midnight est on Friday, November 19th.

You can earn extra draws by:
1. Posting comments on all 6 DT blogs.
2. Inviting a friend that actively participates in the hop (they should leave a comment saying who invited them)
3. Posting on the Scrapdango forum something you learned about each DT member from their blog.

Scrapdango Blog - You Are Here
Audra <<<-------------You Go Here Next
Celeste
Heather
Laura
Lynn
Sandi

International members welcome to play, however...a $7.50 shipping credit will be given. Any shipping above the $7.50 will be the member's responsibility.

Sandi's November With a Twist Card Challenge

Good morning, everyone!

I wanted to share with you this morning my With a Twist card challenge that is going on all month long over at the site. For this month's card challenge, I'd love for you to make a card using some sort of inking technique. For this card, I applied alphabet stickers to my patterned paper and then rubbed ink all over the paper, covering up the alpha stickers. Next, I peeled them off to reveal the original paper and my greeting. (Look down below for step by step instructions on how to get this same effect.)

You could do something similar or make up something all your own, using standard inks/inkpads or something like Glimmer Mist spray inks - whatever you have to use that is an ink, I'd love to see what you can come up with!

And now... for the TWIST! Use at least 5 stickers on your card somewhere. I used 5 different alphabet stickers to make this card.

You have until the end of the month to complete this challenge. You will need to upload your newly created card to the gallery and link it to this thread to get credit. Completing the challenge will earn one draw towards a prize pack. If you add the twist to your layout, you earn a second draw for the prize pack. At the end of the month, we will do a random draw for a wonderful prize pack from Heather.

Good luck! I can't wait to see what you do!

Instructions:

Ok, the first thing you are going to do is choose some alphabets for your greeting. As you can see, it doesn't matter of they match or not. I used two different alphabets so that the two l's in my greeting would not be the exact same. Stick them down and leave some room, because you are going to ink around them:

Next, choose a coordinating ink color and generously ink over your letters and onto the surrounding patterned paper. I used a Cat's Eye ColorBox chalk ink, but you could use Glimmer Mist, paint, any other kind of ink pad or anything at all you can think of to use as a colorant:

Finally, let everything dry and then carefully peel up your alphabets stickers and discard them. You'll be left with a mask of your greeting and a really great new technique:

When you complete this challenge, make sure to link us up at the site, in this thread.

Happy scrapping!

Sandi

Blog Hop Crop Starts Friday the 12th

If you haven't heard, we're having a Blog Hop Crop from Friday, November 12th through the 19th. You will start here at the Scrapdango Blog on the 12th and get lots of chances to earn draws for a fabulous kit prize, so join back here starting the 12th.

Happy Monday!!

Hi everyone!

So this is officially my very first post as a new member of the Scrapdango Design Team and I'm so excited to share with you today some layouts that have caught my eye in the Gallery lately. I know I was asked to pick just one project to share for Member Monday but I couldn't help myself.... there's some FABULOUS inspiration in there!

This layout is by Shannon (aka 1scrappymom) - isn't it just the best mix of colors? She found the perfect paper to complement the photos of her daughter:

And there's this one, by Lisa (aka pictures2pages). I love the way she did the title, and added the great little mix of "schtuff" off to the left hand side of the page and all the fussy cut elements. Isn't it the cutest?

Last, but certainly not least - I love this page by Heather (aka hlough). I mean I know she's the owner and all and I am totally NOT trying to suck up - but I'm so very envious of how she was able to use so many great photos on a two page spread. Something I am definitely always struggling to do. It's funny. I started out scrapping more than 10 years ago and that was all I made - 2 page spreads. Now, I can't make one to save my life! LOL So, for that- I am posting this one - because it's FANTASTIC!!

I hope you all have been truly inspired by some of these great pages that were found in the Gallery at Scrapdango! If you'd like to see your creations posted next week, make sure to come and upload your layouts- you never know if you just might be featured next week!

Have a fabulous Monday!

Sandi

November Kits

I have revealed the November kits and they couldn't be more different.  If you like what you see, you can check them and more great kits and products in the store.  I am working on getting a new cart fully functional.  The store was down for awhile, but you can now purchase items in the store, and I even have a coupon right now where you get 20% off your entire order until Nov. 9th to celebrate my 405th birthday.  We celebrated with an 80's party, so you pay 80% (20% off).  Just use the coupon code Birthday when checking out.   

First, I'll show you the gorgeous sugar kit featuring Crate Paper Restoration. I think this might've been THE most popular line that came out at the summer CHA. It is gorgeous and while a lot of it is pink, there are some browns and blues and very masculine looking papers that make this kit more versatile than it seems. Also got tons of little trinkets to go with it including the fabulous new baubles by Making Memories. That's what they're really called, and they are so fun. Also love the velvet flowers and the crushed velvet ric rac. This also includes 4 large fabric brads and 2 smaller epoxy brads from the Restoration line that are discontinued and will not be offered by Crate Paper at all anymore. I actually didn't think I was going to get them with my order but then the customer service gal at Crate said she had just enough of them lying around in her office to fill my order.

Next, is the very urban spice kit featuring Scrap Within Reach, The District. You get not one, but two full alphas with this kit, some great metal embellishments, and the very fun new trim pieces from Bo Bunny. Also some great new stuff from Basic Grey like the Wander epoxy arrows and the journaling spots. Want to scrap about your city, your neighborhood, the men in your life, then this kit is for you.  Now I do have to warn you that I am currently sold out of this kit but things happen sometimes like people switching from the spice kit to the sugar kit, so sometimes I end up with a couple kits left over.  If you do want one of these spice kits, you can email me at heather@scrapdango.com, and I will put you on a list.  I will be ordering more spice product in the future to accomodate more people that want the spice kit. 

Thank You Outgoing Design Team

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to the outgoing design team as the new design team officially starts their term.  I cannot thank these women enough for being so supportive, inspiring and dedicated to helping Scrapdango be the best it can be from before and since I took it over it February.  I wouldn't have been able to make Scrapdango successful without them.  They have truly become friends and I hope they stick around because Scrapdango wouldn't be the same without them. 

Because I was so late this month in posting the October DT Reveal projects, I wanted to conclude their term by posting my favorite projects that they did with the October kits.  You can see the rest of their fabulous projects in the slideshow to the left. 

First off, let me personally thank Kerryn Fry who has been on the design team with me ever since I first started with Scrapdango.  She is incredibly inspirational to me both in her life and her scrapbooking.  Her layouts are always amazing and here is one of my favorites from her using the October Sugar Kit.

Next, we have Carly Gannon who is the only one of these women I have met in real life since she lives in my state.  She is a dedicated teacher and a fabulous scrapper, and one of her favorite manufacturers is Jillibean Soup, so I knew she'd be happy with her last kit.  She has a great clean style, which really focuses on her photos.  Here is a great layout of her son playing soccer using the October Spice Kit.

Last, but not least, I want to thank Lisa Watson, who has been such a huge part of Scrapdango for a long time.  Even before joining the design team last year, she was always very active on the message board.  She has always been so enthusiastic about Scrapdango and so supportive of me.  She also has a fabulous style that ranges from clean and classic to a little more detailed like this fabulous layout about her mom and aunt using the October Sugar Kit.

Again, I want to thank all three of you for everything you have given to Scrapdango and for your friendship and support.  You will be missed as design team members but hopefully not missed on Scrapdango.