Making Cards with a Layout Sketch

Did you see the great sketch Tammy created for National Scrapbook Day??? Even though it was designed for layouts...it is a perfect sketch for cards too. I used the left over bits from my May kit and made 3 Mother's Day Cards using the sketch. Now don't fret that it's past Mother's Day because you can make Birthday, Hello, or Thank You cards (or be really prepared for next year with Mother's Day cards) using your May kit and the NSD sketch.

Awesome NSD sketch:

My three cards based on the sketch:

Try using a layout sketch for next card!

- Melanie

The May ScrapRoom Sketch... and Winners!

You've been eyeing the sketch on the sidebar for a few days now, I'm sure.  I now declare this sketch challenge officially "open"!  This sketch is brought to you by TerryB., our Message Board Moderator, and as usual, the DT rocked the challenge:

May ScrapRoom Sketch by Terry Boyer

"Spread a Little Sunshine Wherever You Go!" by Brenda Carpenter

"We Love This Place" by Theresa Sovacool

"Splash 'n Slide!" by Melanie Call

One photo or two, right-side-up or spun upside-down, however you want to use this sketch is fine with us!   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 winners...  

The March Sketch Challenge winner is Cynthia B. with this layout which documents a surprising, "awwwww"-inspiring moment aboard a cruise ship.  Love the colors of this one (and the adorable little towel animals)!

"Towel Animals Gone Wild" by Cynthia B.

Our National Scrapbooking Day winner is Rebecca Geile with this tone-on-tone celebration of her husband's birthday.  Love all those circle embellies and layers (and the dinner)!

"Birthday Fun" by Rebecca Geile

Congratulations, ladies! 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

April Showers Bring... The May ScrapRoom Kit!

Happy May to you!  Whether sunny skies or rain or snow (yep, really) is headed your way today, you can certainly count on our May kits to bring you fun and sun - so you can get more pages done!  You've seen the sneaks...  Are you ready to jump into your kits after you've seen what we've done with ours?  Then grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair and enjoy what's coming your way! 

Flavors of the Month Kit:  Simple Stories Vintage Bliss, Fancy Pants Park Bench, Little Yellow Bicycle Fern & Forest, and Bella Blvd Love & Sunshine

Doubleshot Kit:  Simple Stories Urban Traveler & BasicGrey Knee Highs

Project Life Kit

Embellishment Kit

Patterned Paper Kit

Bazzill/Cardstock Kit

Stamp Kit

Ready to get scrappy now?  Excellent!  We're only 3 days away from National Scrapbooking Day, and we have lots of fun planned - and free stuff for you.  See you this weekend!

- Theresa/Savi

Sneak Peek #5: Simple Stories Urban Traveler (DS)

by TSR Guest Designer, Gina Barone

"This is a must-have travel line that incorporates bold vivid colors, classic travel icons with vintage-retro artwork with our own Simple Stories touch, of course." -- Simple Stories blog

Sneak Peek #4: Simple Stories Vintage Bliss (FOTM)

Project Life Layout by TSR Designer, Aphra Bolyer

"We're happy to introduce VINTAGE BLISS - a bright, happy, blissful collection with a vintage touch.  We're so excited to share this fresh, fun and oh-so-happy collection with you...ENJOY!" -- Simple Stories blog

Sneak Peek #3: Fancy Pants Park Bench (FOTM)

by TSR Designer, Jenny Moore

"This line is filled with sunshine and happy patterns and loads of style and flair…plus all new embellishments that will rock your pages!" -- Fancy Pants blog

Sneak Peek #2: Little Yellow Bicycle Fern & Forest (FOTM)

(Sorry this sneak peek is late. We were having a little "technical difficulties" with the blog. We should be back on schedule now!)

by TSR Designer, Melanie Call

"These two whimsical collections combine natural elements with fun, fanciful designs, for capturing the adventures of your favorite boys and girls!" -- Little Yellow Bicycle blog

Sneak Peek #1: BasicGrey Knee Highs & Bow Ties (DS)

"Me & Snow" by Theresa Sovacool

"Knee Highs and Bow Ties by BasicGrey will fill your crafty playground with stylish prints in bright schoolyard colors. Red-rover red, bubble-gum pink, leap-frog green and outer space orange will add a youthful charm to any of your designs." -- BasicGrey blog

Trend Spotting: Chevrons

Chevron stripes are popping up everywhere.  Here are just a few pictures that I found while surfing the web.

You know where else you can see chevron stripes?  At The ScrapRoom, of course.  Here are a few paper samples from our recent kits.

Here's an example of a paper-pieced chevron from this month's Idea Gallery.  Our Guest Designer Theresa created an amazing example of chevron stripes on this fun card.

Just An Ordinary Day

And, lastly, here's another example from our Member Gallery.  Diane used THIS tutorial from the Lily Bee blog to create chevron stripes on a layout.

You May Kiss the Bride by Diane

So, are you a fan of the chevron stripe?  Are you looking forward to using it on your TSR layouts this month?  Be sure to upload your layouts into our Member Gallery HERE so we can all ooohhh and ahhhh at your trendy projects!

I Have a BUNCH of Winners and a FAVORITE!!!!

Here are our MAY Winners!!! Congrats to...

SKETCH Challenge Winner:
RECIPE Challenge Winner:
COLOR Challenge Winner:
WORD Challenge Winner:

Congrats to you both ladies!! You ALL 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. Congrats again ladies, and thanks again everyone for playing along with us this month!

And last, but not least...It's that time again!!
Again, a TSR Favorite is one of our own who L-O-V-E-S The ScrapRoom. She is dedicated, she is active in the message board, she is positive, she uploads regularly to the gallery, and did I mention she L-O-V-E-S The ScrapRoom? Every month one lucky lady will be chosen as our TSR favorite, and in return she will get a $10 gift certificate to the store, her own special day on the blog, her name in lights on the blog, and bragging rights! Pretty special honor don't ya think? Well, our April TSR Favorite is........

TERRY B.!!!!!

Congrats lady-lou!!!!! And thanks so much for all that you do for The ScrapRoom. Please email Tammy at admin@scrap-room.com and she will get your gift certificate right out to you, and I will be PM-ing you soon with the details of your reign! Congrats!! And ladies we will be watching!!!!!

Have a great weekend and happy scrapping!!

And At Last Challenge #4!!

It's our 4th and final challenge of our month long celebration of National Scrapbook Day!! Don't forget that ALL of your submissions are due on Monday, May 30th. So let me get this over with so you can get busy in this final stretch.....

CHALLENGE #4--Use the following items on a layout...4 different patterned papers, buttons, ribbon, handmade embellishment, and stitching! If you would like to try your hand at our Recipe Challenge this month, leave a comment IN THIS POST with a link to your layout by Monday, May 30th. Your name will then be entered into a random drawing to win a $5 gift cert to our TSR Store!!!!

And a few examples from our super talented Design Team...

Friends by Melanie

A Cute Mess by Aphra

Now how cute are those? Can't wait to see ALL of your projects!!

DT Inspiration with Jenny!

When you sit down to start a layout, where do you find your inspiration most often? For me, my photos seem to give me that first spark of creativity. I love pulling from colors and elements in my photos for my scrapbook pages!

This month, while working with the Glitz "Laced with Grace" collection from the May kit, I was a little stumped as to what photo to use for my page. That is, until I found this photo of my son:



I loved the "rustic" look of my photo's background, and I was immediately drawn to the orange rust color of the tractor tire he is sitting in. The rust color matched the Glitz papers perfectly, so I knew I had found my photo. :)

To play up the "rust" feel, I spritzed my green cardstock with some spray ink for the main background of my page. This gave it a "speckled" appearance like the rust does to the tractor tire in my photo. Secondly, I slightly tore and rolled up the edges of my patterned papers to give them a distressed look.

So, next time you are trying to figure out what to do with a certain part of a kit - perhaps a certain paper line that looks a little intimidating at first glance - look no further than to your photos for some inspiration! Chances are, you probably have the perfect photo(s) waiting to be used already. Try to find elements from your photos that coordinate with the "feel" or "theme" of your papers and embellishments.

Who knew old tractor tire rust could be so inspirational??? ;)

It's Time for Challenge #3!

Hello! It's Tuesday, and yes, we are still celebrating National Scrapbook Day with CHALLENGES and FUN!! Let's get started with....

CHALLENGE #3--Use the colors in the picture below to inspire a layout! Easy! If you would like to try your hand at our Color Challenge this month, leave a comment IN THIS POST with a link to your layout by Monday, May 30th. Your name will then be entered into a random drawing to win a $5 gift cert to our TSR Store!!!!

Here's your inspiration...

And a few examples from our super talented Design Team...

Life is Good by Jenny

Outtakes of Our Crazy Life! by Kim

Fun, fun stuff, right? Can't wait to see your projects!!

Just Because with Aphra

May is a month of many gift-giving occasions. Mother's Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, Graduation, just to name a few. To help dress up some of the gift cards that I plan to give soon, I create a quick, easy and super cute gift bag.

Just Because Gift Bag

The bag itself was cut from kraft cardstock with my Cricut Expression Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. It only takes one piece of 12" x 12" cardstock to cut this little cutie. The finished dimensions are 4" x 6" x 1.5", perfect for a gift card.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Girls' Paperie Jubilee, Jillibean Soup Staples; Stickers: Girls' Paperie Jubilee; Button: Jenni Bowlin; Ribbon: May Arts; Twine: Divine Twine.

So, let's talk about that fun layered flower, shall we? It is easy, easy, and really packs a lot of punch. To start, I used a journal sticker from the Girls' Paperie Jubilee sticker book. Then, I took a piece of 1" x 12" pink polka dot paper, scrunched it up, attached the two ends together and formed a circle. I attached it to the back of a punched scallop circle and layered it onto the journal sticker. I layered on another Jubilee sticker and then my button, tied with twine, of course. That's it. Ahhh . . . it makes me happy!

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy May!!!

Blog Hop Winner and Sketch Challenge!!

Hello ladies!!! It's a new week, and that means a new challenge at TSR!! And today begins our...
Super fun, huh? Well let's get right to it! Here is a look at this month's sketch...

TSR MAY SKETCH

And here is a look at our super talented Design Team's interpretations...

Celebrate Love by Melanie

A Girl's Life by Kim

A Day of Egg Hunting by Aphra

Slip Sliding Party by Lan

The Good Life by Frances

Homemade from the Heart by Jenny

Beautiful, right? Now we wanna see your interpretation of our sketch! You have until Monday, May 30th to leave a comment IN THIS POST with a link to your layout. Your name will then be entered into a random drawing to win a $5 gift cert to our TSR Store!!!!

Sound good? Now get BUSY!!!!

Ok, almost finished. First, I would like to thank EVERYONE for participating in our May Kit Reveal Blog Hop...hope you enjoyed it! The winner of our May Blog Hop is...


Big, big congrats tanandtuck04!!! Please email Tammy at admin@scrap-room.com with your real name, email address, and the name of the contest you won. She will in turn, email your gift certificate to you by June 2nd. Congrats again, and thanks again everyone for playing along with us this month!