What we love about scrapbooking

What scrappy things do you love?

Our love of scrapbooking!

It's almost February and love is in the air... love scrapbooking that is!!  We wanted to share with you some of the things we love about scrapbooking.  Check out our list below

1.   The feeling we get when we pull out the next photo to scrapbook... laughing, smiling, and sometimes letting out a giggle remembering the moment.  And of course, sharing the details with the friends that we are scrapbooking with. 
2.   FINALLY making that cut we contemplated about for 10 minutes.
3.   Trying a new technique... and loving it so much that we use it on the next 15 layouts!
4.   Finding the perfect embellishment for a layout.
5.   Shopping for scrapbook supplies.... because too much is never enough.
6.   Finding inspiring layouts to scrap-lift.
7.   Having our supplies organized.
8.   The arrival of new Cricut cartridges and looking though the books loving the images.

9.   Scrappin' with friends at a Scrap Again Crop

10. Seeing amazing layouts from our Design Team on our blog!!!

What do you love most about scrapbooking?   

What to get your scrapbooking friend..

Do you have a crafty friend with a birthday coming up? Maybe just want to give your friend a little something?? Well save those empty toilet paper rolls!

What's better than getting your scrapbooking friend a Scrap Again crop for their birthday? How about a basket of ribbon lovelies! For Christmas Amy's mom got her this fun little basket of creative joy!  She spent a few hours in the Joann isles and used SEVERAL 40% off coupons to assemble this.

Amy's mom included colorful ribbon choices. Another take would be to do a monochromatic ribbon assortment. White and neutrals are hip right now...and they can be inked or sprayed to get that just-right color! Don't forget lace or crochet edging. The cut-by-the-yard aisle can be loads of fun! Strips of fabric are always another option! Ooh now I want it to be my birthday! (ya think I can get my husband to create a basket like this for me for Valentine's Day??) When it comes to scrappy gifts think beyond the paper and remember there are no rules. Creating the gift can be as much fun as giving it!

Do you have any great crafty gift ideas? Have you received a creative gift? Share your ideas with us!

2011 Crop Schedule

Our January Crop was a HUGE success! We all had so much fun and scrapped and scrapped some more! It was great to see familiar faces and meet new ones too! We would love to fill the room with creativity and you! Here is our remaining crop schedule for 2011

February 19th (and online Bazzil Sale)
March 12th ~Consignment SALE!!
April 16th ~Randi's Birthday Crop!!!
May 13-14th ~ Mother's Day Scrapbook Extravaganza (4pm Friday to 10pm Saturday!)
June 18th
July 23rd
August 20th
September 17th~ Consignment SALE!!!
October 15th
November 19th~ Amy's Birthday Crop!!!

All our events are at the Hampton Inn in Vacaville CA, 95688. The fun begins at 10 am till 10 pm...except for our May crop which starts on Friday at 4pm and crop till you drop on Saturday at 10 pm. Register on our website http://www.scrapagain.com/  You can also meet our Design Team, learn about our Consignment Sales and shop our Bazzil Stock-up Sale.
We look forward to scrappin with you!

It's always a great time to Scrap Again!

February Design Kit- Sneak Peak

Here is your first look at our February Design Team kits! Come back next week to see the fabulous layouts and cards created by our super-talented Design Team!

Challenge for the month is tulle- and we will have an assortment of tulle at Feb. crop.

Do you have a clever or creative way to use tulle? Post a comment or send us a picture and we will be happy to share!

My Scrappy Place

Last April for my birthday my wonderful hubby let me "take over" our office and transform it into my scrap room! It started out as a trip to IKEA for some counter tops to put on top of my craft cubbies. Well that turned into a trip to Home Depot...then Kelly Moore Paints, Home Goods and back to IKEA! I chose Pale Pollen for the wall color. It is a soft yellow and make me feel cheerful and creative. I have mostly black, white and red furniture and accessories. For fun I added a pop of turquoise. It is a little eclectic, a little shabby chic and ALL organized!  Now it is just about done. I say that because the "hunt" for a perfect piece is part of the challenge...I am so fickle and I am constantly  inspired by other crafty things and want to add to my space all the time.

Here is my scrap desk...

Some scrap storage pieces. The black shelves are from IKEA...a scrap room MUST-HAVE!! When I saw the red cabinet at Home Goods it was love at first sight! A funky red piece of furniture is fun and absolutely perfect for my space.

 Look how nicely it stores current scrap magazines!

So Happy!

 

I couldn't decide what to put on my walls until I was inspired by some hand-made art pieces I found blog hopping!





And for my super re-organized closet....



Yes, I'll admit it I may be a bit on the OCD side of being organized. I love my labeler and not afraid to admit it!

Thank you! I hoped you enjoyed my little scrap space!

Randi's Scrap Resolutions Check-up!

After our first crop of 2011 I realized I had failed at one of my personal resolutions...which was to make time to scrapbook at our crop! Most crops Amy and I spend so much of our time making sure everyone is in a creative environment that we don't take the time to get crafty ourselves!
So this realization made me bummed at once! Then I started to think about all my other resolutions as evaluate how I was doing. It occurred to me that I am not doing too bad!
Some of my personal scrap-solutions

1. Use the cricut more
2. Scrap moments or memories rather than whole events...well I guess in addition to the events
3. Title and Journal on my layouts
4. Use one photo and/or use different sized pictures...so often I get in the 4x6 photo routine
5. To re-organize my scrap closet!

As I finished up this layout I realized that I had tackled some of my scrap resolutions! I used the Cricut and some of my Thicker collection to make the title. There is only 1 photo...yes it is a 4x6 but it worked! I also JOURNALED!!! A huge accomplishment for me. Ok, so I hid it under the picture but it is there!

One last update...

Here is a BEFORE of my scrap closet...not too bad but check back tomorrow with the after re-organization! As well as a few pics of where my creative magic happens!

Thanks!

On your Marks...get set...SCRAPLIFT!

As an added bonus to her layouts, Amy included this sketch to get you in the scraplifting mood!

Isn't her layout great?! I am so excited to share with you! Sometimes putting your pictures on a diagonal can be tricky but with this sketch and some clever cropping we know you can do it in no time!

Do you have a LOVE-HATE relationship with Thickers??? Always run out of vowels?? So did Amy but that didn't stop her. A closer look at her title...did ya notice the "e's"? An upside down 3 and & symbol creatively cropped! Have fun with your titles and don't stress when you don't have enough letters. Feel free to mix n' match and do a little math too!

I love how Amy embossed her star embellishment on this festive layout!! It really pulled together the dotted pattern of the blue and white paper. We are having so much fun with the new embossing folders and sizzix! Hope you will try it on Saturday at the crop!

We've got that Scrappy Feelin'

As many of you know we put together our own "Designor Kits" and give them to our Design Team for them to create wonderful inspiring layouts and other fancies.  And seeing their creations was even more inspiring than shopping for all the goods!

SOOO....we got that scrappy feelin' and started creating here at Scrap Again!

(and yes journaling is on my scrappy-solutions list to improve on this year) I did have fun using one of our new cricut cartridges to make the snowflakes!

WAHOO!!! I journaled on this one! hehe...I hid it on the yellow paper but it is there I promise! No cricut necessary for this layout..but I did use brads which was a challenge to our Design Team. I love how a simple and pretty standard element in my stash can really draw your attention to a layout.  You can see these layouts and use the new cricut cartridges at our crops! 

Stay tuned Amy's layouts coming soon!

For your Scrappy Pleasure....

EEEEK!!! I am so excited! Our Design Team ROCKS!!! We sent them January kits and they all WOW'd us with their unique and clever creativity! I love that so many different layouts and cards can be created from one kit!

Here's a scrap-happy layout from Mandie

I love how she folded her strip of paper like an accordian!

Check out her pocket...it is a calendar page!



She also made this fabulous card!

Thank you Mandie!

Here is a stunning layout from Taraleigh

Not only is she pretty but so is her layout! Love the beads??? We have them on our embellishment table! For more details on how she attached these beauties check out her blog, you'll love love how simple it was for her to create such a work of art!

Marcie submitted TWO  delicious eye candy layouts for us this month!!!

I love her color choices..so bright and fun! And can we say the Jute Ribbon Bow is totally amazing!!! I love her clever photo sizes too...definitely a technique I want to try this year!

A HUGE Thank you to Mandie, Taraleigh and Marcie! We love your layouts and cards and can't wait to scraplift them ourselves! ;)

Be sure to check out their blogs when you get that crafty craving for more yummy creations! And stay tuned Amy and I might have some more layouts to share with you from our January kits!

Something Old, Something New...To Make a Crafty Thank You!

Purging the STASH is in full swing here!!! Amy and I made a deal that if we haven't used something in 6 months and it doesn't make project to-do list for the next 6 months then to the Consignment Sale it goes. Well I uncovered an old Sizzix. You know the super heavy pre-cricut manual die cutting machine?

Yep that's the one!!!

Well I dusted of all the dirt and un-use! I remembered over the holidays I purchased some embossing folders on a whim...so I decided to try them out!

I really love the look of embossed cards. And I hate to admit that it is one of those crafty areas I have avoided. Well this year is a year of "no excuses" so I am going to dabble my craftiness in deep dark region of embossing! (sigh...wish me luck!)

Another thing I positively dread is buying Thank You cards and Birthday cards. I am far too creative and they are way to pricey for me to waste money on buying more pre-made cards. Plus I have a stash of leftover cards too! (I know hard to think, right?)

It's true though....

GASP!!! Yes folks those are leftover wedding Thank You's from 9 years ago!...So I might have a slight closet-case problem with purging paper items...but I'm working on that this year! Please hold me to it!!!

Ok, so I have my Something Old...Sizzix and tired Thank You cards and my Something New...Cuttlebug and Quick Kutz Embossing Folders. With about 30 minutes of free(ish) time (as the kids are now home from school...) here is what I came up with!

Grand Total 5 thank you cards and a birthday card! They are all really simple but super fun to make! And as you can see I used all the same papers...less scraps to hoard!

As an added BONUS!!!! I am happy to announce that these will all be available on our resource table. I challenge you to make a few quick cards with your scraps at our crops.

Happy New Years - Scrappy Resolutions

What are your scrappy New Years resolutions?  We have spent several hours this past week discussing things like how we spend more time re-re-organizing our scrapbook supplies than scrapbooking, and feeling the need to purge our scrap-stash... only to make room for more!  And then there is the Gypsy, asking ourselves 'why did we buy this thing? was it only for the search option?', and wondering if we would ever use all those new Cricut cartridges we bought.  O'... and don't forget worrying about backing-up our back-up of photos.  Making more time to scrapbook was definitely on our personal resolutions lists, but we soon realized we needed to create another list named our 'scrappy resolutions' and wanted to share them with you.  Let us know what your scrappy resolutions are for 2011 and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE crop for Feb. 19th.  We can't wait to read what made your list! 

1.   GET ORGANIZED... and stay organized!
2.   Purge... keep what I will use and consign the rest to make room for more!
3.   Master the Gypsy
4.   Journal on my layouts
5.   Make more time to scrapbook... the laundry can wait!
7.   Back up photos on a regular basis
8.   Take a photography class and REALLY learn how to use my camera

9.   Get Blog Savvy!

10. Introduce and USE one new Cricut cartridge a month

Contest ends Saturday 1/8/11.  Complete details about the contest can be found at www.scrapagain.com