Hey all! Becky here to bring you another fabulous round of Grand Theft Layout. Every day, I am continuously amazed by the wonderful talent here at ScrapMatters. I don’t know about you, but I could honestly spend hours…and I mean hours perusing the gallery.

One scrapper who never ceases to amaze me is the very fabulous Josette (josette31)…and that is who we will be lifting from for this round of GTL!

You can check out J’s A.MAZ.ING gallery HERE to get some inspiration.

I have quite a few of Josette’s pages save in my favorites folder, but I decided to lift Sweet Peafor this week’s challenge and created the following layout using the Queen Of Scrap collab from the ScrapMatters Design Team:

The wonderfully talented SM CT came up with the following scraplifts:

Jami (alansrock) flipped and lifted Daughters to create the stunning Little Bit Of Magic:

Megan (.megan.) was inspired by Smile to create this adorable layout of her cute little tyke:

Sara (misfitinmn) lifted Joy and created Birthday Boy…isn’t the blending on both pages fabulous?!

Lori (loribear) chose to lift I Heart U! and came up with the equally adorable Carefree:

Becca (Becca1976) took her inspiration from XOXO Rak to create the precious layout Faith-n-Daddy:

Now that you’ve seen a small sample of the WONDERFUL pages that await you in josette31′s gallery, here are a few reminders for the Grand Theft Layout Challenge:

*You will receive one point for posting your layout in the Grand Theft Layout Forum thread & in the Grand Theft Layout gallery. You can receive an additional point for using new Scrap Matters products; please make a note of new products in your post in the forum. At the end of May I will randomly choose one layout for a bonus point!

*You have until the end of May to complete your layout for your points to be counted towards May points.

*Remember no double dipping…your layout must be unique to this challenge.

*You don’t have to use Scrap Matters products, but we love it when you do!

Most importanly, have fun!! I absolutely cannot wait to see how Josette’s gallery inspires you!!

Hi, Suzanne here to bring you one of my favorite challenges at SM: the Tuesday Template challenge. This week’s challenge is based on layout I did for a brag book I made for my mom for Mother’s day. Click HERE to download

Here’s what some of the girls on the awesome CT have done with it:

First up is this layout by .megan. using Make a Rainbow: Collection by Scrapmuss Designs

I LOVE what mhreen08 did by flipping and cropping the template. She used So Natural by The Design Girl.

Next is this beautiful layout by Loribear:

And last but not least is this fun layout by Shari:

Things to remember:

* You have until the end of May to complete the challenge. Post your layout in the Tuesday Template challenge gallery and in the challenge forum thread. If you use a new release product be sure to make note of it with your layout in your forum post.

* No double-dipping, each layout has to be unique to this challenge

* You get one point for completing the challenge, 1 point if you use a new release product within the week of it’s release, and I will pick one winner to receive an extra point.

*That’s it- go have fun!

-Suzanne

Worry.  Defined in The Free Dictionary as “to feel anxious, distressed or troubled”.  Yep, that’s me.  At almost any point in the day I have found something to worry about.  As I read the definition I also read that the original Old English word meant “to strangle”.   Do you feel that?  When the worry starts to get out of control do you feel the strangle part?  I am an internalizer so sometimes when I let the worry get out of hand I start to feel like I can’t breathe.  I feel the strangle. 

This past week I had one of those strangle moments and the next day it seemed that everywhere I went someone or something was speaking into my life about letting it go.  One of my favorite speakers, Jill Briscoe, was speaking on her struggle with worry.  She shared that one way she controls her worry now is to remember “once around Jericho” (referring to the story of Joshua in the Bible) and then you trust.  Meaning – give yourself one moment in the day to worry and then trust.  Then let it go.  Don’t let it consume your day.  Sometimes I spend so much time worrying over something that I waste huge amounts of time that could have been used to DO something about my worry.  Crazy, I know.

So, what do you worry about?  Maybe they are big worries.  Maybe it’s a lot of little things that when piled together seem overwhelming.  Family, children, money, health, politics.  Maybe even your scrapbooks!  I know we all self-impose time frames on our hobby.  We tend to critique ourselves mercilessly and even compare our weaknesses to other’s strengths and talents. 

What do you do to relieve the worry?  Exercise?  Gardening?  Music?  For many of us, it’s a creative outlet with scrapbooking.  I usually need focus and sometimes even something as simple as a verse or phrase will help me find that.  I’ve gathered several for you to choose from today.  Most of them you will recognize as common cliches, but I figure that cliches became cliches for a reason, right?!    So, here you are:

“Hakuna Matata”.  “Don’t worry be happy”.  Babysteps. ” Just do it”.  Take some action.  Smell the roses.  My mom’s favorite:  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it”.  She was also fond of “No use crying over spilled milk” and for my high school worries, “There are plenty of other fish in the sea”.  I always come back to Phillipians 4:6 which starts out, “Do not be anxious about anything”.   Leo Buscaglia said, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”

I hope you find joy today.  Joy in your families, joy in your work, and certainly joy in your scrapbooking! 

Amber (jeffsamber)

This was such a hard decision with Queen of Scrap going on! My favorites list was quite full after looking through the gallery this week, but this one from cinna kept drawing me to it after the few hectic months I have had! I love the beautiful peaceful photo and the colors. This one just says to me to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life. I could stare down that road forever! It reminds me of when I was a child and walked down our dirt road with my family picking the dew berries-so simple-no worries! This is beautiful.

Congrats Cinna!!  Be sure to head over to the gallery or the forum to leave her some love!

-Amanda (APACHETEAR)

Before we get to the awesome interviews…just a quick announcement about our special QOS edition Your Scraps Matter Scavenger hunt!  This week we will be leaving comments on QOS layouts who are in need of some love!  Check out all the details HERE!

-Amanda (panders77)

So, yes.  I know it is not Sunday.  My internet was being crazy yesterday and I was  unable to post.  But I am so excited to post these interviews with our AMAZING guest designers this month!! If you haven’t checked them out be sure to head over to the store before the end of the month!!

First up is Graham like the Cracker Designs:

1. What is your screen name/your real name?  My screen name is Graham Like the Cracker. My real name is Jen Graham.

2. What is your main job/career? My main job is corporate CEO for the Graham Empire. I specialize in child rearing and house hold management; I am of course, also the creative director.

3. Are you married/children/pets? I am married to my best friend Travis. We have an almost three year old named Alton. If you are familiar with my layouts, you are familiar with Alton. We also have two dogs… Jackson and Lucy. Before we had Alton, I used to scrap my pets

4. Where is home for you? We live in Southern California in a beach city. It’s wonderful. I don’t think I could live anywhere else. For the record though, we go to Disneyland more often that we go to the beach.

5. What are your three favorite foods? Do I have to limit it to three? I am a foody. I <3 the Food Network and I have been toying with the idea of going to culinary school. But since I have to choose, I can say that if I was only allowed to eat my roasted chicken and mashed potatoes (with a side of my brownies) for the rest of my life, I would die a happy woman. I <3 comfort food.

6.  PC or Mac? What program do you use?  I have a PC. It’s fantastic. I <3 my 23 inch monitor. It’s my favorite part of my computer. When I had my tiny little laptop, I could not cluster to save my life. Now If I try to scrap on my laptop, I just can’t. I use Photoshop CS4 for scrapping and designing. 
  
7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? The most challenging part of designing for me is actually the administrative part. I love making papers and elements, but the FTPing, X-carting and file attaching I could do without.

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I think I mentioned this above, but I would love to go to culinary school. It is my not so secret desire to be on the Food Network when I grow up.

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Um, this is kind of embarrassing. DH and I watch FAR too much television. Alton could say Bobby Flay before he could say his own name. (For the record, he is not named after Alton Brown) The Food Network is on in our house constantly. But for adult evening TV time, I LOVE Castle, Modern Family, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, The Marriage Ref, and my biggest guilty pleasure is The Vampire Diaries. My favorite movie? Julie and Julia. Alton asks to watch it sometimes.

10.  Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I design in my living room. I used to design in “the choo choo room”. But I usually design when my son naps and when he goes to bed at night and I did not like being sequestered from Trav. So I have my little desk next to one of our sofas. I can keep an eye on Alton if he is awake when I work or talk to DH while designing. (She even sent a picture!!)

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? I love strings. I use one in every layout I do. I love weaving them between layers. The second one just needs to be something I can layer, like a button, flower or frame, something like that.

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I did not drink coffee until I was 20 years old, but then I worked at Starbucks for three years and now I have a deep and abiding love for my morning cup of coffee. But just one cup, because my body does not handle caffeine well, and if I have caffeine or too much dark chocolate too late in the day, I don’t sleep.

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  I started “designing” a year ago. Oh it was awful… my first kit was part of a CU free designing contest for another scrapping site and it was a freebie… Let’s just say I hope no one is still using the contents of that kit.

14. How would you describe your design style? I think I have two. I can do very elegant girly kits, and bright and fun boy kits. I love to do paper elements and one thing all of my kits have in common is that I don’t like my elements to be too busy. I scrapbook to preserve my memories, and I REALLY want the picture to be the star of the show. When I stated designing, I swore I would be a boy kit designer. But I love flowers and ribbons too much to limit myself.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  A lot of my ideas come from my life. Honestly, I usually make a kit to scrap pictures I have. I need to finally scrap our family pictures we took at the beach last fall, so look for an elegant beach kit coming soon. My latest kit, Mischief Monsters with Connie Prince was made because Alton has this really cute pair of monster pajamas. The blues and greens in the palette were inspired by the colors in his pajamas.

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most? Since my design style has a split personality, I think Purple is My Signature Color and Mischief Monsters illustrate how different my styles can be. I just realize while writing this, if I do the kit for an Alton picture, it is little boy fun. If it is for me or someone else, it is floral and elegant with strings. Ah strings.

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? My favorite color is red. Which is really funny because most of my kits don’t have any red in them. In fact, the Valentine’s Day kit I designed didn’t even have any red in it. I love soft colors. Not pastel per se, but I find it difficult to design with BRIGHT colors, because they’re so, well, bright. I loved the colors in Quentin and Emma. My favorite palette ever though, is the one I am working with right now that Amber (Stolen Moments) designed. It’s like she took a picture of my living room and put it in a palette.

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? My favorite ScrapMatters kit that I have designed so far is Purple is My Signature Color. I still look at the previews for that and think, “Oh my word, I can’t believe I made that!” I think the kit that I am working on with Amber might steal my affections when we finish it.

Check out the rest of her fun designs here!

Next up is Stacy’s Backdoor Designs!

 1. Your screen name? Your real name?  shutch – Stacy

2. What is your main job/career? SAHM

3. Are you married/children/pets?  I have been married to Kevin for almost 12 years we have three beautiful children.  No pets yet but a dog has been promised

4. Where is home for you?  As of a week ago Utah – we just moved back to the States from Australia where we lived for three years.

5. What are your 3 favorite foods?  Italian, bread, and brownies

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use?  PC  PSE 5.0

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you?  Coming up with something new and different that people will enjoy and want to scrap with.

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking?  garden

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows?  Lost, Heroes, The Mentalist, and I am a reality TV junkie.  I also love to watch news programs

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where?  I am usually sitting on the couch with my laptop with the TV on in the background.

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be?  Flowers and stitches

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…?  I can touch my nose with my tongue

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started?  About six months ago I got really serious about designing – before that I just dabbled.  I just thought it would be a challenge and something I would like to learn how to do.

14. How would you describe your design style?  I don’t know if I have one.  I love earthy colors and things that look like they were paper scrapped.

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation?  Anywhere from a TV show to my kids clothes.

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most?  For Mum and Clearly Skinny alpha

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with?  anything earthy and warm.  I have a harder time with bright colors.

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters?  For Mum and Miss Madi

Check out the rest of her beautiful store here!

And last but certainly not least is SuzyQ Designs!

1. Your screen name? Your real name? suzyqscraps … Suzy

2. What is your main job/career? my main job is Mommy … & I’m a digital scrapbook designer

3. Are you married/children/pets? married to my sweet husband for 4 years, & we have a 2.5-year-old son

4. Where is home for you? Home is where the Air Force sends you … lol, I grew up in the military, so home is wherever I am … dh & I have decided on where to “settle down” yet

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? cheesecake, sweet-n-sour pork, chocolate milk

6. PC or Mac? What program do you use? PC … I use Illustrator & Photoshop CS4

7. What is the most challenging part of designing for you? um … hmm … if you were asking which part I liked the least I’d have an answer … but the most challenging part is … balance

8. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? guitar — I can play, but don’t practice, um hardly ever

9. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? Willow, Avatar, Robin Hood BBC series, Legend of the Seeker series (I think that’s what it’s called)

10. Describe your “designing” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I design at my desk in my office … usually with no music, sometimes with a self-help CD playing in the background, water, protein bar

11. If you only had 2 elements in a kit, what would they be? buttons & string

12. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? My pinky fingers are curved

13. When did you start designing? How did you get started? I dabbled in designing in early 2008 but didn’t get serious until the end of that year & started selling in January 2009 … when I first discovered digi in 2007, I knew I could figure out how to design my own stuff … I never would have believed I’d end up selling my designs …

14. How would you describe your design style? fun, bright, whimsical, doodle-y, happy, cheerful

15. Where do you get your inspiration/motivation? everywhere, lol! nature, clothes, magazines, ads, dreams …

16. Which of your products in the Scrapmatters Store showcases your style the most? Giggle Monsters

17. What is your favorite color scheme to design with? bright, bold colors

18. Favorite kit you’ve designed for Scrapmatters? um, that would be Giggle Monsters again

Check out the rest of her awesome store here!!

How fun was it getting to know our guests this month!  As I mentioned their designs are only here until the end of the month…so get shopping!! 

-Amanda (Panders77)

Hi, LeeAndra here, and I’m hosting this week’s Saturday Special! Today we will be discussing journaling on the photos in our layouts. Maybe this is a technique you have always wanted to try, but haven’t, or maybe it’s something you’ve never considered doing. Either way, I hope that you are inspired to do so after reading my tutorial.

Why would someone want to journal on their photos? Perhaps you’d like to add journaling somewhere on the page, but your design and the placement of your other elements has not left you room. Maybe there is room on the page, but your journaling just doesn’t look right in the space you have left. It could even be that you have plenty of room left on your page, but that you want as much white space as possible and all your elements, including journaling, in one small section. If you are a journaling-phobe (perish the thought!), a small section of a 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 photo may feel like a lot less pressure than your mental image of how much journaling your page ‘should’ have. If, like me, you could ramble for days about the most ordinary of photos, being forced to capture the story or emotion you want to convey in just a few short sentences will be a good challenge for you.

Now that I’ve convinced you to try it (right?!), let’s discuss the kind of photo you should choose for this technique. This might seem obvious, but a portrait or landscape photo with one main subject is the optimal photo for being written on. Event photos where the eyes need to ‘work’ to figure out what is happening will not work with this technique. Similarly, in order for your writing to be both legible and not distracting, your ideal photo will either have a lot of bokeh (when the background of a photo is all blurry) or a large block of one color i.e. a wall, the sky, etc. Finally, a photo where the main subject is off center will work best if you plan on journaling more than just a few words.

Here are some examples from my own photos that would work well being journalified (ha!):

Keep in mind that, as with all journaling, the cleaner and simpler the font, the easier it will be to read. Since you are already writing atop a photo, I would strongly recommend a standard font like Century Gothic or Times New Roman. This might be the only time I ever recommend not using one of the 3700 fun fonts you have downloaded from all over the Web, so just do what I say and you can thank me later. You might even want to play with all caps or all lowercase to make it take on more of a design aspect on your page. Of course, if you are just scrawling someone’s full name or the date or some such across the photo, feel free to bust out the most handwrite-y swirly-dirly font in your collection. It goes without saying (then why am I saying it?!), but please use a contrasting color for your journaling, so a white or light yellow font would look great if you’re writing on top of a part of your photo that is black or grey and vice versa.

Clear as mud, right? Feel free to leave me a comment here if you are still unsure what to do or which pictures to choose.

Here is my example layout followed by the amazing layouts of my scrapalicious fellow CTMs:

all from Erica’s Lazy Days E kit (part of her {i}NSD grabbag with Denise Beatty Originals)

by Lori and from Pri Rocha’s Better Together

by Wendy and from “Pieces of Me” by Denise Beatty (modified), “EZ Elegance” by Erica Zane, and “Lazy Days” by Erica Zane

by alamama and from Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Plum Dumpling Designs

by Becca and from Around the World by Sahlin Studio and Britt-ish Designs, Land of Fantasy by Sahlin Studio and Britt-ish Designs, Travel Mixed Media and Travel Snippettes by Sahlin Studio

Keep a few things in mind for this challenge:

– Make sure to post your pages in the ‘Saturday Special’ gallery and link it back to the thread in the forum. You can receive an additional point for using new ScrapMatters products, but you must make a note of this in your post. At the end of the month, one random scrapper will receive a bonus point!

– You have until the end of May to complete this challenge.

– No double dipping, scrappers. Your layout must be unique to this challenge.

– You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but we love it when you do!

Please play along with us!

Hey there everyone!  It’s LuAnn – back again to host the 5/13 It’s in the Cards challenge.

If you have never tried hybrid or are new to it, today’s template is a great way to get a little experience in hybrid!

I know we’re only a few days post-Mother’s Day but I thought “Hey, let’s get a jump on Father’s Day by creating his card early!” 

But first, a quick review the rules of the challenge:

*Remember that to earn your Matter of Scrap point for the month you need to photograph and upload your card to the Hybrid Challenge gallery by the end of the month. Then come back here and post it in this thread as well. Make sure to let your hostess know if you use a new product within a week of it’s release – if you do, you get an extra point!*

And here’s our template:

Download the template HERE

Some tips for using this template:

1. for best results: allow the printed card time to sit before working with it.
2. for the “knot” of the tie, I kind of finger rounded the edges under a bit to make it “bump up” off the paper and used the burn tool along the edges to give it dimension.
3. fold the pieces in so that the top points meet right at the top of the tie
4. I used pop dots under the points of the collar and double sided tape between the collar layers and also to attach the buttons

Here’s my card created using Plum Dumpling Designs’ Lob-STAH kit:

and a close up:

and another I made using a paper from Britt-ish Designs’ Ohana kit (I left off the tie, added 2 rows of stitching and added a square  to create a pocket)

Here’s one from Hybrid Gal Deb using Pedal Pusher by Connie Prince:

and one from fellow paper and glue gal Amanda using  Happy to Be by Scrapmuss Designs:

and a super cool Daddio one from Julie using Road Trip by Creations by Rachel:

So, let’s get creating those cards!!!   Can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!

Hi Ladies! Bonnie here with my first ever GTL challenge! Are you ready to do some lifting? We have so many talented people with such amazing galleries at SM, it makes choosing someone to lift supremely hard, believe you me. For this lift, I decided to choose someone who (surprisingly!) has never been lifted before… Wendy of WM[squared] Designs! She has such wonderful LOs in her gallery, I know you’ll find something you’re sure to love.

You can check out Wendy’s Gallery to find your inspiration.

There were a couple I was trying to decide on, so in the time honored tradition of quarter flipping (seriously, I did, it won best 3 out of 3! It was meant to be, I guess…), it turns out I lifted [ divas ]:

Here’s my lift:

((using It’s Good To Be Bad; Collectible Cardboard; Glam-O-Rama; Black, White & Red All Over; Jackpot; In Stitches: Wacky; Enchantment; A Halloween Nightmare; & Witchy Woman by Britt-ish Designs; Bitty Blooms by Golden Girls; & Photo Edgers Vol. 1 by Happy Scrap Girl))

And here are some other lifts from our amazingly talented team:

Tanya (TanyaH666) lifted [ right now ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using A Magical Place by Connie Prince))

Heidi (scrappurple) lifted [ kiss me i'm irish ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using When You Smile by Jennifer Barrette; & EZ Date Bands by Erica Zane))

Jami (alansrock) lifted [ personality, for days ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Sunny Side Up by Chelle’s Creations))

Sara (misfitinmn) lifted [ enjoy life ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Storytime by Designs by Sarah Bennett; Lil Digi Bits by Jude; & Big Stamp Alpha by Jennifer Barrette))

Becca (Becca1976) lifted [ girls day in ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Rejuvinate, Embossed Frames, Frosted Acrylic Alpha, & Simply Scattered Templates by Sahlin Studio))

Kat (ktanker) lifted [ simplify ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Little Boy Blue by Creations by Rachael))

Jan (QuiltyMom) lifted [ Girls just wanna have fun! ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Bright, Happy, Funny; Flair Dates; Mouse Stitches; Leave the World Behind; & Stamp My ABC’s by Britt-ish Designs; & Scrapbook Basics: Filler Pages by Denise Beatty Originals))

Lori (loribear) lifted [ love you lots ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using Love Without End by Connie Prince))

Wendy (wm[squared]) even decided to play & lift her own!! She lifted [ easter 1983 ]:

Here’s her lift:

((using iNSD Grab Bag by Creations by Rachel; Around the World by Brittish Designs & Sahlin Studio; Travel Mixed Media, & Travel Snipettes by Sahlin Studio))

Enough fabulous inspiration to get your creative juices flowing? Good. Then get ta scrappin!!
>>Don’t forget to post a comment on the page you’re lifting! I know Wendy would love to hear from you & see your lifts!<<

Some Challenge Reminders:
>>You have until the end of May to post your layout. Be sure to post it to the Grand Theft Layout Gallery and link it back to the Forum.
>>No double-dipping! Your layout must be unique to this challenge.
>>You can earn an extra point for using any new ScrapMatters product during the first week of its release. (It also must be unique & only used for this challenge to count as an extra point). Be sure to note the new product in your layout description and in your post in the forum!
>>At the end of the month, one layout will be chosen to receive a bonus point for their next month’s total.
>>You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products, but we sure do love it when you do!

I can’t wait to see what inspires you!
~Bonnie

Becca (Becca1976) here with the Tuesday Template Challenge. I have no rules…just create and have fun! I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Here is the template:

You can download it here http://www.box.net/shared/k2rd34e6bn

Here is the layout the template is made from:
*credits: Wistful, Retro Gold and Paper alphas all from By Becca*

Here is some awesome inspiration from our amazing CT! I just love what they did with this template!

Jen (Jendavey)

*credits: Mr. and Mrs. by WM[squared] and Haynay designs*

Wendy (wm[squared])

*credits: EZ Breezy by Erica Zane*

Amber (jeffsamber)

*credits: Terrible Twos by Plum Dumpling Designs*

Jenna (sweeet)

*credits: Family Fun by Plum Dumpling Designs*

Jaime (azrood)

*credits: One Fine Day by Happy Scrap Girl Designs*

Melissa (profiler_mar)

*credits: Homemade, Homemade Christmas add-on, stitch me up dated: colors all by Chelle’s Creations*

Aren’t they great!? Just a few reminders for this challenge:
*You have until the end of May to finish your layout. You need to upload it to the Tue. template gallery and come back here and leave your image and the link in this forum thread.

*You will recieve one point for completing a layout and you can also earn an additional point if you use a new product from ScrapMatters store. Make sure you indicate in your post that a new product was used so I can make a note of it.

*I will choose one lucky person as a winner to earn an additional point at the end of this challenge.

*No double dipping. Your layout needs to be unique to this challenge.

*Most of all…have fun! I can’t wait to see all your layouts!

- Becca

{posting this for Stefanie}

Hi All…Let’s talk about Blending

Blending is a technique that I love to use especially when I feel like I’m in a scrapping rut and need a little oomph to my page. Blending also works well on pictures that are slightly out of focus. Blending is something that can be done in so many different ways and today I am going to go through my blending technique that I use…this would work in Photoshop or Elements.

Open your background paper that you want to use and place your picture. If you decide on a patterned paper make sure it’s subtle and won’t take away from the blended picture. I usually chose lightly textured papers which to me seem to blend better. Enhance your picture as you would if you were using this version in your layout.

Next make sure your picture layer is selected and change the setting to either soft light, overlay or screen. I chose soft light since I wanted a more subtle blend. If the picture is too light (depending on the background paper you picked also) you can duplicate the picture once or twice if that helps also.

Much better but now I have to get rid of the lines around the picture and make it blend. Merge your layers of pictures together. Take your eraser on a soft brush with a lower opacity. I used 40% opacity for my brush. Lightly go over the edges to “blend” the picture into the background. I also used the Dodge tool to lighten up the areas in from the edges alittle so the picture blends better.

If you are not happy with the picture being in color and blended you can always desaturate the picture by going to image – adjustments – desaturate

and here is my final layout using Britt-ish Designs edge to edge wordart V4 and Bright Happy Funny

and for some inspiration look at what the wonderful CT has done:

Tanya using the NEW Got Curves Templates by WM [squared] Designs, along with Viva Fiesta, Messy Stamped Alpha and Simply Dated v.5 all by WM [squared] Designs.

Cristina using Lean and Green and EZ Date Spots by Erica Zane:

Michelle using Sunday Afternoon by Trixie Scraps and Sarah Bennett:

Melissa using Got Curves Templates-Vol 1 and Shabby Chic from WM[squared]; and Mr. & Mrs. from WM[squared] and Haynay Designs:

and Bonnie using EZ Elegance & Lazy Days-E by Erica Zane; Cut It Out Alpha & 2 Page Party Pack Templates by Denise Beatty Originals:

Remember the MOS rules:
*ONE point for a LO that is posted in the Sat Special Gallery and here in the forum; TWO points if you use a product released at SM within the last seven days. Please state in the thread that you used a new product.
*No double-dipping; your LO must be unique to this challenge
*This challenge will end May 31.

Can’t wait to see what you create!!

This was an especially hard week to choose LOTW because of the kickoff of QOS and then just site issues to get in and see the gallery! WOW, there are some serious scrappers after the title and the gallery was whizzing by pretty fast! I decided I just needed to get some coffee and settle in to go through page by page and let me tell you there are some amazing layouts!

The one I chose was also clearly a favorite among MANY SM members as it has been viewed over 100 times!! It was put in the GSO’s before I even got to it and rightly so! Please congratulate Scrapmonster on her “Color my World” layout! I love the unique design and the color scheme. It just stood out in the gallery and I can see why some wanted this made into a template!!! It is just gorgeous!

Congrats again Scrapmonster!! Head on over to the forum or the gallery to leave her some love!!!

-Lisa (Kelseyll)

Happy Mothers Day everyone!! Today I am interviewing a great mother and awesome member of the SM community Neeny!  Let’s learn some more about her, shall we?

1. Your screen name? Your real name? My screen name is Neeny, my real name is Janine because most people mispronounce my name it’s pronounced Juh-neen.

2. What is your main job/career? I’m a 6th grade teacher

3. Are you married/children/pets? I’m married to a great supportive guy, we have one son who is four a dog, and a hamster.

4. Where is home for you? I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas

5. What are your 3 favorite foods? My three favorite foods are steak, chocolate, and almost all Italian food

6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Cookies and Cream

7. Snacks…Salty or Sweet? I like salty and sweet mixed together like candy corn and peanuts.

8. Beverage of choice? Water and Sprite Zero

9. What’s your least favorite food? Vegetables… LOL

10. PC or Mac? What program do you use? I’m a PC girl, and I use Photoshop CS3

11. How long have you been digi-scrapping? How did you get started? I’ve been digi-scrapping about four years, and I got into it because my best friend harassed me enough to try it and that I would love it more than paper and she was right as usual. Thanks Tina!

12. What was your 1st LO about? My first digital layout was a title page for my son’s baby book, so I could get started on it I started a few months after he was born and I wanted to try to go in order to keep on track.

13. Do you have any other hobbies besides digi-scrapping (are there other hobbies)? I love to read, mostly romance novels since I’m a sucker for a happy ending and I love television dramas and some reality like Project Runway and Top Chef.

14. What is the most challenging part of scrapbooking for you? The most challenging part is figuring out if I’m done with a layout or not, since digital I can easily delete or change things it is tempting to play with things long after they should have been finished or to later realize I wanted to add this or that and then go in and add it before I print it for the book.

15. What would you like to learn to do (or do better) not related to scrapbooking? I would like to learn about cake decorating, my best friend just took several classes and the cakes looked pretty as well as yummy.

16. What are your favorite movies/TV shows? I love crime/dramas, I’m a HUGE Glee fan, and I love some reality shows like Project Runway and Top Chef.

17. Describe your “scrapping” environment. Music? TV in the background? Drinks? Snacks? Where? I scrap in my office/scrapbook room with music on sometimes drinks and or snacks depending on if I’m hungry or not. If there are snacks it’s usually something sweet and/or salty LOL!

18. If you only had 2 elements to use on a LO, what would they be? Staples and ribbon

19. Would you like to share a little known fact about you…? A little known fact to my online friends is my sister and I have rhyming names Janine and Maureen and we get irritated when our Uncles call us the een sisters or the eens.

20. Can you tell us a little about your scrappin’ style? I don’t think I have a specific style I guess I’m eclectic if you can call it that it changes with my mood and the topic. Sometimes my pages are simple and sometimes there is a ton on them.

21. Favorite LOs that you have done?
My favorite layouts would have to be Trouble maker using Sarah Bennett’s Tough Boy Kit:

and Take me out to the ball game layout using Chelle’s Creation’s Batter Up:

22. How long have you been a member at ScrapMatters? I will have been a member of ScrapMatters for 2 years in August.

23. Do you have any suggestions for kits you’d like to see in the SM store? I love the variety of the products that come out in the store already, but I’d love to see more boy kits since I only have a little guy to scrap unless I borrow pictures.

24. What is one thing you tend not to use on layouts? I tend not to use doodled elements too often I just have a hard time picturing them on my page and having them look right, but I want to branch out and try to use them some.

25. How long have you lived in your city? I’ve lived in my current city for 8 years but I’ve lived in the metroplex almost my entire life.

26. What is your favorite childhood memory and have you scrapped it? My favorite childhood memory is going to Disney World for the first time the year I turned 8 to and getting to spend my birthday in Disney World was AMAZING! I haven’t been back yet, but I hope to go this summer. I haven’t scrapped it yet because I only have one picture I found a few months ago of me in my birthday crown riding on a carousel in Disney World, but I definitely plan on it when I finally get it scanned in.

Thanks for letting us get to know you better Janine!! Check out the rest of her amazing creations here!

-Melanie (scrappymelly)