I hope everyone is having a great Sunday. I’m here to post today’s challenge, which is a fun one:

11. This is a season of JOY. Use the word Joy in your title.

Here is my layout:

Even though it is the holiday season, Joy, can come in all shapes and sizes. The greatest joy in my life is my adorable little niece, Juno. She has brought so much happiness and joy to all of our lives. Just to see her smile or hear her laugh can brighten any day. We are truly blessed to have her. For my layout I used the collab kit, “Just one of the boys” by Stolen Moments and Jenn Barrette.

So think about those things that bring you joy and scrap a page for this challenge.

The countdown to the holidays is really in full swing… It seems like everywhere you turn there are lights and beautiful colors to highlight the many winter holiday celebrations. The weather is definitely frosty, freezing, frigid here up North. Snow hangs in the air in many parts of the world. If you are one of the lucky people enjoying balmy, warm weather right now I’m sure many of our readers would love to trade places with you!  So where are you on the map?  Do you live in the Northern or Southern, Eastern or Western Hemispheres?  When you look at the SM community on a map you realize how diverse our community is and yet how we are all connected.  We would love to have you introduce yourself and put your location on the SM map, click here for more information.

Have you checked out the daily download at ScrapMatters? Several of the SM designers got together and created a fabulous kit called A Christmas to Remember.  A little traditional, a little retro with a bit of kitsch thrown in it will work for a wide variety of layouts and it’s yours free with new pieces everyday–directly downloaded from the SM server. Below are just the two latest days.  If you’ve yet to check it out, here’s the link.

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ScrapMatters Bingo is a hit. Many of our community members are “scrapping by the numbers.”  Our new challenge system is a fun and visual way to get those important memories scrapped while stretching your skills at the same time. You can jump in anytime during the month. Want to know more?  Just click here to start having some challenging fun.

We have a new designer at ScrapMatters this week–Memory Clips by Ramona . Love her templates!  And we’re happy to announce that Lina of LDrag Designs is back at ScrapMatters. It’s wonderful to have her fantastic designs in the shop.

Now onto the new products:

Hi all,

Carolyn or calliclaire here and very excited to bring you your day 8 Challenge.  I hope you are all enjoying our new challenge system?  Go here for the full list of challenges for December.  It’s fun and easy to win great prizes, so make sure to check it out!

And without further ado, here is the challenge for today:

Mary, Queen of Scots was born December 8th.  In honor of the traditional tartans, use some plaid on your page. 

I know I have an awesome formal-like picture of my grandmom somewhere wearing her family tartan, but am going to have to go through a major clean-up in our house to find it.  Meantime, I used this beautiful plaid paper by one of our fabulous new designers, Julie Marie Designs, to create this layout of my daughter in one of her performances:

I used the wonderful new Bailey kit by Julie Marie Designs and an older template from True Blue Studio.  I just LOVE the plaid in this kit.  There is also a fabulous patterened blue paper that didn’t quite fit in anywhere on this layout so I am going to have to create another layout with it as it is really spectacular!  The alpha in this kit is so much fun too – I had to make a nice big title with it to show it off!

So let’s see what you can do with plaid?  I know our designers have created some beautiful papers so go browse the store and see what you can find!  Good luck with all the challenges!

Carolyn (calliclaire)

Hellooooo Scrappers!!  It’s Cyndi here!!

Are you ready for your Day 7 challenge?  Well, ready or not…. here it is!!

7.  Create a layout using at least 3 patterned papers, 2 ribbons, 4 buttons and 1 flower.

So as you can see, I used a lot more than one flower  But the kit I used is KimB’s, Another Ordinary Day and really,  how could you use just one.  Those gorgeous flowers were begging to be added.  Besides, the instructions did say “at least one”

Remember to check out our new challenge system, ScrapMatters Bingo and the whole list of challenges for the month.

It’s “just another Manic Monday” at ScrapMatters.com!!! Monday ONLY!! Select items for $2 or 50% off!! Visit theScrapMatters Shop for more details!!

*Manic Monday sales go into the shop early Monday morning and will “disappear” around midnight! HURRY! What are you waiting for!?! *

Cozy Comforts

Fa La La by Haynay Designs

Santas Little Helpers by KimB

Here is a large preview of today’s portion and some of the other daily offerings are still up, at least for a little while longer.  Go check out the forum here for more info.  This kit is a little vintage, a little traditional with a dose of kitsch thrown in for fun.  As you scrap with it you will indeed realize that this is A Christmas to Remember.

And don’t forget to check out the previous post  for today’s challenge–part of the new ScrapMatters’ Bingo Challenges.  A fun, easy way to both earn and win prizes.

Hello everyone,

It’s Kayla, aka keepscrappin here with today’s challenge.  I hope ya’ll are having fun with the new challenge system here at ScrapMatters.  Go here for the full list of challenges for December.  It’s fun and easy to win great prizes, so make sure to check it out.

Okay, enough chit chat, let’s get to the challenge.

#5 – The northern hemisphere is starting to be covered in snow. Use a white background for your page.

Easy Peasy – right!  Here’s my layout with a white background.

Layout credits:

Template – Gratitude Freebie 11 from Memory Clips
Kit – Christmas Blues from Diana’s Creations  (new 12.2.11)
Font – century gothic

And here’s some helpful tips I use when making layouts with white backgrounds.  Just use the ones that work for your layout.

1. Add your shadows as you go, so you can see how it’ll look.
2. Let your photos be the focus of your layout.
3. Make sure there’s enough contrast between your background and any white elements, so they’ll show up.
4. White backgrounds variy from snow white (white) to grayish or creamy whites. So if you use a gray or creamy white background, use white elements in the same white color family to make it pleasing to the eye.
5. Add an overlay/ texture to your background to give it more ummph.  Here’s a whole section that are available in the SM shop.
6. Sometimes it’s fun to play with subtle brushes or paint splats on a white background like I’ve done on the above layout to give it a little more interest and draw your eye to the photos and across the page and down to the title.  Boy, that’s was a mouthful!  LOL

Well, that’s it for today, so get scrappin those white background layouts and win yourself some great prizes.

keepscrappin’

Kayla

Fran here and I am so excited to be among the first posters in our awesome new challenge system! It’s so fun and easy, I think everyone will love it! The template challenge is among the most popular challenges and I hope you like the template I made for you!

Check out the new rules to the new challenge system, ScrapMatters Bingo so you can be sure to know how to play! Ok, here is the template and the page I created with it. I used Santa’s Little Helpers by KimB Designs and It’s a Boy Thing alpha by Haynay Designs (recolored).

And here is your download, have fun!

Day 2: December is full of holidays and family traditions. Show us your favorite family tradition.

Jan (QuiltyMom) here – Christmas has always been a special month of celebration for me and my family. As a child we would spend the entire month preparing foods that would eventually be eaten on Christmas Eve in one huge smorgasbord. Breads, cookies, puddings – we did it all and had a blast making it, too. One of those special foods was Potatis Korv, or Swedish Potato Sausage. It is so yummy, and I always look forward to December so I can have it to eat once again. It’s a tradition that my family now does every year, and actually looks forward to doing it, too!

Here is a page of my family making Potatis Korv, using KimB’s Santa’s Little Helpers.

To learn more about ScrapMatters’ new challenges, ScrapMatters Bingo, and how you can earn prizes too go check out this post in the SM forum.

Now it’s your turn. What are your traditions?