TGIF Sketch!!!

It's sketch time once again and I made a sketch just for YourScrapbookStash readers!

My example:

Just to make this different, I did a 8.5 x 11 layout using the gorgeous My Minds Eye Love Stories line available at YSS Online Store. I love how the pattern was printed over the kraft background paper. So trendy!

Enjoy! And remember: Get chosen as the Guest Designer for the month! Upload your creation at our USER GALLERY. Each month, we will highlight one customer. Our Design Team will choose one person from the gallery and they will be on the SPOTLIGHT. Each member of the DT will have a chance to 'scraplift' one of your layouts or ideas from the gallery. User will receive a Gift Certificate worth $10.00 to the store for being the Featured Member.

We can't wait to see your creation using this sketch!!!

Stash Faves

Don't you just get confused with all the new scrapbook releases lately? Do you base your purchases by theme, patterns or colors?

To make things easier for you, every Thursday we highlight different products that we strongly recommend. And for today's post, my favorite is the NEW Amercian Crafts Letterbox. And the perfect words to describe this collection is SOPHISTICATED and DELICATE. Letterbox papers are perfect for everyday cards, layouts and projects. Select Letterbox papers feature added texture with raised Zing! finish or embossing.

Those were just some of the amazing papers that you'll get from that line. To view the individual product from this line, just go to YSS Online Store and choose American Crafts > Letterbox

Shop Reminder - you have until 4/30 to place an order to receive DOUBLE Frequent Shopper Points. We also have a little something lined up for National Scrapbook Day!!!

For now here are some layouts that I did using the Letterbox line:

(alphas are by Sassafras Lass Chipboard Stickers - Juicy also available at YSS Store)

Thanks!
LG

Technique Tuesday

ALTERED FISH BOWL
Materials:



Fish Bowl (preferably the small ones)
Patterned Papers
1" Circle Punch
Distress Inkpad
Liquid Adhesive

Note: if you do not have a circle punch, feel free to use a coin or any template that is close to an inch circle.

STEP 1
Choose the patterned paper that you would like to use. For this project, you can use a single pattern on the bowl or a multi-patterned one. Be experimental and start combining those patterns that we have from our kit to make your design more unique.

STEP 2
Once you have decided on which paper to use, start punching those circles out. I decided to use my 1" circle punch that will work well with the small fish bowl that I'll be altering.

Make around 50pcs of circles. Just add more if needed.



STEP 3
Distress the edges of the circle to add depth and dimension. This is NOT REQUIRED and would simply depend on your preference.



STEP 4
Starting at the top of the bowl, start adhering these circles slightly overlapping one another. I used a left-over-right sticking pattern. It simply means that the left side of the circle that i am sticking is the one overlapping the right side of a circle prior to it.

If you are using a 2 or more patterned paper design, adhere the circles alternately. Use your imagination to think of other pattern placements. Another suggestion is that you can stick the top half of the bowl with one pattern and the lower half with another.



STEP 5
After finishing the first row, do the same with the remaining rows but this time adhere it below the first row also slightly overlapping it. Do this until you have entirely covered your fish bowl.



If your last row is quite larger than the remaining space, just slightly fold the circle at the bottom and adhere the remaining part at the bottom of the bowl

You're done!!!

EXTRA STEP
Feel free to use this altered bowl as a candy container, candle holder, etc. You can also embellish it with stickles, liquid pearls and blings. Go crazy!



I hope this project tickled, if not poke, your imagination and creativity.

LG

Hello everyone, Welcome to Sketch Friday.
This week, I bring you a beautiful sketch from Liz Qualman.
Her site My little Sketch Blook is awesome,
filled with gorgeous sketches and stunning inspiration.
Check out HERE

I ask her for permission to use one of her sketches here and
she has generously said yes. How wonderful.
It was difficult to choose 1 but I had to narrow to this:



And here's my take on the sketch. Using Teresea Collins.

Happy scrapping. Remember to share your take here and link it on the comments.

You may win a prize.

Stash Fave

Hello scrappers, are you excited when you heard
that a HUGE shipment came in.
Woohoo... I was jumping for joy.

The 7 Gypsies Avignon Collection has my vote!!!!
Look at the browns, greens and blues!!!
Perfect combination for my travel pictures and
finally some more masculine colors for my hubby.

Just look at these gorgeous papers!

And this stamp, from Venice collection is soooo versatile.

So, hop to the store now! Happy Shopping.

Giveaway #2 on Danielle's Blog.....

Leave her a comment before tonight to have a chance at the $10 in Stash Cash. There will be one more giveaway next Monday.

Giveaway #2

Technique Tuesday

Hello everyone, how is your week?
Does Spring bring better weather, clearer sky and nicer colors all around?
I love the colors of Spring.

Today I want to share a simple tutorial,
making your own embellishments.

I want to make an LO on flying kite so I cut up this Prima packaging.
Made a shape of a kite.


Then to I apply some Crackle Paint over the 'kite'.....
let it air dry.


Next, I use my fingers and take out some of dried paint
to reveal the inner color of my Prima packaging
This will add another layer of color to the kite.
Then I mounted it onto cardstock and cut with a decorative scissors.

It will look like this:


And I also made a fabric paper flower.
Check out this cool tutorial by Elizabeth Kartchner.
HERE:


And together with my Dear Lizzy Fabric papers, homemade kite and flower,
I made this LO "Bliss" using Carrie's sketch.




Hope you like it! Try making your own embellishments.

New Arrivals!

We were just about to send out a Newsletter when the UPS man dropped by with a truck load of goodies for us.

And I mean, a truckload! It took me all day to get it entered but its all in and ready for you!

Here is just a quick overview of what arrived this week:

- Girls Paperie by Margie Romney Aslett (embellishments will ship later)

- Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies (we ordered the entire line of dies and embossing templates but they are backordered. We will be getting them all in at some point.)

- Tim Holtz NEW Distress Pads

- Tim Holtz papers

- Coredinations Cardstock - Jenni Bowlin patterns (don't worry, we ordered every bit of the embossed cardstock for Jenni Bowlin, Cosmo Cricket and Jillibean but its backordered)

- 7 Gypsies Avignon and Venice (with a few other goodies thrown in)

- Clipa Bracelets (you're going to WANT one of these. I have several and I love them. I never have to put my purse down on the floor again!)

- Crate Paper Pink Plum, Paper Doll and Brook collections

The Shop Hop is now OVER but we still have a coupon code for you. Enter APRIL15 during checkout to receive 15% off your order.

Our Newsletter will go out this weekend with a ton of information. Stay tuned.....

Friday Sketch

This weekend I want to share with you a sketch I just love from Pagemaps. If you have never seen her sketches you just have to check them out! I chose this one because I just loved the long stems on the flowers.

The Sketch:
I used hand stitching to create my stems and VersaMark ink (remember that from Tuesday?) to make the leaves.
I hope you will give this sketch a try and make sure to share your creation with us in the user gallery.

Stash Faves Special Note

We love that LOVE the Shabby Chic Crafts tags. You love them so much that we're sold out of most of them. The good news is, we will be reordering all of them and more!

We wanted to let everyone know that the owners just had a baby and our order may take a while to complete since they print these themselves. We will update everyone once they are back in stock!

Stash Faves

I am really love the new items from Shabby Chic crafts. So many fun colors that go well with all sorts of paper lines. They look great on pages, cards and mini books. Here are a few of the newest hottest items that Your Scrapbook Stash got in!
As you probably know by now we seem to be in love with Cosmo Cricket around here. And on top of it the colors go great with the new Shabby Chic tags. Check out all the new Garden Variety papers and embellishments in the store today. They now have dyed buttons to match perfectly!
Don't forget to use coupon code SPRING2010 to save 20% off your order!

March Featured Member

Last month our featured member from the User Gallery was Scrappycat. She has some amazing pages in her gallery and I love her use of patterned paper and embellishments! Make sure to check out her gallery for some awesome inspiration! Here are few of my favorite pages of hers:



All the design team scraplifted her this month. Here are our pages inspired by Scrappycat!

Carrie's Scraplift:
April's Scraplift:
Alyssa's Scraplift:
Wendy's Scraplift:
Lady Grace's Scraplift:
Liz's Scraplift:

Make sure to get your layouts uploaded this month for a chance to be our next featured member. You will win some stash cash, your layouts featured on our blog and the design team will all get a chance to be inspired by YOU! We can't wait to see what you can do!

Last chance to Hop and Save!

The Spring Fling Shuffle is coming to an end!

You still have 2 days left to find the hidden images and shop using the 20% off coupon.

Hurry!

To save 20%, use Coupon Code SPRING2010 during checkout.

Tuesday Tip

I know last week Alyssa touched on adding that little something more to your layouts after you are done. I too know how this is. I will finish the layout then step back and think to myself that it needs more. When this happens a common thing I turn to is my VersaMark ink and acrylic stamps. Find lots of great styles here at Your Scrapbook Stash store.

This is an easy technique to do after your layout is here since the Versamark ink is only is a watermark ink. If you get a little extra where you don't want it then it's not that big of a deal since it's not as noticeable as pigment inks. I love to stamps circles or swirls on the background. Can you tell?

Or on this page I used a leaf stamp from my flower set to add some leaves to these hand stitched stems.

I hope you give this a try on your next page or card! And don't forget to check out all the great stamps in the store...lots of them on sale!

Want to win some Stash Cash?

Head on over to our Guest Designers blog for more information on how you can win some Stash Cash to spend in the store.

Danielle Layton

Did I mention that she has some amazing layouts posted on her blog???

Friday Sketch

Hello ladies!

It's that time of the week again! Are you ready for another sketch?

I'm sharing with you a new sketch from Inspired Blueprints (http://www.inspiredblueprints.blogspot.com/)

I chose to scrap 2 photos instead of 3. I used one of my fave pp's from Cosmo Cricket; although it's not the latest it doesn't matter at all. On the layout here, I mixed it with some of the Love Struck from Making Memories, and bits of American Crafts too. Playing mix and match is just too fun.

I hope that you have fun with this sketch! Do remember to share it here with us, as well as post it on the IB blog to win some goodies!

Courtesy of April Yap