It's a Birthday Party and YOU get the gift!

IF IT'S GROOVY turns 1 this January and what would a birthday girl do but celebrate with a party? Myself and other members of the If It’s Groovy Design Team will be hosting challenges, complete with PRIZES, on our blogs.


Mark your calendars and start spreading the word, the crop will be January 4th-10th.

Stop by If It's Groovy for lots of inspiration, games, and challenges and don't forget to come back here to check out my challenge for the hop. You'll want to drop by each of If It's Groovy Design Team Members' blogs to see their challenges too! There will be lots of fun, crafting, and prizes all week long, so join us in celebrating and wishing If It's Groovy a very happy birthday.

Time for a Spunky Sketch and a Nerdy Prompt

 Check out this great new sketch from Spunky Scrappers! Putting together a page for this sketch went so easy for me and I know you will find it easy too!

My little grandson was born in the tropics and moved to a cooler climate last year. He saw snow for the first time in January and he looks like he really enjoyed it! The sketch challenge runs through Dec 15, so give it a go and be sure to upload your finished project to Spunky Scrappers!

And if you are looking for inspiration for something to scrap about, try this week's prompt at Spunky Scrappers - Nerds! We all know one ... and sometimes we are all one! As soon as I heard the prompt I knew I had a reason to scrap these silly photos of my husband and I trying on goofy hats and glasses in the store in Japan. I just wish I had bought those Christmas Tree glasses for my upcoming office party!

Show me your nerdy side- upload your Nerdy LO to the Spunky Scrappers gallery and tag it sc16. See you there!

Quick- you can do it!

This time of year we are all pressed for time. There's the shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, and the volunteer work - not to mention the boss still wants us to show up for work! But we scrappers still have the need to get in that scrapping time. And if you are like me, you are making many of your gifts and time is running short!

That is where the prompt at this month's If It's Groovy came in handy for me. Groovy Deb recognized the need to do some scrapbook pages in 30 minutes or less and I jumped at the chance to get a page done with this in mind.

 I'm making a scrapbook for my Daughter-in-Law with her photos from throughout the year and still had some pages to fill. I loved the photos she sent me of my grandson trying to belly-ride his skateboard. I took some SEI Play Day patterened paper, cut some of the animal shapes out of it and pop-dotted them for a quick and easy embellishment. The DCWV cardstock was run through my Fiskars crimper to give it some dimension. Add a few sticker alphas and the page is done is less than 30 minutes!

Check out If It's Groovy to see what other folks have created in 30 minutes and you will find lots of inspiration to keep scrapping during this busy time of year.

And once the holidays are over and you are ready to let more of your creativity show, join us at If It's Groovy for our online crop Jan 4 - 10. We'll have challenges, games, prizes and fun!fun!fun! See you there and be sure to tell Groovy Deb that Theresa sent you.

One Page - Two Chances to Win!

Do you want two chances to win a prize with just one LO? Come and join our Slice of Life challenge at Memories Always - Forever and If It's Groovy! All you have to do is slice up a photo or chop it up into bits if you want. In my sample above, I used just one large photo and sliced it up. I love how the slices add more motion to the ocean!

Check out Groovy Deb's page! She chopped up her photos and arranged them into small blocks for a stunning look.

And here is my sister Kathy's page. She chopped her photos into one-inch squares and arranged them on Mosaic Moments Grid Paper. This look is so gorgeous!

So what are you waiting for? We all love to win and the odds are in your favor. Enter the Slice of Life Challenge at Memories Always - Forever and If It's Groovy for two great chances to win!

Paper Paradise - Kyoto's Morita Wagami

This past week I hopped on Japan's famous Shinkansen (bullet train) with my hubby to hang out for a few wonderful days in Kyoto. We saw many beautiful temples, ate many delicious meals and met many interesting people. But the highlight of any scrapbooker's trip is of course, the trip to the paper store!

My guidebook says, "The Japanese had paper in production for over 500 years before the Moors opened the first paper mill in Spain in the 12th century ... Paper has been aborbing mankind's mistakes and schemes, ideas and feelings, images and dreams for centuries. And no where more beautifully than in Japan." I was intrigued by the romanticism of that statement. But the truth is that visitors to Japan soon learn that the Japanese use paper for lanterns, doors, windows, fans, umbrellas and the list goes on. A trip to any Japanese paper store is a treat, but Morita Wagami sounded devine. The guidebook shows that Morita Wagami deals in over 800 kinds of handmade Japanese washi paper and as it turns out, was not far from our hotel.

So one fine morning, we went walking in search of this store. We meandered through some temple gardens and down a narrow side street before stumbling upon the shop. Once inside it was like heaven on earth! The colors! The designs! The textures! I immediately began to make piles of the papers I wanted. My favorite was a soft blue Yuzen. Yuzen paper is only allowed to be sold in cities which are artistic centers for kimono production as they use the same designs and colors as kimonos.

Next came the Kin Washi - a machine made paper from manila fiber. It's smooth on one side and textured on the other. I chose a soft green. Other papers in my collection included Uzen and Kaga Chiri (Chiri is handmade from long kozo fibers with imbedments of small pieces of bark) and Chiyogami (a highly decorative silkscreened Japanese paper).  I also chose some tissue paper flowers and a tiny folding fan. My purchases were all rolled into a handy tube and we left with Mr. Morita's email address in our pockets. He assured me that if I forgot which papers were which, I could just email him and he would be happy to help.

Take a look at some of the paper art on dispay at Morita Wagami.

Want to win some of my stash? Keep an eye out for the next Funday Monday challenge at MAF for a chance to win the items below!

Show Me the Orange!

The warm tones of the autumn harvest provide an inspiring palette for our fall pages, but no color represents fall more to me than the color Orange. Join the Fall Festival Online Crop at MAF to enter this and many other challenges - there's lots of great chances to win prizes. Check below to see what you can win by entering the Show Me the Orange challenge.

Did you know that Orange is a power color, and it also stimulated enthusiasm and imagination?

The color Orange can:

• Spice things up when you feel time is dragging.
• Entice you to become more involved in something.
• Bring you relief when life becomes too serious.
• Increase your creativity!

There is no better time of year to use the color Orange. Show me your creativity! Show me the Orange!

(You must be registered on MAF to play and win. Go here to register now. This challenge ends Tuesday at midnight)

Look what you can win!

 An autographed copy of Mathew Bamberg’s newest book "101 Quick and Easy Secrets for Using Your Digital Photographs".

This book provides dozens of tips on photo editing, posting to blogs, creating scrapbooks and other crafts, selling photos, and much more.

I'm a Sketchy Thursdays Fave!

Have you discovered Sketchy Thursdays blog yet? Each Thursday Diana and Heidi put up a new sketch and you have one week to complete the sketch. You can upload your LO to any gallery you wish and then use Mr. Linky to point them to your creation. The sketches are simply the best and each time I use one my page just seems to fall together so easily! This week they chose my Karate LO as a Fave, but you really need to stop and by and see the other LOs. I am absolutely in love with the spider page by Silvana!

While you are there be sure to check out the new Sketchy Thursdays sketch for inspiration. I can't wait to see your interpretation!

It's Time to Play BINGO!

The online crop is getting ready to begin at MAF and we are kicking it off with a great game of BINGO! Check back this weekend for even more fun, but meanwhile, get started by playing along with out Bingo game. If you are not registered on Memories Always - Forever, click the link to take you there. You must be registered to win. Here's what you do:


- Chose 40 words from at MAF.

- Send your list (please include the #s for each word)  to our Design Team member Luisa  at lmorgan1966@hotmail.com by Friday 10/16
.
- First round of words will be posted on 8/17 at 8am at this DISCUSSION THREAD.

- Rounds will continue during Saturday and Sunday.

- Winner will have to call BINGO in the Discussion Thread as soon as they complete their 40 words.

- Luisa (your hostess) will validate the list and will announce the winner officially

Save the Date for an Exciting Online Crop!

Get ready for fun with Games! Challenges! and Make and Takes! at Memories Always Forever on

October 17 & 18. This is our first online crop and we are going all out to make it the best one ever!

Check out what we have in store for you:
Challenges:

• Sketch challenge
• Color Challenge
• Prompt Challenge
• Use Your Stash Challenge
• Recipe LO
• Bingo Card
• Plus some special challenges just for you cardmakers out there!

Games:

• Bingo
• Scavenger Hunt
• Word Scrambles

PLUS: Make and Take a Flower Tree and an Origami Box!

You must be registered at Memories Always Forever to play so hurry on over because we have prizes galore! Check back to find out more!

What's the Word?

Are you looking for a Groovy challenge site where you have the opportunity to win a great prize? Then check out If It's Groovy!

This month the challenge theme is to create a page using only One Word as the title. Each day that you log on you will be inspired by the many new projects. It's so easy to enter- simply email your submissions to groovydeb@yahoo.com or point her to your online gallery.  Enter as many times as you wish and if you like to take your time, that's fine- there is no rush! Your LO is due by October 31 at 11pm EST. 

Be sure to check in each day at If It's Groovy to get inspired and in the words of Groovy Deborah: 

Good luck! Enjoy.Create.Be. ♥

Happy Funday Monday!

This month’s Funday Monday challenge over at MAF is going to be a bit different. I am going to give you two themes, each theme lasting 2 weeks. You must complete both themes in order to win this great Season of Friendship stamp set and Crushed Curry ink pad from Stampin’ Up! donated by Windy Joell. So let’s get started!

Challenge 1: Stamp It Up! Use any kind of stamp you wish in any way you like. You can stamp your background to create patterned paper, stamp an embellishment, even create your own stamp from a potato- it is up to you. As long as there is a stamped image on your LO, you will be entered into the drawing for the prize. Be sure to put your layout in the Funday Monday gallery at MAF and tell us what stamp technique you used on your page. Enter as many times as you wish!

Challenge 1 ends on Oct 18.

Challenge 2: The Tree of Life begins on Oct 19. This time of year, trees are in all their glory and we just have to stop to admire their beauty. Let’s give trees a place of honor on our scrapbook pages. The second part of the October Funday Monday challenge is to use a tree in your LO. Any type of tree. Make your own, use a stamp or a sticker, create a family tree, take your photo sitting under a tree, hugging a tree, climbing a tree, planting a tree – whatever you like, just get creative! If you have played in Challenge 1 this month as well, you will be entered into a drawing to win this beautiful stamp set from Stampin’ Up! donated by Windy Joell. Challenge 2 ends November 1.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Windy’s website at www.windyjoell.stampinup.net for great deals as well as stamping and scrapbooking ideas!

Now onto our winner in the Funday Monday - Fur, Feathers & Fins challenge. Tami White entered this pretty page of her family pet. I love the colors, the patchwork and that great ribbon effect, don't you? Tami wins an RAK from me!

World Card Making Day

Memories Always- Forever is celebrating World Cardmaking Day in a big way! From Sept 30 through Oct 4 you have a chance to win $75+ in prizes. All you need to do is tell us here at MAF

"what inspires you the most when creating cards."

Post a picture of your most unique card creations. You have until noon October 4th to post your card and response. A winner will be chosen by most unique way you are inspired to create and announced October 5th. Good luck everyone!

Check out this great prize:

Mod Podge Rocks!

I'm featured today on Mod Podge Rocks! Amy, who loves to Mod Podge her projects, searches far and wide for uses for her favorite medium and comes up with the most amazing ideas from around the globe. Today she is featuring my Mod Podged fan flowers. I can't wait to see what uses she comes up with for these little pretties!

Check back with her, though, and learn to use Mod Podge in some very creative ways: redecorating ceiling fans, making over old furniture, creating your own jewelry and yes - getting ready for Christmas! It's right around the corner and once you check out Amy's blog, you'll be crafting right and left and shouting Mod Podge Rocks for all to hear!

Fur, Feathers and Fins for this week's Funday Monday challenge

It's time once again for the Funday Monday Challenge at MAF. This week's challenge is to create a page showcasing our family pets or highlighting a favorite animal to the zoo, aquarium or perhaps in your own backyard.

We all love animals. Whether we are observing tigers at the zoo or cuddling our cat on the living room sofa, we share a very special bond with our animal friends. Our pet’s unconditional love has been shown to have a positive effect on our overall health and well-being; watching a squirrel’s antics in the park can really make us laugh; and spotting a beautiful bird in a tree can give us a thrill.

Why not create a scrapbook page to preserve these animal memories? Simply upload your creation to MAF for a chance to win an RAK from me.

And now, check the slide below to see all the great submissions in last week's Funday Monday challenge where the challenge was to create a page using a texting shortcut. Congratulations to Jeanna for her GLG page for winning the challenge!

Come be a Guest Designer at MAF!

Come join the Expressions of Color Guest Designer Challenge at Memories Always - Forever . This challenge is going to a little different and will require us to sit and think awhile. You will have to create a page using one of these 3 ideas: sadness, anger, happiness. The task is to create a LO (and if you're feeling really daring, create a double page spread) expressing one of the above themes. We should be able to feel your mood through the creation. You can show your emotion through color, design, or the type of embellies you use -- it's up to you. You can not journal your feelings or thoughts anywhere on the LO, but you can have a single title that expresses your mood without actually using the actual theme your are doing.
One lucky winner will win a month of being a DT member at one of the funnest sites on the web. The challene ends on September 30th.
Good luck! 

Texting! 143!

We had some truly wonderful Top-10 pages in the last Funday Monday challenge and our winner was Jamelee Morano from the Phillipines. Her RAK is on the way!

So this week's Funday Monday challenge idea came to me from a challenge done at Making Memories For You and I thought it would be fun for us to do at MAF. I call it the Sign Language Challenge.

In today’s technology-based world, texting has become second nature to many of us. I Love You has been replaced with I “heart” U … “see you later” has become “C U L8R”.
I always use "143" to tell someone I love them, or "TTYL" for talk to you later. There are so many shortcuts to use when texting. What is your favorite?
For this challenge, replace one or more words in your title with a single letter, number, icon or graphic and upload it to your gallery at MAF. As usual, there is an RAK up for grabs!

I have a funny story to go with this challenge. My husband and I (married 28 years now) always leave each other little love notes. One day while I was out, my husband came home at lunch and decided to leave me a note. He wrote on our fridge in huge colorful letters 143 - I LOVE YOU. So of course when I came home I thought it was sweet but when I tried to wash it off the fridge, it would not come off! And this is not our fridge! We live in military housing and this is government property! My poor husband thought he had used erasable markers, but he had used permanent markers! We have tried every product imaginable to take off the marker and all we have managed to do is take the paint off the door. So the moral is, if you are going to text, do it on your cell phone or computer.




Do you have any funny texting stories? Leave me a comment here to be in a drawing for an additional RAK from me! Happy texting and TTYL!

Check out these great pages from the Funday Monday Reuse, Recyle challenge

Aren't these pages amazing? The Funday Monday challenge at MAF this week was to Reuse, Recyle, Repurpose and the entrants dug deep into their imaginations to create these pages using recycled packaging, magazine pages, pocket change and more! The ideas on these pages are sure to spark your imagination! It was so hard to choose a winner so I turned to random.org to choose my winner. Number 3 came up and the third person to enter was Tami White with her wonderful  page Worth Every Penny. She used the receipts from her vacation to show just how much she had enjoyed herself. Well done Tami! PM me your address and I'll send you an RAK!

Be sure to check back here to see what next week's challenge will be.

Embellies On a Budget

Sometimes, I just don't have the right embellishments to finish off my page, so instead of going shopping, I turn to creating my own. It is amazing how far a few items already on hand can go to lend an elegance to a very simple page. I began with a Sketchy Thursday design for my page. Diana always has the most wonderful sketches to jump-start my creativity. 

The sketch included a flourish, but I did not have one in my stash to match my page. A Bo Bunny flourish sticker worked out perfectly after it was inked with a gold Adirondack Dabber. The alphas were also the wrong the color for my page, so I used the Dabber to give them a nice textural gold color also.

I was further inspired by this wonderful die cut peek-a-boo paper by We R Memory Keepers to create a pinwheel flower to embellish my LO. All I needed was a few small scraps of paper and a brad and my pinwheel made the perfect accent for my page.

If you would like to add a pinwheel to one of your pages, simply follow the tutorial below.

First, gather some supplies. You will need a paper trimmer, some scraps, a small flower punch, some ink and a brad.

Cut two squares of paper with your paper trimmer. I used 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares. Whatever size square you use, take note that the finished pin wheel will be about double the size when complete. Next, cut each square on the diagonal, so that you now have 4 triangles.

Now, following the picture here, take one edge of each triangle and fold it up so that the edges meet. Once you have done that to all four triangles, ink the edges for some dimension.

Take your paper piercer and stick it through the center of your punched flower, then through the edge of your triangle where the two edges meet. Put all four triangles onto the paper piercer in this manner. Then pull out the paper piercer and insert your brad.

And there you have it- your completed pinwheel ready to be added to your scrapbook page. Experiment by using different size squares and double-sided patterened papers. Before long, you will use up all your stash and you didn't have to go out and buy anything extra! If you use this tutorial, I would love to see what you make. Leave me a comment and a link because I would love to take a look!

Another Funday Monday challenge and A Winner!

This week's Funday Monday Challenge at Memories Always- Forever is to Reuse/Recycle/Repurpose
On this Omedeto (congratulations) page I repurposed two peices of packaging from Prima. On the first one, you can see that I used the piece of packaging as is. I love the color of the packaging that Prima flowers come on, so I simply slipped it behind my photo and used the area peeking out as my journaling card.

The second peice of packaging is also from Prima, but was the band used to hold the Sew Cute patterened paper. This band served as the product label and had a lot of writing on it, so I chose to paint it. Once dry, I punched holes and strung my Tim Holtz framents on a chain laced through the packaging.

The final picture is a detail of the tissue-paper flower, made simply by cutting 2 sizes of circles, layering them, inking them and snipping along the edges for a ruffled effect. The flower stem is made with a beautiful Zva Creative crystal flourish. The page was created from a sketch at Let's Scrap.

For the Curlz page (created with a Sketchy Thursday sketch) I inserted my grandson's lock of hair inside a peice of packaging from Me & My Big Ideas rhinestones. The package is clear and kind of raised, so it made a perfect place to stash something. It's sealed shut with the washi tape.

There are so many ways to Reuse/Recycle/Repurpose while scrapbooking. Give it a try and you could win a prize from me. Simply upload your LO to the Funday Monday challenge at MAF. The contest runs Sept 7 - Sept 13.

And now for our winner of last week's Funday Monday In the Garden challenge: Pat Bishop's beautiful LO showcased her granddaughter with this pretty bloom-filled page! Congratulations Pat. PM me your addy and I'll send you the prize of bling including a pack of gorgeous Zva Creative crystals!

Funday Monday Entries

Look at all the beautiful entries in this week's Funday Monday challenge at MAF!
There's still time to enter. You have until 11:45 pm EST on Sunday, Sept 6. All you need to do is make a page with some flowers and post the page to MAF for a chance to win some bling from me.
On Monday, look for a new Funday Monday challenge and a chance to win another great prize.