Challenge #107 - Be a Square! {May 25 - June 7}

This challenge is based on square numbers:

• 1 squared = 1 (one photo)
• 2 squared = 4 (2 manufacturers' papers; 2 patterns from each)
• 3 squared = 9 (3 word title; 3 types of lettering)
• 4 squared = 16 (16 embellishments)
• 5 squared = 25 (25 words in your journaling)
  

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge! Link your layout to the thread posted at The Pub at Two Peas.

Debbi T:

{coming later--my computer died and I just got a new computer, so I've been sort of paralyzed without it}

Paula:
This was a tough challenge! It made me approach my layout design in a completely different way.

{removed for publication}

Elizabeth: I wasn't really planning to do a layout about this picture, but it seemed to fit the bill. I also didn't plan to use that for a title, but after I put the 'hair' on the layout, I found the 'adventure' rubon that just coordinated so nicely in the spot that I had to change my original title, which was a little more creative than the current one. :P I used Basic Grey and Scenic Route paper, along with lots of Maya Road rubons (love those!) and American Crafts letters.

Michelle's "A Pink Bike?": This took some real thinking for me. But it all just came together perfectly for me. :) 1 photo. Basic Grey striped and wavy pattern paper. Luxe journaling and pink background pattern paper. 3 word title. I used Doodlebug rub on letters, American Crafts vinyl letters, and one chipboard letter i. I used 16 embellishments - 15 blings and 1 rubon. And exactly 25 words in the journaling. :)

HMITM 106 ~ TWINS {May 11-24}

Welcome to another challenge geared to using up your stash...

My sister-in-law just gave birth to twin baby girls last week, so in honour of their arrival, create a layout using...

2 colours of cardstock

2 patterned papers

2 pictures

2 chipboard

2 stamps

2 flowers

Post your layout to the link on 2peas, can't wait to see what you create...



Elizabeth: I haven't been scrapbooking everyday like I used to, so I love the challenges I am involved in because it keeps me chugging along in my albums. I wanted to do a layout about our son's eating habits and even though these pictures are not necessarily current, nor are they all about eating, I still made them work for my layout theme. And even got the flower theme in there to boot!

Michelle:  This was the perfect challenge for me.  I already had these 2 photos printed out because I wanted to show how we had snow on Monday and then Warm sunshine on Saturday all in the same week.  hahaha.   I used some 2 "Christmasy" pattern paper from October Afternoon:  snowflakes and the flowery paper.  I am not a big stamp user, so you will have to look close to see my stamps (date stamp, and little bitty flower stamp in the indside of the  Prima flowers).  And I used 2 chipboard photo corners to point to the photos.  

Debi:

Challenge #105 - Working 9-5 {April 27 - May 10}

Recently, I went back to work full time.

So to celebrate, the challenge is called "Working 9 to 5"

You must use at least:

• 9 words in your journaling
  


• 8 brads
  


• 7 letter stickers
  

• 6 pieces of pattern paper and
  


• 5 photos
  

Hope you play along. Post a link to your layout here at the 2peas Pub.

Michelle: Five photos was just the kick I needed to go ahead and document a part of our spring break trip to Florida. I for sure used more than 9 words and 7 letter stickers. I used exactly 8 brads (one is a heart brad dotting the letter i in the title) and 6 pieces of pattern paper.

Elizabeth: I loved this combination of items this week, 5 photos was perfect for these snapshots of my son losing his first tooth. It was easy to use up scraps of patterned paper by matting each photo with a different paper. And which one of my layouts do NOT include letter stickers :P

Debbi T:

Okay, so I'm the cheater this week. I couldn't seem to find 5 photos to go together, so I used the same photo 5 times for this layout that's going into my book of silly family photos. That's my nephew in a Snuggie watching a 3-D movie. I did adhere to the rest of the rules, though (well, if you count the author of the quote as the ninth word in my journaling)! I was in a little time crunch this weekend, so I combined this challenge with Color Combos Galore.

Paula:

I went for *exactly* the specified amount of everything :) I used a digital frame for my 5 photos. The "Sunday" is a digital brush that I printed out. I guess I did kind of cheat with the title - I use chipboard letter stickers but I figured they were letters and they stick so that counts - right? ;)

Challenge #104 - Guest Designer Lisa Carroll {April 13 - April 26}

We are so pleased to have Lisa Carroll be our guest designer. She participates in the challenges almost every single time...even in her busy world as a CPA.

She gave us this challenge:

5+5+5 =

• 5 unopened packages of embellies



• 5 scraps of patterned paper



• List 5 (topic should be about a list of 5 things)

Post a link to your layout here at the 2Peas Pub.

And here is Lisa's layout:

Elizabeth: So fun to have Lisa create a challenge for us this time, I loved her idea of picking from embellishments not yet opened, what a great idea! It certainly got me searching through my stash. I am happy to report that I did not have too many unopened packages so that must be a good sign ;) Here is my layout...

Debbi T:

This was a great challenge for me! I have so many unopened packages. I had this stray picture of me in my car and thought it would be fun to do my top 5 list of reasons I love my car. Most of the paper scraps were ones I had sitting on my desk, waiting to be put away. I hate to throw anything away! Thanks for the fun challenge, Lisa!

Challenge 103 ~ IN FULL BLOOM {March 30 - April 12}

For our new challenge we will be IN FULL BLOOM!!! Since spring has officially started we are going to put some spring on our layout this week!!! That's right...break out the flowers, the felt, the fabric, the chipboard, the acrylic, the brads.....maybe even a few handmade:)

Show everyone how much is too much:)

Looking forward to see all the beautiful flowers!

Debi:
This layout was FUN to do. I been wanting to try to use my SLICE to make a design on a page & finally tried it!! It was easier than I thought! I made the flowers to the right, too!!

Debbi T:

I wanted to go with some spring flowers, but they weren't working for this photo of my silly cat, who I caught sneaking into the cabinet. That's what happens whenever I leave a door open. I used a bunch of Creative Cafe flowers that I've had in my stash forever. I ran a pen along the edges for definition and then layered some of them, mounting some with pop dots.

And, can I sneak in this one that I made last week?

Michelle: With 2 little boys, I don't use flowers too much. But I do love sneaking in some flowers every once in a while. The American Crafts pattern paper has flowers all over it. And I added one little extra Making Memories velvet flower brad.

Elizabeth: this layout is almost too simple for me to put on here, but I wanted to make a layout for my 7x7 album of this hummingbird picture and thought I would decorate it with lots of different flowers. This was a great challenge for me because I got rummaging through all my old stash and used that honking red flower which has been around forever!

Challenge # 102

Let's go green! In honour of St. Patrick's Day tomorrow your challenge is to use 17 green items on your layout. It doesn't have to be a St. Paddy's Day page, any topic works!!

Don't forget to link us up to your layout in the thread on The Pub by March 29th!

Francine

I went with an environmental theme for this one! It didn't start out that way but ended up being monochromatic.

Michelle: Between the circles added to the green dots and the title letters, I used 17 pieces of green Thickers glittery chipboard.

Paula:

I didn't want to be overwhelmed by green (even though it IS my favorite color!) so I used patterned paper that had bits of green in it. This layout was inspired by my desire to use the American Crafts shaped animals!!


Elizabeth: I absolutely LOVE green and use it on almost every layout. I ended up doing a monochromatic layout. There is more journaling behind the journaling block...

Debi: This challenge was perfect for me! I had these GREAT pictures from last year & I have been wanting them scrapped...

Challenge #101 - "The Whole Kit & Caboodle" {March 2 - March 15}

If you subscribe to kits, then this is the challenge for you! All too often, I get my kit in the mail, open it like it's Christmas, admire it and envision all the layouts I'll create, put it in it's special file that I use for all my kits, and then... the month flies by and another kit arrives and I haven't done anything with with the previous one!

Well this month, I'm challenging you to dig out a kit you haven't used and create a layout using as many items from that kit as you can fit on your page. If you don't subscribe to kits, feel free to play along by creating your own kit. Be sure to share your creation on the thread posted at Two Peas.

Debbi T:

A couple of summers ago, I created a "cheesecake" album for my Gram's 87th birthday, using a bunch of sassy photos of her taken over the years. I loved these pictures so much that I decided to create an album for me.

I decided to go a little wild on this page. I used the December 2008 Scarlet Lime kit that was full of bold colors and patterns. Since I scrap 8 x 8, I don't often get to play with all those fun die-cut papers, so I made my own by tracing a Making Memories paper and cutting it out. I supplemented the kit with some letter stickers from my stash and a stamp from another kit by Studio Calico.



Michelle:

My LSS closed over a year ago. But the owner now has a partner and they have monthly kits. Paper Playground. I have been sick lately so I haven't had a chance to play with the February kit. But this weekend I went to a crop with some of the fun girls from this LSS and I created 2 layouts with the kit.

This layout is about these hangers my grandma makes. My husband thought I was a dork taking these photos. But I don't care. :) I thought the trim was a perfect touch here as it reminds me of the hangers.

Paula:
I used the March kit from Kraft Girl kits. The kit came with a Jenni Bowlin mini-album and I used a little of nearly everything in the kit to finish it!

Elizabeth: I actually do not subscribe to any kits, but I thought I would share a recent layout anyways. :P I used the templates from scrapbooksetc site (totally in love with those!) and this came together very easily.

Debi:

I usually don't buy any kits, but last Septmeber when we (me, Paula & Suzy) went to Scrap Pink in Colorado I decided to get a kit from Studio Calico to help with decision of what to bring to scrap with. Well, needless to say I just opened the packages & cut the paper for the first time last night!

Challenge #100

Can you believe we are at our 100th challenge?!??!

I feel the burden to really make this a cool challenge. yikes!

(I have to credit Debbi with the idea, thanks Debbi!) Here it is...

A picture paints 100 words

Use one picture and over 100 words incorporating letter stickers and/or rubons into your journaling.


Elizabeth: I have been meaning to do a layout updating our baby's development and this was just the push I needed. I incorporated shimmer dots throughout the journaling...

Michelle: Well....page one of this layout has one picture. I used over 100 words in my journaling. I have (had) these perfect Making Memories wordfetti stickers all planned out to go within my journaling...but I lost them in my scrap mess this weekend. Arghs. So I had to make my own sticker....I printed the journaling twice, once on the light blue cardstock and once on white and cut out the words. I also added some rubon snowflakes within the journaling.


Here is the 2-page spread:

Debbi T:

This was by far the most challenging challenge I've ever done--even more challenging than Marci's use 100 things! I almost didn't post this because i don't love the way it looks, but after fussing with it all day, changing the background paper a gazillion times, I finally decided I had to finish it. I used painted the chipboard letters and then coated them Glossy Accents to make them shiny to go with the journaling, which was printed on glossy photo paper. I realize the picture has nothing to do with my story, LOL, but it's one of the few photos I have around the time period I wrote about.



Debi:
Definitely a challenge! My journaling ended up being MUCH more than 100 words.



Have fun with it! Post your layout to the thread on 2peas http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2753065 and be inspired by all the creativity out there!

Challenge # 99: We're going to party like it's 1999!

For challenge# 99 we are going to party like it's 1999 (showing my age here):

Create a party on your layout by use products from 19 different manufacturers! Really, it's not going to be as difficult as you think - if you use a stamp and ink from two different manufacturers then count both of them, don't forget brads, staples, floss - try to find items made by different manufacturers. It's fun, I promise! I kept a running list beside me when I added a new product to the page - that way I could keep track of what I had used.

When you are done, don't forget to post a link to your layout on the HMITM thread in the pub.

Paula:

My dh tells me this should say three Amigas but this will work - right? I used papers from 12 different manufacturers - it was fun digging through my scraps for this one.

Debbi T:

We were having a yard sale, and at the end of the day, we discovered my sister had a 75 cent sticker stuck right next to her crotch. My prim and proper sister wouldn't let me take a photo of exactly where it was--she moved it to a less naughty spot for this picture!

I had fun digging through my stash, too, and I was really glad to use some old letter stickers from my overgrown stash.



Francine:

This is one of my favourite quotations and I took this photo back in May with the idea to do a scrapbook page about it.


This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, in fact once I got going I had a hard time limiting myself to only 19! I started out with 12 patterned paper companies, and used my Slice to cut the scalloped frames from scraps.

Michelle: Well unlike the other girls....even after I moaned and groaned....this was still so so so hard for me. But I did it. And I really dug deep into my stash for this one. So it does feel good....

Debi:

Okay, so after MUCH complaining (mostly just to Paula) about this challenge it truly wasn't as bad as I thought! Once you get started it was fun. I just kept going to different areas in my scrap room to look for other manufactures. I have to say I was more than a little shocked when I didn't even use 1 Heidi Swapp product.... shocking !!!

Challenge #98 January 19 - February 1

Seeing Stars

I know I have a ton of star stuff: pattern papers, brads, eyelets, punches, stickers, die cuts, felt.....

• Use at least 10 star items



• And since you really should shine once in a while in your scrapbooks, the layouts needs to have at least one photo of you.

Paula:
I didn't want the layout to be overwhelmed by stars (maybe I didn't succeed!) so I chose a more subtle star background. Most of my star embellishements are either transparent or tucked behind my photo. I went along with the whole "star" theme and based my subject matter on that also!

Michelle: This challenge made me realize that I do not have very many photos with me in them. I really should be better about that this year. So I finally got my photos scrapped from our visit to Chicago last summer. A 2-page spread featuring some of our favorites.

Elizabeth: I loved this challenge because it really sent me searching through my stash to find fun star embellishments. Here I used reminisence paper (non-traditional colours for a Christmas layout, but I thought it would be a neat change from the ordinary), American Crafts rubons (white centers on paper stars), KI Memories jewels, Kaiser gems. The stars are endless!

Joy: I love stars! I haven't used them for awhile as a motiff. I used 10 different types of star "stuff." The story is one that I have had in my head for 12 years. I guess it was time to get in down onto a scrapbook page!

Debbi T:

Okay, I am so late finishing this layout! I had started making a page, and then I realized I forgot about the "use a picture of yourself" part of the challenge. So then I had a whole other layout in mind, but then I decided to go with vegetables instead of stars (don't ask). So here's what I made instead. I sort of cheated. I have two chipboard stars, two pieces of patterned paper that have a star shape, a star in the title, a star on the journaling block, and the strip of stars, which has more than 10, for sure, but I think that's cheating because it's just one strip. I struggled and struggled to put more stars on here, but I couldn't make it work!

Debi:

FUN challenge :)

This is actually my second layout.... the first just didn't make me smile... too busy!

I decided to trace & cut out the stars from a used chipboard star, I like this one much better, even with all the "white" space.

Challenge #97 {January 5 - January 18}

***Here is the link to the thread in the Pub over at 2 Peas
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2720397



9 for '09

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the first challenge of 2009.

And to celebrate '09 we are going CRAZY for circles!
That's right... our new challenge is to use 9 circles on a layout.

Be sure to post your creation over at 2Peas in the Pub :)


Debi:

Had a lot of fun with all these circles, especially embellishing them!


Debbi T:

This was a really fun challenge! In retrospect, I wish I had used a different photo--I think I overwhelmed it with all the vibrant circles, but it sure was fun! I'm not sure if you can tell from the scan, but I used paint for the Heidi Swapp letters and the rim of the chipboard circle and then coated them with Ranger's Glossy Accents, which makes them super glossy, and I also put the Glossy Accents on the monsters' eyes, which makes them really shiny and look like googly eyes.

I'm making a book for my husband, Farzad, for his birthday using his childhood photos, and I plan to ask him to tell me stories after I give him the book and record them on the back. For this page, I will ask him what fears he had as a kid and/or what things made him sad. (Note: "jun" is a term of endearment in Farci--it means "sweetie" or "dear.")




Paula:



I went with 9 circular photos! Not as challenging as it might seem because I actually used a digital photo cluster frame (Photo Clusters No 06) - for more details you can check out my blog!

Michelle:

I got out my little mini circle puncher and punched out 9 circles. I feel this helps balance the layout. To read the journaling, you can check out my blog!

joy:

I love circles...its one of my "go to" design features. I love the quilted type look too with all different interesting patterned paper. I thought this helped accentuate the "cwazy" ness of my photo and journaling. The black line is just there for viewing purposes!

Elizabeth:

I have been very practical when creating layouts lately, using lots of pictures and minimal embellishments. Photo collages are the easiest way for me to display lots of photos without it looking too busy. The circle challenge was perfect for this layout because it added the right amount of colour and interest, while also drawing attention to the journaling at the bottom of the layout.

And more to come soon......

Challenge #96

Our last challenge of the year!

Since #96 is the last challenge of 2008:

Use the last (latest) photo you’ve taken in 2008
Use 9 embellishments
Use 6 bits or pieces of patterned paper

Post a link to your layout on HMITM thread at the 2Peas Pub by January 5 for a chance at a RAK.

Michelle:

Debbi T:


Francine:


Paula:

Debi: