ScrapLounge

I HAVE A CONFESSION....

....I am addicted to ATCs...!!!!

And just what IS an ATC I hear you ask...???
ATCs - or Artist Trading Cards - are small, 3.5"x 2.5" themed and numbered pieces of artwork traded between artists.
They can be created using any medium - paper, cloth, mixed media....anything goes really.
On the back you include your name, your email address or website addy, the group they are bing produced for, the theme and also the number, i.e. 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc

I have quite a collection at home, stored in a folder in plastic sleeves that my boys used to keep their Pokemon and cricket cards in.
I quite often look through my folder, recalling the friends I have traded with and marvelling at how intricate and artistic some of my cards are.
I am currently waiting on 2 swaps to arrive back that I am - the themes are "Little Boy Blue" and "Witches" so two varied themes from the two groups.

I also enjoy swapping ATCs when I go to retreats - it helps me remember the people I was on retreat with and they allow me to take a small piece of that person's artistic talent home with me.

On The Lounge, we run a monthly ATC Club
There are only three people in each group (a very "do-able" number) and each month the theme changes.
Here are the first three months of ATCs from our ATC Club.

 - Row 1: Friendship
Cards by Shazz (me), Crece and Julie
- Row 2: Christmas
ATCs by Shazz (me), Natasha and Tracey
- Row 3: Summer
ATCs by Shazz (me), Kym and Storm

If you would like to join in, sign-up for each month starts on the first of the month and then you have until the 21st of the month to create your ATCs and post them to the people in your group.
So....will you be joining us in this fun and creative addiction...???
I hope so.

~Shazz and the Team~
xo

NEED A CARD FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL...???

Hello and welcome to a new area on The Lounge....
"CARD-SPIRATIONS"

Let's face it.....we all need to send cards.
Whether it be for a birthday, a wedding, the birth of a baby, the passing of a loved one, to thank someone for their kindness or just to say "Hello...I am thinking of you"

I also have a blog for "Heart Cards" which is where, when the need arises, I ask for paper crafters to donate cards for various appeals - we donated just on 1000 cards to communities affected by the Victorian bushfires in 2009; we also donated 1000 cards to those affected by the floods in Queensland and Victoria in 2011 and we are currently supplying thank you cards to Harrison's Little Wings charity to be handed to families grieving the loss of a child.

I, for one, struggle with the whole card making thing while other friends just seem to make the most gorgeous cards.
Please visit Linda's blog to be totally inspired.
And then grab a coffee and head over to Ruthy's blog for some more eye candy.

So I came up with the idea of "Card-Spirations" for The Lounge.
A fortnightly inspiration/challenge to get us all scrapping cards to give away.

I am planning to create a few cards each fortnight to build up my stash of cards and hopefully to have enough to give a box of cards each, along with some postage stamps, to "The Mums" (my Mum, my step-Mum and Mark's Mum) for Mother's Day this year as a gift so they have cards on hand when they need them.

Our first Card-Spiration was posted last week by our lovely CT member, Crece.
She chose a sketch to get us all creating.....

And here is her gorgeous example.....

A very cute example, I am sure you will agree.

I hope that our Card-Spiration challenges get you creating handmade cards to give to your family and friends.
Please share your creations with us in The Lounge gallery

Wishing you a happy, scrappy Monday
~Shazz and the Team~
xo

March News

Hello...!!!
This month's theme is "The Men In My Life" - it's time to celebrate all the fellas in our lives - our husbands, our sons, our partners, our Dad's, our Grandads.

Let's have a look at the challenges for March.

This month's sketch was created by Creative Team member, Storm.

I can't wait to see how everyone interprets this sketch.
You can see what the Creative Team did with it here
Once you have scrapped a layout using the sketch for inspiration, you can upload your project here by midnight, March 31 to be in the running for a great prize pack.

 

The Creative Team were sponsored this month by the lovely ladies at
"Fancy That Scrapbooking"

The technique challenge was to create a project using either printing or stamping or maybe a combination of both.
There are so many stamps on the market that are suited to not only card making but scrapping also - maybe take a look through your stash and see what you have to use on a project.
And there aren't many objects in your home that you can't use to create a print on your work - drinking glasses, forks, bubble wrap, Lego blocks and even something like this
You are only limited by your imagination.
Can you pick the stamping and printing that the Creative Team girls have done on their projects for this month...???
Upload your project here by midnight, March 31 to be in the running for a great prize pack.

If you hurry you can still register for our monthly ATC Club.
* REGISTRATION CLOSES MIDNIGHT, MARCH 7 *
It involves making just 3 ATCs - one for yourself and two to swap with others in your group.
ATCs are a great way to swap art with other artists.
This month's theme is "Little Boy Blue"

Our cybercrop will be held this month on March 6 - 19
I hope you can join us for a weekend of fun and creating.

We also have places left for our first ever ScrapLounge retreat
If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible.

Wishing you all a happy, scrappy Wednesday

Shazz and the Team
~xo~

 

NOVEMBER TECHNIQUE CHALLENGE

This month's technique is the fun technique of "masking"
Masking is the opposite of stamping.
Grab your paints, inks, glimmer mist, etc; something to use as a mask (either store bought or home made - that's where the fun part comes in) and then you simply cover the area with the mask that you don't want painted, stamped or misted.
The range of masks on the market is huge and what you can find in your stash to use as a mask is really only limited by your imagination.

The Creative Team busied themselves with the packs provided by this month's sponsor
ScrapFriends

and grabbed their paints, mists and inks and this is what they came up with.

Kym

Louise

Louise


Jody

Close Up of Jody's Mask using Chicken Wire

So what can you find that is interesting and innovative to use as a mask...???
We would love to see your project.
Upload it into the gallery and be in the running for a prize pack or voucher at the end of the month.

HAPPY SCRAPPING
~Shazz and the Team~
xo

 

NOVEMBER SKETCH CHALLENGE

Hello and welcome to November on The Lounge.
It's hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner.....I swear we only took our tree down a few months ago.

This month the CT sponsor packs were supplied by one of our newest advertisers, ScrapFriends

Angel has such a gorgeous range of flowers for sale along with so many other gorgeous products.
You really need to pop over and check out the site.
And The Lounge girls who have placed orders with ScrapFriends have been mightily impressed with the customer service.

This month we also welcome the amazing Louise Nelson to The Lounge as our guest Creative Team member.
It's no secret that I just LOVE Lou's unique and inspirational style and the examples that she has created are just stunning.
Thanks Lou for being a part of The Lounge team this month.

SKETCH CHALLENGE
This month's sketch was designed by CT member, Kym

And is how the team interpreted the sketch......

Jody

Kym



Louise

You can upload your interpretation of the sketch here by midnight (NSW time), November 30 to be in the running for a prize pack or voucher.
We would love to see how you interpret the sketch

HAPPY SCRAPPING

~Shazz and the Team~
xo

"BE INSPIRED" - September 1

For those of you who haven't been over to The Lounge in a while we have had a new fortnightly challenge happening for a while now.
On the 1st and 15th of each month a new inspiration is uploaded.

Our lovely Creative Team member, Jody (aka "scrappyjo"), has been finding the most gorgeous inspirational prompts for us each fortnight and asking us to scrap a LO/card/OTP based on what inspires us from that fortnight's prompt.
This fortnight's is no exception.....

(click on the image to enlarge it)

Isn't it just a gorgeous photo...???
Makes me think of summer and the beach and I love the little lace bag.
And that red definitely gives it the "wow" factor.

So if you would like to enter the draw for a RAK of goodies from Jody, all you need to do is scrap a layout, a card or an OTP and upload it to The Lounge gallery by midnight, September 14.
We can't wait to see what you come up with.

Wishing all the Dads, step-Dads, Grandads, uncles, brothers, sons, out there a very happy Father's Day.

And a happy, scrappy Sunday to the wonderful women behind these wonderful guys.

~shazz~
xo

IS THERE ANYBODY STILL OUT THERE...???

Hello...???
Is there anybody still visiting our poor negelected blog.
Life gets so busy sometimes.....things get put on the back burner and our poor blog was a casualty of my busy life.

Hopefully this is the first of regular blog posts to keep you up-to-date on things happening on The Lounge - and there are some BIG things happening in the coming months.....
STAY TUNED...!!!!

This month's sketch challenge was designed by our wonderful Creative Team member, Miss Danie.

I just LOVE this sketch....it's so versatile and you can move the elements around the page and still be "true" to the sketch.
Here is how our Creative Team and our guest CT member, Mel McKenzie interpreted the sketch.

 
Danie's Example

Jody's Example

Kym's Example

Mel's Example

Aren't they all just stunning...???
All the girls used elements from kits they received from this month's Creative Team sponsor, My2Angels



Tracy sent the girls each one of her newly launched "Embellish Me Kits" which you can subscribe to each month.
These kits are chock-o-block full of embellie-goodness and sell out quickly.
And they are fantastic value for money.
Let's face it girls.....one can NEVER have too many embellies in their stash now can they....???

The girls also had to scrap a LO using the technique, "Paper Tearing and Scrunching"
I am sure this is THE perfect technique to do after a frustrating day dealing with grumpy little ones, husbands and partners and demanding bosses...LOL

Here are the LOs that the girls designed using this technique.

Mel's Example

Kym's Example


Jody's Example

Danie's Example

All the girls used embellishments from the kits provided by My2Angels on their technique LOs.

So....why not give one of our monthly challneges a go....???
Upload your interpretation of the sketch or an example of the technique of paper tearing and scrunching, into our gallery by midnight, September 30 and you could win yourself a prize pack valued at $15.00.
You can scrap a LO, a card or an OTP.
Go on....be adventurous.

Wishing you all a very happy, scrappy start to Spring

~shazz~
xo

 

FEBRUARY ON "THE LOUNGE"

Hello everyone and welcome February on The Lounge.

Well what a month or so it has been......from the devastating floods in QLD and Victoria to the bushfires in WA and this week the destruction left behind in the wake of Cyclone Yasi and a heatwave in certain parts of the East Coast....Australia certainly is a land of extremes.
There have been so many appeals set up to help those that have been affected by these natural disasters.
I hope if you have been unaffected by these disasters you have been able to help out in some way through one of the appeals.
The Lounge is supporting the "HEART CARDS" appeal - and many of you have already contributed.
You can get more information and updates on the "Heart Cards" appeal here

We have a busy month ahead on The Lounge.
Hope you get the chance to pop by and say hello and maybe join in some of the fun.

This month's challenges are well underway.
And the Creative Team - Ann, Danie, Jody and Kym have done some simply gorgeous examples using a product pack provided by me.

This month's sketch was designed by CT member Kym

And here are the girls examples - both layouts and a card.

Danie

Jody

Kym

and finally the card Ann created based on Kym's sketch.....

Aren't they all simply gorgeous....???
You can see what our Lounge Ladies have come up with using Kym's sketch as inspiration here
All entries in the sketch challenge this month are in the running for $15.00 voucher from our newest sponsor, Chocollo Cards and Crafts

This month's technique is stamping and embossing.
And here are the examples that our Creative Team have come up with.....

Jody

A very cute little card designed by Danie.
We will have a "how-to" up here on the blog in the next few days.

Kym

Ann

Another lot of stunning examples from our very talented Creative Team.
You can see what our Lounge Ladies did with their examples here
And again, our wonderful new sponsor, Chocollo Cards and Crafts, is providing a $15.00 voucher for this challenge so why not upload an entry to the gallery...???

This month's cybercrop will take place from Friday midday, February 11 to Monday midnight, February 14 and I feel that there may be some LOVE in the air this month....LOL
Keep and eye out here for some clues from the Creative Team in the days leading up to the CC - they are always such a tease with them.

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend and that wherever you are in this beautiful country of ours that the weather is being good to you.

Have a happy, scrappy weekend
~shazz~
xo

MONTHLY CHALLENGES - January 2010

I know it's a bit late in the month to be posting up the monthly challenges but better late than never, isn't that what they always say...???

I am sure you will agree we have some pretty cool challenges set by the amazing CT this month.

MONTHLY SKETCH

Designed by our lovely CT member, Jody (scrappyjo)

And here are the CT's takes on the sketch

Jody ("scrappyjo")

Lizzy

Kym

You can see how other Lounge members have interpreted the sketch and upload your LO here

TECHNIQUE CHALLENGE

The monthly technique challenge is to....
"Create a layout which includes some Handmade Flowers (more than one!).
Your flowers can be made from paper, material, felt, buttons - whatever you like but they must be handmade!"

Here are some gorgeous examples of LOs using handmade flowers by the CT

Kym - her flowers were made by curling punched flowers

Kym - Kym made her flowers using felt

Lizzy - her flowers were made using buttons

Lizzy - these flowers were made by pleating the paper

Jody - her flowers were made using felt shapes and brads

Jody - Jody has used "lollypop flowers" on this LO

Some of The Lounge girls have posted instructions on how they created their flowers
here
here
here
and here

Lots of fun creating there.
You can upload your LOs with your gorgeous handmade flowers to this gallery.

MONTHLY PRODUCT CHALLENGE
sponsored this month by the lovely Jody at
"Stick 'n' Giggle"

The aim of the challenge is this......

"The Product Pack will need to be purchased from the sponsor for the month - January is STICK 'N' GIGGLE!!!! When you purchase and receive your Product Challenge Pack you will need to create a masterpiece using ONLY the contents of the pack, 1 x sheet of cardstock and 1 x sheet of patterned paper! Pop over to: http://stickngiggle.blogspot.com now to purchase your product challenge pack!

In addition to the contents of the pack: inking and stamping can be used, glimmermist is acceptable and alphas can be used for the title.

Jody has a few packs left (I think)

This is Jody's gorgeous LO using the pack

You can see what the ladies who are taking part have done with their packs here

So there you have it....LOTS of challenges and inspiration to keep you motivated and creating right up until the end of January.

Wishing you all a very happy, scrappy Thursday

~shazz~
xo

December Challenges

Greetings Scrap Friends!

It is Jodi here, filling in for the ever-lovely Miss Shazz who has taken ill! All of us on the lounge wish Miss Shazz a very speedy recovery and we all hope she is fighting fit and back in the lounge ASAP! It sure is quiet in there without you Shazz!

The last month of the year is here and in between trimming the tree, cooking up a storm, dealing with your family and braving the crowds at your local shopping centre - do you have time to scrap??

Of course you do, there is ALWAYS time to squeeze in a creative therapy and if your mojo needs a kick along, here are this month's challenges:

A gorgeous sketch designed by Kym, you can see the creative team's interpretations of Kym's sketch here!

The monthly challenge is distinctly Christmas themed, but with a twist, you need to:

• create a page with a photo of no people.....
• use the words "Naughty and Nice" on your layout
• do not use any reds or greens

WOW - that is a challenge!

Good luck and just in case you need a bit of inspiration, here is what the creative team came up with!

You've got until December 31st to load your creations to the gallery, so clear your desk and get scrapping!

Wishing you happy CREATIVE thoughts!

Hugs - {Jodi} xx