Scrapbook & Cards Today Blog

Surprise giveaway and celebration!

Happy Thursday everyone!  We have a very special giveaway Thursday for you and a celebration of another sort.  Today we are celebrating our Editor, Becky Fleck, and her her brand new project with Penny Black stamps!  A talented one that Becky Fleck is!  Here she is to tell you a little about it....

"Okay, so the cat is out of the bag! :) I am so happy to have joined the creative family at Penny Black stamps. They have embraced my quirky style and are some of the kindest people I've ever worked with. It was a mad dash to release these six stamp sets at CHA Winter this month, but they made it happen (thank you Shaida!), and here they are...

 

And here are few cards that the talented Julie Koerber did with them...

And a sweet one by Jill Foster...

Aren't they all so lovely!  From all the team at SCT "congrats" Becky!  Now for the giveaway.  If you would like to have not one but two of these stamps in your hot little hands to create with, just leave a comment below!  The winner get's to choose!  Oh, the choices!  This giveaway will close next Thursday at 6:00 p.m.  Good luck!  

If you want to send Becky a "thank you" feel free to do that on her PageMaps facebook page here.  She would love it  :)    (actually she will be embarrassed as heck...lol...but do it anyways!)

With all our love Becky! xoxoxo  

 ~ Catherine

(pssst....would you like another chance to win some of these stamps?  Becky has a giveaway on her blog too right here!)

 

A great Silhouette tip with Christa!

Good morning and happy Wednesday SCT friends!  Have you had a good week so far?  We sure have!  Today we have our new (and fabulous) design team member Christa Paustenbaugh joining us with a great tip using her Silhouette!

“I’m back today and we’re going to take a look at taking those punch outs from the card on Monday to the next level.  On Monday I used an Anywhere punch to create punches in the middle of paper and today I’m getting out my Silhouette to make a series of cuts with the same effect.  I chose this design to cut out a square of patterned paper for my layout.  I chose a kraft patterned paper because I knew I would be backing it with brighter colors.

After my Silhouette cut the shapes, I cut strips of bright patterned paper to about 3/4” and adhered it to the back of the cut outs.  As a mom of 2 girls of course I went with some bright pinks and love the contrast against all the little heart rows.  I think the cut outs on layouts and cards are a great way to add not only embellishment, but also dimension to projects as well.

Another design element to use with these cut outs is to keep all those small hearts that were cut out and use them as embellishment too.  With mine, I simply flipped them over to the other side that had a brighter pattern on it and used them in the corner of my layout by sewing them on as a banner.

 

You can do this with pretty much any background Silhouette cut. I also use the starburst punches I cut out like the card from Monday.  These can be layered with buttons, brads, etc. to create an additional embellishment on a page, card or project!  A great way to recycle those extra cut outs!

~ Christa

 

Pssst....have you entered our fabulous Ipad Mini giveaway on Facebook yet?  There is still time!  Enter RIGHT HERE!

It's Tag Tuesday with Vicki Boutin!

It's Tag Tuesday!!  On the last Tuesday of each month I will be here on the SCT blog to share a tag I created showcasing new products and possibly a technique or two.  With so many companies introducing product lines throughout the year we thought this would be a great way to keep you abreast of new releases and "must have" goodies.
 
For the first tag of the series I chose the oh so sweet new line from Doodlebug Design called Lovebirds.  The pink, red, aqua and crisp whitebackgrounds make this the perfect collection for Valentine's Day projects and anything that inspires those lovin' feelings.
 


 
My favourite item in the Lovebirds line are the Mini Love Notes.
 


 


 
They are so sweet!  I combined the little envelopes along with a trick with buttons and twine.  Just another idea for uses for buttons from this months Designer Notebook in the winter issue (view here).
 


 


 


 
This is a super quick way to "tie" your button stash into your artwork.  Great to use with chipboard or as a button border.
 
Make sure to checkout this darling line!!  See you next month with another peek at something new and exciting!!

~  Vicki Boutin

(be sure to check out Vicki's blog too for a great CHA recap!)

Pinterest inspiration Monday with Christa!

Do you love Pinterest as much as I do?! Like everyone, I browse for everything from food to clothes to how tos and of course all things crafty and scrapbooky! I'm not a natural card maker so I like to look to Pinterest for inspiration on cards especially. I came across this card and pinned it immediately.  I love the simplicity of it and loved the banner of paper behind the hearts. As with all projects that I start with for inspiration, it changes pretty quickly and drastically soon after starting!"

link

For my card, I started with a banner strip and instead of stamped/punched hearts, I decided to use an anywhere starburst punch. I also liked the hearts adhered with foam adhesive and adhered my banner with foam instead of the starbursts. From there just a strip of yellow paper, foam embellishments and a sentiment along the side instead of at the bottom.  In this house full of girls it was fun to create a boy birthday card and look forward to using it soon!"

Have you created something recently that you were inspired by?  Link us up in the comments below!

~ Christa Paustenbaugh

 

A CHA giveaway...and a 20K celebration!

As you all know, we love Fridays here at the SCT office.  We love sharing brand new products with you and one of the fun parts of walking the CHA show floor was collecting some treats for the best blog readers out there!  YOU!  I loved every minute of it!  So today, not only are you getting a nice treat from Crate Paper and American Crafts BUT you are also getting a one of a kind die from Spellbinders!  This beautiful crown is an exclusive from the brand new Imperial Gold collection that adds a forth dimension to die templates - cut, emboss, stencil….and yes, they DEBOSS too!  I don't think too many of these were made so it's a must have!

If you would like to win this fun prize package, just leave a comment below before Thursday, January 31st at 6:00 p.m. EST!  Good luck my friends!

Of course, let's see who won last weeks CHA Doodlebug and Xyron giveaway...

Oh so cute and adorable... the booth and the products! Love Doodlebug and Xyron and SCT too! Thank you for the chance to win this pack! It's making me wish spring would hurry up and get here already! Posted by: Marylou | January 18, 2013 at 04:53 PM

Congrats Marylou!  Please send your address to us at ideas@scrapbookandcards.com and put "CHA winner" in your reference line.

But WAIT...THERE'S MORE!   While away at CHA we reached 20,000 Facebook Fans!  That is incredible and we knew we have to celebrate that great milestone so join us to win...deep breath...

Yes, an iPad mini!  This way you can be in touch with us all. the. time!  Just head on over to our facebook fan page HERE and if you are not already a fan, click "like" and enter too!  

We love sharing, we love giving and we love all our fans everywhere.  Thank you for making each day an exciting one for us at the magazine and thank you for being THE best readers out there!

~  Catherine

Publisher, Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine

be sure to:

• like us on facebook
• follow us on twitter
• follow our pinterest boards
• watch our YouTube videos
• join us at a Crop & Create event (so much fun!)

Fun finds around the web!

 As I sat watching some mindless TV last night I found some fun things that caught my eye this week and of course, I just had to share them with YOU!  After seeing some of these projects, I know this weekend I may spend some time getting crafty and get an early start on Valentine's cards! 

Doodlebug Valentine Mailbox

 

 

Echo Park Invitation

 

Cute winter shaped cards on the American Crafts blog - by Jen Chesnick

 

A great confetti tutorial by Vivian Masket on the Pebbles blog

 

 

 heehee!  Had to show these cute straws from the Queen & Co. blog!

Vintage treat box from the Sizzix blog

 

 

Treat basket by Shellye McDaniel on the Bella Blvd. blog 

 I hope you have enjoyed seeing what caught our eye around the web this week!  Enjoy!  Be sure to join us as we celebrate a great milestone...20,000 fans on Facebook!  We have a very special prize giveaway for all our fans!  You're going to love this one  :)

~ Catherine