THE ART OF GIVING

THE ART OF GIVING: Thanks for stopping by and getting involved in this great opportunity. In starting off the new year, Christine and I decided to put together a challenge blog that would not only provide you with inspiration and free goodies, but to also let you know about the many ways we can "PAY IT FORWARD" to others in our lives...in simple and GIGANTIC ways. We hope that in combining both inspiration and giving to others, we can all make this world a better place, one layout, card, and gesture at a time. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

4th of July Winner announced  

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

COngrats to Amanda!  Amanda Thank you for partaking in our challenge!  Thank you for supporting our troops!  Please contact us with your mailing info!

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HAPPY 4TH OF JULY  

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Hello all and Happy 4th of July!  As you celebrate your Independence day with your families with BBQ's, fireworks, block parties or perhaps just a simple and quiet day off please take time to quietly reflect and remember the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serve our country and given us this freedom.

Today I have listed a few simple ways that we can help out the men and women of our armed forces.  The video above is about a program started by two young kids called "Cell phones for soldiers".  You can click on this link and learn more about it HERE.  More or less donating your old cell phone will  provide soldiers with free calling card minutes to call home and to speak to their friends and families. What a simple and kind thing to do. I know most of us have old cell phones lying around. :0)

Another  kind and easy thing to do today is to go and vist the USO support site and leave a message to our soldiers to wish them a Happy 4th and to thank them for their continued service and dedication.  GO HERE :0)

Now of course this post would not be complete without a prize being involved right?... so...leave me a post with a link to your blogs and/or facebook pages with the links to cell phones for soldiers and the USO  4th of July message board/wall that I gave you today and you will be entered in a random drawing for this prize sponsred by: The Robin's Nest and Tammy I.  This will challenge will run from today unitl Sunday, July 11th.  A winner will be announced on Monday July 12th.
Good luck and remember to keep on
Scrapping it Forward!
(((HUGS)))
Christine

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Hop.... Hop and you just couldn't stop....we have a winner!  

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Hey Scrap It Forward readers and friends thanks so much for playing along and participating in our first ever Blog Hop!  We had a BLAST!  It was so much fun to follow along with you and read your comments.  Wasn't it so interesting to see how different those canvases all came out?  What fun...so many creative and diverse brains and work!

Well as you all know, as I promised....  For those of you who "hopped" on to all our DT's blogs there would be a prize name drawn for one random post.  And...I did go back and check......  SO....I did put all thos girls posts into a  random number generator and guess who was chosen?  The lucky gal is.......STEPHANIE.  Congrats to you!!! Please email us with your contact info !
Thanks to all who participated you made it a huge success!  And... thank you to our wonderful desgin team!  We couldn't have done this without you! We will miss you! You have made the last 3 months a lot of fun. Your creativity has given our blog a lot of inspiration, new followers and fun!  Moreover thank you for your friendship! 


Much love,
Christine


And readers..... Come back in a few days for a fun 4th of July Celebration Just for you!

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Scrap it Forward's First Blog Hop!  

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Hello all! The past three months have been wonderful!!! We have had a lot of new faces here! A lot of new readers, a lot of new friends, a lot of new challenges and a new design team to boot! It has been fantastic!!! The inspiration has been wonderful, the teamwork has been fantastic and I couldn’t be happier. I am so very pleased with it all.


To celebrate what a huge success that it all has been, the Scrap it Forward team has decided to host its very first BLOG HOP! WooHoo! And…It all starts today, Wednesday, June 23rd! This Blog Hop will last for one week…so you have until the 30th to visit each and every one of our blogs! I know you can do it!

So let me tell you how it is all going to work, it is rather simple you see…. This is our current guest DT’s send off. Sadly their terms are ending and we want to send them off in a special way. So go visit their blogs…give them a little love…and in return each member will have a little RAK for one random reader.

You must first visit Illyse’s blog…you can follow this link…. She will then tell you where to go next and the following DT member will share with you which blog to go to next etc. etc. If you happen to visit each blog, then come back here and let us know. ONE lucky winner will be entered into a drawing to receive this RAK below, but remember… you must go to each DT member’s personal blog and leave a post. 

All winners will be announced on July 1st! So good luck and pass the word on!

We love you Julie, Vicki And Cher you have really made an wonderful addition to our little ol' blog over here at SIF.  Thank you for your creativity, insight, teamwork, lightheartedness, fun, inspiration and friendship. You girls ROCK...and if you know me...you know that I don't just throw that term around.  Love ya girls....AND THANK YOU!

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Dear ol' Dad WINNER!  

Monday, June 21, 2010

Wow Ladies..so many fantastic entries! A lot of our loyal peeps participated this time around as well as some new faces!  Thanks for playing with us here at SIF!
You always make it so hard on us to choose a winner! This time around we have a newbie to our crowd as  lucky winner. 
Our lucky winner is :
CONNIE!!!
And these are her entries....


Thanks to all of you who participated. All of your layouts and cards were WONDERFUL!  You make this blog a whole lot of fun and give us a lot of inspiration!
Connie Please contact us via our email  and send us your mailing info, so that we can send you your prize!

Come back  on the 23rd for our first BLOG HOP! It will be a lot of fun and a few RAKS will be given away!

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A new Tutorial from our fabulus Cher!  

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Our Crafty how to gal, Cher came up with this fantastic how, to just for you.

If you want to make a little something for Father's day and you are stumped for ideas, Cher has got a whopper of an idea just for you!  Look below and check this out! 
Remember, you still have just about a week to get your entries in for our Dear Ol' Dad challenge.   So hop to it! Perhaps you'd like to give this idea a try!
Thanks Cher this is WONDERFUL!!!

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Dear Ol' Dad Challenge  

Monday, June 7, 2010

So the time is near to recognize our fathers, or our children’s father’s. Or as I like to call them, “our dear old dads”. They are good at fixing things and carrying heavy stuff, and yet, so much more. So this month we will recognize them …as we should!


Whether it is your own dad or the one who does such a good job with the kidlings, let’s let them know how much they are appreciated. This month our challenge is to make a layout, a card or even a gift showing the men or the daddies in our lives that they certainly are appreciated. Yes it is that simple. And the funny thing is..for doing so..one of you will still wind up getting a prize for doing so… now that ain’t half bad ;0) !

Here is what our Design team came up with this time around:

Illyse's Layout


Vicki's Layout

Julie's Layout


Christine's Card



And here is the fun prize just for you :0) some great chip board given to us from Cherry Arte and manly rub-ons from The Robin’s Nest !
 
This challenge will run from today, Monday, June 7 through Sunday , June 20th. A winner will be announced on Monday, June 21st. You’ve got just about 2 weeks to participate on this one, so get those projects, cards, gifts or layouts done and linked back to us. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

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Being A mom Winner !!!!!!!!!  

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Winner...we have a winner!   So many moms out there and yes..we are all hard workers and and all winners :0)  But we could only have one lucky one here on Scrap it Forward today.  So our lucky winner is........

Becca who entered this layout :

Becca thanks for entering this layout and participating in this challenge.  And thanks to our wonderful Sponsor, Jennifer Priest,  who will be sending Becca a fantastic kit to make the beautiful book pictured in our last post.
Congrats Becca! Please email us and send us your contact info, so that we can pass it along to our sponsor!

Okay scrappy friends, we will have another challenge up starting late tomorrow,so
Come back to see what's in store for you!!!

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Being a Mom Means....Challenge  

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Well …ALL YOU Moms out there, it has been a few good days  since Mother’s day has passed,so we are thinking that you have probably got your photos uploaded and are ready to scrapbook them from mother’s day. Or perhaps you have another photo that you just adore of you and your kids that you would like to scrap. This prompt is just for all the moms out there. It is a simple one…..



Our challenge, this time around is:


To Use the prompt…”Being a mom means”….. You may use this directly on your layout or just use it as words of inspiration. We would love to see what you come up with.






Here is what the DT came up with to share with you :0)


Julie's Layout

Illyse's Layout

Cher's layout


Vicki's Layout

Christine's Layout


Our challenge will be sponsored by the very talented Jennifer Priest. Jennifer is a wonderful designer, instructor and philanthropist. She is an amazingly talented gal. She certainly has a lot to share and has decided that she wanted to share a little bit of her talent with you! One lucky winner will win a kit from Jennifer, to make this beautiful book designed by Jennifer Priest herself!




like what you see…go check out Jennifer’s blog to see where she is teaching or even her ETSY shop The Hydrangea Hippo to get your hands on some of the cute little embellies that she uses to make some of her unique creations.


Thank you Jennifer..We appreciate your generosity and your wonderful inspiration!

Okay ladies we can’t wait to see what is in store for us. This challenge will run from today Thurs, May 13th, till Friday June 4th. That gives you just over 3 weeks to post us a link to your work, in your comment! A winner will be announced on Sunday, June 6th.

We have been noticing a lot of new faces around here and so many wonderful entries. We just wanted to thank you for your enthusiasm and for passing the word around.  Thank you for scrapping it forward!  If you are ever interested in sponsoring our site please contact us via our email above. 

Thank you and big hugs!

Christine

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Winner..YO teach We Luv Ya Challenge Winner  

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Well Friends, a teacher has a tough job for sure,and so did we trying to choose a winner for this last challenge.  You all did a fantastic job on your entries.  Not only were they all beautiful,but they were all so very different and creative.  Not one person duplicated the idea of another.  Wow!  Awesome!  That is why I love doing this :0).  Thanks for sharing your ideas!

Okay so before recess is over, let me announce the winner... The winner is
Teenabugg38!

So congrats you!  Please contact us with  your mailing info and we will send out your prize. 
Thanks all for playing along nicely!

We will have a new challenge up in 2 days!!!

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Mom's Day winners and a new Tutorial from Cher!!!  

Monday, May 10, 2010

Hey moms out there we have two new winners of the Tammy I cell Phone cases!  Thanks for playing along and we hope that you had a wonderful mother's day!!! Here are our lucky winners!

Jennifer Campbell said...



What an adorable cell phone case. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

May 9, 2010 7:55 AM


Denise said...



Gorgeous cell phone case! So girly, I love it :)


May 9, 2010 2:16 PM



Thanks for playing along girls!  Happy Mother's day!  Please contact us and via our email with your mailing info :0)!  Congrats! 

And now for our fun tutorial from Cher...

Here Cher has given us a step by step mini tutorial on how to heat emboss a stamped image!  Thanks Cher. Just beautiful!

Remember to stop by on the 13th for a new challenge..we have some new prizes and some fun things in store just for you!

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Happy Mother's Day!!!!  

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Good Morning and Happy Mother's day! If you are reading then it just might be your lucky day. Today we are paying tribute to all the moms out there. Today we don’t have any particular challenge. ..Nope! We know that sometimes being a mom, although rewarding, is challenging enough :0).


So ….Instead of a challenge today, we just have a freebie from a fabulous sponsor. Two random posters will win a cute cell case provided by none other than the Wonderfully Creative “Tammy I”. (And don’t worry this case will fit your phone...it has elastic on the sides.)

:0) “Tammy I”, Is a Southern California creative/crafty genius,as far as I am concerned. She has a wonderful array of kits and products. You should definitely go check out her online shop if you haven’t already. Please be sure tolet her know that Scrap it Forward sent you her your way! She is definitely one of a kind and her kits are beyond adorable. So thanks Tammy for your fun stuff and your inspiration!

Happy Mother's Day to all!  Now go leave that post and go spread the word!!!!!!!

(((HUGS)))
  Christine

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Yo Teach..We Love ya...Challenge  

Sunday, May 2, 2010

This week May 3rd through the 10th is teacher appreciation week and we thought it would be nice to let all our kids' teachers know that we appreciate them. As a matter of fact, if you think about it, our children spend the better half of their days with their teachers. To show our teachers that we appreciate them we really don’t have to go out and spend a lot of money. We could just go in our stashes and make them something! So this week the challenge is simple, go in your stash and make them something! This will only be running for 1 week.. ..so hurry and get those assignments in and don't be tardy!.... Here are a few samples from our design team…

Vicki's homework:



























Julie's Homework:



Illyse's Homework


Christine's Homework

Here is the Fun prize for onelucky winner :0).  I know this is one quick little challenge, but remember this can be as simple as a card or a love note from your child. Be original and have fun.  Use your stash!



Remember: Teacher appreciation is a simple idea. It means showing teachers you value their work. If your goal is to enhance the educational environment at your school, it makes sense to help energize the teachers.

What matters isn’t how much you do, but how thoughtfully you do it.

This will run from Today Monday, May 3rd until Monday May 10th. A winner will be announced on May 11th.

Oh and ladies be sure sure to check back on Mother’s day for a very Special Treat..that is all I can say..MY LIPS ARE SEALED!!!!

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Going Green WINNER!!!  

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Yes..we have a winner :0)   We definitely had many wonderful and impressive entries in our "Going Green" challenge. You ladies..surely know how to upcycle and would definitely make our mother earth proud ;0).


And without further delay....  Our winner this time around is..... DANI!

This is her ingenious book made from embellisment packaging. Way to go girl! Dani please contast us via our email addy and we will get your prize out asap! :0)

And...we will have a new challenge up on May 4th...So come back in a few days and see what we have in store for you!!!

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Happy Earth day!  

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day!

Hey Scrappy Friends! While you are working on those projects for our latest challenge take a look what Cher has done as an Upcycling project that you can do with your kids at home!  This is perfect for a rainy day or any old time for that matter! Great job Cher!

A pictoral how to from Cher

Here is an easy going green card to make.



What you will need:


sandpaper


Goldfish box or bag


blue and green card stock scraps


light blue card stock


bubble wrap


scissors


double-sided extra tacky tape


Martha Stewart leaf punch and some scrap yarn optional


Step Two

Step three


Step Four

Step Five

Step Six

Step Seven

Step Eight

Step Nine

Step Ten


Hope you like it!  Great use of upcycling products Cher !!! Way  To go!!!! 

Remember Ladies you Still have 8 days left in our challenge!  So hop to it!   We can't wait to see what you come up with!  And if you haven't seen what it is al about.  Scroll down and check it out!

Don't forget about the Earth day Blog Carnival at Craftique.com ! Check it out today!

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Scrap it forward is Going Green!!!  

Friday, April 16, 2010

Earth day is around the corner you know, and we are paper crafters with a conscience!  We reuse, recycle and upcycle whenever we can and so should you!  Don't just throw your old scrap supplies away, donate them to children's hospitals.  There are plenty of kids who would love to use them and make a big mess while doing so.  Just imagine the difference that you could make in someone's day.


Now for the not so obvious...your daily household items that you recycle or items that you think are old and you want to just throw away... may just be something you could upcycle. What is Upcycle you ask?  It is to  to transform discarded or second-hand resources into a new or altered object.


So that is what the design team did this time around in honor of our upcoming Earth day.  We hope to inspire you as well. Here is what all of us came up with.

Illyse went to the movies and re-used her drink carrier as a little decorative box to put on her daughter's dresser to put her little "girly stuff' in. BRAVO YOU!






Julie made this lovely welcome sign from a wooden placemat,ribbon, flowers and some other paper crafting goodies.  Anyone would feel welcome walking up to your door and seeing this colorful display.  The good news is...you just might be that lucky person who gets to display this sign on their door.  Julie wants to spread the love just a bit more...go to her blog and find out how. You just might be the lucky one!




Vicki  upcycled a prima flower tin and did a wonderful job. She was able to use a lot of incoroporate a lot of recycled products such as the tin, vintage buttons, vintage wallpaper and book pages well as many popular crafting products such as distressing inks,crackle paints, Prima Pearls annd much more. She ahs also offered a insturctions in word format. If you wold like a copy,please email us :0).





Christine  well I stuck with a traditional layout and used some recycled elements . I made a flower of sorts with newspaper and with a bottle cap in the center. I also used one of the shopping fliers and cut a scalloped border down the side of my layout. Lastly I used one of my shopping paper bags and used it as an element in my layout.

Now our challenge to you is to show us how you upcycled making a new altered object or recycled some items to use in your layouts. Here is the prize that you can win!
An extra large bag from quick quotes to bring with you while you go shopping to cut down using those paper/plastic bags :0), a newpaper flower made by me (humor me I tried), a notebook made with recycled paper, and some fun Jillibean alpha stickers.

This challenge will run from today, Friday, April 16th, until Friday April 30th..  A winner will be  announced Sat. May 1st.

Be sure to link your project in your post for us! We all want to enjoy your work and so do our readers!

Until then, get busy and get involved. You can do a lot to help save the earth, by just doing a little.  Like checking out this website and signing little ol'petition about keeping our climate clean and using clean energy :0).
Simple ways to help our earth

Make less garbage by packing your kids lunch in a lunch box instead of a bag

Turn off the lights, TV, radio, and computer when you are not using it to save energy.

Use less water by turning off the faucet while you are not using it (while you brush your teeth).

Plant flowers and tree in your yard and put up bird feeders and houses to provide shelter for animals.

Refill water bottles that you drink out of wach day instead of buying new ones.

Use totebags at the grocery store, store them in your car..so you don't forget!

Stop buying paper towels, period. Americans go through about 2.5 million tons of paper towels annually, an even those made of recycled materials usually end up in landfills.

And remember to join the Earth day Blog carnival at Craftique.com on April 22
right here!

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Winner announced for our Autism Awareness month Puzzle Piece Challenge  

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thank you for all those beautiful entries. April is Autism awareness month and being that Autism has touched my life, I couldn't let this month go by without putting a bit of focus on it.  Thank you helping to for raise awareness. All of your entries were fantastic.  All of you not only submitted stellar work,but you also mentioned it on your blogs or message boards for double pointers..so thanks again! :0)

The choice was not easy, so we decided on a random draw...the winner is...... Karen B. and I don't know what she is so "PUZZLED ABOUT"  This is wonderful work!
Karen Please contact us via our email for your mailing info and I will get your prize out asap. Now come back tomorrow for a new challenge and see what our new GDT has been up to!!!!

(((HUGS)))
Christine

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Meet Our New Guest Design Team and By the way you've got just 2 more days to get those projects in!  

Monday, April 12, 2010

Hey People! It's time to introduce you to the wonderful gals that have joined our team~ meet them, greet them and get know them. These are our new talented gals!

Hi...my name is Julie Tucker-Wolek and I am over the TOP excited to be guesting for Scrap it Forward :):):):):):):):):) I had the honor of meeting Illyse and Christine while I was in California...and when they told me about this blog...I found the concept to just be AMAZING!!! :):):):):):):):) I have been seriously into scrapping for the past three years, but recently found out that I made my very first scrapbook back in 1985!! LOL!! It was a present for my Aunt! :):):):) I can't wait to work with this team! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)






I'm a 46 year old Stay At Home Mom. I live in Round Rock, Texas with my husband of 8 years and our kids, a son, 6, and step daughter, 11. I retired from 17 years of government service to stay home and raise my children. I have been involved in arts and crafts since I was a child. More recently I owned a faux painting and home décor business and an online scrapbook store. I became involved in scrapbooking and mixed media about five years ago. I love papercrafts, altered arts and mixed media. I teach classes at local scrapbook stores, retreat centers and online on a variety of topics from basic scrapbooking to complex technique heavy altered art and mixed media projects. I also instruct students to use tools like Purple Cows Trimmers and Zutter Bind It All and DreamKuts. My scrappy style is eclectic, at best! Some days my pages are neat and simple.....others, I throw on everything I can get my hands on. I have a special love of distressed items and ephemera.







Currently, I design and teach for:






Purple Cows


Zutter Innovative Products (Original Zutter Zister)


Gecko Galz


Scrap It Forward Challenge Blog


Scrapbook Haus


Scrapperie


Jean's Art Dolls


Rockin' R Retreat Center


I am also a:


PrimaDonna: a Prima Marketing Endorsed Artist Educator


Tattered Angels Educator


Copic Certified Designer


Certified Fiskars Demonstrator






AND......





(Our Scrap happy How to Gal)


Hi, I'm Cher from sunny California.



I've been married to a wonderful man for over 20 years, have three children, a pet bunny and two water turtles.


I have been paper crafting for about 4 years and love every moment of it. It all started with rubber stamping and now I'm hooked on the art of card making and scrapping.


I feel so blessed to have been given a chance to be part of such an amazing team at "Scrap it Forward". I can't wait for the challenges to begin!


You can check out my blog to see some of my work at http://stampingwithcher.blogspot.com/


NOW..GET YOUR PROJECTS READY AND IN...YOU ONLY HAVE A FEW DAYS LEFT!  A NEW CHALLENGE WILL BE UP AND OUR GALS HAVE SOME GREAT PROJECTS READY TO SHARE WITH YOU!

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