Okay this time around we are jumping on board with Nikki Sivils and we are going to help the tornado victims in Joplin, who lost their homes, all their earthly belongings, just everything...we are going to help them get their
"Mojo" back.  That's right...we need to give a little. We all know what it feels like to go scrappy shopping and just imagine what our next layout or card, or craft is going to look like. Imagine now having nothing.  Why don't we help them out a bit.  Every little bit counts.  So here is your part of the challenge...
Make a card for a new Joplin scrappy friend,

along with it send one or two scrappy items. Take a photo of what you are going to send and link it up in your post so that we can see your card and donation... here are more details via our friend NIKKI SIVILS

SPRING CLEANING WINNER IS JOELLE>>PLEASE CONTACT US VIA OUR EMAIL. Congrats!  We will have another  challenge up tomorrow my friends!!!

Well readers, in the midst of all the tragic events that have occurred all across our world. I think it is time to reflect first on how grateful we all are for all the excess we have in our lives. How grateful we are to have a roof over our heads. How fortunate we are to have family around us that are there to help.
If you are one of these fortunate people take a moment just to reflect and be grateful.

Our challenge this month is twofold. The first part is an easy task. Make a layout and reflect about the things you are most grateful for and link it in your post.  Secondly do some spring cleaning, and fill some bags up and generously donate to the Salvation Army or another collection center that will help tragedy victims in need.  We realize that all of us are not able to donate monetarily,but there is nothing stopping you from filling up a bag full of  your gently used goods for someone else in need :0)  As a matter of fact, if you include a pic of your donation goods as well as your layout, you will receive an extra entry in our random drawing!  Sound good!?

Illyse's Layout

Bree's Layout


This challenge will run from today, Friday June 3rd - Friday June 17th, and a winner will be announced the Saturday the 18th. Here is the prize waiting just for you!

Well we appreciate seeing all your sweet little poochies!  You all did such a wonderful job with your layouts and linking them up to us too!  Thank you so much for playing along. We are so happy to have had such a great response :0)

A winner was selected at random just moments ago!! Sorry it is a bit late in the evening, but it was a busy day!! So let's not waste another moment!
The lucky winner this time around is Nicole with her fun layout below!

Congrats Nicole!!!  Please contact us via our email and we will send you your goodies asap!  And to our readers don't fret!  We have another great challenge coming up tomorrow!!! So stay tuned!

A bunch of us love our cuddly canines right?  Or our Other furry little friends I bet! There are many organizations out there to dedicated to helping out our lap dogs, cuddly cats, and so on. One is that I can think of is called "The Animal Rescue Site".  This is taken directly from their site: "The Animal Rescue Site provides simple, effective, feel-good ways to address an urgent, specific need: providing food and vital care for some of the eight million unwanted animals given to shelters every year in the U.S., as well as animals in desperate need around the world". What I really like about their site is that with one click of your mouse you can help feed an animal in need for free and no obligation.  The sponsors of their website will do the rest and you can visit the site daily.  So think about bookmarking their page!
Bree, Illyse and I all are dog lovers and all of our dogs are rescue dogs.  That is they have not come from pet stores but from pet rescue organizations. We are all animal lovers. So we thought that the next challenge should be something that was personal to all of us.  But before I go into our next challenge, Bree even has something a bit more to share:

Recently while watching a TV special I heard about Tara the Elephant and Bella the Labrador mix who had became best friends at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee (http://www.elephants.com/). At about the same time I had started making cards for friends who had lost a pet - and they were always asking where I got them from. The idea suddenly came about - how could I help both people who lost pets and the elephants? That is how "Wipe Your Paws" then came into being. I make and sell a variety of cards and pet related gifts and ALL the money made is donated to the Elephant Sanctuary and the Humane Society - where our little dog Jackson came from. Both these groups are doing amazing work and no matter how small the donation - every little bit helps.
Wipe Your Paws - http://wipeyourpaws-cardsgifts.blogspot.com/

Elephant Sanctuary - http://www.elephants.com/

Humane Society - http://www.humanesociety.org/
Okay so now on to the challenge is it quite an easy one, just show us your layout with your cat or dog and tell us something special about him/her.  Make sure to please link the layout in your post! This challenge will begin today, May, 16th and end Wednesday, June 1st. A winner will be announced on Thursday, June 2nd.    Now let us share our cuddly little loves with you!

Bree's Layout about.... Jackson

Illyse's Layout about.... Naomi

Christine's layout about.... Leila
 And lastly, here is the fun prize for one lucky and random winner!


  So hurry and get those layouts in!!! Link us up, share your layouts with us, post them on your blog and share with us in your post what makes them so special!  We can't wait to see your cuties!!!

(((HUGS)))
 Christine

Hello all, if you were waiting! Here I am with a winner being announced now!!!

Thank you all for your participation in our challenge we will have a new challenge up on Monday!

Our winner of this challenge is Erin R!  Here is a link beautiful card that she made! Erin please contact us via our email with your mailing info.

*If you are looking to find out who won our last post scroll down to the very bottom!!!

have been living in the USA for the last 8 years now. My professional
background is that of a social worker but I have also been an artist of
one kind or another most of my life - starting with doing pet portraits
in pencil, painting in water colors and acrylics to now doing my own
style of 'dot' painting. I also love crafts from sewing and jewelry
making to altered art, card making, soap making, molding, art journals
and scrap booking. Basically if it seems like fun - I will try it!


The past couple of years my work has certainly developed a
vintage/floral theme to it. I like to create pages that can be used as
art and started making a range of vintage pages that I sell. Once placed
in a shadow box they take on a wonderful 3 dimensional look and have
become very popular with restaurants, cafes etc.


I have also had Rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus since I was in my 20's
and this has taught me so much about patience and doing things when my
body will allow it. But it has also taught me to not be limited - and
when I could no longer hold a pencil to draw - I changed to painting
with large handled brushes. We are never given a gift without also being
able to find some way to use it and this is certainly true for creativity.


I am honored to be a guest designer on Scrap It Forward - a wonderful
concept for a blog.

Some of Bree's work:




**okay it's Christine again!  For all those readers who have finished reading this post, please leave Bree a huge, loving and warm welcome.  And... one poster will be selected to win this prize below.  The winner,as always, will be selected at random ! 

A new challenge will be posted on Friday!  Thanks for being here readers..We love ya!!!

Wow...you crafty Chicks really had us busy.  I have to say we really had a lot of entries!  Not only did we have those who posted and linked us up to some lovely creations,but we had some wonderful new followers email us some fantastic creations that unfortunately did not get submitted.  Which I must let you know really broke my heart.  I am so sorry to those that I let down.  Perhaps I haven't made it clear enough to our newbies and I am so very sorry because we want you here! We are so glad that you came and we want you to stay.

So before we announce our winner please let me briefly explain that entries are to be linked in the comment section. They can be linked in a blog, in a message board gallery or even in an online photo gallery.  So please don't hesitate to share your fantastic creations!

Now, as always our winners are chosen by random because all of the work submitted here is wonderful and we love you all!
So on to our winner...
Our lucky winner this challenge is..... JASMINE and here is a link to her beautiful work! 

So Jasmine, please email us your info so we can mail so we can send off your prize!

Now for all of you that are reading this...come back tomorrow for a special announcement and perhaps a freebie too!

Okay scrappin' kids...  it's time to start thinking and scrappin' green.  Yes earth day is right around the corner ( April 22nd !)and the Scrap it forward team is challenging you to "think green" and come up with a craft that uses a little bit of the old and a little bit of the new together.  Let me be more specific... we are asking you to "upcycle" and get crafty while doing it. What is Upcycle you ask? It is to to transform discarded or second-hand resources into a new or altered object. Yep...those containers that you usually would toss or perhaps recycle (hope so) maybe you can reuse and make something out of it.

Here are a few projects that we made.....

Christine's project:
 so this old and empty tin....

Illyse's Project

And this sliced apple container
Turns into Illyse's daughter's little make shift garden planter.....



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.

So to make it a bit interesting here is the prize this time around....a necklace made from soda pop lids and some library pockets and cards that I salvaged from school because they were going to throw the entire box of them away which seemed criminal..... I can see endless crafty possiblilities....

This challenge will run from today, Sunday, April 10th through Sunday, April 24th. A winner will be announced on Monday, April 25th. Okay get a move on and let's have some fun!
                                   

                                 (((Hugs)))

Hello Scrap it Forward  friends and readers :0) Thank you so much for your interest in supporting the project Socks for Japan. We had many outside groups say that they would get their churches and schools involved!  That is wonderful and that is really what our main focus is about here at SIF to reach out and help others and/or to make a difference. So thank you!  We appreciate your enthusiasm and support.

We saw a lot of great cards and cute socks to boot!  However we could only choose one winner!  So let me just get to it and spit it out! Our winner for this challenge is......

These days we can't turn on the television or listen to the radio without hearing about the horrible devastation that the earthquake/tsunami created in Japan on March 11th 2011. Not only has this natural disaster created intense destruction,destroyed many lives, displaced many people, separated familes and created a sense of desperation in many,but it has left many people without basic essentials.

Many of us have offered our prayers, offered monetary donations or given in other ways.  We at Scrap it Forward have discovered yet another way to to help.  It is a way for us to reach out and put a human touch on the other end of the donation and let the people of Japan know that we are thinking of them. We came across an organization called Socks For Japan.  This organization basically gives us the know how to send a pair or many pairs of socks to those displaced and missing the basic essentials needed.  Imagine how a pair or a few pairs of socks could be so comforting to someone who has been wearing the same pair for a week or maybe more.

Our challenge this time is simple.  Make a card for someone in Japan. Inside attach a short and simple typed note in English and then go to Google translate and translate your message below in traditional Japanese below it.  Send that card with a pair or two of socks included (make sure that the socks are the same type/size). Please write on the outside of your package what type of socks they are (ex: womens size 6-9, boys size 2-5). You may put more than one pair in a mailing envelope,but only put one type/size sock in the envelope. This will help them organize quicker.  Please put both the card (no envelope) and socks in a ziplock bag within the envelope and send it here:

Jason Kelly
Plaza Kei 101
Wakamatsu-cho 615-6
Sano, Tochigi 327-0846
Japan

Write “Urgent: Relief Supplies” boldly on the package
If you have any more questions please refer to the website www.http://www.jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/ 

***In your post please link us to a picture of your card and socks that will be sent :0). 

Our challenge is partially sponsored by Tattered Angels.  Thank you so very much for your yummy  Glimmer Mist. One lucky winner will receive a prize package filled with some great goodies to make some new cards for whomever they'd like!
Here are some samples of our cards:

Christine's card and socks ;0)

This challenge will run from today, Friday, March 25th through Friday April 8th. A winner will be announced on the 9th.  And here is the fantastic prize for one lucky challenger!  Will it be you?  Let's help out others in an urgent and desperate time.  Even if you don't win here you can know that you soothed someone and warmed their tootsies.

Dear SIF blog readers :0(,
I have been trying all day to successfully put up our new post with our pics for the new challenge and we are experiencing techinical difficulties. ;o(  Please come back later to see our new challenge. Hopefully it will be posted up later tonight...sigh.  Let's put our hands together and hope that blogger will help us out soon! :0)

Hello dear scrappy friends in blogland. Oh my goodness!  What a fantastic bunch of layouts we received from all of you!  It was so exciting to see so many wonderful entries and so much enthusiasm on your part. THANK YOU THANK YOU  THANK YOU!  We feel so Lucky ourselves to have all of you participating!  Fantastic entries...and fantastic people. :0)

And now without futher adieu.... the winners of our Feeling Lucky challenge are:

*Scroll down to see the winner of our previous challenge!
So March, the month of St. Patty's day; are you feeling the Luck of the Irish?  How many of you realize how lucky you really are?  How many of you count your blessings every day? Well if you do, then you already realize how "lucky" you really are!


This challenge is all about counting your blessings.  Scrapping something that reflects your gratefulness about something or someone in your life that really makes you look back and say.."wow, I am so LUCKY".  Here are the rules:  You must use green as the main color in your layout and you MUST use the word "LUCKY" in your title.  Link your layout in your comment so the readers and the rest of us here at Scrap it Forward can come check it out.

Hey Scrap it Forward readers it is that time again. Time to Spread the love and bring some new readers/followers our way.  So that means we are asking you, our faithful readers and maybe even some of our newbies to spread the word!

We've got some yummy blog candy to share with someone who really wants it. We mean really wants it ;0) We want you to earn this blog candy!  But actually it isn't that difficult to do so.... to earn that chance to win all you have to do is....

1. Put our Blinkie on your blog and let us know in your post that you have done so.... (link us up so we can come visit your blog and check it out)

and for an additional chance to win....

2. Write all about our Blog Candy in a post on your blog and encourage your friends to do the same. Please include in your post that you have done this and leave a link to your blog so that we can check out your post :0)

and....if you want another chance to win....

3. Post about this blog candy on any message board or Face book and let us know. Also include the details of any MB or FB post in your post.

This Blog Candy Challenge will run from today Feb. 22 - March 8.  So have fun with it and pass it on!
And Finally Here's a pic of the goods!

Congrats to our Who Loves you Winner Penelope Scraps! Here is her card!

*Please check previous blog post below for  our last challenge's winner!

Most often during Valentine's Day we give our Sweeties, our family members and sometimes even our dear friends a valentine just to show them how much we really care. That is what Valentine's Day is all about right?  Well let's make a paradigm shift here.  Let's pay it forward for a moment shall we?  Is there someone in your life that does something special everyday for you that you never acknowledge?  Maybe it is the girl behind the Starbucks counter that always hands you your coffee with a smile morning after morning. Or your paper delivery boy who doesn't throw your paper in the wet grass just before the sprinklers go on. Your neighbor who collected your mail while you were away?  You get the picture right?

So here is your mission if you wish to accept it.  It is a simple task, make a Valentine's Day card for your new unexpecting Valentine just to let them know that they are appreciated.  Isn't that a simple challenge?  Inside the card, write the person a short little note telling he/she why you appreciate him/her.  That is it!  Here are a few examples of cards that we made :0)

Here is my card.  I made this for my neighbor that is a teenager.  NOt only does she babysit my kids and play with them,but she took care of my dog while we were on vacation. Just as a favor.  Sweet kid. She is getting a little treat inside this card ;0)

 Here is Illyse's Card: She made this for her Daughter's preschool teacher.  It is important to note that her daughter has been out of preschool for 2 years now, however she still appreciates what an impact she made during her daughter's preschool years. Illyse wanted her to know how much she still appreciates her.