April Bring in the Sun Challenge by Malina

 Design Team Member Malina submitted this layout for the April Bring in the Sun Challenge.  She said:

Thinking of bright sunny days cannot be helped with this layout which I created for a special album I am working on...an alphabetical "You Are My..." for the children. Even though I used two very similar photos I felt they worked great in this design. Each ray of sunshine is an individual strip cut from cardstock which is varied in shades of yellow and orange. Using a sewing machine I stitched different patterns in red so that everything would pop and complimented the color scheme with these awesome vinyl thicker stickers. I created the clouds from two different Sizzix dies and provided some depth with chalking inks to everything on the page. Thank goodness I have sunshine from these two to get me through dreary mid-west winters!

Now it's your turn to take the April Bring in the Sun Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Be sure to scroll down the page - Scrap Our Stash posts something new everyday.

February Challenge by Malina

Design Team Member Malina submitted this 2 page layout for the February Love Challenge.  She said:

A Design on Love:

With the theme of LOVE as this month's design challenge I decided to scrap LOVE for my beautiful young daughter as there is nothing I love more than both of my children. For me St. Valentine's day or rather that day to celebrate your love for another takes place just one week prior to February 1st. On the occassion of my first-born daughter's birth, when we could meet face to face rather than her foot to my rib :) I fell in love for the first time for real and as each year passes...this one being the 14th actually...I thank God for BOTH of my babies and then I thank Him for not allowing my heart to burst as it seems to just keep growing full.


I am certain if you are reading this you, like me, have a pretty nice scrap stash on hand, and perhaps like me you are frequently digging through thousands of patterned papers or cardstock to find just the right piece for whatever project you are working on only to keep finding the same stack of papers in the way! And while beautiful, they just won't go away!!!. Thank goodness I now had the perfect photos to compliment the papers who complimented each other so perfectly but apparently nothing else till now. I used photos of Taylor which I had taken this past fall and for the first time saw a young woman staring back not a child. I moved forward with that theme of love and growing up as a way to journal her a Happy Birthday. The journaling which can be read on the face of the design was written by an unknown author, however the green half circle punch below contains the remainder of my journalling which is written by myself to Taylor personally as a continuation from the front. As my hand journaling could be hard to read this poem begins "When I held you in my arms, for the first time, I thought I couldn't love you more..but then you grew. In those precious baby times through your first smile, your first tooth, your first steps, I thought I couldn't love you more...but then you grew." For readers interested in the remainder of the journaled poem, particularly my original portion written for my daughter as a gift to her birthday I will post the entire poem on my own blog site 3-5 days after this design is revealed here at Scrap Our Stash. Visit my blog or connect through Facebook at www.facebooks.com/MalinaofReflections

I have hand stitched the heart on a piece of heavy paper that has journal lines making a perfect addition to the page, especially as this is true scrap because I don't know what it really is or where it came from to begin with. I complimented the large flower patterned paper and small flower paper with various heavy paper textured flowers and button centers. I broke up a perfect yet boring green paper with a flower patterned vellum and then added more visual interest and texture using my Fiskars scallop edge punch and a zig zag machine stitch around all the coordinating paper edges except where I tore the bottom of the lighter paper and then inked it for additional depth. My mystery journal paper already had the notebook torn look on the left so I balanced it using a Martha Stewart edge punch but keeping things subtle by using a cardstock just a bit darker than the paper direclty behind it. I knew I would place a title in the middle of the heart but again I didn't want to overpower the design or take away from my focal point with is my beautiful daughter so I used metal letters tinted green that were not very large but still stood out.

Now it's your turn to take the February Love Challenge - see all the details HERE.

Be sure to scroll down the page - Scrap Our Stash posts something new everyday.

January Challenge - by Malina

This layout is newer...a New Year's Layout called Signs that we are getting (old)er. It was published by Scrapbook News & Review magazine in the Sept. 26, 2010 issue after I completed it in Sept. 2010.

Now it's your turn to take the January New Challenge.  See all the details HERE.

December Challenge and Frugal Friday Tip by Malina

Design Team Member Malina submitted this card for the December Birthday Challenge.   She said, this project is a Birthday card I made for my son's birthday...I had never done anything of this sort before but I had lots of scraps of Birthday papers, stickers and embellies left from my daughter's birthday album and I had an image forming in my mind. It actually took several hours to do this because cards are not my thing especially when I am constructing from a fragment of an idea in my own mind with nothing to reference. This pop-up card stands over 7 inches tall and has a wide base to support it. I attempt to show three views of it and so the colors are varied as is the exposure but you can see the project quite well. I used thickers for his name and since I did not like the color of the thickers I had I altered with Stickles and then took the Stickles to the border. I used my Cricut to cut a 4 but handcut the stickers from the coordinating cardstock and then coupled with foam adhesive pop ups to create my own coordinating stickers.


That brings me to a Frugal Friday tip: It is simple to create your own epoxy stickers and 3-D stickers with a few items. Turn a tag, piece of cardstock pattern, die cut or anything else into a sticker. Using Glossy accents or Diamond Glaze cover the item for an epoxy look and use foam stickers to pop off the project. A 3-D effect is achieved when using 2 die cut shapes and raising one shape over the other with foam adhesives. OR use Glue Dots pop up dots...as the Glue Dots, these adhesives provide a super strong hold!

If you use this tip - and would like to share your page - just email it to Scrappinpsycho@live.com.  We will post it here.  Do you have a frugal tip you'd like to share?  Send it along with a picture to scrappinpsycho@live.com and you could be featured for a future Frugal Friday tips. 

Don't miss the December Birthday Challenge - see all the details Here.  Also, don't miss our Pagerize This Challenge details Here.  

November Challenge by Malina

This month's challenge requested that we complete one of three assigned sketches but I chose to do a double layout highlighting the Crop for a Cause which my company, Reflections Keepsakes partnered up with LSS Rochester Scrapbooking Co. to host. In order to stick with the challenge requirements I chose to use two of the sketches and combine them to create a single sketch. I am a huge fan of Becky Fleck who encourages designers to think outside the sketch and manipulate the sketch to meet the needs of the design.


Well, I needed to include some memorabilia such as the thank you card from the organization we were raising funds for and I decided to include the thank you gift and card my business partner and I provided all the Croppers. I also did not have a vertical image so I worked from a horizontal photo. Instead of journaling I made the card my journaling. Instead of flower embellishments I used the keepsake. The title on this page is for the Crop for a Cause we hosted but then I wanted to take it a step further and share what the crop inspired. For the second page and second sketch I really manipulated my images to fit into the design and utilized the sketch journal area to include the sentiment I had written for the cards Reflections made for women to give to other women as a reminder to get a breast exam. This side of the layout tells the second half of the story, after the crop for a cause.


"Pink Scrappers for "Green Papers" became a month long project in which I and my business partner invited the Rochester local scrapbook stores, Rochester Scrapbooking Co. and VIP Scrapbook Gallery' as well as Rochester based internet company Wigham Designs, to raise as much "green paper" as possible for the direct benefit of Breast Cancer patients & their families living in our own community and the Join the Journey organization (learn more about them at http://www.jointhejourney.org/). I needed the story but didn't want to take from the sketch design and so I used the pattern paper panels as well as the first set of photos to hide my journaling. When each panel is lifted the story of Pink Scrappers is told and on the back of each panel I have documented specific things I want to remember such as how much we raised, or specific activities or people associated with the project.


Visit me at http://www.reflectionskeepsakes.blogspot.com/  after November 15th to learn more about what this project accomplished and what it continues to accomplish and how you can be inspired!

To see all three sketches for the challenge and the details as to how you can take the challenge - see November Challenge below.

October Challenge by Malina

Design Team Member Malina submitted this  single 12x12 layout design for the October challenge.  She said, "I  JUST finished after my son's first day of school in 2009.  The paper purchased perhaps a year and a half ago in eager anticipation of that first day and those great photos were pushed into a project pack where it collected embellishments, cardstock paper, stickers, and photos and there it sat until 1 month AFTER his first day of pre-school for the second year. Maybe next year I will get around to scrapping this years first day of school.


Kathy thanks for the push to get something done LOL and I should also like to thank my local scrap store design team director Mary who helped bring this page together by allowing me to dig through her stash and then gifted me the stash I loved. LOVE that I can Scrap Someone Else's Stash too LOL.


P.S. If you haven't tried them yet, the title which was cut from another piece of paper was refaced with the new Glaze pens which provided some shine, texture, and a slight bit of height to the page. Easiest embossing I ever did :)

Now it's your turn to take the Challenge.  Just complete "THAT" Project for the October Challenge.  Email a picture of your project along with a description to scrappinpsycho@live.com.  Your submission will be posted here at Scrap Our Stash and you could be chosen to be on the December Guest Design Team.  See all the details below in October Challenge. 

Also, don't miss the Pagerize This Challenge - see all the details in the Pagerize This #3 post below. 

September Challenge by Malina

Guest Design Team Member Malina submitted this two page 12x12 layout titled Makaria, A Heart Dog for the September Border Punch Challenge.  She said, "I used a couple different edge options in an effort to create some unity between the two pages. Using a lace edge punch I ran the length of my pattern paper on the first side but then the width of the page in a layering effect on the second side. Layering an edge punch in this way I find is an inexpensive way of creating depth and texture that might otherwise be sought out using ribbons. Additionally I also used a scallop edge to highlight a photo of Makaria (pronounced Mah-Car-eeah) but this was not done with a punch and instead I used an exacto knife and Fiskar's shape templates.


I hope you enjoy this simple use of edge punching I utilized in my tribute to my heart dog that passed away 2 years ago.

Now it's your turn to take the challenge.  You could be chosen for a spot on our November Guest Design Team.  See all the details in September Challenge below.

Meet Our September Guest Design Team Member - Malina

Hi, my name is Malina Rome and I am so excited to a be a guest designer this month! I guess I have been scrapbooking about ten years. I discovered it while I was a child photographer and shortly after my daughter was born. I laugh now at what was scrapbook art then and what it is now. This is how I tend to view most of my work...as art. I am a designer for my local scrapbook store, "Rochester Scrapbooking Company." I do not just do layouts but mini-albums and paper art and this is becoming my niche with the design team it seems so I am always on the look-out for new ideas and techniques to try.

 I also assist in teaching classes on using the Cricut cutting machines now. I am really grateful that I have that chance and look forward to the opportunity for teaching more classes locally on scrapbooking. I will be published for the first time in Scrapbooking News and Review com Magazine(http://www.scrapbookingnewsandreview.com/) on Aug. 29, 2010 with 4 different layouts!!! I hope you get a chance to check it out because I am super excited and super proud so forgive the shameless promotion lol.

In addition to all this I do own a small home-based/internet-based company called Reflections; Scrapbooking & Paper Keepsakes. In my restructure from local projects for local individuals I am reaching out for something bigger...you can follow that 'bigger' at www.reflectionskeepsakes.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/MalinaofReflections.


I do not have any special style but I do have specific tools I cannot scrap without! I must have my Fiskar's locking spring handled scissors, my five different types of tweezers, my crafting knife, my headlight and my family. My children are my favorite subjects to scrap always and living in MN gives me lots of different environments for great pictures. I used to just scrap big events but now I scrap everything! My favorite inspiration books are from Creating Keepsakes but I believe inspiration can come from ANYWHERE! I especially like "Scrap Our Stash" because I have A LOT of stash. I like to tell my children I have enough paper to scrap for 10 years without buying another piece...but I will keep buying pieces because I have a problem, lol. I am a huge fan of "Scrap Our Stash" and hope to be able to design for them again after this month but if not I will still keep scrapping Kathy's challenges because they are great.

August Challenge

Guest Design Team Member Malina submitted this single 12x12 page layout: Simply Divine for the August Flower Challenge. She said, I dressed up this layout of my daughter Taylor by using some of my favorite purchased flowers. I chose the butterfly for the center as a way to represent what is transpiring this year, the year of 13. Taylor has emerged into a beautiful young woman but also the butterfly is a subtle reminder of the short time she will stay with me, drying her wings, and then fly off on her own...Since it is divine though I needed to dress it all up with silver shimmer mist and Smooches on the butterfly's.

Now it's your turn to take the flower challenge. Just submit your flower project to scrappinpsycho@live.com. Your project will be posted here and you will be eligible to be chosen as a future Guest Design Team Member. See all the details in August Challenge below.

Don't miss our "Pagerize This Challenge" Check out all the details in the "Pagerize This Challenge below.