10 More Days Till...

...Valentine's Day!!!

And I don't know about you, but I LOVE to make this day special for my family. We usually begin the day with homemade buttermilk pancakes in the shape of hearts of course, strawberry milk, sweet place cards with a love note inside, and plenty of kisses. Well, if you are not in the same state of jubilation as I, I have just the remedy! These pics are sure to inspire you...










Aren't some people just amazingly talented! Well, so far I was very inspired by the pic of the sofa table with the XOXO's framed. The designer used marbles, but I liked the idea of paper rosettes. Here is a look at my finished project...

Like I said, 10 more days...hope you are feeling a bit inspired now!!

Frances

Inspiration: Color

Although this time of year can be dull and gray in many parts of the world, there is still so much color inundating us each day. However, even with all that color do you find yourself at a scrapper's road block when you sit down to put a card or page together? Or, you have the perfect idea in your head, but it just doesn't translate well onto your pages? I can definitely raise my hand to both of those! Color doesn't come easily for me for a multitude of reasons. I love looking at pages that have colors and patterns I would never think to put together and those go straight into my "favorites" folder to look back on!

Another remedy is going online to find color and inspiration at so many different sites. My favorite for color inspiration is definitely Creature Comforts. They make it so easy that all you need to do is click on the link on the right labeled "color crush" and this will take you to all their posts that feature color combos. Brilliant, right?! As you scroll down you can get visuals, plus the color combos that they put together for those photos. Some of my favorites are below.

*All photos courtesy of Creature Comforts Blog.

Another incredible feature on their blog is the ability to browse their posts by color. I mean how much more simple can you get?! And for those of us who have no idea where we might want to start color wise then this is perfect! And the images alone give you enough inspiration to start and go crazy with color! I've been on a BIG yellow kick recently so this photo really made me stop for a while:



I love their site for inspiration and definitely recommend it as a starting point whenever you find yourself looking at photos and not quite sure what direction to go in for color. And I'm a sucker for a good block design and I love how they have their photos arranged like that-appeals to my linear side! I go there daily for general inspiration, but most definitely for scrappy inspiration as well!

For those of us tackling the winter blues (and grays, and white, and well, I could go on) then a boost of color is just what we need right now!

Ready to Spark and Sparkle into February?

I am!  February can be such a loving and fun month--and one that will zip by with warmer days only a few short weeks away.  This month we have 2 fabulous issues and one outstanding free kit.  Come and peek with me!

First up is the second issue of our GingerScrapStreet Magazine.  It is filled with love and pretties for digital, hybrid, and traditional scrappers.  Check it out:

Next, we have our original mag--ScrapStreet.com Magazine with two cool new columns and a ton of ideas to spark your scrapping mojo.  Whether you are grabbing hearts, arrows, lace, stars, or ribbon, we have inspiration just for your next project.  Come and see!

Ready for your Wednesday freebie a little early?  I know I am!  This month we are featuring the amazing designs of Chelsea of Caged Bird Designs.  She created a special kit just for our readers called Sparky Connection.  You can download it free for the entire month.

Downloads {elements}  {papers}
Please understand that this kit is for you to download and enjoy.  As with all of our freebies, you may NOT upload them and post them in any other location.  I know it seems horrible that I have to type this, but our site is being pirated with each freebie we post.  Please download with respect.  Thanks.

We hope you have a super month!  May it be filled with love and warmth!

It's getting closer...

It's once again almost time to start the ScrapStreet Operation Write Home Card Drive!

If you are not familiar with this organization, here is their mission:

"Supporting our nation's armed forces by sending

blank handmade greeting cards to write home on,

as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them."

For the past two years, ScrapStreet has held a card drive for this organization that is very near and dear to my heart. My husband is currently serving active duty for the US Army and with another upcoming deployment, every card created and sent through OWH means another card received by a military family back at home.

Last year we almost met our goal of 1000 cards! 859 cards were sent to OWH from ScrapStreet's awesome crafters and 2011 will put that number to shame!

We have already begun planning the two-week drive and you can be sure that it will be filled with amazing guest appearances and many prizes to be received!

What can you do to start preparing for this drive? Here are a few basic guidelines direct from OWH:

1. No Glitter!
2. A2 Sized Cards (4.25 x5.5)
3. Line cards made with dark cardstock.
4. Limit Multiples
5. Any quantity is just fine.
6. Some lumpiness is ok.
7. Do NOT handwrite sentiments.
8. Use quality supplies.
9. Kids should make AnyHero cards only.
10. Absolutely NO storebought cards!

Click here to read more detailed information regarding the card making guidelines.

Keep an eye out on our blog and Facebook page for more upcoming information regarding the drive!

Free Sunny Wednesday

Hi all!  Are you ready for the last piece of the Sweet Sunshine digi kit?  Today we are having a "heat wave" here in Chicagoland.  Which simply means that the temps have almost reached 40.  Clearly the weather dudes and I have COMPLETELY different definitions of the word "heat".  I did pick up a bunch of tulips at Target this week to try and trick myself into believing that spring really is right around the corner.

I will let you know when it starts working.

Until then, here are the elements for my Sweet Sunshine kit. I hope you enjoy playing with it as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Sweet Sunshine

Download {link expired}

Today we have the elements filled with flowers and sunshine!.  The link is good until next Wednesday when it is time for a new freebie!.  

I hope you enjoy a little bit of sunshine from my world to yours!

National Thank You Month

Source

Did you know that January is National Thank You Month? As crafters, this gives us a great excuse (as we really need one) to create beautiful cards or projects to thank those that mean so much to us.

In honor of this, I challenge you to create/say as many thank yous to people in your life. Two simple words that can mean so much to someone who is having a bad day or who is feeling unappreciated.


I created this small token to give to my Mother-in-law. We do not always see eye-to-eye but I am thankful for her wisdom and advice.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, The Paper Studio, Stickers: SRM Stickers,Felt: Jillibean Soup,

Glitter: Ranger (Stickles), Adhesive: GlueDots, Ink: Clearsnap, Other: floral wire.

A big thank you to our readers! Your submissions to our magazines keep us smiling and continue to fuel our passion for this amazing past-time!

Have a wonderful week!

I've Been Going Crazy Over Canvas!!!

Happy Thursday Everyone! Scrapstreet DT member, Aymee Gandy, here with you today. How are you doing today? I hope you all are having a fabulous day! I have to confess...I have a new scrappy obsession!!! Altering canvases!!! I had never even purchased a blank canvas and while visiting my Mom in Alabama, I spied a package of these 11x14 canvases! Well I immediately pulled one out and got to work. I had so much fun, I had to create 3 more!

First up, I created a canvas for my scrappy studio. My husband and I just moved into a new home and I am in the process of re-doing my scrappy area. I want to go with a new color theme of pink and green. So I made this canvas for me. I started with a base of green paint that I diluted a tad. I then created my own argyle patterned stencil and went over the green with some brown paint to create my patterned background. Next, I cut all of my elements either out of patterned paper or through the use of my Cricut Die Cutting machine, cartridges, and SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot Software). Of course, I had to add my southernbelle silhouette (since I am known as the scraphappy southernbelle) to my canvas. I also added my initials. Here is my finished project:

Next up, I made this canvas as a birthday gift for my sister in law. I again painted the base in a blue color and then added the argyle pattern on top. The chandelier and initials are all cut with adhesive vinyl. I also added some butterflies and rhinestones for added dimension.

Next up, I created this canvas for my Mom. She teaches 5th grade and always likes to have hand made items hanging outside her door at school or in her classroom. So I thought this canvas would be pretty for spring. I cut some patterned paper for the design on this one.

Last, this one is for my 5 year old nephew, Carter. He is quite the crafter himself. He loves to come in the scrap room with his Aunt Mamie and create. He helped me to do this one. He wanted a canvas with a blue background to match his room. He then wanted his name spelled out in a LEGO looking font and then colored circles. I cut the name and circles with adhesive vinyl. So this one is completely from his imagination. He wants to add some LEGO pieces to it...of course he tells me this after the fact....LOL!

Also, I wanted to mention that I sealed each of these so that they would be protected.

I hope you have enjoyed these and that it will inspire you to do some canvas creating of your own!

Happy Scrappin'!

Aymee Gandy