B/W Color Inspiration - Day 3

In addition to rockin the die cut pattern paper...Designer Shelley Haganman created this beautiful creation with a color and a black/white photo!

I hope she inspired you to mix black/white and color photos on a layout....Visit the blog all week for more color and black/white photo inspiration.

And be sure to share your layouts mixing black/white and color photos too!

--Michelle

B/W Color Inspiration - Day 2

I actually had to pay my 7.5 year old son to pose for a few photos for me a few weeks ago. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to scrap some of his 'wonderful' traits he inherited from me. I enlarged the photo of Andrew in black and white and I added one small color photo of me.

I hope you are inspired to mix black/white and color photos on a layout....Visit the blog all week for more color and black/white photo inspiration.

--Michelle

Mixing Color and Black/White Photos - Day 1

I hope you had a great weekend! It was hot hot hot here in North Carolina.


Your challenge this week is to use color and black/white photos on a layout. Mix it up. And of course, have fun with it.


I love how Design Team Member Megan's photos are all awesome on this layout. But the one color photo here really stands out. I love how only one of the numbers is in color too!

I hope Megan inspired you to mix black/white and color photos on a layout....Visit the blog all week for more color and black/white photo inspiration.

--Michelle

Gallery inspiration...

I always get excited each time I visit our gallery & see the new layouts that have been added. Today, I pulled a few from my favorites folder to highlight...

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This first one is by dorrie... love the circles, the stamping, the little series of photos, oh...& her use of white space...wonderful!

Brandy's use of the alpha on this one just blows me away!

Love how Angie tilted the elements on this page...great design!

Janet's patchwork, punching, & her journaling...love it all!

And this great 8.5x11 by sillypea...well, everything about this is right up my alley.

Be sure to head on over to the gallery and upload your creations today! Your work may just be highlighted here by one of our design team members in the near future!

Happy scrappin...

...megan

The Paper Life Podcast!

Our own Kim Garner did a podcast with Amy Coon from The Paper Life !!
Showcasing The Story Matters (and Scrapaganza, of course too!)Be sure to tune in to hear all about Kim Garner and what she has to say about her "paper life"!

"A Bend in the Road" and GD clues!

This weeks challenge, is inspired by our June kits name-"A Bend in the Road" by Nicholas Sparks.
If you haven't figured it out already, each kit is named after something literary. We reserve the right to choose children's books, novels, works of non-fiction and fiction alike.Even periodicals... you name it. :)
The kit will call out it's name. Well, that has been the case so far. :)

So we thought each title would be worthy of it's own challenge each month.
Use the title to spur you. If you have read the book, then let that be your guide... it's up to you.
I'll be back with my inspiration, while you mull over your take!

In the meantime, I thought I would give you some more information about our guest designer!
Here is her bio. With name missing. :)
First one to tell me who she is gets the custom "The Button Box" buttons!


Our Guest Designer... is a 25 year old Animator/Aftereffects Artist by day, living a step away from the beach in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She needs to cut some paper on the daily - it becomes vital after doing it for 13 years! She is a quiet-but-chatty girl who thrives on a good indie film, wears skull shirts and steel gray nailpolish, and would kill for a daily year-round gingerbread latte. She has a big crush on bright colors, monsters, Tim Burton, knitting, handmade goodies, doilies, vintage needlepoint, moustaches, old books, and Edward Gorey, and can't live without acrylic paint, embroidery thread, her sewing machine, Stazon, and walnut ink. She's excited to be design-teaming for Sassafras Lass and her little paper company, Bubbly Shnooks, this year - and is also super-happy to be contributing to Crate Paper & Bella Blvd in early 2010, as well. In the past, she has been published in Creating Keepsakes & Papercrafts magazines, and has also designed for Pink Paislee, Fancy Pants Designs, Red Velvet Kit Club, and Kenner Road, among others. Alongside scrapbooking and her day job, she also likes to indulge in fun crafty things like illustrating, embroidering, printmaking, art-journalling, and book-binding - but it's her top choice to settle in for some messy creating with Regina Spektor playing and a good cup of coffee - because scrapbooking is her favorite!

So... who is it? :)

Midweek challenge inspo...

Don't forget about our cool sketch challenge. Here is the sketch again, along with some awesome inspiration from a few of our talented designers:

From Andrea:

From Megan:

Amazing work, ladies! Thanks for participating!

How 'bout a little hint for our July guest designer? Let me tell you, she is one of the most amazing scrappers I've ever seen. Her work is just, really really fabulous! I promise you will be inspired. Now for a hint...she shares her first name with one of our lovely DT gals. Any guesses?

Have a great Thursday! XOXO

OK, let me (Penny) help you out a little! (Amy's TOUGH isn't she??)
THESE little cuties were created by our guest! :)

Did that help at all?? :)
How about we give away a little set of custom buttons from The Button Box If you get it right? :)

It's sneak peek time (July)...

Are you as excited as I am??? July's kit is fabulous, and the designers really knocked it out of the park with their peeks. Without further ado:

Megan:

Shelley:

Andrea:

Michelle:

Tania:

Amy:

There you have it! I told you, amazing, right? Don't forget the sketch challenge posted below, and stay tuned for some more inspiration and a clue to our July guest designer!!!

Woohoo, it's my week!!!

Hey everyone, Amy here and I am excited to be hanging out here this week.  I also have a great challenge for you.  I love sketches, and I use them any time I can as a jumpstart.  Sometimes I stick strickly to the sketch, and other times you can barely tell my layout was based on it, LOL.  Here is the sketch this week:

And this is the layout I did using it.  I flipped it, and then it sort of took off.  Although my layout doesn't look exactly like the sketch, you can still see some similarities.

So let's see where this sketch takes YOU!  Please create a layout/card/project using the sketch and link us up to win a prize!  You can upload your layout right into our gorgeous gallery, but make sure to put *June sketch* in the title and a comment here so we know you were playing along.  I will pick my fave on Sunday, June 20th, and post a winner that afternoon.

Hope your Monday has been wonderful!  Thanks for stopping by!!!

Mid week Challenge Inspiration!

Our fabulous Megan Klauer felt inspired by this weeks challenge "A Day in The Life" and creted a layout about how she gets to take her baby to work with her while she is young!A cool aspect to this layout is that she did one previously about her next oldest getting to come to work with her too!

And check out THIS layout by Amy Coose! HELLO creative way to use the chipboard flower negative!!! YUM! And the SEWING!

Thank you Amy for sharing YOUR day with us in this layout! Our lives change so fast, we'll all be glad we recorded this little things!

Doing a layout about "A Day in your Life" every so often, allows you to compare your life, and to remember the details that are SURE to get lost if you do not record them!

I for one am inspired to do a contrast in a layout about my life day to day when I had babies/toddlers compared to today when all my children are school age! WHAT a contrast!

So get those those creative juices flowing, create and tell your story!!

A Day in Your Life!

Are you ready for another Challenge?

I know I'm dying to use some more of this fabbie kit.

BUT FIRST!

BLOG HOP RESULTS:

Can you believe we had well over 100 hoppers.

That's Amazing!

And out of that number ...

The winner is ANGIE BALK

She wins We R Memory Keepers "Show & Tell"

And Here's some FABBIE NEWS I get to pass on...

All current subscribers, refer a friend, and you both get $5 off your next months kit!

Put code TSMLove in the notes at checkout!

Ok, This is Awesomer!

OKAY BACK TO THE CHALLENGE!

We want to see your what you do everyday.

Scrap "A Day in your Life"

I'm still wiped from Hop, Hop, Hoppin',

So I'll be back tomorrow with my take on this awesome challenge.

Bree

Blog Hop!!!

Welcome to our first blog hop, and to our June kit Reveal!

You're gonna love this months kit.

June's kit is called {a bend in the road} and has lots of great papers and colors!

Purchase this kit here:

Each designer has their June layouts posted on their blog, so be sure to check those out as you're blog hoppin!

Here's how it works...

Check out everyone's blogs in this order:
Shelley
Tania
Penny
Andrea
Bree
Megan
Michelle
Amy
Kim
Candi
Lain

and collect each word from the TSM typewriter.

Once you have the phrase complete from all 11 blogs, send it to us at info@thestorymatters.com for your chance at this great prize!

Goodies from the new We Are Memory Keepers {Show & Tell} line!

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Don't forget to check out the layouts by our amazing guest designer...

Lisa Truesdell! We are so excited to have her with us this month! Thank you Lisa!

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Start filling up our GALLERY with your amazing work!

We have an exciting new feature coming soon!

Your Story Matters...

...so this week, we are going to give you the opportunity to showcase your telling your story any way you want! No "challenge". Just creating... emphasis on the telling. :)

Upload a layout were you REALLY journal. Your telling your story, not just telling us who, where and when...
Letting those feelings out... just writing what you felt in the moment, or really going over the details!
It can even be an old favorite, like mine above, that makes you feel good that you captured the feelings of the moment!

Free for all(journaling-wise)!

As we REALLY focus on journaling-and getting back to our roots, we want to see your creations telling your story!

Might even be a little something in it for you!! :)
Tell us here in the comments and link up to your gallery upload!

Like a challenge, we will be drawing from those uploaded by Sunday at midnight CST.

Can't wait to see what ya got!