August 13th, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 7 Comments »
Hello to all of my scrappy friends! Let’s all get comfy and talk a little bit about JOURNALING. I know that any of you that know me, KNOW how much I am obsessed with journaling. I love telling the story. I love documenting the rare moments in life, the fun times and even the hard times. Our Facebook Fans have probably noticed that I’ve been a little MIA lately and I can attribute it to the fact that life right now is kicking me in the pants. But you know what? It’s been quite character building and thankfully I have come out of things a stronger person. (Well, I hope anyway!)
I knew that I wanted to document not only *my* feelings right now, but the feelings of my sweet husband, at this time in our life. He was a champ and wrote up his thoughts, which of course caused me to grab the tissues. I love that man! I’m so thankful for this fantastic hobby, which truly has become my visual journal. I know that I don’t ever want to forget what we, as a couple, have managed to conquer and what we have gained from lifes trials!
I also love that I have documented for our posterity, exactly what my husband feels for me and what I feel for him. Life gets so busy that I know if I didn’t take the time to make an effort to preserve our thoughts on paper, that our great, great grandchildren may never have an idea of what we really felt for each other.
I really wanted this layout to be a peek into our souls, and loved the photo that I took of my husband where you can see my reflection in his sunglasses and thought that it would portray the theme of my layout about what we see in each other. I also love how perfectly today’s steal complimentes the feel of the layout with the rich colors.
My challenge to you is to take some time next time you are wanting to create something, to choose one thing that will really capture what you are experiencing right now….whether it be the challenges that you face as a mother, (cause let’s face it…..motherhood ain’t all peaches and cream!), the feelings you have for your significant other, the trials that you are currently facing, or even the current way that you feel about yourself! Scrapbooking is such a treasure. It’s real. It’s theraputic. It can be a great peek into who you really are.
Also don’t forget that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE seeing what you create! Either share a link with us here, or post them to our Facebook Fan Page.
Wishing you all of the best in creative mojo! Oh and don’t be surprised to see another journaling challenge coming from me soon!
August 11th, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 4 Comments »
Can you believe it’s Wednesday again already? I am here to tell you…this week has been quite the workout for me! I’m also here to tell you how happy I am that I had Mid Week Mojo to put a little bit of consistency in my life and allow me a little time to do something that I love! I hope you girls all look forward to finding a little time for yourselves as much as I do, cause as we are such busy women and mommies, it’s so important to take some time to fill your own personal well!
I simply cannot believe how incredible the layouts from last weeks sketch are. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, be sure to check out our Fan Photos on Facebook. I love so much how each of you are able to take the sketch and make it work for you! I have absolutely LOVED reading the stories behind the layouts as well.
This week our random winner for the Mid-Week Mojo drawing is Lisa Zubritsky.
Did you know that this is Lisa’s first Mid-Week Mojo? I was so excited when I read that! I love how Lisa pretty much stuck to the sketch and included photos of not only her hunny and their peanut, but a photo of herself as well. I think it’s so important that our children know what we looked like throughout our phases in life! Lisa, be sure to send us an email to orders@scrapbooksteals.com and we will get a little something sent out to you for participating!
This weeks sketch is a pretty simple one photo page, with a tiny spot for journaling and a little room for some embellies. (Note, please overlook the incredibly dried out sharpie marker. Another piece of evidence at the week it’s been! But hey…makes me a little more ‘real’, right?)
I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for Halloween. I mean after all, it *is* the day that I met my husband, nearly 21 years ago now. (Oh my word, that makes me officially OLD!) When I saw that today’s steal was Halloween themed, I had to use it! I love, love, love the My Minds Eye kits as it’s so easy to complete an entire layout using the product.
I love how adding a little bit of ink to the edges of the papers made for the perfect touch to this Halloween layout!
So there you have it! Hopefully you can find some time to create! I know I’m needing some more therapy, so I’m glad that I have an absolutely fantastic kit to work with for Friday!
Be sure to add your layouts to our Facebook Fan Page, or post them on your own blog, and leave a comment here telling us where we can find them! Make sure they are posted by next Monday at midnight in order to be considered in our random drawing! We loooooooooooooove to see your comments and to hear what you think about everything!
Until next time, happy scrappin’!
August 10th, 2010 by { ♥angie } ∴ 1 Comment »
Would you say you’re ADDICTED to ScrapbookSteals? It’s okay because we have your therapy.
♥ you are invited ♥
to a Steal Network SoS party!
What is SoS? Society of Stealers (SoS) is 12-step (once a month) program with a group of women banded together by one commonality…stealing. Check out more info on the group here. Step 1: admit you have a problem. Many of you did that last month. Step 2: find a support group! Time to find local Steals addicts who will call you when you slept through your alarm; steal for you when you can’t; even steal with you so you can share shipping! Ladies, it’s time to form your local SoS chapters! Go to the Facebook fan page discussion board and set up your own local chapters for our next meeting or join some already created on BabySteals. The chapter with the most members will get a special treat! You don’t want to miss out!
Who ♥ Society of Stealers
What ♥ Steal Network *slumber party* ! Okay, all the girly activities, minus the slumber. We aren’t actually going to spend the night. 
Locals, join the Steal Network crew in your jamies for some slumber party-themed fun! Did I mention there will be chocolate? Everyone else join us for a live chat! Create your own local meet-ups and video in or send photos.
When ♥ Thursday, August 26, 2010, 7 pm MST
Where ♥ Salt Lake City, Utah or cyberspace
Why ♥ Because you need your Steals fix!
August 6th, 2010 by { ♥melodee } ∴ 30 Comments »
Today’s Steal is really one of my favorites. It took us a while to get them back but I am so excited to have them again! The Camera Bags from All My Memories have been a favorite of mine for years. I so love all the little pockets and how you can keep a photo right on the bag. I have actually been using one for my cell phone for about 4 years now. I can hook it to any purse or diaper bag I am using and it gives me a little splash of color and somewhere to grab that phone easily. Luckily I have several cameras as well so my husband thinks I needed them (although I really just use most of them as purses). So while Today’s Steal isn’t quite as crafty as some of our steals, you need that camera to take the photos before you make the layouts right? Now you can keep your cameras safe and sound!
The other thing we all need is friends, right? What would our lives be with out them? I can say for sure I would be stuck in the funny farm! So let’s get some more friends. I know we talked about some super-sized hints for more Facebook Fans, but I think it is time to up the ante. Incentives are what we all need, right? So how about some prizes? If we can get our Facebook Fans up to 10,000 we will have a give away for a My Mind’s Eye Breaking Free Mega Kit. If we get our fans up to 12,000 we will give away THREE My Mind’s Eye Breaking Free Mega Kits! If we get up to 14,000 we will give away SIX kits and so on and so on…
Here are the details: This contest will run one week from today. In order to be entered into the giveaways you will need to post a comment here on the blog that you had friends that joined our fun Facebook community. We will have a random drawing from all of the blog posts next Friday, Aug 13th (cuz that’s my birthday too). So your posts need to be received by midnight Aug 12th.
August 4th, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 2 Comments »
WOO HOO! Can you believe it’s Wednesday again? I am so glad that you all seem to be loving the Mid-Week Mojo sketch. Every time I have a minute to swing by the Facebook Fan Page to see what you girls have created it’s truly a treat! I have had the opportunity several times this week to tell people about how wonderful you all are, and how inspiring you are to me with what you create!
This week our sketch is honestly nothing like I had originally planned! That’s the beauty of the sketches is that it’s merely a spring board for ideas! In fact, what transpired is so different from what I had sketched out, I do believe that my sketch for next week is already in place! Let’s see if I can follow it a little closer next time!
I was excited to be able to incorporate one of the Abbey Road kit’s from today’s steal into my layout. The pink and blue worked perfectly with the refreshing feel of my layout.
On Monday I went up the canyon to play in the refreshingly cool water with my hunny and our 3 little ones. I love the photos that my husband took so much that I wanted to incorporate more of a timeline into this sketch. I also allowed a decent journaling block so that I could really share the story of the day!
I am so horrible with keeping a regular journal that every now and again, I truly try to incorporate enough journaling to tell a little more of our history than just a few lines.
I like how this sketch allows for a little embellie craziness along the left side of the page! Nothing like a load of buttons to spice things up!
Now don’t forget that we want to give a little something back to you for participating. Each week we have a random winner from the Mojo challenge and this week our winner is LISA STANLEY. I love what she did with the sketch from last week. I love that she worked it to work for her photos. Lisa, send us your address to orders@scrapbooksteals.com, and we will send you out a little something!
Every time we go swimming at my aunts house I take a bajillion photos of the kids going off of the diving board, and what she did with this layout truly inspires me to scrap them! Finally!
All right girls. Now to find a little time for some scrappin’! Remember to post your layouts by next Monday at midnight for your chance to be our next weeks winner!
August 2nd, 2010 by { ♥melodee } ∴ 39 Comments »
So I made it through the trip! Barely anyway. I sort of feel like I was hit by a truck but that is what it’s like when you travel I guess. I must be getting old because it has taken me a few days to recover and have a chance to tell you all about my trip. I had such a great time at CHA and I saw some awesome new products! I was also able to secure some fantastic things for you all at ScrapbookSteals! Some great items from our favorites and some new products from new vendors. I will not however give away too much info on that since you know how we love to make you crazy with curiosity.
My Mind’s Eye is one of all of our favorites and their new product line from this show…YUMMM! I can’t even explain how much I love this one. With all the wonder of what we have come to expect from My Mind’s Eye – this one even tops their previous products. We all love glitter paper, but now we have DOUBLE SIDED Glitter paper and Die Cut Glitter paper. Nothing better than that!
All over the summer CHA Show we see Halloween and Christmas collections to get ready for the upcoming Holiday. This year in the Christmas products we have seen a little bit of purple show up. I never knew how much I would LOVE that! I hadn’t ever thought of it but I am seriously in love.
I know I will sound biased here about my favorite Halloween line from the show, but my good friend Madison at Echo Park Paper has knocked it out of the park! I have known him for years but I may actually go out and buy this product! I just love how most of the papers are Halloween themed, but a lot of the patterns aren’t and I can use them for anything.
I have to say I am in love with the new Sew Easy tools from We R Memory Keepers. I had visions of cards and layouts in my mind every night after looking at this one. With interchangeable tops for the Stitch Piercer, you can make so many different patterns. So so cool.
I know you love hearing about new products but you are all thinking in the back of your mind, what about us? What did you get for us at ScrapbookSteals? I will say we have great new products lined up for storage, home decor projects and of course our regular scrapbooking and card making. Bad hints, huh? Well we all know I am not all that good at giving hints, but let’s do a trade. Hints for Facebook Fans. We need a contest anyway right? Go suggest all of your friends become fans on our Facebook Fan Page. Then come back to the blog and comment how many people you suggested become fans. We will do a random drawing of all of the posts for a prize AND for every 250 new fans, you will get a supersized hint of something to come. You have until Thursday night at Midnight so go get cracking!
We are going to have a blast around here the next few months! Now I need a nap! Will I ever recover from my whirlwind trip?
July 28th, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 4 Comments »
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh yes! Can you believe it’s Mid Week Mojo time again? I have seriously LOVED seeing what you girls have all done with the sketches posted on our Facebook Fan page. Evey time I log online, it seems that there is another genuinely beautiful creation posted!
I know you are all excited to see who was the random winner of last weeks sketch. Thanks to Random.Org the winner of last weeks mojo challenge is the daughter of Elizabeth Martinez. I <3 that she joined in the sketch challenge and spent some time with her mom creating! I have to tell you, this girl has a bright future as a scrapper. Elizabeth, if you can send me an email to orders@scrapbooksteals.com, we will be happy to get your daughter sent out a little something to nurture her scrapbooking talents along! Her layout is fantastic! Under no circumstances will you be allowed to see one of *my* first pages. LOL!
For this weeks sketch at the last minute, I decided to actually dig into my stash so that we could keep with the “Christmas” theme of today’s steal. I’m truly not much of an event scrapper, so I have to admit that even 18 months later, I’m still pretty genuinely pleased with how this layout turned out. (And don’t tell my kids that they will likely not see another Christmas themed layout for years to come! Shhhhh! Our secret. Okay?!?!)
This sketch may be a bit of a challenge for some of you! It’s a 2 pager! Then there are those of you that are such 2 pager super stars that this should be a breeze for you to adapt!
My layout actually houses a total of 16 different photos. You can see where I adapted the sketch to fit smaller photos. I love printing my photos at home so that I can make them the exact size that I see in my brain! And seriously….if I’m only going to scrap Christmas once every decade, I’d better make it count!
I was so in love with today’s Christmas in July kit, that I couldn’t help myself and create a little something new for you to see! I positively LOVE how versatile the papers are in this kit. Not only can they be used to create awesome Christmas projects, cards and neighbor gifts……..
But also fantastic for creating an every day layout!
So there you have it! Can’t wait to see your Mid Week Mojo layouts popping up! Make sure they are posted to our Facebook Fan page, or to your blog by next Monday at midnight for a chance to win next weeks drawing! Also leave us a comment here with a link so we don’t miss out on your wonderful creations!
Happy Merry Mid Week Mojo Scrappin’!
July 23rd, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 4 Comments »
If you are EVER stumped for a title for a layout, then today’s steal is PERFECT for you! This kit provides a ton of different title options to make your srapbook pages a snap!
When I was sifting through the plethora of titles to choose from I was caught up on the ‘sweet puppy’. Now this is a little strange for me being as I don’t have a dog, don’t particularly love dogs and don’t have a single photo of one, yet….I still wanted to use this title. I had so much fun putting a quick shout out on my Facebook page for someone to send me a cute puppy photo! Wow. I had so many darling photos to choose from, but settled on this photo of Gizmo, as she belongs to one of our very own ScrapbookStealers, Natalie O. I figured if I was going to create a page, I may as well do it for someone that also has the love of scrapbooking! Natalie, thank you so much! I hope you like the page!
I think Natalie had to laugh (I hope), when I sent her another email after receiving the photo, begging for some journaling. I know, I know….I just can’t seem to do a page without! Her journaling was very sweet and complimented the photo to perfection!
I love how easily the Transfer Titles made this layout to finish off. You know how some rubons love their buddies? These ones applied like buttah! So if you are looking for a snappy way to make a ton of cute pages…these Transfer Titles are for you!
July 21st, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 4 Comments »
Oh my word girls…I am *so* over the moon excited about our weekly sketch challenge. In fact, I was a little crazy and went to bed at 12:30 this morning, and woke up at 2AM. No worries I did finally make it back to sleep at 4 and then up at 6. LOL! Anyhow, I laid there stewing and stewing while being kicked repeatedly by my boy that decided to climb into our bed, over what to call our weekly sketch challenge. Of course I was too lazy to get out of bed and see what awesome suggestions you girls have given, but then it hit me….it’s a MID WEEK MOJO boost! Not sure if the name will stick, but I kind of like it!
So………..are you ready, are you ready, are you ready? Huh? Huh? Huh? Sheesh! I sound like one of my kids getting all excited about something! Well, I AM excited! I absolutely ADORE seeing how you girls interpret the basic design sketches that I have made.
Today’s sketch is a one photo sketch.
I go through phases where I want to squeeze in a lot of photos onto one page, but I also adore blowing up my favorite photo from an event to really show what is going on. This sketch really creates a great showcase for the photo as well as provides a nice sized journaling block and option for a fun paper mix!
You can see in my version of the sketch where I substituted the circle spots for hearts. I also added an array of flowers and butterflies. Yeah…I’m not sure that really goes with the whole ‘soopah stah’ theme, but I love the green grass in the background of the photo and really wanted to play that up with a natural feel.
Now let’s talk a little bit about those butterflies………………..oh wow. They were SO much fun to create. Now I’m not much of a stamper. I’ll wholeheartedly admit it. However, I really wanted to incorporate the cute butterfly stamps that are part of the Martha Stewart Embossing Kit that we are offering today. I popped open the kit, mounted the stamps onto the acrylic block and set to use the embossing ink pad that comes with the kit. I’m here to tell you, that ink pad positively ROCKS MY WORLD. I’m truly not just saying that either. In fact I had to call Melodee and squeal to her about it, as to how it provides the *perfect* amount of ink every time. Not too much. Not too little. In fact, I was a little worried when I stamped my paper as the image completely disappeared. With ink pads that I have used in the past it’s so ‘juicy’ that I can still see the image, and often times results in too much ink so the intricate, small details of a stamped image are lost in the embossing process. I went for it and added the embossing powder and at that moment, my friends, true love set in! <3 <3 <3 (awwwwww!) 
I really liked cutting out the embossed images and adding some pop dots to the back of them, to add a little dimension to my project. I liked the feeling of not being tied as to where on the project the embossed images would go. Plus, like I said before, I’m a challenged stamper, and I would fear immensely messing something up if I were to heat emboss directly on the layout. This way if you do mess up, it’s simple….just make another one!
I hope that you girls have fun with this weeks sketch. Please share them with us on our Facebook Fan Page, or if you don’t Facebook, share us a link here in the comments.
All layouts that are shared online by Monday, July 26th at midnight will be qualified for a drawing for some free blog scrapbooking booty! I will share the random winner with our Mid Week Mojo next Wednesday!
Now get those kids napping so you can create.
July 16th, 2010 by { ♥Kristy Lee } ∴ 4 Comments »
Okay, tell me the truth…am I the only one that remembers that shampoo commercial whose slogan was ‘Don’t hate me because I have beautiful hair’? Or does this make me old? I mean let’s face it, I’m gettin’ up there, but I’m not as seasoned as Martha Stewart, the creator of today’s fantastic steal. I <3, adore, fancy and embrace 100% the border punches by Martha. The woman is seasoned not only in years, but in craftylicious goodness! In fact Martha’s punches are so phenomenal that I had to create something with each one of them that are our steal today!
The first layout that I created I grabbed the embossed zigzag punch.
Now I’m tellin’ ya. These punches work like buttah! Super smooth, crisp and clean cuts. Easy peasy to use! And I love the fact that the punches have a printed guideline so that you can precisely punch down the entire length of a 12×12 piece of paper!
I absolutely adore this photo that I took of my little trouble maker and thought the zig zag punch would make the perfect added touch for a photo mat. After all the crazy little dude keeps me zig zagging from one thing to the next…ALL DAY LONG!
Now for any of you that know me, you know that journaling is an essential part of any creation!
The next punch I used was the floral lace punch.
This punch screams sweetness. It screams, baby, girly, victorian, frilly, elegant and charming! I couldn’t resist using the punch to create a darling border for this baby card.
Now the final layout that I created using the arch lattice punch makes me absolutely giggle.
It’s just one of those stories in life that I had to preserve in a layout so that I would never forget it.
Just two days ago my cute 15 year old daughter was getting busy with my Xyron sticker maker….well….you know what? I’ll let you read the journaling. That’s why it’s there….right?
Don’t you have to agree that this border punch lends the perfect finishing touch to this graphically whimsical layout? Indeed!
Well there you have it! Martha. You’ve outdone yourself with the punches….you crafty little diva, you!
Don’t forget to stop by on Wednesday for our weekly sketch challenge!
Until then…as always…happy scrappin’!
