July 2010 Kit Projects- Kit #2

Take a look at what DT Coordinator Jen made with TTT July 2010 kit #2- Basic Grey Max and Whiskers!

Jen's Designs:

July 2010 Kit Projects- Kit #3

Take a look at the wonderful creations made by designers Chrissy and Carrie with July 2010 kit #3-Little Yellow Bicycle Boardwalk!

Chrissy's Designs:



Carrie's Designs:

July Layout Challenge 2010

Summer is officially in high gear! Whether you're enjoying the warm weather or suffering through the heat, I bet you probably have a few "summer" photos by now.

Show me some sun-drenched, water-soaked FUN! Get creative. For this challenge, you must include glitter and at least one "Summer" type element i.e. a sun, patio umbrella, flip-flop, etc. It can be a sticker, embellishment, paper-piecing or whatever fits your page.

Please make sure to upload your LO in the Monthly Challenge Gallery-July folder or link your LO via comments on the blog here by midnight PST on July 31st. The page needs to be new and created for this challenge. One winner will be drawn to win a TTT prize pack. Anyone can participate and you can use whatever scrap materials you want to. It does not need to be created with a TTT kit.

July 2010 Monthly Kit Contest

Happy birthday, America!

In honor of Independence Day, create a layout using both stars AND stripes. Think outside just red, white, and blue...this can done with any TTT kit. This is a great chance to create something about a "star" in your life!

Now onto the small print:
The main requirement is that you need to use a kit from Transparent Touches, any kit. Please refer to the rules post in this forum for additional details.

Due date this month will be midnight CST July 31st. Winner will be determined by drawing.

You can enter as many times as you like. 2 page LOs count as one entry.

You can post your pages two ways: in this thread, tell us you've uploaded in the TTT User gallery under the "June Contest Work Gallery" or by giving us a link to your LO via a comment on the blog post.

If you have any questions, please send me a pm or post here. Thanks so much and have fun!

July Member Spotlight

by Nathalie

Anytime Star shares one of her pages with us at Transparent Touches, it is a treat for the eyes. I really like her style and wanted to know a little more about the person behind the pages :) She accepted to answer a few of my questions. Thank you Star!

1/Your TTT member name?

ScrappinStar

2/Tell us a bit about yourself and your family (and pets?)
I am married to my high school sweetie & we have 2 wonderful boys. Mason, 7 & Trent, 5 and we are raising my brother Eric, 12. We have a golden retriever & 2 cats. We live in a tiny town in Illinois, the nearest scrap store is 45minutes away.

3/How did you get started in scrapbooking? How long have you been scrapbooking?
My husband was the one who got me hooked by bringing home a Creating Keepsakes magazine from work soon after my 1st son was born. I didn't even know then that you could scrap that way, I had only seen Creative Memories stuff before.

4/What are your favorite place and time to scrap?
I love scrapping at crops but that rarely happens. Lately I have been pulling out my stuff in the living room and doing it after the kids go to bed. I miss my desk though! I condensed my stuff because our house in on the market.

5/What is your favorite scrapbooking technique right now?
I am finding myself distressing & sewing everything!

"Simply Imagine" by Star

6/What product(s) are you addicted these days?
I really love border punches, I just wished I owned more of them....and I really wish I used my cricut more!

7/What inspires you creatively?
Ever since I started designing for TwistedSketches.com I have started using sketches all the time! I never used to use them, but now I get inspired by the designs and it makes my work much faster!

8/What brought you to TTT?
I have always been a monthly kit lurker...I have to be certain I will love them before I commit. I first found TTT from Carrie Labani's blog because I know Carrie from another scrap site. I have watched the kits go up every month and I always love what Monica picks!

9/What do you enjoy the most about TTT?
I really love that Monica gives you the choice between 3 kits, and she shows them to you early...I really cant stand to wait for the reveal!

10/Do you have anything on your scrappy wish list?
I would really love to have a tall "scrapbox"...or a craft room all to myself!

11/What is something about you that we may not know??
I just won a drawing for a free Maggie Holmes photography class! woohoo!

To see more about Star's work, you can visit her blog at http://starsstory.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed getting to know her as much as I did! Thanks again Star!

June Winners

I would like to thank the June challenge and kit contest participants! It was a lot of fun to see your interpretations of both! And now, the moment you have been waiting for!

The winner of the June monthly challenge is: Tammy (aka: sneakybacon) with her cute page about her daughter's favorite animal, "Sheepy":

And the winner for the monthly kit contest is: Star (ScrappinStar) with her wonderful page "Explore Nature":

Congratulations to both of you! Make sure you email Monica so that she can send you your prizes! The July challenge and kit contest will be posted shortly and I hope to see a lot more pages!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Project with instructions: 4th of July banner

by Nathalie

This post is photo heavy but don't let that make you think that it is a difficult project because it is quite the opposite! And thanks to a free printable download you don't even need any patterned papers!!!

Supplies:

- 3 sheets of 8.5X11 cardstock (in white or cream)

- old book page

- red paper scrap

- alphas

1/ Go to Tricia-Rennea's blog to download and print the pennants: http://triciarennea.blogspot.com/2010/06/red-white-and-blue.html

I printed them on cream cardstock to give the banner a little vintage look but I think it would also look stunning on white cardstock.

2/ Cut and score the pennants:

3/I then added stitching details but they are totally optional!

4/ Punch small circles out of the scraps of cardstock you printed on to use as backing to the "yo-yos" (I don't really know how they are called!). Cut paper strips from an old book to about 1"X8" and score them at 1/4" intervals before folding as shown below:

5/ Glue the ends of the strip together and the bottom onto a circle. It is not easy to keep them flat so I added a bottle of paint on top of them while the glue dried.

6/ I then cut circles and stars from red scrap paper and added the alphas on top:

And with next to nothing, you have a fun home decoration for this weekend!

Thank you Tricia-Rennea for the awesome downloads!

Sketch idea with sample layout: transforming an 8.5X11 sketch into a 6X12 page

by Nathalie

I love to look for different options when using a sketch. Rather than automatically use the format given, I look at it and see if I can interpret it in a different format. Some sketches are really adaptable and when I found this one on pagemaps, I could easily imagine it as a 6X12 by simply narrowing it down a bit:

Here is my interpretation:

If you give this sketch a try (whether in 8.5X11 or in ANY other format!) or if you would like to share with us another sketch format change, please link us to your creations! I would love to leave you a comment!

And stop by in a couple of days because I will have a brand new 4th of July project to share with you!

A reminder and a favorite summer recipe

by Nathalie

You have two more days to submit your pages for the June monthly kit contest and for the June challenge! And there's a prize package for each one! So please get your pages photographed, posted and linked by Wednesday night!

I will also take this opportunity to share one of my favorite summer recipe. It is super simple and can be made year-round but to me, it is best savored during the summer.

Ingredients:

- a bunch of fresh basil

- fresh mozzarella balls (2 large)

- the best tasting tomatoes you can find (4/5)

- salt and fresh ground black pepper

- olive oil

- balsamic vinegar

1. Slice the tomatoes and place them in a single layer on a big plate.

2. Slice the mozzarella balls as thin as you can (doesn't have to be perfect and it most likely won't be) and place them on top of the tomatoes.

3. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the whole plate making sure that there's at least a few drops on each slice. Add salt and fresh black pepper to taste.

4. Finally, snip basil leaves directly on top (using kitchen shears) across the plate. The last step is optional but it makes the dish even more enjoyable on a hot day: place the plate in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving, with a baguette!