I Made It and Today It Is Official!!!!!

I am delighted to announce that today is the first day of my term as a Scrapping Turtle Design Team member. I am thrilled and excited!!!!!!! I worked very hard to get my application completed and submitted before I left on vacation in September, then I worried and wondered and hoped. I think I cried with joy when I was asked to join the team. It was so hard not to shout it from the roof tops when I first found out, but I managed to keep it a secret until today when the official announcement was made. I am deeply honoured to be a member of the Turtle Design Team. The next six months are going to be a blast!!!!!

Today was Sneak Peek day, in which we post a layout created with our Design Team kits as a preview of the big reveal on the 15th. For our first kits we were given papers by Dream Street. Each DT member received a different line. The line I received is my favourite --- Sam :) How could I not love this line? It's named after my own sweet Sam (okay, so they didn't name it after HIM specifically, but you get the idea LOL). It is a great Autumn coloured line and I love all of the fabulous owls. The line also includes adorable rub ons and chipboard shapes. Love it!!!

To create my layout I used Bazzill cardstock, Colorbox Ink, Ranger Crackle Paint in Pine Needles, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Kaiser Craft Rhinestones, and Quickutz dies (Scallop border, Sign, Birds, Grass, and some scraps from a Flourish I used on a previous layout).

Please stop by the Scrapping Turtle blog to see the fabulous Sneak Peeks posted by my fellow Design Team members -- Mellissa, Marissa, Anne Marie, Tracey and our guest DT member Vicki. They all did a fantastic job with their kits. I am thrilled to be working with these wonderful ladies!!!!

If you aren't a member of the Scrapping Turtle forum (Turtle Soup), please come and join us. It is a wonderful place to hang out, meet new friends, and be inspired. I hope you will become a Turtle too :)

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 1

My dear friend Kim at the Scrapping Turtle has started an Economic Stimulus challenge. The idea is to encourage us to use up some of the wonderful goodies we have been hoarding. She gives us a list of items to use, and for each item we use on that list we will get a ballot for something wonderful. This week she gave us a list of five things, then challenged us to make a card with the scraps.

Our challenge list this week included:

1. Fancy Pants paper

2. Dream Street paper

3. two different kinds of ribbon

4. alphabet stickers (Thickers count)

5. chalk

In searching through my stash I discovered that I had several sheets of the Fancy Pants The Daily Grind Break Time. I used one for my background and handcut flowers from the other one. The hand cut flowers are pop dotted onto the background paper. I also used the reverse side of that paper to mat the small photo, which is also pop dotted. I then found a Dream Street Birdie Bits Square Die Cuts paper so I used one of the squares to mat the bigger photo. I threaded one of my ribbons through the holes along the side of it. All of the paper edges were chalked. I pleated the butterfly ribbon before adding it to my layout. I added some yummy Thickers for my title.

Journaling reads: Sara wanted a butterfly to land on her finger more than anything else. So we were all extremely excited when one did. Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, Strong National Museum of Play September 10, 2009

I created the card from the scraps that were left over. There was enough of the Fancy Pants paper left to create the background for my card, as well as to cut out some of the pretty flowers for the front of the card. I used another square from the Dream Street paper and cut off the scalloped piece. I then cut the remaining part of the square down to a smaller size to fit the card front. The scalloped piece is pop dotted as well as chalked. I used a piece of the American Crafts ribbon as well as some Thickers to finish off the card.

Thanks for a great week 1 challenge Kim!!!! Looking forward to what you have in store for us next week :)