Wow, what a month of adapting to our new (temporary) normal!  I hope that all of you and your loved ones are healthy and safe.  I encourage you to turn to our beloved scrapbooking hobby as a source of comfort and fun.  Research has shown that scrapbooking and looking at your photos can help alleviate feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.

For those of you with extra time on your hands, now is a great time to make some progress on your album projects.  Most of us say that lack of time is the biggest hurdle that we face with our scrapbooking projects.  You could also make it a family affair.  Perhaps your husband would enjoy making an album of his favorite hobby or an album of his family heritage.  Let your kids play with your extra paper, stickers and punches.  As a family, complete an album of your quarantine adventure or last vacation.  If you need tips or suggestions, I’m glad to help!

If you’re not ready to scrapbook, how about making a plan to Sip & Sort. Pour your favorite beverage, pull out your photos, and sort and organize them. Place them in a box or envelope for later.  Or take this time, to get your photos off of your phones and other devices and uploaded to your Forever account for permanent online storage.

This is also a perfect time to pull out your completed albums and look through them!  Re-live those fun and happy times with your family!

This week, I initiated a challenge on my private Facebook group, Karyn’s Croppers.  I’m calling it my Home-Bound Throw-Down.  On Mondays and Fridays through April, I will be posting a page challenge and asking my followers to create my layout and post it to Karyn’s Croppers to earn chances to win a prize.  They’ll receive one entry for creating my layout and extra entries for turning it into a double-page spread and/or adding photos and journaling.  They’ll have through Sunday to complete the two weekly challenges, and I’ll draw two winners on Mondays.  Below are my first two challenges.

 

My first example for my first Home-Bound Throw-Down challenge is a layout that I created for National Scrapbook Day 2019 and had previously shared here last spring.  It’s an attractive, versatile and easy layout to copy.  For directions, please search this page for National Scrapbook Day to see my original post.

 

I created a second example of the same layout using the Beneath the Pines collection from Creative Memories.  For my border, I used a piece from the Beneath the Pines Laser Border Embellishments.  I added a few Beneath the Pines Stickers, a Variety Mat journaling box, and a few punch-outs from the Pine Cone and Maple Leaf Punches.  I shared a video on Karyn’s Croppers with some additional tips.

For my second Home-Bound Throw-Down challenge, I asked asked everyone to use the layout below to create a pretty page with a multi-layered border and a semi-circle piece underneath the photo mats.  I shared a video on Karyn’s Croppers with several suggestions on how to make the border and circle piece.

 

For my first example, I used the Daydreamer collection from Creative Memories to create a pretty page.  I used a technique that I borrowed from my Creative Life Scrapbooking teammate, Noreen Smith, to create the punched pieces on my border.  Start with 6″ x 2-1/4″ pieces and punch with the Floral Circle Punch.  Punch three pieces and layer onto a border.  To create the semi-circle piece, start with a 6″ x 6″ piece of paper and punch with the Floral Circle Punch and then cut in half.  I used double photo mats that measure 6-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ and 6-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ and 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ and 4-1/4″ and 4-1/4″.  I used Daydreamer Stickers and Embellishments to further decorate the page.  Please see my video on Karyn’s Croppers if you need help punching the pieces.

 

 

 

For my second example, I used leftover pieces of the Rainbow Rush Soft Paper, Laser Border Embellishments, Layered Border Embellishments, Flower Embellishments, Leaf & Icon Stickers and the Lace Trim Border Punch to create a fancy layered border.  To make my semi-circle piece, I used the Custom Cutting System with the medium sized Circle Pattern and Blue Blade on the outside edge to cut a circle.  I used the Lace Trim Border Punch to punch strips from the orange paper and folded the strips to create the pleated lace edge for the circle.  I included faux pen stitching and a Layered Title Embellishment.

I hope that you’ll join the Home-Bound Throw-Down on Karyn’s Croppers!  I’ll be back next Friday with next week’s challenges.

BREAKING NEWS!  CM will reopen for online ordering on Monday, April 6th.  During these uncertain times, I suggestion that you place an order as soon as you’re able for a few essentials such as Tape Runner Refills, Refill Pages, and Cardstock.  The Creative Life Scrapbooking team will be hosting a PJ Party Virtual Crop on April 24th featuring lots of ideas for the Theme Packs.  So you may wish to include the Theme Pack of your choice in your order.  Thank you for ordering through my CM website link.

Please take care!
Karyn