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Hopefully lots of you got scrappy this weekend, in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day.  I scrapped the entire day, taking a break only to go across the street for a beer and a slice of Carl’s amazing BBQ pizza.  Last year I participated in Scrapbook.com‘s all day challenges, and had so much fun I decided to partake again.  Because of the time zone difference, SB.com’s day didn’t start until 1pm my time, so I spent a few hours in the morning at TwoPeasinaBucket.com where they also had some amazing challenges.  The challenges at 2peas last all week long, so I just got 2 of them done on NSD and will go back and do more throughout the week.

The first challenge I tried at TwoPeas was Becky Novacek’s Colour Challenge.  She provided this picture and you had the choice of scrapping using the colour scheme in the photo, or create your own colour scheme using household items.  This colour scheme really appealed to me, so I went with it.

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Colour inspiration photo for the Colour Challenge at TwoPeas

These are the papers I pulled.  The top 3 blue papers were from my scrap drawer, and the 5 full sheets were from a pack of paper Nicole (Scrapology on YouTube) sent me.  I thought they were perfect for this colour challenge.

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Papers pulled for the Colour Challenge at TwoPeas

This is the layout I came up with:

Shy Girl
My entry for the Colour Challenge at TwoPeas

I used one of my circle punches to cut out the circles in the patterned paper (by My Mind’s Eye), leaving a white border around them.  I glued them down in the middle so I could curl up the edges for more dimension.

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Mister Huey’s in warm calico splattered on the background paper

I splattered Mister Hueys across the background paper (including the yellow polka dotted paper by Lily Bee Designs) and doodled some outlines around the edge, leaving 2 openings for added interest.

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A simple title

I wanted the title to be smallish, and inconspicuous.  Those Amy Tangerine Goodness Thickers were perfect, paired with the turquoise Tiny Type letters by Cosmo Cricket.

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I’ve always been a sucker for a grid pattern

I love that the grid is made of circles, and that they aren’t contained within the yellow background paper.  I also love things hanging outside the grid.  Linear meets organic… one of my favourite styles.

The second challenge I took over at TwoPeas was Amy Tan’s Use Bold Colours Challenge, which is pretty self-explanatory, lol!  I love red, and don’t think I’ve ever used a red background before, so I grabbed a piece of Poppy Parade card stock by Stampin’ Up! and added opaque white, custard, and heirloom blue Mister Hueys to it.  This is what I came up with:

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My entry to the Bold Colours Challenge at TwoPeas

I outlined the elements in a bolder line than I usually use, and kept the paper strips spaced apart so lots of red would show through between them:

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Bold Outlines and Bold Colours
I wanted the title to play off the prominence of the iPhone in the photo.  I would have liked to make it “iCE CREAM” but I didn’t have capitals in a colour that would work.  I like the white “i” and how it picks up on other white elements in the page.

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A punny title

This cluster of chipboard elements allowed me to use up some old Basic Grey embellishments from the Lime Rickey collection, which was the first designer paper pack I ever bought.

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Can you guess what the 4, 38, and 6 signify?
So by the time I finished those 2 challenges at Two Peas I had just enough time to gather my supplies for the Scrapbook.com challenges.  They gave you a heads up of what kinds of photos and supplies you should have on hand to complete the challenges.  The first challenge was an hour long card challenge that I didn’t get a good photo of, so I’m not posting it here.  It’s in the share video at the end of this post, if you’re interested.  
The second Scrapbook.com challenge was called “There’s no place like home” and you had to complete a layout in 2 hours that fit with a Home theme.  Since every self-respecting scrapbooker always has a few pieces of floor plan paper lying around, I was well prepared for this one 😉

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My entry to the No Place Like Home Challenge at SB.com

The floor plan paper (which, let’s face it, I couldn’t not use) had yellow, and the Instax photos had that bright blue, so a complimentary colour scheme it was!  More Mister Hueys (custard, heirloom blue, white) had to be splattered, and the rest of the pieces were laid out in a block design with embellishments placed so they crossed lines and overhung boundaries (don’t you love embellies that push the boundaries?).

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Studio Calico floor plan paper=perfect!

I doodled the Thickers (Sprinkles in white vinyl- is there anything yummier than vinyl Thickers?) so they’d have a bit more impact, and drew a single outline around all the papers.

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It’s all in the details

I love adding subtle details to my layouts, like these vellum hearts which i made using the Fashionable Hearts embosslit.  They add a bit of interest to the block design by overhanging the boundary of it, but because they are mostly transparent, they don’t take away from the overall feel of the block design.

The third challenge at SB.com was a journalling challenge where you were required to include at least 5 sentences of journalling on your page.  I found the journalling itself took up most of the time for this challenge.  I didn’t want to write so quickly about something meaningful or personal (I hate being rushed for those things, and I’m also a stickler for accuracy with those things, so that would not work well with the 2 hour time limit), so I chose to write about something easy and non-personal, but something I am still quite passionate about… the show Lost.

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Yes, I’m the girl who scrapbooks about a TV show that isn’t even on the air anymore

I composed the journalling on the computer and printed it up on vellum.  I just typed off the top of my head, without looking anything up, so some of the quotes might be (are likely) inaccurate, but this captures most of my favourite Lost moments from seasons 1 & 2, the best seasons of the show.

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Journalling on Vellum, attached with Air Mail striped washi tape

I used the grey air mail striped washi tape to hold down the journalling and the photo.  Grey because it’s industrial (think the inside of the hatch) and because of the air mail theme => airplane.  I attached an Evalicious button on the side for interest and because it had an island map on it.

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It would’t be a Lost layout without the numbers…

I stamped the numbers on the top right corner and used a piece of paper with some mathematical-looking drawings on it (reminding me of Daniel’s notebook in seasons to come, and Danielle’s papers from season 1).  I love using the Daquiri font is perfect for the word “lost”  This layout is rather simple, but the journalling took up most of the first hour, so I didn’t have long to put it all together.  I think I like it simple, though.

The fourth challenge was to create a layout in 2 hours that used a mask and a mist.  I used a piece of laser cut paper as my mask and white Mister Hueys for the mist, and this is what I came up with:

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My entry to the Mask it, Mist it challenge at SB.com

Lots of Amy Tangerine on this one!  The twine was really fun too!

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I stapled the twine in place with my Tiny Attacher
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more twine in the corner, along with a date stamp date stamp date stamp date stamp

Did I mention, I WON this challenge??!!  Yep, I won me a $175 prize package from scrapbook.com!

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Gotta love those Thickers and Sassy letters!

The final 2-hour challenge was a sketch challenge:

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Here is my take on the sketch:

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My entry to the Sketch challenge at SB.com

I used more papers from Nicole for this challenge… almost all the paper was from Nicole, actually… thanks, Nicole!  That nifty top note shape was from Nicole and was the perfect place to put my journalling.

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Yep, that banner caused me a bit of grief.  Yep, I kinda hate it.  But people tell me they like it, so maybe I’m biased.  Anyhow, a banner was needed for the challenge, and it wasn’t going to do any good crumpled up on the floor, so here it is, on my layout:

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So all in all, I got 1 card and 6 layouts completed on National Scrapbooking Day, which is probably a record for me.  Thanks to Scott for taking care of the kids, to Carl & Joanne for the pizza and beer, to TwoPeasinabucket for having a longer deadline so I can still do more of their challenges, and to Scrapbook.com for putting on such an amazing day, and for the generous prizes, of course!

Here are the share videos:

Mercy Tiara

Mercy Tiara

You may be wondering who is Mercy Tiara, and why the name? MercyTiara is an anagram of my first and middle names, Tracy Marie. I discovered this name in the 90's in grad school when we were all coming up with alter egos for one another in a lab one day. I've used it ever since, but you can call me Tracy or MercyTiara, or anything you want... just don't call me late for supper!

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