It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas Cards!

Merry Christmas Groovy Girls and Guys! Santa is still watching even though Christmas is a few more months away. Santa would really want you to create don't ya think? Here are a few examples of Christmas creations from Vanessa.

Happy Holidays!
Deb♥

Hey everyone! It's HOT, HUMID, and miserable in the South... but guess what... it is time for some Christmas cards. I send around 75 Christmas cards a year, so I begin early.... if I waited till December... I'd probably hate Christmas! :)

Anyway... here are two cards that I've made. All the supplies for these two are from Stampin' UP! But you can use any brand etc. So what is the challenge... CREATE A CARD FOR CHRISTMAS! Love to see your work!

Jen T Takes Us to the Beach!

Jen T who has rejoined our design team after Maternity Leave has made this Alphabet Overload layout with the most fantabulous wave! Welcome home Jen :)
Deb♥

In Jen's words:

I had so much fun doing this challenge....I knew I wanted to use these beach pics of my dd so right away I thought of a wave. For this I free hand drew a wavy swirl and then put beach girl in dark blue letters and then I randomly put lighter letters in light blue and white so that the title would stand out then I cut out the wave/swirl. I put the two pics above and below and added everything to embossed white paper that was cut about an inch smaller on each side to become a mat on the blue paper then I just added the year in stickers and hand wrote summer and outlined the white mat ... whalaa! all done :)

Freelancing Designers

When the time came to make the design team smaller here at If It's Groovy I made the decision that for those who are still interested in sharing a project here at If It's Groovy that you are welcome to do so as a Freelance Designer. Previously Jodi joined IIG as a Vintage designer for a three month term and is now submitting a layout where I challenged her to create a vintage layout with the theme of wallpaper. I think she did a beautiful job and I know you will too!




If you want to submit as a Freelance Designer, please contact me too by clicking my name below!
Deborah♥

Ask Deborah

It is time for the next edition of Ask Deborah :) I talked about this one a few weeks ago. Here is a reminder of how it works:

If you notice there is a Mr. Linky questionaire at the top of this blog. What it allows you to do as a visitor is Ask Deborah a question and when you do it will allow me to come and visit your blog. Cool right? I look forward to you asking me anything on your mind and of course for a visit to your blog too!




I am so sorry to say that whoever has asked me this question left no name or a blog site that I can visit :( Thanks for the question and if you are reading please visit again so I can visit you too!

What is your favorite scrappy tool? What is the one thing you have bought and dont use?

Hmmm. My favorite scrappy tool? I LOVE my Fiskars Squeeze Punches and probably use them more than any other item that I have. I love how they can be used over and over again and yet your pages won't always look the same because you have used the tool again and again...

The one thing I have bought that is never used would probably be some of my embossing templates. They are also a Fiskars tool, but just something I don't break out. I have used some of them but other just sit and stare at me!




From Debra at Arty Crafty...How do you choose your layout format?

For the last year I have been backwards scrapping. I start out by creating a layout without any pictures. That's right! No plan, just paper. I have so many totes of paper that it is ridiculous so when I watch TV at night I grab paper, adhesive, a paper trimmer and start playing with the paper. After I have done that I then look for pictures that I feel can work with the layout I arranged and colors I chose. While watching a Lifetime movie the other night I actually made 20 layouts; It's true!



Jen of The Scrappy Side of Me asked: do you scrap chronological or just favorite pics of the moment no matter when pics are taken?

I once was a chronological .scrapper...BUT...I got bored! I wanted to feel a bigger freedom with my scrapping and started scrapping many albums all at once. For example right now I am working on an 8x8 baby album, 12x12 about me album, and the ongoings of my family. It works for me and I get my pages made a lot faster than before :)

Tammy of Always the Apprentice Handicrafter and who has a really cute blog asked me Do you like to use sketches?

I do like sketches for inspiration! I actually don't find myself using them as often as I would like to but I do really appreciate the hard work that goes into making and designing them. Often times I find myself sitting down with sketch in hand and then I go completely different than what the designer was sharing, lol! That makes me...well, me :)

Thanks to each of you for your questions! Fun!!!

Deb♥

Have you sent in your Alphabet Overload layout yet? Time is ticking...Here is one from Vanessa to help get your motor running :)

Monkeying Around the Alphabet

Natalie has such an adorable little girl and combine adorable babies with anything monkey and you have a layout to treasure such as the one that follows. She has used a sketch from www.scrapsketch.com by svaughn 2009 and it is scrapsketch 092009 gd10. Here is what Natalie has to say about the lo too...
Deb♥




I love using mixed fonts when I can on projects. Mostly I use one font per word, but I had the chance to use these fonts with colorful cardstock and they really captured the chaos that was going on in that kitchen when my daughter was "Monkeying Around"!
I used my Gypsy and my Cricut to cut out the fonts and then just picked one letter of one font, then another letter of another font and so forth to create a pattern. I also arranged the words all over the page to create more chaos!

Where Does Jami Lynn Scrap?

AS a long time scrapper, I have been repurposing on and off my pages for a very long time. This month DT member Jami Lynn has brought us a layout about her own personal scrappy space (and don't we all love that!) as well as a few repurposing tips that I am sure you will find helpful. Without further adieu, Here is Jami Lynn...




For a while now I've been wanting to honor my own little scrappy space and create a page about it. I took these photos recently and decided it was time.
Up until a year ago I never even had a place that was designated specifically for my scrapbooking. I would just pull everything out and sit at a table when I wanted to scrap.
As you can imagine though, I eventually accumulated more scrappy stuff than I was able to pull out whenever I wanted to. That's when I decided I needed my own area in which I could keep it all and work on projects all at the same time.
So here it is. It's not much...a folding table, some repurposed UPS & USPS mail boxes that hold my pattern paper, a table top organizer from Making Memories and a homemade one from a $4 lazy-susan I picked up at Wal-Mart.
I'm still trying to figure out the best organizational system for my space & the way I scrap but so far I'm LOVIN' it!



I used one of my favorite techniques on this page too. You see the 'Inspire & Memories' accents? They were both cut out from the same piece of pattern paper and then adhered to a piece of cardboard.
I save cardboard from cereal boxes all the time to use on my pages like this to create my own custom chipboard accents.
It's a cool way to re-purpose something that might otherwise end up in the trash into something useful & adds a personal touch to your LO's at the same time! Give it a try! : ]

On this page: Background-Basic Grey Lime Rickey, PP-DCWV Mod-Retro & Main Street Stacks, Pink Paislee, Theresa Collins and misc. unknown scraps,
Letter Stickers-Heidi Grace, Websters Pages {Little Storytellers}, American Crafts {Thickers}, Lace Ribbon {A Million Memories}, Flowers {Prima},
Brads {Making Memories & Queen & Co.}, Label Holder {Making Memories}, Stamp {7 Gypsies}, Pens~Sakura Pigma Micron 08 and ZIG Writer {black}, other {photo corners}.

My Alphabet Layouts to Share :)

This month I am very inspired by the
Alphabet Overload Challenge and I hope by the layouts that have been shared that you also have been :) Here are my latest which I have made to play along with all of the design team members. The first was the one which I made and created this month's challenge. I have an overabundance of pink alphabets and so I started playing around and created this layout. I am actually making one in every color to use up those alphies! Maybe I can show them another time :)

The second layout is using a collection of letters that are rub-ons that needed to be used so I used them as a photo corner.

The third project showing is glitter stickers of alphabets and I cut them into a circle, cut in half and attached to add color to my half circles.

Lastly, I punched chipboard alphabets out of the background and stapled it to glittery paper that matched my flowers. I love the use of that repurposed item!

Hope you are working on a layout to show us!
Deb♥

Check THIS Out!

Vanessa has been here with If It's Groovy for awhile now and each of her projects, to me, are beautiful, but this one, well it tops the charts! Read on and perhaps we can help this young lady also hit the top of a chart too! Look for Life Light Up when you hop to the blog Vanessa mentions :)
Deb♥


In the words of Vanessa:
I love to make really cool LO's.. and I get inspiration from all over. The design of this LO was actually based off of a CD album cover of contemporary christian singer - Kristy Nockels (http://www.christynockels.com/).

In this LO I used the color scheme of TEAL - OLIVE - PALE BLUE - BROWN/BLACK. These papers are wonderful for the color scheme... I used Crate Paper's "Brook" themed items. They are wonderful!



In addition, I added 2-3 (or more) flowers and some "glitter and shimmer". For the "glitter and shimmer" I used my SU Dazzling Diamonds and some Stickles.

The photo is my oldest daughter and her boyfriend. Aren't they sweet!

So it's your turn now. Follow the same color scheme and add the same "extra" elements and show me your stuff!!! I can't wait to see what creativity is inspired!

Faith Scrapping in a Brand New Way!

Most of us have heard of faithbooking and we have had quite a selection of faith inspired pages here on If It's Groovy, but this is a first in our groovy history! Go Kelly as you mix it up a little bit with a GREAT faithbenching project!!!
Deb♥

In Kelly's Words:
I like to dabble in painting funky furniture, or to be in tune with this site...GROOVY furniture! This is a going-away present project for the assistant principal of my kids' school. I had previously painted a different bench for the school(go green, saved from the dumpster), and the principal asked me to do another one. This wooden bench I got at Michaels (clearance!). My daughter sneakily got the asst. principal to give her a favorite bible quote. This is what it says on the back of the bench "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1John 3:18) I used dark green acrylic paint for the base coat and then used Elmers brand Paint Markers to draw in the children and the GROOVY designs. It is very relaxing to just pick a shape or design and just go with it (x's, o's, squares, circles, dots, squiggles, snakes, division signs, stripes, etc.). Its the same as doodling on your scrapbook layouts. It is easy to hide imperfections in my paint job with designs! Next project...a bench for my dining room. Tune in soon for an update on that project.

Building Alphabet Blocks with Heather

Have you started working on your Alphabet Overload layout? Here is the one our DT member Heather created. Hope it inspires!

Not only is that border of alphabets amazing but don't you love the pencil one too? Read on to find out what Heather had to say about this lo she created :)
Deb♥

Heather Said:

I took these pictures of my boys at their first day of preschool!!! It was a hard day for me but they went right over and started playing blocks!

I made this layout for the alphabet overload challenge. The colored pencil paper is actually a die cut paper that I had purchased sometime ago at Archivers. I thought this was the perfect paper for these pics!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE punches so you can almost guarantee you will see a punched border on most of my layouts! This time was no different! I used the EK Success Binding Edge punch - why, you ask? - because it's a "school" lo and it looks like it was ripped from a notebook!!!

For the alphabet aspect of the challenge, I pulled out a bunch of old alpha stickers that I RARELY use! What a great way to use them up!!! I wanted to use a variety of them but they still had to be bright colors!!!

Hope this gives you "A" idea of how to use up all your "ZZZZZZ"'s (sleeping/unused) letters!!!!

A New Column with Deborah

If you notice there is a Mr. Linky questionaire at the top of this blog. What it allows you to do as a visitor is Ask Deborah a question and when you do it will allow me to come and visit your blog. Cool right? I look forward to you asking me anything on your mind and of course for a visit to your blog too!


The first question is coming from Natalie of Timesless Legacy Designs
and she wants to know "How do you take such awesome pictures of yourself? You know, turning the camera on yourself?"

Well, Natalie I myself have struggled with that one a lot, especially before digi cameras! I am not the most photogenic person I know so I have to prepare myself to gear up by making sure I have no mascara running down my face, or eye liner! Then I take advantage of my mirror and hold the camera at an angle where I can see me in the camera lens which is reflecting in the mirror. Then, hold still and SNAP! Hey it works, what can I say?

Good Luck!

Question number two comes from Darlene of Scrappy Go Lucky who wants to know "What are the easiest color combinations for you to scrap with? Hardest?"

By far the easiest colors for me are anything on the cool side of a color wheel, bright, sunny and cheery colors. I like being in places that show the happy side in pics so those colors make it easy for me to work with and I am drawn to the groovy aspect too :) Hardest for me are the colors we see in Fall. The warm reds, browns and golds are so depressing for me to work with. It reminds me that Spring and Summer are behind me and that makes it harder for me to work with.

Thanks for your questions!!!

ALPHAbets with Jami Lynn

Our Father in Heaven has many names, not to mention ALPHA which ties into our theme this month of Alphabet Overload. Two different subjects yes, and two that I love :) I am so happy to bring this lo to you created by our one and only Jami Lynn. I know you will appreciate this one too!
Deb♥

And from Jami Lynn:

I think it's pretty clear where the inspiration for my alphabet overload LO came from, but unless you are one of a handful of people in my innermost circle,
you wouldn't know why...well, until now anyway. Ever since childhood, (which is as far back as I can remember), I have desired a relationship with God.
I always knew he was there, but I never really felt like he was with me. Not until a couple of months ago anyway.

I was sitting at the computer when a prayer request came to me from one of my friends--Groovy Deb--for her father who was in the hospital.
I hadn't been one to pray all that often and most times I'll admit I felt foolish, unsure of what to say and not even sure if God was listening when I did pray,
but I sincerely wanted him to hear me this time. So I decided to say a prayer and lift up her father's name and while I was doing that I came to the realization
that I too needed Jesus in my life. I broke down on the spot as tears began falling from my eyes and admitted that I didn't want to be alone anymore & that I wanted to know Him.
Suddenly out of nowhere this unbelievable calming presence came over me and a thought was brought to the forefront of my mind to get up and go into the next room and ask Paul,
(my soon-to-be-DH who is a Christian), to pray with me. Realizing that this must be the Lord speaking to me, trying to help me understand that I had been heard, I obeyed.
I went and told Paul what had just happened and asked him to read me some scriptures from his Bible about how to pray for forgiveness and salvation and how to accept Christ as my Savior.
Afterward, he said a prayer for me and then I prayed my own prayer of Salvation and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart.

The next day I woke up with this craving for Jesus that I've never had before. I decided to get myself a new bible. I picked out a NKJV Study Bible and a daily devotional to get started with.
I went to church a few days later for the first time in years and I've been going every Sunday ever since. I am to be Baptized this coming Sunday, June 27th.
My life has changed more in the last 2 months than it has in the last 2 or 3 years all due to nothing of my own doing except following His lead and obeying His Word.
It's so GREAT not to be without God anymore and I look forward to a lifetime of learning and serving Him.

Christmas in July?

After doing some homework about how the tradition of Christmas in July started I found that Wikipedia had this written:

"In the northern hemisphere during the summer months the weather becomes increasingly warm and many people crave the atmosphere of cooler temperatures, gift giving and holiday spirit. To satisfy this, some people throw parties during the month of July that mimic the holiday of Christmas. The features of Christmas in July include Santa Claus, ice cream and other cold foods and gifts. Nightclubs often host parties open to the public."

It is HOT in July and I think I can understand that craving :)

In the spirit of things I created a Christmas layout of my own. Since it seems to be the time I take the most photographs this seemed the perfect time to have a 2 pager to add to my Christmas albums. I took my little one out last December to the local Toys R Us and let her show me everything she wanted. These are some of the things she chose. What a fun trip it was too! She is forever watching TV and saying "I want that Santa Claus" like she thinks he is listening, and "he" is ;) so I thought that would be a great title for this.



Guess how many days it is to Christmas???

Orange Alphabets with Kelly

Kelly is here today to provide some really neat inspiration for our Alphabet Challenge this month. I think this is an excellent way to use up numerous amounts of leftover alphabets that may not have been able to make it to a page. By using all of those orange alphabets I know she must need to do some shopping. Isn't it clever how she ran that sub-title down the middle of her title?

Deb♥

Peek-A-Boo

Celebrating with Natalie and her family :)Enjoy the card she made that looks like a gift in and of itself!!!


From Natalie:
Summer in Montana is one of my favorite seasons. My family also happens to have
a lot of birthdays and anniversaries during the summer months. I decided to make a cheerful little birthday card for my niece, whose birthday, which is on July 25th, is the same day as my parent's and brother's anniversaries! What a busy day this is going to be!

You can use any cutting system to make this card. I happened to use my Cricut. I cut out a card at about 4 in high and 8 in long. You can use any cartridge which allows you to make a fairly simple square card.

Decide where you want the picture hole and using your favorite cutting system make a "peek-a-boo" hole for a pop up sticker, embellishment, or die cut object to pop out of.

Use ribbon or paper for a border and use coordinating paper in a lighter tone for the inside. Put your "peek-a-boo" object on this lighter paper, making sure it clears the window sides, and write your message or stamp it, making sure not to let it show in the window.

There you have it, a sweet little card for a sweet kiddo!

Happy Birthday America!!!

Have an enjoyable and very safe holiday weekend!
Enjoy the video! This is my daughter as she was learning the Pledge of Allegiance :)
Deb♥
Click on the box to begin the video :)

Adding Texture with Heather

So often we read something somewhere and cannot always give credit where credit was due so let me thank those who inspire and cause others to create works of art like Heather has here. I cannot wait to also try this technique!!!
Deb♥





Do the Dew layout . . .

I have been working on 2 separate 8x8 albums this year. My college graduation book (um, 13 years ago - just a little behind) and a Book of Me. This pic from my graduation is one that I have always loved. Now I must decide . . . which album do I put it in? Book of Me as my fave photo of myself? Or graduation album? I am glad I scanned the picture so I can do another one so that I have one for each book! HAHAHA

I must come forward and admit that I saw this technique recently in a scrappy magazine and thought to myself "I have got to try this . . . AND SOON!" So, here it is!!!

I took 2 pieces of paper that were the same (the kraft paper). One was used as the background. The other, I punched all different borders using different edge punches, then attached them down to the background! I absolutely love the texture that it adds to the background without taking away from the picture! I also used the scalloped circle punch to make the big "flowers" behind all the primas! After punching them, I crumpled them up and then added distress ink to the edges! (I am a distress ink junkie and have every one of them!)

I cut a tag on the cricut and then doodled around the edges. The journaling is on this tag hidden up under the photo! It says "I'm a Grad! Celebrating with this Mountain Dew was perfect on this HOT day while wearing a black robe!"

Hope you enjoy!!! I can't wait to use the same color border edges again!!!

A through Z with Darlene

This month our If It's Groovy Challenge is to create a layout using lots of alphabets! Let's see an up close and personal take on that challenge with DT member Darlene. Take a look at her layout as well and be sure to send in a layout for the challenge!!! I know you will be inspired by not only the alphabets she is using but all the extra dimension in getting there!!!




In the words of Darlene:
What do you do with all of your scrap bits and pieces that no longer have a pair or maybe that isn't quite your style anymore? Throw them out? Give them away? Have you tried recycling them in a layout, where you throw many odds and ends together, to create a work of art???

I have wanted to get a layout like this, "You Are My Sunshine," completed for many months now filled with all of the randomness that I no longer like/need/want out of my stash and finally onto a project. The idea was simple behind it, make a picture the center of my layout, and add "rays of light" in different embellishments and colors within the rays- all without using anything but one sheet of white cardstock, scrap embellishments, glue runner, paper piercer, and thread. FUN!!!

I used my sewing machine to help get this project started. I sewed my photo down first, and then calculated how much space I wanted for each of my 9 rays of color. I sewed each ray a different outline color based on the color of the embellishments that that specific ray would be. Once I got my stitching outlines complete, I went through my stash and found all of the embellishments that haven't been used in months, including paper clips, eyelets, brads, flowers, buttons, and even scrap alphabet letters. I placed my embellishments by color in each of the appropriate colored rays and glued them down in a way that I found to be pretty. Next I used my paper piercer to pierce within each button hole. I hand sewed each button on this layout (although I don't see why you couldn't sew it on if you have the proper button sewing attachments) with white thread throughout.

Each colored ray has approximately 25-30 embellishments or in its entirety, this layout in total has about 225 embellishments... and took me about 5 or so hours in total to complete! I think that although this was a bit time consuming it was honestly so fun to do! If you have a pile of embellishments you haven't used in a while, consider this embellishment and alphabet overload as your next purging project! :)

Alphabet Overload

This month I challenge you to create a layout that has mega amounts of alphabets. Think outside the normal way of using them and use up all those leftovers. Here are some layouts that we Groovy Chicks hope will inspire you. Keep in mind that by entering this challenge you will be entered to win a goodie package which includes all new and unopened products. You will need a USA address. Email groovydeb@yahoo.com with your pic or a link to your blog or online gallery :)

Have fun!
Deb♥

And the winner is...

For the challenge last month those who played along were asked to create a layout with a photobooth. I loved that challenge and am happy to announce that Kathy you are the winner of this challenge. Please email me at groovydeb@yahoo.com with your mailing info :)Here is a recap on her layout: