February sketch and challenge prompt

We did a poll at the start of the year, asking what our members wanted more of in our group. Overwhelmingly they asked for more sketches so we are now giving 3 sketches a month as well as our cyber crop. :) Plenty to keep you busy!

I picked this sketch as I don't know about you but I seem to have loads of those branding strips from the bottom of 12x12 papers and I just can't seem to get rid of them!

It has 3 photos in the sketch, but you can alter it to use just one, or two, or whatever you like.
As usual all challenges stay open as are just for fun.
If you have created any layouts based on these please feel free to share them in our facebook group 'Stash busting' or in a link in the comments, or even on instagram using @stashbusting :)

February cyber crop challenge 6

February cyber crop, challenge 6, The big bang theory

Welcome to our final challenge for our February cyber crop. We hope you have enjoyed the challenges so far, if you have created any layouts based on these please feel free to share them in our facebook group 'Stash busting' or in a link in the comments, or even on instagram using @stashbusting :)

So, in The big bang theory there are a number of characters who have relationships.

Challenges based on these are:

- Penny and Leonard are a fairly strange couple, Penny is vert laid back and enjoys a drink while Leonard is very geeky and logical. They do say that opposites attract and they are the perfect example of this.
For your layout, use two patterned papers that appear to be opposites but work well together, such as spots and stripes or black and white.

- Bernadette and Howard appear to be a perfect match, with both of them being scientists who get along very well. Bernadette was very supportive of Howard (after her initial shock) when Howard went to the international space station, show your support of this by using something associated with space on your layout.

- Sheldon and Amy met online when Howard and Raj set up a fake profile to help Sheldon meet someone. They are a great couple with Amy being very understanding and compassionate to Sheldons needs and bringing him out of his shell.
Make a layout about someone/something that makes you a happier person or brings you out of your shell.

So that is all of our challenges for this month! We hope you have enjoyed our cyber crop, our next one will be announced very soon :)

February cyber crop, challenge 5

February cyber crop, challenge 5, Chaos walking

I love to read, and there are a few books I've started and finished on the same night. The Chaos walking trilogy Mark actually had to take off me in the end and tell me to go to sleep!
It is currently being made into a movie but I highly recommend reading the books first.

Challenges based on this are:

- There are lots of parts of the book in handwritten font to represent thoughts. Add a lot of handwritten journaling on your layout.

- In the book you can hear the thoughts of animals, male ones anyway, create a layout about a pet or another animal and journal from their perspective.

-  Todd is a child, and is not deemed an adult until he does something that he doesn't want to do. Scrap about what being an adult means to you.

We hope you've been enjoying the challenges so far, challenge 6 will be up soon :)

February cyber crop challenge 4

February cyber crop, challenge 5, Twilight

When I first read the Twilight books I really did not expect to like them but I did.
I have read them several times since, and even though I really am not a fan of the relationship between Edward and Bella I can't help but get lost in the story.

Challenges based on this are:

- From the moment that Bella and Edward meet they are drawn to one another. Do a white space layout with everything clustered in one area.

- When Bella finds out that he is a vampire she is intrigued to find out why he doesn't go out in the sunlight. He takes her to a beautiful clearing to show her and she finds his skin sparkles in sun. To mimic Edwards skin use something that sparkles on your layout. 

- Bella finds herself in a love triangle with both Edward and Jacob. Use three embellishment clusters forming a triangle around your photo.

Challenge 5 coming soon!

February cyber crop challenge 3

Challenge 3, First dates 

Mark and I love to watch TV shows together and one of our favourites is First dates.
We love when people come together and I get very attached to couples that I think should work out and get annoyed when they don't lol.

Challenges based on this are:
- In the show two people who are deemed compatible meet. Pick two unrelated things you deem compatible, two photos of different events, two patterned papers from different ranges etc, and base your layouts on these.
- One of the best bits about the show are the staff, the barman Merlin being my favourite. Make a 'cocktail' layout, pick 5 items from your desk and mix them together to make an embellishment.
- Scrap about a date you have had, it can be romantic, or a night out with family or friends
Thanks again for joining in!

February cyber crop challenge 2

Challenge 2, Deadpool

Gemma and i are having an argument about whether Deadpool is a valentines movie or not. The first one came out on valentines day and had valentines promotional trailers so I'm going with it is.

1. Deadpool speaks directly to the camera, breaking the forth wall. Do a layout including first person journalling about yourself

2. Deadpool has a cuddly unicorn and a hello kitty back pack, both fairly random items. Use something random on your layout.

3. Deadpool proves that valentines day does not have to be all hearts and flowers. Do a layout with out any hearts or flowers (this includes on your pattern papers).

As usual you don’t need to do all 3 options, this is just for fun so no deadlines and no prizes. I hope you enjoy!

February cyber crop, challenge 1

Good morning and welcome to our February cyber crop! 

Now I know there was some worry that our challenges will be all sweetness and hearts and red, (Laura Rumble) I think you only need to google deadpool or chaos walking to alleviate those worries 😉
Neither me or Jacqui are typically romantic people, so we picked three things we love which are as close to romance as we get, and based them on that. Not a love heart in sight!
1 - Only you
2 - Deadpool
3 - First dates
4 - Twilight
5 - Chaos walking
6 - The big bang theory
Hope you can all join in!

Challenge one is:

Only you.

I watched this a few years back, and despite it being super soppy and romantic I really enjoyed it. Partly because of Robert Downey Jr (that man has just got better looking with age IMO) but sometimes its nice to watch a predictable, leave your brain at the door, chick flick. 
Anyway, your challenges based on this movie are:

- In the movie a woman is told by a ouija board the name of the man she will marry, (Nathan Bradley) journal around the edge of your page with the photo in the middle as boards have letters around the edge. 

- A man then pretends to be named Nathan to make her fall in love with him, use an embellishment pretending to be something else, a button sticker in place of a button, plain card stock covered in washi in place of patterned paper, a die cut of a label in place of a label etc.

- The movie ends with a romantic scene at an airport (of course) scrap about travel, or a romantic moment in your life. 

I hope you enjoy our first challenge, plenty more coming!

Traceys layout

So yesterday I introduced Tracey as our guest designer this month and promised to share her amazing layout from our sketch this month. 

I think you'll agree it really is stunning! 

I love the paintwork, and all the sparkle. I don't know about you but whenever I try and paint on a layout it looks like one of my kids did it.
Well that's not fair, my daughter can actually paint really well, maybe more like the dog did it. Either way it never looks like this!

I was surprised at her use of paper flowers too as you don't see them very often anymore. What a great example of how to take something possibly considered old and dated, and making it look modern. Almost wish I hadn't got rid of all of mine now. 

So that's Traceys layout! I hope you have found some inspiration in the sketch and can share your own take on it. We also have our monthly cyber crop coming up this weekend so there will be lots of inspiration, chat and fun there too.
We hope you can join in. 

Meet Tracy Service

Hello and welcome to our very first guest designer blog post! Every month we'll have someone different to introduce who we're sure will inspire you with their layouts and scraplift of our monthly sketch. This month it is the very talented Tracey Service.

How did you get into scrapbooking? - I got into scrapbooking about 20 years ago. I used to work in an arts and crafts shop.. one day they got some scrapbooks in and some stickers and templates. There wasn't any patterned paper back then and the only acid free paper I could find was mitents that was sold for pastel drawing!

What is your 'go to' product, tool, or embellishment type? - My tools that I always use are my circut machine, paper trimmer, perfect layers rulers and double sided tape.

I also seem to like gems in my pages, not a lot, just a few, and I also quite like flowers every now and then.

What is your favourite topic to scrapbook? My favourite topic to scrapbook seems to be Elsie at the moment, our granddaughter, she is so funny and sweet!

Would you say you have a scrapbook style? If so what is it? - If I were to name my style I think it might be clean and simple, although sometimes it's easy to get carried away! I like doing all the painty stuff too but I'm not very good at that! I'd love to know what others think my style is though.

What do you never use on your layouts? - What do I never use on a page?? Hmmmm....I don't know! I think I've tried most things.

Who do you get inspiration from? - Inspiration is everywhere these days. Facebook groups, of which I'm a member of some brilliant ones, pinterest is good too, although I to tend to get lost in there and run out of time to actually scrap anything!

Do you watch anyone on Youtube? If so who is your favourite? - Youtube is good for inspiration too, I like to watch Missy Widden. I usually just type 'scrapbook' into the search bar and it comes up with suggestions. I'm not very good at remembering names I'm afraid.

Are you on any design teams? - Currently I'm on the design team for 'Pretty my page'

Thank you to Tracey for being our very first guest designer! Ill leave you with a few of her amazing layouts that she has shared over on Stash busting.
I love the look of colour on black, and her use of Nuvo drops around the edge to create a frame.

I must admit, I completely relate to her choice of topic in this layout! This was done recently for our Harry Potter themed cyber crop. Challenges all remain open if you want to come play :)

Come back tomorrow to see the beautiful layout that Tracey made based on our sketch challenge this month, and be sure to get ready for our February cyber crop this Saturday!!!

February stash busting!

OK! We have a blog! Now its been a long time since I set up a blog, so I'm remembering/learning as a go so bear with me, but here we'll post any sketches or challenges we set plus a more indepth look at our guest designer each month. If you've stumbled across this blog and are not a member of our Facebook group, feel free to join us over at Stash busting there. See now I'm hoping that link works, if not then just put Stash busting in your Facebook search bar and we should come up ;) So I'll post more tomorrow and pretty up the blog a bit, but for now I'll leave you with our sketch challenge for the start of this month.

We hope you can join in, feel free to leave a link to your blog showing your take below :)