Meet Our June Guest Designer

We are excited to have our first guest designer with us this month: Chara Ralston.
Here is a little info about her:

"I'm super excited to be Scrapbook Circle's June Guest Designer! These kits are packed full of yummy scrappy goodness that I get the pleasure of playing with month after month. Thanks so much Lisa and Crystal for this amazing and fun experience!

I am 27, mother of 1 rowdy and wild child Caleb and I'm married to my High School sweetheart Josh. We are a military family and are currently stationed at Malmstrom AFB in Montana. I have never ever seen so much snow until we moved here 3 years ago! I hold a special contract for the Air Force that allows me to do home daycare.

I have been scrapping and altering for 4 years. I'm constantly amazed at how my style changes. My favorite technique is inking. I love every one of my 56 ink pads! I'm totally obsessed with chipboard, flip flops, scrunchies and of course ink. I'm a super slow scrapper and no matter what I do my pages always wind up lumpy, bumpy, inked and distressed and on ocassion I have been known to leave a ribbon sneeze or two (wink wink). "

Be sure to check back in the gallery soon to see what Chara came up with for the June kit.

Our June Project Kit

We are so excited to finally be able to share our June Project Kit with you!


This kit features the brand new Love, Elise Betty line and includes the following:

1 sheet Love, Elsie Betty Patchwork
1 sheet Love, Elsie Betty Shower
1 sheet Love, Elsie Betty Petticoat
1 extra sheet Love, Elsie paper (our choice)
2 sheets Fancy Pants Heavenly Paper
Betty Alpha Stickers
5 -6 Betty Blocks Chipboard Self-Adhesive Buttons
Betty Flower Album

One of my favorite things about this kit is that all
of the paper is double-sided!
This gives you even more creative options.
Here is a look at the reverse sides of the paper:

We will be posting pictures of our finished albums soon.

May's Album Ideas

I love doing mini albums! They are fun, quick and easy - a formula for success for a busy mom of three. May's album is a set of chipboard squares with a binding ring. I used my scraps to cover this album and showcase a series of pictures of my husband and daughter, Miri, at the beach. I love how the patterns come together to give this album a feel of young and old, contemporary and old-world, which conveyed the message I wanted to send of Nathan helping Miri experience the ocean for the first time.

Tearing pieces of paper to attach and layer on different pages adds texture and depth. I used distressing ink (walnut color - my favorite!) on the edges of each page - this unifies the album and pulls it together. Tying my leftover ribbon around the ring finishes it up. Pull out 4-8 pictures, along with your May kit and have some fun!

A Peak at the June kit...

Lots of yummy product from American Crafts, Basic Grey, Making Memories, 7 Gypsies, Heidi Swapp, Scenic Route, and Tinkering Ink and more.

Let us know what you think!

May Tips

May's kit offered a few challenges for me and my simple style with its rich deep patterns and tones. It was REALLY good to step out of my normal floral/pinks/light palette and experiment with the browns and reds of May's kit. I found it useful to cut different patterns into smaller strips, piecing them together to accent my photos, like in this layout. I used FOUR different papers; each has a varying shade of red in it . By inking around the edge I was able to bring them together. Adding the brown corduroy brad (love it!) to the Heidi Swapp Chipboard clock, I brought balance to my title, giving the page a more complete look.
Journaling was fun on this layout! I taped a piece of vellum paper to a ruler grid (about 5" x 12") so I didn't have to draw lines on my paper. I used a pencil first, then inked over it with my new favorite pens - American Crafts Precision Pens. Please try some of these techniques and share with us what you think!