Friday Night Inspiration

Look at what Linda did this month for the Scraploft! Isn't this frame the greatest? What a great idea!
This awesome project is made with the Fancy Pants Designs (FP) Mulberry Road Collection - winter release. It uses the Amherst Stripe, FP Trims, Basic Grey Rubons, buttons, and letters. Wouldn't this be a great Mom's Day gift?

You can check out the rest of Linda's project in the gallery! Can't wait to see what she does with the May's design kit!

Lamo Labels?...Not so much...

Now that I know what they are used for! To tell the background. Sarah made these labels with our logo and contact information on them. They are very nice stickers. They showed up on our packing table out of no where again this week. So I decided to use them. I was using them for the wrong purpose I guess.

I was packing up an order on Monday night after our weekly meeting. I saw that Sarah had put one of the labels on the OUTSIDE of the box. Here is the conversation after I saw that sticker: (not ver batem though)

Jenn: Why is that label on the outside of the box?

Sarah: It's called free advertising. Think of how many people handle that box between when we ship it and when it arrives to our customer. Why what were you using them for? (said with a smirk on her face)

Jenn: When we ran out of tape to seal the bags of paper, I thought you put them out to be used for that. I was using them to put on the plastic bags. But then when I went to put the bags into the box, the sticker would get caught on the packaging material. It would peel up and I was getting kind of frustrated with it.

Sarah: He He! (as she claps her hands, laughing at Jenn)

Jenn: Yeah, I was thinking 'these labels are kind of strange, but hey she has them out for a reason. They keep showing up randomly on the table.'

Sarah: This whole conversation right here should be on the blog.


So there you have it! Another learning opportunity for your's truly! ME!!!

~Jenn

National Scrapbook Day Sale!

Scraploft is having a sale!!!!

National Scrapbook Day is coming this weekend. We are excited to be involved in this industry. Both as a business and personally. We appreciate all of you, you are the reason we exist. So in honor of NSD we are having a sale, now through Sunday May 6th. You will get 25% off your entire purchase. Simply, put NSD in the coupon code box on the view cart screen.

Happy shopping and have fun on NSD from Scraploft!

~Jenn and Sarah

Tag, I'm it

Along with Sarah, I was tagged by Beth to share 7 random thoughts about myself.
The rules are: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.

1) I met my husband while working with him at McDonald's.

2) I am a very sensitive person. I cry easily. Especially when it comes to my boys. They are growing up too fast for me!

3) I also become defensive easily too. As Sarah knows and deals with greatly! :)

4) I stopped biting my nails as a freshman in college when my grandma said she would pay me $100 if I could show her grown nails. She never payed me, but hey I have decent nails to this day.

5) I am obsessed with changing the color of my hair.

6) I am a shopaholic. I can not pass up a deal. Or any clothes that I happen to find that work for me. Shoes and purses are my thing. I will be doing a page about all of my purses some day! Oh...I love paper too!

7) I secretly want to get a tattoo...maybe some day....


Whew...to narrow it down to 7 was difficult! Just kidding. That was fun...

Ok, everyone I know that has a blog has been tagged already. But if you have a blog and I don't know you do, feel free to share your answers!

~Jenn

I've been tagged.

So Beth - our resident Freelance Designer has tagged both Jenn and I. The rules are: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.

Okay - here I go...

1. I hate to cook. My husband does ALL the cooking. Not sure why cooking has been such a hard thing for me. My mom is a awesome cook. She is super duper cook. I'm just not into it. My idea of cooking is picking up Applebee's to go. Hmmm... it was my night to get dinner. Can you guess what we had for dinner?

2. I am one of the messiest people I know. I intentionally do not invite my parents over - because my mom would be so disappointed at what a dirty house I keep. Ask Jenn - she'll tell you how messy I am. Up to until recently our office looked like a tornado hit it.

3. I still get tucked in at night. Each night my husband tucks me in. He stands at the end of the bed and waits for me to crawl in, and then he takes the end of the blankets and swings them up in the air and covers me up. As childish as this is, I still cherish this ritual that he does for me every night. P.S. Usually after tucking me in - he crawls in on the other side. Don't get me wrong - I won't go to bed at like 7pm.

4. Friends mean so much to me. I don't know what kind of person I would be without my friends -- plus who else would help you hide a body in time of need? ha, ha.. just kidding there isn't a body, yet...

5. I am a workaholic. I think I get it from my dad. I work and work, and work. There are many times during the week you will catch me working on Scraploft stuff, and reading e-mails, and getting phone calls from work. I think that is why "loving" my job is so important to me. I actually don't mind working. And when I am not working....

6. I love watching TV. I am a proud owner of 2 80 hour DVR's. Not ONE, but TWO. I records tons of shows - and watch a lot of TV. Some of my faves are: The Office, Grey's, House, L&O, CSI, ER, Bones, Hero's. I don't watch a lot of TV during the week - but I totally make up for it on Sundays.

7. Last random thing.... I am a blog junkie! If I know you and you have a blog - I check it. A LOT! I love to read all about others lives... Some of the blogs that I read (most aren't even scrapbook celebraties!) - Beth, Nicole, Linda, Bonnie, Kyra, Nancy, and Alli - and this is just my normal "list" of blogs to read. Here's the catch though.... I usually don't post comments...

Okay - now the 7 to tag... I guess I'll tag the seven I just listed. Since Beth, Nicole, and Linda have already been tagged - and I am just waiting on their responses - that leaves me with Kyra, Nancy, Bonnie and Alli to notify...

Can't wait to see your answers.
~Sarah

More Inspiration..

Check out one of the projects that the Mitchell Kraft created. These projects are so great. I love the "Reflection" page. Mitch has a great use of space. His compositions are always funky and fresh. As most of you know Mitchell Kraft has recently been added to the 2007 HOF. We can't wait to see some of his projects in CK.

This project uses Cosmo Cricket Halfway Café: Amarillo, Barstow, Button Fashions Die Cuts, Fancy Pants Designs Big Board Chipboard: brackets, labels, and tags. Layout size: 6X12

As always - check out his other projects on the gallery.

Home Decor

Can you believe how much scrap booking has turned into home decor? I am seeing it more and more - from picture frames, to trinket boxes, and even to clothing. The scrapbook community is evolving. What once was strickly die cuts and cardstock has turned into a billion(s) dollar industry.

Here are just a couple of projects that Beth has created for the home. Aren't these super cute?

The napkin rings are made out of the Prima Marketing, Inc. Floral Embellishments: Maxi MumFlower Kit Moda, Misc. buttons and ribbon, DMC Embroidery Thread,Needle.

The wine charms are made with American Crafts Greenhouse: Izzy Small Plastic, Misc. beads, Wire

If you would like to see receive directions for the napkin rings be sure to check out the gallery.

Just looking at these project inspire me to create. Beth - thanks for the yummy projects!

Exactly one year ago today...

Scraploft was born. I can't believe that it has been a whole year. Wow! Both Jenn and I want to say THANKS to all the great friends who have helped us live our dream. We couldn't do it without each and everyone of you.

A year ago today - I met with my business partners - and we came up with a name. We've done a lot over the last year. It almost seems unreal! Cheers to another great year ahead!

Jenn - I am so glad that we are business together. I know that things can get rough and times get stressful - but I wouldn't pick any other person that I would ever want to go on this adventure with. We have so much fun - it makes even the worse of times seem not so bad. Thanks for everything!

P.S. - for those that are wondering - we will have a ONE year anniversary party - we are planning on waiting to celebrate our first year in August when we went live with the website.

April 19th...

One year ago today the little invision we had in our head became...Scraploft. We started with a list of possible names for our on-line store. I was hoping for "Scraploft" during the entire process. Reasons being: the word sounds good, has a certain ring to it, and also if we ever decide to open a retreat center what a perfect name! :)

The first meeting was all about business stuff. Lots of decision making, voting, etc. The piece of paper above is from that first meeting. I took the picture today, a year after the fact. We started with weekly meetings, typed meeting agendas and meeting minutes. Task oriented and organized. Now the agendas are hand written lists. We don't do minutes anymore either. Relaxed atmosphere. More my style for sure.

How do I feel, one year later? I feel good. Though there have been some changes and some bumps in the road, I have learned so much. I do know there is much more to learn and I am looking forward to the challenge. Though my life is still busy and actually feels overwhelming sometimes, I wouldn't change the last year for anything. However, I do still need to find that balance that I am looking for...eventually.

To my business partner and friend, Sarah. I am so thankful for who we are, what we have become, and what we will be. Thanks for doing this with me. It's been grand. :)

So here's to Scraploft. Sarah and I surviving the last year and looking forward to the next. Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way. We could not have done it without you!

~Jenn

Some great pages...

Does anyone need midweek inspiration? Check out Linda's layouts for March! Such great work.

Linda had a big challenge for March. We sent Linda the new Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter paper and stickers. For this layout Linda used: Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter Collection Pack along with the 7 Gypsies Oval Scroll. As always you can see all of Linda's projects in the gallery!

Be on the lookout for some more great designs. Beth has some great projects for April!

My lists...

So I am a list person - anyone else out there like that? I don't know what I would do without my lists. At work - lists are what makes me successful. So - I write things down so that I can really focus - without distraction on the task that I am working on.


Let's rewind, just a bit - I used to have a list "book" it was a hardcover book that I added tabs to. My life was separated into "home" and "Scraploft" stuff. I bought it at Good Things or something like that over in Eden Prairie - I loved it - and it worked. But soon enough - I ran out of pages and I haven't been able to find a similar book since. I've tried the dayrunner type thing - it works for dates - but the lines are too little to get a good list going...So... I made this...

It is made using the Basic Grey Phoebe paper and Bazzill Blossoms (Lizard), acrlyic pieces are Heidi Grace, notebook is 99 at walmart. Hopefully now with the customized notebook - the lists will go on and everyone will be happy :-)


I also made this recently at a friends Birthday Party. Totally stole the idea from Kyra. It is made using a kit from Joann's and papers from the Scenic Route - Capetown papers.
Kyra - one question for you - how do you display it. If you hang it up by the hook - you can't flip the pages, but it won't stand up by itself. Any suggestions?

Wishing each of you a happy Monday!!

~Sarah

New Crate!!

We received new products from Crate at Scraploft! There are 5 new lines: Baby Bee, Brunch, Crush, Samantha, and Zoom. I am in love with this paper! That is if you can be "in love" with a piece of paper! Seriously though, the colors are to die for in all of these lines. The collections include paper, die-cuts, rub-ons, and chipboard for each. I can't wait to use all of these lines. Especially the Zoom collection. Perfect for pictures of the boys.

Enjoy!

~Jenn

Happy Easter!

I know that the day is almost over, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. If you are reading this after Easter, I hope your day was a blessed one. We saw both sides of the family this weekend. It was nice to see everyone. The boys have been sick the last few days and I hope they will be on the mend soon. Ear aches, stomach aches, coughs, and runny noses all make for long nights and days! They did get to open their baskets in their pjs this morning and that brightened the day for a few minutes. Poor kiddos...

Happy Easter to you and your family!

~Jenn and Sarah

Recent Layouts

Here are a couple of layouts that I worked on at Nicole's birthday party last Saturday. It was so nice to see all the ladies of scrapping again. Lots of laughs as usual. Spent 10 hours "scrapping", but only got 1 whole layout done. But, to my credit, I did finish the two page layout that I started before.

The "Gratitude" layout features American Crafts paper and chipboard letters from Heidi Swapp.

For the "Celebrate" layout I used Cosmo Cricket's Halfway Cafe.

So good to see some of my pictures and products being used. Slowly, but surely!

~Jenn

Ink pads and albums...oh my!

The 7 Gypsies refill ink pads for the oval and round stamps are here. The ink pads come with black, brown and red. I am excited about the red, for sure! We did order the pads for the block stamps as well, but did not receive them yet. We will be looking into that and will keep you updated.

We also got another album from 7 Gypsies. The 8x8 ring album. This album comes with cream pages on the inside and a ring bookcover on the outside. Perfect for altering. Such a trend right now!

~Jenn

Shoes... and Patterned Paper

So I know that I am super behind, but it's all for me - so it's all good, right? Here's another card - titled shoes... The journaling got cut off a bit, but it's mostly there.
I'm obsessed. I have a problem. I keep buying pattern paper. I probably have enough patterned paper to last me a lifetime. I could literally scrapbook for the rest of my life with what I have for patterned paper. I realized just how bad my habit has become. This is my patterned paper stash... and my patterned paper that has yet to find a home. See the problem?

Current stash:

To be sorted:

It's sick isn't it?

~Sarah

Even more Maya Road...

I finally was able to get images for these wonderful products from Maya Road. The Scalloped Ring Book and the Landscape Binder are both perfect for an altered album. Imagine the possibilities with these albums! Yummy....

The Foundations Journaling Stamps are a must-have on my list. I am addicted to all of the little journaling cards that are EVERYWHERE right now. One of my goals for scrapbooking this year was to journal on my pages as I put them together. And since I don't have a compact computer to bring with me everywhere, I am forced to use my own handwritng. Which I am getting used to by the way. I have a huge stack of pages to go back and journal. Some time soon I will do those.

Enjoy the new products that have come in at Scraploft!

~Jenn

Weakness of the Weekend

Other than pattern paper, I have found my other weakness in life. ROLOs. Yes those chocolate covered caramels made by Hershey's. These wonderful candies were brought to me by a scrapping friend, Nicole. It was her birthday party and she brought treats. YUMMY! I could NOT get enough of those rolos.

I managed to spend enough money on sb supplies to buy an entire island of ROLOs though!

Good, fun weekend. I love my scrapbooking friends. Lots of laughs...and rolos...

~Jenn

To Prima or Not...

Okay - so I was browsing the Prima site. Wow - they have some really cute things. I'm a huge Prima fan - although my purchasing has decreased a bit in the past months.


From a retailers standpoint I have some issues with Prima. From my experience they have terrible customer service and I always have to wait soooo long for my items to ship that we don't buy a whole lot from Prima. Our first order took over 12 weeks to get to us! YIKES!



With all the other companies that have petals, flowers, etc ~ I have to ask. Is Prima past it's prime? Tell me what you think!

Want to see some inspiration?

We've received the first of the design team projects for March. Talk about starting off with a bang. These are great projects and can be done by any skill level. All projects below were done by Beth Johnson. Beth also does a great job journaling the everyday events. It is these events that make up the composition of our lives. These moments truly capture who we are! Thanks Beth for sharing these projects with us!

Check out the projects below:

"Target"
Recipe Card: Sassafrass Lass Blue Boutique Paper: Crimson Dots, Bazzill Cardstock:Vanilla, 7 Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers: Parental Guidance and It's a Date, Staples.

"Lovebug"
Recipe Card: Sassafrass Lass Blue Boutique Paper: Crimson Dots, Treasure, Chiffon Pink, and Extraordinary, Maya Road Coaster Chipboards-Tag, American Crafts Thickers, Ribbon: KI Memories and American Crafts, We 'R Memory Keepers Extra Large Eyelet, Mod Podge Glossy for Paper.

These are just a couple of the awesome projects Beth did this month. Of course you can see ALL her creations on the Gallery. Be sure to check it out!

New Imagination Project...

We have received the As You Wish and Project Essentials lines. These are brought to Scraploft by Imagination Project. I Love, Love the colors in the As You Wish papers. The jumbles will be fun to use too. The lined papers from Project Essentials are awesome... I can't wait to use them on some pages of my boys!

Enjoy another looksy here...

~Jenn

Congratulations, Mitchell!

Mitchell Kraft, one of our freelance designers, was chosen as a CK hall of famer. Mitch has such a unique way of scrapbooking. The first time I saw his layouts, I was in awe. Extremely inspired to try landscape pages. Watch for his work in CK and on our site!

Congratulations from us to you, Mitch!

~Jenn and Sarah

And the third bio is...

Linda Roehl

Linda began as a stamper in the early 1990's and was very excited to see all the new products that became available with scrapbooking.

She has been scrapbooking since 1996 - back when fancy scissors and paper punches were popular.

Linda has taught classes for 10 years in local stores and a few out of state. Her daily life includes a full time job with plenty of time to scrapbook in the evenings.

Linda enjoys reading, cooking (and she can sure cook!), jewelry making and decorating her house. When it came to decorating her house the most time spent was in the craft area. After all, that is where the most important stuff is.

Linda loves being around people and laughing with others. Her weekends are filled with scrapbooking friends and spending time with immediate family when time permits.

Scraploft is pleased to have Linda as a freelance designer!

And the second bio is...

Mitchell Kraft

Mitchell is an 18 year old, male scrapbooker. Don't let that sentence scare you. Mitch can definitely hold his own in the scrapbook arena.

Mitch has been scrapbooking since September of 2004. Mitch got started when his mother was working on an album for his sister for graduation. He thought that it looked fun (plus he wanted to see if he could do better...) Ever since he's been addicted.

Mitch is currently attending The College of Visual Arts in St.Paul, MN.
He is an art fanatic. He lives for art. Mitch is planning to major in Photography and Graphic Design.

He is planning on attending graduate school, but has yet to decide where. He sees himself working in the scrapbook industry (which we are so happy about!) - perhaps having his own product line or working for a magazine as a graphic designer/editor.

Scraploft welcomes Mitchell as a freelance designer!

Another Card...

So I've been motived enoug to do another card. Check out the card below. It is on the topic of "I Miss You." It is about a family friend who passed away of breast cancer almost ten years ago.


This women was a good friend of mine. Someone who died long before she should have.


I used Chatterbox paper. The journalling is actually on two pieces of paper with a ribbon as a tab. This was a hard one to do. I have always wanted to do something, and in ten years it's the most that I could do.

Next up? SHOES. Should be lot's of fun!!

And the first bio is...

Beth Johnson

Beth’s motto is Play and Create. Creating is a huge part of her life. About eleven years ago she "officially" started scrapbooking. Beth didn't know then what a major role it would be playing in her current life. Throughout the years there have been many changes in her life. She enjoys looking back at her albums and remembering the moments.

A lot of things have been inspiring Beth lately. She has been really inspired by the "famous" scrapbookers such as Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, Donna Downey...just to name a few. She appreciates how each of them has their own unique style that she can take bits and pieces from to create her own unique style.

Beth is also inspired by her friends that create. It is so much fun for her to see what they create and what their creative process is. Of course she is inspired by the little things too...daily events in her life, new products from her favorite manufacturers, her friends and family, taking photos, and just taking time to observe and be.

Her favorite tool right now is the Fiskars Rotary Trimmer. This trimmer is amazing! It always cuts clean and straight lines. The blades can be changed for different needs such as scoring, perforating, and creating a decorative edge. One helpful hint she has is to put Cloud 9's Citrus (orange) Rain Dots on the back side of the numbers on the pull out arm. It makes is a lot easier to read the numbers when measuring. Beth scrapbooks and creates because it is her passion and where she is able to express herself. When she is creating, she takes time for herself to play, to try new things, and to take risks.

The Scraploft team welcomes Beth J. as a freelance designer!

And the big announcement is...

Jenn and I have decided to start a creative team for Scraploft. Time is so limited and we are getting so much product in that we can't keep up the website and do all the designing, so...

We would like to announce the addition of 3 wonderful freelance designers that have joined the Scraploft Team.

Beth Johnson, Mitchell Kraft, and Linda Roehl are our new freelance designers!

Each month they will design something for Scraploft and their work will be featured on this blog.

Be on the look out for a Q&A session along with pics and bios of these wonderful people!

My 52 Weeks

I've been having trouble with my creative mojo, and so to get motivated - (Thanks Beth!!) I am going to start the Emily Falconbridge 52 week - cards. To get the lowdown click --> here

Here are my first two (in no particular order) Since I am starting a few weeks behind I figured I could pick and choose which ones I did first. i don't think that it matters how the 52 topics fall out - just as long as I get them all, right?

I am proud of...

Love, Love, Love...
Jenn - I know your life is super duper busy. I know how much you miss scrapbooking - so as much as I hate to do it. I challenge you to do ONE of your 52 cards. I know you can do it.

My Wish...

It was so nice to sit down and create a scrapbook page last Friday night. Yes, in 6 hours I only finished one page. But it is one more page done that wasn't done before that night, right?

This layout is about the wishes I have for my niece. Katie and Steven are so very special to me. I love my nieces and nephews just like they were my own. Having a child is a blessed thing and I am so glad I have my boys, two nephews, and two nieces. Growing up is tough and I have so many hopes and dreams for all of these little ones. I did this special page for Katie. I hope she is able to one day read it and appreciate how much I love her.

The page was done using the Sassasfras Serendipity line, Scrumptious. I love the colors in these papers. So rich and playful!

~Jenn

A little sleepy...

Here's one of my creations from scrapbooking last Friday. I used the Crate - Cowgirl Collection. It was so nice to sit down and do some creating. So much fun!

My "official" vacation begins tomorrow. Todd's birthday is tomorrow and both of us took Wednesday - Friday off. We are so excited to be on vacation! I can't remember the last time that we had the same few days off of work.

Anyway - be on the lookout for tons of new stuff. Bazzill, and 7 Gypsies (including the new oval stamps!!) are going to be here by the end of the week.

~Sarah

Bang, bang

As you can imagine, Jenny and I are masters of shipping. It is something that we do often and don't complain, because it means that business is doing well.

We have lots of shipping items, a scale, boxes in assorted sizes, bags, invoices, and finally THE TAPE GUN. Up until recently we have been fighting with an industrial tape gun. (see pic below)

This is one of the first business purchases that we made - it came with two rolls of additional tape. The sad thing.. uh.. we never really mastered the use of the tape gun. The tape always jammed and didn't want to come out. Then the tape would get all scrunched up and you would have to cut it with scissors. It just didn't work. Anyway - we tried and tried and when we finally ran out of tape (it has been refilled with the 2 refills and then husband had some tape that we used) Jenny (bless her heart) purchased us a normal packing tape dispenser by Scotch.

Seriously this thing is slick. It's easy to use, the tape never gets scrunched and is super fast.

I never claimed I was a genius, but this thing is a major break through in modern shipping. Love it.

You know how much I love it just by the fact that I'm blogging about it :-)

Thanks Jenn for the purchase.

Now you know how unglamorous a online store can be!!

Basic Grey Collection Packs!

Pheobe, Perhaps, Scarlet's Letter, and Stella Ruby collection packs are available at Scraploft NOW! I love all of these papers. I especially can't wait to use Scarlet's Letter. The colors are so rich and I am way into rich colors lately. I just have to come up with a little project or page to use the papers on. Hmmm...

Come check them out before they are all gone!

~Jenn

In the still of the night...Inventory

I decided, for some reason, to count the last box of paper I am responsible for at 1:30 this morning. There is a story behind why I wanted to blog about this.

I had just finished packing up my sb stuff for the crop Sarah and I are going to on Friday. Then I was like, hmmm, should I read or do some work for Scraploft. I decided to be responsible. I started counting away. I had a few paper packs left to count and out comes Matthew. Wondering from his bedroom in a glazed state of awareness. I said, "Hey buddy", and thought he would just lay down on the floor beside me. This is what he usually does. Um, no. He decided he was going to stay awake. He started to help me by opening up the packs of paper. While doing this, he said, "This paper is pretty, but if you turn it over it's not pretty." The other side was blank. Such a smart kid! :)

So the pictures reflect a bonding moment between mom and her 4 year old who probably should NOT be up at 2:00 in the morning for any reason. Nonetheless counting paper! :)

I love my boys!

~Jenn