Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Join The Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club

The Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club went live February 1st!

The Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club has been in the making for over a year and now it's finally here!

QUICK UPDATE: 

I've had quite a few people email asking if this is a Stampin' UP only product club. The answer is: Not entirely, though 8 out of the 13 members of our Soul Team are SU demonstrators and those that aren't DO use a lot of SU products. So while not every single layout or project is SU only, a good 80% or more of the projects and layouts you'll find in the Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club ARE created with Stampin' Up product.

I also had a few questions asking if there are samples using Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio Software. The answer is: YES! Some of the Soul Team members are die-hard MDS users and the Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club layouts and projects include digital items made with the SU MDS.

What is the Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club?

This Club is a premium membership club....a paid subscription program on Soul Scrappers - a free, amazing, creative and inspiring scrapbook community. You'll get special member-only access to a monthly "inspiration class" which includes an inspirational message and challenge, weekly Motivational messages, along with layouts and sketches provided by our Soul Team members.

How does it work?

Each month, the Soul Team (Soul Scrappers' AMAZING Design Team) is given an inspiration message and challenge and they'll create layouts to help inspire YOU in your own scrapbooking and tapping into your soul. This will help you to put yourself in your scrapbooks. On the 1st of each month, the new creations from the Soul Team will be added to a member-only group, along with a PDF version, for members only.

 

What are the benefits of this Club?

The inspirational message and challenge, layouts and sketches from the Soul Team are only available to Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club members. There will be anywhere between 13-15 layouts per month, along with the sketches that coordinate to the layouts. These layouts and sketches are not added to the main gallery and only club members have access to them and the PDFs. You'll also receive "Motivational Messages" 4 times a month through the Club to help spark your creativity. The Club also has its own private message board for member-only participation. Of course, participation on the message board is entirely voluntary and not required aspart of your club membership.

Will I need a special password or account?

If you're not already a member of the Soul Scrappers Community, you'll set up your one-time free account to the main community. Once you join the club, you'll get a special invite to join the member-only group and after that, you're all set.

What does it take to join?

The Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club is a monthly based subscription. For Inspiration Club members, the cost is only $4.95 a month. This charge is billed on a 30-day cycle and you can cancel anytime, but of course, we hope that you'll love the benefits of the Club so much that you'll stay with us for a good long time! :)

How do I get started?

You can join the club by using the Paypal button below to start your membership. 

- Paypal Inspiration Club membership* - $4.95 per month

*This charge is billed on a 30-day cycle.

The Soul Team and I are looking forward to inspiring you every month! Come join us! 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. You can email me at: [email protected]

 

We have a winner!

Congrats to R for winning a one year's subscription to the Soul Scrappers Inspiration Club!

...Do you think I really could win?? I have followed you forever, stamping time has been small lately... moving, college kid in and out of the house,,, oh boy I need some stamp/scrap time
-- I enjoy peeking in on you now and then..
thanks for your site,,, double thanks if I am chosen...

Posted by: R | February 03, 2011 at 05:05 PM

Stampin' Up Color Challenge on Soul Scrappers!

Over at Soul Scrappers, we've brought back the popular Stampin' Up Color Challenge! It was so popular that we're going to be featuring it once a month. 

This month's color combo is:

• Kraft
• Pink Pirouette
• Riding Hood Red
• Basic Black

This color combo definitely has a Valentine's Feel to it, but I loved seeing what the Soul Team did with it and they created pages that have nothing at all to do with Valentine's. I'm so proud of their creativity! 

There's a brand new stamp set as a prize for the winner of this challenge, so come play with us!

I did a page using two photos of portraits that were taken of my grandmother when she was 20 & 21 years old. They're two of my favorite photos and have been since I was a small child. 

I used all Stampin' UP supplies to create my page:

Love Impressions rub-ons, small heart punch, Scallop circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, rhinestones, Pink Pirouette wide grosgrain ribbon, Riding Hood Red striped ribbon and cardstock (Riding Hood Red, Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black). 

Soul Scrappers has other fun challenges to take part in, too!

The Soulology Project Scrapbooking Course is BACK! - GIVEAWAY

Registration is officially OPEN! Make sure to check out and join my scrapbooking community - Soul Scrappers!

Are you always the one behind the camera? Do the people that look at your scrapbooks see YOU in them....really see YOU?

Or do they just see the pictures you took of everyone else and not really see the real you?

Will future generations have a record of who you are....the things that make you the person you are?

Many times, we are the historians for our families. We take the pictures. We create the art that is put into our scrapbooks. We tell the stories. But for many of us, there's one key person missing. Ourselves!

This online scrapbooking course is focused on putting yourself into your scrapbooks. Into recording the things that make you who you are. The things that make you tick and the things that tick you off. The dreams, hopes, failures, aspirations, flaws, imperfections, triumphs, passions....the things that make you uniquely YOU!

It's time to tell your story.

It's time to leave your legacy.

It's time to dig deep and share your soul.

The "Soulology Project" Course will take you on a journey of discovery and will challenge you to tap into your creative side to share your soul artistically.

 

The "Soulolgoy Project" Online Scrapbooking Course starts November 15th and runs through January 17th.

All of the classes and galleries will be archived on the site so if you can't get to the challenges and homework right away, you can always go back to it. This course is meant to do at YOUR pace!

Each week's class will include:

** Techniques, tips and ideas to stimulate your creative process

** Tasks to complete

** Challenges

** Sample pages each week from me (Erika Martin) and 3 other amazingly talented scrapbook artists.

** A layout sketch gallery for each week's Design Team layouts - by the end of the course, the sketch gallery will have a total of 50 sketches (10 each from each of the Design Team members and 20 from me)

** A gallery for you to upload your pages to so that we can all share with each other

** An interactive forum with discussions on each week's work

** PDF files with all of the course outlines so that you can print them out or save them to your computer for future use

** One-on-one email correspondence with me (Erika Martin) if you need help with any of the tasks

Class size is limited....so register today!

This course is limited to  allow for a focused and interactive experience. 

Registration is on a first paid basis.

 

This interactive and creative online 10-week course can be paid for in 2 different ways:

 

 

 

Pay for the course in full and SAVE $6!

- $69.00


Pay for the course in 3 monthly payments of $25 each (for a total of $75)

- $25.00 per month for 3 months*

Class starts soon so register TODAY!

Use the "Add to Cart" buttons above to pay securely with Visa or MasterCard. If you'd like to pay with PayPal, please contact me at [email protected] to request an invoice.  Registration is on a first come, first paid basis. Class size is limited, so make sure you register today!

A confirmation and welcome letter will be emailed to you as soon as your payment is submitted.

This course is sure to inspire, challenge and teach you, but you're also sure to come away from this course with a scrapbook that reflects and showcases many different parts of the UNIQUE person that you are. Through the interactive website you'll be learning on, you'll also be sure to come away with some new found friends.

To check out some of my most recent scrapbook pages, CLICK HERE.

Looking forward to creating with you!

Erika Martin (Stampin' Mama)

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at [email protected]  

* Monthly plans will be billed at $25.00 each month, for the duration of three months, starting from the date you register. Your payment method of choice will be automatically charged on a 30 day cycle.

The "Soulology Project" Online Scrapbooking Course is intended only for those that pay for the course. Entrance into the site for this course is by payment only and is limited by invite and passwords for course students only. Thank you for respecting these limitations.

Want to win this course for FREE? Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite scrapbooking subject is! I'll pick a winner by random on Tuesday (11/16) and announce it here.

Stampin' Up Color Challenge!

A bunch of the girls on The Soul Team over at Soul Scrappers got together this weekend to create beautiful samples for our very first Stampin' Up Color Challenge! 

I picked out quite a dynamic color combination....probably not one that many would think of!

We're all using: So Saffron, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray and Basic Black. 

See? I told you it's not one that you would think of! 

Above is the 12 x 12 page that I created for this challenge. I used my new Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die with my Big Shot die cutting machine to create all the awesome trims I used on this page. I added a little pop of color with some Old Olive and Baja Breeze. 

We'd love to have you come and join us over at the Stampin' UP color challenge! If you're not a scrapbooker, there's also a card sample from one of the Soul Team members and we'd love for you to submit a card. There's a great grab bag of scrapbooking supplies for the winner!

Supplies: Cardstock: So Saffron, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Old Olive, Baja Breeze; Tasteful Trim die; Beautiful Wings Embosslits; Baskets & Blooms die; Flower Folds die; self-adhesive rhinestones.

Soul Scrappers scrapbooking community challenge!

I've been on a scrapbooking kick lately! I was beginning to wonder if my creative mojo was in a rut, but apparently not!  

My friend, Shazza, headed up the current Soul Scrap Quest #3 over on the growing Soul Scrappers scrapbooking community. She sent each of us a packet with embellishments to fit the theme, "Love is in the Air." We were to use the embellishments on a page in any way we chose. I was so excited to see what she sent because I had the perfect picture for my page. I took this picture last October at the Great Escape Amusement Park while we were waiting for Girly (our daughter) to be done with the merry-go-round. 

 I really adore Kelly Clarkson's lyrics from this song. They're so raw, open and honest. I often tell David that my life would suck without him. Yes, I know that a lot of people don't care for that word, but for me, it's an honest word, especially when it comes to how I really feel. 

That's what the Soul Scrappers community is all about: putting exactly how you feel on your scrapbook pages. 

We have challenges and prizes happening all the time. There's a gallery full of inspiring layouts and artwork from our members. Great friends to be made and chat with. 

You're invited to come and join us and take part in the community. We'd love to have you!

D is for Dog scrapbook page

I recently had the pleasure of taking part in a Photo Swap on the growing Soul Scrappers community (an inspiring community of amazing scrapbookers that I started in January of this year). A fellow scrapbooker and I traded photos. She lives in Australia and I live in Vermont. I found it fascinating that two women worlds away were working on pictures that meant a lot to both of us.

Michelle sent me this photo of her adorable dog, Holly, when she was still a puppy. This is the page that I created for her.

I used a light brown 12 x 12 textured page as my base. I added strips of patterned paper from the Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper to pop some color onto the page and give it a slightly feminine look for such a cute little girl puppy.

I used the "D is for Dog" stamp set with Basic Brown ink to add the paw prints and bones for my borders. I also stamped the The dog image, as well as the two sentiments, are all from this set. The dog was stamped onto cardstock and cut out to adhere to the page.

I used a black glaze pen to write the doggy's name across the pink paper. 

I love using stamps in my scrapbook and if you'd like to learn how, I have a new class coming up that will teach you how. You can check out all the info here:

Stampbooking 101 (scrapbooking with your stamps)

And I'd love to have you join us over at Soul Scrappers! Come check us out and see what we're all about. We have ongoing challenges, prizes and inspiration.....make some new scrapbooking friends, too!

Earth Month Scrapbooking challenge! GO GREEN!

Ready for a challenge in honor of Earth Month? I've got one for you!

 

I challenged myself to make a layout using some recycled items and I love how this came out. Now I'm challenging you over on Soul Scrappers to create a layout of your own with recycled items. What do you have hanging around the house that could go on a layout other than the scrapbooking supplies you have? What can you re-use on your page that would have otherwise been tossed out?

For my page, I used leftover fish net, some bottle caps, sea glass, some sand (mixed with a little bit of glitter) and letters cut from magazine pages to put on my bottle caps.

I also used the new GinaK set, Gifts from the Sea (one of my new favorite shell sets), to stamp the shell images and watercolor them.

GO GREEN with your layout to celebrate Earth Month!

There's two weeks to do your layout and I'll pick a winner from the entries and send a grab bag of scrapbooking supplies to winner!

Have you checked out Soul Scrappers yet? It's a growing scrapbooking community that started 3 months ago that focuses on using scrapbooking to tell our stories - through photos, journaling and creativity.

It's a free and hopping place to be. We'd love to have you join us!

Little Man, Big Smile scrapbook page - GinaK

I've always wanted to do a photo swap but never had the opportunity....until just recently. My friend, Shazza, put together a swap over at my scrapbooking community, Soul Scrappers, and we all had so much fun working with other people's photos. Sure, I've scrapbooked other people's photos in albums that I've done as gifts or for commissioned scrapbooks, but I've never had a page done by someone else of MY pictures. It was such a great experience to see what someone else did with my pictures. I was thrilled with the way that Amanda, my swap partner, scrapbooked some of my favorite photos of my daughter and I.

Amanda sent me some photos of her adorable 4 year old son, Connor. This is the page that I created for her.

I used a 12 x 12 page so that I could use a 5 x 7 and  4 x 6 photos. I stamped a background on a piece of Night of Navy cardstock with the star image from the Picture It stamp set and white craft ink. I stamped some white stars on Rocket Red cardstock and Silver Lining cardstock and cut them out.

I mounted the photos on Silver Linking and Rocket Red cardstock and placed some stars around the corners and popped the silver starts up on pop-dots.

The ribbon is from one of the past StampTV kits that GinaK offered and worked great with my color scheme.

The title was done by stamping a star on Silver Lining cardstock and cutting around it. I used a Black glaze pen for the words.

The frames were stamped with an image from the Organize It stamp set with white ink on Rocket Red cardstock. I used one of the half circles (meant for creating tabs) with white ink to create a smile and used a white gel pen for the words and little images.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend!

Happy Creating!

-Erika (Stampin' Mama)

Soul Scrappers Challenge - Our First Home scrapbook page

Have you checked out my NEW Scrapbooking Community? We're 2 months in and Soul Scrappers has 500 members and we'd love to have you join us!

One of the amazing challenges we've had on the site is the Soul Scrap Quest that one of our Design Team members, Shazza, coordinated. We all got the same embellishments and then had to create a page using the theme, "Home Sweet Home." This is the page that I created, using pictures from when we got the keys to our first home in August of 2008. I love the picture of my husband putting the keys in the lock for the first time with my daughter looking on.

I was so excited to get the keys and the garage door opener, so as soon as we got them, I put them on my desk and took a picture. It's definitely the scrapbooker in me to think that way! (And yes, I blurred out our address at the top of this picture. It's not a scrapbooking boo-boo.)

One of the embellishments that Shazza made is the polymer clay "Home Sweet Home" plaques. It was perfect for my page. I used some metallic rub-on paste to give it some shine and used glue dots to adhere it to my page.

I used Creamy Caramel ink to swipe around the edges of my page, photo mats and some of the little embellishments.

I love using my Black Glaze pen to journal and also to outline paper embellishments.

Come and join us on Soul Scrappers! Lots of great challenges and chatter going on!

Scrapbooking about yourself - challenge on Soul Scrappers

It's all about showing yourself some love over at my Soul Scrappers challenge this week!

 
For those of you that know me, you know that one of my passions is to scrapbook parts about myself so that I can pass on a legacy to the generations that follow. So often, we scrapbook about everyone else,
but forget to put ourselves in front of the camera or even to just put our inner thoughts on our pages. 

This week, it's all about showing yourself some LOVE!

I used a lot of left over letter stickers and rub-ons that have bee hanging around in my craft stash for a while. It's always good to use those up and I love the artsy feeling it gives to my pages.

A couple friends came over last Saturday  night to hang out and they brought some crafty stuff to work on. They brought along their Cricut to show me how it works and let me pick out one of the patterns to cut. I chose the heart with the wings, not planning it for anything special, but it was perfect for this page.  

I wanted to age it a bit, so I sponged some brown and black ink on it. When I picked it up off the scrap paper, you could see the negative sponged effect it gave. I put the die cut at the top of my page and sponged over it to decorate the top of my paper and carry over the theme.

I'd love to have you join this challenge over at Soul Scrappers. There's also a couple more up close detail photos there, too.