Hi Everyone! I hope you enjoy my first issued challenge here as I step into the new role as List Mom here at SOS! I have created this layout for our STARS AND STRIPES challenge:























I really loved the stars and the stripes in an unconditional way designed into the paper so when I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this challenge! My daughter is a teenage girl who likes to pose so when I stole, I mean borrowed this picture from her Facebook account I thought it would go well with the paper :)

It is your turn to play now! Go here for details!
Thanks, Deb♥

This month the design team members will share with you projects we create using the theme of Stars and Stripes. A lot of us at least here in America will think red, white and blue since it is our American birthday this month; however this challenge is to use stars and stripes and that can be in ANY way you like! Think outside the box and please come along and play with us!!! You can send your submission to groovydeb@yahoo.com and then at the end of the month one person will be chosen from all who submit to become our guest of the month in August. We hope to see you!!!

Have a scrappy day and hope we talk soon! Deb♥

I can't believe it has been 3 years and 7 months since Scrap Our Stash came to be. And now here are 4 of the many reasons why I've decided to say farewell to Scrap Our Stash.

It's been a great 3 1/2 years, but now it's time for me to move on to pursue other interests.

I enjoyed developing Scrap Our Stash and it's uniqueness and am excited to know that it will continue without me. My initial goal was to make a blog where everyday scrappers would be challenged to participate and have the opportunity to SHINE and become Design Team Members, many times for the very first time. I'm glad to have played a part in inspiring many to GET OUT THERE and show their talent.

Thanks to Groovy Deb, this is not the end of SOS, but only a NEW beginning. My hope is that SOS continues to inspire and challenge scrappers at every level.

It's been great, I have enjoyed working with all my talented DT members, and now friends. I will miss you all. I hope to pop in now and then to visit my SOS friends and family and maybe even take a challenge now and then. Wishing you all the best!

Later,
Kathy

Reader Amy submitted this beautiful banner for the June HOMECOMING Challenge

She said:

Hi! My name is Amy from http://www.amyscrapspot.blogspot.com/ (Where Scrappin' Happins!) and this is the first project I have ever entered into a challenge!!
On Thursday June 24th I decided that I was finally going to try making my first banner. The fact that July 4th is right around the corner helped, a LOT!

I used my CTMH AP Cricut cartridge to cut everything that you see. I love working with these colors! I was able to use the same shade papers, inks, embossing, it was GREAT! A lot of work but well worth it! I am not usually one to want everything uniform, as you can see I kind of like it funky! Scrapping 2 boys usually seems to fit with that lopsided look. Almost as if they are bouncing on my page. =) The B&T paper I chose, Superhero, really spoke to me for this project! All the little stars on one side and strips on the other! How perfect can it get?!

All and all, as my first banner, I have to say it looks pretty neat! I put as many pics side by side as I could. =). (Sorry for the glare, had to take it to work to get pics)

Bio-
I pretty much got this off of my Blog, If this isn't my Bio I don't know what is. =) I am a single mom of 2 amazing and active boys. I work full time and became a CTMH Independent Consultant since approx January 2012. I am really enjoying getting to know the products and finding that I have more imagination and creativity then I thought! With my boys I have PLENTY of inspiration and pictures to keep me busy for a long long time! For the past 7 years all of my pictures have just sat on CD or in a box and that really made me sad! I love taking pictures and what a waste! Since finding CTMH that has all changed! NOW I can show off my pictures in Style, MY style! What's better then THAT!?

Thank you very much!

Now it's your turn! Go here to see the details for these last days of June to also submit your take on the June challenge!

Design Team Member Jean submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

Happy Show N Tell Sunday! Here is Design Team Member Ange...

I started out with Scrap Our Stash as a reader submitting, a little more than a year ago. I love the challenges here and that there was a fun place encouraging us to use up our precious stash on even more precious layouts and projects.

This was my first project after being invited to join the DT here:

I still love looking at it. That little guy makes me smile even when he's getting into all kinds of trouble. I do have to admit that sometimes I wish he was a little less mobile now, more like in this photo where he was still crawling. They get into less then.

Not a lot has changed with me in the last year but I do feel like my life has gotten on a race track or something. My oldest is going to start high school this fall and we've had a crazy month busy with sports and many other activities already. Not sure I'm ready for high school.

In the scrapping area I have made my first manufacturing design team as a Moxxie Muse. I've been at it for a month and am thoroughly enjoying every minute. Here's is my project I turned in for consideration for the team:

This photo originally had much more background area but I cropped it out, to focus just on my son and his sweet little hand reaching. (same cutie as above)

I'm looking forward to many more fun challenges here at Scrap Our Stash and hope to see all of you readers submit and join in the scrappiness! :)Ange

Guest Designer Groovy Deb has a frugal tip for today :)

I just have to share with you today how I saved my friends a lot of money last weekend We have a scrapbooking group that meets monthly to crop and on occasion we will bring in things we no longer need to see if others can use it. This time I brought a tote FULL of paper and I do mean full. At the least I would say there was 2,000 sheets there that I just did not need anymore. So even though the frugality did not help me financially it definitely helped others. It is fun to share and clean out a big space in my scrap room! Have a good day and hoping you enjoy!


Deb♥

Design Team Member Karen submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:
This LO is about our homecoming last August. We moved back to the UK after three years in Holland and moved right back into the house we had lived in before. We had rented it out while we were away. The photos are of the boxes and the removal.



















Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE

Former Design Team Member Mary Pat submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

 Design Team Member Tammy submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

I decided since my family is getting ready to relocate and find a new house, maybe I should use photos I have of our first house for the June Homecoming challenge. These pictures are from the day we moved out of our very first home here in Raleigh, North Carolina. The house has some very special memories, it was the first house my husband and I ever bought, plus it was the house where we brought two of our children home from the hospital as newborns. It was hard to sell it, but we just needed a little more space (like a house with a playroom for example!) In this layout I used both Bella Blvd and MME papers and embellishments. The blank chipboard in the lower right corner is for the exact date these pictures were taken, I just need to look that up! Now it's time to see what you can do for the June Homecoming Challenge!

See all the details HERE!

So, one of my favorite things to do lately is "wrap" bakers twine or embroidery floss around a part of my layout (around the photo or a section of patterened paper).


Now, I know that bakers twine or embroidery floss isn't really "that" expensive..but this concept evolved because I decided I needed the twine after I had already adhered my paper. So this is a tutorial combined with a Frugal Friday!!


So usually you would just wrap the twine around and around and around, right... so let's say you're wrapping a 6 inch photo (like this one)...




I always wrap so there are 3 strands on the top... so 6 inches x 3 wraps = 18 inches, plus it's also wrapped on the back...so double that and you get 36 inches. So 1 yard of twine just to wrap this photo.


So, let's move on to my idea...




Then I wrap the twine to the other end (right end - End B) of the patterned paper, poke hole at that end and feed it through to the back... (Yes, I'm using a needle)




Now here is where the trick comes in... on the back side, instead of wrapping all the way back to the first side (left end - A) again, I just poke another hole in the the same side I just came down on (End B) and go back up there...scotch tape the back side to hold it firm & prevent tearing. (this eliminates the wasted twine on the back side)...




Wrap twine back to left end (end A), poke hole, feed to back of paper, poke another hole & come back up (scotch tape)...again eliminating the wasted wrap on the backside.


So this is what the backside of my paper looks like:


So the paper was about 10 inches long... and I used 10 inches x3 on the top... 30 inches and maybe 2 inches on the back. so 32 inches. If I had wrapped it all the way around front, back, front, back..I'd have used about 60 inches of twine....
I also attached a button just by poking two holes and feeding twine from the backside through hole 1, then the button and back through the second hole. -- Scotch tape again to avoid knots...
here is that additional look on the backside:


Then I also added a few more pieces of patterned paper to the lower edge and this is my completed layout:






And a closeup of the finished layout:

Former Design Team Member Jean submitted this project for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:


My submission for HOMECOMING is another house I decorated for my NEW HOME. That’s right I’ve moved out of the home I shared with my husband and now live in a flat in a small town in Shropshire near to my daughter. My marriage wasn’t working and my health isn’t good so I made the decision to go before I was too ill to do it. I’m loving the peace and quieter lifestyle here, I'm near the countryside and the market town of Much Wenlock which was the birthplace of the modern Olympics.

I used another of my little wooden houses and altered it to make it into a key holder, in the hopes I don't have to keep searching for keys anymore. Lol. Hope you like it. You can see more of my work at my Blog www.apaintaholicsprogress.blogspot.com

Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Guest Design Team Member Deborah submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

Hi, I am Deborah and for the HOMECOMING challenge I know exactly what I wanted to do! My daughter is at home on stage as a dancer and when it came time for recital she was pumped and ready to shine on stage. I made this layout to represent her favorite home place.



Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Former Design Team Sindi Member submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

I did this layout for the June Homecoming Challenge. Not much has changed with me since I was on the design team. I do have a new blog that can be viewed here: http://smokeyscraps.blogspot.com/

For this layout I combined my two favorite hobbies: crochet and scrapbooking. The photo is of my sweet little great-great-grandparents. Thanks for the challenge!

Sindi


Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Design Team member Wendy submitted this for the June Homecoming Challenge. Here is what she said:

I love when the family "comes home" for the holidays! I have such a wonderful time with all my nieces. The best part of being together is that they LOVE the camera!

Wendy***








Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

 Design Team Member Elizabeth submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

My bio hasn’t changed at all since I joined the Scrap Our Stash design team – I’m just a bit older, that’s all.


The photographs in this simple layout represent what means home to me. Whenever I go away for a while, the first place I make for when I return is the back garden/yard. I drop my bags at the front door and make straight for the back door, I just have to check what plants are in flower and what changes have occurred in my absence. This is the view of it from the window to the left of my computer – the best view in the world! And, as you can see, my husband and our cat, are equally at home in the garden.

Thanks for looking,
Elizabeth
http://silverscrappers.blogspot.com/



 Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Design Team Member Wendy C. submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

Here is a page I did for the Homecoming challenge.


We recently attended a family wedding where many family members from out of the country were able to attend. It really was a wonderful time and it was great to see the "elders" all together again. It was just like a homecoming. Everyone coming home to be together once again.


Wendy Crowe***


Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge. See all the details HERE!

Forme Guest Design Team Member Tiffany submitted this layout for the June HOMECOMING Challenge. She said:

Attached is my layout for the HOMECOMING theme. My layout, "We Are Family", features pics of a mini-reunion with my 2 sisters and all of our children a few years ago.


I was a Guest Designer with you in December 2011, and it's so nice of you to include me in this challenge! Thanks so much, looking forward to seeing the other homecoming layouts!


=) Tiffany
The Painted Frog
blog: http://bkfastattiffanys.blogspot.com


 Now it's your turn to take the June HOMECOMING Challenge.  See all the details HERE!