The Pursuit of Happiness by Wendy Tunison Designs

How very odd, I could have sworn I scheduled this post but it seems to have disappeared so here it is again!

I recently worked with a wonderful kit from Wendy Tunison Designs called The Pursuit of Happiness. This fun kit is just full of color & life which made it the perfect kit to use to make some end-of-school teacher gifts.

I really wanted to make something unique & fun so I checked through my Pinterest boards to see what I had stored & I found a wonderful idea for a gift card holderon the blog Inking Idaho. I really liked the look but instead of using punches & die-cuts, I used my Silhouette Cameo to make the cuts nice & clean. The gift card holders turned out wonderfully & I was able to get my boys to sign the cards correctly on the first try!

In addition to the gift card holder, I also made a quick food label for an event at the boys' school called Everybody Eats Rice. We had to bring a dish that had rice in it & when I made a Pineapple Honey Rice Dessert last year there was nothing left. Same results this year but it does taste the best while fresh!

I liked my gift card holder so much that I turned it into a little freebie for everyone who needs a cute holder for some gift cards. Just click on the preview to download & enjoy!

Permitted by Just For Fun Designs

Do you have a son or daughter who is now old enough to drive? Then pick up the new kit Permitted from Just For Fun Designs; it's just what you need to scrap all those heart stopping pictures! Kelly created this kit for her oldest son who is learning to drive, he got to pick out the colors & elements lucky guy. This fun kit is on sale for 50% off until June 22nd & if you head on over to Kelly's Facebook page you'll find a great freebie!

And don't worry if your kids aren't old enough to drive yet, this kit is still so much fun to use. Here's my little dudes when they were just over a year old "driving" the shopping cart!

Dive Into Summer by The Scrappy Kat

Mommy Me Time Scrapper and The Scrappy Kat have teamed up to design their latest Dive Into kit, Dive Into Summer, just in time for all those summer vacation photos you will be taking. Whether you or are going to the beach or just hanging out by the pool, this is your must have summer kit. All the Dive Into Summer products will be on sale for 40% off the first week; also you should head over to Tammy & Kat's blogs to find a bunch of great freebies!

We haven't been able to go to the pool or beach yet thanks to the rainy weather so I dug up some pictures from years past to scrap with this great kit.

I have a little freebie for everyone, just click on the preview to download & enjoy!

Mud Bugs by B2N2 Scraps

B2N2 Scraps has released her next CT inspired kit, Mud Bugs! Mud Bugs is another name for crawfish in the southern United States & of course crawfish boils are very popular. This kit is a great way to scrap all those crawfish, lobster or other shellfish boil pictures you may have. But there are plenty of fun elements & papers to work with all sorts of pictures.

My aunt & uncle used to host a dinner each year where they would get cooked lobsters from their church. While I don't like lobster (don't like food that looks back at me), it was fun to hang out with the family & eat the turf part of a surf 'n' turf meal.

June 2013 Happenings at Stuff to Scrap

It's summertime ... at least if you're in the Northern Hemisphere & if you're not then happy winter! With the start of June comes all new challenges, kits & fun over at Stuff to Scrap so let's check it out.

As always there are a lot of ways to become part of the STS family besides being an active scrapper & forum member! Right now we are looking to fill two positions, the STS Newsletter Editor & the STS Advertiser. Both positions will be open until filled & you can check out the details below; if interested please email support [at] stufftoscrap [dot] com, we'd love to hear from you. And remember to keep an eye on the CT & Designer Darling Calls section of the forum for other positions, they pop up all the time.

All the new challenges for June are posted & make sure to get the June speed scraps on your calendar to keep up with your scrapping during these busy months. Several of the new STS Designer Darlings are hosting this month & the speed scraps are a great way to meet these wonderful ladies.

June is also the start of Season 4 of the This Scrapper's Got Talent Contest! Think you have what it takes to be the next Top Scrapper here at STS? Come join in some friendly competition and get ready to scrap, scrap, scrap! To see the contest details & sign up, please head to the TSGT 2013 Sign Ups thread; participation is only open to the first 100 people to sign up by Saturday, June 15th.

Of course the start of a new month brings new products to the store. First up is the June Mega Designer Collaboration, Capture Life, a kit that's all about capturing those precious little events that happen throughout a person’s life, whatever the occasion. With contributions from 9 designers you not only get a great kit but a great sampling of the various designers' styles. In Capture Life you'll find 81 elements, 36 papers, 2 alphas & 2 templates; just what you'll need to complete the June Mega Kit Challenge. Purchase Capture Life before Friday, June 7th & you'll receive the matching quick page set for free (a coupon will be included in your download).

Time and time again the Designer Darlings at Stuff To Scrap create an outstanding monthly commercial use grab bag! This month is no exception, with the Paper Essentials Grab Bag. This paper making themed grab bag contains everything you will need to create an endless supply of papers for your kits, including things like layered paper patterns & paper textures. You won't want to miss this collection of commercial use items, perfect for rounding out your designer stash.

Make sure to grab the April 2013 Mega Collaboration, Refresh and Renew, it's matching quick page set & the April 2013 CU Grab Bag, Spring Fling, before they're gone at the end of June!

May was the month to celebrate moms & to help you scrap all those wonderful pictures of the leading ladies in your life, the June Build A Kits are here with the theme of Beautiful. You'll find paper packs, elements packs, mini kits & more in this month's collection; purchase 3 or more of the June BAKs in one transaction & use the code JUNEBAK_BUY3_SAVE50% at checkout to save 50% on all the June BAKs in your cart. And after you pick up your June BAKs, head over to the June BAK Challenge to scrap a layout of your favorite lady!

LilyAnn of A Fish Design is holding a Grand Opening Sale until June 15th, pick up anything in her store for 50% off during that time. New sales & specials are always popping up so make sure to check out the Designer & Shop News section of the forum for announcements.

The June 2013 Road Trip Starry Summer Night has taken off, you'll find all the stops right here. Make sure to check it out soon because each piece is only required to be available for 2 weeks & you won't want to miss out on any of these great freebies. If you're interested in joining in on the July 2013 Road Trip, you can find all the details in the July 2013 Road Trip thread, we'd love to see you!

Thanks for reading and we hope that you have a wonderful start to the summer (or winter)!

Free Ride by The Scrappy Kat

For Easter this year, we ended up going to an Easter egg hunt that was sponsored by a motorcycle club. No really! It was the 25th Annual Ranch Riders Motorcycle Brotherhood Easter Egg Hunt & while it was in many ways your typical Easter egg hunt the addition of the burly guys in motorcycle gear made it memorable.

When it was time to scrap the pictures I discovered there were no motorcycles kits in the Stuff to Scrap store so I put out a request for a motorcycle kit & ended up with a collaboration between Build A Memory & The Scrappy Kat, Free Ride! I just love what Raquel & Kat came up with & you can snag both parts of the collaboration on sale right now.

There are also two add-ons you can pick up, Raquel's is free through June 10th while Kat's add-on is also on sale.

Here's the layout I made for the Easter egg hunt, giant Easter bunnies are weird enough but the addition of the motorcycle jacket sent it into the weird stratosphere!

Since it was an Easter event, I added some bunny elements from Dive Into Easter from Mommy Me Time Scrapper & The Scrappy Kat. Of course the bunnies insisted on wearing motorcycle helmets!

Make Your Own Father's Day Card!

Father's Day is coming up soon & if you're like me, it's always hard to figure out what to get the men in your life. At least your card selection should be easy as I have several of my card templates on sale just in time for the big day! All the below templates will be 50% off until Sunday, June 16th & take a look in the Boy section of the STS store for some great kits to go with them.

First up are the White & Blue Collar Cards for the Dad who pushes paper all day or the Dad who gets his hands dirty!

If you need something a bit more generic, here's the Simply Simple Cards that will work for any type of Dad.

And if you want to get a little more adventurous, why not try one of my pop-up cards? You can choose from either the Easel Cards Volume 1 or Spring Cards to give your creation a fun 3-D look.

Have fun creating a unique card for your special guy this year!