Some eye candy

It's been a little while, so I thought I'd just stop in and post a few of the layouts done by our design team with the September Simply Steampunk kit.  I hope you enjoy them!

Two from Craftysprinkles:

Two from MandaK:

Two from Forevervampress:

And lastly, two from me:

Thank you for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

2 more entries and a WINNER!

We had 2 more entries that I wasn't able to post yesterday due to kit reveal day, so I am going to post them now for everyone to see.

The first is by Okispice.  I am thinking her husband was brave, indeed!  And I just love those quilled spiders she made!

This is what she had to say about her layout:  

I made page for the Scraps of Darkness blog challenge over at http://scrapsofdarkness.blogspot.com/2010/09/show-us-your-dark-side.html. The page was designed with a sketch from Scrap A Little.
Although it looks like the spider is standing on my husband's head, he is actually standing behind that spider web. I still think he was pretty brave about it though. I quilled the spiders myself.

And the second is from Erin R.  She has a wonderful design on this, and that chipboard is fantastic!

And this was Erin's comment about the layout:

it is dark due to the colors and of the look on my sons face.

And now for the fun part!  This morning, before school, I had my youngest daughter draw a name from a paper bag.  Yes, I know, my random drawing technique is very sophisticated!  lol.  And the name she drew (and so the winner) is.....

Victoria, aka VAWM! 

Congratulations, Victoria.  If you will just contact me (Melinda) at scrapsofdarkness@yahoo.com with your address, we will send you our full Moonlight Garden Kit, including the kit additions!

Be sure to keep checking back, as we will be having another challenge in the near future  (hint... start thinking about the big holiday in October!).

Simply Steampunk

Today is kit release day!  I love the 15th, because I spend the 14th going crazy trying to get everything updated and ready for the 15th, so it's like the calm after the storm for me, lol.

Anyway, we've got a new kit and a fabulous new sketch by Craftysprinkles to share with you, so without further ado...

The name of the kit is Simply Steampunk, and the them is (obviously...) Steampunk!  We've included 8 gorgeous double sided patterned papers from Graphic 45, and 2 from the Basic Grey Basics line, plus all the fun embellies shown.  Everything you need to start doing Steampunk layouts!

The above picture shows one side of the patterned papers, and this picture shows the other side of the papers:

 

And as with all of our kits, we have a beautiful sketch inspired by the kit from Craftysprinkles.  If you haven't seen her sketches and layouts, you should really visit her blog.

Have an awesome Wednesday, and be sure to visit our gallery to see what our design team has done with this kit so far!

Meet our September Guest Designer!

Today, I've got some awesome news... For the month of September, we are lucky to have Celina Matthews, aka forevervampress, guest designing for us!

Celina does wonderful layouts, and I find I love her Steampunk layouts the most (that's a little hint about September!).

So meet Celina!

Hello, all. My name is Celina Matthews. I am 33 years old, a military spouse, stay-at-home-mom of three, and a college student working on a Master's degree in Business Administration. I have been scrapping for a little more than a year now and I can tell you it has quickly become a passion. I scrap or think about scrapping all the time! I look at everything with a scrapper’s eye because you never know where inspiration will come from. I believe scrapping is therapeutic and a benefit to all. Scrapping is not just about recording your memories but about using and developing your creativity. My scrapping style is eclectic at the moment. I haven’t developed “my style” yet but I think it’s coming along beautifully. The styles that really call out to me are steampunk and the darker side of scrapping; including darker colors; a lot of distressing; and subjects like gothic, punk, and Halloween. These styles allow a lot of freedom, diversity, and creativity, and I suggest every scrapper give them a try! 

 If I know Celina at all, I know she's been working hard creating some amazing layouts with our September kit, so be sure to check back tomorrow and visit our gallery to see what she's done!

A little more darkness...

It's early Sunday afternoon, and I thought I'd show you another entry for our current challenge...

This one is by Frances, who is one of our subscribers.  She's done an awesome dark vampire lo, and I have to tell you, my favorite part of this is the drops of blood, but I'm also loving that moon she added!

This is what Frances said about her work of art...

I made this lo for the SOD blog contest http://scrapsofdarkness.blogspot.com/
and the Distressed in September sbc challenge.
Subject of course is my obsession with really hot fictional vampires 

That's all I've got today, other than a reminder that the newest kit will reveal on our main site on the 15th.

Have a great day!

Another take on the darkness...

We've had another fabulous entry into the blog challenge, so I thought I'd post it for everyone to see.  I'm also clarifying the challenge, as we've had a couple questions...

First the clarification.  The layout should be new as of September 2, 2010, and you do not need to subscribe to the Scraps of Darkness kit club, you only need to be a follower of our blog.  This contest is open to everyone, I wanted to see other scrappers' take on "dark"!

Now for the wonderful layout done by Victoria aka VAWM...  I love all the fun elements she used on this layouts, especially the feathers!

And this is what she says about her layout:

I just finished up a blog challenge for Scraps of Darkness! I loved the sketch so much I did it again.
This sketch is by Flying Unicorn (aka Alda) whose sketches I adore.

So about the darkest non-Twilight photo I had handy was one of DS and me last Halloween. We are a couple of Jokers!
I used black, red and purple as my dark colors and really tried for a haunted spooky look. You can let me know how I did!

Beautiful work, Victoria!

Have a super scrappy weekend, everyone!

Time is running out...

It's September 9, there are 5 days left to enter the contest!  We only have 2 submissions so far, so I'd really love to see a few more entries!  I know "dark" can seem like a forbidding word, but don't take it too litteraly.  We are talking about a style, so it can be a dark subject, or just dark colors, or a darker style, like grunge, steampunk, or whatever you think of as "dark".

I'm going to post the two submissions I received so far, and they are just amazing pieces of art!

The first is from Celina, aka Scrap Vamp aka forevervampress...

And this is what she had to say about the layout:  

Love Can Be a Prison layout. I created this layout because of the Book of Me Challenge both at scrapbook.com and scrapsofdarkness.com. The topic was "I wish someone had told me..." and this is what I wish someone had told me when I was young. That love can be a prison if you're not ready for it, if you have low self-esteem, and if you cling desperately to what you think is love only because you've never experienced it. When you're young it's easy to fall in love and when you don't know what real love is, it is easy to be confused by someone speaking sweet words but all the while breaking your spirit. I fell in love so desperately the first time that quickly it became a prison for me and I felt I could not escape from it. I am glad that I was able to get out and to replenish my spirit and confidence so that I was never made to feel this way about love again. Sorry, that was a lot. Now most of this is from my SOD kit. The only things not from the kit are the red and white cardstock, the small Prima roses, and the large black felt and lace flower that I got from Precious Paper over at Etsy. I inked the edges of the papers in Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Black Soot.

The second entry is from Cheryl, aka C Mom Go:

And this is what she says about her layout...

This is my entry for the Scraps of Darkness Blog Challenge. Link : http://scrapsofdarkness.blogspot.com/
(The pink tone is really burgundy IRL...sorry).   My husband and I in Feb 2010. 

So as I said, we've got 2 wonderful submissions, but I want to see more!  lol.

Have a great day, I'm off to work on getting September's kit ready for release next week!

Fragile and Aidan

I am back to posting subscriber layouts created based on the August sketch.

This beautiful layout was done by tmello.  Don't you just love what she did with the tulle?  I know I do!  I also love the way she turned the transparency into a flower.

Beautiful work, Tina!

And I've got one more thing to share...

My first grandchild was born yesterday morning!  His name is Aidan and I just think he is the most beautiful baby!  And he is big!  He weight 8 lbs, 9oz! 

And this is Aidan...

Have a wonderful scrappy day today!

Show us your dark side...

Today I'm taking a short break from posting subscriber's sketch layouts to see what you can do!  

Scraps of Darkness is hosting a blog challenge.  This is all you have to do:

1.  Between today, September 2, 2010, and September 14, 2010, create a "dark" layout.  Think dark colors,  dark subjects, such as Twilight or horror movies.  Think Halloween, vampires, witches, or whatever you think of as a "dark" layout.

2. Post your layout on your blog or in whatever scrapbook galleries you normally post in.

3. Mention  that your layout was done for the Scraps of Darkness blog challenge, with a link back to this blog.

4.  Leave a comment on this post telling us where to find your layout, with a link to it.

5.  We would prefer you don't mention any other kit clubs in your description, it's really not fair to them to mention Scraps of Darkness with their kit.

6.  The more places you post your layout, the more entries you receive, so make sure you list all the places you have posted it in your comment to us.

7. This challenge is open to anyone, you do not have to be a Scraps of Darkness customer to play or win. But you do have to be a follower of our blog, so sign up to follow our blog today!

8. On or about September 16, 2010, a winner will be randomly chosen to receive a Scraps of Darkness kit, including the kit additions.

For a little inspiration, here are a few examples of dark layouts done by our design team:

And last, but not least, HAVE FUN!  That's what this challenge is all about!