This month there is a membership drive going on at RAKScraps.  This is the first membership drive for RAKScraps.  RAKScraps delivers the free Mega Kit to all of it’s members each month and that is what RAKScraps is all about.  But there are costs associated with providing the wonderful free goodies that are available each month.  Server costs, bandwith charges, and other associated costs have risen.  So why a membership drive?  By becoming a RAKStar, each member is not only helping to keep RAKScraps free for all, but they get wonderful extras like the Add on Kit each month, (which is for sale at our Sister Site, Scrapwow, for $3.95)  A $19.95 donation to become a RAKStar entitles you to a year’s worth of  1.  The Mega Kit, 2.  The great Add on Kit each month 3.  The Quickpages made from the Mega kit and Add On Kits.  Just think, on the Mega Add on Kit alone you would spend $48.00 if you purchased them each and every month.  By becoming a RAKStar member you would be saving $28.00 on those kits, not to mention keeping the Mega Kit and Quickpages free for everyone!  Why not become a RAKStar today, and help keep RAKScraps the best place for great FREE Megakits! 

To go along with RAKScraps Sponsor month, there is a great newslette challenge going on.  We are taking a trip down memory lane and using ANY RAKScraps Mega Kit!   Oh and the RAKScraps RAK~er will be out looking for layouts and PM’ing out prizes in various catagories.  Check out this thread for all the important information and links to become a RAKStar!

Before I launch into the challenge reviews, the RAK Fairy has informed me of a few more winners of August Challenges hosted by our Designer Highlight Sponsors.  Let’s have a peek.

First up is “Nature Lover” by Myra.  This layout was entered into the newsletter crafting challenge.  It is a very serene layout with fantastic journaling…see….

Very well done Myra and Congratulations!

Next up we have “Bee-utiful” by Mizfit.  This was entered into the Newsletter Freebie Challenge Scrapbooking.  Mizfit has presented a lovely quickpage made with the Newsletter Freebies by Robyn’s Fetish and Toucan Scraps at I Did It Creations.  It is simply gorgeous!

An absolutely stunning QuickPage Mizfit, and congratulations!

Finally the winner of the I’m Seeing Red Crafting Challenge is Ann Ominous with “Rikki Luvs His Mommy”.  This layout is precious, as those of us with pets actually consider them one of our children, and we will dress them up to prove it!

Wonderful layout Ann!  This is just precious.  Congratulations!

Now, on to my regular features - the Challenges.  As you can see from the layouts above, we have some extremely talented scrappers over at RAKScraps, and would love to have you join us in our fun challenges.  Read on for the skinny on some of the ones that are going on now!

**SEPTEMBER RAKfile Challenge** - This month the RAKfile is a bit different than previous months.  It is the “Flood the Forums”  Teddyprayer is really on the ball this month.  There are a few things to do to participate in this challenge and you will find them all right here.  This challenge will get you hopping all around the forum.  You just  might find a little place you have not visited before!

**September Ad/Inspiration Challenge with Enableem** - Enableem is the best at finding those unique ads to use in her challenge.  This month she has found the following ad to help inspire us.  And it is about Food.  One of my favorite subjects, which is probably why I subject myself to grueling walks up a very steep hill several times a day, everyday.  Gotta love the food! Another Vintage food ad, well actually more like a full page recipe card for Orange Knots.  (Now I have to go and copy this page just so I can make these little lovelys).  Here is the ad….and a napkin!

 Ohhhh yum!  The object of this challenge is to be inspired by the ad.  You don’t have to follow the ad exactly.  Is it the color, the texture, or the fact that it is food that inspires you.  Take what you will from the ad and run with it.  We will love to see what you create.  Just check out the thread here and you will be all set!

 **Mega Challenge with August’s MegaKit** - This challenge is one that runs mid month to mid month.  We still have a week until the September Mega Kit comes out so you still have time to get in on this great challenge.  All you need is the August Mega Kit and/or Add on Kit for August, and your creativity. There are only three rules for this challenge, posted here.  And as usual, Shelly will have a nice little RAK for all the participants!

You can find all of our exciting challenges here.  There are so many to choose from, you will be sure to find one that sparks your creativity!  We would love to see all of your lovely creations.

And, while you are about checking out all the cool happenings at RAKScraps, take a moment to visit our sister sites, 3Scrapateers, Scrapwow, and Scrap99.  There is so much to see and do, with these sites you may never need to leave!

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of the RAKScraps newsletter and stop by and visit us on the boards and post some of your fantastic layouts in our gallery!  We would love to have you as a member of the RAKScraps Family!

A big thank you from all of us here at RAKScraps!  See you next Wednesday!

Now on with my special features:

During August, those that participated in the Tour De Gallery on the message boards also voted secretly on some outstanding layouts in our gallery.  I have tallied the votes and have come up with these two layouts to feature.  I do hope you enjoy them.

Our first feature is “Olyvia in Bermuda” from nclgem.

 This is a beautiful, serene layout!  Wonderful job nclgem!  You can see her layout here and even leave her a little love!

Here is the second showcase layout, again following the beach theme from our member Cindyweeks.

 This layout contains so many elements that Cindy did herself and the way the pictures are put together is just fabulous.  You can see the layout here and even leave a little love as well.  Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

Congratulations to our two Tour De Gallery Spotlight layouts!  I will be featuring two more standouts for September in October’s first post!

My second announcement is the winners and winning layouts from the Newsletter Challenge and Heritage Challenge.

Newsletter Challenge - “My Birdnest:” - by Floppy Latte Designs

What a sweet little bird’s nest!  The freebie in the newsletter used for this layout comes from our own Angela (Toucan Scraps) and Robyn’s Fetish, both of whom are part of I Did It Creations Designer Highlight Sponsor at RAKScraps for August.  Floppy Latte recieved a lovely coupon from Dragons Lair Designs for this entry.

Heritage Challenge with Dragons Lair Designs - “Mystery Woman” - DaraGolden.  The challenge here was to scrap a heritage style layout with relatives from your past.  The winning entry is below.

You can see this wonderful layout here and get a larger view to read the excellent journaling and leave a little love.  What a fantastic layout Dara, and congratulations!

Now, since this is the very first day of September, it is time for the “Avatar Quilt”  Each Month, Heather (SparklyDuck75) gives a theme for dressing up our Avatars (those little pictures beside our names on the forum) and at the end of the month, she puts all the new ones in a “quilt” to showcase them.  I love it so much that I put it in the blog each month.  It is really interesting to see how each person interprets the theme!  Last month it was “Music” which went along well with the Mega and Add On Kits for August.  So without further ado, here is the “August Avatar Quilt”

We are a bunch of music lovers aren’t we!   For September, we are going to be dressing ourselves up with our favorite Authors and Books.  I can’t wait to see how great everyone will look in September (and You Can Wear White After Labor Day, tee hee)!

I know that I usually go into a few more challenges in the first post of the month, but being that it is September 1st, and with all the kids heading back to school, I thought I would just do this post as a showcase of some great digital scrapbooking layouts! 

As always, there are a ton of new challenges starting this month so make sure you hop on over to the forum at RAKScraps and check them all out.  There may be one that is just what you need to showcase your creativity and share with us your wonderful memories.

Also, stay tuned for the September Newsletter, which will be released shortly, to get all the scoop on what will be happening this  month.  I am sure that it will be great fun for all!

While you are out and about on the internet, be sure to stop by our sister sites, 3Scrapateers, Scrapwow, and our newest addtion, Scrap99.  All of these sites have so many wonderful things to do, see, and add to your digital scrapping stash, you may never have to go anywhere else!

All of us at RAKScraps wish to thank you for stopping by to see us!  We hope to see you in the gallery and on the boards!

First up is a new 12×12 layered template, themed for those back to school pages! Yep it’s that time of year again where parents everywhere gain a little bit of freedom again as the little tykes go back to school!!! Scrap those pages quick and easy with this layered template. Download includes PSD and PNG files. Available in my scrapwow store

New in the store this week is my Very Vernal kit. I made this kit for no particular occasion, just for fun. This kit has a color palette of purple, green and pink. Reasonably priced too for those on a budget! Available in my scrapwow store

Layout by Di Hickman using Very Vernal Kit

To coordinate with this kit I made an add on, Very Vernal Too, to give it more variety and versatility, and although an add on Very Vernal Too can stand alone as it’s own page kit also.  Available in my scrapwow store

As a thank you to all Scrapwow members, and RAKscrappers I have this Quick Page freebie  for you using my Very Vernal kit. Available in my scrapwow store

All these products and more are  Available in my scrapwow store! Check out the store for more great digital products!

First, as a reminder, the fabulous August 2010 Mega Kit will be available for 7, yes 7, more days in the RAKCenter for “0″ points, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, you still have a little time left.  The Mega Add On Kit, which is just as wonderful as the Mega Kit, has been sent to RAKStar Members and is also available at our sister site, Scrapwow.  Make sure that you pick up this great addition to the August 2010 Mega Kit.   With that business taken care of, you still have  few days to participate in the RAKScraps Quickpage Exchange Club.  The Quickpage Exchange Club is a great way to get those fabulous kits from August out and play with them to create some awesome Quickpages to share with all the other members.  All of the info is here.  It is a great way to share your creativity and have fun in the process.

Now to run down some of the challenges that are going on.  These challenges run until the end of the month of August so you still have a good bit of time to get in on them.

***Scrap from the Heart*** - With SparklyDuck75 (Heather) - This month Heather brings us some lovely lyrics and scripture to help us “Scrap from the Heart”.  Life is busy.  That’s it.  We all run and run, and eventually we need a place to recharge.  This month Heather is looking for that Peaceful Place that we all go to when we need to relax, recharge, focus, or otherwise reconnect with ourselves.  There are just a few little rules and you can find them here.  Pop over and give this challenge a once over, it just may recharge you a little while you participate.  Kiss This Designs has donated this lovely mini kit as a prize for your participation:

Very Very Lovely!  Thank you Kiss This Designs!

***Sketch Challenge with Crosstown*** - Crosstown has brought us another fantastic Sketch Challenge!  What is a Sketch?  A Sketch is like a set of “instructions” for a layout.  Usually it is done in some type of grayscale images that represent places to place photos, borders, embellishments, and journaling.  It is used for inspiration to create a layout.  Sketches are great if you find your scrapping mojo a little on the low side, or you are looking to try a different kind of style in your layout.   Here is a preview of this month’s Sketch:

 As you can see, there are several items placed on the sketch.  Usually long elements are representative of a type of border, circular and square or rectangle elements may represent photo placement as well as journaling spots, and the smaller elements (and sometimes larger) represent embellishment placement.  The Sketch is by no means a final representation of what a layout should look like.  It is more of a jumping off point for sparking your creativity.  You can find the Sketch Challenge for August here and Crosstown has also provided a lovely lovely RAK for your participation:

Wonderful RAK Crosstown!  I really love these colors!

***Quote Challenge with Heather*** - Heather is up again with the Quote Challenge.  She has, along with the lovely JoanneK, have provided some  lovely word art quotes to help inspire us with our layouts.  The theme this month, August, is Summer Water Fun!  Heather and Joanne always come up with the best quotes and turn them into FANTASTIC word art for us to use.  Just take a look:

These are “Splashing”!  (Yep, trying to be cute here!)

There are just a few tiny rules for this challenge that you will find here.  And Shannon has provided such a lovely little mini kit as a RAK for participation in this challenge:

Simply gorgeous Shannon!  Thank you so much!

Now, on to some other cool things to do at RAKScraps.  On our forum, we have a great section called OFF TOPIC CHATTER.  The Off Topic Chatter section is a great place to play a few games, just chat about anything, scrapbooking related or not, and meet new friends.  The Games thread is popular, as is the Question of The Week.  Take a moment and hit this area of the board and have a bit of fun.

There is also a great section of our forum called Scrapbooking Questions.  This is the place to post your questions, ask for constructive criticism or feedback on your layouts, find a scrapping buddy, get info on specific software, hardware, and even Fonts (gotta love the Fonts!)  This section is a great place for newcomers to come in and get a little help, and for those not so newbies to lend a hand and help a scrapping sister or brother out. 

Well, I hope I have given you a  little information on what is going on at RAKScraps and hope to see you on the boards and in our wonderful gallery.

To enhance your digital scrapbooking experience, take a moment to stop by our sister sites, 3 Scrapateers, Scrapwow, and our newest addition, Scrap99 (The Digital Scrapbooking Dollar Store….Love this concept!).  With all the great things offered at all of our sites, you don’t have to go anywhere else for all of your digital scrapbooking  needs, fun, challenges, and friends!

From all of the team at RAKScraps, we thank you for taking the time to visit with us and look forward to seeing you soon!

And the Mega Add On Kit is brought to us by WinksArt Graphics.  What a lovely lovely Add On.

A huge THANK YOU to all of the talented and generous Creative Team Members at RAKScraps and WinksArt Graphics for such a lovely collaborative effort on these kits.  Be sure to get yours in the RAKCenter, before the 31st of August. 

And, with the release of the Mega Kit and the Add On Kit for August, it is now time for the QuickPage Exchange Clubto fire up again.  What is the QuickPage Exchange Club you may ask.  It is a club for our members and CT to create lovely quickpages to go along with the Mega and Add On Kit, using the Mega and Add On Kits, and share them with everyone!  Quickpages are an easy and fun way to get all of those great photos scrapped, and all of the Quickpages created will be available for download in the RAKCenter on September 1st.  Give it a try.  You will be so glad you did!  Check out this thread for all the info.

Now, on to my favorite things, Digital Scrapbooking Challenges going on at RAKScraps.

**Dove Promises Challenge**- This is a new challenge in the Impromptu Challenges section of our messageboard.  HartMark Designs is sponsoring this challenge.  Her challenge to us is to use a message from a Dove Chocolate wrapper and create something.  This challenge message is “Remember your first best friend”.  There are really no rules to this challenge, which means it is creatively up to you!  For your participation in this challenge, HartMark Designs has created a lovely little RAK for you all.

I do hope you all will pop over and check out this challenge!  Thank you to HartMark Designs for such a lovely RAK!

**RAKScraps MEGA Challenge with Shelly** - Since the August Mega and Add On Kits are released, Shelly has a new challenge for us!  There are a few little rules and requirements and Shelly has posted them in her thread.  This is a great challenge to get started with the Mega and Add On Kits, and get that scrapping mojo moving!  This challenge includes music notes, which is one of the themes of the August Mega and Add On Kits, so completing this challenge will be a breeze.  Pop on over and give it a look and let us see what you create.  Shelly has prepared a little prize for all those who participate.  We look forward to seeing your challenge entries!

**One Month at a Time Challenge** - I think this challenge is such a great concept.  It allows for scrapping while keeping a chronological order of photos, and it is just fun!  The main requirement this month is that the picture be taken in August (doesn’t matter the year at all), along with 4 other small items, which you can find here.  The reason we scrap is to preserve our memories, and this challenge is a most excellent way to get those August photos together and get them scrapped.  Crosstown always does such a great job with this challenge and it is now in it’s second year!  And Crosstown has prepared a lovely RAK for this challenge.  It is really summery and bright and coordinates with the Mega and Add Kit Colors.

 Wow!  Thank you Crosstown. 

Now, I want to take a look at the RAKS for All area of our messageboard.  This is where our talented members create freebies to share all of the other members.  Let’s see what goodies we have today.

**Love Teddy**  Brought to us by Sparky 611 - This lovely teddy is going to be retired so get it while it is available.  It is just adorable.

Check out the thread for info on how to obtain this charming little bear.  Thank you Sparky611.

**Back to School (with Quickpage)** - Brought to us by Bunchie - A lovely kit for those Back to School Photos.

Thank you Bunchie, this is so nice.  Love the textures and colors.  Perfect for Back To School!  Wonderful Freebie!

Check out this thread for info on how to get this sweet little set!

**She’s a Lady Kit** - Brought to us by SparklyDuck75 - A Super Feminine kit full of lovey papers and elements and even 2 Quickpages. 

Check out this thread for info on how to get this lovely kit.  Wow Heather, you have outdone yourself again with this kit!  Thank you so much for sharing.

**Science Fair Papers**  - Brought to us by LilyBelle Scraps - Beautifully hued and patterned papers!  A great addition to your digital scrapping paper stash!

Check it out here and get the skinny on how to get these great papers.  Thank you LilyBelle!  These papers are super cool!

While you are scoring all these great freebies, please do pay attention to the individual TOU’s that come with each freebie and leave a little love for the designer, for without them donating their time and talent, we would not get these great freebies.  A little love goes along way to a designer!

I do hope this post has peaked your interest and  you stop by our friendly community to see all the wonderful things RAKScraps has to offer for the digital scrapbooker, card maker, and hybrid crafter!   We would love to have you join us.

Dont forget about our great sister sites as well.  Please take a moment to visit 3Scrapateers, Scrapwow, and our newest sister site, Scrap99!  With all this digital scrapping goodness, you may never leave  your computer!

A big thank you from all the Team at RAKScraps.  We appreciate you and that is why we are here!

See you all next Wednesday with more challenges, news and goodies.

Geri (Atria), our new Sponsor team leader would like me to remind you all that we are still having an open call for the Sponsor Team. 

WANTED! OPEN CALL FOR SPONSOR TEAM MEMBERS!

WHO: The Sponsor Team is open to anyone who is enthusiastic and able to fulfill the requirements. As this is a time sensitive work, you must be able to committ the hours needed (less than 24 hours a month) to reivew the kits and create four layouts in the time frame allowed.

You may contact Geri(Atria)  via RAKScraps message board PM for more information and to apply for one of the Sponsor Team Spots.

Everyone, follow me now. :-)   It is Challenge Review Time!  First up this month is ……..drum roll…………

** RAK FILE Challenge- This month Teddyprayer has given us a fun challenge.   Scrap a Theme Based , rather than an event based, layout using photos from at least 3 different days.  Prom photos are  great example.  It is something that is done most every year, if we have children in high school, and scrapping it every time it happens may not have the impact that scrapping all the pictures together from all the different years would have.  Here is an example layout from Teddyprayer to help us all get started.

And as always, there is a lovely prize for participating in this challenge, donated by the talented WinksArt Graphics:

Beautiful mini!

First off, this week I want to make an announcement.  RAKScraps is searching for energetic digiscrappers that would like to be part of our Sponsor team.  We are having an OPEN Call for Sponsor Team Members.  What is a Sponsor team member?  Members of the Sponsor team are enthusiastic scrappers who assist the entire RAKScraps team promote our Designer Highlight Sponsors each month.  What do they do?  They SCRAP!!!  They get the chance to use kits from the present month’s Designer Highlight sponsor to scrap layouts to show those kits in use and they get to write reviews of those kits.  These kits are available for free to the Sponsor Team, for their assistance in the promotion of that (those) particular designer(s).  Our Sponsor team helps to ensure that our Designer Highlight Sponsors have a rewarding and productive experience here with us here at RAKScraps. 

What is the committment requirements of a Sponsor Team member. A Sponsor Team member must create 4 layouts (one layout with each kit downloaded) and write a review of those kits, touring the Gallery and leaving some love for all the Sponsors and members, and participating in the forum.   Likely the total time committment each month would be less than 24 hours. (I spend that just deciding what kit to use to scrap photos!)  This is a time sensitive team position as the layouts and reviews must be done prior to the month that their Designer Highlight Sponsor is scheduled. 

Just think, free kits to scrap with, spending time in a wonderful gallery and great forum, and promoting great designers!  What’s not to love about the Sponsor team!  If you are interested in participating on this wonderful creative team, contact Barbara (RAKScrapsBarbara) and let her know!  We look forward to adding members to our Wonderful Sponsor Team at RAKScraps!

Now that one portion of the business at hand is taken care of, since it is the first post of August, you all know what that means.  Heather’s (SparklyDuck74) Avatar Quilt.  Heather sponsors the Avatar Challenge each month and puts together a “quilt” of the previous month’s avatars to start the new month’s Challenge.  Here is the “Quilt” for July.

Last month it was all about what we love about our country.  This month it is all about the music!  Favorite type of music, instrument, singer, songwriter, whatever fits your style.  So jump on in to the Avatar challenge and give that Avatar some “new digs”  Heather will be assembling her famous Quilt again with all of the new Avatars again at the end of August.

The first of the month also signifies new Designer Highlight Sponsors.  This month it is Crafting with I Did It Creations and Digital Scrapbooking at I did It Creations.  Check out their threads to learn all about them and tell them hello and welcome them to our fun scrapbooking community.

Crafting with I Did It Creations is offering this wonderful freebie for us to use.  Check out the thread to get the link to download this digital stamp set and paper pak.

 Once you have downloaded this wonderful freebie, and have been creative with it, post what you have done with it in the I Did It Creations Gallery and leave a link back in this thread so that you will be eligible for a prize at the end of the month!

Digital Scrapbooking at I Did It Creations is the second Designer Sponsor for this month.  They are offering this great collab freebie from our own Angela (Toucan Scraps) and Robyn of I Did It Creations.  Check out the thread here and make sure you get your freebie.  Create with it, and load up your creation to the Digital Scrapbooking at I Did It Creations Gallery.  Once you have uploaded your lovely creation, leave a link here so that everyone can share in your creativity and be eligible to win a prize at the end of the month.  Here is a preview of your great freebie.

With all the great freebies, hitting the challenges that are up at RAKScraps will be easy and fun!  Please make sure that you stop by our August Designer Highlight Sponsor threads and let them know how much we appreciate the donations of their time, talent, and creativity. 

A big thank you to Crafting with I Did It Creations and Digital Scrapbooking with I Did It Creations!  We are so happy that you are spending this month with us.

Tally ho and onward!  New challenges have been put up on the boards for August.  As always, there are so many to choose from.  I wanted to let you know about one in particular this week, the ATC Challenge with Hartmark Designs, one of the newest members of our CT Group here at RAKScraps.  Mandi has put up a wonderful challenge in the Impromput Challenge forum.  For those of you that may not know what an ATC (Artist Trading Card) is, there is an introduction in this thread.  The theme is “What I did on my Summer Vacation”.  Create an ATC on this theme, load it up in your gallery, leave a link to your creation in the thread here, send your file to Mandi (Hartmark Designs) and once the challenge is over, you will recieve a file of all the trading cards!  (Kinda like baseball card trading, only much prettier!)  Thank you Hartmark Designs for such a great challenge.  Here are a few that have already been completed. 

 A walk in Mom’s Garden by SparklyDuck75 (Heather)

Son’s Big Leap - Mizfit

Address Card - Bernadette1

Ladies, wonderful work!  I do hope everyone will jump on into this challenge, it is quick, easy and fun.

There are tons of other Digital Scrapbooking Challenges to be had in the Challenges forum at RAKScraps.  Hop on over and check them out for a little inspiration for your scrapping.  There are great participation prizes and the great part is that you get all those lovely photos and memories scrapped at the same time.

Well, that will wrap up this week’s post.  Stay tuned for next week, as I will begin the rundown of all the challenges and prizes available at RAKScraps, as well as the RAKS for All and CT RAKS for All sections of the wonderful forums at RAKScraps.

While you are out and about on the internet, please stop by and see our sister sites, 3Scrapateers and Scrapwow.  They have tons of things going on as well, including great products, games, challenges and wonderful eye candy in their galleries!  Great for inspiration.

For all of us at RAKScraps, I wish to thank you for stopping by and reading our blog and visiting our wonderful Digital Scrapbooking Community.

See you next week!  Happy Scrapping!

Remember, our designer highlight sponsors, Circle of Life Scraps and Floppy Latte Designs still have their newsletter freebie challenges open!  Make sure that you have downloaded your newsletter freebies!  They are great kits!  And there are participation prizes for posting with these freebies!  Show your appreciation for our Designer Sponsors with a layout.  Next month, we will have new sponsors and more fun things going on!

Be on the look out for the July Quickpages!  They will be out on August 1st in the RAKCenter.  With the great Mega and Add On kit, they are sure to be equally spectacular.  I love making the quickpages and if you do too, you still have one day to get your quickpages in to be included in the Quickpage Exchange.  The Quickpage Exchange is a great way to share your creativity with other members, and get a set of great quickpages to help you along in your scrapping!

If you haven’t yet, you should also check out the RAKS for All and the CT Raks for All forums for great freebies from our Members and smashing good Creative Team.  Remember, please respect the TOU’s that accompany the freebies, and leave the designer a little love….it goes such a long way!

If you are looking for a way to pass a bit of time, hit the GAMES forum for a little fun with the online games going on. They are always interesting, and it is also a great way to interact with other members of RAKScraps! The Games are always going on, no matter what time you visit!  In fact, the whole Off Topic Section of the forum is a great place to hang out while you are scrapping.  Someone is always around!

And Since today is July 28th, I would like to wish our Very own CT Angela of Toucan Scraps, a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!     I hope your day is as special as you are!  Everyone please join me in wishing Angela a very happy birthday and many happy returns!

Since I wont be making another post until August, I want to say that July was fantastic!  (Hot, sticky, humid, rainy…..But Fantastic!)  And I just know August will be as grand!

In your travels around our digital scrapbooking community, take a minute and visit our sister sites 3Scrapateers and Scrapwow.  They also have a lot of great things going on, wonderful products, and such friendly people!

Well, this will close the July Wrap up!  Thank you for spending a bit of time with us!  We enjoy your company!

Thank you from the Team at RAKScraps!

Now, allow me a moment to introduce you to Mandi, (Hartmark Designs).  She has recently joined the Team at RAKScraps.  It is always great when new team members are added to the already fabulous talent pool here at RAKScraps.  Let me say, from all of the team at RAKScras, Welcome Mandi, so nice to have you here with us.  We look forward to seeing your work and having you join in on all the fun!

Now onward!  (I sometimes fall back to my military days and give myself orders!)

Now that you have downloaded and unzipped your Lovely July MegaKit and the Add On Kit, it is time to show your stuff in the RAKScraps MEGA Challenge with Shelly.  Each month we put together layouts in this unique challenge.  You can read all about it here.  There are a few requirements for this challenge, but with all the great items in the two kits, it is sure to be a breeze.  Hey, that works, this months theme is Birds!  We can’t wait to see those lovely layouts.  Here is a peek at a card by “hoodsmommy” made with July’s kit offerings:

 What a pretty pretty Card!  And yes you can use digital supplies to make those hybrid projects that include cards, invitations, table decorations, gift tags, gift boxes, and a whole host of other projects.  What a great way to extend the use of your digital supplies.

Now that everyone has a new kit to play with, this would be a great time to jump in on the July Sketch Challenge brought to you by Crosstown.  Here is a look at the sketch:

Now, you dont have to follow this sketch exactly, use it as inspiration!  What is your take on the sketch.  Once you have completed your layout, make sure that you upload it to the challenges gallery and come back here and leave a little link to your layout, so that we all can admire it and leave a little love, and it lets Crosstown know you participated so that you can recieve her prize, “A Walk in the Woods”:

Lovely prize Crosstown!

Again, on the theme of the Mega and Add on Kit for July, the Quickpage Challengeis also rolling right along.  This is your chance to make Quickpages and upload them for all the other members to download.  You can check here in the challenge thread for all the info and what to do.  It is a great way to show off your layout artistry skills and be able to share your creations with the other members.  There is a deadline for getting your Quickpages in so grab that mouse or tablet pen, your Mega and/or Add on Kit and make some quickpages! 

There are so many more challenges that are still going on at RAKScraps.  If you will check out the Challenges Forum, you can see what strikes your fancy and join on in.  There are prizes for participation and you get a good jump on all that scrapping!

And stay tuned, tomorrow a post will be put up with the clusters made from the July 1 thru 14th Blog Challenge.  We had some very lovely clusters made and they deserve their own post!

There are only 2 weeks left in July, so come on in and join in the summer time fun at RAKScraps.  August will be here shortly, school will start, and there will be a whole new batch of challenges, so get in on the July challenges while they are HOT!

While you are visiting RAKScraps, please take a stroll through our gallery to see what all the talented members have come up with.  Leave a little love, get a little inspiration, and spread the summertime spirit!

It is now time for me to get to work on some nice things for RAKScraps for August!  So from all the team at RAKScraps, we thank you for stopping by and catching up on all the goings on and we hope to see you on the messageboards and in the gallery soon.  Also, please stop by and visit our sister sites, 3Scrapateers and Scrapwow, which are also filled with lovely digital and hybrid scrapbooking products, kits, freebies, information, and good fun.