Don't forget about the FREE project of the week from Paper Everyday!

This week is National Library Week, and to celebrate, we've made the theme for this weeks challenge: Celebrate Reading! The theme is broad, so get creative. I plan on making a page about my favorite author (you'll have to check back later this week to see who it is) and Kristin made a page about actually going TO the library with her niece and nephew this past weekend (see below).

Whether it's magazines, newspapers, novels or scrapbooking idea books :) there are endless supplies of inspiration to be found! Here are some other ideas to get you thinking:

*use the pages from an old book as your layout background

*create a page about your "must reads" for this coming summer

*Is there one book you read over and over? Journal about it!

*turn an old, unwanted book into a mini album by painting over the text and adding your own pictures and embellishments

*Are you in a book club? Make a page about your group and all the books you've read so far

Want some more layout inspiration? Check out the hybrid page Memory Makers Magazine editor Katie Hilbert made here. Share your own project with us in our Challenge Gallery, then head over to the American Library Association website for details on events, contests, and other fun facts about National Library Week.

Happy Crafting,

Eileen

It is so exciting to find a crafter amongst your colleagues, someone who loves the papers, tools and has found a craft that they love. By day Sharon is our bright and breezy receptionist, but outside of work she is a demon crafter and ATCs (Artists Trading Cards) are her fave.

Sharon writes: "ATCs are small cards measuring 6.5 x 9 cms decorated in any style you choose. They are traded or swapped for other cards, but are strictly never sold. I have found this hobby to be completely addictive, having great fun trying our new techniques or mediums I have never tried before.

I trade ATCs at three different 'SWAPS' (ATC meeting groups) this allows me to share my ideas and creativity with like-minded people who are as addicted to ATCs as I am. Try it for yourself, but remember the three golden rules...FUN, FUN, FUN!"

Sharon has kindly posted a selection of her ATCs, which were then whisked away for a SWAP meeting - being a UK ATC fan, Sharon wondered if the US style is so very different and what US fans use as inspiration?


Lucy, Editor The Craft Club and Sharon, ATC Fan.

Have you heard the news? Memory Makers Magazine is looking for 10 savvy scrapbookers! The magazine has posted rules and information for the 2009 Masters Contest.

What is a Memory Makers Master, you ask? Ten lucky scrapbookers who are awarded more than $2,000 in cash and prizes, and work directly with Memory Makers editors, creating layouts and projects for the magazine for an entire year. So cool!

Find out how to enter here.

Speaking of Masters, I’m loving the 2008 team! Have you checked out their blog recently? The Masters share their loads of talent quite often and are always full of creative ideas like these:



Left to Right, artwork by: Iris Babao Uy, Staci Etheridge, and Tracy Austin

Plus, I love this beautiful photo Caroline Ikeji posted on her personal blog. And this adorable layout on Tracie Radtke’s personal blog.

You can check out more layouts and great ideas from the Masters in every issue of Memory Makers Magazine (the June/July issue is on sale April 29) as well as Memory Makers Books’ upcoming Ask the Masters book.

Kristin

I was just reading '07 Master Crystal Jeffrey Rieger's blog, and she had a post about Danish born artist, Peter Callesen. His work is just amazing! His most recent works have been almost exclusively made of white paper, which I just love. The simplicity and starkness of the white really emphasizes the details in his work. Here is a small sampling of his utterly amazing finished pieces:

I had a pretty impossible time narrowing down my favorites, so be sure to check out the rest of his gallery. It's very inspiring!

Eileen