pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

One of my favourite things to come out of the start of 2020 is the chance to work in a new way with an old friend: as part of the cut file design team from none other than Paige Evans. Today I’m sharing the first page I’ve made as part of that team with her Love Love Love cut file and her beautiful new Bloom Street collection.

Here’s a look at how it all came together, with one photo taken just outside It’s a Small World at Disneyland Paris, and one patterned paper per word of the cut file. Plus a little thread to finish it all!

I cut my files like this with the Silhouette Cameo 3 and smooth white cardstock, then adhere with the same adhesive I use for almost everything: the Kokuyo dot roller.

You can find Paige’s paper collections here at scrapbook.com and find her cut files on Etsy and the Silhouette Design Store.

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I know, I know, it’s only October and it’s most definitely Spook and Pumpkin Season, not Christmas Tree Season, but every year there is this one thing we need to talk here about before December hits us. Yes, I will be creating another Christmas journal! Yes, I will be teaching Journal your Christmas again (and yes, you can sign up any time, it doesn’t matter that the sign up video says 2015)! And Yes, I have worked out the supplies I’ll be using, and there is a way you can use them too.

First up is this year’s stamp set. I found myself really wanting something that was very basic in style and easy to use throughout my journal, even when I was working with small spaces. I always want to have a set of numbers, so instead of two sets this year, one set with numbers and the simplest of things that I know I will be stamping almost every day throughout my album. (They also mix very well with the letter stickers I’m using this year, so some of these words can be made into longer phrases by mixing those up!)

These are high quality photo-polymer stamps made here in the UK and packaged and shipped from me in London. International postage is included, and I will post anywhere in the world – $14 or £11. You can pre-order now! Pre-order is open for one week only, and will close on Saturday 12th October. Stamps will ship in early November, likely around the 8th.

Use this first button to order in US Dollars: $14 includes postage.

Use this second button to order in UK Pounds: £11 includes postage.

Last year, the vast majority of pre-order customers opted to pay in full from the beginning, so the stamps would ship as soon as possible and there wouldn’t be a need to pay a balance later, so I’m just offering the total price here now. BUT if paying half now and half when they are ready to ship is far preferable to you, please just send me an email and we can work that out too.

And on we go to the second half of what I use: the kit!
The kit itself will work a little differently this year, in order to ensure the kit suits you and arrives in time for you to get crafting! In fact, you can go ahead and shop right now and your order will be on its way – no extra waiting. I’ve assembled everything I’m using (aside from stamps, inks, and some smooth white cardstock) in a shopping list at scrapbook.com. You can use this shopping list in a few ways:

*Click through this affiliate link and add one of everything to your shopping cart, check out, and scrapbook.com will pack and ship your order immediately. They ship worldwide, so it is an option to order from them if you’re not in the states, though postage costs may be an issue.

*Click through and use the list simply as a reference to shop elsewhere. Want to support your local store? Please do! Want to shop somewhere in your own country? That makes total sense. There is no obligation to shop through scrapbook.com, but the list will give you all the product names and details so you can pick up these products at the store of your choice. No problem!

*Click through and use the list as a guideline. If you see something you love and would use more, add more than one. (I ordered two sheets of vellum and one of everything else on the list.) If you see something you know you will not use, don’t add it. If you see something you already have (either exactly or close enough), don’t add it and just pull it from your stash. You are in control here so you can make it fit your budget, big or small. You might want to add snow themes if you have a very wintry Christmas, or something to fit the theme of a particular tradition that is meaningful to your family. You could also add inks in colours you’ll want to stamp. Totally up to you.

*Click through and use the list to shop your stash for things that are close enough. If you have Christmas stash a-plenty, there is no reason not to use it. This can be a good guideline for how much ‘stuff’ you need! I find it’s absolutely key to not be overwhelmed with All The Christmas Things so I can stay on track and get daily entries done, but daily entries are definitely not a requirement! Adjust to suit your needs, always.

And yes, for clarity: it’s an affiliate link, so the products cost the same to you, but scrapbook.com gives me a small commission for directing you there. Thanks for supporting me that way! Here’s the link to the list, one last time!

As always, there is a mix of things that are specifically Christmas and things that are not, but have good colours to work with Christmas. I aim to give you a kit that will continue to work outside Christmas if you have leftover supplies after your journal.

Crate Paper has a new wintry collection coming out in a week or so, and I may be adding a sheet or two from that to my Christmas kit. You can see it in the coming soon section if winter accents are something you’d like to add.

And lastly, the album.

I love the 6×8 size for this project and have used that size for several years. I still have a couple empty 6×8 Studio Calico Handbook albums, and I have plenty of those page protectors, so that’s what I will be using again. I use a mix of page pocket sizes, with some full 6×8 pages, some divided into 3×4 and/or 4×6 pockets, and some with an assortment of other sizes. I also add in some elements with no page protectors at all by just punching holes.

There are plenty of 6×8 albums available from a range of manufacturers, and page protectors to match. Pick something you like!

Or follow along with absolutely any album format that suits you. Some like the traveler’s notebook set up for Journal your Christmas, and that can work well if you like working with smaller spaces and no page protectors. Some prefer to keep everything 8.5×11 or 12×12 and just do pages on the days they most feel like it rather than trying to tackle an entry every day. My favourites have been the 6×8 and 6×12 albums, both with pockets, though pocket pages are not something I work with throughout the rest of the year usually. I think this is my perfect balance!

Okay! That’s all about Christmas for now, and we’ll talk more about Christmas when we get to November! Thanks so much.

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Now I love making a scrapbook page more than the vast majority of the population, but making a layout that really feels like something new and exciting? Those are the moments that feel like ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED. Next level crafting that reminds me of the joy I find in memory keeping and in creating pages, from the photos to the stories to the pretty paper. I’ve always found it’s way too overwhelming to think about developing my crafting style by looking at all the elements at once. Instead, I go through seasons where I really focus on improving my photography, and times when I really write and draft to get the words just how I want them, and days when it’s all about where things can go on the canvas of a page, and times when I want to try every new embellishment technique I can find. So it makes perfect sense to me that the way we can level up is to take the time to look at each of those things closely. Just imagine the level of Achievement Unlocked it will feel when you put all those things together on your pages! I hope you’ll join me in class and level right on up!

Level Up starts Tuesday the 5th of March 2019, and includes four weeks of class materials in video and printable PDF formats. We will focus on one specific topic each week and you’ll identify your strengths, joys, and challenges at the beginning of the week and follow steps to improve your skills and make it all easier: levelling up! Those four topics are photography, page composition, writing, and embellishment.

Photography: join in with your phone, point and shoot, or SLR camera. We’ll be looking at portraits, still life, and scenery, and you’re welcome to try all three or choose one to really bring it into focus. If you will be shooting on a DSLR camera, I would suggest reading through the Camera School section of the blog first, so we can go beyond those points in class.

Page Composition: how many photos and where can they go on the page? We will look at both single and double page layouts (and a tiny look at pockets alongside full pages) and where things can go on those 12×12 pages. I really do believe there is a page design for every occasion, so we will look for that right occasion for everything from a single photo layout to more than a dozen photos from a single day.

Writing: after I’ve done the pretty stuff, I’m supposed to journal too? You might already love to journal or you might currently be aiming to just get a name and date on the page. Either way, you can level up. We’ll explore different ways to find your own voice and make the writing feel just right.

Embellishment: then the pretty stuff to close! We’ll try different techniques with different supplies you have on hand – and there will be things to try if your stash is limited and things if it’s really, really not. I even went out and learned some new techniques I had never tried for this topic, so I am excited to see you put your own spin on those.

There will also be a few live Q&A video sessions to discuss the class materials. All the other class videos are edited, instructional videos. (Just thought I’d clarify if you’re new to class and have been hanging out in my much more casual environment of Facebook Life scrapping! I don’t talk about random rubbish in class videos. Also, is it to the point where I need to start using a trademark symbol after the words ‘random rubbish’? Answers on a postcard please.)

If you have a annual pass from 2018, this class is included and will appear on your class list when the forum opens. No need to do anything else.

If you don’t have an annual pass, you can sign up for just this course in your choice of currencies: $30 US dollars or £23 UK pounds. If neither of those is your currency, you can choose the one that is best for you.

$30 – US Dollars

£23 – UK Pounds

(You will be taken to PayPal’s secure website, where you may pay by credit/debit card or a PayPal balance.)

Once you sign up, you will receive a PayPal receipt email confirming your completed payment. The forums will open next week, and when that happens you will also receive an email from me welcoming you to class. Any questions, just email me.

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I’ve just arrived in Phoenix for this year’s Creativation Trade Show, where I’ll be debuting this new collection coming this spring: Sparkle City! After all your love for Glitter Girl, I’m excited to share this vision of Glitter Girl’s world: a city of colour and creativity, where everyone can be a superhero.

Please pop over to the American Crafts blog to see more of the collection today, and follow along on Instagram and Facebook as I share projects and products direct from the show floor throughout Creativation 2019!

I can’t wait to see what you make with Sparkle City when it hits your favourite crafts stores this March.

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Join me for a day of creativity at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California!
Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Disneyland absolutely fuels my creative fire, and I would love to share that with you! After a few light-hearted discussions on Facebook, I’ve made a schedule and worked it out to really happen! I’ll be ready with pens and songs and the biggest smile I can find!

We’ll start the day bright and early with a special breakfast together, then hit the Disneyland park with a creativity-driven itinerary. Bring your camera of choice, be it your phone, Polaroid, compact camera, DSLR, or something with film. We’ll be spending a big part of the day gaining confidence both behind and in front of the camera, in my very favourite place to take pictures! That includes daytime photos, golden hour portraits, and some other special subjects. It’s too early to know if there will be a night parade or firework celebration that day, but if there is, we will make the most of it! We’ll also have a very relaxed group photo shoot with a local photographer. After the day, we’ll share all the photos from each of us, so you’ll have plenty of scrapbook gold to remember the day.

We can’t have a traditional scrapbooking workshop inside Disneyland park, because scissors and security don’t mix, for starters. But a special kit of scrapbooking supplies is included for you to take home, and you’ll be able to share what you make with the others from the group in our online chat just for everyone attending.

I’m also so inspired by Disney history that I’ve arranged a little trivia walk, so I can share some of the little secrets of the park that make me absolutely giddy. (We might have to start with the Monsanto House of the Future, and how it’s still secretly there in the present because it just won’t leave.)

Lunch, dinner, and snack breaks are scheduled in, but you are welcome to eat with the full group or take a break to head out on your own. Breakfast is included in the price. If you have dietary restrictions, please don’t fret, as Disney cater so well for food needs. (We test this regularly, since my son and I both have food allergies and they aren’t even the same foods!) Just let me know so I can make any needed notes to our reservations.

If an open to close day at Disneyland is just far too long for you, I encourage you to join us from the start of the day and head home when you feel it’s best. That will be much easier than trying to join us midway through the day.

There are just twenty spaces available, in order to keep the group to a size that will let us all make new friends but not be overwhelmed or feel lost in the crowd. If there is more interest, I will open a waiting list in case anyone has to change their plans.

A Day of Creativity is $185, with $100 due on registration and the remaining $85 due any time before the 31st of December 2018. It includes a special table service breakfast, exclusive scrapbooking kit, and all the photographs from the day. It does not include park admission, additional food and drinks, or any hotel you might need. If you are not an annual pass holder and would like assistance booking your tickets, I’m happy to help with that.

Just to clarify, this is at Disneyland in Anaheim, California! If this event goes well and there is interest in something similar at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Paris, we’ll see what we can arrange in the future.

Thanks ever so much for your interest and I look forward to seeing some of you soon!

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I love the story involved in scrapbooking – as you may have noticed – but it’s not just a single page story that truly has my heart. It’s that ‘book’ element of ‘scrapbook’: telling a detailed story, page by page, all contained in an album. That is what brings me my biggest scrapbooking joy! And yet I create just one page at a time, and you might see one of those layouts on Facebook Live and another on YouTube and a few more in a class demonstrating a composition technique and a few more posted on Instagram. So how do they all come together to create that book I love? With a bit of planning behind the scenes.

My next class will show you this specific process in real time: I start with all the photos from Summer 2018, and I go through what has always been a more ‘behind the scenes’ process for me. That includes choosing which photos, how many pages each event will get, editing the photos, ordering the prints, gathering the supplies for each page, and working out how they will flow in a chronological album. I’ve offered two classes before that focus on my album process (Cover to Cover and Most Magical Scrapbook), but I’ve never covered my current photo editing process, how I cover my dining table in supplies for a day just to see what works together, or how much drafting I do for journaling. You’ll find all that and more in this Behind the Scenes workshop.

Here’s the real twist though: six of the class videos will be presented live, so you can watch and participate if you would like. You can also watch a recorded replay if you can’t make the live times and you’ll be able to post in advance with any questions you know you want to ask if you will be waiting until the replay. While I will be answering questions throughout the live videos, this won’t be the off-topic discussion we often have on Facebook Live – each of the live videos has a specific topic to cover and we’ll discuss it in depth.

After watching the Behind the Scenes class videos, you’ll have a whole new understanding of what I’m working on when I create pages for any other format – you’ll see those exact planned pages come to fruition on Facebook Live, in YouTube videos, and other pages posted here. Though not to worry – you’ll see several pages made in the class videos themselves, so you’re getting a mix of the planning and the page creation through the class as a whole.

The six live scrapping videos will take place at three different times of day to accommodate the most time zones. (It works out to two that will be morning in my time zone, two in the afternoon, and two in the evening.) The live videos are planned for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday: 30th and 31st of October, 1st, 6th, 7th, and 8th of November. There are also two prerecorded videos included in the class. (If you’re new to my videos, these class lessons are extended video sessions and not a 10 minute presentation.)

$25 US Dollars

£20 UK Pounds

Class begins on the 30th of October, so you can sign up any time before then to get the best potential for interaction, including discussions during the live scrapbooking videos. Class registrations are not instant and are processed by hand. If your PayPal email address doesn’t match the email you’d like to use for class or more than two days goes by without receiving access to the class, please drop me an email.

If you are a 2018 annual pass scrapbooker, this class will automatically be added to your account once the forum opens.

I hope to see you soon, so we can go behind the scenes and put a plan in action for scrapping whatever might be on your to-scrap list!

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Hello October! This brings my one little slip when I must start talking about Christmas before November – this week is the time to pre-order if you’d like a 2018 Christmas in a Box kit or any of the stamps! Full kits, including papers, embellishments, and stamps, can be posted from the UK or USA, or the stamps are available separately if you prefer to use your own Christmas stash with just a little something new. Pre-orders end this Sunday, the 14th of October.

Shall we look at the stamps first? This is the word sheet…

…and this is the number sheet. These are 4×6 inch stamp sets and are both included in the full Christmas in a Box kit. They can also be purchased as a set without the kit, if you prefer.

Or you can opt for the full Christmas in a Box kit!

Here’s more of what you’ll find packed into Christmas in a Box: lots of 12×12 paper, with a range of lush greens balanced by white-background prints, plenty of red, with navy, gold, and a little splash of the rainbow. Plus Thickers in red and gold (in a font that works well on small projects too), vellum, washi tape, flat and puffy stickers, and of course the custom stamps. New for this year is a subtle writing pad to give you plenty of options when including stories short and long or creating your own titles. Everything is chosen for a mix of specifically Christmas things alongside patterns that can be used year-round for the everyday. This way you can incorporate your leftover supplies into your stash in January without building up year after year of supplies you only use at Christmas.

Christmas in a Box is the kit I use to make my Christmas journal, and if you’re following along with the Journal your Christmas class, you’ll see the kit in action every day in the class videos. (You can join Journal your Christmas any time of the year! Find all the details about available classes here.)

Kits ship from the UK and the US, so if you are in the US, your kit will ship from the US and and if you’re in the UK, your kit will ship from the UK! If you live somewhere else, we will ship your box from the location that is most affordable, and additional shipping will be billed at the cost from the postal service. From the UK, this about £10 for Europe and £15 beyond Europe for the full kit, to give you an idea.

When you pre-order, you pay a deposit of half your kit price now and the remaining half when your kit is boxed and ready to ship. For UK addresses, that’s £20 now for a total kit price of £40. For US addresses, that’s $25 now, for a total kit price of $50. Those prices include shipping. If you would prefer to pay your full balance now, that’s fine of course! (This is great if you are travelling or busy at the start of November, when the balance invoices will be sent!) Any boxes paid in full will ship immediately when everything has arrived.

If you have plenty of Christmas stash and would just like this year’s stamps, that’s available too. The set of two sheets – words and numbers – is $24 or £18, which includes postage anywhere in the world. Again, choose if you want to pay the full balance and they will ship automatically or pay the deposit and I’ll invoice you for the remaining half before they make their way to you. All stamps ship from here in London, but they travel pretty quickly by airmail.

Pre-Orders have now closed. Thank you! A very limited supply of kits and stamps will be available without placing a deposit, but those numbers are truly very few. If you would like to reserve a kit with no worry, pre-ordering is your friend.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me and I’ll help in any way I can.

Thanks so much, and I promise you can now go right back to autumn and not think more about Christmas until at least November!

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Layering pretty paper is my all at once my oasis of calm and my jump of excitement. There seems to be something about the more years of scrapbooking I rack up, the more layers of paper end up on my pages. This autumn marks twenty years of making pages for my own albums so we are getting to a fair number of layers now. I’m not delighted with a page until there’s layer on layer on layer… and all the rest.

If you love paper layering or wish paper layering happened easily for you, then I know you’ll enjoy the new class I have coming up oh so soon now: Layer on Layer on Layer… It’s a six week class with thirty layouts shared from start to finish in thirty videos, each also accompanied by a PDF with still pictures and summary notes to recap the video lessons. We’ll look at layering with colour, with specific products, with sketches, with inky techniques, with extra photos or lengthy journaling. Most importantly, we’ll look at how layering works with your style. It is never my goal for you to create carbon copies of my layouts in my classes. Instead, I aim to give you ideas you can adapt and personalise so you create pages you love.

Class starts Monday the 2nd of July and finishes Friday the 10th of August, 2018. Though this is the time frame when the class materials are posted, there is absolutely no pressure to work within that time frame. There is no such thing as ‘falling behind’ in my classes. Everything includes permanent access to the materials and you’re encouraged to work at your own pace.

Class videos can be watched via streaming online video or be saved to your own device to watch offline. You’ll receive an email each time a new video is available, with the PDF file attached and a link that takes you to the private class form to watch the video. It’s also the place where you can chat with other class participants, share photos of what you make, and ask any questions. I’m also available by email, and should your questions come after the end of the live run of Layer on Layer on Layer… just email me and I’ll help in any way I can.

If you purchased an annual pass for all my classes in 2018, do not pay for this class separately, of course! You don’t need to do anything and will automatically receive access to the class forum when it opens next week. (The forum always opens just a bit before class starts.)

If you know you’d like to sign up, you have a few options:
The annual pass for 2018 is still available and would also include Clear the Desk, a new class that ran earlier this year, which you could work through at any time that suited.
The early bird price of $30 or £23 if you sign up this weekend – before the end of Monday the 25th of June. Early bird pricing has ended, but you can sign up any time for $35 or £27.

Choose whichever currency you prefer – US dollars or UK pounds. Please realise class registrations are processed by an actual person (me!) rather than anything automatic. By signing up, you are confirming you’re happy to receive emails for this class. I confirm I never share or sell class emails and I don’t email you for things other than the class. Okay, time to sign up now!

$35 US Dollars

£27 British Pounds

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an email. See you in class so soon!

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