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

Working on more pages for existing albums in preparation for The Scrapbook Process class has given me an even longer list of pages I want to make – not just for the topics and how they fit into those stories, but to work with different design techniques that haven’t been on my radar recently. Things like what different ways can I… and then ten different ways to finish that sentence! So for today, what different ways can I create with strong horizontal lines?

I love that ‘strong’ in design doesn’t have to mean shoutingly obvious. The bridge in the layout above gives a definite horizontal flow across the page, especially with the patterned paper strip below the bridge and the red bus to catch your eye just past the photo. A motif like that stamped image can certainly create a horizontal line – think border stamps or designs cut from patterned paper and placed in a horizontal line across the full page!

Horizontal flow can also come from how you cut and place any number of elements on your page. In this case, it’s blocks of paper, all anchored with the darkest paper of the bunch as the larger layer right across the middle. There are lines going every which way on this page! Diagonals in outside frame, map chaos in the yellow background, but nearly every block of paper runs horizontally, from that big woodgrain block to the tags at the top left and the labels at the bottom right.

Of course horizontal lines can come directly from the paper itself, like in this example from guest artist Katrina Hunt:

I love patterns and I usually let the pattern papers tell me how my page should flow. With stripes, well it’s easy, I will either have a mostly vertical design or a mostly horizontal design.

I loved the green striped paper in the Shimelle Starshine collection and knew it was the perfect starting point for my page.

And scrapbook those food pictures, because you know you take them!

And if all those individual techniques can create horizontal lines across a page, you can definitely mix them together! The background paper here is a horizontal pattern even though it’s made from numbers rather than stripes. The cloud die-cut has a similar result to the stamped bridge – a shape that is anchored on a horizontal line. Border-punched strips and washi tape run on the horizontal line along with the blocks of paper, and you can even find a few more horizontal patterns hiding in there, like the coffee cups! (There’s a video for this page here if you fancy a watch.)

What pages have you loved making with strong horizontal elements? Share with us in the comments – we’d love to see!

Today’s Guest Artist: Katrina Hunt loves dogs, doilies and scrapbooking. You can find more from Katrina on Instagram, Facebook, and her blog.

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Since February, each week’s challenge has gone out in advance to one of the eight contributing designers and one guest artist. Then I have the exciting part of opening their emails to see what they made! But this week’s really made me chuckle. I had guessed which direction they would go and I was so wrong! Their layouts are brilliant but very different to where my mind went with this challenge. So now I’m extra curious to see where you’ll take this challenge!

This week, we’re working with something from the archives. I challenge you this week to take inspiration from this scrapbook page sketch. There’s a video and two sample pages in that post, if that gives you a bit of extra help. How you take inspiration is completely up to you, so you can go in any direction you like! Will you work with the idea of a list of favourites or focus on the design elements? To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Sheena Rowlands and guest artist Heidi Cocca.

I’ve always been a fan of sketches & I particularly liked the layered shapes on the right of the photo in this sketch. I thought it would be perfect to use lots of the die cut shapes, stickers, and journaling cards from both the Starshine and True Stories ranges to complement my photo choice.

I used a 6×4 portrait photo instead of two landscape and gathered all the elements to it allowing more of the lovely background paper to show. The die cuts provide a subtitle for my photo and I’ve written my journalling on the back of this layout as I feel there is enough going on on the front.
- Sheena

When new supplies arrive, I group them into small layout kits, including the photos, so I don’t forget what I had intended when I purchase it. But then what? This is where a sketch can come in handy, helping me pull together the materials that I’ve selected with the photo or photos that I want to include on the layout. The best part about sketches is that they are completely reusable, as two layouts using the same sketch will never look the same.

In Shimelle’s layout, Thai Style, she started with two landscape 4×6 photos, but I decided to go with a portrait 5×7 photo. Similar to Shimelle’s layout, I had one block of patterned paper that included all of the colors of the layout, and then brought those colors out in the embellishment cluster that runs through the middle of the page. As a nod to the 2013 style of the original page, I did round my corners and inked the edges of the patterned papers, but then I put a more modern spin on it by including some ink splashes and faux enamel dots.
- Heidi

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

Today’s Guest Artist: Heidi Cocca loves her two boys (well three, if you count her husband too!), coffee and traveling anywhere and everywhere. You can find more from Heidi on Instagram, and Twitter.

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Today I’m delighted to highlight something beautiful and practical from contributing designer Nicole Nowosad. I already have a big stack of kid art and just a two year old in this house! It’s going to get worse, so I’ll take all the ideas I can get. I hope you enjoy!

When it comes to some of my most precious possessions, I don’t think of the electronics or jewelry I own. I think of the other “stuff” that we keep for later in my life. Mostly, it is photos but lately, it is a lot of children’s artwork. I know that one day I will reflect back on these items as some of my most precious possessions indeed. The sad thing is that some of the stories that come with the stacks of my kid’s artwork I have tucked away won’t always be remembered.

I have decided to document some of those more special pieces by scrapbooking about each of them starting with this project by my seven year old. My daughter is a natural born crafter and I came across the sweetest little book she started about herself.

I took apart the pages and took photos of each page to add to my project. I really wanted to capture my daughter’s handwriting as it really is one of the best parts of this project she made. I wanted to keep track of just how she wrote the questions in her book in the handwriting she used at this age, as I know that will soon change.

I did keep the book after all, but now that I have this very precious possession documented with a little story about it – when room gets tight in our storage bin, it will be easier to sort through which projects are keepers and which we can eventually let go.

Once the project was photographed, I printed out smaller sized photos for the small pages and one larger one for the main page of her about me book. Next time I do this, I will make the photos a bit larger as I would like to be able to read just what she wrote, but in this case, I will add the journaling to the back of this scrapbook layout for later.

We’d love to hear your ideas for scrapping children’s artwork in the comments! Have a craft-filled and happy weekend.

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I’m busy in the classroom at the moment as we continue with the new Scrapbook Process class this month, but I’m delighted to share this fab Starshine scrapping project with you today, created by guest artist Paula Brown!

My most prized possession has to be my smart phone, you can pretty much always find me with it on my person. It’s not just my phone. It’s my camera, diary, phone book, anniversary and birthday check, a note pad, a reading book, a radio, mp3 player, alarm clock, encyclopaedia… in fact it does almost everything but most importantly it keeps me in touch with one of my most dearest friends in Australia no matter where I am (with no huge bill attached). With that in mind, I think it deserves a place in my scrapbook album!

I used the Shimelle Starshine range as my starting block as I wanted to document a particular reason why it’s so special, the map print seemed right. I mainly stuck with this range of supplies but did add in a few extra pieces from American Crafts, Hero Arts, Studio Calico, Paper Artsy, and Simple Stories. I clustered three areas of interested with two photographs and one shaker mobile phone embellishment made from a die and stamps, which folds out to show hidden journalling inside.

Underneath each small cluster I had stamped hearts and mini paper aeroplanes to add more detail and interested to the layout, I thought the paper planes added a ‘flow’ round the layout from the top left photographs round to the left then back to the bottom right cluster. Inside the mobile shaker, I stamped and cut emoji faces and text speak rather than just including the usual sequins or small beads.

I love using hidden journalling on a layout, especially when I have lots to say and it’s particularly heartfelt. It’s a great place to pour feelings out that you might not want everyone to read and that’s okay because once it’s in a page protector not many people would realise it’s there!
- Paula

Today’s Guest Artist: Paula Brown loves Mondays, anything creative, and going to the gym. You can find more from Paula on Instagram, and Twitter.

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Happy Monday! We have a new challenge for your scrapbooking this week! But first tell us: do you use stamps or do you just… collect stamps? This week, we definitely want to put your collection to use!

I challenge you this week to stamp a frame. It can be something quite literal like a frame-shaped stamp or it can be any stamp design added to the page in a way that frames a photo, title, or journaling. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! The stamped frames above have a full tutorial you can see in the archives, but to get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Meghann Andrew and guest artist Anastasia Muratova.

Stamping is a staple technique that I use on every layout, but typically for words, phrases or titles. On this layout, I used watercolored and stamped wave images to emphasize the importance of this photo of me as a child on the beach, by creating a frame.

To keep the “beachy” feel of the layout, I stuck with pink, orange, yellow and blue tones, and used watercolor paper to create the soft background for my stamped images. To keep the emphasis on my framed photo, I left the embellishment simple, using a few stamped stars, wood veneer, stickers and enamel hearts. The “sunny, sandy, happy” stamp was inked in three colors, stamped onto a watercolored background, cut out and placed on top of the negative space on the right side of my photo.
- Meghann

Once upon a time many years ago we used film to take photos. And then we took it to photolabs to be developed and printed. A friend of mine was learning photography and she needed a model for a photoshoot. So one (very) sunny day we set off to explore the city and chase shadows. She used black and white film and then she developed and printed the photos herself. Some of those photos turned out to be of my all time favourites, like this one.

When I saw True Stories collection I knew it would work perfecty with this photo. The colours are bright, but also a bit muted by memory and time, with numbers and cameras and text strips to cut out. I used number paper because it reminded of years passing so quickly. It also made me think of Goethe’s famous quote: “Stay a while! You are so lovely!” – and I added it as a title.

But the challenge task was to make a stamped frame for my photo. I lightly marked the frame with a pencil and then stamped words and dots and arrows along the lines. In the end I coloured the butterfly with watercolour pencils. To finish the page I added flowers I cut out from another True Stories paper and rub-ons and enamel dots from my stash. I love the end result and I love that I could use so much red, because it’s balanced with black and white.
- Anastasia

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

Today’s Guest Artist: Anastasia Muratova loves summer, books and all shades of blue. You can find more from Anastasia on her blog.

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Happy Friday! Contributing designer Gina Lideros is here with a beautiful and colourful layout to inspire you. I hope you have a crafty and creative weekend!

I really loved this picture and knew it had to be used on a layout. This photo is of my daughter and son and was taken over ten years ago. Oh my! How they have grown during that time. I love looking back on old memories such as this, when they were so little. This photo captures their personalities and how close they are. I loved using the Starshine collection for this layout. I felt that the colors in the collection helped match the
colors in the photo.

To create the circle frame around the photo, I used a cut file from the Silhouette Design store called Circle Frame Lace Decoration, and doubled it to make one larger circle and one smaller circle cut out of white cardstock paper. I backed the circular design with patterned papers and then adhered it to a light blue cardstock background.

The title “My Best Crew” was created using foam word thickers from the Dear Lizzy collection. I love adding inks and mists to my pages, I achieved this by flicking drops of black spray mist and drops of white paint across my page. After the paint was dry I printed my small square photo and added it to the center of my layout.

After my photo was adhered, it was time to add embellishments! I chose chipboard stars from Shimelle’s Christmas Magic collection. Because these stars are so neutral they go with all sorts of projects not just Christmas! They are in the Starlight Thickers set, which has plenty of numbers. I also raided my scrap room for some embellishments and Thickers from Shimelle’s first collection. Those gold letter Thickers are some of my favorite stickers. I spelled out the word “love” using them and stitched over them with my sewing machine.

The last step to put the finishing touch on my page was to journal “you bunches” on a white strip of cardstock paper and adhere it under the gold letters. I also added a light pink bow from WRMK’s new Wildflower collection. The light pink mixed with the light blue add the perfect softness to my page.

I hope that I have inspired you today to scrap an older photo and use circles in a unique way! Please share your creations with us.
-Gina

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With nine challenges over the NSD weekend and our usual Monday spot, you have ten challenges to keep you scrapbooking this week! All of these are open until the end of this coming weekend – you can always check the time remaining on the link up button. Though of course you can use the challenges for your own scrapping fun any time!

If you weren’t around at the weekend, here’s a quick guide to those nine:
Scrap with fabric or lace
Add stamped images to your photos
Repeat a shape on your page
Use 3×4 cards on a 12×12 page
Make a messy background
Scrap some scenery
Scrapbook with shaped paperclips
Scrapbook with woodgrain patterns
Scrapbook with red and blue

And now, on to the challenge for this week! This week, I challenge you this week to scrapbook with square photos. Everything else is completely up to you, so you can take your inspiration in any direction you like! Some sketch posts from the archives might be useful, like this and this, and the complete page for the photo above can be found here! To get you started on this week’s challenge, take a look at these examples from contributing designer Meghann Andrew and guest artist Nancy Sinclair.

I am a major foodie, so taking photos of our eating adventures, whether home or away, is a must! A lot of the restaurants that we visit may not be conducive to snapping quality food photos, so I also try to remember our meal with photos of the outside of the restaurant or a focal wall that stands out inside the restaurant. On a trip to Boston recently, we had some awesome eating experiences, so I wanted to document our top four from the trip.

I love, love square photos, and using 3” x 3” photos allows me to easily fit four different photos neatly either vertically or horizontally across the page. To remember each of our favorite food experiences from our trip, I added small journaling labels to the left side of each photo and documented what we loved about each spot.
- Meghann

I loved the willow patterned cups that were at a small tea room that I took my mum to for Mother’s day, and I knew that I had to get a shot of them with the amazing massive slices of carrot cake. I like capturing these small details of bigger memories, like spending the day with my mum and catching up on life. Food photos are things I scrap a lot as well as include in my Project Life.

I love a busy background and the more patterns and colour the better. I grounded the bright Jillibean Soup Hello Healthy background with some inking through template and some Kelly Purkey coffee themed stamps. I then layered papers from the Galileo paper from the Starshine collection and it works great for creating multiple layers behind my photos.

I also used stickers from the original Shimelle collection which I’ve been hoarding in my stash for a long time, and it works perfectly on this page. I added some Jillibean Soup wood veener and some old flair from my stash to finish.
- Nancy

You have a week to complete the challenge and share a link – but of course you’re welcome to set your own time schedule. Whatever keeps you happy and creative!

Today’s Guest Artist: Nancy Sinclair loves paper, crochet, and sarcasm. You can find more from Nancy on Instagram and YouTube.

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Plenty of patterns and product types covered in the NSD challenges so far: I think it’s time for a colour combination challenge! Red and blue is a combination I love working with though I could count on one hand how many times I’ve used it for something even vaguely patriotic. Instead, red and blue feels bold and versatile to me!

I love how a rainbow of accents feels full of potential and energy.

And I love how softening the blue to a lighter shade makes it feel a little warmer, a little more down to earth, and maybe even a little more cuddly! (Okay. That might just be the photo. But I’m not sure it’s entirely responsible.)

Your challenge is to create a page using red and blue but also whatever other colours you feel drawn to use! For another look, please welcome guest artist Charity Feit.

This page highlights my 40th birthday gift from my family, tickets to see A Prarie Home Companion Live at Wolf Trap Performing Arts National Park. I used several pages (including the cut apart sheet) from the Shimelle Starshine Collection as well as lots of the embellishments available to match.

I used a very simple formula of using three 4×6 photos straight down one side of the page, then making three clusters of embellishments in a triangle around my photos.

This sketch from the archives might prove useful if you’re working with three images like this.

I love journalling in my own handwriting on my pages, I’m not at all fussed about perfection… they are my memories and having them in a visual way makes me happy.

Your turn! We’d love to see what you pair with red and blue to create your own unique and bold colour story.

Today’s Guest Artist: Charity Feit loves using paper and embellishments to record her family memories, knitting, and getting inspiration from crafting videos. You can find more from Charity on Instagram, Twitter, and her blog.

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